Thanks to analytics in HR, tracking workplace trends and spotting issues early has never been easier. With the right data, you can even predict when employees might be considering leaving.
Think you’re already using HR data? There’s always room to go further. According to HR Acuity’s Benchmark Study, only 44% of employee relations teams incorporate employee demographic data, and 41% factor in performance ratings. Shockingly, 11% aren’t using their data at all after gathering it.
The good news? You don’t have to figure it out alone — we’re here to break it down.
What are HR Analytics?
HR analytics refers to the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting your workforce data to inform strategic decisions and ultimately, improve business outcomes.
Plus, tapping into HR analytics helps organizations gain deeper insights into employee behavior, performance and engagement to identify blind spots before they flare up into larger issues.
This data-driven approach helps HR teams make smarter decisions, identify trends early, solve problems proactively and align talent strategies with broader organizational goals. In other words, it’s essential for your business to make better use of your HR data.
Why HR Data and Analytics are Important
You can’t fix what you’re not aware of. Think of HR data and analytics as the tool that helps you focus on issues. Here are a few ways to leverage HR analytics effectively:
- Reduce employee turnover: Use data to identify patterns that may signal an employee is at risk of leaving. With that insight, HR can take proactive steps to improve retention and keep valuable talent on board.
- Strengthen DE&I efforts: When you know where your diversity, equity and inclusion gaps are, you can take meaningful steps to close them. For example, maybe you’re hiring from underrepresented groups—but those employees aren’t staying. That’s a blind spot that HR analytics can uncover.
- Boost employee engagement: Low engagement is often invisible until it becomes a serious issue. HR analytics helps you understand how employees feel about their roles and the organization, so you can address problems before they escalate.
- Reduce absenteeism: By analyzing attendance patterns, you can identify underlying issues contributing to absenteeism and develop targeted solutions.
- Make data-driven decisions: In today’s competitive marketplace, there’s no room for error. HR data and analytics can help you avoid costly mistakes and make more informed decisions.
- Evaluate your team’s success: The best way to understand how well your team is performing is by gathering feedback. Running surveys allows others in the organization to share their perceptions, providing valuable insight into your team’s impact.
- Boost strategic planning: It’s difficult to plan effectively without understanding the past. By leveraging analytics in HR, you gain insights into which initiatives have worked and which have fallen flat—so you can plan future strategies more effectively.
What Types of HR Data Should You Track?
There are four types of HR data and analytics your organization can’t afford to ignore. Together, they help you decipher what’s happening now, understand why it’s happening, anticipate what’s coming next and act before issues escalate. If you want to turn data into real insight, start by tracking these four types of metrics:
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics uses your current and historical data, combined with statistical models, to forecast future behaviors and events. When you use predictive analytics, you are moving beyond spotting trends and instead staying ahead of them.
For example, consider attrition risk. If you know which employees are most likely to leave, you can plan for it — or better yet, prevent it. Or if you can anticipate which teams might see a spike in misconduct issues based on past patterns, you can intervene early with the right training or leadership coaching.
Want to learn more? Check out our comprehensive guide to turning your HR data into insight by leveraging predictive analytics.
Descriptive Analytics
Descriptive analytics looks backward to tell you what happened. It uses historical HR data to paint a picture of past events over a specific time frame. It’s the foundation of your reporting strategy.
This is also a great starting point for most HR teams because it’s easier to track descriptive analytics than other types.
Diagnostic Analytics
If descriptive analytics tells you what happened, diagnostic analytics explains why. This type of analysis digs deeper into the data to help explain the root causes behind employee behaviors, incidents or outcomes.
It’s especially valuable to tap into diagnostic analytics when something changes — like a sudden drop in case reporting or a rise in substantiated claims.
Prescriptive Analytics
Prescriptive analytics takes things a step further. It doesn’t just tell you what’s likely to happen but also suggests what you should do about it.
This is one of the most proactive ways to use your HR data. By modeling different scenarios, prescriptive analytics help you evaluate options and make informed decisions based on real-world data instead of guesswork.
Key HR Metrics
You know the types of HR data and analytics your team should track, but let’s get even more granular.
To get the most value from your HR data, it’s important to be thoughtful about what you track. While it’s tempting to capture everything, more data isn’t always better. The best HR leaders focus on the metrics that inform action.
Take employee relations data, for example. Nearly all organizations track the type of issue (think: harassment or discrimination), but far fewer track the outcome of the investigation — whether a claim was substantiated or not. That missing piece can make it harder to evaluate patterns, improve processes or adjust training strategies.
Some key areas to focus on include:
- Issue Type and Volume – What kinds of incidents are being reported, and how often?
- Investigation Outcomes – Were claims substantiated, unsubstantiated or inconclusive?
- Time to Resolution – How long does it take to close cases? Are there bottlenecks?
- Trends Over Time – Are there spikes in certain types of issues? Do some departments or locations have more activity than others?
- In HR Acuity, you can track a variety of important metrics, including trends, issue to case ratio, case disposition and more.
All of these data points feed into a larger story. If you want to understand whether your workplace training is effective, look at what happens afterward: Did reports decrease? Did the nature of incidents shift? Did resolution times improve? From there, you can benchmark your organization’s performance against norms established by HR Acuity’s Benchmark Study — so you can see how you measure up.
How to Use HR Data
You’ve gathered the data. Now, it’s time to use it. To do so, tighten up your process first.
Work Backwards by Starting with Your End Goal
What question are you solving for leadership? Or what problem are you trying to solve for the organization? Getting crystal clear on this upfront keeps your efforts focused and your insights actionable.
Framing your objective as a question is a smart move — it helps ensure your findings are easy to understand and digest, especially for busy decision-makers.
Define Clear KPIs or Success Metrics
Once you know your question, decide how you’ll measure success. What outcomes or key performance indicators (KPIs) will show you’re on the right track? KPIs turn vague goals into measurable targets.
To begin, take a look at HR Acuity’s Benchmark Study. This provides insight on established best practices based on decades of employee relations research — representing 8.7 million employees.
Say you want to reduce turnover. KPIs could include turnover rate by team, average tenure, or percentage of voluntary exits after performance reviews. Clear metrics help you check progress and adjust your strategy when needed.
Check in with Legal and Compliance Teams
HR data is sensitive. Handling it means navigating privacy laws and internal compliance rules. Before you dig in, double-check with your legal or compliance teams. Make sure you have the right permissions, your processes respect confidentiality and you’re in line with regulations.
Skipping this step risks fines, damaged trust and employee backlash, so it’s a can’t-skip.
Choose the Right Data
Now, identify the exact data points you need to solve your question. (Hint: you won’t need to use all the data you’ve collected to answer one question.)
If you want to understand absenteeism, for example, focus on attendance records, reasons for absence, and department-level trends — not salary data.
Clean Your Data
Raw data is messy. Duplicates, missing fields and inconsistent formats — you name it; your data has it. That’s where data cleaning comes in. Make sure your dataset is accurate, consistent and ready for analysis.
Analyze and Interpret the Results
Once you’ve analyzed the data (ideally, right in your HR case management platform), don’t stop at numbers. Interpret what the data means for your people and business.
- Why is turnover spiking in one team?
- What common traits do high performers share?
- What gaps exist in your training programs?
Communicate Findings Clearly
Even the best insights mean nothing if they don’t get heard. Create clear, concise reports or dashboards tailored to your audience. Highlight key findings and recommendations upfront.
You can also use visuals like charts, graphs or heat maps to make complex data easy to grasp.
Create an Action Plan
What’s the point of tracking HR metrics and analytics if you’re not going to act based on the results? Based on your findings, lay out a clear plan: what changes need to happen, who owns them and when results should be reviewed.
For example, if data shows a department with high harassment claims, your action plan might include targeted training, updated policies and regular follow-up surveys. Assign accountability so actions move forward in a timely manner.
Setting Up HR Analytics
Setting up HR analytics doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right foundation and tools, tracking and analyzing HR data can become a seamless part of your everyday work. Here’s how to get it up and running — no headaches involved.
Choose a Platform That Works for You — Not Against You
The most important step is choosing technology that can support what you’re trying to do. That means skipping the spreadsheets and legacy tools that slow you down.
Look for a case management platform that’s built with HR analytics in mind — one that makes it easy to track, manage and report on employee data in real time. Customizable dashboards, user-friendly reports and smart search functions should be included.
Ensure Integration with Existing Systems
Your HR analytics platform doesn’t live in a vacuum. It should sync with your HRIS so all your data is in one place.
Without integration, you’ll always be working with half the story. Plus, you risk errors when you must manually move the data yourself.
Choosing Your System
Not all HR analytics tools are created equal. Some slow you down, others improve your insights. The key is finding a system that works how your team works — fast, focused and flexible.
Here’s what to look for:
1. Benchmarking That Actually Means Something
You don’t operate in a vacuum. Your tool should let you compare your internal data to external benchmarks (by industry or size) so you know what’s normal and what’s a red flag.
Ask: Can we compare case types or turnover trends against other companies in our space?
2. Predefined Dashboards That You Can Make Your Own
You need dashboards that work out of the box and dashboards you can tweak to fit your organization. Look for a system that offers:
- Quick-start templates
- Fully customizable views
- Live-updating charts you can share with execs
3. Seamless Tracking Without Data Overload
Your system should make it easy to track:
- Case types
- Actions taken
- Case owners
- Severity and risk level
- Status and resolution timelines
If you can’t slice the data like that, you’re stuck with surface-level reporting.
4. Reporting That’s Easy to Use
Your platform should let anyone on your team — not just a data analyst — create and share reports. Look for:
- User-friendly drag-and-drop reporting
- Saved searches and scheduled exports
- At-a-glance visuals for busy leaders
5. Role-Based Permissions to Keep Data Safe
Not everyone needs to see everything, and they shouldn’t. Your tool should support role-based permissions so that only folks that need access get it.
This protects confidentiality and aligns with employee relations best practices. It also keeps your legal and compliance teams happy.
6. Storing Your Data
Your HR data is only as good as your storage systems. If people can’t access it when needed, it might as well not exist. Additionally, you want to ensure tight security around your data.
The most popular method for employee relations data storage is a Case Management System (42 percent), followed by a combination method (37 percent) and then a shared drive (12 percent).
7. Built-In AI That’s Actually Useful
AI should help you — not confuse you or expose your organization to risk. Look for a platform that uses AI to:
- Detect patterns in employee behavior
- Flag potential risks early
- Visualize data trends instantly
It’s imperative that you ask if the AI is transparent and secure. You want to understand what it’s doing and how — not just hope for the best. Otherwise, you risk opening your team up to serious legal liabilities.
8. Search and Manipulate Data On the Fly
You should be able to dig into your data without jumping through hoops. Look for tools that support:
- Multi-field advanced search
- In-platform filtering and sorting
- Real-time data manipulation
If it feels like you’re trying to crack a code every time you need to pull a quick insight, it’s time to make a change.
HR Analytics with HR Acuity
HR Acuity gives employee relations teams what they’ve been missing — clear, fast and actionable insight. Everything is in one place, so you can move from case to context to decision without digging through disconnected systems or messy data.
Patterns and red flags don’t go unnoticed. You’ll see trends as they emerge, whether it’s a spike in complaints in one location or a drop in case substantiation rates in another. With built-in intelligence and clean visualizations, you can act early instead of after the damage has been done.
Your leadership team wants proof, and HR Acuity makes it easy to show the business impact of your work, from lowering risk to driving culture change. The data tells the story, and with our HR case management platform, you finally have the full picture to back it up.
Success Stories: HR Analytics Use Cases and Examples
HR analytics is about more than fancy dashboards. At its core, it’s about making smarter moves that change the trajectory of your organization. Here’s what it looks like when data turns into action.
At TransUnion, leaders can now drill into employee behavior by business unit, region and role. They don’t need to guess where issues might be brewing — they can figure out, fast. That visibility helps them standardize processes globally, respond faster and build consistency across every location. The result? Better decisions, less risk and tighter operations.
Carnegie Mellon used HR Acuity to centralize their employee relations data and unlock insights they couldn’t access before. Now, leadership has a clear view into emerging trends and risk areas across the entire university. With that kind of clarity, they’re not just reacting — they’re planning, aligning and staying ahead of issues before they spread.
These are just two examples. But the pattern is clear: when you give your HR team the right data, they can tap into insights and drive real change.
Make the Most of Your Data with HR Acuity
Collecting data is the first step. The real power comes from using it — consistently, strategically and visibly. Your employee relations insights shouldn’t sit in a dashboard, but instead, drive change for your team members.
Right now, only 22% of companies report their HR analytics to the board, and just 59% share data with the C-suite. That’s a missed opportunity. When leadership doesn’t see the story behind the numbers, they underestimate the impact of your work — and overlook where the business is exposed.
Want to show the value of employee relations? Start talking in data. Show where reporting has improved, where risks were averted and where culture is shifting. Use the numbers to prove what you already know: great employee relations is strategy-driven.
You’ve got the insights. Now it’s time to use them — to drive impact, influence strategy and make employee relations efforts impossible to ignore. Ready to equip yourself with the data to discover patterns, identify trends and proactively manage risk? Schedule a demo today and explore how HR Acuity can give your HR data and analytics a boost.
