People analytics: learn more about strategic HR!

People Analytics, or people analysis, is the concept that is giving something to talk about in the business sector and, especially, in the area of Digital HR. Large multinational corporations have already seen the potential to improve the implementation of these practices in their processes and now we can see an increase in the adhesion of smaller businesses as well.

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To help you stay ahead of your competitors with innovations that combine technological solutions with high-performance collaborators, Clicksign has prepared content with the main information you need to have about this principle. Continue reading and see another one of our posts about Digital HR and its benefits!

What is People Analytics?

People Analytics is a methodology for managing employees that is based on the collection and analysis of data about people who make up a team. Thus, those responsible for managing the company can use this information to make more assertive decisions about how to use your human resources. This operation is based on two main ideas, the first of which is the fact that a company is made by and for people, so employees must be the focus of the organization for the objective of reaching customers to be achieved. The second basis of this guideline follows the thought that technological tools are necessary for the proper functioning of a business and serve to assist human capital, not to replace it. In other words, the analysis of people becomes a means to achieve the best performance of that team and, inevitably, this process will have a push from software and machines. Gathering the maximum information about the unique characteristics of each person, management and A business's HR can understand the best way to take advantage of its skills and help solve problems What are shown to be a bottleneck in productivity. Because of this ability to improve the company's relationship with the employee and optimize the role played by that person in the processes in which they are involved, this methodology is being sought by managers from all sectors. And the factor that allows this way of operating to be so assertive is the variety of possible analyses to be carried out based on the data collected.

What types of analysis can be performed?

Talent analysis can be divided into four different ways of looking at the available data about your workforce. Learn about the characteristics of each type!

• descriptive analysis: answers the question “what happened?”. A comparison between given steps and current steps to identify improvement and worsening points in the team's performance, so that solutions can be applied to solve them;
• diagnostic analysis: answers the question “why did event X happen?”. It uses the available information to seek to understand the reasons that caused a recurring error in the company's processes, or to identify what caused a significant improvement in the results of a certain sector. As the name suggests, it makes a true diagnosis of the operation to identify what affects this area positively or negatively;
• predictive analysis: answers the question “what can happen?”. It seeks to understand the possible effects generated on employees by the decisions that are being taken;
• prescriptive analysis: answers the question “what can happen if decision X is taken?”. It is a more specific version of predictive analysis, since it projects consequences by focusing on just one modification and unraveling all its effects.

Did you see how the guiding questions in these analyses follow a logical sequence? They were modeled in this way to allow a complete mapping of the issues involving the people who make up this team. A first evaluation in the People Analytics methodology must cover all of them, knowing in depth the company's problems and strengths, as well as understanding what causes them and what changes in that system can generate. However, to maintain strategies, it is possible to choose only some of these exams.

How exactly does this methodology work?

The way of operating within this methodology is also divided into four stages that make it possible to map the entire scenario to be analyzed and guide the managers' next decisions. See how each of these phases works to carry out the analysis of people!

1. Data Collection

The first stage consists of collecting employee data, using forms, interviews, social networks, production reports, feedback, payroll, information about training, company time and everything else you think is relevant to know about the team. Don't forget that the purpose of all this data collection is not to monitor any person or make them think that they are under constant observation, this process aims to identify the characteristics of those who make up the team to guide them in the best way possible.

2. Calculation of information

It's time to use the information collected in the previous step and transform it into indicators. For example, if you have researched the educational level of each of the team using what was said in an interview for this purpose. To make these references a number, it is necessary to calculate how many employees have completed college, how many have graduate degrees, or are still studying. In addition, these data can also be analyzed qualitatively, accounting for how many people have degrees directly linked to the sector that the company covers and who came from other areas of activity. This same process must be carried out with the other points raised during the first phase.

3. Correlation modeling

This is the time to interconnect the data obtained and calculated previously. Following the example we mentioned about the level of education, is it possible to relate the different levels of education to the average salary of employees? Or are people who have completed more training in higher positions in the hierarchical organization of your business? The modeling of correlations It seeks to identify meeting points in the data, so that it is feasible to understand what factors influence certain situations, whether in terms of productivity, result delivered, career advancement, or any other critical point.

4. Analysis of ideas

Understanding the relationships made in the previous step allows us to develop ideas to solve the bottlenecks that concern management. Thus, the last step of the People Analytics method consists of studying possible resolutions to offer better resources to the team and also obtain an optimization in the results generated for the company and clients. All these steps can be performed with the help of technological devices, automations and software that we have already talked more about in the post”Employee lifecycle in the company: how to optimize?“and this has everything to do with Business Intelligence, did you know that?

Relationship between People Analytics, Big Data and Business Intelligence

Believe it or not, these three concepts are completely related and to simplify how exactly this connection occurs, we need to start by talking about what exactly is Big Data and Business Intelligence. So let's get to the definitions! Big Data is a way of studying how to obtain a large amount of data that cannot be processed in the traditional way. It is a strategic method for analyzing information. Meanwhile, Business Intelligence refers to the use of technology to understand data that guides business management. Thus, we can understand that People Analytics is a methodology that uses these two tools to be able to collect information, process it and organize it in such a way that they allow an analysis that generates solutions. These concepts are directly linked to the four-step operation that we explained before. If it were not for these devices, it would not be possible to identify all the necessary data about each employee and model these findings in such a way that they would show the cause and consequence of critical factors directly linked to the enterprise's workforce.

What actions can People Analytics help HR with?

The analysis of people can assist your brand's personnel department in the most important activities in the sector.

Talent Management

By knowing the skills, understanding the productivity that each employee can achieve, discovering their skills and also the points of greatest failure, talent management - which is an HR responsibility - becomes more assertive. This has positive consequences for the team, which is treated in this methodology as the center of the organization, and also for the company that Will there be a workforce acting at its maximum potentiall.

Development of improvements

By carrying out all the data collected in this technique, it is possible to identify which processes have the most flaws or the activities that could be optimized if the team had better knowledge on the subject. Thus, the back office sector can discover what training it must invest in to obtain employees who can deliver greater results. Although this action requires certain investment on the part of the company, the improvement in operations will bring a visible return and will even increase the chances of acquiring even more customers.

recruiting

Carrying out an analysis of people when posting a vacancy is essential, especially with the advancement of online selection tools. This practice can help to better screen which profiles could fit with the company culture and also which ones have more characteristics aligned with the network of collaborators you wish to train. If you want to understand more about the online selection of candidates, check out our content on 5 recruitment and selection techniques in the era of Digital HR, because we explain more about it there!

What are the advantages of using People Analytics?

After everything we've explained to you, it's not hard to understand that this methodology offers a great advantage for your company and also for those who are part of the team. Even so, we've listed the biggest benefits of adopting this system. See what they are:

• have more assertive actions;
• generate better team preparation;
• higher process speed due to the use of technological tools;
• be able to generate strategies with greater results;
• be able to follow the metrics of advances in the brand's human capital;
• optimize HR activities;
• better use of talent;
• reduction of bottlenecks.

Take advantage of all this information to start using People Analytics in your business and be able to carry out more assertive management. Count on Signed Chat blog to learn even more ways to use automations and technological tools to optimize the results obtained. See also our post about digital certificates for companies, one of the most useful devices for the agility of internal processes!