If Google Believes in People Analytics, Why Don’t You?
As marketers and consumers alike become entrenched in the digital age, businesses have grown accustomed to and understand the need for data analytics as a tool to improve customer service and boost ROI. And as businesses continue to evolve and compete on a global scale, HR executives must likewise evolve to maintain, if not improve, retention and performance – and ultimately to increase revenue. Enter people analytics.
Former Google SVP, People Operations (CHRO) Laszlo Bock recently addressed the importance of people analytics as a means of furthering the growth and assessing the role of HR. Bock suggests that ‘Doubters’ may set up roadblocks that impede their efforts to employ people analytics, while ‘Believers’ will be able to adapt more easily to the process.
In this video presentation, Peter Hartmann, Business Intelligence Expert for Maersk Drilling, makes a compelling case for using data to improve decision making. The crucial point, he emphasizes, is the need to link data directly to business results. While Maersk is a logistics company with 89,000 people working in 135 countries, what Hartmann does on a broader scale can easily be adapted to smaller and mid-size companies. How?
- Start with a business problem, not an HR problem
- Gather existing knowledge on the issue
- Align KPIs with overall strategy
- Standardize the metrics – adjust the targets as needed
Hartmann also suggests that organizations do not need to reinvent the wheel when there is so much data that already exists to help create a strategy – as long as strategies are customized to meet an organization’s unique needs. And this is something that we at East Tenth Group whole-heartedly agree with.
People analytics helps HR develop more precise and detailed answers to these questions:
- How can we increase employee diversity?
- How can we improve individual and team performance?
- How can we retain and engage top talent?
- How can we create more collaboration?
The ROI of People Analytics
According to research from Deloitte, companies that are “datafying” HR have two to three times better results in quality of hire, leadership development, and employee turnover, which directly translates into higher revenues, lower costs, and more profitability for the companies making these improvements in HR. Why argue with results that measure such improvement? Just do it. Become a ‘Believer.’
Now is the time to start identifying the business problems you can solve with people analytics
As the CEO & Founder of East Tenth Group, Michelle leverages 25 years of business and experience as a strategic advisor and executive coach to help drive actionable people solutions and provide practical insights on business strategy to senior leaders. she and her team and are fiercely committed to the development and growth of people and companies because we believe that when people thrive, business thrives.
