Make The Most Of Data Analytics
The right data can help you keep tabs on who's getting promoted, what training programs are producing the strongest leaders and how certain policies are luring foreign workers.
But learning how to make the most of that data takes skill.
Here are some shortcuts that can help you make better use of data to improve workforce diversity.
1. Don't overdo it: It's easy to pull reams of data from bloated HR systems. But data is useless if it's not carefully poked and prodded for meaningful insights.
"The real bang is once you've extracted data, what are you doing with it?" says Charlie Judy, chief human resources officer at Chicago-based consultancy Baker Tilly Virchow Krause. "How are you interpreting that data, and how will it inform your actions?" What's more, he adds, there's a risk of collecting so much data that you simply don't know where to start.
2. Take action. Don't get caught in the trap of rolling out a data analytics program simply for the sake of gathering data. According to Stacia Garr, vice president of talent and HR research at Bersin by Deloitte, only 10% of organisations actually change, adjust or refresh their diversity strategies based on the data they collect and analyse.
"Even those organisations that are tracking data, they're not necessarily doing anything with it," says Garr.
3. Stay focused. Benchmarks and key performance indicators are valuable metrics for gauging diversity. But getting too caught up in the numbers can make you lose sight of your objectives.
"The thing you have to be careful with is that data analytics doesn't turn into affirmative action, where you're just trying to achieve numbers and quotas," says John Reed, senior executive director of IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology. "What it should be about is identifying the best candidates for the job."
Data Analysis & CRM For 2016 (£):
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