HR Analytics 2023: 15 Predictions From People Leaders

People analytics can help organizations to better understand and manage their workforce

HR leaders, what do you predict will be a top people analytics trend in 2023 and why?

 

To help you best anticipate the trends in people analytics in 2023, we asked HR and people managers and business leaders this question for their best insights. There are several predictions about the role people analytics would play in managing the workforce in 2023 that would help HR and related teams shape their approach and response to employee issues.

Here are 15 predictions these leaders made about people analytics trends in 2023:

● Analytics Focusing on Data Governance
● Going Deeper into Employee Net Promoter Score
● Measuring the Employee Experience
● The Emergence of the People Experience Officer
● Focus On Performance Management
● Measuring the Impact of Culture on Employee Engagement and Retention
● Using Data to Identify Potential Issues Relating to Employee Satisfaction
● Use of Social Media Data in People Analytics
● People Managers Will Use People Analytics to Guide Workforce Decisions
● Massive Increase in People Analytics When Recruiting
● Managers Will Rely on Shared Scorecards to Improve Retention
● Using People Analytics to Identify and Address Unconscious Bias
● Increased Focus On HR Data Privacy and Security
●    Measuring Productivity
●    Understanding the Skills of the Workforce

Analytics Focusing on Data Governance

I believe that one of the top people analytics trends in 2023 will be a focus on data governance. As organizations increasingly collect and store data about their employees, there will be a greater need to establish clear policies and procedures for managing this information. This will help to ensure that data is used responsibly and accurately, and that employees' privacy rights are protected. Data governance also includes developing plans for how data should be used, shared, and disposed of. With the right policies in place, people analytics can help organizations to better understand and manage their workforce. Antreas Koutis, Administrative Manager, Financer

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Going Deeper into Employee Net Promoter Score

Employee net promoter score is a crucial people analytics statistic, but I predict in 2023 that HR and executive leadership will want to understand their eNPS by manager. Knowing the eNPS for your entire company is helpful, but doesn't help you identify where there are risks or opportunities for improvement. I expect organizations in 2023 to look at eNPS at a more granular level, particularly by manager or department, so that they can make specific adjustments to improve engagement and retention. Logan Mallory, Vice President of Marketing, Motivosity

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Measuring the Employee Experience

Having a great way to measure how the effectiveness of recruitment means little if you are not able to keep them there after they are hired, and this is why measuring the employee experience will be an HR analytic trend. The pandemic and the Great Resignation reshaped priorities and acted as a massive wake up call to businesses about the importance of maintaining a quality employee experience. Analytics will be designed and used to measure everything that affects the employee experience from the physical workspace, to technology, to company culture. The benefit of which will not only be displayed in improved retention rates, but also in higher productivity. As the competition to hire and retain talent intensifies, the emphasis on analytics that demonstrate key factors in the employee experience will remain at the forefront and will continue to be an HR trend well into the future. Cody Candee, Founder and CEO, Bounce

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The Emergence of the People Experience Officer

In 2023, we will see the People Experience role in HR emerge as employers look to get a handle on retention. That's all related back to getting smarter about "people analytics." In addition to absenteeism data, performance reviews and establishing SMART goals, People Experience officers will no doubt focus on the engagement data with new hires as well as the insightful (but usually overlooked due to bandwidth) data revealed in exit interviews. For example, how well are employees responding to onboarding and training? How engaged are they with the benefits selection process? These are early signs of employee happiness. What percentage of employees mention a lack of flexibility, vacation time or competitive salary in the exit interviews, are they leaving for better benefits? All of this data is important to retaining employees and improving the experience in the future. If competition for talent remains at this level in 2023, we are all going to be paying much more attention to data. Heather Smith, CPO and Senior Account Executive, Flimp Communications

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Focus on Performance Management

Assessing performance will be vital for people analytics this 2023.  This comes after prioritizing productivity and engagement since the Covid-19 pandemic occurred. Considering the effects of hybrid and remote work models, flexibility, and the use of digital tools, organizations will rely on factual data to make informed judgments in evaluating employees' work. By determining important metrics employees should reach, performance management could help organizations discover the best variables to focus on for further success. Abe Breuer, CEO, VIP To Go

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Measuring the Impact of Culture on Employee Engagement and Retention

Predictions are difficult, especially about the future, as the saying goes. But that won't stop me from taking a crack at it. I predict that the top people analytics trend in 2023 will be a focus on culture. By that I mean organizations will place a greater emphasis on understanding and measuring the impact of their culture on employee engagement, retention, and performance. This trend has been building for some time, and I believe it will come to a head in 2023. The reason is simple: culture is the X-factor that is often overlooked in people analytics but can have a profound impact on organizational success. When you couple this with the increasing availability of data and advances in AI and machine learning, you have a recipe for success. So, while I can't say for certain what the future holds, I'm reasonably confident that culture will be a top people analytics trend in 2023. Travis Lindemoen, Managing Director, nexus IT group

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Using Data to Identify Potential Issues Relating to Employee Satisfaction

As we move into the new year, HR leaders are looking to the future to predict what the top people analytics trend will be in 2023. One example is the use of data to identify potential employee engagement issues. By analyzing data on absenteeism, job satisfaction, and turnover rates, HR leaders can better understand where employees are most likely to disengage. This information can then implement targeted interventions to improve employee engagement and retention. Another trend likely to gain traction in 2023 is the use of machine learning to automate repetitive HR tasks. By freeing up HR professionals from these mundane tasks, they will be able to focus on more strategic initiatives that can have a greater impact on the organization. Tracey Beveridge, HR Director, Personnel Checks

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Use of Social Media Data in People Analytics

A trend that we see gaining momentum is the use of social media data in people analytics. As more and more organizations realize the power of social media for recruiting, retention, and engagement, they will start to collect and analyze social media data to gain insights into their employees. We also believe that people analytics will become more democratized in the coming years. In the past, people analytics has been largely the domain of HR professionals and senior leaders. However, we predict that people analytics will become more accessible to all employees, regardless of their role within an organization. This will allow everyone to have a greater impact on the decisions that are made about them at work. Linda Shaffer, Chief People Operations Officer, Checkr

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People Managers Will Use People Analytics to Guide Workforce Decisions

Advanced organizations more frequently serve people managers directly with people analytics (50% versus 28% among organizations just getting started with people analytics). 56% of these have achieved the business outcome level of value compared to 25% in emerging organizations. Those enabling people managers use nine analytics topics, often ones focused on optimizing costs, such as span of control analysis, and some that provide specific support to people managers, such as compensation analytics, total cost of workforce, and even ensuring pay equity as they also strive to improve diversity, equity and inclusion. These and other analyses enable people managers to make optimized decisions about their workforce. Lexy Martin, Principal, Research, Visier

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Massive Increase in People Analytics When Recruiting

I expect a massive increase in data analytics to improve recruiting outcomes. Companies are desperate for talent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we currently have 11.2 million unfilled jobs in the US. This is not only a historically high number, but also a 50% increase from the pre-pandemic record of 7.2 million unfilled jobs, recorded in 2019. The best way to improve hiring outcomes is to track the efficiency of your new methods so that you can see where you are getting the most bang of your buck and then double down on what works. One private equity portfolio company I worked with was spending massive amounts on job boards. Every hiring manager had a story of their favorite job board producing a good hire. Once they applied the right people analytics, they saw that the vast majority of their qualified applicants were being produced by three job boards. By reallocating their budget to the most efficient job boards they increased qualified applicants by 347%. Atta Tarki, Founder & Author of "Evidence-Based Recruiting" (McGraw-Hill), ECA Partners

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Managers Will Rely on Shared Scorecards to Improve Retention

Employee retention is a big deal right now. At the end of May 2022, there were 11.3 million open positions in the United States, significantly more than the 9.3 million positions which were unfilled in April 2021. Moreover, no industry is spared from "quiet quitting" characterized by disenchanted, marginally productive workers. Employee activation is a team sport requiring alignment on goals, insights, and retention actions between HR and functional business units.  After all, it's managers who have the greatest impact on employee work-life. In 2023, democratized data insights with shared scorecards powered by AI will inform both HR and business leaders alike with talent insights on how employees are fairing relative to burnout, career stagnation, disconnection, compensation, and recognition.  Actionable talent risk root causes with retention playbooks will improve retention, tracked in real-time with shared scorecards. Ken Klein, Co-Founder, Praisidio

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Using People Analytics to Identify and Address Unconscious Bias

As more and more organizations adopt data-driven approaches to their HR strategies, people analytics will become an essential tool for understanding and predicting employee behavior. The use of people analytics to identify and address unconscious bias in the workplace is the thing for 2023. As employers strive to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces, people analytics will play a key role in helping to identify unconscious bias in hiring, promotion, and performance management decisions. Louise Ogilvy, Recruitment Director, Propeller-Tech

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Increased Focus on HR Data Privacy and Security

As more companies adopt people analytics, the issue of data privacy and security will become even more important. HR leaders will need to ensure that their data is properly protected and that only authorized personnel have access to it. More use of AI and machine learning AI and machine learning will become increasingly important tools for people analytics. These technologies will help organizations to better understand and predict employee behavior, identify potential issues, and make better decisions about staffing and development. Greater use of mobile devices and apps More and more employees are using mobile devices and apps for work purposes, and this trend is only going to continue. HR leaders will need to make sure that their people analytics solutions are mobile-friendly and accessible from any device. Martin Seeley, CEO, Mattress Next Day

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Measuring Productivity

 

I believe measuring productivity will be one of the top trends. As we are now moving from The Great Resignation headline to beyond the Quiet Quit headline, we still need to understand how productive people are - and if hybrid supports it or hinders it. So many people have their opinions and research has been done, but it isn’t a black-and-white answer, nor is it a one-size-fits-all. Productivity for John is different from that for Shahzia. We have to recognize it and have the right data to help us navigate workplace planning. Michelle Berg, Chief Visionary Officer, Elevated HR Solutions Inc.

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Understanding the Skills of the Workforce

 

Understanding the skills of your workforce will be the top trend in 2023. The skills for jobs are changing and this is going to be the year that organizations realize they can no longer do anything about this. So adapting to a skills-first strategy where you can easily identify training needs is key to remaining competitive. Most companies only understand what they hired someone to do, not what this individual can actually do. At the same time, most companies don't monitor how the skills are changing for roles in their organizations. This results in inefficient deployment of the workforce and time and money being wasted on training and upskilling. What we are going to see in 2023 is a shift to understanding the skills and aspirations of each team member and strategically linking this with the present and future needs of the company Leah Carr, CEO, tilr

 

Author Bio

Brett Farmiloe is the Founder / CEO and currently the CHRO of Terkel.io Connect Brett Framiloe