People analytics is just as beneficial to small companies as it is to large enterprises. It helps you learn more about the factors that impact your employees’ performance, productivity, and overall morale – not to mention that it provides valuable insights into the workforce.
All this information allows you to strengthen your company culture, develop effective strategies for success, and drive your business’s growth.
Keep reading to learn what the data of employees entails, how you can collect it, and how you can put it to good use.
What constitutes data of employees
The data of employees comes in many shapes and forms, and you might have to collect different data points depending on your needs. Companies most commonly focus on collecting:
- Employment status information;
- Educational/professional background;
- Employee demographics;
- Length of employment;
- Wage and benefits information;
- Personal data (name, address, contact information, etc.);
- Time-off requests;
- Performance reports;
- Attendance logs.
Although most business owners understand employee data as solely internal employee data, you can also collect and analyze external data to drive growth.
Competitor employee data, for instance, can keep you informed about employment trends, potential skills gaps in the industry, market changes, and more. It can be just as valuable as internal data in helping you set your company on a path to success.
How to collect employee data
Collecting employee data might be more challenging than you may think, especially if you don’t tend to keep proper employee records. You’ll need to get organized, inform employees about the data you’ll be collecting and the purpose of your data collection, and ensure that you respect all relevant privacy laws.
To start the collection process, you can review all your existing documents and paperwork – employee application forms, recruitment information, onboarding data, performance reviews, exit interviews, and more.
Additionally, you can conduct interviews and surveys, send out anonymous questionnaires, and, of course, monitor actions and behaviors in the workplace.
Collecting external data can be slightly trickier as you’ll need to look into third-party sources. You can accumulate relevant data from job boards, forums, and employee review sites or partner with data collection companies that offer firmographic and other relevant insights.
Regardless of how you collect internal and external data of employees, you need to be aware that it’s not a one-time job. You’ll need to devote time and effort to maintaining employee records and continually updating your database.
Employee data use cases
Whether you’re collecting internal employee data, external, or both, you can use it to drive your company’s growth. Take a look at just a few of the main employee data use cases.
Talent acquisition
Enriching your HR tools with the right sets of internal and external employee data can help you streamline the candidate screening process, remove recruitment biases and gut-feeling-based decisions, and identify the right people for your company’s needs.
Moreover, you can rely on quality data to attract the right talent by identifying your applicant’s wants and needs, preferred salary ranges, and ideal workplace conditions, then develop an environment that meets their expectations.
Overcoming skills gaps
Internal data of employees helps you identify the skills gaps within your organization. External data of employees enables you to identify and predict skills gaps within your industry.
If you notice that more and more of your competitors are trying to fill similar positions or placing job ads for employees with broadly similar skill sets, it’s a clear sign that there are notable industry changes that you should keep an eye on.
Strategic planning
Employee data is critical to strategic workforce planning. Instead of waiting for negative developments in the workforce, you can predict disruptions and remain proactive, developing talent management plans and recruitment strategies that will lead to long-term success.
L&D planning
Though attracting the top talent is often one of the most important processes for an organization, what’s more critical is developing the top talent.
You can use internal and external employee data to assess your training needs and start offering relevant learning and development (L&D) opportunities to the right employees.
Not only will this help you stay on top of market trends and give you the tools you need to outperform the competitors, but it will also ensure greater employee satisfaction. Over two-thirds of employees state that L&D is a company’s most important policy, and many would leave their workplace if their employer didn’t offer relevant training opportunities.
Budgeting
Collecting and analyzing employee data is essential to developing proper budgeting plans. Attendance data, performance reports, time-off information, and more help you ensure that all your employees are accurately compensated and that your payroll structure is properly developed.
Furthermore, external employee data can help you ensure that your company offers competitive terms that attract and retain top talent.
Final thoughts
Those above are just some of the primary use cases of employee data. The data of employees offers valuable insights into your own organization, and your industry as a whole, allowing you to remain proactive and improve your competitiveness.
Just remember, employee data collection and analysis isn’t a one-time task – it’s an ongoing process that requires commitment.