Using Employee Experience Data to Optimize Workforce Planning

With data being so readily available in today’s fast-paced business world, organizations are able to leave certain manual processes behind and rather look to a more efficient, objective and strategic way of understanding their workforce through the use of certain data and analytics platforms. One of the most important assets of any organization is their people, which confirms the need to analyze employee experience data to successfully plan projects, initiatives and processes. Using employee experience data to optimize workforce planning can be beneficial when it comes to understanding employee sentiment, engagement and general satisfaction. The data obtained from employees can positively impact the strategic direction of an organization in a number of ways. In this article we explore how employee experience data can be used to optimize workforce planning and explain how Qualee’s capabilities can transform your workforce into a winning team.

How does Employee Experience Data Optimize Workforce Planning?

There are a number of ways that employee experience data can optimize workforce planning, whether it be to predict certain business needs or better support management in decision making.

Here are a few examples:

Use data to understand talent needs
In order to successfully carry out workforce planning, you need insight, whether that be subjective or objective. In this case, using objective employee experience (EX) data enables organizations to closely monitor and anticipate upcoming trends. In relation to employee experience, organizations can use this data to predict future talent needs. For example, if an organization is obtaining regular data from employees and notices that the engagement rate in a certain department has been negatively impacted, it could result in a potential increase in employee turnover, enabling the organization to take swift action and ensure that there is no significant effect on the productivity or efficiency of that department.

Improve resource allocation and utilization
By obtaining employee experience data, you’re able to understand which individuals, teams or departments may be having difficulties or gain insight into where there may be a lack of engagement. As a result, organizations can prioritize resources accordingly to ensure that those who need further resources are equipped. For example, if engagement data shows that one department is struggling with burnout, the organization can prioritize that department by giving them more training or wellness advice to assist them. This ultimately ensures that resources are being allocated and used effectively.

Customize retention strategies
When it comes to workforce planning, employee retention metrics are key to determining whether the employees of your organization are happy or not. By making use of an employee experience tool that collects data, you’re able to analyze feedback, engagement scores and other employee sentiment metrics quickly, which enables you to get a thorough understanding of what is causing employees to feel dissatisfied or get to the point of leaving the organization. This approach allows you to put effective retention strategies and measures into place to ensure you retain your top talent and keep your workforce engaged.

Improve succession planning
One of the key elements that needs to be considered when it comes to workforce planning is succession planning. In order to ensure your organization has good leadership, it is essential to take insight from certain employee experience data points relating to performance, potential and engagement. By analyzing this EX data, you’re able to make informed decisions about future leadership positions whilst giving employees who display potential leadership characteristics development opportunities. In addition to this, you’re also able to identify individuals who may need more support in their roles, which you could then create customized training and development programs for.

Support strategic decision making
Employee experience has a significant impact on business success, which is why it is crucial that EX data is considered when it comes to any form of strategic decision making. With that being said, it is equally important to include other HR metrics such as productivity rate, turnover rate and absenteeism to ensure that you obtain a holistic view of the organization and your teams. For example, by using employee experience data in conjunction with other HR metrics, like productivity, you’ll get a good understanding of why there is a decrease in performance, which you can then address more appropriately.

How to use Qualee Analytics to Optimize Workforce Planning:

With Qualee Analytics you can automatically analyze employee sentiment through real-time data. Even more, Qualee leverages the latest A.I technology, providing you with recommended actionable insights.

By using Qualee, you’ll be able to:

Interpret comments instantly
With Qualee’s machine learning A.I, it analyzes comments in an instant and provides an overall employee sentiment score that can be viewed in a number of different dashboard displays for easy interpretation.

Understand where you need to improve
With Qualee’s visual heatmap, you’re able to quickly understand where you’re winning and where you’re not. This also enables you to compare different segments of your workforce, enabling you to mitigate risks of departments in danger early on.

Compare engagement attributes
With Qualee Boards you’ll be able to compare engagement drivers across different segments in your organization, enabling you to get more of an understanding of engagement attributes per individual, team or department.

Backed by psychological principles and theory
You don’t have to worry about extra research when it comes to engagement with Qualee, saving you heaps of time. With Qualee’s Surveys, you’re able to assess employees based on a range of research backed, already developed engagement drivers, which you can track over a period of time or make use of for point-in-time assessments.

Actionable survey insights / closing the loop
Once you have completed your surveys, Qualee provides you with a list of summarized actionable insights, enabling managers to react and engage with respondents, while ensuring respondents remain anonymous.

Conclusion

In conclusion, using employee experience data can be useful when it comes to optimizing workforce planning, whether it be to predict certain business needs such as training or recruitment strategies or to better support management in strategic decision making. Qualee makes optimizing workforce planning easy by automatically analyzing employee sentiment through real-time data and providing you with actionable insights to take your organization to the next level.

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