What is Workforce Analytics Software?

Workforce analytics software (WFA) applies statistical models to worker-related data, allowing enterprise leaders to optimize human resource management (HRM). Workforce analytics focus on metrics and analyses that enable data-based decision-making around labor and workforce decisions across an enterprise or business with a large workforce. They can inform decision-making most commonly in areas like:

Hiring
Retention
Performance and productivity management
Succession planning
Multi-location workforce optimization

Workforce analytics is closely related to other analytics-focused areas of HR, such as people analytics and performance management. The key difference between workforce analytics and other forms of HR analytics is the scope. Most analytics or management systems are focused on the individual level, while workforce analytics are primarily concerned with company-wide workforce insights and marco-level planning.

By focusing on aggregation and workforce-wide analytics, WFA products are able to more actively leverage machine learning and AI. These more advanced methods allow some workforce analytics products to better generate predictive insights and highlight areas for improvement and workload optimization. Workforce analytics are increasingly leveraging these capabilities to generate insights into remote or distributed workforces.

Workforce Analytics Features and Capabilities

Workforce analytics capabilities can be found in a variety of different types of products. However, workforce analytics products should have most or all of these common capabilities:

Automated data collection
Data Analytics
Data integration across HR systems
Predictive analytics
Benchmarking
Reporting
Pre-built analytics content
Data management
Self-serviceable insights

Different Product Types

Some products in this category are human capital management (HCM) suites that combine Core HR, Workforce Management and/or Talent Management applications and provide tools for analyzing that data that lives within them.

Other products in this category include point solutions that pull in data from recruiting, time & attendance, performance, payroll, and other systems to allow users to visualize and report on worker-related trends. Some workforce analytics products specialize in productivity management and analytics. These products track employee’s activities throughout the workday, or import that day from another tool, then aggregate it to generate workforce-wide insights.

A third type of product in this category allows users to input/collect a specific type of worker-related data and analyze/visualize that data within the tool. For example, OrgMapper is focused on analyzing employee communication patterns to chart collaboration pathways and networks, whereas PI Behavioral Assessment focuses on analyzing behavioral styles of current and prospective employees.

Workforce Analytics Comparison

When comparing workforce analytics software, consider these factors:

Point solution vs. HCM suite: Many Human Capital Management (HCM) suites have built out workforce analytics modules in recent years that can natively integrate with the rest of the platform. However, these capabilities usually come as a package deal with the rest of the suite and aren’t sold separately. For businesses that are happy with their existing core HR software and don’t want to switch, adopting a point solution on top of their existing systems may be a better fit.
Industry-specific vs. general-use: Some workforce analytics products are focused on specific industries with unique workforces, such as retail, restaurants, or call centers. Businesses in these industries may benefit from one of the industry-tailored analytics tools, while other industries may prefer a more generally-applicable package.
Ease of analytics: Workforce analytics bring a more complex level of data analytics to HR, and may have larger learning curves to be usable as a result. However, workforce analytics providers have been making their products more accessible to the broader HR user base with fewer data analytics skills. Consider what knowledge base the company’s HR team has, and ensure that each product in consideration meets that skill level. User reviews will likely give the best insights into this outside of a trial or demo.

Pricing Information

Workforce analytics pricing will change dramatically depending on whether it is part of an HCM suite or a standalone analytics tool. Standalone workforce analytics software is usually priced from $5-15 per user or employee, per month. For enterprises or businesses with large workforces, this can lead to subscription costs upwards of $150k, but smaller organizations’ costs can be much lower.

Deployment Types	Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating Systems	Unspecified
Mobile Application	No
Supported Countries	North America, APJ, EMEA
Supported Languages	English

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