Proper Data, An HR Life-Saver

When data is inaccurately processed, recorded, or analyzed, it impacts the accuracy of your KPIs

As every busy HR professional knows, maintaining proper data can take a back seat to day to day admin tasks and various employee issues that may crop up. However, when HR data is used to help make decisions it can directly affect how employees feel, namely by making employees happier, and that of course, adds immeasurable value to the company.

The flip side to that is when data is inaccurately processed, recorded, or analyzed, it impacts the accuracy of your KPIs. Your entire team will lose credibility as more and more inaccurate data is reported. Additionally, messy data can be time-consuming to correct on the spot. Implementing regular and consistent data cleansing processes and practices can be an HR life-saver. 

From the moment a new employee is on-boarded, they should be under an umbrella of policies that have been developed to create consistent practices throughout the employee's full data life cycle. This life cycle should include initial data entry all the way to the very end of the employee's engagement with your company. An easy example of a data life cycle would be the employee’s personal data, which is needed to process payroll. It begins when the employee is on-boarded and data like gender, department, and start date are accurately entered into the HRIS. Making sure the data entry point is consistent and reliable from the very beginning is key. 

HR leaders that have traditionally focused on softer elements like people, culture, learning, and development are becoming increasingly driven by hard numbers and data analysis...and that’s a good thing!  Accurate, value-driven data allows companies to confidently report to external stakeholders who may require the data including organizations like EEO and companies that require data for contracting opportunities, in particular, diversity data. 

Accurate data allows you to quickly identify negative workforce trends before they become large and very serious issues. If you're starting with bad data, the entire analysis process will be delayed and potentially never happen, mainly because you had to put substantial time/energy/resources cleaning the data. 

Accurate data, especially in your system of record, which is typically your HRIS, is very important because the information is being pulled from that system into all your other systems. If that data is infected, then you've essentially infected the whole body.

Lastly, once the employee leaves a company, HR’s duty to data integrity doesn’t stop. This is when data preservation is key. There are many federal and state guidelines that state how long employee’s files need to be held. Make sure to do your research thoroughly and work with your legal counsel to determine what your policies should be.

The cliche of "garbage in / garbage out" definitely pertains to HR, since the more inaccurate the HR data sets, the more inaccurate the data analysis of that initial bad data will be. Implementing regular and consistent data cleansing processes and practices can be an HR life-saver.