Future of Human Capital Analytics Looks Promising

Significant progress is underway in the use of human capital analytics in high-performance organizations, according to a new study from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and the ROI Institute. The Promising State of Human Capital Analytics profiles how Google, HSBC, LinkedIn, and Intel are using analytics in effective and powerful ways.

Here’s the good news: According to the data, 83 percent believe using analytics drives or improves business performance. Nearly three-quarters of companies in the study (74 percent) find that analytics help improve programs and processes, and 70 percent say analytics help solve important business problems.

Further, 69 percent of participants expect their budgets for human capital analytics to increase in 2017. These companies are expecting to use analytics in numerous ways to make decisions about the talent lifecycle of their employees. Key functional areas where analytics tools are “important” are “extremely important” in decision making include:

• leadership development; 67% 

• talent retention; 65% 

• strategic workforce planning; 64% 

• talent acquisition; 62% 

• employee engagement; 62% 

• training and development; 61% 

• performance management; 59% 

• compensation and benefits; 48% 

• diversity and inclusion; 46% 

• organizational design; 45%.

However, i4cp finds that many companies it works with—including some of the world's largest and most advanced—have a way to go. “It's inning two of a nine-inning game,” says Eric Davis in a blog post announcing the report.

In fact, only one-third (34 percent) are using human capital analytics to develop predictive models, and even fewer (29 percent) are forecasting ROI. Rather, the study finds that a majority of companies (69 percent) are still using analytics primarily to measure a specific program.

“While most organizations recognize the promise, few have capitalized on it,” concludes Davis.

For more insight from the study, check out i4cp’s infographic.