
We Have Workforce Data - Why Don't We Use It?
A top CEO on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year made a profound statement, “We have a lot of workforce data, but we don’t use it.”
What? I couldn’t believe my ears and asked an obvious followup question, “Why don’t you use the data that you have?” to which the CEO, a CHRO and a head of diversity, all of whom were also on the panel, responded:
“It doesn’t give us any insights.”
“It’s not actionable.”
“It’s not predictive. If it can’t tell me where I’m headed, what good is it?”
It’s true, HRIS data alone, cannot give you insights that are actionable and you certainly can’t get any sort of predictability of where you are headed in the next year if you do nothing. You need a workforce analytics tool.
As organizational leaders you’ve been told about the value of diversity in your workforce and particularly in your leadership ranks. But if you can’t break down your workforce information beyond the usual gender, race, and age–what do you have? You want to see way beyond that to answer questions like what experience is Gen Z having in my organization? Are they leaving the organization more often than other generations in their first three years? What do my promotions in the organization look like by pay grade? And so on.
Well, after hearing these executives’ responses, I was delighted that my company and workforce analytics tool, PARiTA, was in the right place at the right time. Everyone on the panel seemed to share the same problem. We have the answers–here are the top three things you should be getting from your workforce platform for actionable insights and predictive analytics:
1. Intersectionality
Your employees are not a homogenous group. They differ in many ways. Those differences are what makes your organization so powerful.
As such, you need to look at your employees through the lens of those differences. Not just gender, race, and age, but also intersectionality–with gender and race in the same visualization with other markers, or “Attributes” as we call them, like pay grade, performance level, tenure, performance and more.
For instance, if you want to know how many promotions women get compared to men in the past year, you may also want to know if the answer changes by race/ethnicity, and how performance impacts the results. Of course, you want these answers in seconds, not hours or days.
2. Early Warning System
Nothing is more actionable than to be able to see actual risks in your workforce documented plainly and clearly.
Are people of color leaving your workforce more than their white counterparts? Are your GenX employees being left behind for promotions? Are you mostly recruiting in white men into senior roles?
At PARiTA, our AI-enhanced software will alert you when unbalanced practices are occurring, and where.
3. Longitudinal Views
Looking at employee data over time allows you to not only see progress but also use trend analysis to see into the future.
In other words, if all things being equal, and you did nothing differently, how would your results look a year from now? And if your data show a downward trend, you would also want to know what some best practice solutions are to correct and change the trajectory.
10-Point Workforce Analytics Tool Checklist
Don’t try to understand your workforce through your HRIS system. If you are going to go beyond the one-dimensional data from your HRIS system, you need a powerful workforce analytics platform that’s easy to use and built for the non-analyst.
Here’s a handy 10-point functionality checklist to use when considering a workforce analytics system:
Intersectionality of gender, race, and key attributes like pay grade, all on the same visualization
Early warning system to easily see gaps and inequities
Longitudinal Views with predictability built-in
Benchmarking by industry, size, and location
AI-enhanced best practice advice tailored to your workforce and any gaps you may have
Know your top three problem areas without having to search your whole database
See your data today and historically to be able to show progress over time
See the impact of events on your results; create easier ROI analysis
A natural language query bar that can answer any questions you have about your workforce.
The whole employee lifecycle is in view from representation to recruitment, compensation, promotions, attrition and culture.
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