HR analytics is fast becoming a desired addition to HR practices.
Data that is routinely collected across the organization offers no value without aggregation and analysis, making HR analytics a valuable tool for measured insight that previously did not exist.
But while HR analytics offers to move HR practice from the operational level to the strategic level, it is not without its challenges.
Here are the pros and cons of implementing HR analytics:
Pros:
- More accurate decision-making can be had thanks to a data-driven approach, which reduces the need for organizations to rely on intuition or guess-work in decision-making.
- Strategies to improve retention can be developed thanks to a deeper understanding of the reasons employees leave or stay with an organization.
- Employee engagement can be improved by analyzing data about employee behavior, such as how they work with co-workers and customers, and determining how processes and environment can be fine-tuned.
- Recruitment and hiring can be better tailored to the organization’s actual skillset needs by analyzing and comparing the data of current employees and potential candidates.
- Trends and patterns in HR data can lend itself to forecasting via predictive analytics, enabling organizations to be proactive in maintaining a productive workforce.
Cons:
- Many HR departments lack the statistical and analytical skillset to work with large datasets.
- Different management and reporting systems within the organization can make it difficult to aggregate and compare data.
- Access to quality data can be an issue for some organizations who do not have up-to-date systems.
- Organizations need access to good quality analytical and reporting software that can utilize the data collected.
- Monitoring and collecting a greater amount of data with new technologies (eg. cloud-based systems, wearable devices), as well as basing predictions on data, can create ethical issues.