Marketers have been living and breathing the words big data for years now. The fever pitch for big data is now a top charge of human resources as well. The general consensus is that big data if optimised, results in a lift in employee productivity. The result: a positive impact on your bottom line, your company culture and your brand cache.
Big data can help employee productivity as well as other areas of your company’s internal workings including:
- Employee management
- Employee retention rates
- Better training programs
- Automation and process improvement
In any business, in any industry, human capital comes at the highest cost and has the strongest impact on the bottom line – making employee productivity a key objective at very high levels in the organisation. Big data offers a multitude of insights to help with analysing relationships between the employee and the company to develop a clear picture of what success looks like.
What types of big data are used for employee productivity?
Many subjective definitions of big data float around. While purists and data engineers debate the true meaning of the term, the more practical among us can get tactical and examine what the types of big data are and how we might apply them to our employee productivity agenda.
Three types of big data can help drive your employee productivity to optimal levels:
Prescriptive
This type of analysis looks at the historical data to indicate what actions should be taken in the future. Using science, pre-set rules and algorithms, a company can use this type of data to “prescribe” a future outcome based on the analysis of real events.
Predictive
The sweet spot for big data enthusiasts in predictive analysis. This complex area of big data is able to look at sets of data and predict likely scenarios or forecasts of future results.
Diagnostic
The diagnostic data is the tool to help you analyze. You might be thinking of a dashboard that pulls in data from multiple sources and gives you a snapshot of where you are.
How To Use Big Data To Improve Employee Productivity:
Create targeted training programs.
By drilling down on what your team has mastered (and what they haven’t), you’ll gain the option to tailor your training efforts. A critical way to increase employee productivity is to ensure training is as effective as it can possibly be.
Gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and needs of your team.
An obstacle to employee productivity is satisfaction. To support this statement, check out statistics put out by the Harvard Business Review recently showing that job satisfaction accounts for an average of 31% higher productivity, 37% higher sales and a 3X increase in creativity. Big data is a sure way to gain a quantitative understanding of what your employees value, what they don’t and what you are doing right and wrong to keep them engaged.
Learn when to pivot.
It is almost always better to retain employees than to part ways. The drain on morale, employee productivity and even your hiring budget hinges on making good HR decisions and then retaining the employees you bring on board. Your big data insights will not only help you make better hiring decisions. It will also give you confidence if you need to make a break with a current employee that you’re making the best decision.
The capture of big data is growing at a staggering pace. By 2020, the new information generated per second is expected to range in the range of 1.7 megabytes. (Yes, that’s per second.) Today, 40,000 search queries are performed per second (just on the search engines owned by Google), which totals 3.46 million searches per day – 1.2 trillion yearly. Businesses in the know recognize the power of this data and how it can be a driver of employee productivity.
When you are ready to tap into big data to amp up employee productivity, StaffCircle has the easy-to-use tools (powered by the latest technology) to get there. StaffCircle offers a comprehensive and easy-to-use workforce management suite that fits any business need. You’ll be able to easily obtain, analyse and act upon data. While your employees will love the accessibility of our tool that can be used from smartphone, tablet or PC.
Get started with a free demo today!
