How data can empower HR professionals

Brian Donn, Managing Director of Asia-Pacific & Japan, Ceridian, looks at how data and systems can become the ultimate superpower for HR professionals.

In today’s rapidly evolving business world, where decisions are increasingly informed by vast amounts of data, HR professionals have the unique opportunity to harness this information and leverage it as a superpower. Armed with insights and accurate information, they can persuasively guide senior leadership’s decisionmaking and be a significant factor in shaping the future of their organisation.

DATA-DRIVEN INFLUENCE

Data-driven insights can play a crucial role in informing intelligent business decisions and increasing influence with senior leadership. Instead of relying solely on intuitions or traditional methods, HR professionals can present data-backed arguments to strengthen their proposals, validate strategies and demonstrate the quantifiable impact of organisational initiatives. For instance, realising the prevalence of burnout across industries, HR can use a burnout indicator, powered by data, to help reduce employee burnout. With burnout costing Australian and New Zealand organisations an estimated $11 billion each year, such data-centric approaches can persuade senior leaders to allocate resources or change strategies.

“Data-driven insights can play a crucial role in informing intelligent business decisions and increasing influence with senior leadership."

Accessing Quality Data With The Right Tools

For HR professionals to influence effectively, they need access to quality data. Thankfully, numerous tools and cloud-based platforms available to organisations today already leverage AIpowered tools to help boost efficiency and provide accurate insights. These tools can also serve as research assistants, helping HR professionals understand patterns, predict trends and generate actionable insights on their workforce.

Additionally, with the evolution of AI tools, data governance becomes more manageable. AI can help create data governance policies, reducing risks associated with data mishandling. As a result, HR can spend more time applying these policies and ensuring the data they rely on is of high quality.

Ensuring Data Privacy

While the power of data is undeniable, it comes with responsibilities. HR professionals manage sensitive employee information, which demands a high level of care. This requires a balancing act because while data and IT professionals might desire broad access to data, those in governance roles understand the need to limit it, ensuring it’s used ethically and respects privacy regulations. As a result, HR professionals must prioritise data governance, adhering to both legal and ethical guidelines. Organisations like Ceridian, for example, focus on data models offered for private deployment to ensure data privacy. While experimentation with public models is fine if you are not using any customer or internal data, organisations should remember that using public data likely contributes to that model’s training.

Conclusion

As organisations become more data driven, HR professionals must embrace this shift, leveraging data to influence and make informed decisions. By prioritising data privacy and using the right AIpowered tools, HR can position itself as a significant strategic player in organisational growth and direction. In essence, when used correctly, data becomes the ultimate superpower for HR professionals, granting them influence and foresight like never before.

Brian Donn is the Managing Director of Asia-Pacific & Japan at Ceridian. With more than 20 years of market experience, Brian has held leadership positions across the Asia-Pacific region, including Oracle, Verint Systems Inc, KANA Software and Sword Group. At Ceridian, Brian is focused on empowering customers with the digital transformation of their people processes in a constantly changing world of work.