HC Analytics Poll Results
In last month's newsletter, we discussed the increase we'd seen in activity around human capital (HC) analytics. Looking to better understand this, we asked our readers to respond to a quick poll on their current thinking. The results are now in! (It should be noted that the poll was highly unscientific, open to anyone who chose to participate.) We received a total of 65 responses, predominantly from individuals in for-profit organizations of medium to large size.
Asked about organizational areas of focus where respondents thought that HC analytics could have a positive effect, three areas were each selected by over 85 percent of respondents: employee engagement/commitment, employee retention, and leadership effectiveness. All other possible choices (including sales, quality, diversity, and safety) were each selected by fewer than half of respondents. When asked which of these areas represented the single highest current priority for improvement, 41 percent chose leadership effectiveness.
In almost half of all responding organizations (43 percent), the CEO makes decisions about spending on HC analytics. Interestingly, respondents reported budgets for HC analytics are generally quite tight. Many reported their budgets were zero, minimal or unknown. Among the respondents who reported budget levels, the average budget is $6.90 per organizational employee. Finally, many respondents (44 percent) indicated they'd look first to a firm with a specialty in analytics for outside assistance in this area.
So what do we take away from all this? First, it's clear that most respondents are still thinking about HC analytics in "traditional" areas - leadership effectiveness, employee engagement/commitment, retention. Only a minority have begun to extend their thinking to incorporate HC analytics into assessing key organizational outcomes like sales and quality.
We were also intrigued by the low analytics budgets for most respondents. It appears that the dollars may not yet have caught up to the talk - people are more interested in HC analytics, but only a vanguard of organizations have truly committed monetary resources to following through on that interest. We'd expect that those on the cutting edge in this area will begin to develop a competitive advantage over their peers whose commitment is more lagging. |
Want to Know More?
Click to view the full results from our quick poll. |