Two of the biggest issues organizations face today is keeping their employees engaged in their work and retaining top talent for the long haul. Unfortunately, the latest Gallup polls are not so encouraging. From a January 2016 report, only 32.5% of workers were engaged in the U.S. This directly relates to retention, as Gallup reported that The majority of actively disengaged workers are likely to bolt for almost any raise, while the majority of engaged workers would require more than a 20% raise to leave their current company.
With maintaining high engagement levels, its important for organizations to be innovative with employee retention. Investing in employee retention initiatives through big data can help organizations gain greater insights to their top talent and where improvements can be made. From HR software insights to performance metrics, below are five ways big data helps companies retain employees better.
1. Build Better Employee Productivity Through Metrics
Simply put, performance analytics from big data can help your organization build better employee productivity and thus, better retention. For instance, at a Bank of America Call center, their big data analytics from Sociometric noticed that employees that take breaks together, to let off steam and share tips about customer service, improves overall productivity. When organizational changes were made to include employees taking breaks at the same time, Sociometric found a 15-20 percent increase in productivity, a 19 percent drop in stress levels and decreased turnover from 40 to 12 percent.
Using big data analytics can tap into what helps employees produce great work, as well as become a resource for individual career development goals.
2. Training
With career growth comes opportunities for employees to train and learn new skills. As such, big data analytics with corporate training can help increase employee productivity, retention and engagement. Furthermore, it can personalize the training process and help employees better learn the skills they need at a faster rate as well as help organizations spot missing links with their current training programs. When training programs are developed and enhanced with data analytics, the more helpful they become to the employees and as well as creating better ROIs and retention rates for employers.
3. Build a Unique Culture
Results from big data can help companies shape their own unique workplace cultures. Big data analytics can help organizations better understand the employees and their jobs. Do your business results show that your employees are more productive when left alone? Create a silent room in the office or offer remote work schedules. Does your data show employees need to create better social capital among themselves? Offer team building activities or volunteer opportunities within the community. Use the data youve cultivated to your advantage by creating a workspace that helps work productivity and overall retention rates.
4. Create Better Performance Reviews
As the business environment continues to become more innovative, so are performance reviews. Gone are the annual reviews as organizations are finding more benefits from giving feedback on a more consistent level. Though this could lead to way to big data overload, organizations can combat that with software programs, such as TINYpulse or Kanjoya. TINYpulse allows employees to anonymously (or not) give suggestions and feedback while answering questions on a weekly basis. Kanjoyas software helps companies better understand their employees behaviors by analyzing the emotion behind the text they submit. These results can more clearly help employers see gaps or issues they need to address now and not six months down the road.
In addition, if you have a larger organization, consider building your own team of data analysts that can dissect feedback that is helpful to both the employee and employer. With more effective channels of feedback, the happier your talent will be and more likely to stay within the company.
5. Tracking Employee Accomplishments
Lastly, an important factor that plays into employee retention and engagement is regular appreciation and recognition for their accomplishments, whether its reaching goals or hard work on projects that create great results. For instance, in the sales and marketing industry, tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can manage big data by tracking employee accomplishments. This then creates transparency that can help CEOs and other high-ups that may not deal with employees on a day-to-day basis see and recognize the accomplishment. Theres a reason you hire the best, so make sure you optimize your big data and recognize their great work.
Without a big data program, the more likely youll lose your grip on your top talent. Work to make big data a part of your employee retention plan so you can better grow and keep your top talent happy in the workforce.
