Insight222 People Analytics Trends 2024: Measuring Value and Driving Adoption of People Analytics Products
Since 2020, Insight222 has conducted the largest study each year in the field of people analytics, culminating in the publication of our annual People Analytics Trends Report. Each year our study has grown – and 2024 is no exception! The People Analytics Trends Report for 2024 will be published next month and made available earlier for clients of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®. This year we studied almost 350 organisations, up 28% since 2023 (271 organisations). These organisations are collectively responsible for over 20 million workers and operate in more than 180 countries. They span over 10 sectors, including technology, financial services and pharmaceutical and healthcare.
This article will explore two of the key findings that you can expect to uncover when the report is published.
Democratisation and the Adoption of People Analytics
Data democratisation has been a topic of major importance in people analytics for a while. Data democratisation is the process of making data and insights accessible to a much wider group of people across an organisation who will benefit from its usage.
Applying human centred design principles to the development of dashboards by focusing on experience and outcomes will help to develop a solution that brings value to all stakeholders. Human centred design can be defined as a way of designing products, processes and experiences that put people first. It is important to apply a product mindset to the development of people analytics products and put the user (not the people analytics team) at the centre of the design thinking.
Ensuring Insights Reach the Right Decision-Makers at the Right Time
But, asking the right questions and then collecting and analysing the relevant data is only meaningful if the insights derived from the data are shared with and consumed by the intended audience. This is what we call the “adoption of people analytics”.
Our research shows that there is much more to do in order for people analytics products to be adopted by their intended users. As a profession, people analytics has become very capable of developing dashboards, tools and products. This has been aided by significant advances in technology and the growth in size of people analytics teams. However, the focus and investment must now be made in getting these insights and products into the hands of users at the point they need them to make decisions.
Figure 1. Percentage of people analytics product adoption & democratisation across HR practitioners. Source: Insight222 People Analytics Trends 2024
Bridging the Adoption Gap in People Analytics
We also found that while 71% of people analytics functions share data with managers and executives using analytics dashboards, and 63% have invested in specialised technology to enable data democratisation, less than half (47%) of the organisations report having a high level of people analytics product adoption across HR practitioners and 28% report having a high level of adoption outside of HR (see Figure 1).
Phil Willburn, Vice President of People Analytics at Workday discusses this crisis and opportunity for the people analytics field in an interview on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast:
“We produce so many analytics products and yet we oftentimes have low adoption in our products. I think if we’re going to create scale in people analytics, we really need to ensure our analytic products are adopted and used in an effective way. It is about embedding those insights into the way that the business runs their work.”
As people analytics teams focus more on adoption, they will also need to consider investment in capabilities such as change management, communications, project management – or partner internally with other teams in the organisation to leverage these – in order to drive the ongoing usage and relevance of people analytics products.
Measuring the Value of People Analytics
The Insight222 People Analytics Trends Report for 2023 found that measuring and delivering value, from people analytics efforts is key for the impact of the function.
On revisiting this important topic again in 2024, our research finds that there is still much more that people analytics teams must do to evidence the value of their work, and ensure that they are a visible, valuable and strategic partner.
What we found is that there is a strong desire among people analytics leaders for measuring and evidencing the value of people analytics. Of the 348 organisations in our research, 93% of them believe it is important to measure and evidence the value of people analytics work in order for the function to have impact. On the other hand, only 37% consistently measure the impact and value of what they deliver (see Figure 2).
If one action, above all others, could change the trajectory of people analytics, it is this: involve finance colleagues to measure and track the impact of people analytics. To secure more investment for the future, nothing is more effective than proving return on investment. In turn, value will be created for the organisation and will improve the workplace experience for employees simultaneously.
Our research found that, overall, in only 25% of the companies surveyed, the people analytics team has built relationships with finance executives to calculate the value of scaling people analytics insights and recommendations. For those that have not, this represents a missed opportunity for people analytics to deliver and measure value.
How People Analytics Leaders Drive Measurable, Impactful Outcomes Beyond Financial Metrics
One leader who has a strong relationship with colleagues from the finance function is Laura Shubert. She has led the People Planning & Insights team at MetLife for over 10 years. In an interview on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, Laura discusses her approach:
“We bring our finance partners in, because we need to ensure that any solutions we develop, or approaches, are affordable…We open up our assumptions and we let them test it and push on it and probe, so that we’re not having a debate about the numbers with finance, because they’ve already gotten themselves comfortable with it, they’re already on board.”
It may not be possible to measure the financial value of all people analytics projects. It is possible to deliver non-financial outcomes such as advancing an analytics culture or improving inclusion. Outcomes delivered by people analytics work do not have to be financial, but they do need to be measurable!
Pre-register to Download the Insight222 People Analytics Trends Report for 2024
If value is demonstrated and adoption is improved, people analytics will go from strength to strength as a business imperative.
To explore these insights further, as well as access benchmarks on the growth of people analytics and the use of AI in HR, you can pre-register to receive the Insight222 People Analytics Trends Report for 2024 when it is published early in December.
The report will also provide recommendations for action to ensure people analytics delivers impact, as well as advice from people analytics leaders in leading companies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Namoi Verghese
Naomi Verghese is currently the Senior Director of Research at Insight222. This unique program develops the knowledge and skills of People Analytics leaders and their teams to increase value, impact and focus through bundled learning, networking and advisory solutions. Prior to joining Insight222, Naomi built out and led the People Analytics Consulting team at Barclays. She has also held roles in HR Business Partner teams and in Reward.
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