Mastering the phenomenon called HR Analytics in organizations

Essay by amritpattnaikUniversity, Bachelor's September 2008

download word file, 6 pages 1.0

Mastering HR analytics with technology Accountability is now a critical issue for all HR directors, and providing detailed analysis to back up plans and programs is essential. Angus Kidman looks at how technology can help HR to produce better workforce analytics and how HR professionals can get the rest of the business on board One clear incentive for improving workforce analytics is to drive business growth. "We are a double-digit growth company, and the competitive landscape is a lot tighter than it has been in the past," says Michelle Thomson, Asia-Pacific vice president for human resources at financial services giant American Express. "The biggest challenge for us is enabling our workforce and driving business success through our people. As an HR function, one of our key measures is how we drive success by driving value." Measurement has become central to American Express' HR activities, which stretch across 83 countries throughout the world.

In Australia, the company has around 3,000 employees spread over 85 sites. "Everything that we touch has a metric attached,"Thomson says. "Whatever we do we use globally consistent processes, measurements and databases. We do things in a methodical, thought out, consistent manner, and we have consistent platforms." However, Thomson acknowledges that it hasn't always been this way. Building a consistent platform began in 1999, when the company began a global rollout of PeopleSoft as its core HR system. At the time, even PeopleSoft itself hadn't done a single rollout for global operations. "It was a huge challenge."The final system used a PeopleSoft backend and a user interface developed by Mellon HR Services. "Some of the things we needed PeopleSoft couldn't do," says Thomson, who served on the global committee supervising the rollout. "Like any investment, a business case had to be built and the return on...