Data is all about decisions – decisions about what cars to buy, what investments to make, what grocery stores to frequent. We might not think of these decisions as prompted by “data” in the traditional sense, but data is just information. So data is a valuable tool that helps us to better understand certain factors and help us make more informed decisions about both our personal lives and businesses.
Your business decisions, when informed by data, can help increase the bottom line. Data helps us understand if we have the resources to invest, marketing resources to try to grow the brand and increase revenue, or the need to hire more talent to support the day to day business. Data and analytics help answer these questions and allow for management and leadership to make adjustments and refine decisions as necessary.
How can HR analytics affect your bottom line?
HR data and analytics an also directly impact a company’s bottom line. These HR analytics examples illustrate how HR data can make a difference in your business.
#Benefits
Healthcare, insurance, and other business perks are expensive, but necessary, investment for companies to make. HR data can help analyze your benefits package and analyze ROI for said benefits. Are your business perks helping to retain talent? Does your HR feedback data say that employees are satisfied with your insurance options? Should you consider cutting back on coverage based on your workforce size? Answering questions like this can help you find potential savings that can contribute to your bottom line.
#Better hiring and retention
Hiring is expensive and time-consuming. The latest HR research says that each hire can cost a company up to $4,000 dollars or 10% of that employee’s salary. These numbers add up and you certainly don’t want to be hiring people who aren’t a good fit who will leave and force you to re-hire for the position and spend that same recruitment amount over again. HR data helps you find better hires by analyzing resume data and suggesting the best fits based on your criteria. HR data analytics also help you understand the parts of your business that affect your retention. Data about when people leave your company, what departments they’re leaving from, their performance reviews, their participation in training – all that data helps HR professionals understand what might be influencing turnover and office culture, and allow for adjustments and improvements. Better retention means less hiring, which can be added savings for your business.
#Better engagement
Related to retention is the idea of employee engagement. HR analytics can help you take it even further than simply saving money by increasing retention and reducing hiring expenses – improved employee engagement can actually lead to more productivity, which can turn into greater sales, more personalized account management, better marketing, and other revenue-increasing activity. Employees are engaged and energized when they feel like their opinions are valued, when they understand the connection of their day to day work with business objectives, or when they feel like their employer has their best interest at heart. Employers who invest in their employees are likely to see employees who want to invest in your business and are willing to work hard to create change and work towards success.
These are just some examples of how HR analytics can be used to help your bottom line, but data and analytics can be applied to several areas of HR to increase process savings and drive productivity. HR analytics can not only help you reduce risk and understand your business better, but can actually help you solicit better feedback, build out processes, and make decisions that can help impact your bottom line in a positive way.
