The Next Frontier of People Analytics

Published On: May 15, 2017Categories: Analytics

Deloitte University Press’ Global Human Capital Trends 2017 report revealed that people analytics is undergoing a transition.

The field of people analytics has moved from answering basic questions about recruitment, engagement, and retention to giving organizations much more complex insight into management issues. Now that CEOS want to use data to understand every part of a business operation, and embed analytics into real-time apps and the way we work, people analytics has moved from the purview of HR to the purview of the c-suite.

In the report, Deloitte suggested that we can no longer view people analytics through the same lens and that an understanding of the “old rules versus the new rules” will help maximize the use of data to enhance organizational performance.

  • Old Rule: People analytics is viewed as an HR team focused on advanced analytics within HR
  • New Rule: People analytics is viewed as a business analytics team that works across the business to drive business results
  • Old Rule: Analytics focuses on HR topics such as retention, engagement, learning, and recruitment metrics
  • New Rule: Analytics focuses on business problems such as sales retention, fraud, accident patterns, and other operational needs
  • Old Rule: The organization makes a business case for better data integration, quality, and tools
  • New Rule: The organization has already committed to accurate and integrated data, and has tools and processes to ensure quality and ease of analysis
  • Old Rule: The people analytics team has a strong understanding of HR data
  • New Rule: The people analytics team understands HR data, relationships with all the other analytics groups in the company
  • Old Rule: The people analytics team lives in HR operations and reports to HR technology, or in functional areas
  • New Rule: The people analytics team operates at a senior level, reports to the CHRO, and serves business leaders across the company
  • Old Rule: The people analytics team is a small set of technical experts with data management and statistical skills
  • New Rule: The people analytics team is a multidisciplinary team, with a focus on business consulting, visual communications, and problem solving
  • Old Rule: People analytics is staffed by PhD statisticians whose primary focus is the development of models and data warehouses
  • New Rule: People analytics is a consulting function that helps business leaders solve problems
  • Old Rule: People analytics focuses on employees
  • New Rule: People analytics focuses on the entire workforce, including employees and contingent labor
  • Old Rule: The people analytics team focuses heavily on engagement survey data and employee happiness and culture
  • New Rule: The people analytics team moves beyond engagement to understand the detailed drivers of engagement and builds culture models to understand what drives the workforce

Want to learn more about how advances in people analytics are augmenting the business and HR operations of modern organizations? Check out our archived webinar, The Next Frontier of People Analytics. We explore how HR can up its game to become a strategic partner and essential source of analytical guidance.