6 Ways Your HR Department Can Leverage Big Data

Survey Tips
January 17, 2018

As a business, you’ll already know the absolute importance that data has on your decision-making abilities. No matter what department you’re working in, identifying trends in your data can maximize how you use your resources and how you approach new opportunities.

But, how do you currently use data in your HR department? By taking advantage of the data you have access to in your HR department, not only will staff be able to recruit more suitable applicants, but you’ll also be able to actively boost morale, handle issues more effectively and dramatically boost productivity.

Not sure where to begin? Here are six ways your department can start utilizing this data today!

1) Consider Engagement Drivers

Employee engagement is one of the most important ranges of data that you’ll be able to collect. It’s essential for your business to identify which drivers are affecting your employee engagement rates and how they are affecting their productivity since some are more important than others.

“The best way to address this is to keep engaged with employees about how they feel about where they work and what affects them daily. Use your annual surveys as the foundation of your big data, but you can also use quarterly pulse surveys to keep things relevant” – explains Tyler Philson, an HR Manager at Ukwritings.

2) Understand Your Employees

Of course, one of the most beneficial factors of having big data in your HR department is the fact that you’ll be able to understand the collective mindset that your employees have, how they view your business, and how they enjoy or don’t enjoy working for you.

When evaluating this data, be sure not just to consider how your employees feel about the company, but how they can affect its future. For example, your HR department can identify people who are willing to go one step beyond and partake in new courses, training opportunities or chances for them to improve their skills.

Not only will this help to create a more talented and productive employee base, but it will also increase the levels of job satisfaction in your business overall.

3) Improve Your Planning Strategies

As mentioned above, employee surveys are going to be the biggest input into your employee data pool which is why it’s so important that you use them. Refer to your data files over the last few years and see what common problems surface regarding employee retention.

Juan Bonanno, a Data Manager at Academized says: “If you can realize common problems that are affecting your business and your employee retention rates, you can dramatically reduce your employee turnover rates and therefore make it far easier to plan your talent-acquiring strategies in the future.”

4) Assist Your Employees

There are new advances in technology and software on a seemingly daily basis, but how effective is your business at keeping up with these latest trends and how they affect your business? By referring to your big data, you should be able to easily identify areas in which your employees are struggling or finding difficulty when trying to complete a task.

Using this information, you can actively consider solutions that will benefit your employees by making the tasks easier or to be carried out more effectively. This can also be applied to the employee wellness and even safety aspects of your business.

5) Implement KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a great way to manage the efficiency levels that your employees are providing for your business. For example, you can use your KPIs to identify what your rough productive output should be for each employee and how these figures align with your company goals and targets.

If your sales reps are supposed to be making £10,000 worth of sales every month, is this happening and what can your business do to help your reps meet these targets?

6) Motivate Your Employees

It’s safe to say that it’s not easy to keep your employees motivated every single day. People have good days, and they have bad days. However, by regularly monitoring and analyzing your employee data, you should be able to identify trends in what keeps your employees motivated.

“With these engagement drivers and trends in mind, you’ll be able to affect what motivates your employees by drawing focus onto the positive aspects. You’ll then also be able to act against the certain things that unmotivated your employees to drive up those productivity levels”- comments Sharon Hemphill, a Head of HR Department at Oxessays.

Big data is one of the most important and crucial statistics and data documents that a business can have. It can also be one of the most beneficial when used in the right way. Take advantage of your statistics to boost the success of your business beyond what you believe was even possible.


Gloria Kopp is an HR manager at Resumention. She has launched Studydemic, educational projects for students, and regularly shares her guides and tips there. Gloria is a contributing writer at Microsoft, The Tab, and Boomessays.

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