Human Capital Analytics : Maturity evaluation and development proposal for a case company
Anturaniemi, Kirsi (2018)
Anturaniemi, Kirsi
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201801311875
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201801311875
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the status and maturity of human capital reporting and analytics in case company, Wärtsilä Corporation. Wärtsilä is a global corporation, which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The industry, where Wärtsilä operates, is currently under remarkable transformation, for example due to digitalisation, and that affects also the talent and competences needed in the company. For optimising their human capital, Wärtsilä HR sees that it needs analytical information about their workforce. The target for the study was to create a development proposal for human capital analytics for the case company, based on the maturity analysis results.
This research was conducted as an action research. The material was collected from the company’s existing materials, literature, recent researches and articles around the topic. The structure for the maturity evaluation was formed based on the literature review. In addition to documentation review, empiric qualitative data was gathered using interviews and a questionnaire targeted to HR professionals. Altogether 28 HR professionals covering all HR functional areas participated the study.
The results indicate that Wärtsilä has a good basis for human capital analytics, but is still at a beginner level in implementing it. Relevant HR data sources exist and basic operational HR reporting is well in place, and organisational culture supports using data and analytics in decision-making. In addition, compliance matters like access rights and authorisations, data integrity and audit procedures seem to be in good shape. However, HR as a function has no tradition in using the data actively and systematically to steer the operations, and HR organisation is lacking analytical skills and competencies. Furthermore, there is room for development in the currently-used metrics and measures, as they are mainly activity measures, but lacking performance and added-value metrics which would measure the impact of actions. Additionally, the current metrics look backwards, and there are no measures to provide predictions on future, such as on talent acquirement/management, resourcing, or organisational structures and how they will look like in the future.
The author recommends that Wärtsilä HR first clarifies the vision and purpose for human capital analytics; what Wärtsilä wants to achieve with human capital analytics pursues, and on what items and topics it should focus. There is also a need to clarify the strategy focus in reporting and analytics, as human capital analytics should be driven from Wärtsilä People strategy. The People strategy has distinct focus areas: leadership, high performance, culture and engagement, talent development, and resourcing. Human capital analytics should provide insight for these topics, help setting targets and milestones, and define necessary actions. Furthermore, the selected HR key performance indicators should have clear levels and ranges for success, and show progress in those strategic matters. It is also recommended that to gain analytical skills, the company should either recruit or build analytics competences in HR organisation.
This research was conducted as an action research. The material was collected from the company’s existing materials, literature, recent researches and articles around the topic. The structure for the maturity evaluation was formed based on the literature review. In addition to documentation review, empiric qualitative data was gathered using interviews and a questionnaire targeted to HR professionals. Altogether 28 HR professionals covering all HR functional areas participated the study.
The results indicate that Wärtsilä has a good basis for human capital analytics, but is still at a beginner level in implementing it. Relevant HR data sources exist and basic operational HR reporting is well in place, and organisational culture supports using data and analytics in decision-making. In addition, compliance matters like access rights and authorisations, data integrity and audit procedures seem to be in good shape. However, HR as a function has no tradition in using the data actively and systematically to steer the operations, and HR organisation is lacking analytical skills and competencies. Furthermore, there is room for development in the currently-used metrics and measures, as they are mainly activity measures, but lacking performance and added-value metrics which would measure the impact of actions. Additionally, the current metrics look backwards, and there are no measures to provide predictions on future, such as on talent acquirement/management, resourcing, or organisational structures and how they will look like in the future.
The author recommends that Wärtsilä HR first clarifies the vision and purpose for human capital analytics; what Wärtsilä wants to achieve with human capital analytics pursues, and on what items and topics it should focus. There is also a need to clarify the strategy focus in reporting and analytics, as human capital analytics should be driven from Wärtsilä People strategy. The People strategy has distinct focus areas: leadership, high performance, culture and engagement, talent development, and resourcing. Human capital analytics should provide insight for these topics, help setting targets and milestones, and define necessary actions. Furthermore, the selected HR key performance indicators should have clear levels and ranges for success, and show progress in those strategic matters. It is also recommended that to gain analytical skills, the company should either recruit or build analytics competences in HR organisation.