Research from Ciphr finds that just 32% of HR professionals in the U.K. think their organisation takes full advantage of workforce reporting to make strategic decisions.
By Maggie Mancini
Robust HR analytics and reporting is essential for any organisation looking for real-time insights into their workforce. But only a third of U.K. employers are thought to be getting the most out of their people data. New research from Ciphr finds that just 32% of HR professionals think that their organisation fully utilises people data to make evidence-based, strategic decisions.
That leaves over two-thirds (68%) of organisations not fully leveraging workforce reporting to better inform decision-making and improve outcomes. The findings, from a survey of 300 U.K.-based HR decision makers, also suggests that nearly two-thirds (64%) of organisations don’t actively seek HR’s input on business decisions—even though HR understands the makeup and capabilities of the workforce better than anyone.
“It’s important to recognise the impact that utilising people data can have on overall company performance,” says Claire Williams, chief people and operations officer at Ciphr. “Businesses that aren’t fully harnessing these powerful insights, particularly for planning ahead, are being incredibly short-sighted. People costs can be at least 80% of an organisation’s profit and loss, so this data should be scrutinised and leveraged in every way possible, the same way many look at their sales, marketing, and pipeline data.”
When asked to share which HR metrics they believe to be most important to track regularly, HR professionals cite several, including employee turnover rate (31%); employee engagement (30%); quality of hire (30%); absence records (27%); employee KPIs (26%); reasons for absences (23%); employee training qualifications (22%); training days per employee (20%); revenue per employee (17%); and compliance reporting (14%).
