Peering through the looking glass: why people analytics is all the rage

Everyone loves people analytics right now.

Google, Walmart, Microsoft and a whole stack of other household names swear by it.

That's because people are complicated. They can suck up your profits, or come up with that earth-shattering solution you've been racking your brain for.

So, it's no wonder businesses want to get more bang for their buck when it comes to staffing.

People analytics can help you get more from staff anytime, anywhere. But, we're just gonna look at how it can give your recruitment a real shot in the arm.

Err, what's all this people analytics stuff then?

Here's the science-y bit.

People analytics means storing up a stack of numbers that tell you what's worked with employee performance and retention in the past.

Then, just wave your wand of data analysis and *poof* – there's the recipe for your next hire. Here's that magic in a little more detail:

Ready, set, go benchmark!

People analytics is no one-night stand. You've gotta commit, and use it to create new hiring benchmarks and practices. Here's a taster:

• Figure out what's made your best staff stand out, then use this as a persona for your next hire.

• Ask your people what they love about working for you (or, what you could do better) and use it to boost your employer brand.

• Work out the best organisational and departmental sizes for your business (and, what skills you need), then make your hiring match up.

• Crunch some turnover numbers to figure out where that oh-so important budget would be best spent on new staff.

We're going on a staff hunt...

Once you've done your homework, it's time to start looking for staff. People analytics can help you:

• Look in places where top staff have been hiding previously

• Guesstimate when staff might be about to jump-ship so you can start recruitment early and make sure no skills go missing

• Tweak your recruitment for specific branches or roles

• Confirm that a candidate is a match made in heaven for your job

• Add those 'almost made it' candidates to your talent pool to go back to later on

Making your mind up!

And, finally... When you find that there comes a time for making your mind up, here's what people analytics can do for you:

• Put a lid on the total number of interviews you'll have to do.

• Look beyond the snazzy qualification and through to the person underneath.

• See how your candidates' skills stack up and measure their strengths/weaknesses.

• Create an extra-special on-boarding process based on staff feedback that takes steps to solve any issues or skills gaps you might've had before.

Put all this together, and you can find the right staff, boost their productivity, and encourage them to stick around a little longer.