The benefits of big data in HR and payroll

Employees are the central component of any company, therefore it’s important for both employees and employers to have the best clarity possible in terms of employee journey, to ensure that employees are happy, and thus more likely to remain a part of the organisation. To help both employees and employers track the employee journey, data can provide the necessary information to monitor employee data throughout their employment in that organisation. This data, for example, can reveal whether an employee is not engaged in certain aspects of a course or is has missed a training session, which can help employers to plan an employees’ development. Training can be tailored to each employee to help them to progress.

Not only does data and analytics improve the employee journey in an organisation, it also ensures that employers can make informed business decisions with insight gained from statistics and predictive trends. For example, data and analytics can provide employers with business trends or forecasts that can aid decisions about payroll or recruitment in the organisation. Whereas HR is traditionally a discipline about empathy, HR and payroll professionals can now use people data to empower insights that can be vital for decision making.

Diversifying a workforce can provide a multitude of benefits from improved performance to an expansion of knowledge, and is of overall importance for any organisation. However, many organisations are unaware in terms of how to track the diversity of their workforce, particularly international organisations with a global reach. Big data and analytics can consequently provide employers with people data that can notify employers when they are below the necessary diversity quota, ensuring that organisations continue to diversify as they grow.

Although it seems the HR and payroll industry was slow on the big data and analytics uptake in comparison to other industries, many providers are now reaping the benefits of people data and analytics.