Beyond Hi-Tech: Taking A “Deeper Dive” Into HR Issues

Realize what technology can do, and where human insight still needs to play a lead role

Advanced technology has cast a wide net across all human resources functions – recruitment, onboarding, training and development, retention, and overall employee engagement. Drawing on and analyzing employee data, HR managers with strong analytics systems and capabilities are poised to transform the work of building and managing a thriving workforce. Yet, HR has been slower than other functions in business to truly realize the potential of automation.
 

In a survey by HR.com, only 39% of HR executives recognized the importance of leveraging their data and analytics; fewer than a third felt they were in any way proficient at doing this. Still, 51% said that analytics and metrics technologies will play the most critical role in the future HR.

The strategic goal for HR – now and always – is to have the right people to meet the needs of the business, today and in the future. Harnessing the power of analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies will be crucial for organizations, helping to inform the following key management and operational decisions. 

During the pandemic, executives quickly recognized the importance of technology for mapping workforce requirements against projected revenue forecasts. Analytics and scenario planning allowed HR teams to model various levers such as salary reductions, furloughs, and reduced reliance on contractors over permanent staff reductions, to help get through some lean times. 

When businesses are ready to hire again, physical location for some positions may no longer be as important.  Widening the talent pool will allow companies to access to the best talent regardless of place and AI will play a critical role, helping hiring managers better match skills to positions from a universal pool of candidates.  

Deeper dive: It’s critical for HR to know what data points to use to identify a good candidate, recruit, or employee. This has traditionally been difficult to do. HR technologies can help companies better assess their hire data by factoring cost, output, skills match, and even engagement analysis.

In a blog post, globally-recognized talent management and HR tech strategist Meghan M. Biro writes that “to really leverage human capital now, we need to turn to the data that is constantly forming, streaming, reforming” as the organization progresses. “Passive and active candidates, onboarding, training, engagement, retention, attrition, performance, recognition: it can all be predicted with Big Data.”

All this data gives HR and business leaders the ability to make evidence-based decisions to address and improve turnover trends, retain high performers, forecast talent needs, and even anticipate legal risks with poor performers. Of course, these data sets need to talk to each other and with the plethora of HR systems, it’s not possible to find one platform that can cover all administration needs. To solve this dilemma, companies are increasingly turning to predictive analytics tools that can nimbly gather and assess data from all underlying systems to understand how the pieces of the puzzle all fit together.

Deeper dive: Problems arise when HR’s data sets are scattered across several systems. According to Sierra Cedar, the typical HR department has about 10 recruiting and 20 learning and development systems of record, generally acquired through SaaS vendors. HR needs to work with IT to get these databases to talk to each other. This data management exercise, if successful, provides not only stronger evidence for decision-making, but can reduce the cost of implementing and maintaining these systems.

For every HR program - from training to wellbeing activities - HR professionals should follow the lead of our marketing brethren and assess how end users are engaging and participating in these career development and benefit programs. Measurement should determine whether the program contributes to the right outcome for the business and its people. We all realize that measurement is more than just a reporting exercise; it's a step toward achieving ideal results. 

HR needs to identify the programs that drive the best value. Key performance indicators (KPIs) may cover compliance, cost reduction, productivity, retention and the like. HR professionals can then weigh the relative value of their investment (ROI or ROV) on every program they offer. People analytics has the capacity to collapse the narrow siloes of talent, benefits, wellness, or population health, bringing them all together to intersect and impact the employee experience and determine the real benefit for the individual.

Deeper dive: There’s a risk that relying on data and technologies to drive decision-making can alienate a workforce that’s been reduced to statistics, without valuing their unique needs and abilities. AI algorithms can indeed make these kinds of decisions, but in HR you want to be sure the human touch is present in every choice that affects people. 

Even with the right workforce plan, the right talent and the right programs, effective communication is still critical. Technology, of course, plays a significant role and digital channels have been critical to keeping workforces connected, especially with many employees working from remote locations. In the last year, we saw remote work supported efficiently by IT and webcast technology, allowing employees stay productive and connected. Microsites and employee feedback mechanisms have also ensured that communication flows in all the right directions.

Regardless of the channel, though, communication must be relevant to be impactful. The pandemic has reinforced that people cope with stress in different ways. The physical, financial, and emotional toll of Covid has required employers to get tools and resources quickly into the hands of employees and their family members that need them. Effective communication requires analyzing the wealth of data on how employees consume the various wellness, benefits, and rewards programs offered. Similar to the marketing analogy above, HR can then create individually-targeted notifications to guide people to the programs that can help.

Deeper dive: Human-centered design, the process of building out the full user (in this case, employee) experience based on the people you’re designing for, and ending with interactions that are tailor-made to suit their needs, helps to achieve an audience-of-one focus that can increase employee engagement. A generic approach can be valuable for top-down communication, but not much else. Even persona-driven models that help narrow the ideal experience still run the risk of being overly stereotyped. Personalized models assure individual data, including past interactions, is used to create a meaningful employee experience with the right messaging and tone, delivered via the right channel.

Analytics, AI, and other technologies remove much of the uncertainty of decision-making when HR tackles key management and operational issues. The key – the deeper dive – in all this is to realize what technology can do, and where human insight still needs to play a lead role. 

Scot Marcotte, is Chief Technology Officer at Buck. For 30 years he has helped organizations solve HR issues through the strategic use of data, communication and technology. He has co-authored a book on employee engagement, was named Xerox’s innovator of the year, serves as the press box announcer for the Chicago Bears, and is a regular presenter at global conferences.  Visit https://buck.com/  Connect Scot Marcotte