Traditional measures of talent do not paint a complete or comprehensive picture of workforce health. Many factors can help assess better insight: engagement, well-being, performance and skills gaps. But should that be all? No. 

Looking toward talent data will provide eye-opening insights into the overall state of the workforce. Digging into your people analytics helps paint a detailed picture for HR and helps leaders understand how the workforce is flourishing or lagging. Seemingly minute details can open conversations around what resilience has looked like in the wake of challenges during the pandemic, what your workforce truly values and what your talent pool reflects. In reviewing, HR will fully assess success and pain points and apply data to future strategy adoption.

Let’s identify how HR gains crucial insight from harnessing talent data and how these insights benefit HR action plans.

Look for signs of a flourishing or struggling workforce

HR professionals are constantly looking for indicators that allow them to visualize how their workforce is performing. Data shows employee engagement generally remained steady during the pandemic, yet it largely depended on employee wellness and burnout. Even when data looks relatively stable, underlying disruptions tell a complete story of possible hurdles that might be present in your organization.

Compiling data from individual employee feedback and organization-wide touchpoint reviews allows an opportunity for a greater understanding of employee needs and actions the organization should take to improve. Doing so will elevate workplace connection to strengthen the culture. From here, HR leaders can brainstorm suitable approaches for various initiatives such as wellness.

Magnify workforce resilience 

Building a resilient workforce today is more critical than ever. Amid a pandemic or not, the workplace will always present challenges at one point or another. During difficult times, the workplace can overcome strife to forge a path towards resilience. How should HR take data and find solutions to boost team resilience?

HR professionals will measure team and workplace sustainability by analyzing metrics within difficult times. Planning continued training or learning sessions around outlining role responsibilities will aid in fostering cohesive grit in the face of stress.

Insights into reskilling efforts

Continuous feedback is one of the most valuable tools within talent data. It allows you to look at existing employees and determine if a skills gap exists within roles or the organization. According to a recent study from McKinsey, 87% of organizations say they are currently experiencing knowledge gaps or are anticipating this disparity within the next few years. The Great Resignation has only further confirmed this need for reskilling efforts. 

Examining skills gaps is one area to consider, but what else can analytics tell us about reskilling a workforce? By gathering feedback, leaders can determine if certain employees would be better suited toward different roles, if specific employees have the potential to enter a leadership role and where new skills could be learned to boost performance and productivity. 

Reviewing talent data will drive positive workforce alignment. However, the plans put into place after reviewing that data will enable organizational change. Talent analytics empowers leaders to dig into the organization’s health and supplement their decision-making skills in continued training, retention and engagement.