Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Accessing and Managing Big Data For HR Decision-Making

Big data is big news. In fact, it has even been deemed “the topic of the year,” as more companies seek to access and utilize the information available to them. In a 2014 report by Forrester’s, Melissa Parrish, research director and principal analyst, states that “[i]n employee_performance_data2014, big data will finally be put to good use as marketers stop waiting for insights to reveal themselves and start finding actionable paths through the information,” as told to Rebecca Borison in Mobile Marketer.


Derek Irvine, VP of Client Strategy & Consulting Service at Globoforce, a global provider of strategic employee recognition and reward programs, feels that HR professionals can do a better job of managing data. “The self-promotional types tend to rise to the top while those who are equally talented but less able to promote their own successes tend to have their skills marginalized,” he states.


Irvine feels that part of this problem is a lack of consistent data acquisition from employees. He recommends gathering relative data throughout the year and from a variety of sources, rather than just during an appraisal or from sketchy, second-hand office gossip. While Irvine makes a valid point, consistent data acquisition is only part of the problem. Another key issue is data storage and retrieval.


“Simplifying complexity” is a slogan that Intricity takes to heart. The company, co-Intricity logofounded by Arkady Kleyner and Troy Clemente, is a full-service supplier of turnkey data management solutions. Data warehousing is just one of the available services that the company provides.


Without a centralized data gathering process, HR managers must manually gather information and present it, typically in a spreadsheet. This data is essentially used for one decision and discarded. When the manager needs information for a different decision – be it hiring, promoting, or something similar – the data must be gathered again and presented in an easy-to-read manner. However, with a Data Warehouse from Intricity, the process is automated and reliable for quick and efficient data extraction.


Irvine feels that social recognition is the key to collecting the information stored in a Data Warehouse, and that when it is properly utilized, managers are able to make informed choices. “With social recognition, all employees are on alert for excellence around them,” he says, “particularly excellence linked to what the organization needs most – demonstration of the core values in contribution to achieving strategic objectives.”


By implementing social recognition within the workforce, employees begin to notice and record detailed examples of teamwork, leadership, and similar skills which are typically difficult to include in raw data. Irvine states that social recognition increases the available people data for analysis, including information such as which employees demonstrate specific values, who works well within a team setting, and areas within the organization which excel as well as those areas which require improvement.


via Accessing and Managing Big Data For Decision-Making.


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Accessing and Managing Big Data For HR Decision-Making