Analytics for sustainable economic growth

Workplaces today have become more complex and diverse than ever before. Global acknowledgment and recognition of fair and inclusive personnel management have resulted in increased concern for human resources management, the core function responsible for recruiting, training, compensating, improving, and managing the employees of an organization.

On top of that, one of the core concerns for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is SDG 8, which promotes a decent work environment and an inclusive workplace. Given these facts, it becomes a challenging task for organizations based in emerging economies to pay attention to the minute details relating to workforce composition and other factors that give insights into the state of the workforce.

The role of human resources management is to get the job done while utilizing the employees in the most optimum manner. Whether you are a startup looking for its impact ranking, an apparel sector company looking into its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) insight, or simply a large conglomerate attempting to address its HR challenges such as turnover, workforce composition, or performance management, in today's world, your best bet is on data analytics, or something is more popularly known as people analytics.

HR Analytics (HRA) refers to the use of stored data from different sources such as the Human Resource Information System (HRIS), customer response data, and survey data and to combine them to aid decision making.

A report by Deloitte UK cited that utilizing business analytics capability has been statistically proven to be beneficial in terms of profit generation as companies with an active HR analytics attitude had made a significantly higher profit over three years.

As Bangladesh graduates from an LDC to a middle-income nation, it becomes imperative for Bangladeshi companies to utilize the best benefits of information technology. With the digitization of Bangladesh, it becomes more important to undertake data and evidence-driven decisions at work.

For a labour market plagued by a higher turnover rate, the rising cost of recruitment, and skill shortage, yet a very high unemployment rate, it is critical to the sustainable growth of our economy that we use data-driven decisions.

Data can assist us in making the right decisions, identifying the causes behind past errors, and even predicting future outcomes with a credible possibility using AI and machine learning using past data. These will all point toward a better future.

Using data, firms can monitor and implement a more inclusive workplace, and they can create their benchmark to compare their employment practices within the industry. These tools can also arm the government to better monitor if labor policies and international work conventions are properly implemented at work towards the workers and employees.

Although data analytics is a global buzzword, and there is a massive demand for skilled data scientists at home and abroad, we barely have any universities that offer data analytics courses. It is high time our educators realized these and provided relevant and timely courses. If you look for degrees in this arena, you will only find a few online courses and a handful of universities offering diplomas and only one or two-degree courses in data analytics.

A recent report cited how it will be impossible for Bangladesh to achieve its SDGs if the data we use is flawed. With that, it has become imperative to work on creating, training, and developing capable individuals who will be able to use data to make better decisions across all industries to make work more inclusive and equal for everyone.
QuaziTafsirul Islam, senior lecturer, North South University & Consultant, Strategy, MD Shajedul Islam Sajid, deputy manager - Research, Analytics & Strategy, 10 Minute School