Key tools for People Analytics

There are many different tools available to help implement a People Analytics strategy. But which ones are most relevant for the data analysis and/or HR department? In this article, we will describe a few of these functions and take a look at which data we should be prioritising.

What is People Analytics and why is it important?

People Analytics refers to the investigational method that looks at the people who make up a company and the candidates who apply to join it. Its main objective is to improve decision making based on research into the processes, results, and opportunities for employees, as well as to optimise costs, processes and time investment. 

Using this technique, we can obtain reliable, sound conclusions that are highly valuable to the HR department, as well as other business areas such as marketing, finances and operations. 

Which methods of data analysis are used most? 

There are two main methods of collecting and processing data for subsequent analysis: Excel spreadsheets and/or custom people analytics software. Both have their individual characteristics, benefits, and drawbacks:

Excel spreadsheet

The first allows us to use advanced formulae and search filters and create graphics and reports, but it also has a number of limitations. One of these is the need to manually enter and order the data. It is also not possible to automate processes such as creating graphics and visualisations or integrate it with external tools. 

People Analytics software

On the other hand, software allows you to import a large amount of information from Excel documents and order it automatically. You can also filter searches, integrate external sources, access reports generated automatically by the platform and use personalised report templates. 

You can also export the information to formats such as PDF, generate digital graphics and personalised calculations or store the information in the cloud to avoid unintentional data loss.

If your company has decided to go down the custom software route, it can be useful to know which are the most relevant tools when you’re choosing your software provider. 

Which tools are most relevant?

People Analytics software should have three key functions:

• recruitment
• employee management
• and analysis of admin tasks.

People Analytics tools for recruitment

Recruitment is one of the most important phases when it comes to capturing the best talent for your company. Having organised, efficient and responsive processes will give candidates a better experience from the very start, thereby reinforcing a positive impression of the company. In this regard, there are three key tools that can be used to improve the recruitment process: conversion rate, hiring source and the time-to-hire – the time it takes to fill a role from the moment the advert is placed.

Conversion rate

Using this tool is a way of finding out if you are using the right hiring sources and job advertising tactics. You calculate this by dividing the number of candidates that have been selected by the total number of people that applied for a job, multiplied by 100. If the result is a low percentage, it could indicate that your job offer has not had the desired success and you may need to correct certain processes. 

Source of hire

With this tool you can calculate the origin of hires and which sources are delivering results. To do this, you need to monitor the external recruitment agencies you are using, the specialist portals where you advertise vacancies and analyse other channels like LinkedIn and your own company job webpage. 

Automating this process with software is a way to directly link the CVs the HR department receives to their origin. So, you can save time and work out this element in a trice. 

Average time-to-hire

The average time-to-hire refers to the time from when the vacancy is advertised to when the new employee starts their role. Having this parameter to hand can indicate whether the selection process is too short or unnecessarily protracted. 

Also, it’s interesting to find out this figure per department, office, and company, as this will give you a useful insight into how easy or difficult it is to hire certain profiles. 

People Analytics tools for employee management 

Once the candidates have joined the company, there are a number of tools that measure certain parameters during their working life at the company. Some notable ones are specific functions to calculate the turnover rate, the average time people stay with the company and the duration of the onboarding and offboarding processes. 

Turnover rate

Talent retention and employee satisfaction are linked to a company’s turnover rate. If the company is not performing well on these two variables, employees are more likely, in general, to leave the organisation. Therefore, finding out your turnover rate is essential for the HR department, as they can put specific measures in place based on the results.

This can be calculated by dividing the number of employees that leave the company (in a given period) by the average number of employees working at the company in the same period. 

Average tenure

The average tenure is the average time an employee works at the company. When this is short, it is generally due to high levels of dissatisfaction, which can lead to a high turnover rate. If you have the average tenure figure, you can adapt other tools, such as employee satisfaction survey software, and interpret the company’s eNPS more successfully.

Duration of the onboarding and offboarding processes

To optimise the time it takes to incorporate new employees and carry out offboardings, it can be useful to analyse these elements:

Onboarding

Evaluating onboardings means monitoring from the start date, in terms of the company departments, businesses and offices that the employees are joining. It is also important to record previous, recent and future onboardings to predict the resources that will be required for these processes. 

Offboarding

When employees leave this can be due to many reasons, both compulsory and voluntary. Whatever the motive, it is useful to record the type of termination, and review previous and future cases. Filtering by department, office, and business, will help us to understand which areas are producing a greater number of offboardings and understand the causes.

As a result, the HR department can implement measures aimed at reducing the turnover rate and improving the process for inevitable cases.

People Analytics tools for admin management 

Administrative tasks are often done manually, and most of the time involve repetitive, tedious processes. However, certain digital tools can make managing these tasks much more efficient. Below we will show you three of the most important tools and how you can measure the performance of each one:

Payroll management

With software that manages, stores and processes payroll, it is possible to obtain a set of extremely useful data such as staff salary progression. This enables us to analyse the cost per salary and the distribution of remuneration in our company by department, office and business. We can also calculate this parameter over a set period and distinguish between fixed and variable salaries.

Overtime management

Managing overtime is essential for the company to function properly. Recording hours digitally with an attendance software program, means you can store all this data in the cloud. In this way, you can automatically access the information in case of disputes, for example. In the same way, overtime hours are logged by employee, department and office, and can be tracked weekly and monthly. 

All this means the HR department and team leaders can decide if extra hours are paid, exchanged for holidays or if measures to reduce an employee’s workload need to be considered. 

Overtime is calculated by dividing the number of additional hours worked by employees by the number of employees in the company.

Contract management

Managing contracts with digital tools is a way to analyse the type of employment in the company and its monthly progression in terms of number of contracts. 

In this case, it is helpful to focus on two main parameters: 

• Contract (full time or half time)
• Type (apprentice, intern, student, freelance, fixed, etc.)

It is also possible to use automatic filters for the variables and view the hires by age range and gender. 

All the above demonstrates the importance of using reporting and analytics software to dispense with manual processes and reports that are susceptible to errors. In this way, both the HR department and the business as a whole can carry out a reliable analysis to improve decision making and assess the impact of its strategy. If you’re interested in learning more, read about how to train in people analytics.