Friday Dec 13, 2024
Friday Dec 13, 2024
Wednesday, 14 December 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Human Capital Analytics workshop – A Foundation Level was planned and executed as a collaborative effort of SHRM India and Association of Human Resource Professionals (AHRP), Sri Lanka, on 9 and 10 November.
The workshop helped the 25+ attendees in gathering business acumen and organisational knowledge for linking metrics to derive insights. It also further helped them connect human capital data to business operations for enabling effective business decisions. The workshop facilitators, Nilakanta Srinivasan and Sushil Tayal, Master Facilitators of SHRM India, made use of case studies and real-life examples related to the Human Capital function, to explain the concepts of analytics, which received a great feedback.
The workshop was kick-started by Pradeepa Kekulawala, President, AHRP, who spoke about how the human capital management has changed the marketplace and now it is a science based on quantitative reasoning adding value to the business and bottom line. He added: “The Human Capital Analytics programme is facilitated by HRP in partnership with SHRM India as one of our professional development initiatives. In our quest be the catalyst in transforming the local HR management landscape on par with international standards, we introduce programs of this nature to raise the bar of local practices in line with international best practices. We are therefore very pleased to present this programme to local professionals and are encouraged by the overwhelming response we have had, which will lead to similar and more advanced programmes in the future.”
Achal Khanna, CEO, SHRM India was delighted to launch these open professional development programs in association with AHRP. “This is just the beginning and we will together work on advancing the HR profession in Srilanka in the days to come, which is the objective of this SHRM India and AHRP partnership,” she said.
Here are excerpts of an interview about the workshop with Master Facilitators Nilakanta Srinivasan and Sushil Tayal:
Q: How important is analytics in the HR space?
A: Companies such as eBay or Amazon were built by leveraging the power of analytics and that’s partially why and how we are aware of the term. Analytics is now making way into every industry and area of work. The workforce is a healthy mix of different generations today and the earlier approaches to engage them is thus getting redundant. The companies that are still struggling to catch up may lose the game soon unless they find smart ways of incorporating analytics into their strategies.
This is an era of data and analytics is the major pillar on which the foundation of success stands. HR has been a highly important and central function of the business. However, in many organisations, it is perceived to respond in a reactive manner and its decision making is perceived to be highly subjective. As the business environment gets more complex and analytics, as well as business intelligence is beginning to shape business decisions, it is important that HR takes proactive decisions, not based on guts but based on hard facts and data. Analytics gives HR far more meaningful insights into current reality and help in creating a path for the future proactively, supported by decisions taken based on scientific principles.
Analytics has become a key contributor in the HR decisions in the current age as it enables data mining through business analytics techniques using talent data. Analytics offers deep insights into an employee’s mind set and that too in numbers. It also tends to address the major challenge that Human Resource department faces in terms of data capturing, data mining and metrics or models to put in action to predict future actions that ensure best ROI on the costliest investment, ‘The Human Workforce’. It further also helps to create an efficient wireframe for future business decisions and improve the current scenarios to deliver better results based on accurate data.
HR analytics can help in making better and fair recognition decisions and retention of the workforce based on analytical numbers, rather than instinct. It curbs the malpractices as well, which are the major flaw to the HR system.
In fact, according to a survey done by MIT and IBM, the companies that use HR analytics efficiently showcased 8% more growth in overall sales, 24% increase in the net operating income and their per-employee sales increased up to 58% more than the companies that were not using HR analytics tools effectively.
Q: How will analytics help HR Practitioners?
A: With the increasing importance of HR analytics, it has become critical for HR practitioner to be able to process the data. It helps HR take informed business decisions. It provides such insight to HR on reality which otherwise often gets overlooked by general observation resulting in inappropriate decision making. HR can also further gather information on various employee attributes ranging from payroll, progression and achievements failures to personal data on a timely basis. This can be then applied to predict future trends and results.
An HR practitioner using analytics tends to understand and talk the business language and starts to focus on the HR contribution to business- which is the need of today’s workplaces. In business meetings, analytics help HR to present their contribution in far more tangible manner, focusing on the most pressing issues, being able to build HR solutions targeted to achieve best results for the business. Analytics helps them to go to the root cause of the problem much quicker and with scientific backing HR decisions have far more acceptability from across the board.
From forecasting workforce requirements and utilisation for improved business performance to optimisation of talent, identification of high-potential employees to primary reasons for attrition, analytics boosts organisational performance through effective talent management and retention decisions. Insights coming from analytics enable HR managers to play the role of a business partner and help them guide business managers effectively, on people-related strategies or address concerns.
Q: What does the foundation module cover?
A: This foundation level practitioner-focused program helped enhance the ability of the participants to analyse data to unearth trends, relationships and root causes in the HR domain. Participants were trained on statistical tools and methodology and their application in real-life work situations. They underwent experiential training on how to interpret the data, trends and validate trends using statistical standards and principles. They were also provided insights on how to plan, prepare and present effective analytical reports, highlighting insights and trends. The Advanced level looks into predictive modeling for future talent scope of the organisation.
Q: Where do you see the future of analytics?
A: Here’s how the future of analytics looks like, with small players adopting these practices as much as the larger ones:
HR analysts need to opt for the top down approach rather than the bottoms up data mining and remember that the quality of data is important. The workshop was a fresh take on things that matter and how to make faster decisions on talent data.
