Data intelligence is the analysis of information that can be turned into knowledge and in turn, into value. It can help a business increase productivity, expand services and grow investments, all of which contribute to driving profits up.
With technological developments, including cloud storage and data mining, we have access to greater volumes of data than ever before – so-called Big Data sets, as well as a myriad of specific records from individual companies.
Data intelligence can be applied to several areas of a business, including Human Resources (HR). In HR it can be used to improve individual or group employee experiences and performances, recruitment processes, and respond to specific challenges more efficiently and effectively.
In short, with increased access to different kinds of information and the technological power to interpret it meaningfully, HR professionals are able to work smarter not harder, and have a greater impact on their organizations. Below are 7 concrete examples to illustrate this point.
- Better Recruitment and Shortlisting of Candidates
Traditionally, the process of hiring for open positions has been incredibly time-consuming. By intelligently analyzing the facts, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technology can streamline and simplify a lot of the tasks entailed.
For example, AI could be used to look for suitable internal employees, and then narrow the pool of applicants down to the most suitable candidates for interviews. Software can also screen resumés for key phrases and words, or follow the career path of promising individuals to make headhunting easier.
In addition, companies going through periods of especially high-volume hiring can use data intelligence to identify qualified and available individuals. Rather than posting a general call for applications, they could then reach out to these individuals via personal emails – which is more likely to lead to a successful hire.
- Improved Performance Measurement
People analytics is an important concept in HR management. Raw data on employees’ interactions with their peers and superiors, along with comparisons on the same performance metrics, should give executives a clear idea of how competently every staffer is in carrying out their duties.
With this information, they can reward workers who are achieving above-average results and going the extra mile. Such recognition is often vital to maintaining a task force's motivation, which in turn is essential to productivity and profit. At the same time, any employee who is struggling can be identified and assisted early, giving them more opportunities to succeed.
- Boosting Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is key to employee retention. Once the right person for the job has been hired, businesses should strive to keep them and thus avoid going through a costly recruitment process all over again.
By polling their own employees or checking big data on what workers around the world have responded to, companies can make shrewd decisions on the kind of environments and privileges to provide to their staff.
Google famously provides generous paid holiday allowances, delicious free meals, pods for taking naps during the day and a host of other perks to those on its payroll – because that is what the data indicated would drive employee satisfaction. And though it has been mired in other issues and is no longer considered the best place to work in the USA, it’s still in the top 20. The formula clearly works.
- Monitoring Workers’ Morale
Another aspect to ensuring employee retention is making sure that the overall office or factory floor morale remains high. Rather than relying on questionnaires or interviews where staffers might not be completely honest about how they are feeling, today’s employers are able to take advantage of sophisticated algorithms.
These algorithms monitor internal emails to gauge the emotions of the staff members who wrote them. The specifics are disregarded and kept anonymous, since the objective is to identify the tone of the messages. By understanding which employees are stressed, irritated, happy, or disappointed, executives can take appropriate action to raise or maintain their morale.
Software can also be used to establish a baseline of certain behaviors, and then notify businesses when workers deviate from these norms. For example, they can note and store the number of keystrokes typed, emails sent, and internet browsing logged by an individual within a month. If any of these numbers change significantly, they could indicate distress or suggest that the staffer was considering leaving the organization.
- Determining Key Employee Benefits
When deciding whether or not to submit a resumé, most people scrutinize the benefits that a company offers. By carefully collating which benefits workers use, need or like the most, businesses can prioritize those subsidies. This will not only make them more attractive to anyone considering applying for a job with them, but will also help with existing employee satisfaction and retention.
- Chatbots Assist Employees’ Decision-Making
In any HR department across the United States, several issues are important but are very tedious to deal with. Consider someone who cannot be granted the leave they apply for, either because they don’t have the days available or because too many other people are taking the same time period off.
Conventionally, HR teams would have had to receive the leave application, review the records, and send official emails or paperwork approving or denying the vacation days. In today’s tech era, employees can verify that they do qualify for leave with an intelligent chatbot, and then conduct the entire application process with the bot.
- Identifying Gaps in Employee Knowledge
Regardless of their size or specific industry, organizations are always striving to improve. A workforce with a solid knowledge base is imperative to growth and progress, and data intelligence can be an especially useful way to identify gaps in that know-how. By revealing the areas that most require training, AI and other technology can help reduce embarrassing blunders and feelings of being overwhelmed, to say nothing of occupational injuries.
Big data also makes it easy to demonstrate the benefits of continuing education to stakeholders so that they are more likely to approve the time and funds required for the training. Human Resource management remains people-orientated, but increasingly it is driven by hard numbers and facts.
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