Moving People Analytics From Insight to Impact

In this paper we take stock of the current state of People Analytics and identify ways to increase business impact. We suggest a fourth wave of people analytics, which focuses on impact in MY company, not compared to someone else (benchmarking, reporting), not just mimicking someone else (best practice), and not being enamored with the research methodologies (predictive analytics). This pivots people analytics towards answering questions of value to your key stakeholders (employees, senior management and boards inside and investors, customers and communities outside the organization) instead of questions mostly relevant to HR professionals or regulators. We outline a guidance framework for how people analytics can help shape practical solutions for your company to outperform in areas relevant for you. We argue a focus on guidance will amplify the business impact of people analytics, making it more relevant for management actions.