Any time a company implements a new technology tool, there is a wonderful byproduct: a massive amount of new data. The challenge is learning how to leverage that data and the data you already have.
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Risk of Talent Loss
There has been a recent push to predict when turnover will occur, and luckily a variety of third-party solutions exist to help do this. According to researchers K Mishra and Weena Momin, these solutions can take into account a large number of variables and pinpoint where your organization's attrition lies. However, I am surprised at how many managers and leaders overlook a key data point that is often collected during performance management and succession planning: flight risk. A majority of performance management and succession planning systems ask managers to provide input on the flight risk of their employees, but due to the confidentiality of the performance management and succession planning process, this data is typically never aggregated or shared with the talent acquisition (TA) team. If you collect this data during that process, it can be a good proxy for predicting voluntary turnover. The TA group can start building pipelines for critical roles where there is talent risk.
Data on Talent Shortage
One of the gold mines for HR data is applicant information stored in companies' applicant tracking systems (ATS), according to the authors of A Study on Analytics of Human Resource Management in Big Data. There is a treasure trove of competitive information in the ATS, but let's focus on the most critical usage: to determine if there is a talent shortage in the company and surrounding area. Sadly, a lot of organizations use what we call "post and pray" to look for new applicants, and then they start sourcing, which means getting specialized recruiting talent and access to databases. In my experience, I have found that most organizations don't utilize their existing candidate pools inside their ATS for these reasons:
- Confusion on how to search for specific profiles among previous applicants.
- A bias that an active applicant is better or more interested.
- For federal contractors, confusion about how the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs would think about bringing previous applicants onto an existing requisition.
Analyze a large set of applicants from over the last 12 months and see how many unique applicants applied for a specific job title, and then compare that against the local available labor pool. One client I worked with had a critical manufacturing role in a state where only 550 workers held that skill. When we ran the analysis on the applicants, 450 of those people were already inside the client's applicant tracking system. This immediately changed the organization's recruiting tactics from using time and resources to find candidates to instead building quality relationships with previous applicants.
HR Data Capabilities
Consider HR data as one of the most important assets an HR department has. Data can drive strategic insight, which can then drive change in a company's business strategy and culture. HR data truly is a strategic asset. So, is HR being a good steward of the data? Here are some questions to ask to determine the quality of your data stewardship:
Do you understand how the data is being obtained or lost?
There are many potential data sources that could drive business insights but are not being mapped. For instance, do you track how many queries your HR portal receives on harassment or the hotline reporting number, or how many times those pages are viewed? Do you track how many people come to the careers site and compare that to how many people apply? Retailers call it their abandon rate; why don't we? If 100 people come to the careers site and only two apply, that would indicate a problem with the application process. Notably, individuals who never apply never show up in the candidate satisfaction scores.
Do you understand how to get to the data?
Per researchers John Boudreau and Wayne Cascio, there is often a lot of data being generated, but being able to capture it can be a challenge. Do you know how to find and use the data you are collecting?
Can you compare data across systems?
This can be a technical or a cultural problem. There may be subject matter experts who know their individual system, but they may not be comparing data across systems due to technical obstacles or silos.
Can you analyze the data?
Does the HR department have individuals and tools to handle large data analysis? Depending on the size of an HR department, that capability can range from business analysts using simple spreadsheets to full teams with data scientists using more sophisticated tools.
Can you use data to tell a story?
This last step is the most critical. Do team members know how to build a concise outline of their observations and use the data to tell a story that executives can support and buy into? An example of this is when an HR department uses data to relate that 1 in 5 employees has been in a manufacturing company for less than one year, and 1 in 3 employees moved to a new job in the last 12 months due to promotions and lateral movement. These two data points make it very easy for the executive team to understand the need and to support new training on safety and quality skills.
Franz Gilbert is vice president, solution provider programs, at Bersin™, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
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