Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/169755
HRO Today Forum APAC Mercer's Astik Ranade explains the value of metrics. Intelligent Metrics Big data is everywhere—but how it's used is what's important. By Debbie Bolla An organisation's workforce continues to be the top asset in driving business value. Recent research from The Conference Board reports that the top challenge CEOs face is human capital and how to manage their workforce. This finding further emphasises the potential impact talent has on the bottom line. Astik Ranade, principle of Mercer and the Asia, Middle East, and Africa leader for the company's analytics and planning practice, recently presented at the HRO Today Forum in Singapore. Ranade outlined a roadmap on how HR can become a strategic partner in talent planning through leveraging analytics and financial data. HR needs to deliver integrated data that shows its link to and overall impact on company financials. "As much as HR wants to manage people, we need to manage people so that we can show a financial result at the end of the day," he pointed out. "At the end of the month, it doesn't matter if we have the highest engagement scores in the world, if we don't have the profit margins and the productivity results, your CEOs and CFOs are going to start asking you why." It's a tough reality, he says, but management of metrics and analytics can make a huge difference. According to Mercer's [28] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | SUMMER 2013 2012 APAC Metrics Survey only 18 per cent of organisations have a centre of expertise for analysing metrics. Ranade is concerned that too many HR departments rely on gut feelings to make decisions. The majority of respondents—41 per cent— report not having clarity on how analytics are used within their organisations. But that, of course, can change with a few steps. First, define your workforce structure Ranade said. Pinpoint how you source employees, manage recognition and revenue rewards, and measure accountability. Define how you should communicate this to business leaders and determine the resources that are needed to accomplish this. "Once you get through this exercise, that's when I suggest you start turning it around to say what metrics should we track," he recommended. But think long and hard about what metrics have the most impact. "There's lots of metrics out there, how do you choose which ones you want to use? It's important to use a framework to start focusing on a few metrics and a few measures so that you can start doing intelligent reports out of that."