People analytics

What people analytics actually covers

The raw material is everywhere: recruitment funnel data, engagement and culture surveys, absence and turnover patterns, performance and capability records, assessment results. People analytics is the discipline of connecting them, moving from descriptive (what happened: turnover was 18%) through diagnostic (why: exits cluster in year two under first-time managers) toward predictive (who is at risk next) and prescriptive (which intervention changes the curve).

Start with decisions, not dashboards

The failure mode of most people analytics initiatives is building reporting nobody acts on. The working method runs the other way: name the decisions the organisation keeps getting wrong (who to hire, which teams need help, where capability gaps sit), then assemble only the data those decisions need. One turnover problem properly diagnosed and fixed is worth more than any wall of dashboards, and it buys the credibility for the next question.

The two-risk lens

Most HR systems were built to manage process risk, so their data describes workflow: requisitions, approvals, transactions. The costly failures live in people insight risk: who fits, who is disengaging, whether capability is actually building. Analytics that only measures process tells you how efficiently you are running; analytics that measures fit, engagement and capability tells you whether it is working. Organisations need both, and most only have the first.