Data is the fuel that will power the HR transformation engine. But although HR organizations have been talking about building analytics teams for years, the 2015 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report concluded that the drive for analytics was still “stuck in neutral.”
Thankfully, the 2016 survey reports a major leap forward in capabilities. In the third blog post of a series, we focus on another key trend driving HR transformation, as people analytics gains real momentum.
Don’t risk getting left behind
More and more businesses are recognizing they need data to figure out what makes people join, perform well in, and stay with an organization. Who is likely to be successful, and who will make the best leaders? What do they need to do to deliver the highest quality customer experience? This trend is gathering speed as more companies hire people analytics teams, clean up their data, and develop models that help drive business transformation.
Figure 1: People analytics: Percentage of respondents rating this trend “important” or “very important”
There are now hundreds of examples of companies taking people data from a range of sources to make better management decisions. This data might come from core HR systems, employee engagement data, survey data, or external sources like LinkedIn. It can all be analyzed to get a better understanding of company culture, identify opportunities to improve employee retention or performance, and diagnose management weaknesses.
Why the sudden upsurge? More companies are adopting cloud-based HR systems that enable them to look at their data in a more integrated way. In fact, nearly 40% of all global firms plan to replace their core HR systems over the next two years. The quality and usefulness of organizational data is improving, and there has been an explosion in the choice of analytics tools available. More people with analytics or people science backgrounds are bringing their expertise and knowledge into HR, and the topic is creating a greater number of column inches in the business press than ever before.
As analytics moves into the corporate mainstream, there’s a very real risk of getting left behind. And interestingly, the Global Human Capital Trends data shows that HR respondents are now more convinced of the value of people analytics than their business counterparts! 82% of HR respondents viewed it as “important” or “very important,” compared to only 69% of business people.
Measuring the value of people to an organization is essential – and analytics is the key to unlocking that value. As the report concludes, “In the not-too-distant future, it will become impossible to make any HR decisions without analytics. Indeed, analytics capabilities will be a fundamental requirement for the effective HR business partner.”
Learn more
Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016 is one of the largest global surveys of its kind, with 7,000 HR and non-HR respondents covering a wide range of industries across 130 countries. To find out more about HR transformation trends, priorities and practices:
- Watch the research-based Deloitte ‘Transforming HR’ on demand webinar
- Download the Deloitte Global Trends 2016 ‘Transforming HR’ report (registration required)
- Listen to Deloitte’s Erica Volini talk about ‘Do CHROs need a new conversation?’ on SAP Radio
- Read the blogs “Is HR turning the corner?” and “Delivering on the new HR mandate”