Like many industries, HR has faced a variety of changes over the past several years (and the past year in particular!). Some shifts are more temporary than others, but one practice that seems here to stay is the usage of analytics in the HR and people field. So why are people analytics so important?
What Are People Analytics?
Firstly, let’s take a look at what people analytics are (it’s helpful to note that people analytics are also sometimes referred to as HR analytics). Broadly speaking, people analytics are metrics and data points related to HR and recruitment work. Essentially, this quantifies the work of these teams—a difficult task, considering the qualitative nature of “people” work. An important component of people analytics is the actual analysis of the data—collecting numbers is only helpful if one knows how to interpret and use that information. People analytics can be used to measure and improve a variety of focus areas including recruitment, retention, and diversity and inclusion. A few key people analytics, from recruitment to retention, include:
- Application completion rate
- Offer acceptance rate
- Cost-per-hire (CPH)
- Diversity of applicant pool
- Quality of hire
- Turnover rate
- Diversity rates across the entire organization, individual teams, and leadership
Tracking these analytics is helpful for a variety of reasons. For one, the sooner you start, the sooner you are able to establish a baseline to gauge improvement. Additionally, this baseline will help you to see what areas are the most lacking. The actionable insights that come from people analytics mean you can build out both short-term and long-term goals and projects. Plus, the longer you track analytics, the more likely you are to see helpful patterns and understand what HR and recruitment practices work (or perhaps don’t) for your organization.
Ultimately, the importance of people analytics is changing HR in two important ways: quantifying previously qualitative information and giving HR teams the means for more strategic planning and projects than ever before.
People Analytics and Modern Technology
Given our increasing reliance on modern technology, it probably comes as no surprise that the rise in the use of people analytics in HR is also tied to modern recruitment technology. A large reason for this is simple logic: humans are not able to process the same amounts of data at the same rate that specialized software can. First, we started off with software that was able to crunch numbers and deliver analysis. Now, modern technology—like PandoLogic—has evolved to not only analyze data but also to use those learnings to make decisions.
What does that mean for you? A huge increase in efficiency, with equally decreased guesswork. (In other words, a win-win.) In particular, PandoLogic’s programmatic recruitment software, pandoIQ, analyzes historical data points related to job postings—combined with real-time results—to help you build a personalized and optimized job campaign. The more efficient your campaign, the better results you will see, from decreasing CPH to increasing quality of hire.
Data-driven HR has led to the most strategic period of recruitment and HR work yet. It’s why not only is the focus on people analytics here to stay, but it is also likely to continue to grow in the future. The best way to keep up with these changes? Adopting the modern technology that is already looking toward the future of recruitment.