Case Studies: How Companies Use People Analytics to Achieve Results

While there is countless evidence from research that people analytics and workforce planning deliver value to organizations, there is still the question of “how” exactly this value is achieved. You don’t just implement a technology solution and automatically get value.

The value from analytics comes from taking effective actions. I’ve known this to be true in my 40+ year tenure as an HR technology researcher and my latest research into the analytics paths of Visier customers confirms this.

These stories reveal not only how others do analysis, but what they learn from the analysis and how they then take action to achieve value.

People analytics case studies: How analytics leads to positive outcomes

Illuminating the actions organizations take based on an analysis is at the heart of our analytics path stories. The stories help to answer the what (What’s happening in the organization?), the so what (Why should we care it’s happening?), and the now what (What do we do with this information?).

These stories:

• Show a specific challenge such as, how do we make a difference with diversity and inclusion?

• What analysis is conducted. This shows the what.

• Discuss the insights each organization derived from using analytics. This speaks to the so what.

• The actions they took. This is the now what that is needed to make an impact.

• The results. These are the outcomes from the analytics path.

Each one focuses on a single analytics project and highlights the analysis conducted. The truth is though there are often many iterations of doing some analysis and getting meaningful insights. Often, the data will drive the need for more analysis. But the rubber hits the road when we take action on this information.

These stories will show you how to: 

• Address diversity and inclusion 

• Handle a reduction in force without resorting to lay offs

• Mitigate turnover and evaluate the ROI of interventions

• Assess the ideal span of control

• Improve new hire retention

• Get the most from buying a people analytics solution instead of building one

Lessons learned from analytics paths

In doing this research, I noticed some similar behaviors and outcomes between these customers and stories.

Analytics is a journey

Analytics is not a “one and done” process. It’s iterative–one analysis nearly always begets another. This process builds analytics muscle in both the individual and the team performing the analysis. For example, one story shows how by digging deeper into high performer turnover data, the HR leaders were able to hone in on the exact team (software development) and location (Krakow, Poland) where turnover was highest. This enabled them to implement more focused actions that reduced regrettable attrition from 9% to 7.5%.

Digging deeper into the data reveals the best actions to take

Sometimes even the actions you take can benefit from more analysis, which will lead you to the one that yields the best return on investment. In one example, the organization first solved a turnover challenge with multiple interventions but then went on to assess the return on investment of its interventions! The lesson here is to also analyze the effectiveness of each action taken.

Taking action is the hardest part to create results.

Taking effective action starts with a culture change and change management to achieve it. We have brilliant analytics customers. Those that are successful ALL have (or are beginning to have) built a data-driven culture. For this, the most successful organizations use enterprise change management. We’ve compiled their leading practices into this white paper.

As you go through these analytics path, we would love your input on what other challenges you would like to see addressed in future stories. Connect with me on Twitter to engage more on this discussion!