I attended a great session about HR analytics in London, organised by Symposium events. There were references to the analytical 'journey' throughout the day, and I'm not afraid to admit I'm at the start. Indeed most delegates seemed to be in the same camp fortunately. But I was keen to increase my awareness of how other HR functions in other industries are using analytics – a relatively new tool – to enhance their HR provision. It’s a hot topic, but one which I think is quite hard to grasp for traditional HR professionals.
Edward Houghton from the CIPD delivered the first session – and what an inspiring introduction it was. Their ‘Valuing Your Talent’ programme is designed to help employers gain a clearer understanding of the way in which people impact the performance of their organisation. In simple terms, it’s about measuring and managing the human capital value of their people.
His advice was to create a common language, to ensure people understand what any HR analytics function can deliver. And his business case was strong: people are a business’s greatest intangible asset – and in an increasingly knowledge based economy it is ever more important to recognise the value of our human capital.
He admitted that HR professionals aren't always naturally numerically driven, so this approach may not be within everyone's comfort zone and I wonder if it has been put in the 'too difficult' box by some. Edward recommended building relationships with our finance colleagues and drawing on the skills of more analytically minded team members to help overcome this.
Check out their fantastic framework online, and look out for the global survey in January. It'll be fascinating to see what measures are working best and most relevant across which types of business. See http://www.valuingyourtalent.com/
I’ll share some key messages from the rest of the day later in the week, with tips on where to start if you haven’t already. I’m also planning to compile a Factsheet for our Maritime HR Association members, to share the knowledge I gained and raise awareness of what is a great opportunity for HR to increase its profile in the boardroom.
Sarah Hutley
Compensation & Benefits Analyst, HR Consulting, Spinnaker Global
