The COVID-19 recession is no longer a threat to the global economy – it has now become a fact. In a report updated by the Congressional Research Service just weeks before writing this post (June 15th, 2021), it was reported that the US unemployment rate has reached 14.8% in 2020 – the highest rate ever witnessed since the data collection initiated in 1948. The very same paper declares that things aren’t looking up for any economic sector in the country, with major effects on labor market rates across all states.
And yet, while many industries were forced to cut costs amidst the recession, the Workplace Analytics market was spared from this scenario. Namely, according to a study by Red Thread Research, it has witnessed a 35% annual growth rate between 2019 and 2020.
In this piece, we’d like to shed light on a few reasons behind these numbers. By the end of this piece, you’ll gain a better understanding of the value Workplace Analytics tools bring to businesses at a time like now.
Let us begin with the first argument below:
Companies have now come to realize that there is a clear link between listening to employees and their overall resilience within an organization.
In a study by Forrester Research, one in three respondents admit that, by 2022, they expect employee experience to be the single most important factor that drives HR initiatives. This expectation appears to be already well recognized by organizations – with 78% of people leaders admitting EX will be “very important” for both business growth and employee retention.
In order to meet these expectations, companies turn to teamwork analytics tools, as they give access to data needed for their objectives.
Many companies were forced to change their operations from in-house to remote overnight. This means they suddenly lost all the opportunities for knowledge and insights exchange, which, until then, would often happen organically in the office.
Also, without face-to-face contact between the leader and their team members, it’s increasingly difficult to maintain a high employee experience and boost their performance. It’s also harder to synchronize work, both internally and across teams.
Some other threats worth mentioning here include:
Here’s where Workplace Analytics platforms come to the rescue, giving leaders access to a variety of team-level workforce metrics. By using such solutions, companies can spot any issues arising from the shift to remote operations and limited face-to-face contact.
More and more frequently, businesses need to tackle challenges that can’t be solved without thorough research and diving into data. Uber’s approach towards Workplace Analytics perfectly reflects this approach. RJ Milnor, Uber’s Global Head of People Analytics, mentioned at the People Analytics World Conference 2021, that, while they appreciate the insights they get from simple research methods like surveys, they only reveal that much about their employees. Therefore, they combine sentiment analysis from surveys with network analytics to understand both “what” is happening, and “why”. As he explains, they use team-level meta-data on things like number of meetings, collaboration time, and work hours, to put anything reported in employee surveys into perspective and make educated decisions.
Workplace Analytics software has proven incredibly useful in recent years – and especially now that many businesses are operating on shaky grounds during the COVID-19 decision. There are at least three areas where they’re promoting business stability, as disclosed on the image below:
This only proves the importance of monitoring and acting upon team-level organization data.
If you’re interested in learning how a Workplace Analytics platform could support your business, reach out. We’d love to demonstrate the use cases Network Perspective can help you uncover and manage at your organization!
Sources:
Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R46554.pdf
Collaboration and Meetings:
Why workforce analytics is crucial for CEOs in 2021:
Is the employee experience you’re delivering the one your people want? Is the employee experience you’re delivering the one your people want?:
