The Reluctance to Embrace HR Analytics

There is a constant stream of research bring done within human resources, especially when it comes to technology and the increasingly popular subject of big data.

The main goal of many HR professionals is to ensure that their company is filled with the right people. They need to have the skills and abilities to perform their assigned roles well, and they also need to fit the company’s culture, as happy engaged workers work harder and stay in their roles far longer.

However in reality this is no easy task. PwC’s 18^th Global CEO Survey shows that 84% of UK business leaders consider the lack of access to the right talent and skills a significant challenge to business growth.

So how can HR overcome these challenges?

According to Deloitte’s 2015 Global Human Capital Trends Survey, 75% of all employers believe that HR analytics is important. Analytics can allow you to drill down into your past and current hires and see which sources of candidates have resulted in your most successful hires. It also allows you to look closely into the skills and characteristics that your best employees have in common so that you know what to concentrate on for future hires.

However despite this, the same survey found that only 8% were confident in their company’s strength in analytics. This figure has not changed since the same survey was conducted in 2014 – showing that despite this lack of confidence, HR has still not embraced analytics.

Why does HR seem resistant to this change? Is it a lack of resources? Lack of support from the rest of the business to embrace change? Maybe overworked HR teams simply do not have time to research analytics options.

With evidence demonstrating that using analytics in recruitment and people management can improve employer brand, better quality of hire and improved retention, it is beginning to look as if HR has a certain “fear factor” surrounding big data and analytics

For further reading on this subject, the whitepaper “Big data: Overcoming the HR fear factor” looks at the challenges and benefits of data and analytics in HR.

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Comment by Katrina Kibben on October 22, 2015 at 12:12pm: So here's my thought - I think it's more associated with the current staff working in HR departments than their acceptance of the fact that they need data. They don't have anyone who can explain what it means.

Thoughts?

Comment by Jay Freeborn on October 23, 2015 at 5:12am: Thank you for your comment.

The whitepaper at http://bit.ly/1OLVJeF shows that surveyed organisations do use some form of HR technology but few use it to its full capability. For instance most companies in the Career Builder Survey don’t source code their applicants.

I agree that HR departments are often lacking people with right skill set, and that this adds to the overall “fear factor” we discuss in the white paper.

Comment by Katrina Kibben on October 23, 2015 at 2:46pm: Sounds good. I guess I'll just have to check out the white paper and come back with some more questions then!

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