Using Big Data To Enhance Organizations' Human Resources Effectiveness

It's not just about metrics. It's about identifying and interpreting the insights that data provides in order to optimize performance. For individuals and the organization. JL

Forbes reports:

Companies that leverage technology to introduce visibility into workforces, understand workers’ skills, and equip management with information on what workers need to succeed, both increase efficiency and introduce humanity by helping people achieve their best. Automating aspects of the HR agenda will drive a more hopeful system.
Between employee engagement drivers, productivity KPIs and retention metrics, big data can offer a broad spectrum of opportunities for improvements. Discovering trends in recruiting needs or performance technology can help companies best dedicate resources, as well as find strong fits for skill sets. It also allows for a path to improve staff morale by isolating elements that can hamper productivity. 
1. Uncover, Then Improve Engagement Drivers
Every employer strives to improve employee engagement. Employees are driven by factors that add to, or subtract from, their engagement with their work. The challenge is knowing which drivers matter and how best to impact them. Leveraging big data, not just annual benchmark surveys but also critical quarterly pulse surveys, can provide the clarity needed to know which engagement drivers to focus on. - Todd Richardson, Emplify
2. Predict Future Success
I’ve always been a big fan of leveraging big data to increase the quality of my hires, but technology will never replace the human element of HR. We use both a cognitive ability test and a personality test to add quantitative data to the interview process. Tracking metrics that are common to our most successful hires helps me to make better decisions over time and lowers our risk! - Brett Comeaux, LG Fairmont
3. Use KPIs
Labor management can be made much easier by utilizing the data that most organizations already collect. By using KPIs to determine what the productivity output per employee should be, and matching that to what your companies goals are, you can accurately forecast what your staffing should look like by department, as well as identify top performers and areas of opportunity within your workforce. - Sarah O'Neill, Digital Trends
4. Help Workers
HR teams need to continue to think about ways technology can help their workers. Whether it is recruiting technology, performance technology or wellness technology, each will give an HR pro data and insight into their workforce. HR teams need to share that insight with leaders and workers so they understand trends. This will help them be better at their trade and also help their firms succeed. - Ben Martinez, HireVue
5. Use Data To Plan, Not Just To Analyze
Whether benchmarking your most successful employees or analyzing surveys to find the keys to retention, HR must leverage data from the many HR-specific KPIs that exist to determine the best sources to find talent as well as the best programs to keep talent. Ensure your HR team has someone with the capability to dig into the data available to your organization. Use data to plan, not just to analyze! - David Hawthorne, Pacific Bells
6. Introduce Visibility To The Workforce
The great promise of technology is to advance humanity. Companies that leverage technology to introduce visibility into workforces, understand workers’ skills, and equip management with information on what workers need to succeed, both increase efficiency and introduce humanity by helping people achieve their best. Automating aspects of the HR agenda will drive a more hopeful system. - Rick Devine, TalentSky, Inc