The New War in People Management

by Cubie Davis King, PhD.

Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends research revealed that a new war is quietly underway by the world’s most sophisticated companies. This war is to gain a competitive advantage in their markets by understanding all elements of their workforce. Their weapons of choice? People analytics.

Companies like Walmart, AOL, Pfizer, Facebook, IBM, Amazon, Oracle, ADP, SAB Miller, and other major players are miles ahead of others in implementing this powerful new technology. As we continue to see talent pools shrink in just about every occupation across the board, including law, medicine, education, oil and gas, housing, and even STEM, talent retention has moved to the forefront of C-suite concerns. One way these companies are using this technology is to understand how to retain their best talent.

People analytics can also analyze talent characteristic, improve the quality of new hires based on data, not guess work, boost employee engagement, and assist with understanding and predicting talent retention issues long before they become problematic, just to name a few.

However, many HR departments have been slow to embrace analytics because many suffer from either (1) poor data quality, (2) lack an understanding of what to measure, (3) lack an understanding of how analytics can help leaders drive numerous performance metrics, in fun and even exciting ways.

While experts believe that buying data driven software is an essential first step, they caution that it will take a while for smaller organizations to fully absorb and appreciate this incredible technology. How about your organization? Have you selected a point person to begin to learn and understand how people analytics can give you a competitive edge over your competition?

Take a clue from these leaders. Now is the time to act.

©2019 Cubie Davis King. All Rights Reserved