HR Analytics: Why is Employee Engagement Important?

When it comes to providing intelligent insights related to recruiting, hiring, firing, and managing employees, the use of analytics has proven essential within the HR industry.

In recent years, HR analytics – or people analytics – has even established a place in assisting businesses with their valuable insights on employee engagement.

But why is this significant? Why is employee engagement important?  

See, before technology transformed the workplace, data collected related to employee engagement and productivity was mainly captured through manual recording. To build a more effective and data-driven culture, organisations are now moving away from manual reporting to automated, real-time capture to influence better business decisions in the future.

Employee engagement metrics are used to influence how an organisation attracts and retains the best talent, pairing people analytics and employee engagement strategies to reduce turnover, improve workplace efficiency, and increase profits.

Stay One Step Ahead

Having an automated system that organises, analyses, and provides continuous feedback on your big data goes a long way for your business – and your employees. Taking away manual data processes eliminates much of the room for error when the data is high-quality, allowing for the most accurate results and greatest business decisions.

By keeping an eye on employee trends businesses can address any issues immediately, solve problems before they escalate, and find any opportunities for improvement.

Surveys, for example, provide a snapshot of employee actions and thoughts, allowing your organisation to develop a strategic game plan months down the line and create solutions for workplace problems.

When you identify trends, you can impact engagement in your employees’ daily routines and help to make work meaningful. You can also encourage the entire staff to take accountability for trends, as well as their engagement levels.

Once a solution has been found, however, you should routinely check in to make sure that the changes made have remained effective.

With people analytics, you won’t have to wonder why your employee retention suddenly takes a dive – tracking your employee metrics will help you stay ahead of the curve and potentially avoid it altogether.

Maintain Empathy and Trust

To successfully develop businesses, both employees and leaders need consistent feedback to flourish – and that feedback should come from a two-way street of open communication. This allows leaders to ask better questions, to connect with their employees on a personal and professional level, and build trust.

By making morale number one and engaging employees in meaningful conversation – even if it’s just a quick coffee or chat by the water cooler – employees will feel like they’re being taken care of and leaders can gain a better understanding of employee dynamics, workflow, and how processes can be improved and more profitable.

Now, circling back to HR metrics for a second (i.e. turnover, absenteeism, surveys, training, and development), it’s important to remember that employees want to feel valued. To this end, leaders should be sharing data insights with their employees on a regular basis so that they have a chance to play an active part in contributing to positive changes within the organisation.

When organisations are transparent about business results and are open to feedback, it shows employees that they’re more than just a number on the payroll. It also helps employers understand what elements of their employees’ workflow is time-consuming and even redundant, allowing for the revision of certain processes so that employees can instead focus on what they love to do and remain engaged.

When employees feel like their wellbeing is a priority and they’re being taken care of, employee engagement naturally improves, as do factors such as productivity and retention.

Take Meaningful Action

We’ve all been in plenty of those meetings that could have been emails, so taking action to have impactful, meaningful discussions as needed is a major key for leaders looking to improve people processes and analysis.

Employees should be encouraged to speak candidly – within reason – in conferences, group meetings, and one-to-ones. This contributes to the creation of a strong work culture where employees and their superiors can collaborate and produce real-time, meaningful results.

Aside from tactical meetings, there are other small (and cost-effective) ways for leaders to engage with their employees by way of offering opportunities for an improved work-life balance, such as implementing a dog-friendly office space or cycle to work schemes.

Remember that people analytics doesn’t begin and end with HR – each individual department needs to make sure that their employees feel positive and appreciated in their place of work.

If your organisation shows its employees that they’re invested in their career and wellbeing, then employees will naturally push themselves harder to drive business objectives.

Being that employee engagement measures the relationship between a business and its employees, employee engagement is fundamentally important to any business because the results and what you do with them can truly make or break your organisation.

By regularly tracking employee engagement at every level, you’ll gain a better understanding of employee metrics and learn how people analytics merges employee wellbeing with business development, helping your organisation to create workplace environments where individuals feel engaged and empowered to thrive.

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