Big Data and the future of HR

Big Data has become quite the ‘buzz word’ and more people are becoming increasingly familiar with the term and the insights it can bring to help shape their businesses. Big Data has traditionally been synonymous with marketing teams who use the information garnered to better understand their customers and shape communications.  However, data is now being utilised across business functions to shape the decision-making process with Big Data and the future of HR being one area that has really benefited with its implementation and development fast becoming an essential aspect of HR.

What is Big Data?

Big Data refers to the huge amount of information that is collected by sources that attempt to analyse data in order to reveal patterns, trends and associates, especially relating to our behaviour and how we interact with our environment. We create this data every day of our lives. Every time we go online, send an email, use a service or access social media, it generates data that is then analysed and used by professionals to either sell to us, evaluate us or categorise us.

One of the possible functions of Big Data is its use as a HR function, as it can allow teams to screen prospective candidates as well as make better data-driven decisions regarding employee retention, development, ability and absenteeism. However, as much as data can help arm teams with pertinent information, major strategic decisions and analysis will still need to be carried out by skilled HR professionals. Big Data builds on the experience of HR professionals by allowing companies to make decisions that are not corrupted by a person’s personal feelings, gender, racial prejudice or unconscious bias reflections within the data analysis. This blog will look at Big Data and what it means for the future of HR.

The Future

With so much information being gathered by algorithms that analyse every aspect of our lives, it is possible that in the near future the hiring process will be controlled by computer programmes that are entrusted to make decisions on whether or not an applicant is deemed suitable for a job. Thanks to self-learning and increased artificial intelligence, programmes will give better data driven results than their human counterparts when analysing the vast amounts of information from an applicant’s CV, application form and social media presence. While HR professionals might be quick to point out that the term is Human Resources, not Inhuman Resources, the unlimited learning agility, ability and performance of computer analysis is impossible to compete against in terms of time and performance when processing Big Data sets and making informed decisions. With so much data now being generated, HR processes need computer programmes that are able to learn 20 years’ worth of equivalent human experience and knowledge in as little as two minutes, without having to rely on human intuition when trying to understand the thousands of data points it is presented with.  Even Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, accepted the power of 21st-century data analysis by getting rid of internal book reviewers at Amazon in favour of hard data generated by a computer algorithm, which resulted in bigger sales.

To put Big Data into a wider perspective in a business context, there is an estimated $3trn to be earned through the its proper implementation. Companies that have chosen to focus on Big Data driven decisions from service providers such as Hadoop and IBM Bid Data have already seen a 6% higher productivity return in comparison to businesses that maintained more traditional strategic business practices. Platforms like Facebook have access to 1.8 billion active users’ information, which presents trillions of pieces of potentially monetizable content that can be exploited. This kind of performance and analysis shows how much HR professionals can benefit from using modern practices on top of the traditional HR Ulrich model when processing new hires, staff development and communication.

But as good as computers may become at analysing data, they will never truly be able to take the place of humans when it comes to identifying finer details and implications within HR. Big Data can only analyse the information presented on a CV or application form and lacks the ability and intuition to spot an embellishment, false qualification or question the applicant on information that is not presented.

Best of both worlds

If HR is going to make the best use of all the new services available, it will take a combined team effort from humans and computers to properly analyse and interpret the data. With information doubling every three years, Big Data technology platforms will become an essential tool in order for HR professionals to coral the massive amounts of data being constantly generated. While some companies will be content to remain rooted to their tried and tested human only HR analysis, the ability of big data to predict probabilities, aid in improving the decision-making process and provide a clearer vision in the face of the data mountain will provide an invaluable edge for their competitors.

But Big Data does not come without a potential downside. Data algorithms gather information that are often used without the subject’s knowledge or consent. Such behaviour risks creating a big-brother style culture in which all of our personal and private information becomes a marketable commodity to be sold and used by the highest bidder. In a HR context, it is important to remember that people cannot be judged solely on the content of a form, maintaining the need for human identification of intangible qualities that cannot be quantified by a computer programme.

Large datasets for Big Data generation are collected by algorithms all over the world, but are only ever as good as the human that programmed them. At CBS we know more than most the importance of human input as we deal with massive data sets to help clients screens effectively, but still need a human to qualify it. This is why we feel there will always be a need for ultimate human authority in Big Data analysis. Humans are not as predictable as our digital footprint would suggest, due to our emotional and behavioural variation. The final decision must always be made by a human; a gatekeeper that can use human intuition to see the different between knowledge and wisdom.