Why HR Data is a Key Factor for a Company’s Success During the Pandemic and Beyond

Put Your HR Data to Work

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption globally. During lock-down a huge change has been made to the workforce in each country. In the UK, many workers have been furloughed, whilst others have increased shifts. Working patterns throughout have for the majority changed.

It is now more than ever that HR data can be put to work and help make vital decisions for companies. To learn more about HR data and analytics head to our previous post.

Lowering Risk

The COVID-19 pandemic can affect everyone’s health. However, we are aware of certain high-risk groups that need to be protected. HR data can lower the risk of high-risk staff fast. The employees in ‘high-risk categories’ such as medical health, region, or age can be pinpointed quickly using HR data and contacted efficiently. HR data can be used to allow these workers to go back to work safely when the time is right. Overall HR data will give you an instant view of which of your employees need to be protected quickly from this threat. It allows a view of which employees can remain active safely, giving your company the guidance it needs during these uncertain times.

Successfully Reintroducing the Workforce

There are still no clear plans for when most of the workforce will be brought back into action. It seems likely that some industries will become active before others. However, planning for this is essential for it to be successful. HR Data can be used to analyse which skills need to be prioritised, and where labour costs need to focus. Previously this would have been done on opinions, but now accurate, accessible people data can help to locate these individuals based on fact which will overall be more successful for the company and can be explained to employees if they have any questions.

Return to Work Interviews

For the future, it would be very worthwhile conducting return to work interviews with each employee. Finding out their concerns and how they are feeling. One of the main concerns will be job security, therefore it would be very worthwhile stating your company goals and how they can help work to achieve them. This will give your workforce some sense of stability and keep their focus on a goal. Your HR department can get a head start on putting actions into place to help your employees, with their well-being, performance, and productivity.

Enabling Agile Working

If there has been one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust onto HR departments is the need for agile working. Plans that HR had put forward for the year have grind to a halt. HR had to think fast and, on their feet, whilst legislations, shift patterns and company priorities rapidly changed around them. Real-time data is one of the major tools that allows HR to be agile, being able to make decisions based on real-time facts instead of guessing or predicting is a major win.

Many HR teams already have these pockets of data and don't realise they can put them to work. Now is the chance for your HR team and company to really benefit from this information.