4 Reasons Why You Should Leverage Strategic Analytics in Your Hiring Strategy

For decades, HR and talent acquisition departments have been trying to get seats at the executive table. Often, however, they were prohibited from doing so because they lacked the quantitative data they needed to prove they could be strategic partners in the business.

But now, thanks to advances in technology, these departments have access to the kinds of strategic analytics they need to show the C-suite that they should be part of the business's overall strategy.

In fact, HR and TA teams may now be more important to business success than ever before. The skills gap has forced executive leaders to face the fact that attracting and retaining talent is both a critical and complicated affair. Prior to the advent of strategic HR and TA analytics, employers simply made talent decisions based on what they assumed to be beneficial or cost-effective. Strategic analytics have shown many employers that their assumptions were often wrong.

Are strategic analytics guiding your hiring decisions, or are you still making decisions based on erroneous assumptions?

If the war for talent is causing you and your organization significant problems, then it's time to leverage HR technology and let strategic analytics show you the way to hiring success.

Here are four ways that strategic analytics can help your organization close the skills gap and win the war for talent:

1. Staying Up to Date With the Talent Market

Many employers pay below market rates and expect to attract the cream of the crop. This may work now, but it won't work for long. Savvy candidates have more access to salary data than they used to, and your existing employees are more willing than ever to jump ship for organizations that offer better pay and benefits. Using strategic analytics, employers can gain access to regional market rate intelligence that can help them attract and retain the best talent.

On the other side of the coin, some employers may not realize they're paying too high above the market rate and thereby wasting money. Using strategic analytics, these companies can adjust their compensation packages downward and prevent further unnecessary loss of funds.

2. More Accurate Workforce Forecasting

For many industries, labor requirements vary significantly depending on the time of year. In these cases, strategic analytics can guide employers in making more accurate predictions about the kind of labor they'll need and when, based on historical labor data. This can help employers avoid situations where they need to hire contingent workers at crisis rates or pay existing employees expensive overtime rates.

3. Cutting Attrition and Associated Costs

Strategic analytics aren't only useful during the hiring process. They can also help employers determine the exact costs of employee attrition and identify any processes that may contribute to higher attrition rates. This is especially useful for revealing cost-cutting measures that actually turn out to cost the company more money.

For example, an employer might save thousands by cutting benefits, only to find that the cost of the increased attrition rates spurred by the loss of benefits is even higher than the amount saved.

4. More Efficient Screening

During the recruiting process, strategic analytics can also be helpful for candidate management. Strategic analytics can inform TA teams about which candidates possess the right skills for the job, which candidates meet compliance requirements, and more. This can cut the time it takes to hire and lead to more quality hires overall.

Today, big data is everywhere. In HR and TA, it comes in the form of strategic analytics that can help us make better hiring decisions. The challenge for employers is no longer the collection of data – it's how to best use that data to achieve their goals.

Catherine Hess is the marketing manager for RightSourcing.