By Scott Thomson – COO, Links International
How to have good HR Reporting and HR Analytics in Asia
A lot of HR leaders in Hong Kong and Singapore often ask what’s the easiest way to improve their HR reporting and HR analytics, explaining that their local Human Capital Management (HCM) or Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) have very limited and manual HR reporting. Compared to other business units’ systems (e.g. finance systems, sales CRMs) HR will need to spend a ton of time deep diving to pull a bunch of embarrassingly old-style HR reports and metrics that look like they’re straight from the 90’s!
Surely it’s not too much to ask for an HR team in Asia to have a good looking HR dashboard where they can see all their key metrics and not be embarrassed to forward it to anyone else?
The good news is that HR reporting and HR analytics in Hong Kong and Singapore are developing quickly and there is an amazingly simple way to upgrade your HR reporting and HR analytics. Watch the below video to view Links’ HR Reporting Dashboards!
What’s the easiest way to get your HR reporting and analytics in place?
If you are implementing HR reporting and HR analytics for the first time, outsourcing your HR analytics and adopting an HR Analytics as a Service is without a doubt the fastest way to obtaining quality HR reporting and analytics. Compared with purchasing your own HR analytics software and hiring any required analytics skillset, the key benefits of using HR Analytics as a Service include:
- Cost effectiveness – using an HR Analytics as a Service monthly subscription model is 95% of the time much more cost effective than making the considerable investment associated with purchasing and implementing a system and hiring an analytics skillset.
- Speed & flexibility – adopting outsourced HR analytics results in quick implementation and a short-term 12-month commitment rather than the 3+ year payback required to justify the implementation and purchase of a system. Worst case you can always change vendor at the end of the year, rather than suffer an awful system for two more years!
- Universal, mobile-friendly solution – A quality HR Analytics as a Service vendor will provide an HR analytics solution that can be used over most HRIS, HCMs, databases and even spreadsheets and will be accessible on your mobile device. Perfect for answering on the spot questions in your conference calls and board meetings.
- 365-day service – The best bit about an outsourced HR analytics model is that it ensures that maintaining the HR analytics is not your problem! You have access to your HR analytics regardless of whether your internal staff go on leave, are transferred or, worst case, resign with no replacement.
What situations is HR Analytics as a Service perfect for?
In short, adopting HR Analytics as a Service is a great solution for almost any company. However, particular situations where adopting HR Analytics as a Service is a very simple choice include:
- You already have an existing HRIS, HCM, database or HR spreadsheet, but you need better cloud-based and mobile-friendly HR reporting and dashboards that show your key HR metrics; or
- You are already using payroll outsourcing services in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Taiwan or elsewhere in Asia and have limited HR reporting (unfortunately unbelievably common!); or
- You don’t have an analytical resource or capability in your HR department.
What key HR metrics can I pull with HR reporting and HR analytics
So, once you’ve adopted an HR Analytics as a Service model and have access to quality, modern HR reporting and HR analytics, what can the HR analytics do for you and what are common HR metrics that you should be measuring. Aside from easy to access HR reports, one of the most useful features is setting alerts for unusual activity and occurrences. For example, setting alerts for headcount increases, salary caps, high leave balances or high resignation levels is a fantastic way of ensuring that you are constantly on the ball in terms of knowing about any significant changes happening in your workforce, without having to constantly dive into your reporting. This enables you to pull yourself out of administrative monitoring and focus on strategic activities that make a difference to your business.
In terms of reporting, common key HR metrics we help clients measure and report on include:
- Staff headcount and staff turnover
- Number of terminations and reason for termination
- Gender, culture and age diversity
- Sick leave trends over time
- Training/CPD adoption over time
- Employees in each location by skill type
- Company salary cost over time
- Salary cost by type of pay item
- Staff turnover rate etc.
Why are quality HR reporting and HR analytics a must?
Having these HR alerts and HR metrics is critical to having any insight into and ability to anticipate and respond to changes in your workforce. More importantly, it’s essential to have your HR reports and HR analytics available at a glance anywhere in order to understand what is happening with the talent in your business at any time.
A common concern we hear with regards to HR reporting and HR analytics is “will robots replace me?” In short, no, so long as you use the systems to help you elevate your role! HR reporting and HR analytics always work best together with the experience and know-how of HR professionals. The bigger question is: what will happen to your role and team if you don’t adopt HR Analytics to transform your HR function?
Interested to know how you can use HR reporting and HR analytics to improve your insight into your workforce? Contact us now.