8 Best “People Analytics” to Include in Workforce Planning

If you could read the minds of your team, would you? If you could see into the future, what would you do with that knowledge? If you encountered a genie in a magic lamp, would your first wish be to have unlimited wishes?

If this sounds like you, it sounds like you need to be thinking about how you can use robust people analytics to drive your workforce data reports.

What Are People Analytics?

In short, people analytics is a data-driven method of understanding people within a system and using that data to make informed decisions that will elevate your business practices and heighten your success.

Many people think about people analytics as only human resources’ territory. But, as all great leaders know, people are the driving force—and potentially one of the most highly undervalued data sources—in any industry. Having good data about the role your people play in your organization’s successes is crucial. Even when the world is unpredictable, you can rely on your data insights to get ahead of the curve.

How Does Using People Analytics Benefit Finance and Operations?

Getting your teeth cleaned regularly is not the most exciting way to spend an hour, and your hours are valuable. But staying on top of that regular cleaning is a whole lot more economical and less time-consuming than a filling or a root canal.

Strategic planning is preventative care, and preventative care is always cheaper—and usually less traumatic—than reactive care. And finance and operations executives are going to be crunching numbers anyway. It just makes sense to include HR numbers that will help you make the best decisions in the moment and for the future.

How Can People Analytics Improve Workforce Planning?

Here are eight ways your organization can leverage the power of data to optimize your business practices:

Measure the efficiency and cost of your company’s recruitment process. What is your average time to hire—the number of days it takes to fill an open position—in each department? What is the difference in that time when you need to fill a hole left by a departing employee and when you are opening a new role? How much does it cost you in lost productivity or overtime for someone else to fill in the gap while you are hiring? If you do not know how to find the answer to these questions efficiently, your workforce planning structure might benefit from people analytics. Time is always money; the question is, is your system worth its cost?

Calculate turnovers and their cost to the company. The earlier the loss, the greater the possibility of mismatch, and the greater the cost. Employees typically take about 6 to 12 months to reach their optimum productivity level and balance out the cost of hiring and onboarding. While your leadership team needs to address the causes of turnover with HR, CFOs and COOs need data insights to connect the impact of turnover on revenue and output as well as track productivity to ensure that people are not leaving because they are overworked or underutilized.

Match compensation and benefits with company values—and maximize their value. Today’s employees are not just looking for a paycheck. The balance of direct compensation to indirect compensation certainly is not not a one-size-fits-all approach, but the only way to know what is working, and what is not, is to capture data that lets you assess how effectively your compensation and benefits packages are optimizing the quality of your workforce and increasing your profit margin.

Develop KPIs that can prove their return on investment. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are probably the first place your mind goes when you think about the “datafication” of your business. But how do you know what indicates good performance, and how do you know where to invest in improving that performance? Business growth is dynamic, and companies are not limited to linear growth. In today’s market, even an established enterprise might decide to revamp itself. Businesses at high-growth stages need to invest in workforce acquisition and retention, while organizations experiencing a downturn need targeted data to allow them to keep labor costs low and maximize talent efficiency.

Map employee performance, output, and potential. If you are a leader, you are trusted to look at the big picture. To do that effectively, you have to have reports you can trust that get down to the finest data points. Time entry reports allow you to compare your team’s billable and nonbillable hours. Performance assessments allow you to view trends and budget accordingly for areas of need, either through training or hiring.

Schedule projects based on need and available talent. A poorly managed project is not just the PM’s problem. Understaffed projects cost more in overtime and absenteeism from burnout, and you are far more likely to lose great talent if your organization continues to allow your go-to people to burn the candle at both ends. By having access to robust short-term and long-term data that allows you to see in real time what resources you have to work with as well as predict what is coming down the pipeline, you can reduce the cost burden of the eventual burnout that follows repetitive labor shortages.

Connect people to production management data. If you are used to looking at reports that revolve around your company’s product up and down the supply chain, you might be wondering what else matters. The goal is delivery, right? Connecting people data to production output means reimagining all the ways to maximize efficiency and keep your return on investment high. Today’s labor market offers a variety of options for filling gaps, and identifying those gaps is not hard when you have the metrics.

Reduce wasteful spending on noncompliance. Making sure you have constant eyes on your labor force and remain in compliance with the various state, federal, and even global regulations such as DCAA, HIPAA, or GDPR would be a full-time job without smart workforce analytics software that can manage it for you. Sending a contractor with an expired safety certification to a job site is expensive and embarrassing.

Why Use Journyx for Business Analytics?

In your role, you need to make big decisions. That means you need access to business analytics data that is easy to read and always up to date.

Journyx allows you to customize your experience and access your most important reports on your terms—whenever you want, however you want. Journyx knows the boardroom is probably the last place you will be working. Journyx Mobile ensures that no matter where your team is, they can log the data you need to stay informed.

For more information about how Journyx can provide you the people analytics to drive your workforce planning, schedule a customized demo online or call (800) 755-9878.