By Brad Minor, M.Ed. Candidate in Human Resource Development, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University

One of the most elusive tasks facing human resource (HR) professionals today is figuring out how to accurately measure and report information about the value of people to organizational decision makers; reporting this in a form that is useful for strategic decision making is even more difficult.  Tackling this topic and applying it in the workplace requires a quantitative skill set that many HR professionals do not possess, so it is reasonable to assume that building skills in this area might make us more valuable on the job market and more useful in the eyes of future employers, especially as the HR profession continues to move beyond tactical and transactional functions.

If we are to prove our worth as strategic business partners, we must speak in terms that executives understand and value: numbers and results.  Human capital analytics is our best vehicle for doing so.  Human capital analytics is all about asking the right questions.  It makes sense that the right questions are those that connect HR information to business results.  This is how we contribute to the bottom line of our organizations rather than simply conducting transactions and reporting our productivity.

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