Evidence-based practice is all about making data-driven decisions. The practice has its roots in medicine and originated as a way to combine research evidence with clinical expertise, alongside patient values. The theory has now been incorporated into a wide range of differing business practices such as education or politics and is increasingly being used in the realm of HR.
For HR professionals, the integration of evidence-based methods into their everyday working practices means a move away from the old-fashioned ways of working. Previously, these tended to revolve around personal experience, word-of-mouth anecdotes, received wisdom, and trends. Now, HR professionals are employing empirical data, putting more emphasis on critical thinking and evidence-based HR, and moving away from the unreliable world of quick fixes and bias.
How It Can Be Used
For example, in practical HR terms, this could mean tackling staff absence rates by drawing upon data to determine previous absence rates, rather than relying on anecdotes. This data could be amplified by new data-driven return-to-work interviews to track feedback, determine trends and patterns, and begin to help managers reduce the rate of absence.
Evidence-based HR methods could also be employed to assess levels of productivity and satisfaction, and provide data on the risks and benefits of incentive plans. Moving away from instinctual HR methods, towards data-driven practices, has the potential to identify strengths and weaknesses in a business and could lead to substantial savings and successes.
One such example is the use of open-source employee data. Pages like the AT&T employee listings or Buffalo Wild Wings employees provide insight into company structures, employee turnover, and professional expertise distribution. This kind of data supports HR in benchmarking and strategic planning.
Source – Pixabay
What are the Benefits of Evidence-Based HR?
The pace of change in the world of business can be frantic. If a business is not able to quickly adapt to new methods and react to data, it can find itself being left behind by the competition. As a key component of a successful business, HR should be no different. It is absolutely vital that HR professionals have the capacity, knowledge, and skill to react and operate accurately employing human resources decision-making.
Failure to incorporate evidence-based HR methods into HR practices runs the risk of making a well-intentioned but costly decision based on faulty assumptions. That might mean relying too heavily on gut instinct or following industry or workplace trends without fully evaluating the impact. It could also mean making a snap judgment to boost efficiency without considering extra input or the consequences of the action. Failure to use data-driven methods might also fail to account for changing circumstances or miss contemporary industry research which might otherwise inform HR practices.
But what can be obtained from this method?
- Company goals support. Adopting an evidence-based HR mindset can aid businesses in keeping up with the rapid pace of change and support company goals. It can support consistent decision-making when it comes to recruitment. For example, HR professionals can apply hiring data to increase recruitment efficiency rates and decrease attrition rates. Insights from platforms such as the Casting Call company profile or Allied Universal’s team structure may be helpful in understanding how other organizations structure their teams or approach recruitment and retention.
- HR department integrity. This philosophy can also be used to raise the profile and integrity of the HR department as a whole. Utilizing data-driven HR methods can dispel any historic prejudices that the department serves no strategic function and is merely a glorified administrative arm. Adopting this practice places the HR department at the heart of the business and makes it integral to its success.
- Risk reduction. Data can also help professionals incorporate risk management into a specific HR decision or overall strategy. This planning can help diminish the possibility of failure when developing and applying future initiatives. The inclusion of data in the decision-making process can also assist HR professionals in reducing uncertainty and errors in judgment. Evidence-based HR methods help to reduce the influence of bias that, naturally, all HR professionals will have to some degree. Data-driven strategies can reduce the reliance on gut instinct and speculation, boosting consistency and stability.
Additionally, knowing how to find social media accounts with just a few clicks can be beneficial for recruiters, enabling quick yet informed decisions when assessing potential candidates during sourcing.
What are the Obstacles to Implementing Evidence-Based HR?
Overhauling the HR strategy to incorporate data is not always a straightforward task. Despite many good intentions on the part of the business or its staff, it can occasionally be tricky to put evidence-based theory into practice:
- Resistance to changes. HR professionals, particularly those with an already long and distinguished career might be resistant to change; particularly if they believe their methods to have been sound in the past.
- Staff skepticism. Staff with a lot of experience and an ingrained method of working may be skeptical about new methods and fearful of leaving their comfort zones. This could be particularly tricky if there is a real fear that new practices might highlight flaws in previous work or be hard work to adopt.
- Additional workload. Staff may also be concerned about taking on an additional workload due to changing HR practices. This could be a particular worry if there is an assumption that they will be responsible for gathering significant amounts of data.
- Limited access to data. Delivering an evidence-based HR strategy also requires a heavy reliance on data. Implementing this strategy may be difficult if relevant data is hard to come by. If the HR department does not have access to the relevant data, it becomes almost impossible to make evidence-based decisions. Ensuring that there is a robust and reliable pool of data available is the first step but also a potential stumbling block. Making sure that staff is fully data literate is also a potential pitfall. It is no use having access to huge quantities of data if HR staff are unable to read and interpret it. Raising and maintaining data literacy levels are absolutely crucial to a successful evidence-based approach.
Source – Pixabay
What Sources are used for Evidence-Based HR?
Data will need to be incorporated from a range of sources and must be assessed correctly to ensure they are relevant in the context of the business and the task. Generally, evidence-based HR professionals focus on gathering this data from four key areas:
- Scientific literature: In recent years, the availability of scientific literature on management has increased, notably in academic journals. This literature is publicly accessible and increasingly applies the sciences of sociology and psychology to issues facing management professionals, many of them HR-focused.
- Organizational data: This can be both internal and external and can incorporate things like customer satisfaction rates or repeat business levels. Managers can draw from company data outlining staff retention levels and job satisfaction feedback. The data can also be split between quantitative data such as productivity and turnover and qualitative data such as attitudes and perceptions of the business.
- Professional expertise and judgment of practitioners: This tends to differ from mere “opinion” as the expertise is acquired over a longer period of time. Professional expertise reflects the time and effort taken to acquire the knowledge through repeated work and is therefore enormously valuable.
- Stakeholder input: Like organizational data, this can be both internal and external. Employees, managers, board members, customers, suppliers, and investors are all intimately linked to the organization and its work. Drawing upon their experience and attitudes provides a framework for the analysis of the relevant data and informs examples of evidence-based management.
How to Implement Evidence-Based HR
Drawing upon these sources, HR practitioners combine their knowledge through six channels:
- Develop an answerable question: Identify a problem within the organization and translate this issue into an answerable question.
- Develop a theory: Produce a hypothesis as to how and why the problem has arisen. Draw upon a range of voices to determine credible reasons for the problem and identify workable solutions.
- Gather the relevant data: Pull the evidence together from the relevant data sources.
- Pull together and aggregate the evidence: Methodically gather and critically judge the relevance and dependability of the data. Examine its reliability and be aware of any bias which may skew the data.
- Incorporate the evidence: Apply your evidence to your hypothesis and turn it into an action to address the problem at hand.
- Assess the conclusions and outcomes: Evaluate the outcome against your expectations. Gather feedback to understand how actions can be improved upon in the future.
Source – Pixabay
Conclusions
Ensuring that every department contributes to the strategic goals of the business is vital. Developing a robust evidence-based approach to HR and incorporating it into the wider business strategy could help achieve key organizational goals. It is important, however, to appreciate that the process will not guarantee perfect results each time. If implemented correctly, it could be key to discovering the data to support workers, streamline productivity and provide a meaningful boost to the business.
And If Not?
Applying an entirely new approach to HR may also require a substantial amount of work in the short term, and may initially be met with opposition. However, a shift away from instinctive and anecdotal HR practices, to data-backed methods has the potential to identify problems and provide solutions.
Evidence-based HR practices also have the welcome side-effect of placing the department at the core of the business. It has the potential to transform the HR department from an old-fashioned or poorly regarded component of the business to one which is data-driven and leads the organization.
Image source: pixabay.com
