What’s happening in HR/people analytics?
Table of contents
- HR/people analytics is thriving, and so it should be
- Getting started with a career in HR/people analytics
- Busting myths about HR/people analytics
- HR/people analytics is expensive, complex, and takes a long time to set up
- HR/people analytics is for the big boys
- HR/people analytics requires a massive amount of data
- HR/people analytics focuses only on measuring employee attributes
- HR/people analytics can be automated with artificial intelligence
- A day in the life of an HR/people analytics leader
- Lessons from women in people analytics & HR: an e-book
HR/people analytics is thriving, and so it should be
The HR/people analytics industry has made its mark with a market size estimated at USD 2.7 billion in 2021 and an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.3% from 2022 to 2030. In fact, did you know that the second fastest growing job title in the US is HR/people analytics manager!
Why the continuous rise in demand? The answer lies in the business value it brings!
Source: Mckinsey & Company
People analytics dramatically improves HR functions and provides leaders insights to strengthen and streamline the workforce structure. From identifying the best talent and recruitment sources to reducing discrimination and providing better insights for more informed decisions, analytics will bridge the gaps in all business processes. There will be a leap in how organizations perceive and understand data insights to make intelligent and strategic business decisions.
HR leaders are expanding their organizations’ use of people analytics for skills management, learning, and development initiatives; closing the ever-widening skills gap; and much more. Take a look at the areas where HR/people analytics is now being applied to a wide range of human capital activities and linking them to workforce performance.
Source: HRForecast
At HRForecast, we believe that one of the best ways to stay on top of things is to be 100% inside the people analytics space. As part of our International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023 initiative, we asked HR/people analytics experts to help us identify factors that are likely to affect this field’s growth and tell us what is driving the future workforce. Let’s start with introducing our experts:
Cheska Samaco: Product Owner for Knowledge & Education, People Analytics at SAP
Elham Mirzakhani: Senior People Analytics Specialist at Zarrin Roya, Iran
Tanu Dixit: Director: HR Data Science at Pfizer, USA
Mona Dubey: Talent & Culture / HR Specialist, UAE
Read along as we share their insights on how to get started with a career in HR/people analytics, bust some of the myths surrounding the field, and walk you through a day in the life of an HR/people analytics leader!
Getting started with a career in HR/people analytics
Everyone wants to get into HR/people analytics, and for good reason. As a field, it is a huge asset to have on your resume today, especially if you are an HR professional.
According to the People Analytics Trends 2022 report by Insight222, “100% of leading companies now have the people analytics consultant role in their team.”
For decades, companies have struggled to support workforce decisions with enough data, and HR/people analytics has ended that struggle. It’s possible to get HR data, find patterns, and make predictions using those data insights. However, there is a misconception about technical wizards invading HR and the idea that you have to be one to solve workforce problems through analytics. In reality, you do not need to be a numbers genius or a people analytics scientist, but you do need to be comfortable working with HR systems and managing large amounts of data.
As Cheska Samaco, Product Owner for Knowledge and Education, People Analytics at SAP, said in her interview with HRForecast, “I don’t have deep technical expertise, yet I at least understand the surface level to explain it in more common terms for the business colleagues who don’t understand the technical perspective, and vice versa, trying to make the business colleagues understand that their request isn’t as simple as they think it is.”
For professionals looking to get started in HR/people analytics, here is a list of certifications and courses compiled by HRForecast to help launch an analytics career. These formal courses prepare you for a variety of HR functions, such as:
- Measuring employee performance
- Strategic workforce planning
- Identifying skills gaps
- Evaluating recruitment channels
- Assessing talent supply/demand
- Identifying attrition risks to improve retention
- Reducing hiring/promotion biases
- Competitive intelligence
- Predicting candidate success
- Organizational network analysis
Get detailed expert insights on core HR/people analytics-related topics
The Lessons from women in people analytics & HR e-book is packed with insights on how experts got started on their career journeys. It offers advice in key areas to help leaders drive more involvement in the people analytics/HR fields.
Busting myths about HR/people analytics
Over the past few years of growth in HR/people analytics, many scary myths and misconceptions have emerged. The stigma surrounding people analytics has created a false image of the entire industry, preventing leaders from bringing groundbreaking ideas and projects to life. This is all due to misinformation and a misunderstanding of how people analytics works.
Being in the people analytics space, we knew we had to do something about this. Let’s explore and debunk some of the most common myths about people analytics.
HR/people analytics is expensive, complex, and takes a long time to set up
Good news! With technology, implementing people analytics has become more cost-effective. Companies can save money by using only the specific elements of data they need and taking small steps. The idea is to not get overwhelmed by the many possibilities of people analytics.
Instead, focus on the company’s specific and immediate needs to create a value-added solution based on an understanding of your business culture, and unique challenges.
HR/people analytics is for the big boys
You don’t have to be part of a large organization such as Google, Dell, or Amazon to benefit from people analytics. The good news is that it’s scalable. In the long run, using HR/people analytics to drive data-driven decision-making ensures that companies with limited resources can make better use of them. Using HR/people analytics, companies of all sizes can reduce their margins of error and avoid costly missteps.
HR/people analytics requires a massive amount of data
As data is an important part of HR/people analytics, poor quality data is a non-starter. Typically, when a business begins using people analytics, it must extract existing data from multiple sources and cleanse it to make it usable. The cleansing process ensures the data is up to date, relevant, complete, and free of errors and duplicates. This process is critical because data quality ultimately affects the ability of the business to make accurate, informed, and beneficial decisions.
Elham Mirzakhani, Senior People Analytics Specialist at Zarrin Roya in Iran, had this to say when asked about the biggest challenges in implementing new people analytics and HR strategies: “You (as an HR/people analytics professional) will be faced with a messy database. Until now, the database had what people needed. You will even find false data that nobody cares about. Maybe you need some changes in the database structure. It requires lots of effort and patience. The most important thing is to meet with IT and all people working with data to align them and ensure they fully understand their roles.”
HR/people analytics focuses only on measuring employee attributes
Relationships may be more important than employee characteristics. Using only employee attributes to measure performance and potential is a narrow approach to people analytics. An employee’s value to an organization goes beyond demographics and psychographics. Relationships and networks influence employees’ performance and experience. The chemistry, or lack thereof, within and between teams can affect productivity and morale.
When we asked Mona Dubey, a Talent & Culture/HR Specialist in the UAE, about the most common misconception about people analytics and HR, she replied: “The most common misconception about people analytics is that it is only used to measure employee performance. While commonly it is used to measure performance, it can also be used to gain insights into employee engagement and other HR areas. It can also identify trends and develop strategies to improve the workplace. In my previous role at Accor, we gathered valuable information through people analytics and used it to build a better working environment.”
HR/people analytics can be automated with artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool once a task has been clearly defined that a computer algorithm can perform on its own. However, the number of artificial intelligence applications for HR/people analytics is still small.
HR/people analytics requires the input and effort of people with enthusiasm, curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Indeed, some tasks are better done by computer algorithms. But you still need a human to tell the systems what to do. You also need humans to identify new data that can benefit the algorithms, design processes, provide data, test the algorithms, and find ways to communicate and use the results. The current state of artificial intelligence still leaves a lot of work for people in HR/people analytics!
A day in the life of an HR/people analytics leader
HR/people analytics is undoubtedly a major force in changing the workplace, as the combination of technology and analytical services enables more convenient workflows. A typical day might include any number of data requests or none at all. One day, an HR/people analytics leader might be asked for a simple current status report right out of the system, while another day they might want to look at employee turnover based on analytics for a department over a number of years.
This is what Tanu Dixit, Director of HR Data Science at Pfizer in the USA, had to say when asked what people analytics or HR strategies she uses as a leader every day: “I truly believe in the power of collaboration. Research has shown that diverse perspectives on any problem make the solution richer. I feel energized when I must be courageous, challenge the status quo, and propose new, simple, and sometimes unique ways of approaching or solving a business problem with our colleagues and with customer satisfaction in mind. Working in pharma, I feel proud to be doing my part in lending an objective voice to our colleagues to support our company’s purpose and values. To this end, I like to advocate for the role of pharma companies in making the world a better place both inside and outside the company.”
Lessons from women in people analytics & HR: an e-book
Companies in nearly every industry can benefit from the actionable insights in the Lessons from women in people analytics & HR e-book. This is especially true once you’ve passed the 100-employee mark, when the company’s size and organizational complexity result in the availability of richer data.
In short, there is something in this e-book for every professional who is looking for a way to get their workforce ready for the future.
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