The biggest challenge HR heads face while implementing an analytics project is integrating data. Not only does the system need HR data, it also needs business data and all of needs to be in a single data warehouse. "Linking disparate systems is a big challenge," says Narayanan. "HR data in itself is of limited use if it can't be to other systems, like sales. Only them can you frame business questions around the system."
Besides IT, HR analytics is finding application in several other sectors where people form a large chunk of costs, even if their numbers are not high. One such is the financial services industry, where the costs associated with attrition and fresh recruitment have always been very high. At Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HR head Gauri Deshmukh has been using analytics to figure out how retention relates to a range of factors like skills and location and how these factors interact. For example, she finds posting a Tamilian in Chennai doesn't ensure retention - in fact, North Indians show a greater propensity to stay on in Chennai. "Our sector requires an understanding of people. Competition for talent is alive and well here and it will only increase once the new banking licenses are issued," she says.
Deshmukh was formerly the head of HR at SAS Institute (India), the market leader in analytics, so her understanding of the subject goes deep. For example, she knows the value of data and has been working towards expanding her organisation's data base beyond the obvious. For example, Bank of America retains data on an applicants for a job opening, even if the candidate doesn't make it through the preliminary screening.
"We want to be able to answer broad questions like 'are we developing the right people?' or 'are we fully utilizing our talent?' That can only happen when you bring all the information together," says Deshmukh.
While traditional analysis required information to be neatly structured, analytics imposes no such restriction. "HR analytics can handle unstructured, qualitative data," says Sudipta Sen, CEO & managing director, SAS Institute (India). "The software is capable of crawling the intranet or the company intranet, checking for words and phrases that provide patterns or clues that can be married with formal data to give insights that would be otherwise very difficult to get."
Sen is currently marketing SAS Institute's Human Capital Intelligence software to large corporates, especially in the IT and financial services sector. "This product is directly marketed to HR heads, since it specifically addresses their needs," he says. Sen also expects HR analytics to eventually find application in government and military services, both very large employers. "In the USA, these are the two biggest users," he says.
Suresh Lulla, founder of Qimpro Consultants, believes HR analytics retail is set to find application in the organized retail: "Customer delight is not happening in malls and it's mainly because of poor manpower planning. Retailers don't have the flexibility to match manpower requirements with footfalls, so some sections of the store have idle sales people, while other sections are swamped. Predictive analytics can solve the problem."
Among global corporates, Google has been one of the biggest users of HR analytics. In a recent initiative code named Project Oxygen, the company used analytics to determine what made for better bosses, who, in turn, produced better results for the business. Google has been able to compile and prioritize a list of eight characteristics that make a boss a more effective manager. Technical expertise ranked last among the eight, while taking an interest in employees' careers and lives was among the most important. These insights are reported to be driving a number of changes at Google, in the way that mangers are assessed and selected, the frequency of performance appraisals and in the nature and priority of management training programs. The company is now monitoring the intended improved outcomes (retention of top talent, for example) that it expects as a result of these changes.
Suresh Lulla, Qimpro
Gauri Deshmukh, Bank of America
Naveen Narayanan, HCL Technologies
Rajesh Padmanabhan, Capgemini
CREDITS: The Economic Times