In the article titled, "Maximizing the Impact and Effectiveness of HR Analytics to Drive Business Outcomes,” in the 34.2 issue of People & Strategy, authors Scott Mondore, Shane Douthitt and Marisa Carson explore how HR analytics, when understood correctly, can show the direct impact of HR leaders’ processes and initiatives on business outcomes.

The authors argue that the definitions and processes of HR analytics have not been well-articulated and the article breaks down what it is, what it isn’t and key approaches to analytics that emphasize HR’s value.

First, let’s talk about what they believe are the benefits of HR analytics. With stronger analytics, HR departments will be able to: redirect money toward more beneficial employee initiatives; these investments will result in tangible outcomes that benefit all stakeholders; returns on such investments can be quantified; HR will be held accountable for impacting the bottom-line; and HR executives will have a "seat at the table.”

What they go on to say is not HR analytics are the following: efficiency metrics/scorecards, alignment, gap analysis, correlations or benchmarking.

The article continues with a step-by-step road map to conducting successful HR analytics, as well as how to use it for succession planning. Moving forward, will you use HR analytics in a more strategic way to impact business outcomes?