Boost HR Potential: How L&D Data Drives Talent Retention and Success

This blog post explores how you can integrate L&D data with HR processes to build or improve upon a skills-based organization. We’ll also address pressing questions on attracting and retaining talent, measuring the impact of training on talent mobility, and ensuring training programs encompass DEI best practices.

Through this lens, we’ll unveil how HR can use learning analytics reports and dashboards to showcase skills proficiency and development—ensuring a cohesive, effective workforce strategy that aligns with organizational goals.

How can L&D data and learning analytics help HR?

L&D data and learning analytics provide HR with a data-informed perspective to evaluate the effectiveness of learning materials, track learner progress, and understand L&D’s impact on organizational goals. They also address key HR questions and challenges, such as:

• attracting, retaining, and upskilling staff;
• identifying and closing skills gaps;
• measuring talent mobility; and
• ensuring training programs cover DEI best practices.

By aligning L&D and HR with a cohesive workforce strategy, organizations can use learning analytics to optimize costs, improve performance, and ensure efficiency and compliance across the board.

Moreover, understanding L&D data is pivotal in crafting strategies that enhance workplace performance and learning culture. That said, HR practitioners can follow a structured approach to apply L&D data:

1. Define Training Goals and Metrics: Establish clear objectives for what the L&D initiative aims to achieve.
2. Assess Current L&D Content Inventory: Review existing training resources and materials to avoid duplication and identify gaps.
3. Conduct Employee Skill Assessments: Evaluate current skill levels and needs.
4. Customize Training Programs: Tailor learning programs to meet employees' unique training needs to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

This approach enhances personalized learning experiences and ensures compliance and risk mitigation by monitoring employee training and certifications. Furthermore, integrating HRIS data with learning analytics enables you to segment learners and map HRIS data to learning activities, which means you can better optimize L&D strategies.

How does a learning analytics platform help with skills data generated in an HRIS?

When it comes to skills reporting, HRIS data is valuable for segmentation. For example, a senior manager can examine the distribution of skills across the organization, while a manager can assess the skills of team members.

You can use skills data to compare job roles, particularly during the recruitment process for a specific position. This information may reveal unexpected insights into the skills held by people already in that role.

Closing the loop: How to use learning analytics to bridge workforce skills gaps

One of the great benefits of combining and analyzing skills, L&D, and HRIS data is the ability to customize training to meet employees' specific needs and career paths. By understanding the exact skills employees require, HR can use L&D data to help ensure targeted training programs cater to those needs.

For example, data shows a skill gap within a particular team. HR can use this information to develop training initiatives that directly address that gap and improve the team’s overall performance.

In other words, this combined data can offer visibility into common workforce challenges and answer questions such as:

• What skills do we currently have, and how do we verify them?
• How are those skills distributed?
• What are our skills gaps, and does our L&D function fill them?
• Are we sitting on a goldmine of hidden skill sets and opportunities?
• Do we offer career pathways that utilize clearly mapped upskilling opportunities?
• What skills are tied to the training courses we offer learners today? What training are we missing?

L&D data also can help HR with performance management. By analyzing training effectiveness and employee performance data, HR can pinpoint areas where additional training or support is needed.

This collaborative approach ensures that HR and L&D work hand in hand to support employees who may be struggling, align onboarding processes with organizational needs, and cultivate a positive learning culture.

Convincing stakeholders: How L&D data impacts talent retention

Talent availability and retention are already a top concern for many senior leaders, as highlighted in Deloitte’s Q3 2023 CFO Signals™️. To further persuade stakeholders, consider investigating the consequences of not having robust skill data and analytics. You might explore:

• The impact on employee turnover due to the perceived lack of opportunities for internal progression and the associated costs
• Instances where the organization hired external consultants despite having internal expertise, including the potential cost savings by avoiding expensive consultant fees
• Difficult-to-fill job vacancies that could have been filled with qualified internal candidates or addressed through skill gap training if better skill data and analytics were available

Exploring the answers to these questions may indicate that the cost of skills analytics is significantly lower than the cost of not having these insights.

Moreover, as Gen Z enters the workforce, they’re expressing a strong need for job training and development opportunities. According to an article from HR Drive , many Gen Z employees struggle with reliability and engagement, highlighting the importance of robust training programs to help them integrate and thrive in the workplace. And by using L&D data, HR can create targeted training initiatives that address these challenges and support Gen Z’s professional growth.

Enhance onboarding and HR processes with learning analytics

Let’s explore the power of learning analytics through real-world applications. The following example highlights the successful integration of L&D data in HR processes to help facilitate new hire onboarding.

People who recently joined an organization may be required to finish onboarding, or people with a particular job may need to complete role-specific training. Moreover, HR can use learning analytics to ensure training has the appropriate impact and adjust as needed.

Up Next: How can instructional designers benefit from L&D data?

Learning analytics plays a critical role in enhancing HR processes—from upskilling and certification to recruitment and talent management. And by integrating L&D data with HR strategies, you can address skills gaps, improve talent mobility, achieve significant operational efficiencies, and positively impact employee engagement and retention.

But that’s not the only way L&D data can support the organization. In our next blog post, we’ll discuss all the ways learning analytics can help instructional designers achieve continued success.

If you’d like to learn more about how learning analytics can enhance HR and more, get in touch.