Big Data: HR’s Suitable Companion

With an effective execution of big data, human resource departments can better streamline the talent under their purview. It can revolutionize how HR teams fish out suitable candidates and improve culture and employee satisfaction.

Big data is not just a buzzword; it certainly has become ubiquitous, fitting itself into every section of business life. It impacts so much of company operations and can offer deep insight into previously uncharted areas. In other words, the field has become a necessary light—it lets companies explore unmapped areas, especially in HR operations.

Let’s deep dive into how big data impacts HR operations:

Vanity Metrics: Big data debunks statistics that look good on paper but offer little or no insight. Therefore, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to data.

Reducing Costs: Using software for daily HR management instead of hiring an entire department (human resources) reduces costs and gives more back to your employees. This speaks volumes about how big data influences HR practices.

Predicting Hiring Needs: When applied to recruiting, employers can utilize big data to predict hiring needs better, while improving their quality of hire and employee retention. By mining employee data and identifying patterns related to skills, performance ratings, tenure, education, past roles, etc., companies can reduce their time-to-fill, improve employee engagement and productivity and minimize turnover, said John Feldmann of Insperity. He was quoted as saying by Forbes.

In addition to these, several other factors determine how big data impacts HR practices, including big data—improves strategic workforce planning, provides hidden talent insight, unlocks powerful insights, enhances retention, enables decision-making without bias, automates processes, tapes into shared experiences, to name a few.