Introduction

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that the relevance of deploying data analytics in the realm of human resource management cannot be overstated. This is more so the case given that data analytics could come in handy as a crucial aid to decision making. A data-driven approach to human resource management seeks to ensure that organizations are directed by factual input in their decision making efforts, as opposed to guesswork or mere intuition. In the words of Waters, Streets, McFarlane, and Johnson-Murray (2018), HR analytics can improve the credibility of the HR function by showing the linkage between people and business outcomes (9). This write-up concerns itself with some of the scenarios whereby analytics could be deployed from a workforce perspective. More specifically, the specific workforce areas to be highlighted are: employee turnover and employee engagement.

Idea 1: Employee Turnover

Employee turnover (which is also routinely referred to as employee turnover rate) could be defined as the rate at which employees of a firm leave employment over a specified period of time. This is more so the case in relation to those employees that the organization has to replace. It is for this reason that Dessler (2018) defines employee turnover rate as the loss of talent in the workforce over time (152). The employee turnover rate is one metric that an organization should not ignore. This is more so the case given that it enables the organization to assess how effective its HR policies and practices are. It should also be noted that when employee turnover rate is high, the company incurs high hiring costs. This is more so the case given that, as has been indicated above, employees that the company loses in his case have to be replaced. Thus, hiring costs associated with a high employee turnover could be inclusive of, but they are not limited to, advertising costs, administrative costs associated with selection, training costs, etc. A high rate of employee turnover also comes with the associated cost of productivity loss. Productivity loss could in this case be taken into consideration from the perspective of actual productivity loss when the employee leaves a position vacant and loss of productivity as a new employee is being oriented into a new role. Yet another overlooked downside of a high employee turnover rate is decreased morale among the remaining employees. This is more so the case given that when their colleagues leave, the remaining employees may have to work overtime. On the basis of the downsides presented above, the relevance of deploying analytics in this context cannot be overstated.

a) Hypothesis/Business Question

Has the turnover rate of the organization been on an upward or downward trend over the last five years?

b) Leading Indicators

i. Overall turnover rate: This would help us make sense of data relating to the number of employees who leave the company during the specific year of interest. To compute the overall turnover rate, the number of those who leave the organization, say in year X, could be divided by the average number of employees (which is essentially the total number of employees that the organization has at the beginning of year X added to the...

i. Net income: This is essentially the income made by the company after deducting all the relevant expenditure and costs. The relevant figures can be sourced from the companys income statement.

ii. Return on Equity (ROE): This could be conceptualized as the return that the enterprise rakes in for each invested shareholder dollar. The ratio will be computed using figures sourced from the balance sheet (i.e. shareholder equity) and the income statement (i.e. net income).

iii. Return on assets (ROA): In basic terms, this ratio assesses the extent to which the enterprise yields profits in relation to the balance sheets total assets figure. The ratio will be computed using figures sourced from the balance sheet (i.e. total assets) and the income statement (i.e. net income).

Conclusion

In the final analysis, it is clear from the discussion above that the relevance of data analytics cannot be overstated. This is more so the case when it comes to efforts to not only gather, but also analyze and report crucial HR data. In the present discussion, data analytics has been deployed to gain insight into two issues of relevance from a workforce perspective. The said issues are employee turnover and employee engagement. Data sourced on this front will enable the enterprise in the formulation of better decisions. More specifically, the organization will be able to establish whether the issues highlighted affect its ability to continue being competitive or relevant going forward i.e. in as far as…