In the two previous articles, we looked at the benefits of using business intelligence (BI) in sales and marketing. We will continue to examine how BI can help different functional departments of companies. This article will focus on human resources (HR).
HR is often seen as based on social aspects, psychology and other qualitative factors rather than being the game of digits. However, in reality HR departments have massive amounts of data. Think about all the employee data, profiles, compensation and benefits information. To turn this data into valuable information and extract key insights, a BI software can be used.
HR is responsible for many important functions, including recruitment, workplace management, training, retention and yes, firing. With HR departments facing these challenges, BI can provide solutions in a variety of ways.
Better recruitment with BI
During a hiring process, HR managers go through a lot of information to find the right candidate to fill a position. With a cost per one hire being anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000, recruitment becomes an important and costly business.
What BI can do is to quickly look at similar positions and identify most fitting skills a position. Once this is done, the next step is to go through applications with these pre-defined characteristics and pick top candidates. With a BI-centric approach, HR managers can get their hands free. This will allow them spend more time preparing for interviews and other human-related aspects of the hiring process.
Another recruitment-related issue is finding existing and potential staffing needs across company and fill them. BI can help uncover low productivity rates in different departments and teams, which then can be further analyzed. As a result of the analysis, either a new hiring may be needed or more staff training conducted to upgrade the skills.
Finally, a BI tool can help to better identify potential risks by looking into trends, like an increasing staff turnover. Uncovering these kinds of information can help HR managers to conduct a further analysis and come up with solutions before potential issues may arise.
Performance management
After HR managers hire and train new employees, their performance becomes a central question. BI can help to analyze a new hire’s performance. This can include details on tasks, how well the new employees managed them, and progressed. For example, BI can track an employee’s daily reports and information from CRM or project management systems. Then, a manager can look at how he or she did on the first day, one month after that, and so on.
When it comes to assessing long-term employees, BI can focus on other performance indicators. These can include a detailed comparison of last year and this year KPIs. This can be evaluations of metrics from similar positions at different companies across the industry. Overall, by aggregating all the available and related data, a BI software can paint a better overall picture of employees’ success. It can also help HR managers to identify areas where to focus and provide support.
Being able to drill down into the details of employee information and demographics, BI can help HR managers to spot trends like employee ageing and sick leaves. Knowing these trends is vital. Especially in developed countries where populations are ageing and a number of young people entering workforce is declining. When a department director knows that several of her employees will be retiring in a few years, she can start attracting fresh talents now, training them and keeping the best people for the job.
Overall, BI tools are a crucial addition to HR departments. With a BI software onboard, HR managers can use its data analytical capabilities to enhance recruitment. They can also assess employee performance, encourage better communication and collaboration within a company.