Using Data To Drive A More Holistic Picture of Employees

As most people know, I am always interested in gaining a better understanding of the 'person-behind-the-job' and use that information to build better individual connections, company culture, and overall engagement. Gallup reports that only 15% of workers worldwide are engaged in the workplace, meaning most have a negative to so-so view of their workplace with little connection to their work and employer. Wow! What's wrong here?

Maybe at least part of the answer lies in the fact that the employee data (or lack of) companies gather and what they do with it which, despite different platforms and technologies, remains inconsistent at predicting how employees connect their thoughts and sentiments with their work.

Organizations traditionally collect information such as recruitment data, career progression data, training data, absenteeism figures, competency profiles, and staff satisfaction data, just to name a few. But is this data giving us a full picture of the people behind the job? Are we effectively leveraging the information we have to optimize employees in their roles?

The Problem

According to HRAcuity, 27% percent of companies report gathering HR data but are not really using it. Only 49% of companies use HR data to create better employee relation policies. A mere 22% of companies report data to the board and 59% to the C-suite. Much of this has to do with not being clear why the data is being collected nor is it always aligned properly to people programs.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) tells us only about a third of U.S. companies report that they monitor whether their hiring practices lead to good employees. Less than 40% conduct annual surveys of employees. Sentiment, therefore, is missing in creating strategies that drive engagement and inclusion.?

If companies are failing to gather data, or at least using the body of existing data correctly, it’s not because employees have a problem with it. In another HBR survey, 90% of employees said they are willing to let their employers collect and use data on them and their work, but only if they benefit in some way.

In order to get on the right track of building data that can better connect to employees in a more holistic, beneficial way, there are examples of what companies are doing to better gather and utilize data for a fuller picture of employees to increase engagement, retention, productivity, and hiring.

• Gathering constant, ongoing employee feedback. Annual surveys are not enough. Employees want to see action from the feedback more immediately in a way that they can see and feel the impact. By the time results are compiled, acting on them may be too late depending on the category. One way to get more frequent feedback is with an “always on” feedback tool that is easy and more regularly measures sentiment at a given moment. ?Examples include AI-powered HR chatbots, anonymous 2-way chat tools, and weekly or monthly “pulse surveys” to get a sense of how employees are feeling.
• Don’t just gather, use the data. Data is no good if nothing is done with it. Gather, analyze, and share the data with employees and decision-makers, and then make changes based on the results. This also means looking for ways to combine structured and unstructured data sets across the company to understand how teams and individuals are interpreting the workplace around them.
• Integrate the data. Avoid the mishmash of different databases and platforms that have bits and pieces of data that don’t talk to each other. Integrating data into one platform can make it easier to access, analyze and share. More developments in HR technology are doing that so that leaders, managers, and HR can be more proactive and prescriptive about what the essential interventions can be to drive trust and commitment and well as individual growth potential.

Examples

Telstra has developed a skills mapping system that can track an employee’s abilities and knowledge and map these against skills that will be needed in the future as automation and AI change many occupations. French insurance company AXA has developed this tool to answer questions employees have about their careers, such as will a robot do my job? What other job options are there for me? What’s the best training for me? AXA is now working on an extension that will match a person’s values and traits with corporate culture to ensure employees are in the right work environment.

HBR cites a financial services company using technology creatively to reduce bias in hiring and promotion. The company is using AI to increase female applicants for financial roles by 150% and female applicants for all positions by 39%. Neuroscience-based games measure candidates’ cognitive and social traits providing science-backed data predictive of performance and to make better, less-biased hiring.?

Gathering Data While Building Trust

A final point-- gathering data can seem to employees like Big Brother trying to keep tabs on workers. It is important to be transparent about what information is being collected and for what purpose. Again, share with employees what the company has learned from data, review the company’s privacy policy when necessary, and be sure to show how the data is benefitting employees. ?

More importantly, understand the ‘why’ behind the data use and collection to goals that employees can understand and benefit from. Organizations have more tools than ever to get a more holistic view of each employee. The potential payoff in hiring, retention, engagement, and productivity can pay huge dividends for attracting great talent and building great places to work.

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