HR professionals have always been the unsung heroes of their organisations. Acting as champions of company culture and practices as well as dealing with myriad administrative tasks around pay, training and workplace compliance, it’s no exaggeration to say that the long term success of organisations relies heavily on their people teams.
It is also clear that data exists as one of the greatest assets available to people teams, representing as it does, a potential goldmine of information to be leveraged and utilised to inform and guide ongoing business strategy. It’s no wonder then that the Economic Intelligence Unit found that 82% of organisations over the past few years have voiced their commitment to harnessing big data in their HR function.
Intelligent HR is set to be the bow wave of the future, for the people function within organisations and the ability to effectively collate and harness data will be the true test for many businesses. Effective use of big data in HR can present a number of legal and ethical challenges but when done correctly, effective data management represents an unparalleled opportunity for organisations to improve their decision making, keep their workforce happy and engaged and most importantly of all influence and guide their long term strategy.
In this article, we’ll look deeper into the importance of HR reporting for businesses and how sourcing an effective reporting system can help businesses effectively gather and utilise the key data they need in order to drive forward success.
What is HR reporting software?
Put simply, HR reporting is all about gathering key metrics around your workforce. This can cover a broad range of topics from employee wellbeing to granular reporting on workforce gender ratios, employee turnover or overall levels of engagement. reporting also allows people teams to gain an understanding of the effectiveness of certain initiatives such as reward schemes or more recently; flexible working setups.
HR reporting allows businesses the ability to have a centralised hub of information, from which key data can be effectively drawn upon when needed, to help guide the decision making process.
HR reporting software represents the framework that assists HR teams in gathering this crucial information. At the heart of it, effective HR reporting software offers businesses the ability to make better, more informed decisions, plan for the future, identify any areas of improvement needed and most importantly- remain connected with their people.
How can HR reporting software help?
With the focus for so many organisations now being set on driving forward their post-pandemic recovery; the ability to make clear and effective decisions can very well represent the make or break point for businesses achieving success.
One of the most common barriers facing businesses is bias and how examples of it- be it unconscious or otherwise- can effectively hold organisations back in terms of their business planning. This is particularly pertinent when it comes to the acquisition of new talent, as allowing these biases to influence the hiring process runs the risk of blinding organisations to the value of certain candidates.
Effective HR reporting software offers businesses the ability to instantly pull together reports around various metrics, offering them instant access to the data they need to drive forward key business decisions. Furthermore, by having instant visibility of factors such as the diversity of your workforce or any potential disparities or gaps in processes, you are far more well equipped to make focused, considered decisions around the hiring of the right talent for your business.
HR reporting software is all about ensuring you have ready access to the business-critical information you need to drive forward success. For far too long, the HR function has been seen as a ponderous, admin heavy burden on organisations. In order to truly drive forward their future success, organisations will need to find ways to move beyond this outdated perception of HR. The leveraging of new systems and technology will be one of the most effective ways to cut through the morass of manual processes and ensure that HR takes its place as an influential and guiding force within businesses.
When is HR reporting most effective
HR reporting software is all about making sure you have the information you need at your fingertips. HR reporting offers you unparalleled visibility across the entire scope of the business and can help guide and influence effective ongoing strategy.
Ultimately, getting the most out of their HR reporting will differ from business to business and industry to industry. However, there are some common elements which we believe will be universally applicable:
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Transforming recruitment
The modern job market is fiercely competitive, requiring a great deal of intuition and forecasting in able to ensure that businesses are able to secure the talent so vital for their success. HR data and the attendant systems to support the gathering of appropriate metrics are the ideal partner for the modern recruitment cycle. Recruiting reports are essential for not only helping you understand who the right candidate may be for the business but they also allow businesses to effectively audit and assess their recruitment cycle in the past and make adjustments where needed.
Furthermore, recruiting reports allow you to efficiently and swiftly identify gaps within your workforce. By leveraging data early on in the recruitment process, you are best placed to understand where existing biases may have influenced the hiring cycle previously and make adjustments where appropriate. By leaning on relevant metrics and datapoints, you are also able to gain a full understanding of what will be needed from a new hire in terms of the scope of their new role- an important element to communicate early on in the recruitment cycle.
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Effective performance management
it’s no secret that the wider workforce has undergone a huge structural shift ove the past couple of years, the most significant being the embracing of hybrid working models. In order to fully embrace this evolution, businesses will understandably want to gain an effective measure of the output and productivity of their people, regardless of where they choose to work from. This is again an area where HR reporting can assist, with prroductivity reports, employee engagement and satisfaction reporting, offering businesses the information they need to be able to inform their ongoing strategy.Most importantly, this allows businesses to effectively drive forward conversations with employees around any guidance they may require and ensuring they remain connected with their people..
Performance management reporting can also help influence any policies of learning and development which your organisation introduces, offering you an unparalleled insight into the effectiveness of any training initiatives implemented and any course correction which may be required.
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Cutting through the admin
HR is an admin intensive role and the effective leveraging of reports presents your people teams with the ability to work smarter, not harder, harnessing data more efficiently and granting into a variety of factors, providing their businesses with the key metrics they need to gain a more complete understanding of the overall makeup of your organisation
HR admin reporting fundamentally allows businesses the abilty to take a deep dive into the structure of their business, assessing employee numbers, gender ratios, education levels of employees, as well the ethnic makeup of the organisation. This is particularly effective in identifying any gaps in your processes or incidences of bias- an element which is becoming increasingly more of priority as positive demonstration of diversity and inclusion policy continues to rise as a key factor for employees
HR admin reporting also offers you insight into the turnover rates of your business- an element which is particularly important in influencing the acquisition of new talent and ensuring that once you understand the specific reasons why people may choose to leave the organisation and what you can do to mitigate the impact.
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Compensating your people
Rewarding your people is a vitally important element of ongoing employee engagement and wellbeing. Equally important however, is the need for a business to clearly understand how much they are spending on their people and what forms reward schemes are taking.. Compensation reports collate information around employee pay rates, overtime and sick leave and ensure that you always have an oversight of the payroll expenditure.
Compensation reports are also a key tooin helping influence your decision making when it comes to establishing employee reward schemes. In a post-pandemic world, many organisations are looking for more creative, non financial ways to demonstrate to their people that they are valued. By leaning on reporting, you are more well placed to assess the effectiveness of any benefits or reward schemes and make adjustments where necessary.
Choose Advanced Cloud HR
As with all aspect of business, gathering information isn’t enough.Organisations need the ability to be able to leverage metrics efficiently, harnessing them to influence their ongoing strategy for the better. Modern HR reporting isn’t just about gathering the data you need, it is much more focused on informing, educating and influencing organisations to drive positive change, safeguard their people and push for greater heights of productivity and profitability.
Our cloud HR software solution has been designed specifically to give you the oversight so crucial to understanding your business and any challenges that may lay ahead. With comprehensive HR reporting, you have the crucial information you need at your fingertips to push for success.
HR software has the power to free your HR people, relieving them from the burden of manual processes and allowing automation to take the strain. Your people teams are far more than task robots and we understand how important it is for your organisation that they are allowed to reach their full potential and become the driving force within the business that they deserve to be.
If you’ve found this guide helpful and would like to find out more about the power of HR reporting in supporting your people teams, Cloud HR is a solution built specifically to empower your HR people, letting them focus on the Human, not the resources.
Get in touch today to find out more.