Much has changed in working environments during the last year, and there isn't a business or organization around that hasn't been touched by the global pandemic. Manufacturers have been building ventilators and producing PPE and hand sanitizer instead of their usual products. Healthcare providers have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and dialing back on routine care. The retail, education, and public sectors, too, have been completely disrupted.
In light of the massive changes in the business world, workforce analytics is more critical than ever. But if an organization relies primarily on backward-looking data—that is, data that is historical or looks to the past to forecast the future—then its analysis has limited usefulness for today's context. If the company's data support is forward-looking and incorporates predictive workforce and HR analytics, however, it enables organizations to examine what's happening today to see what needs to be done tomorrow.
For example, in retail employee demand and resources may have changed. Is shipping or curbside delivery taking a larger percentage of employee time than before? How will this affect employee scheduling and costs tomorrow and next month? Is this draw on employee time consistent across the board, or does it peak at certain times or locations? Does current staffing match customer demand? How are employee callouts affecting performance? How have callouts changed over time and location? What is the likely impact of changing COVID-19 rates during the coming weeks? Which stores or distribution centers are busier (or slower) than ever?
Similar questions can be asked about changes in health care, emergency services, education, manufacturing, and distribution, to name just a few sectors. They apply to nearly any industry, actually, and signal a need for more (and deeper) analytics, not less. Data makes it possible to answer these sorts of questions, especially when it's coupled with powerful and enabling technology.
Fortunately, the new tools and capabilities that come with large cloud analysis offerings make this type of analysis easier than ever. The Google Cloud platform, for example, includes analytics, machine learning, natural language processing, and other features that make forward-looking predictive and prescriptive analytics accessible to everyone. When those analysis products are combined with a company's own workforce data (as in the UKG Dimensions Data Hub, for example), businesses have at their fingertips access to incredibly valuable information. Such data—and analysis of it—can help organizations plot their course for the future.