TPC Blog

Predictive People Analytics in Human Resources

Written by The Payroll Company | Jun 20, 2022 5:30:00 PM

Predictive analytics is not a new concept. In fact, Amazon, Netflix, and Match.com have been using predictive analytics for years to pair customer interests with customer service to create great customer experiences. Used in almost every industry, predictive analytics gathers and interprets information, looking for patterns that can anticipate future outcomes. In Human Resources, Predictive People Analytics, or PPA, is changing the game for hiring and retention.

What Makes PPA So Valuable in HR?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could predict certain things happening within your organization that could be detrimental? How about knowing how employees are feeling and whether their sentiments could become a potential problem? This is possible with predictive people analysis.

Judgment is key to attracting and retaining the right fit for your organization. Predictive people analytics helps make informed decisions. This can avoid financial, mental, and emotional consequences on both sides, helping business owners when making decisions on recruitment, salary, turnover, personality, and work performance.

Predictive People Analytics is Adding Science to HR Decision-Making

For many organizations, turnover is very high. Turnover is costly. A company that must consistently need to recruit and train new employees will lose money in the long run. For some companies, this figure runs into the millions. Additionally, the investment of time and effort to train new employees is lost. This costs a business more than just money, as the remaining employees juggle an increased workload along with their current responsibilities.  The long-term effects can be detrimental with increased stress and struggling morale. 

With the workforce consistently evolving, it’s important for HR teams to take a deep dive into what motivates existing employees and keeps them engaged. That's where PPA comes in. Not only does it enable a business to make better hiring decisions, but it will also anticipate future fluctuations in the workforce. This knowledge creates a framework for a business to understand and anticipate the ramifications of strategic decisions using data. PPA merges strategy with data to forecast employee behavior.

What exactly is PPA?

It’s all in the name:

Predict

  • Once you know and understand why things are happening, you can plan, and course-correct for a better and brighter future. Predictive People Analytics provides the ability to investigate the future while predicting optimal ways to reduce turnover and increase profitability.

People

  • People, or your employees, are an organization’s most important asset. By focusing on them – what they know, who they are, what skills they have, and what motivates them - you can make better-informed decisions that provide the opportunities and environment they want and need to succeed. When they succeed, you succeed.

Analyze

  • Our analytics illustrate where you are today and your potential opportunities to sink or grow. With this platform, you can get an overview of trends to understand why they occur.
  • With multiple chart types, you can view employee data like the average commuting distance, average last raise, and average time in a position in a simplified view. You can also compare employees’ work habits and their performance to determine the risk of turnover and opportunities for development.

How PPA Can Help Your Business

Identify and address small issues before they grow into larger problems. PPA data analytics show historical trending and predictive modeling so organizations can see clearly their current status, how they got there, and what to change for a more productive future.

Improves Employee Retention. If you’re struggling with turnover, you’ll be able to proactively predict the turnover rate for the next 6 months, determine who is at risk of leaving, and how a pay raise will affect retention. You'll be able to understand the underlying issues and intervene by taking actions to minimize the likelihood of turnover using retention strategies that increase job satisfaction and employee morale and keeps them from leaving.

Data guides in pre-planning for better outcomes. By engaging employees from the beginning, the company saves money because the steps are taken to nurture and make employees feel seen. When employees feel valued, they work harder, show up more, deliver their tasks with higher standards, and quality, and are loyal to the organization.

Increase DEI&B Efforts. We all know how important diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are in today’s workforce. Now you’ll be able to see how well your company does in your efforts. For example, PPA lets you identify biases, pay, and diverse leadership gaps. Is there a gender bias in your pay structure, or a disproportionate number of men vs women at certain levels, or vice versa? You’ll be able to take proactive steps in making positive changes with an easy-to-use, easy-to-import, and easy-to-understand platform to make better decisions faster.

Smarter Decisions Make Stronger Companies

With PPA, the information you need to make positive changes that can affect the future of your company is ready and available. What would have ordinarily taken hours to compile and analyze data is done with the click of a button.

PPA helps make better decisions from a high level, which influences hiring decisions. If you could assess data that helped predict whether a candidate’s personality would be a good fit for the organization and in which department, wouldn’t you? Having the ability to determine whether a recruit would feel comfortable in your culture saves time and reduces turnover.

These business cases help HR understand how data drives influence, performance, and culture within their organizations. PPA is the now and the future. With a huge increase in value, this analytics help raise the standard of HR processes and how the mid-and C-suite executives view the organization from a high level. With HR better equipped to understand where there may be deficiencies within the current structure, they can work with managers and tailor the recruitment process to address these issues before they occur.

The potential of PPA is huge. With hard data and amazing results, analytics in HR is here to stay. With the ability to evaluate, predict, and fine-tune the impact of people and policies within the workplace, companies can implement the strategies needed to recruit and retain the best and brightest without worrying about them leaving and affecting the bottom line.

With an eye on the future, PPA is a tool your HR team can’t afford to pass by. To find out more, contact us for more information.