Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 21 executive leadership — will be leveraging the appropriate data insights and what outcomes they hope to achieve. From a strategic perspective, that can mean using analytics to determine the future- proof talent strategy needed as offices reopen, such as building employee confidence working in the cloud, e-commerce and security. Determine technology gaps, required capabilities and business value: Determining what technology enhancements are needed and, in turn, the business value that will be delivered, is a crucial step toward articulating the business case for robust people analytics capabilities. For example, consider how much time and money would be saved during recruitment if a business could better understand why people are attracted to the organization and what personality and behavioural traits are more or less compatible with potential work colleagues. Additionally, an employer could determine, through a more detailed and future-focused analysis of critical skills needs, which learning and development programs would improve customer experiences, drive new sales channels or reduce operational inefficiencies — and hence costs — across the organization. HR practitioners can study the data themselves or automate their analysis and use appropriate visualization tools to enhance their storytelling. Another important consideration is to determine where relevant data comes from, who owns the data and what tools or dashboards will need to be developed. Employers must not only consider how data ownership and control will change in an analytics-driven operating model but refer to the talent-related risks and data analytics-driven approach that beneficiaries outlined to stay on track and maximize the business value of investments. Invest in HR employees through upskilling: "Resistance to change" is a common reason why technology and capability improvement initiatives often fail. Not everyone in HR is familiar with data analysis, business intelligence- related technology or data visualization techniques. But given the range of HR data that can be analyzed and the broad spectrum of benefits that people analytics can deliver, employers should dedicate appropriate time and resources to upskilling their HR teams. Articulating the story behind the data, and the strategic and tactical implications of trends and forecasts, is something that HR practitioners will need to become more comfortable with. Equipped with new skills and a new lens through which to view and understand analytics, HR can gather better insights. For example, business leaders may look to HR to understand why turnover rates are higher than normal. Perhaps employees were unhappy with their managers, had not received a pay raise in years or they found the work uninteresting. Using people analytics, HR prac- titioners can identify specific trends and connect them together to build a broader picture of what's really going on. Implement, then expand the scope and scale of people analytics: Deploying people analytics as part of a centre of excellence or dedicated team within HR is a recommended outcome, but the work does not end there. HR teams need to embrace a data-driven mindset wherever possible, while becoming insights-driven coaches and advisors and delivering value to their respective clients and customers as quickly as possible. Data exists everywhere — but it needs analysis and storytelling. HR practitioners can either study the data themselves or automate their analysis and use appropriate visualization tools to enhance their storytelling. Once the method of analysis is determined, employers can use analytics to its fullest advantage, pinpointing emerging talent risks and acting based on relevant company-specific data. The evolution to a modern, data- driven approach to HR will become a competitive advantage and perhaps even a means to survival. As this pandemic has proven, employers need to be able to react to new challenges as soon as they arise — and people analytics should be an integral part of the toolkit. CHRR Both at Accenture in Toronto, Janet Krstevski is the managing director and talent and o r g a n i z a t i o n / human potential practice lead – Canada and Kamran Niazi is the principal director of talent and organization/ human potential. For more information, visit www.accenture.com.

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