People Analytics in the Era of Big Data

CHAPTER 14 Future of People Analytics

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

—Thomas Edison

People Analytics is a growing area of data science that holds great promise for the future. It’s likely to become a commonplace practice in the coming years as the people, processes, and systems mature and make People Analytics something that any organization can do. The field of People Analytics as a discipline at the intersection of business analytics and HR is still in relative infancy, and technology is finally beginning to catch up to fulfill the promise for what organizational leaders have wanted for many years. For example, some companies such as Starbucks, Limited Brands, and Best Buy can precisely identify the value of a 0.1 percent increase in employee engagement at a particular store. At Best Buy, for example, that value is more than $100,000 in the store’s annual operating income.¹

It’s true that advanced analytic techniques of employee data that companies have at their disposal can help answer some of the critical questions surrounding the value of human capital, such as: How do investments in employee programs actually impact workforce performance? How can you motivate employees to succeed? and Who are your top performers? However, most companies are not currently able to answer these questions; they struggle with answering even basic workforce analytics questions, much less questions having to do with more sophisticated ...