In high-performance organizations, it is essential to measure what the returns on human capital are. This leads to insights into how the human resources are being utilized, as well as strategies to improve the acquisition, retention, and returns on right talent. However, given the vast amounts of data the HR departments accumulate over time, it becomes challenging to analyze human capital by asking the right questions.
This is where these suggested strategies can help take decisions quickly and arrive at better solutions:
- Data evaluation: The first step of course is to analyze the data present and determine the trusted sources, the data flow, as well as integration rules with other systems. This ensures data correctness and availability.
- Selection of metrics: There already are a lot of metrics to consider, and more can be created specific to the organization. Therefore, it is essential to figure out which metrics are going to matter the most in taking the right HR decisions. Departments can look at top-level metrics, people-process metrics, or HR function metrics.
- Technology selection: When a new data warehouse is to be created and proper system installed to analyze data, the technology used becomes a crucial factor. Usually, HR analytics tools are specialized in HR reporting and data analysis, and are not as intimidating as full-fledged data mining tools.
- Flexibility: No matter how carefully one plans, data is going to change over time and new systems will be needed. However, forecasting and thinking deeply about the possible shifts can minimize these overhauls and reduce costs.
Successful human capital analysis comes down to training the HR department in thinking and planning about data carefully, as well as giving important consideration to the technologies involved.
