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People Analytics

People analytics is a subset of HR analytics and uses data to improve people-related decisions, policies, and practices.

People analytics enables companies to:

Identify trends in workforce diversity
Improve hiring, retention, and engagement
Analyze employee engagement and satisfaction metrics
Understand the impact of the workplace on employee performance

What is people analytics in HR??

People analytics is the science of using data and analysis to help organizations make better decisions about people. It's a method for measuring and understanding what's working in HR and what's not.

People analytics is focused on the employee experience. It includes understanding how employees feel about their work environment and how they interact with their managers and colleagues—and how these interactions affect business outcomes like productivity or turnover rates.

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Why is people analytics important?

People analytics is a critical component of any organization's success. It allows companies to understand how employees work and how to improve their performance. The ability to collect, analyze and act on data is critical for business success.

People analytics helps organizations:

Make the right decisions about people management by allowing them to understand their workforce better. These insights can then be used to improve employee engagement, productivity, retention, and other aspects of performance management.

Provide valuable insights into company culture, which can help organizations improve their hiring practices and create a more inclusive workplace environment.

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What does people analytics involve?

People analytics uses data to understand, predict and improve people's performance at work. It can help organizations to drive better business outcomes and make smarter decisions about people management.

People analytics includes:

Understanding what drives employee performance
Predicting employee performance by analyzing past data
Improving employee productivity by using predictive models
Identifying high-potential employees based on their skillsets

What are the pillars of people analytics?

People analytics is not just a single tool or process; it's an approach that integrates data and technology across the organization to drive business impact.

Here are the three pillars of people analytics:

People data: Data about people's performance, engagement, and development are captured in systems that enable insights into what works and doesn't work in talent management.
People analytics tools: Software applications such as learning management systems, performance management tools, and talent acquisition systems allow people analytics to be applied at scale.
People analytics culture: Organizations that want to use people analytics need a culture that embraces transparency, accountability, collaboration, and learning from mistakes (or successes).

What are the benefits of people analytics?

The benefits of people analytics include:

Better decision-making. People analytics helps organizations make better decisions by identifying patterns and trends in their data, which can lead to insights or solutions that weren't previously possible.
Improved performance. By using predictive modeling and other data science techniques, organizations can identify gaps in performance and design interventions to address them.
Reduced risks while making hires. People analytics enables companies to predict how prospective employees will perform once they're on board, preventing costly mistakes like hiring someone who doesn't fit into the culture or isn't a good fit for the role.
Enhanced productivity. People analytics can help identify the best-performing employees so they can be promoted within the organization or used as mentors for new employees.
Better hiring decisions. People analytics helps companies identify which candidates will succeed in their roles. This allows companies to spend less time screening candidates unlikely to succeed in their positions and more time evaluating those most likely to do well at the company.

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What is the difference between HR analytics and people analytics?

HR Analytics

The process of collecting data from various sources (e.g., employee surveys, performance reviews, time-off requests) in order to make better decisions about people.
It helps improve the employee experience by using data to manage talent acquisition, development, and retention.
It aims to identify where your company could improve its practices and make changes that will lead to higher productivity and lower costs.
It uses data and analytics to improve people management. It uses HR data to inform decisions, identify trends, and create better processes.

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People Analytics

It is a subset of HR Analytics that focuses on data related to people's behaviors and motivations.
It helps improve the employee experience by using data to understand what motivates employees so you can design more effective compensation plans and performance management processes.
It aims to understand how employees feel about their jobs and what makes them happy or unhappy at work.
It uses data and analytics to understand how people work, what they need, what motivates them, and how they can be engaged.

Employee pulse surveys:

These are short surveys that can be sent frequently to check what your employees think about an issue quickly. The survey comprises fewer questions (not more than 10) to get the information quickly. These can be administered at regular intervals (monthly/weekly/quarterly).

One-on-one meetings:

Having periodic, hour-long meetings for an informal chat with every team member is an excellent way to get a true sense of what’s happening with them. Since it is a safe and private conversation, it helps you get better details about an issue.

eNPS:

eNPS (employee Net Promoter score) is one of the simplest yet effective ways to assess your employee's opinion of your company. It includes one intriguing question that gauges loyalty. An example of eNPS questions include: How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Employees respond to the eNPS survey on a scale of 1-10, where 10 denotes they are ‘highly likely’ to recommend the company and 1 signifies they are ‘highly unlikely’ to recommend it.

Based on the responses, employees can be placed in three different categories:

Promoters
Employees who have responded positively or agreed.
Detractors
Employees who have reacted negatively or disagreed.
Passives
Employees who have stayed neutral with their responses.

What are some great examples of people analytics?

Here are some examples of people analytics:

TripAdvisor uses its own version of "people analytics," called People Insights. This system tracks employee engagement and retention by measuring how often employees interact with each other on social media platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook. TripAdvisor also uses predictive data analytics software to track which employees are likely to leave the company.

Accenture's real-time talent analytics uses predictive modeling technology to help HR leaders identify high performers and predict future performance based on past behavior. The platform also provides information on employee engagement levels, attrition rates, and employee satisfaction metrics across multiple geographies and industries, helping managers decide where to invest their time and resources.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of people analytics?

Here are the advantages of people analytics:

It helps you understand how people are working and what they do. This enables you to make more informed decisions about how to manage them.

It identifies areas for improvement and provides insights into how to make your organization more efficient, productive, and effective.

It helps you understand the value your people are creating and how they contribute to the business.

Here are the disadvantages of people analytics:

It requires a lot of data. HR teams need to collect information about every aspect of the business to gain insight into how employees perform and their needs. This can be time-consuming and often involves hiring additional staff or outsourcing some functions.

It's hard to measure human behavior. Sure, it's easy to count how often someone checks their emails or how many hours they work each week. But measuring subjective experiences like satisfaction, motivation or engagement is challenging.

Data is often presented in an overly technical manner, making it hard for non-technical employees to understand.

How to use people analytics in HR?

People analytics is a way to glean insights from the data you already have, which is usually sitting in your HRIS. This can help you make smarter decisions about how to manage your workforce, from onboarding to retention.

It uses data to improve HR decision-making and can be used to analyze various things, including recruiting, hiring, performance management, and compensation.

Here are some key steps for using people analytics effectively:

Use real-time feedback tools to identify toxic employees quickly.
Create an employee engagement survey that covers every aspect of your organization, including benefits, work-life balance, culture, and leadership.
Ask employees how they would rate their performance on an annual basis.
Connect with other teams within your organization that already track employee performance metrics, such as salespeople's quotas or customer satisfaction scores (e.g., Net Promoter Score).

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What is HR people analytics software?

An HR People Analytics software is a software solution that provides insights into the human side of the business. It looks at the entire employee lifecycle – recruitment to engagement, onboarding to retention, performance management to compensation management.

HR People Analytics software aims to enable companies to make better decisions and reduce risks related to human resources.

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