The Juggler: Being part of HR Analytics Team

Very recently I had an opportunity to interact with a number of student pursuing their master’s program in HR and what caught my attention was the fact that a large percentage of them were very interested in understanding more about the practice of HR Analytics. One question which was voiced more prominently than others was “What is a typical role of an HR Analytics professional?”

Similar question has been asked very often by existing HR professionals who are currently engaged with various COEs or line HR but are extremely curious to understand more about a role in HR analytics.

And so I have attempted to categorize the role of an HR analytics professional in three broad areas:

Governance:

• Design, develop and implement standard HR scorecards which measures activity, efficiency/effectiveness, and outcomes.
• Help the businesses understand possible trend on HR metrics and their implications on business continuity.
• Align existing HRIS, IT systems, and BI capability to build efficiencies by enabling real time access to critical information and through creative and intuitive visualizations.
• Bring in cadence through operating reviews between the business and HR COEs to assess the health of the business from a talent processes perspective.

Advisors:

• Conduct routine diagnostic studies of key HR programs and processes, identify key linkages among different HR metrics, and drivers that can impact the business through root cause and impact analysis.
• Build predictive modelling solutions in areas of hiring, learning, succession planning, and attrition to generate the best case scenarios for optimizing the human capital ROI.
• Help businesses implement effective workforce planning solutions both operational and strategic by prescribing the right mix of talent strategies.

Enablers:

• Enable HR managers to understand business strategy, external and internal drivers, metrics, analysis and research into meaningful HR actions. Help them build the knowledge of data, analytics, and tools in order to influence business decisions.
• Train the field HR managers to be the “solution builders” for their businesses. Develop analytical competency through trainings and project based assignments.
• Proactively introduce innovative data based tools, playbooks and standard solutions to the HR business partner. Encourage the use of technology and help them create the right solution for the business.

• Having browsed through the three role, it is important to understand that one may not be required to perform these roles everyday on a regular basis but will have to juggle between them based on the situation and requirement.