Data-driven HR: the secret to shaping an effective employee wellbeing strategy

Since the introduction of modern HR software in the early noughties, businesses have been sitting on a data gold mine. Data that tells companies how their employees are feeling, what they value, and which employee benefits are most desired in the workplace.

With CIPD’s Good Work Index revealing that only half of UK workers feel enthusiastic about their jobs, companies are looking towards HR data for insights into how to energise the workforce.

Understanding and interpreting this information is critical to improving decisions, optimising processes and making employees happier. Here are four ways employers can get to grips with facts and figures to shape their employee engagement strategy.

1. Digest the demographics

No individual is the same. Organisations need to look at their makeup – including gender, age, background, location and life stage – in order to make their benefits relevant. Younger members of the workforce may prefer schemes to help get them on the property ladder, whilst other staff members may be more focused on their pension or caring responsibilities.

2. Get analytical

By using analytics to see what’s meaningful to employees you can tailor your benefits offer to fit the needs of the workforce. This will ensure that relevance is at the forefront of the reward agenda. Remember the importance of getting employees’ views, since the analytics won’t show you if something is missing or tell you why a benefit isn’t being used.

3. Comparison is key

Keeping abreast of the trends, both nationwide and in your sector, will show how your offer stacks up next to the competition. By understanding what other businesses are doing, and benchmarking against the best, you can find new ways to progress your strategy. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) is a powerful resource for countrywide performance and benchmarking.

4. Keep wellbeing front of mind

Measuring the ROI of benefits can be tricky. Their impact is often broader than simply reducing absence figures, turnover, team churn and engagement. Progressive organisations are instead working to establish an overall wellbeing benchmark. This can be done by looking at how organisations manage financial, physical, social and mental employee wellbeing, then examining how this impacts the wellbeing of the organisation in its entirety.

Unlocking the true value of HR data is vital to shape effective employee wellbeing strategies. Being smarter about the kind of data that is collected, and used, will allow organisations to deliver best-in-class programmes that help more workers to feel well and do well at work.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ashley Doody.

Article published on Bdaily News on 26th August 2021