3 Ways People Analytics Software Can Up Your Talent Game

In a climate of turnover, it’s more important than ever to make data-based people decisions. People analytics software can help. In this article, Chris Moore, founder and CEO of ZeroedIn, discusses three ways to use people analytics software to retain and maximize your talent.

June 10, 2022

In a climate of turnover, it’s more important than ever to make data-based people decisions. People analytics software can help. Here are three ways to use people analytics to retain and maximize your talent.

The news can be worrisome for HR leaders and their 2022 business goals. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s JOLTSOpens a new window report, close to 4.3 million people quit their jobs in January 2022 — near a record set in November 2021.

And the Willis Towers Watson 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes SurveyOpens a new window states that 44% of employees are “job seekers”. Of those, 33% are active job hunters, while 11% planned to leave in the first quarter of 2022, making retention and, in turn, internal mobility a high priority.

3 Ways People Analytics Software Can Help 

With this in mind, HR leaders are looking at employee experience. The employee experience went from number 8 on their priority list in 2021 to number 2 in 2022. The fact is that a good employee experience can increase retention, hiring reputation, and productivity. 

A bad employee experience can be a big factor in turnover and retention. But it’s often hard to know employee sentiment or predict employee behavior without access to data. And even if you have access, it still might be difficult to go through the data, gather the information you need from disparate systems, clean it, analyze it, and get it to the people managers who need it most.

People analytics software can help.

1. Use people analytics to study your employee experience in-depth

The best people analytics solutions offer advanced analytic techniques that can provide insights into the employee experience using tools such as organizational network analytics, predictive attrition analytics, and preference analytics. What are each of these advanced network analytics, and how does the information help you understand your employee experience? 

Organizational Network Analysis

According to a Harvard PublicationOpens a new window , Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is the set of scientific methods and theories to help understand interactions within an organization. It helps executives and managers to intervene at critical times, increase performance, and reduce costs.

With the increasing pressures for systematic growth in times of a tight labor market, HR needs to increase the ability to understand, deliver, and use the data they have to make informed business decisions and successfully initiate change. As the way of working moves from structured departments to minimal hierarchical levels, work increasingly happens between people networks instead of prescribed reporting structures. The Harvard publication shows that employees look to their networks to find information and solve problems. Communication and data no longer flow solely from senior management to individual contributors. Instead, information moves through dispersed software and other networks between colleagues and teams. 

Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is a systematic way to understand how information, communications, and decisions move through an organization. It is the foundation for understanding how information in your organization actually circulates, how it could circulate, and how it should circulate. Having a keen view into organizational network analytics can help you discover subject matter experts and potential blockers in people data.

Predictive attrition analytics

Predictive attrition analytics uses algorithms to get a view into if, when, and why you may experience turnover and will help with workforce management, retention, and workflows.

To avoid bias and make better decisions, predictive attrition analytics based on predictive analytics, which uses behavioral and environmental data to uncover insights and trends, can help with workforce management, retention, and workflows.

Preference Analytics

And finally, preference analytics is the ability to separate data and cut through the noise. It allows you to look at only the relevant data to a department, manager, or workflow. You can use preference analytics to make more focused changes and decisions. It also helps segment managers and other data users, giving them only the data they need to see. This helps reduce distractions and delivers only the information they need in a discoverable point of truth.

See More: Are Employees Benefiting from People Analytics?

2. Use people analytics to create a data-backed strategic plan

Listening to your employees is key to fully understanding whether your employees want to stay and grow or are ready to move on. You can do so literally one at a time or through people analytics at scale. 

Analyzing data can help you understand if your team believes there’s a lack of flexibility, a lack of opportunity for career advancement, or simply the desire for more training to feel confident in their roles. After you determine what challenges you have, you can strategize ways to address them and close gaps.

Once you set up your people analytics solution, you need to ensure you gather all usage and activity data, both quantitative and qualitative, from all of your sources, including systems, surveys, focus groups, reviews, chats, and email. Remember, data can provide key information in understanding how likely your team will remain with your organization.

Next, you’ll need to carefully curate the data, especially complicated data, to help get the right insights to build your strategic employee growth and retention plan. The right people analytics software can help you easily clean and organize your data.

Next, spend real time studying your people’s data. Insights gathered from people analytics software can help you identify issues with turnover indicators like employee experience, job satisfaction, and team member mental health and well-being. They can also help determine high performers and internal subject matter experts ready for new positions. 

3. Use people analytics to build your growth and retention strategy

To retain and maximize your talent, you will need to build a data-backed growth and retention plan. This is where insights can beat intuition. Use your people analytics tech to guide you in creating your strategic growth and retention plan and, more importantly, help you gain buy-in throughout the organization. Armed with accurate data, you can pinpoint areas of improvement and maximize your subject matter experts to reach your retention and growth goals. 

Employee Experience Data Helps Retention

Your retention and growth strategy relies heavily on the amount and accuracy of the data you collect. People analytics software helps you not only audit and optimize data but also offers predictive analytics to ensure you have a clear view of your employee retention and growth. Using tech can give you a leg up in today’s tight talent market and help you develop the right plan to not only improve your retention but also develop your current talent.

How are you using people analytics software to retain talent? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .

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Chris Moore
Chris Moore

Founder and CEO , ZeroedIn

Chris Moore is the founder and CEO of ZeroedIn, the company that eliminates the struggles associated with Do It Yourself people analytics. As CEO, he sets the vision and strategy for ZeroedIn. Chris works closely with ZeroedIn clients and its team of data scientists to turn basic workforce data into powerful insights. He has been recognized throughout his 30 year career by industry analysts and practitioners for his innovations and contribution to people analytics, performance measurement, and talent management.
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