The WSJ’s Joseph Walker produced an interesting piece, Moneyball and the HR Department, about the changing landscape of HR. Here is how the article begins:
The human resources department is known for being touchy-feely, but in the age of big data, it’s becoming a bit more cold and analytical. From figuring out what schools to recruit from to what employees should be offered flexible work arrangements, data analytics are helping HR professionals make more informed decisions.
Here at EMSI we have also been observing this trend. More and more HR clients are reaching out with questions about regional labor markets and how to tap into workforce/education data.
For the past eleven years EMSI has been in the business of providing this data to a wide array of professionals who use it for education, workforce, and economic development planning. The best way to think of this data is strategic information (as opposed to tactical information) that helps companies and organization build better near- and long-term plans.
What is Strategic Data?
Tactical data should be thought of as information useful for on-the-ground / day-to-day operations. Job postings are a good example of this kind of data (e.g., how many companies are looking for chemical engineers this week?). Strategic data is more high level information that helps us think year-by-year and region-by-region. A good example of strategic data would be the skills, educational attainment, earnings, average age, and employment trends of engineers in Ohio.
Here is a quick overview of how labor market data is used in strategic workforce planning and talent recruitment.
1. Strategic Planning
- Discover “at-risk” occupations across your corporate sites
- Develop a summary of the supply and demand for occupations
- Produce detailed age and gender breakdowns for occupations
- See the pipeline of graduates that are produced for specific occupations, as well as the programs and institutions that are preparing future employees
- Measure the compatibility of local workers for a new operation
2. Talent Recruitment
- Preview the available talent pool for a given occupation
- Compare how wages in a market compare with market averages
- Research potential labor imbalance between supply and demand
- Find out which higher education institutions are producing the talent that you might need
3. Addressing Talent Shortages
If the local data indicates that a given field has a shortage of talent, we also have tools that can help you both broaden and target your recruiting base.
- See other occupations that have talent with compatible skills
- Discover the regions of the country (by county, metro area, or state) that have an available supply of talent
If you are interested in learning more, please see this page or contact us.
Find out more about EMSI here. You can reach us via Twitter @DesktopEcon or by emailing Rob Sentz (rob@economicmodeling.com).
Rob – great summary. As the drive towards Strategic Workforce Planning becomes a greater imperative to achieving the organizational business strategy, the need for labor market data is of ever increasing importance! Whether working through Talent Mapping or Environmental scans, capturing the quality and depth of data that you can present to you internal business partners is a critical element of being a credible business partner. We are thrilled to be partnering with emsi to improve solutions in this way!!