Why analytics are HR’s best friend

Gone are the days of drawing up a business plan, looking at workforce planning and diving straight into recruiting.

Now, it’s about using analytics to map the existing skills in the organisation before looking at the potential competency gaps, according to NGA.NET managing director Karen Evans.

“It’s about looking at what you have, understanding the gaps and putting the right development plan in place so that you’re not just sending people on courses because it sounds like a good thing to do, but that they’re actually being developed in things that you know will drive the right outcomes for the business.

“To do all of those things, you have to be able to get your hands on the information. If you can pull out the analytics that show you, for example, where your biggest competency gaps are in the organisation, [you can look at] what kind of development you have done to fill those gaps in the past, whether it has worked and why.”

Evans said analytics could assist when looking at sourcing competencies externally, mapping out what was needed to fill a role and once an employee was recruited, measuring them against what the organisation expected them to achieve.

“Another area where analytics is really important is measuring engagement. We know, according to Gallup, that Australia and New Zealand have the lowest engagement measures. If you’re understanding that as an organisation and you’re managing your people to develop and grow them and put them in succession plans, you’re well ahead of the game in terms of resolving some of that.”

Evans said that if employees were consistently failing to achieve targets and goals, it warranted investigation.

“You can get started at the top and use that information to drill in and understand why you have a problem there. Any employee who is continually not achieving goals is going to struggle to be engaged. It’s the organisation’s job to help move them past that.”