November 2014 HR Magazine 61

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W hether they realize it or not, HR leaders are sitting on a gold

mine. In the era of “big data,” they have access to more workforce infor-mation than ever. Tucked away within disparate systems are valuable insights about where companies’ top recruits come from, why key employees leave the organization and in which cases salaries are no longer keeping pace with the market.

But that data does little good if it can’t be easily accessed and translated into compelling stories that move busi-ness leaders to action. Fortunately, the latest generation of analytics software brings HR a few steps closer to mak-ing that happen. And, thanks to inviting new dashboards, the tools are easy to navigate as well.

Data-Based DecisionsThe HR group at ConAgra Foods is using cloud-based analytics software from vendor Visier as part of its strategy to base more of its human capital deci-sion-making on facts.

According to Mark Berry, vice presi-dent of people insights at the Omaha, Neb.-based packaged foods company, the team is focusing on the company’s employee value proposition (EVP)—the factors that attract, retain and engage workers, including work environment, development opportunities, compensa-tion, benefits and more.

“We know that companies with higher EVP usually have lower compen-sation, benefits and recruiting costs,” Berry says.

The software enables his team to aggregate and analyze data that was previously hard to access. That’s largely because disparate workforce information on demographics, performance, training

and internal movement (transfers, promo-tions and turnover) that once was frag-mented is now located in one place.

Berry’s team uses the software to gen-erate enterprise scorecards that track key performance indicators (KPIs). “The tool shows how each business-unit func-tion and location is performing relative to these KPIs, which for us are primarily

around talent retention, personnel costs and head count,” Berry says.

ConAgra also worked with the ven-dor to develop a model dubbed “total cost of workforce,” which enables HR to more accurately assess the full costs of the workforce by factoring in expenses related to recruiting, relocation, tempo-rary labor and pay for time not worked, among other costs. “It allows us to see the true costs by component of any employ-ment decision we make,” Berry says.

Because it can aggregate detailed data

over five years, the group can now assess how pay practices affect diversity and retention. “All we could do in the past was determine whether our [diversity] representation had improved year over year,” he says.

Now the software enables Berry’s team to understand specific diversity patterns by business, job, gender, ethnic-

ity, age, tenure and other factors. “We can see where we’re making progress to understand what’s working, and where we aren’t progressing so we can focus resources where we have the biggest needs.”

Visual AidsToday’s workforce analytics software has evolved most in its visual compo-nent, as represented by eye-catching and user-friendly dashboards that display the HR metrics that are most

By Dave Zielinski

Get AnalyticalNext-generation tools make it easier for HR to find the data that matter.

1114 HR tech.indd 61 10/14/14 3:16 PM

62 HR Magazine November 2014

HR Technology

important to users.“Leading-edge business intelligence

software providers have taught HR ven-dors what can be done from a visualiza-tion perspective,” says Kevin Oakes, CEO of the Institute for Corporate Pro-ductivity (i4cp) in Seattle. “Enabling users to pull the right workforce data from dis-parate sources is another area that analyt-ics tools continue to improve upon.”

But having good software doesn’t mean companies are measuring the right things. In general, HR groups in high-performing organizations focus on differ-ent workforce metrics than their counter-parts in lower-performing organizations, according to i4cp research. For example,

high-performing organizations are more likely to track quality of attrition (where talent is being lost in critical job roles) and quality of movement (what happens as a result of transfers, promotions and other internal shifting).

Despite the progress that’s been made in data visualization and integra-tion, more work is needed on the back end functions of many tools. According to Mollie Lombardi, vice president and principal analyst of workforce man-agement at the Brandon Hall Group, an HR consulting company in Delray Beach, Fla., many tools still can’t drill down from dashboards into data sets to explore the root causes of issues such as high turnover in pivotal jobs.

Better software also doesn’t obvi-ate the need for HR to have data sci-ence skills. “You still need someone who

understands what data points should be correlated or juxtaposed, and who can think critically about the right questions to ask,” Lombardi says.

Being able to tell compelling stories based on the data is also paramount. “What senior executives don’t want is more data,” Oakes says. “They want to understand the story the data is tell-ing them, so HR’s interpretation of it becomes critical.”

Recruiting AnalyticsAnother big improvement in the newest workforce analytics is talent forecast-ing, which gives recruiters a gauge of how long it takes to fill job openings and the caliber of applicants they’re likely to receive. Such supply-and-demand data can lead to talent acquisition strategies that are more cost-effective.

Market-intelligence metrics might tell recruiters that it will take about three months to fill a senior engineering job in Boston, for example, or that there are 15 qualified candidates in the region. “The ability to have that kind of conversation on the front end of the recruiting cycle can be a differentiator for recruiters,” says Elaine Orler, CEO of The Talent Function, a recruiting technology con-sulting company in San Diego.

At Cameco, a Canadian uranium producer, workforce analytics have enabled business-unit managers and HR to speak the same language, says Sean Junor, manager of workforce planning and talent acquisition at the company. The software creates a “single source of the truth” on key measures like employee head count, turnover or absenteeism by consolidating data on one platform and giving line managers easier access to workforce metrics.

It also enables business units to be more proactive in using workforce data. “People can reach in and get the infor-mation they want each month, when they need it, without waiting for us,” Junor says.

At the same time, HR needs to avoid

creating an environment of information overload. “When data moves from HR directly into the business, it removes the data filter and requires more guidance for users,” Junor says. HR can help business units focus on vital information rather than “nice to know” metrics by restrict-ing what they can see in the system.

Measuring Demand Some HR executives are turning to ana-lytics to model employee retirement and turnover scenarios. At the Black Hills Corp., a diversified energy com-pany in Rapid City, S.D., Chief Human Resources Officer Bob Myers used a workforce analytics tool from Success-Factors to gauge the impact of a loom-ing retirement surge on the company’s business.

“The software helped us create a demand model,” he says. “In other words, how much demand for talent by job classification is going to occur in specific business units over the next five years, based on retirements, normal turn-over and business growth initiatives?”

Calculating that aggregate demand raised eyebrows in the business units, Myers says, and triggered new thinking about recruiting and knowledge-capture strategies. “The model showed that we’re going to lose 24 percent of our current workforce to retirement over the next five years, and those retiring employees repre-sent about 34 percent of our total years of employee experience,” he explains.

That finding led Myers to examine where the loss of institutional knowl-edge from retiring employees would have the biggest impact and to begin devel-oping strategies to capture that knowl-edge before it was gone. He is hoping the effort gives his organization a competi-tive advantage over other energy compa-nies facing similar workforce changes—an edge it would not have had without analytics.

Dave Zielinski is a freelance business journalist based in Minneapolis.

HR executives are turning to analytics to model employee retirement and turnover scenarios.

1114 HR tech.indd 62 10/14/14 3:16 PM