People Analytics is really what the words collectively mean: Analyzed data of People. These people are usually employees of a firm; and the data provides an insight into usually what all employers want out of their employees.
For People Analytics to work, you need to have a substantial amount of data at hand. What or even Who better than an HR Software to provide that data!
HR Software is a storehouse for data. With functions like:
- Talent Acquisition
- Applicant tracking
- On boarding
- Time-off tracking
- Employee database and Records Management
- Performance management
- Workflow management
- Payroll
An unfathomable amount of data can be acquired from HR Software. When this data is put to good use, miracles can happen.
Here is:
How your HR Software data can bring you closer to People Analytics?
- It is crucial for any company to assess the effectiveness of its people practices, programs, and processes. HR Software hoards all sorts of information about the people, programs and processes. This data when synced with Analytics provides an insight (NOT A DECISION).
2. Using HR Software, People Analytics becomes a revived experience. It gets faster, accurate, inexpensive and effective. Hard data is used to make soft-skill decisions. Be it people-related issues, such as recruiting, performance evaluation, leadership, hiring and promotion, job design, compensation, ollaboration or issues related to data management.
3. The world is speeding to automation. Data is becoming the new driving factor. Manual tools are becoming futile. The next big thing is never known. But, with People Analytics, predicting the future trends, gaps and skills becomes easy.
But,
Will your HR Software data empowered People Analytics to be as wise as your Manager?
A survey by Google on the Googlers themselves had astonishing results.
When the promotion of the Engineers who create algorithms for everything and anything, was automated by the following algorithm, it was not something an algorithm would have predicted.
The Promotion Algorithm (with 90% Accuracy):
Odds = e^ (-22.216) + (5.227*Average Performance)+(2.732*Manager Recommended)+(0.971*Self Recommended)
Probability (%) = Odds/ (1+Odds)
The Engineers who live and breathe algorithms were not happy with it. They didn’t want the Promotion decisions to be decided by a black box. However, when this algorithm was to be used to assess their individual decisions, it was more than beneficial.
| People Analytics | Manager |
| Machine Learning | Common Wisdom |
| Decisions based on holistic Data | Decisions based on data influenced by individual traits |
| Unbiased | Can be biased |
| Not emotionally invested | Can be emotionally invested |
| No impact of social norms on behavior | Behavior-based on social norms |
The bottom line is:
- People Analytics does not breed decisions. People Analytics is not the decision makers but only a tool to provide data for the decision makers.
- Managers matter. People Analytics can be used to improve the quality of your employees and Manager, but it cannot replace them. Improve your decisions by employing GREAT Managers. (See the definition below)
- Deciding who will be The Good, The Bad or The Ugly is a question that only your implementation can answer.
“Life isn’t an algorithm and we don’t intend to make it one.”
- A Googler
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- The People Analytics, The HR Software and The Manager - October 29, 2017
