Sponsored by Culture Amp
How important is culture to your organization right now? As people and culture leaders, you know that putting time, effort, and energy into building a great culture is well worth it, given the benefits it brings to employees and business outcomes.
However, convincing fellow executives and board members who might be doubtful of the value of culture can often be a challenge. Thankfully, people analytics can prove how culture drives success for your organization.
Harness the power of your data with people analytics
It can be tempting to assume that everyone in your organization has the same values and motivations. However, humans are complex, and decisions about culture, retention, and performance need to be grounded in data.
People analytics allows culture and business leaders to shift the focus beyond immediate goals like hiring and retention. Instead, it allows us to use analytics to tell stories, predict outcomes, and shape strategy.
People analytics can identify connections that might otherwise not be obvious, such as how a company’s forecasted headcount this quarter impacts organizational performance over the next two years. This kind of data can also help leaders understand the reality of what’s happening inside their organizations, rather than looking only at the potential impact of external trends and factors.
Be prepared to share the good, the bad, and the ugly in your updates to the board or C-suite, whether that’s increasing levels of revenue per employee, workforce engagement, delays in hiring for key roles, or an increase in overall attrition indicators. In particular, data and analytics linked to organizational performance will be of high interest to them.
People analytics can be used to update leaders on three major areas:
- Workforce health check: This includes rates of hiring, attrition, and headcount
- Workforce readiness: This includes factors like engagement and reputation
- Workforce impact: How the above directly impacts performance
Create compelling presentations powered by data
How can you demonstrate the value of culture using the people analytics gathered through engagement surveys, the performance management process, and managerial input? The key is to focus on how the data can inform forecasts and provide actionable insights — to look through the windshield rather than only sharing reflective, rear-view mirror findings.
Start with the health check
Take your board members or leadership team on a deep dive into the story behind the numbers.
Share overall headcount, hiring, and attrition rates, but also analyze demographics and trends. For instance, there may be a quarter-on-quarter increase in women in senior positions but a decline in BIPOC representation. Break down these figures by quarter and year to identify significant trends.
Translating headcount into productivity is also crucial. For example, compare annual recurring revenue (ARR) or revenue per employee over the same period. This comparison reveals whether revenue is rising or falling relative to a steady headcount, indicating overall company performance and productivity.
Attrition is another key metric that benefits from a detailed analysis. Use people analytics not only to reflect past attrition rates but also to forecast future trends.
Employee engagement surveys can forecast attrition rates and identify the main drivers of increased attrition. Knowing why attrition rates are higher among inconsistent performers compared to high performers, or why women in engineering tend to exit rapidly, could help leaders proactively address the root causes.
This kind of reflection can also help you drive high performance by tracking motivation — a leading indicator of performance — and improving it in a targeted way.
Then, explore workforce readiness
Workforce engagement is critical to workforce readiness, so you’ll want to include your engagement trends over time.
Remember to include benchmarks, which can help contextualize data against macro conditions, such as today’s global engagement crisis. Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy US$8.9 trillion, or 9% of global GDP. While you may see your company’s engagement scores decrease over time, it’s important to know how that’s going in terms of your broader industry, country or market. This will help you identify high-priority, high-impact areas of focus.
This is also a chance to discuss reputation and trust, as these are of major concern at a board level. These factors could be tracked by media coverage and sentiment, customer reviews and feedback, and internal feedback. For example, in employee surveys, are your people likely to recommend the company as a place to work?
Finally, demonstrate the impact
How can you link your analytics to impact? You could explore how to support inconsistent performers in achieving better results, or how to turn solid performers into high performers by identifying their motivators.
Most importantly, this is your opportunity to start a two-way conversation about culture. With the right analytics and analysis, you can demonstrate how overall company culture and employee sentiment impact the bottom line — and highlight the importance of keeping culture at the top of the priority list.
Use stories to bring your data to life and share actionable insights that can inform strategy. It’s not just about looking back; it’s also about using data to predict future events and take proactive, strategic action.
People analytics can be especially useful when there’s a divide between the leadership team and the reality of the business’s employees. This is when making decisions based on data — rather than a hypothesis — is critical for the organization as a whole.
Leaders are time-poor: they can’t necessarily consume data or understand the implications of what it’s telling us at first glance. It’s up to you to translate people analytics into actionable insights and define a strategy that makes the most sense for your people, your culture, and your business. That could range from addressing core drivers of retention and attrition to identifying skills gaps that need to be filled through hiring or development, or identifying high-performing teams and replicating their success across the business and beyond
Prove the value of culture
Workplace culture always exists, regardless of where it lies on your organization’s priority list. The difference is whether you build your organization’s culture to drive innovation, longevity, and business success, or if you neglect it — and it leads to mistrust, lack of clarity, and burnout.
Fortunately, culture can be your competitive advantage if decision-makers and board-level directors are committed to it. While every individual in your organization has an influence on its culture, the road to strategically cultivating an impactful culture starts with executive buy-in.
Begin by quantifying the value and ROI of culture in your own organization with Culture Amp’s ROI calculator. The calculator is based on the Total Economic Impact™ study that Culture Amp recently commissioned from Forrester Consulting, which found a three-year commitment to a platform like Culture Amp generated organizational benefits of $3.04 million, and an ROI of 311%.
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