using data to construct an efficient recruitment process for high-volume demand.

With the current challenges facing Canadian employers, including increased turnover, a growing skills gap and the continuing labor shortage, employers with high-volume demands, such as manufacturing, call centers, major retailers, warehousing and logistics, have had to rethink workforce management.

These employers must fill a large number of positions in a short period of time without risking quality. Failure to find sufficient talent can result in costly production delays, increased safety violations and decreased product quality. At a time when many companies are still working to recover from the global pandemic, most employers are looking for ways to control costs, not add to them.

Thanks to the advancement of computing technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), organizations have access to a wealth of data that, when analyzed correctly, can improve the recruitment process, especially for employers with high-demand talent needs. This strategy is referred to as people analytics, and it has the power to align your recruitment and business efforts together for improved hiring and increased productivity.

Keep reading to find out what people analytics is and how it can enable your company to create an efficient recruitment process that allows you to attract and retain the talent you need, despite a highly competitive job market.

harnessing the power of data

Chances are that your company has been collecting various types of workforce data for years. But unfortunately, without transforming this data into meaningful results, it’s not very helpful. This is where people analytics can help. This methodology takes big data, analyzes it and transforms it into real-time workplace insights. In turn, your company can use these insights to make informed business decisions regarding recruitment and total workforce management.

People analytics, along with valuable subsets, such as HR analytics and talent analytics, is especially beneficial for businesses with high-volume talent demands. Some of these benefits include:

• sourcing high-quality candidates
• speeding up the hiring process
• reducing overall recruitment costs
• increasing talent retention rates
• enhancing employee engagement
• increasing productivity rates
• improving workforce planning management

how to utilize people analytics for high-volume recruitment

People analytics software programs are ideal for employers of all sizes and industries. However, these tools are particularly helpful in improving the quality-of-hire and time-to-fill rates, which are critical metrics for employers with high-volume talent demands. Here are some tips for incorporating people analytics, especially talent analytics, into a high-volume recruitment strategy.

set company goals and objectives

The first step of any business strategy is to set clear goals and objectives. With HR analytics, typically, the HR department handles this process with little to no input from company leaders. People analytics is different. Since the desired result is to gain company-wide insights rather than just HR data, it’s critical that your company leaders, HR team and supervisors all take part in setting goals and objectives.

For instance, if your company is hoping to increase diversity among your talent pool, you first need top management involved, then departmental supervisors and eventually team leaders. Finally, you can strategize and track results through people analytics, looking for situations that may hinder or encourage diverse job applicants. 

Since people analytics considers the whole individual, you can ensure unique employee populations are equitably represented among leadership, giving you a creative, diverse and unbiased approach to recruitment and workforce management.

determine data collection parameters

One of the first steps you should take when developing a people analytics strategy is to set clear data collection parameters. Determine exactly what types of data can be collected and what types are off-limits. Then, bring in the legal team to ensure your data gathering and management processes meet Canadian employment laws and data privacy regulations, such as General Data Protection Regulation in Europe.

Since people analytics is a business-wide practice, more people than just the HR team may need access to some or all data points. Determine right from the start who has access to what information.

Finally, you need to bring in the IT team to set up security protections regarding the data you’re gathering. The last thing you want to do is have a data breach with your employees’ information. Even though some of the data you’re collecting is company-wide rather than individual employees' personal information, you still want to make sure to follow data security protocols and limit access to it.

build a data-based culture

For some companies, the recruitment process hasn’t changed much in the last few decades, especially the interview and job offer process. Unfortunately, standard interviewing tactics oftentimes allow interviewer bias to skew results. For instance, studies show that interviewers tend to make a decision about a candidate in under seven minutes — certainly, not enough time to determine job fit.

For these reasons, building a culture of data-based decision-making is essential. Everyone involved in the recruitment process from start to finish must understand the value of people analytics and its purpose in the hiring process. This type of data-driven culture is crucial when you need to hire a large number of workers in a short period of time. It can not only help you source likely candidates but facilitate the application and onboarding processes as well.

People analytics can also help you make short- and long-range staffing decisions concerning changes in production, such as new product lines and automation. For example, as Canadian manufacturers embrace the Industry 4.0 revolution, some roles will become unnecessary, while new positions may open up. Data analysis helps determine how many employees need to be upskilled to new technology. It can also tell you which employees can handle change better and how to source similar talent.

acquire the necessary analytical skills

Even if you already have an HR analytics strategy in place, you need to acquire skills specific to people analytics. As mentioned above, people analytics differs from HR analytics in both scope and purpose. To achieve the best results possible, you need employees within your HR team who understand people analytics and know how to interpret the results and use them to improve recruitment outcomes.

This step means more than taking an HR analytics course or two. You want talent with a People Analytics Certification or similar training, such as a SHRM People Analytics Specialty Credential or a People Analytics for HR certification from the Human Capital Institute. You can obtain this talent through recruitment efforts or work toward training several members of your HR team. If you opt to recruit talent with people analytics skills, our teams at Randstad can help you find the right candidates for your company.

As an employer with a high demand for talent, you likely need more than the analytical capabilities of a computer software program and a trained team member. Randstad Inhouse Services can provide you with an on-site consultant who understands how to turn the data you collect into analytical results and present these results in an easy-to-use format, such as reports or charts. We can also set up data results to match your company’s KPIs so you can more easily track changes.                                                                 

invest in people analytics tools

For any data-driven talent acquisition strategy to succeed, you must have the right tools to collect, store, manage and analyze workforce data. According to a 2022 survey by Capterra, over half of Canadian business leaders said their technology and software budget would increase in the coming year. As a further incentive, the Canada Digital Adoption Program offers grants to encourage businesses to increase their technology use.

When looking at how to invest in digital technology, consider the following components:

• tools for sourcing talent data. For example, you may want to source information from candidates’ applications and resumes, various pulse survey results, employee performance reviews, pre-hire assessments and attendance records. You want to track this information for individual employees and candidates as well as for the company as a whole to achieve greater results. Platforms such as Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) software are a great place to store this type of information.
• insights from an expert. Our teams at Randstad collect a wide range of data pertaining to workers’ expectations, behaviors and motivators, as well as salary ranges and industry trends. We provide these valuable insights to all our Randstad partners.
• data analysis. Many HRIS platforms offer limited analysis capabilities. While this is a good place to start, you may want to increase your people analytics capabilities by using AI with ML technology to provide accurate and predictive analysis. 

As a high-volume employer, working with an in-house HR service allows you to tailor your people analytics strategies to meet the unique needs of your company and to alter this strategy as needs shift.

prioritize tech and touch

People acquisition analytics data can be a powerful tool in the recruitment process, but it can’t replace the human element. You mustn’t lose track of the fact that candidates are more than just data and statistics. The good news is that the combination of ‘tech and touch’ can drive great results for sourcing, attracting and onboarding candidates.

For instance, salaries are the number one motivator for workers changing jobs. However, this doesn’t mean that every candidate you extend a job offer to will rank salary as the most important part of the compensation package.

In fact, according to Randstad’s Workmonitor 2022 Report, many employees place a high value on work aspects unrelated to salary. People analytics lets you highlight the benefits that really matter to your candidates to entice them to accept job offers.

• 31% would accept less money if they felt their work made a difference to the world
• 84% want flexibility in their work hours
• 72% want flexibility in their working location
• 70% rank training and development as highly important

You may find that your HR team can work on other aspects of workforce management once you’ve replaced some of their more repetitive tasks with AI, such as initial resume screening and reference checking. One such example is the Canada Life Assurance Company, which found that recruiting staff could now spend time on higher-value work, advising management and searching for ways to encourage employee engagement and retention.

partner with an HR services company

We understand the talent challenges businesses face today, especially those with high-volume demand. To help alleviate some of these stressors, Randstad provides end-to-end recruitment solutions, including sourcing, recruitment, onboarding, training and workforce scheduling. As always, our Randstad Inhouse Services are completely customizable, so you can determine exactly what aspects of the recruitment process you want our teams to handle and what parts you want to keep in house.

Our teams have a complete understanding of people analytics and the value it brings to the recruitment process. When combining your company data with our worker insights, we can help you create a recruitment process that allows you to identify, attract, engage and onboard skilled candidates who are a great fit for your team. In addition, thanks to our massive pre-vetted talent pool, we can speed up the time-to-hire process to ensure shifts are filled with qualified candidates.