The world is becoming increasingly data-driven every moment, brought on by advances in technology, cloud computing, and more demand for data-informed insights.
This demand does not restrict only understanding markets, customers, or systems. The need for data-informed insights about an organisation's most critical asset, its workforce, has been growing steadily.
There is an increased demand for data-informed planning to ensure appropriate staffing in the current environment and planning for a "new normal" of work trends. Organisations ask questions around productivity, employee well-being, and sentiment that rely on data-driven approaches to gathering information when working from a distance. While consensus for the power and need to analyse data about people and work is evident now more than ever, there is not so much clarity in terms and definition. So, for understanding.
HR Analytics
Some might say that HR analytics is just any set of analyses conducted by an HR person. However, if being a bit strict about definitions, HR analytics is a precise analysis for understanding HR-related processes and techniques.
Workforce Analytics
Workforce analytics, unsurprisingly, starts with a focus on the work itself. Workforce analytics focuses on all aspects of labour and may not necessarily involve the study of people.
People Analytics
It follows then that people analytics starts with a focus on people. That might include work outputs, such as productivity and comprehensive individual measurements beyond work.
The analysis may include people performance involved in the process, consumer behaviour analytics, work-life balance, well-being, stakeholders or investor perception and biases among suppliers or vendors. For example, in the current coronavirus environment, HR leaders ask whether employees may have additional stressors or support in their home lives to help them through difficult times. These analyses do not always necessarily focus on work, value or HR processes but enable better decisions about people. Please refer to Figure I below:
