Identifying Trends and Improving Recruitment are Keys to Boosting Your Franchise Business
Your people are your business’s greatest asset. They offer services, develop products, solve challenges and interact with clients. People analytics gives you valuable data about them. It provides you with information on metrics like performance against targets, commission amounts, salaries, number of absences due to illness and more. This information could help you make better strategic decisions that would make your team more effective. Here’s how you can take advantage of the power of people analytics to boost the success of your franchise business.
Defining People Analytics
To understand how to leverage its power, you must first know what people analytics is. At times, people use HR analytics and people analytics interchangeably. While the two concepts are largely similar, they do not mean the exact same thing.
HR analytics mainly involves metrics specific to HR such as retention rates, staff turnover and effectiveness of seminars and other training programs. People analytics is broader. It assesses people-driven data from other business processes like customer service, finance and operations. That gives a more holistic view of your team and its impact on your business’s performance than HR analytics.
Also, people analytics is forward-thinking. Its primary aim is to use past and present data to predict future trends and how they will likely affect your organization. That makes it a vital tool in guiding decisions like organizational restructuring and recruitment.
Why Your Franchise Business Must Leverage People Analytics
According to a US-based analytics company, businesses using people analytics continue to enjoy increased profit margins and better returns on assets. Here are more reasons why your franchise must leverage people analytics.
1. Identifying Trends and Patterns Within Your Team
The first type of data people analytics gives you as a business owner is descriptive data. It provides a summary of historical data on company attributes that interest you. For instance, it will inform you of how many people left your business within a certain period. It will also provide data on these team members’ numbers of absences, input in team and individual tasks, career progression, etc.
From this data, you may notice patterns regarding your team and use those to your advantage. For example, you could discover that team members taking a larger amount of sick leave is a common occurrence before they resign. You may also notice specific skill gaps within your team that require tailored training programs.
Other valuable people analytics data that might reveal vital trends include bonuses and benefits, team leaders and work-life balance. Any noted trends should guide your executive decisions.
2. Improving Selection and Recruitment
Identifying suitable candidates is a common recruitment challenge for many organizations. People analytics employs data-driven insights and complex algorithms to help you find the right match for your company culture and specific job. By evaluating a candidate’s experience, skills and other key traits, and comparing them with those of top performers in your business, you increase your likelihood of selecting the perfect talent.
Besides historical data, people analytics analyzes current market trends and uses AI to anticipate possible changes in the job market. Based on its prediction, you can proactively seek candidates who will likely be in demand even when the anticipated market shifts occur. Staying prepared for future staffing requirements will ensure your franchise remains competitive and agile in the ever-dynamic business landscape.
3. Fostering Engagement and Retention
Engagement is the dedication and enthusiasm your team has towards its work. Engaged team members care about their jobs and the performance of the business. They also feel that their input makes a notable difference. Such team members are working with your company for more than just a salary. Their well-being is, to an extent, tied to their job performance, hence key to your franchise’s success.
Usually, engaged team members will say, strive or stay. That means they will speak fondly of the franchise to colleagues and clients, do their best to contribute to your business’s success and remain with your franchise despite getting other offers. Although engagement sounds like an attribute primarily driven by someone’s personal traits, workplace elements contribute immensely. Factors like work-life balance, recognition and career growth all influence a team member’s level of engagement.
People analytics helps you identify such factors within your franchise. Once you have that information, you can adopt strategies to improve engagement and develop a healthy work environment to increase talent retention.
4. Optimizing Your Performance Management
Performance management is a critical and ever-continuing business process. Human resource professionals must constantly clarify and communicate job descriptions, performance expectations and priorities, and appraise employees against these. People analytics provides sufficient data to accurately do this and offer timely feedback. With the right metrics established, people analytics makes it easier to align your overall business objectives with individual team member goals, sustaining a high-performance culture. That is the culture you need to drive franchise growth and success.
Only through your team can you serve your customers and keep your business growing. People analytics allows you to effectively manage this crucial business asset. The analyses it generates give you insights into your team, allowing you to make critical decisions that optimize talent selection, retention and performance. In today’s dynamic markets, companies that prioritize and strategically employ people analytics will likely continue to register greater success than their competition that doesn’t.
About the Author
Aaron Smith is an LA-based content strategist and consultant in support of STEM firms and medical practices. He covers industry developments and helps companies connect with clients. In his free time, Aaron enjoys swimming, swing dancing, and sci-fi novels. Aaron also contributes to Jara Analytics, an HR consulting services firm helping solve business challenges using data.
