Talent & Tech Asia Summit 2024
human resources online

How-to: Make data-driven talent decisions during the employee lifecycle

閱讀中文版本

Through the concept of a seven-stage employee lifecycle, Aon Assessment Solutions has provided ideas for collecting and utilising employee data for better decisions in a whitepaper titled, Achieving productivity and engagement through data-driven talent decisions.

Some of the ideas provided in the research on making data-driven talent decisions throughout seven stage of the talent lifecycle are provided below:

Stage 1: Talent planning

  • Know what you are looking for - Clearly define the roles in your organisation, specifying not only the tasks, but the exact competencies, abilities and job-related behaviours.
  • Don't be lured into looking for individuals who 'tick all the boxes' - The danger in doing so is that you may miss out on candidates who may not currently have the right set, but can learn.

Stage 2: Attraction

  • Look for candidates in the right places - Use the data identified in your job analysis to strategically place your job postings, including tapping into your current employees for referrals.
  • Conduct a pre-application screening - Help potential applicants make an informed choice by introducing realistic job previews to allow them to assess their self-suitability.

Stage 3: Selection

  • Choose the assessment tool specific to your requirements - For example, a personality questionnaire measures the finer details of job-specific competencies, while aptitude tests are better for determining cognitive abilities.
  • Keep your process free of bias - Ensure "face validity", i.e. every test or tool you use must look to candidates like it measures what it is supposed to measure.

Stage 4: Onboarding

  • Prepare a personal development plan - Use the data gathered during selection assessment to match new employees to the right mentor, based on their personality and abilities.
  • Ask questions - Survey new recruits on what they thought of the assessment process.

Stage 5: Ongoing development and succession planning

  • Create 'organisational heatmaps' - This is to highlight the jobs, geographical areas, departments and teams where specific development is required.
  • Provide data to coaches and mentors - So that they can better understand the strengths, weaknesses, and progress of the employees they are coaching.

Stage 6: Performance management and engagement

  • Optimise your performance management process - It should help you understand people's capabilities, how they are performing, their potential, and exactly what motivates them.
  • Conduct engagement surveys - Use the data to create action plans for improvement in specific teams or business units.

Stage 7: Retention

  • Keep every job challenging, interesting and fun - Employees want to constantly feel a sense of accomplishment and that their time at work has been worthwhile.
  • Don't over-hype your employer brand - This may result in creating a false expectation of what it's like to work at your organisation, causing a retention issue in the long-term.

Photo / 123RF

Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!

Free newsletter

Get the daily lowdown on Asia's top Human Resources stories.

We break down the big and messy topics of the day so you're updated on the most important developments in Asia's Human Resources development – for free.

subscribe now open in new window