5 Ways to Drive Business Value With Talent Analytics

People analytics, which is also known as HR analytics and talent analytics, is the process of collecting and analyzing data about a company’s workforce in order to make informed decisions about policies and practices. If your goal is to improve the diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization, having data at your fingertips is key to understanding which untapped groups are represented in your company and which groups are not, how well you’re doing at retaining talent from different communities, and compensation and advancement inequities that need to be improved. This is a data brave approach that allows you to look at the realities of how successful you have been with your DE&I goals, and change course when necessary if you’re missing the mark. Continue reading to find out how people analytics can impact the diversity in your organization, as well as the best practices for using this tool to drive value to your business.

How People Analytics Improves Diversity in the Workplace

People analytics can help improve the diversity in your workplace in the following ways:

Identifying Hiring Gaps

People analytics allows you to get a clear picture of who is being hired—and who isn’t. If you’ve established diversity recruitment goals, then you already know what groups you need to target, so by reviewing HR analytics regularly, you gain an understanding of how well you’ve been doing. This information will allow you to address shortfalls so you can focus on the talent from underrepresented groups that you’re looking for.

Understanding Turnover 

Getting talent from underrepresented communities is great, but if you can't keep the people you’re hiring, you're still not improving DEI in your organization. People analytics can highlight turnover in your company so you know whether or not you’ve been successful at retaining talent from underrepresented backgrounds. Reviewing this data will tell you exactly which groups are leaving, and which groups are staying, and if you're doing exit interviews when employees do leave, you can cross-reference the data to determine why certain demographics choose to quit.

Closing Equity Gaps

If you're experiencing a lot of turnover among employees from underserved groups, compensation and lack of advancement opportunities in your organization may be the culprit. Use your people analytics to figure out if your pay structures are equitable across the board, or if you need to make adjustments. Also, look at which employees are being promoted and determine if there is an equity gap in this area that may be contributing to talent from historically marginalized groups leaving the company.

5 Best Practices for Using People Analytics

To get the most out of your people analytics, you need to use the information in the most effective ways. The following tips can help you utilize people analytics to drive business value.

1. Create a Clear Plan

People analytics will not help you hit your DEI targets unless you have a clear plan. What do you want to accomplish with your data? What problems are you trying to solve? What choices will people analytics help you make more effectively? Determining the answers to these questions will help you create a blueprint for what the data is going to be used for, and how it will contribute to making your work environment more inclusive.

2. Get the Right Tools

Once you have a plan in place, you need to find the right tools to help you gather the data you want. Based on the information you need to use, find people analytics diversity tools that will help you collect, visualize, and interpret data efficiently. Remember that if you don't have the right platforms available, you won't be able to make your data work for you.

3. Ensure Data Is Clean

Even if you have the right data collection platforms, if you don't keep your data clean, the information will be much less valuable. A good data hygiene process will ensure that your information is organized, standardized, and free of duplications so you don’t make incorrect decisions based on flawed figures.

4. Use Data to Make the Biggest Difference

With all of the possible data you can collect, it’s important that you don’t get bogged down with so much information it hinders your progress. Be sure to focus on data directly related to your objectives and the steps you should take to accomplish them. The data you have should be enough to inform the choices you need to make, but not so much that it confuses the issues you need to address. 

5. Consider the Legal Implications

When embarking on any data collection activities, be sure to consult your legal team in order to avoid any compliance issues. From collection to analysis to implementation of strategies, your people analytics may be subject to numerous regulations that you need to keep in mind as you move through your plan—which will go a long way toward ensuring you don’t derail your progress.

People analytics can be a helpful tool in reaching your DEI goals. Not only can you learn information that will boost your diversity recruitment plans when you collect and analyze this data, but you also can use it to address any inequities within your company.