Beyond HR: Expanding People Analytics's Value to the Business

Increasingly, we’re seeing People Analytics Leaders being asked to weigh in on business problems, not just people problems.  And that’s great news for the function.

Most People Analytics (PA) teams were born from the need to unify workforce data in order to answer questions about hiring & retaining talent.  But people data can inform decisions beyond HR.

We’re seeing Finance & Real Estate teams ask PA to weigh in on office leases and space design.

CTOs are calling PA to ask how to increase the productivity of their engineers.

CROs are asking PA what they should do to generate more sales revenue.

These are thorny questions to be sure.

But they’re questions that could be answered better if you had data that shows how people work.

Let’s address the elephant in the room:  Your CTO knows a heckuva lot more about common software development frameworks like DORA and SPACE than you do.   Just like your CRO knows your customers better than you ever will.

That’s a good thing.  PA isn’t being asked to weigh in on outputs like code quality or deal pipeline.

You’re being asked to look at the inputs:  How are these teams working?

Cue organizational network analysis (ONA) and workplace data.  By understanding how people and teams work together, PA can answer questions about the underlying drivers of value creation within the organization.

What that might look like in practice…

For Finance or Real Estate

• How is RTO, Hybrid Work and an increasingly distributed workforce changing space requirements?
• How many close collaborators do people see in-person when they visit the office?
• What is the ideal commute threshold for RTO to ensure sufficient in-office peer density?
• Which conference rooms are being underutilized?  What spaces are over capacity?

For more, checkout our sample Workspace Analysis.

For Engineering Leaders

• Does our process and structure help engineers get things done?
• What are the biggest drags on our velocity?
• How does the rest of the organization impact/support engineering?
• Do our engineers have sufficient time to focus?
• Are our engineering managers effective?

For more, take a look at our Developer Experience Report.

For Heads of Sales

• Are your reps getting enough selling time?
• How are leaders and other functions supporting sales?
• What do top attainers do differently than their peers?
• What can our sales managers do to accelerate dealflow?
• How should our managers prioritize their coaching efforts?

For more, see our Sales Effectiveness Analysis.

By weighing in on business problems (not just people problems), People Analytics is poised to play a greater strategic role within the organization.  But to take advantage of this opportunity, PA will need to access tools and datasets that make answering these types of questions possible.

Just getting started?  Explore our Data Dictionary to get an idea of what’s possible when you combine people & operational data.

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