Transformation of People Analytics

• People Analytics is a data-driven pursuit of deriving insights about an organization’s workforce.

It is here to stay and it was already well advanced before the pandemic kicked-in.

• Successful corporations like Google and Microsoft are ramping up the use of data science and
accelerating digital transformation to use smart technologies around AI and big data to improve
their talent management systems.

• Most organizations have a wealth of data available with them and through the use of the right
framework, model and expertise they can ensure that the data acquires meaning to be able to
predict and understand employee’s behavior and make data-driven decisions.

• As such, people analytics is a deliberate and systematic attempt to make organizations more
evidence-based, talent-centric, and meritocratic.

• Pulse surveys and employee listening tools have started to gain popularity and can quickly be
used to drive real action that benefits employees. Employee listening tools have been around for
a while, but have gained more popularity in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

• Companies such as Rabobank, Merck, and National Australia Bank are all using employee
listening to understand how their employees are coping with new remote working arrangements,
how their needs for support are changing, and what their preferences are for returning to work.
By using techniques such as stratified sampling, text analytics and discussion boards, companies
gain valuable insights regarding what is important to their employees in a rapidly changing
environment.

• Once employees start returning to offices for work, it is not only temperature checks and social
distancing norms that will ensure their well-being. The use of technology in monitoring the
safety, physical and mental well-being of employees is an aspect that companies are considering
to implement. Wearables can now monitor stress and anxiety, if employees choose to share that
data. Chatbots that can be deployed to ask about employees’ emotional state and provide advice.

• Monitoring performance and productivity using technology is another factor that companies are
considering to implement. For example, some companies are now looking to rollout intrusive
monitoring software that can take screenshots while employees work, and can track people’s
movements as way of tracking productivity and monitoring a workforce that has become remote
overnight.

• We are at a nascent stage of technological revolution; companies should make sure that
technology is used only in an ethical manner that does not violate employee privacy. Strict
enforcement of adequate laws and regulations must ensure that employees have full power to be
able to authorize employers to use their data.

References: https://hbr.org/2020/10/tech-is-transforming-people-analytics-is-that-a-good-thing