Best HR Analytics Tools

Businesses all over the globe across niches understand the importance of data-driven insights for better decision-making, business conversion, and talent acquisition. This is why the role of analytics tools continues to grow in significance. To make a better workplace loved by the employees and retain talents, you also need analytics tools. These are called HR analytics tools.

According to leading business leaders, understanding people's data within an organization is key to driving innovation and establishing thought leadership. 

Employee engagement, attrition rate, skills, and skill development, wellness, and last but not least, employee productivity are all considered critical business issues to push growth. 

HR analytics tools, mostly on the surface layer, have similar features and capabilities, and this is why to make a better choice, you must only scratch the surface to make in-depth comparisons. 

Here we are going to help you choose the best HR analytics solutions for your organization by laying bare all the different and meticulous considerations. Let's start.

What Is An HR Analytics Tool?

HR analytics is people-centric from the organizational perspective; hence, these software solutions are also called people analytics software. 

An HR analytics tool is a software solution that collects data on Human Resources (HR) in any organizational setting to boost productivity, employee happiness, creative capabilities, and work-life balance.

The core data analytics method and principles are also in play here. Still, these analytics features and metrics are aligned with the organizational goal of talent acquisition, employee retention, productivity, and skill development. 

These software tools measure how far an organization successfully achieves these people-centric goals.

Benefits and ROI of HR Analytics Tools

Employee analytics software solutions offer actionable insights into employee performance, productivity, skill level and HR management practices based upon which new measures can be initiated to bridge the shortfall. 

It is well known that for any company, it takes considerable time and investment to hire good talents and bring them to a level of decent productivity. This is where HR analytics solutions help us to detect flaws and areas deserving of improvement.   

Here we mention a few benefits HR analytics tools offer. ?

1. Single analytics solution for employee data across an organization

   So-called enterprise resource planning systems are now coming equipped with HR analytics mechanisms to streamline company-wide data analytics. 

   Though there is HR analytics software that dedicatedly focuses on the HR department, there are several such tools that can be utilized for analytics across departments, like supply chain and distribution, sales, marketing, finance, etc. 

2. Bringing insights from non-HR data as well  

   Analyzing cross-functional data is another key advantage of using advanced HR analytics tools. Many such software solutions already have this cross-functional analytics capability. 

   This key consideration is how these solutions can access and bring in relevant non-HR data from different organizational functions. HR analytics software tools with such broader data coverage can check the impact of the workforce on different operational facets. 

3. Faster and precisely-guided decision making 

   There can be hardly any argument about the fact that faster and more precise decision-making regarding workforce and talent acquisition is the key advantage of using talent HR analytics platforms. 

   All the competitive advantages you get by hiring skilled and experienced talent must be supplemented with an equally rigorous effort to keep them happy and productive. This is where HR data analytics software plays an important role in making data-driven decisions. 

4. Getting rid of data entry errors and efforts 

   With the best HR analytics software on your side, you can rely heavily on manual data entry, which is prone to errors and which involves a lot of effort and time. Updating data manually on a regular basis for employees is time-consuming for HR teams. 

   When you need to fill up software tools just like spreadsheets, there are chances of human errors as well. To help you to get rid of such impediments, HR analytics software allows for updating the integrated data sources automatically. 

5. Ensuring employee productivity    

   In many ways, talent analytics software tools help boost employee and organizational productivity. First of all, insights into employee pain points and dissatisfaction can help HR teams to address them quickly, ensuring seamless engagement for staff and increased productivity. On the other hand, with a comprehensive analytics tool, HR managers and staff can deliver better output in less time.  

Important Features of HR Analytics Software

Most of the industry-best HR analytics software share dozens of features and capabilities in common. These features are considered to be industry-standardized, and hence they are "must-have" ones. 

But some tools stand out from the rest thanks to their ease of use, value-added features, awesome customer support or simply because of robustness. 

Let's quickly look at some of the must-have and value-added features of top HR analytics software. 

1. Visual reports & quick analysis dashboards

   This key feature allows HR teams to see and track key metrics of their choice in a quick-to-grab format. They offer both dashboards and data visualization to show employee data and different metrics through a graphical interface or chart-based reports. 

   Thanks to these dashboards and data visualizations, a wide variety of data can be displayed, and the dashboards remain easily customizable as per business requirements. 

   Most workforce analytics tools come with templates for data mapping to address the most common HR metrics and parameters like performance, attrition, employee engagement data, etc. 

2. Trend management   

   The HR analytics software solutions can also help HR teams and decision makers to detect and reveal certain deep-lying trends in their organization. For example, relevant data on a sudden increase in attrition rate or a dip in employee productivity in certain months can inspire them to look into these trends further and find out the reasons and solutions. 

   AI has now become the new value proposition for many leading HR analytics programs since AI can be highly effective in unveiling such deep-rooted trends. AI-based programs can also offer relevant recommendations to address evolving HR issues. 

3. Predictive analytics  

   Predictive analytics is now a key part of popular workforce analytics. Using historical analysis of employee data and key metrics, they can make precise predictions about the upcoming trends concerning employees and their expectations. 

   Predictive analytics can help employee engagement and monitoring processes in many ways. A widely known example is predicting turnover through meaningful insights. The more detailed and precise prediction a tool can provide, the more it has the chance of gaining traction and popularity. 

4. Unified portal

   Through a people analytics tool, an enterprise can pull together data and make a centralized repository to enjoy more control over organizational data. 

   This is best done when the particular tool is flexible enough to integrate legacy software systems like HCM, CRM, Payroll Management, CMS, Tax Management, HCM, and payroll management. 

5. Employee feedback surveys

   HR analytics tools open the scope of hearing out to employees by conducting surveys occasionally. Top HR analytics software comes with several ready-to-use templates for employee surveys. 

   From measuring employee engagement to understanding employee opinion about their managers or work schedule or processes, these surveys can make HR managers hear the actual voice of the employees. 

6. Performance management     

   Managing employee performance starts with the data of employee output, productivity, completion timeline, reports on their work quality, etc., from attendance to sales scores to performance reviews to managers' ratings on availability and collaboration. Every piece of data can be streamlined to track

   and manage employee performance. 

7. Remuneration analysis

   Analyzing compensation or remuneration of employees has become a new feature across leading HR analytics systems. Apart from compensation analysis, these tools also help track industry benchmarks and remuneration standards followed by similar companies. 

   These tools mostly make use of employee salary benchmarks across departments, performance data and competitive analysis. Based upon this 360-degree analysis of all aspects regarding compensation, a business can hire resources by paying the most lucrative yet balanced remuneration.  

How to Implement HR Analytics Tools? 4 Key Steps

If you cannot deploy HR analytics software right, the whole point of finding the best tool is lost. So, you need to ensure seamless and successful implementation by considering different variables and impediments. Here we mention four irreplaceable steps to implement HR analytics tools successfully. 

1. Take safeguards for protecting old data 

   When bringing a new tool into the system, the first and foremost consideration should be how you accommodate old data. Instead of cleaning up the entire old database, you need to look for vendors who can help you access and use the old historical employee data through the new system. In this regard, it is also important to consider the required budget and resources for integrating the old database. 

2. Consider legacy tool integration  

   It is quite likely that you have existing HR tools. Can you separately integrate the analytics tool with the existing one instead of grabbing a whole new software HR department? 

   If yes, what risks and shortcomings are involved in such an integration? What will be the role of your own IT team in the integration process? You need to consider all these aspects and their pros and cons. 

3. Check compliance norms 

   Certain tools can ask questions that may violate privacy norms in some countries. Some HR tools can also use productivity metrics that violate the labour laws of some countries. 

   So, when using an HR analytics software platform, you need to check how it accommodates the compliance norms and regulations of that respective country or region.  

4. Decide must-have and & good-to-have features    

   Last but not least, you can always ask for custom analytics features from some vendors. You also need to take a call on must-have and good-to-have features and, accordingly, should prioritize features for initial deployment and future upgrades. 

Why Should Businesses Adopt HR Analytics Tools? 

By using HR analytics software, businesses can manage, retain and get onboard talented resources, and they can do all these by simply using workforce data. 

By using specialized tools and visual analytics capabilities, people analytics tools can uncover meaningful insights on almost every type of HR concern ranging from employee engagement to turnover to productivity and performance. 

Here we explain why businesses adopt analytics tools for their human capital assets. 

1. Improving employee retention

   Organizations always focus on retaining their valuable employees, and the business landscape is competitive for talent acquisition. This is where analytics tools can play an important role in human resources management.

   Many companies face a drastic rise in turnover which is cost-intensive and a key factor in pulling down productivity. Now companies, by using HR analytics tools, can keep a tap on turnover, attrition rate, productivity slump and other negative metrics and their contributing elements.

2. Evaluating diversity and inclusion

   In most leading companies ensuring an inclusive culture based on diversity is a key criterion for attracting talents and making a happy workplace. But this also needs constant evaluation of the workplace through employee data. 

   Software offering real-time analytics to measure employee engagement, gender equality and cultural diversity can just help a company stay on the right track regarding maintaining inclusive work culture. 

3. Identify workforce trends and needs     

   Businesses also need HR analytics tools to align their business strategy with employee needs and business trends. To address the staffing requirements from time to time, they can get help from HR analytics and find out the existing employee headcount in a department, the shortfall and the actionable insights for future staffing. 

How to Choose HR Analytics Tools? 

In today's automation-driven world, businesses rely heavily on HR analytics tools to gain actionable insights from their workforce data for taking proactive steps in HR management and talent acquisition. 

But there are so many HR analytics tools in the market that making a quick choice takes time and effort. IndianAppDevelopers has made a strong footprint in the analytics app market with several award-winning custom mobile apps for HR analytics. 

 4 key factors to keep in mind before finalizing an HR analytics tool include:

1. User Interface (UI)

   First, the HR team must find the tool user-friendly with easy navigation and accessibility. The user interface should be simple, intuitive and breathable. Without creating much cognitive load for the users, it should allow getting things done with ease.

2. Usability

   The HR analytics tool should follow the much-acclaimed design conventions for optimal usability. This will ensure that the team members can use the basic functions with little training. With a simple on-screen onboarding, the users should be able to use the tool and its features.

3. Integrations

   It would help if you did not go for it when a tool creates a lot of fuss about its incompatibility with your existing software. Always embrace tools that easily integrate with your existing HR software and all the tools you use for ERP, CRM, project management, payroll management, etc.

4. Value for money

   If you get some advanced features along with the same core analytics function, it can deliver more value for your investment. So, making a better bargain against your investment is always recommended for selecting an HR analytics tool. 

Top 5 HR Analytics Tools

As we have already said, the market has no shortage of feature-rich and robust HR analytics tools. But based on their typical target audience fitness, feature set and custom requirements, we have picked the 5 best HR analytics tools here. 

1. Python

Suppose you know Python as a popular programming language for apps relying on complex data modelling, artificial intelligence, financial computations and machine learning. In that case, you should not be surprised that it is equally a coveted tool for HR analytics applications. 

Since it has robust capabilities for rigorous data engineering and computational tasks for building scalable HR analytics software, it is widely used. If you want to develop a fully customized HR analytics tool from scratch instead of opting for any vendor in the market, it is the programming language you need to opt for. 

Features

• High-level language
• Language interpretation
• Robust standard library
• GUI programming support

Pros

• Easy to learn and use
• Large community and extensive library
• High-level data structures
• Excellent for data analysis and scientific computing

Cons

• Slow execution speed
• Not suitable for mobile development
• Memory consumption

Pricing

Python is open-source and completely free. 

2. Excel

By pioneering modern spreadsheets in workplace environments, Microsoft Excel doesn't need any introduction. It is still the industry-acclaimed solution for generating data-driven insights from workforce data. The biggest advantage of Excel is that most enterprise users are already versed with this commonplace tool. 

Another important reason for Excel to lead among HR analytics tools is its simplicity and ease of use. Despite looking like a commonplace tool on every desktop, it can be mastered to slice and dice data for different use contexts according to the requirements. 

When you use third-party HR analytics templates for Excel, you further advance its capabilities without losing the quintessential ease of use. 

Features

• Spreadsheets
• Formulas
• Visual reports with charts and graphs 
• Conditional formatting
• Macros
• Data validation
• Collaboration
• Integration with other Microsoft Office applications

Pros

• Easy to use
• Powerful data analysis tools
• Integration with other Microsoft Office applications
• Available on multiple platforms

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Limited data capacity
• Prone to errors
• Limited collaboration options
• Security risks

Pricing 

Microsoft Excel is part of the Microsoft Office suite, which offers several pricing options for both personal and business users:

• Microsoft 365 Personal: This plan costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year and includes access to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office apps for one user.
• Microsoft 365 Family: This plan costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year and includes access to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office apps for up to six users.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: This plan costs $12.50 per user per month and includes access to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office apps, as well as email and online storage.
• Microsoft 365 Premium: It costs $20.00 per month per user and besides everything that Business Standard plan offers, it comes with more security features and tools. 
• One-time purchase: Users can also purchase a one-time license for Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019, which includes Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, for a one-time fee of $149.99.

3. Power BI

Power BI has been a leading business intelligence tool for years thanks to its robustness, ease of use and extensive range of integrations. The best thing about Power BI is that it can be integrated with every kind of third-party application in the market. 

Power BI has the unique capability of working as a standalone data Visualization tool, as you can create a multitude of visual reports and interactive dashboards by using data metrics in different ways. 

Besides working flawlessly with almost any HR software, it also supports a whole array of third-party HR platforms, dashboards, and analytics software. If you want a powerful analytics dashboarding tool for your HR management, there cannot be a better option than this. 

Features

• Data visualization
• Data modeling
• Integration
• Mobile access

Pros

• User-friendly
• Powerful data modeling
• Integration
• Mobile access

Cons

• Limited customization
• Steep learning curve
• Limited support for some data sources

Pricing

Power BI comes with a free version besides offering a paid version. The free version is still efficient for dashboarding and visual report creation despite several limitations. The paid version, called Power BI Pro, offers additional features and capabilities, including the ability to collaborate with others in real-time, access to premium data connectors, and more.

Power BI Pro version comes with a $9.99 price tag for each user each month. You need to pay $20 for a premium version of the software. There is also a Power BI Embedded version, which is designed for ISVs and developers who want to embed Power BI functionality into their own applications, and is priced based on usage.

4. Tableau

Tableau is a bit pricey as a tool, but it comes packed with an array of advanced features, such as business intelligence software. Using Tableau as a human resources analytics tool can deliver various visual reports enriched with valuable insights for talent acquisition, compensation, workforce diversity, attrition rate and retention. 

Many big brands and global universities rely on Tableau, or more precisely, their DEI dashboard, for tracking employee diversity in workplaces and campuses. When you need a highly specialized dashboarding solution for large-scale analysis of HR data, Tableau can be a great fit. 

Features

• Data visualization
• Data modeling
• Data integration
• Mobile support

Pros

• Advanced analytics
• Customizability
• Scalable
• Integration

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Cost
• Data preparation

Pricing

Tableau offers a variety of pricing plans. 

• Tableau Creator: This is a comprehensive version of Tableau that offers all the features of the tool, including data preparation, analysis, and visualization. It costs $70 per user per month.
• Tableau Explorer: This version of Tableau is designed for users who need to explore and analyze data. It costs $35 per user per month.
• Tableau Viewer: This version of Tableau is designed for users who need to view and interact with dashboards and visualizations and the version costs $12 every month and for every user. 
• Tableau Online: The pricing of this versatile cloud-based version starts from $15 for every user every month.
• Tableau Server: This version of Tableau is designed for businesses that need to host Tableau on their own servers. Pricing for Tableau Server starts at $35,000 per year for 10 users.

5. Visier

As an advanced analytics tool, Visier fits particularly into medium to large business settings. It is unique in its capability of garnering real-time insights from the data pool. When HR managers need a solid grasp of acquisition, turnover and retention trends, Visier fulfills their needs.  

It comes with a neat and clean user interface that can be managed easily by everyday users with no technical background. It always allows the creation of custom reports other than using standard templates. 

Apart from offering an easy onboarding process, the tool also helps users with a gamut of free access to resources such as community forums, libraries, e-learning programs, and real-time customer support.  

Features

• Data visualization
• Workforce planning
• Talent acquisition
• Compliance management
• Collaboration

Pros

• Comprehensive
• User-friendly
• Customizability
• Data integration
• Scalable

Cons

• Cost
• Data preparation
• Limited automation

Pricing

Visier offers customized pricing plans based on the specific needs of each business. Pricing is not publicly available, so businesses interested in Visier should contact the sales team for a customized quote.

Trends Measured by HR Analytics Tools

HR analytics tools can be used to closely tap trends and metrics like productivity, rejection rates in an interview, absenteeism, attrition, ROI from job postings, etc. Such data-driven insights can help HR managers target the most effective job boards to access the most qualified talents. 

On top of all these, the analytics software can identify trends concerning productivity in different time brackets. Based on these trends and corresponding figures, HR professionals can make informed decisions about budget allocation or process optimization. 

How Much Do HR Analytics Tools Cost?

For any HR analytics software, the price brackets are mentioned for every user monthly or yearly. Though the actual pricing of an HR analytics tool may vary from one vendor to another, with all the must-have features, the cost of a tool may range from $12.00 to $70.00 per user per month.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is evident that HR analytics tools are part and parcel of modern HR management in any industry. But whether you should go for custom HR analytics or purchase any of the leading tools from the market depends on your requirements. As for making the right vendor choice, this guide gives you a comprehensive 360-degree picture.