2017: The year of HR data ninjas

Human resources departments around the world will experience profound shifts during the next few years, and it’s all being driven by a single factor - data. 

Just as data and the insights it provides has changed many areas of business, so it will change the way organisations recruit and manage their staff. The potential benefits for those that get it right are massive.

So, as we enter into 2017 with the knowledge that HR must be able to show credible data relating to factors such as productivity, engagement, and performance.  Let’s check out three critical elements that will feature in your journey as a HR Data Ninja.

1.    Data-driven recruitment and management
Rather than using job descriptions, HR departments will increasingly focus their recruitment activity on staff profiles. These profiles will be based on high-performing people already within the organisation. What qualifications do they have? What experience do they bring? What personality traits do they possess?

A new data-driven approach will also be taken for staff management. Rather than promoting people on personal intuition or pressure from managers, decisions will be based on data gathered about their actual performance. Who has consistently met sales forecasts? Who has suggested productivity changes? Who outperforms the average? Such data will be constantly gathered and used to ensure decisions are based on solid evidence rather than intuition or personal opinion.

2.    Looking into the Crystal Ball: Predictive Analytics Take Charge for Performance Management 
Ultimately, businesses want more productive employees. In an age where every dollar is important, raising employees’ productivity allows you to get more output for the same investment to drive your business forward.

In order to really utilize their employees’ best skills, businesses will look at their workers’ behavior more closely. Are they engaged, are they happy? What interests them to stay involved within the company? We will see that cloud-based systems will take talent and succession-planning data, to help predict and make intelligent next-role recommendations and connect employees with mentors to help prepare them for that particular role. Analytics can answer questions you might have thought previously impossible. Predictive analytics can not only lead to the source of the breakdown, but also provide forward-looking insights that illustrate how an issue or employee may evolve.

3.    Scouting the Players: Businesses Will Get in the Competitor Game By Identifying with Consumers
In 2017, CHROs will recognize that modern, intuitive application user interfaces and consumer friendly applications matter more than ever in the year ahead. While you can put a price on the cost it takes to integrate User Experience into your solutions, the value gained from providing a simple, intuitive interface is unquantifiable. This is why many CHROs are looking for ways to create quality experiences that will delight instead of frustrate employees.  

Digital solutions are your gateway to collecting and analysing quality data. So, through the information gleaned from your digital HCM software, businesses will be able to determine how to best align talent strategies to business objectives and remain a top competitor in the workplace.

2017 is going to be an exciting, change-filled year. Through embracing the opportunities of data and analytics, the HR department of 2017 and beyond will become an even more vital resource for successful organisations. Here’s to 2017, Data Ninjas!

This article was originally written by Yazad Dalal, head of HCM cloud applications, Asia Pacific at Oracle Corporation.