People analytics practice is driving business performance but UK lags behind other markets in confidence and capability
New CIPD/Workday global research highlights need to boost people data skills and uptake
New CIPD/Workday global research highlights need to boost people data skills and uptake
New global research from the CIPD in association with Workday illustrates an important relationship between the use of people data and strong business outcomes. It shows that organisations with a strong people analytics culture are much more likely to report strong business performance. However, the survey also highlights that the wide-scale adoption of people analytics practice is still low and that more needs to be done to improve skills and confidence in the HR function, particularly in the UK which is lagging behind other markets in both capability and confidence.
The research, People Analytics: driving business performance with people data, surveyed 3,852 business professionals globally – including HR and finance professionals – to understand attitudes towards people analytics and how it is being used in organisations. It found that:
It’s hugely encouraging to see that the use of people analytics in organisations is leading to positive outcomes. The more access HR and non-HR professionals have to people data, the higher they rate their organisation’s performance. However, there are still clear challenges in terms of access to data and the confidence and capabilities in the HR function needed to get the best results from it, particularly in the UK.
We need to see greater investment in the skills needed to understand people data and we need to encourage the use of people analytics across different functions in organisations, and in finance in particular. HR must lead the development of cultures that share a ‘common language’ when it comes to people data and a shared understanding and appreciation of the positive impact people data can have on business outcomes.
The CIPD/Workday research also highlights the importance of access to data. It found that access to people data improves outcomes but only 71% of HR professionals have access to this data, and just 42% of finance professionals do. For those with access to people data, just 22% use it daily in their decision-making and almost a quarter (23%) use it in decision-making just once a month or less.
Having a centralised point for people data - through a dashboard, for example - was shown to be an important driver of business outcomes. Almost three-quarters of respondents who said they were from a ‘strong performance business’ said they have access to a dashboard of people data, compared to 50% of those in businesses of average performance.
It is interesting to see that businesses exhibiting strong people analytics cultures achieve stronger business performance than those who don’t. Yet, data is only really useful when it used and understood across the business. At Workday, we’re seeing organisations shift towards the general trend of keeping their people data securely within their HR system. People analytics should be available in real-time, and on-demand so that that they can be quickly used to make effective decisions. While the business case for people analytics may be clear, the data must be accessible and used, as only then will businesses have the confidence to use it most effectively.
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