As the world contends with life-and-work altering impacts, software companies have raced to reinvent their offerings to support the changing work principles in the hybrid workplace. In fact, large corporations have been ramping up their attention and investments in smart technologies to improve their talent management systems.
A PwC study revealed that nearly 23% of MENA organisations are ranked as ‘leading’ in their strategic approach to technology, indicating they are making technology-related investments with human impacts such as employee experience and productivity in mind.
In comparison, only 16% are ranked as ‘leading’ in their approach to aligning workforce strategy with their talent strategy and practices as well as in making purpose-driven decisions.
ALSO READ: Importance of remote meeting tools and software in facilitating collaboration
Analysing employee data to solve business problems isn’t new but it has gained considerable traction over the past few years. By leveraging big data, companies can develop better customer experience, create more opportunities and enhance daily operations, essentially giving their bottom lines a big boost.
However, data without insights is meaningless.
Given the amount of data available to understand and predict employees’ behaviours, it is important to select an analytics model that offers insights into the benefits of evidence-based decision making, while also protecting people’s privacy.
To achieve a high level of employee engagement that drives business results, one must understand how and why people are engaged, how that aligns with the business metrics and what companies can do to retain them. Analysing anonymised behavioural data can help companies transform through greater visibility into their operations.
The power of analytics
Employees will always be the most important asset a business has. With the modern office moving out of physical boundaries, it is becoming more challenging for business leaders to stay on top of their employees’ mental and physical well-being.
ALSO READ:Â The return on collaboration
People analytics needs to be a part of any organisation’s core processes and go beyond simply measuring employee experience based on traditional surveys and job performance. Such tools allow organisations to identify elements of employee experience that have positive or adverse impacts on individuals, work culture and business outcomes.
For example, it can help determine if an employee has too many meetings but not enough focus time to deliver a quality output. It can also give team leaders an idea if an employee’s work patterns are sustainable and curb risks of them being overworked or demotivated, ultimately pushing them to leave the company.
By taking advantage of people analytics, organisations can translate data into actionable insights about the workforce to advance their business goals as well as boost employee performance and well-being.
Studies indicate a causal link between people analytics and associated best practices in improving the business performance of enterprises. This has pushed increased investments in technologies around people analytics, with the market expected to hit $3.6 billion by 2025.
Using platforms such as Microsoft Viva, organisations can get access to data and analytics that will shed light on the different issues and blind spots that hybrid workplaces currently have. For one, they can get a quantifiable view of the work and behavioural patterns of their staff.
This will give them a clearer picture of the issues that are hindering their employees from achieving their goals and objectives, whether they’re lacking certain resources, facing communication barriers or if they’re overworked. With this information, they can then curate strategies that will not only power their workforce to be more productive but also provide them with a rewarding, inspiring, and supportive work environment.
In addition, by leveraging collaboration and analytics tools, team leaders can understand the trends around employee engagement and tenure. Insights around this can enable organisations to gauge and measure employee experiences and pinpoint which initiatives work and which ones don’t. In the long run, this information can also help businesses to develop effective succession planning strategies and improve talent retention.
While all these benefits make a sound argument for implementing people analytics tools, it’s not without its challenges. Often, employees view this kind of data collection within the workplace as an invasion of privacy. This is not a trivial concern and organisations need to instill clear policies around data gathering and analysis that employees understand and feel comfortable with.
It is also paramount to invest in a solution that will not cause any privacy fallout. When selecting an employee experience platform, it is crucial to review the security and privacy aspects to ensure that employees’ personal data are protected every step of the way. The likes of Microsoft Viva have been designed with security and privacy at the core. It separates all personal insights from team and organisational observations, making them available only to the individual which eases any privacy concerns.
Looking ahead, it is clear that now more than ever, having a data-driven approach is vital in managing a workforce composed of newly distributed teams. Businesses need to recognise that to navigate the new era of work they need to go above and beyond implementing new technologies for performance and productivity benefits. Industry leaders need to advocate a data-oriented culture that measures both engagement and productivity with a more evidence-based and talent-centric approach.
