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What's Workforce Analytics and its applications in HR
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For many organisations, workforce analytics has come into play in a big way as technology has advanced alongside more flexible working practices. Companies now possess the monitoring software and data to keep an eye across staff activity and productivity, shifting their ethos from instinct-based to more evidence-based HR decision-making.
As ADP’s People at Work 2025 report highlights, this shift towards analytics in HR has had some impact on staff morale as 32% of people feel judged and 31% monitored, respectively. So, taking a human-orientated approach to workforce analytics should go hand-in-hand with HR insights in modern workplaces.
Table of Contents
What is workforce analytics?
Workforce analytics involves using data about staff to make informed, strategic business decisions. You might have heard the question ‘what are people analytics’ — after all, it’s a hot topic in HR right now. Sometimes terms like workforce analytics, HR analytics or people analytics are used interchangeably, but there are nuanced differences between them.
- Workforce analytics: The inside operational view of the whole workplace and how it functions.
- HR analytics: The day-to-day HR department data and metrics, featuring individual staff specifics.
- People analytics: An overarching display of employee data analysis, including wider external context.
Key components of workforce analytics
When it comes to HR and analytics, the more quality information the better. Today’s workforce analytics are made up of human resources data sources from across a business such as HR databases, human resources reports, performance reviews and staff surveys.
Such human resource analytics data could include staff recruitment and turnover, including onboarding and offboarding surveys. Along with ongoing performance monitoring and productivity data, employee engagement and diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) insight. In fact, bring in whatever reputable information you’ve got your hands on, as modern all-in-one HR systems can handle it.
Applications of workforce analytics in HR
Workforce planning
Are all your staff right where you need them, when you need them? Comprehensive workplace planning analytics is ideal for assessing and adapting to staffing needs, as well as succession planning when people move on or move up.
Recruitment and retention
HR and analytics offer qualitative and quantitative data on staff turnover and hiring effectiveness. Employee turnover analysis can reveal patterns, pain points and highlight operational or personnel issues across the employee lifecycle.
The ADP People at Work 2025 report shows that 75% of workers move on from a role without ever getting promoted. Good talent management analytics can address staff retention, giving insight on how HR strategy and systems are keeping hold of productive staff, including benefits and bonuses.
Employee performance and engagement
By using employee engagement analytics, HR teams can comprehensively monitor employee performance with eye-opening operational stats at a manager’s fingertips.
Tools like employee time tracking software can bridge the gap between in-office, hybrid and home working. HR reporting and analytics can offer an instant snapshot of how a team is functioning, how staff are feeling and head off any potential disciplinary issues.
Diversity, equality and inclusion
With current DEI software, it’s easy for HR to stay across people analytics data, such as minority representation and pay equity. HR teams can keep track of any workplace adjustments needed and ensure they meet any legal obligations around staff inclusiveness.
Go beyond the basics of managing labor costs and optimize your workforce performance
Learn MoreFrom HR data to HR insights
It’s not just about gathering all that human resources data, it’s what you do with it. Workforce planning analytics takes all that valuable data insight and helps with future planning.
HR reports are the building blocks for HR analytics. Such human resources reports show daily operations, monitor KPIs and document compliance, keeping organisations on track day-to-day. Workforce analysis takes this HR report data and converts it into a holistic, broad brushstroke. Number-crunching deeper people analytics data to produce tangible insights on what is or isn’t working well.
Useful human resource analytics metrics include:
- Offboarding: Turnover and retention rates
- Onboarding: Time to hire, cost per hire and offer acceptance rates
- Performance: KPIs, CSAT scores and performance reviews
- Productivity: Revenue per employee, time tracking and absenteeism rates
- Engagement: Staff morale and 360-degree feedback surveys
- Diversity: Employee inclusion and equal pay reviews
How workforce analytics supports business strategy
By undertaking effective HR data analysis methods, businesses can leverage HR data to increase productivity, profitability and growth. This is the true bread and butter of workplace analytics — working smarter to bolster the bottom line.
A useful approach is to break your workforce analytics into descriptive and predictive analysis:
- Descriptive analysis
Looks at the past, how did we get here?
- Predictive analysis
Looks to the future, how can past insight inform strategy?
By informing business decisions and future strategy with data-driven insights, team leaders can encourage better performance, troubleshoot problem areas and spot opportunities for growth. But this only comes with enriched data utilised in just the right way.
Challenges and best practice
Sometimes there can be barriers to workforce analysis in HR best practice. Especially in large organisations, silos can develop, so the right data isn’t getting to the right people. A lack of skills and training means people may not be inputting information correctly or even know what they have, leading to poorly collected and collated data, which may mislead or offer little workable insight.
To counteract this, HR and analytics teams can implement best practice processes.
- Focus on business critical KPIs
- Integrate human resource information systems (HRIS)
- Regular reviews
- Staff upskilling and ongoing training
Next steps
Workforce analytics is vital for modern HR. It uses data on people’s behaviour, patterns and sticking points to strategise and run businesses more smoothly and cost-effectively. HR analytics software like ADP’s HR Insights and HRIS platforms offer a suite of tools that can unlock the full potential of your workforce data.
Workforce analysis is far more than HR report box ticking. It lights the way for every size of organisation to understand their staff and their motivations, how to get the most out of them, and what strategies to employ for people to thrive.
Frequently asked questions
Why is workforce analytics important for organisations?
Workforce analytics is important for organisations as it gives an accurate, data-driven representation of how a business is working and what needs to be done to increase productivity, staff wellbeing and the bottom line for the future.
What is workforce analytics in HR?
Workforce analytics is the use of employee-based data to shape business strategy. Workforce analytics offers invaluable insight into workplace efficiency, productivity and morale.
What is the difference between workforce analytics and people analytics?
Workforce analytics uses in-house data to focus on the internal workings of an organisation. What is people analytics? People analytics repositions this internal workforce analytics data into a bigger, holistic view to garner insight about a business in a wider context.
What types of data are included in workforce analytics?
The main datapoints included are recruitment, staff turnover, employee performance and engagement, and DEI information.
How does workforce analytics improve recruitment and retention?
Managers can quickly see what is and isn’t working, and can adjust their approach to attract and keep staff. Data-driven insight shows ways to improve, problem areas and untapped potential. Whether that’s improving employee benefits, tweaking productivity workflows or rejigging team dynamics.
What HR metrics are commonly analysed in workforce analytics?
Staff turnover and retention rates, along with staff morale and satisfaction, offer a useful data-driven picture of a workplace.
On the efficiency side, workforce management software show productivity as time tracking, absenteeism, KPI delivery and CSATs all give insight into your workforce.
On the financial side, HR metrics such as cost per hire, revenue per employee and department profitability are useful indicators of success.
What role does HR data play in employee engagement?
HR data is useful in employee engagement as it gives an honest, data-heavy image, that can be presented in various ways, to show what is working or what needs to be improved. Staff can have measurable goals to aim for and know exactly what’s expected of them.
What is the link between HR analytics and business performance?
The more you know about the past, the wiser you are for the future. Human resource analytics offers insight into how a workplace is functioning using data to give an accurate representation of the current work climate. Such data-driven insight is ideal for fuelling future planning as it shows issues to be minimised and successes to be capitalised upon, as well as an accurate picture of the people that make it all happen.
What are common challenges with HR data and analytics?
Insight out is only as good as the quality of the data in. Unskilled working practice, scattered information and poorly collected data can undermine HR data and analytics.
How often should HR teams review and analyse workforce data?
Usually, data analysis is done on a quarterly basis. However, monthly can be useful to keep on top of any burgeoning issues. Comprehensive full workplace analytics reports should be produced annually as shorter time periods may be too brief to offer true pattern-tracking insights. But every business is different so this can be adapted.
