Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term for many techniques in computer science. These techniques shy away from static pre-defined procedures, instead aim at mimicking human creativity and problem-solving skills. In recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous increase in the application of AI such as self-driving cars, smart devices, and chat bots. With every new application, we are getting a step closer to the visionary images of the world portraited in many classic Sci-Fi movies.
So, how does this help HR managers? Using AI techniques, we can mimic how people behave and decide, even in their day-to-day working life. What makes people accept a job, go to work, choose a certain course of action or go the extra mile? It helps us understand the impacts of our decisions, gain new and powerful business insights and identify successful strategies.
We are now in an era in which with enough data, the right technology and a dose of mathematics it has become possible to predict and even prescribe the future. In short, business analytics helps us discover, understand, and communicate business strategies. Companies can apply analytics to data to describe, predict and improve their business performance.
Data mining and discovery: data research based on a specific question, in which we try to use data to find an answer to a specific question. In workforce planning, this is typically applied to understand recruiting and attrition rate.
Trend analysis and predictive analytics: specifically searching for cause-effect relationships in order to explain certain events or to predict future behaviour. This helps us understand how our demand will grow but also identify the person that will probably leave the organization.
Scenario analyses and optimization: search for the right set of decisions to reach a specific goal. This helps us translate our business strategies in actionable HR decisions.
When Big Data is used for Human Resource purposes, it is known as People Analytics, HR Analytics and Workforce Management Analytics. Managers of HR departments can benefit tremendously from the data that’s available to them. The data can help gain new insights, find patterns and can support, in a very accurate way, making strategic decisions.
Most companies still approach workforce planning as an annual exercise in which personnel spending is managed as a cost without considering the skills or talent needed to meet business objectives. HR and business units have little insight into whether the number of employees they have, or their capabilities, are sufficient to achieve revenue and other goals. And they are aware of the consequences. A recent survey (Harvard Business review, 2015) found that for an overwhelming majority of respondents, inadequate workforce planning has prevented them from meeting business goals.
Companies already have plenty of useful workforce data distributed across business functions. Ideally, they would leverage this data, connect and analyse it to understand the current state of their workforce, and use it to inform discussions about the talent needed to meet business objectives. Advanced workforce planning includes understanding costs and hiring trends and attrition, as well as the economic and business factors that drive them, and using this information to model scenarios to determine which are optimal for achieving objectives.
Big Data Analytics is rapidly making the world smarter. For companies and especially for HR managers it is important the introduction of Big Data Analytics is taking very seriously and will be introduced alongside the “business as usual’. Big Data Analytics has already proven its worth, but many companies have yet to experience the value of Big Data Analytics for themselves.
In a fast-changing world as we live in today, sometimes it might look impossible to look ahead to what de organization will need in a short- and long period of time. This makes strategic workforce planning a very big challenge for HR-departments, but it also makes it more important than ever.
Workforce planning is commonly used to refer to the day-to-day operations, operational workforce management needed to maintain capacity, or shorter-term planning that looks at the months ahead (tactical). In order to get a better understanding of the differences withing workforce planning, we split up workforce planning in to three categories. We will discuss operational, tactical as well as strategic planning.
You will find out the top 5 benefits of Strategic Workforce Planning. Using Strategic Workforce Planning gives you a number of benefits that can make a huge difference for your organization in a positive way.