HR Analytics - The New Gold Rush

Maybe it’s something in the water or perhaps it's simply the advent of a new year and all the hype that accompanies it, but it does seem there has been a visible momentum shift in in the adoption of analytics in HR.

Writing in Forbes, industry sage Josh Bersin boldly proclaims “the geeks have arrived in HR” and that HR departments are finally “getting serious about analytics. And I mean serious”. HR has been dipping its feet in the analytics ocean for years without fully taking the plunge, but Bersin asserts that instead of just “talking about the opportunity to apply data to people decisions, companies are now stepping up and making the investment.”

From my discussions with HR leaders I sense too that the accelerator pedal has been pressed to the floor even if many organisations are still in the embryonic stage of datifying their HR departments. On ERE, John Zappe latched onto Bersin’s article and cited supporting research from Wanted Analytics that the number of human resources jobs advertised in Q4 2014 requiring “big data” and analytical skills had risen markedly year-on-year by 54%.

Could we be on the precipice of the HR equivalent of a gold rush? CHROs and other CXO have watched with envy as companies as diverse as Unilever, ABN Amro, Shell and Sears have built HR analytics functions and reaped the benefits of applying a data driven approach to talent. HR has suddenly become an interesting career destination for a number of hitherto unlikely highly skilled ‘geeks’. In the same Forbes article, Bersin talks of “PhD statisticians, engineers, and computer scientists together, all working on people analytics for their companies”.

In another excellent recent article (A Quant, Physicist, & Chemist Walk Into HR), Benjamin Taylor – Chief Data Scientist (now that’s a job title and a half) at HireVue and one of the ‘geeks’ highlighted by Bersin explains what attracted him from Wall Street to HR. Taylor makes an irrefutable case of why HR is ripe for disruption, has multiple challenging data problems and demands cross-pollination from other industries. This clarion call defines why HR presents such a compelling career proposition if you just happen to be a nuclear physicist, chemist, mechanical engineer, data scientist or meteorologist.

However, before HR joyously exclaims ‘gold’, a note of caution. It wasn’t that long ago Bersin (yes, him again) published a fairly damning indictment of HR’s immaturity with analytics – see another Forbes article here. This study (see Figure below) showed that only 4% of companies had achieved the capability to perform “predictive analytics” on their workforce and only 14% had done any significant “statistical analysis” of employee data. This leaves a whopping 86% with fool’s gold rather than the genuine article. All the more reason to hope that Taylor’s call to arms for HR cross-pollination will be heeded.

Bersin by Deloitte's Talent Analytics Maturity Model

Initiatives like the CIPD led ‘Valuing Your Talent’, which aims to provide employers with a clearer understanding of, and common means of describing, the way in which people impact the performance of their organisation will certainly help HR sort the wood from the trees.

More help is on hand from a number of upcoming conferences that Cielo and I are fortunate enough to be supporting in the coming weeks, starting with in chronological order:

• I will be chairing the HR & Workforce Analytics Innovation Summit on 17-18 March in London, which features a great lineup of industry speakers describing their progress throughout the HR analytics journey. Also included on the agenda is an HR Analytics for Beginners workshop, which will those organisations comprising the 86% to get started on the journey. Quote discount code CIELO20 for a 20% discount.
• Next up is HR Tech Europe London on 24-25 March, where I will again be part of the Blog Squad with the likes of Andy Spence, Faye Holland and Mervyn Dinnen. If October’s edition in Amsterdam is anything to go by (see key takeaways here) then HR Analytics will feature prominently in an agenda framed by the Future of Work.
• Last but certainly not least I am also privileged to be co-chair (with Andrew Marritt) of the People Analytics 2015: Building a Data Driven HR on 22-23 April, also in London, where the organisers have assembled a veritable who’s who of the HR Analytics world for delegates to soak up knowledge from. Quote discount code DG25 for a 25% discount.

Time will tell if Bersin’s is right to call it as he has, but it does seem that the stars of HR analytics have finally aligned and 2015 will prove to be a pivotal year. Let’s hope so because as to paraphrase Mark Twain’s character Mulberry Sellers: “There’s gold in them thar data” and “there’s millions in it”.

About the Author

David is a Director at Cielo (formerly known as Pinstripe & Ochre House), #1 RPO on the Baker's Dozen for global breadth and quality of service. David has helped a number of organisations design data driven talent acquisition programmes that drive effectiveness, growth and competitive advantage. He also speaks and writes on HR Analytics and other key tenets driving the seismic change in the future of work.

Connect with David by email, LinkedIn or Twitter and take Cielo's Talent Activation Assessment here.

You may also want to read some of David's other articles:

• The 20 best HR Analytics articles of 2014
• 10 Predictions for HR & Recruiting in 2015 - Part 1 and Part 2
• Cost Per Hire: "It's the wrong recruiting metric, Gromit..."
• Never mind the bureaucracy, here's Punk Rock org structures...
• Vive la Révolution: Key Takeaways from HR Tech Europe 2014
• The Who's Who of HR Analytics Influencers - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
• Is HR ready for the Big Data & Analytics revolution?
• Part 1 and Part 2 of our fictional HR Director's journey into the world of HR Analytics

Keywords: HR, Human Resources, HR Analytics, People Analytics, Talent, Big Data, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition, Data Driven HR, Talent Analytics