I’m a big fan of home improvement makeover shows. Seeing the potential before is exciting, but even better is the after! Who doesn’t love the dramatic reveal and those clean and lovely Pottery Barn cushions, not to mention that shiplap! (You must be an HGTV junkie to get this one…)
HR Acuity’s employee relations and investigations management platform was already far more than “move-in ready.” But recently, we got a data and analytics makeover that puts predictive data and insights front and center. It’s the first in a series of employee relations data-driven updates called smartER™ Insights. if you’ve logged in recently, you’ve seen a new look, feel and functionality that puts any makeover to shame.
I had a chance to talk to Dushyant Zutshi, VP, Product Management, about his role, about the smartER program and what the new features mean to clients. See how this technology “makeover” can help you uncover trends around harassment, bias and racial equality – and build a better, fairer workplace.
Pat McParland: Dushyant, tell us about your role and your mission at HR Acuity.
Dushyant Zutshi: I joined HR Acuity last year to head product management, a new function. Part of my role was to put structure and process around the product team.
One of the striking things that drew me to HR Acuity is that everyone here is very passionate about the mission to make workplaces better and fairer, including our clients. That passion translates into very collaborative and expressive inputs from clients as well as our internal teams across functions, regardless of the role. One of the important things I worked on as part of formalizing the product function is to harness all these inputs in a systematic and analytical way, so that we connect the dots with our larger product strategy.
We also make regular updates because one thing people love about HR Acuity is it’s always updated.
Data is at the center of everything we do. We have created new data models and analytics designed just for employee relations.
Have you seen HR Acuity in action? Explore the platform anytime through our Product Tour Video.
PM: What changes has that meant for HR Acuity?
DZ: We are building a new technology for employee relations that we call smartER, and recently released our first data-driven feature set called smartER Insights. The features are very easy to use and flexible but still offer powerful configuration for more advanced users.
They help our clients discover patterns and trends through advanced analytics and navigate through their data. Users can now get actionable insights quickly and automatically. For example, as soon as clients log in, they can now see their top employee relations cases and investigations, and easily click to see in more details.
Another new feature is benchmarking. Clients who participate can see where they stand compared to their peers when it comes to bias, harassment and other dimensions. This is very valuable when it comes to addressing issues like racial equality, for example. To make real progress and commit to action, companies must measure where they stand and track their progress.
PM: What do you see on the horizon, for the industry and for HR Acuity?
We are equipping our clients to bring transparency in their ER processes and become more proactive in identifying and addressing various issues and risks. One puzzle piece is to combine data from disparate sources and centralize it in a way so that our clients can get proactive answers to strategic and high value questions
It is not just employee relations professionals who make the workplace better, though they play a leading role. Insight is needed across the enterprise.
In a recent Elevating ER Video Series, Deb talks more about how employee relations can help build an insight-driven workplace. Check it out!
PM: Are you focused on any particular types of data?
DZ: Well, employee-related data is our sweet spot. Today, clients capture performance data, harassment cases, investigations and much more. Combined with other enterprise information and even external data, the pictures that can be painted with data and analytics become that much more insightful. HR Acuity integrates with compliance hotlines, for example – that is another source of data that adds richness and depth to cases. The more sources, the more a single source of truth becomes a reality.
PM: What made you come to HR Acuity?
DZ: As I mentioned earlier, one of the exciting things about what we are doing at HR Acuity is to help enable the evolution of workplaces and work culture in modern businesses across all verticals. This is not just a fascinating problem to solve for our clients, but our solution helps employees as well as employers and creates value in the process.
Especially today, in such unusual times, it is a pleasure to work on solutions that provide real answers and help clients take meaningful action.
Thank you, Dushyant! To see the new features in action and see how we can help you organization uncover the power of data, please schedule a demo.
