Like many forms of analysis, workforce analytics has lots of jargon, acronyms, abbreviations and technical terms. In our glossary, we attempt to list the more regular terms and explain what they mean.
AI
An acronym which stands for Artificial Intelligence.
Accession rate
Number of new employees added to payroll during a certain period – calculated as (%) = Number of new joiners who joined during a period / average number of employees over the period x 100
Algorithm
A sequence of rigorous instructions used to solve a specific problem or to perform a computation.
Analytics
often called business analytics, a data-driven approach to business process and product improvement.
Artificial intelligence
The creation of computer systems capable of performing tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence. These include decision-making, image recognition, planning problems, translation and others.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a process of comparing an organisation’s HR data with aggregated industry data from other companies who share their data. For example, a Hotel firm could benchmark its employee net promoter score against other Hotel companies to assess how good a job it is doing in employee relations.
Bradford Factor
A measure of absence which is calculated based on the Number of Incidences and the Duration of each absence per employee. It is used to compute an absence score for each employee. This score is often used in disciplinary procedures if it exceeds a defined level.
Data Mining: A field of science aimed at discovering relations in data.
Employee Net Promoter Score
Also referred to as eNPS, is a scoring system designed to help employers measure employee satisfaction and loyalty within their organisations. It is based on the Net Promoter Score system that gauges customer loyalty. eNPS is calculated using the following formula:
eNPS = percentage of Promoters minus percentage of Detractors. The result can range from -100 to +100.
Human Resources
The set of people who make up the workforce of an organisation. It can often also refer to the group of people within the organisation that is responsible for effectively managing a company’s human resources.
Instability Rate: The number of new joiners who leave an organisation during a given period. It is calculated as a (%) = Number of new joiners who leave during a period/number of employees at the beginning of the period x 100
Machine Learning
Development of computer systems that are able to learn and adapt without following explicit instructions,
ML
Acronym for machine learning.
ML Ops
Short for machine learning, and development operations. It refers to the Dev Ops processes required to deploy and maintain machine learning models in production.
Net Employee Growth
A measure of the growth in total employees. (Integer) = number of new joiners in a period – the number of leavers during the period.
Operational Turnover
The standard measure of staff turnover within an organisation calculated as a (%) = Total Number of leavers over a period / total number of employees over the period x 100
Operations Research
The science that uses mathematical models to improve business operations.
OR
An acronym used to describe operational research.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics includes a variety of statistical techniques that analyse current and historical facts to make predictions about future or otherwise unknown events. In workforce analytics, it could be used to work out how many employees will leave in the next 30,60 and 90 days by job role to help support recruiting targets.
Predictive Cycle
The steps that need to be taken in order to get to deliver a predictive model
Prescriptive Analytics: a process that analyses data and provides recommendations on how to optimise HR decisions to suit a variety of predicted outcomes. This will allow HR departments to can gain insights on not just what is likely to happen in the coming month, but also on what they should do next and what the implications of each option are.
Resource Management
The process of utilising various types of business resources effectively and efficiently. These resources can be human resources, assets, facilities, equipment, etc.
Separation rate
A measure of employees leaving the business in a given period, calculated as a (%) = Number of employees who left during a period / average number of employees over the period x 100
Stability rate
A measure of employees who stayed at an organisation in a given period, calculated as a(%) = Number of new joiners who stayed during a period/number of employees at the beginning of the period x 100
Survival rate
A measure of new employees who stay in an organisation during a given period, calculated as a (%) = Number of new joiners who remain during a period/number of new joiners during a period x 100
Wastage Rate
A measure of new employees who join and then leave the business in a given period, calculated as a (%) = Number of new joiners who leave during a period/number of new joiners during a period x 100
Workforce Analytics
A process of using dedicated workforce analytics software to analyse worker-related data using statistical models. The results help organisations improve their Human Resources management.
