Data-Driven Insights: Using Workday Analytics to Address Workforce Challenges

In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, HR leaders face a myriad of challenges, from addressing the needs of a multi-generational workforce to navigating the aftermath of global events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst these complexities, data analytics has emerged as a powerful tool for gaining insights and driving informed decision-making. Workday, a leading enterprise management cloud solution, offers robust analytics capabilities that can help organizations tackle these challenges head-on.

The power of Workday data

Workday’s comprehensive suite of HR and finance tools generates a wealth of data about an organization’s workforce. This data, when properly analyzed, can provide invaluable insights into various aspects of employee experience, performance, and trends.

Data analysts can run statistical analyses on client data stored in Workday, examining transactions and reasons for various employee actions. This ability to access and analyze real-time data allows organizations to move beyond anecdotal evidence and base their decisions on concrete information.

Lightbulb Moment: The key sponsor of the Workday implementation must always keep focused on primary business objectives, such as business process improvements, engaging people, reduced workforce costs and managing risk and compliance.

Addressing Specific Workforce Challenges 

The Menopause Challenge

One emerging area where Workday analytics can provide significant value is in addressing the impact of menopause on the workforce. Recent statistics show that 44% of women report their work being affected by menopause, with 17% considering leaving their jobs and 6% actually doing so.

Lightbulb Moment: By analyzing Workday data, organizations can identify trends related to leave reasons, sickness absence and turnover among women in the relevant age group. This data can help quantify the scale of the issue and provide a basis for developing targeted support programs.

The “Covid Generation”

Another area where data analytics is proving crucial is in understanding the unique challenges faced by young professionals who entered the workforce during or immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysis of Workday data over the past two years, including absence records, time tracking and feedback from recognition systems, has revealed interesting trends. When this data is processed using AI tools, it becomes clear that words related to isolation and concerns about well-being are prominent among this cohort.

Lightbulb Moment: Such insights can help organizations develop targeted interventions to support these young professionals.

Leveraging AI for Deeper Insights

The integration of AI tools with Workday data is opening up new possibilities for analysis. For instance, by pushing employee feedback data from systems like Peakon into AI tools, organizations can quickly identify key themes and sentiments.

In one case, a large dataset of about 250,000 records from 8,000 people was analyzed. The AI was able to identify the most frequently used “positive” and “improvement” words, providing a snapshot of 250 of the employees’ sentiments.

* Summary for leadership/employee survey: Overall, feedback from employees at ‘X’ is overwhelmingly positive, with high scores across the board in terms of job satisfaction, support from managers, meaningful work, professional growth and work environment. Employees feel valued, respected and supported, and appreciate the opportunities for career development and recognition for their contributions.

Recommendations for improvement include managing the demands of workload, providing clearer communication during times of change, and addressing concerns related to work-life balance.

Overall, ‘X’ is seen as a great place to work with strong values, ethics and a supportive culture.

The Importance of Unbiased Data

When using AI tools, it’s crucial to ensure that the data being analyzed is unbiased. The output of AI analysis is only as good as the input it receives. This underscores the importance of having clean, comprehensive data in your Workday system and using appropriate AI tools and methodologies for analysis.

Turning Insights into Action

While data analytics can provide valuable insights, the true value comes from turning these insights into action. For instance, if analysis reveals that a significant number of women are leaving the organization due to lack of menopause support, this could drive the development of new policies or programs.

Similarly, if data shows that young professionals are struggling with feelings of isolation, organizations might implement new mentoring programs or adjust their approach to hybrid working

Conclusion

Workday’s robust analytics capabilities, especially when combined with AI tools, offer organizations a powerful means of understanding and addressing workforce challenges. By leveraging these tools effectively, HR leaders can move beyond gut feelings and anecdotal evidence to make data-driven decisions that truly support their employees and drive organizational success.

As we continue to navigate complex workforce issues, from supporting women through menopause to helping young professionals thrive in a post-pandemic world, the role of data analytics will only grow in importance.

Lightbulb Moment: Organizations that harness the full potential of their Workday data will be well-positioned to create more supportive, productive and inclusive workplaces for all employees.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Sara, one of our Lightwork Advisors.

If you would like to understand more about how Sara and her team are tackling the issue with menopause, please get in touch.