Rai Cips

Cipd 3rai
Activity 1
This report will explain what Data Management is and why HR departments need to collect data, what types of data needs to be collected, what this data is used for, as well as how they are stored.
One of the HR function’s main priorities are to track existing employee data. HR should focus on both business results and human capital improvement. In order for a company to potentially drive workflow, report accurately on the staff and sometimes even demonstrate the value of a team’s existence, HR has to have a good understanding of the data requirements, but also have a good system to capture and track this data. It is also important to understand how this data can support the business objectives.
HR personnel need to ensure they’re capturing relevant and correct information and using the output as effectively as possible. Companies would collect data to
* Ensure they comply with employment legislation
* Use it as a tool to manage and meet business objectives
A company will monitor a number of elements such as, but not limited to :
* Equal pay
* Absence management
Why would a company need to store data such as
Minimum wage
A company would to need store information about salary and in particular minimum wage to ensure they can report to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that they are compliant with the legislation surrounding minimum wage. HMRC can request information at any time on how many people are employed, what their wages are and how they are paid, what they have been paid over a number of years and how many hours they have worked. The working time regulations and national minimum wage act each require specific records relating to hours of work and pay details. This data can also be used to monitor equality in terms of remuneration.
Or
Absence management
Monitoring and recording absence accurately requires a continuous and co-ordinated effort by managers. A company should keep a record of every absence of each individual as accurate records can sometimes be the only way to identify when and where problems are occurring; they also provide a historical record for determining patterns of absence for individual employees and departments. It will also help a company determine when statutory sick pay (SSP) applies and in assisting employees return to work. In some sensitive cases, companies should ensure that they comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. If an absence record contains specific medical information relating to an employee, this is deemed as sensitive data and you will have to satisfy the statutory conditions for processing such data. Aside from keeping data for SSP purposes, knowing who among the company’s employees are off sick and why, could be an essential information resource for various reasons :
* Identifying employees whose return could be delayed or prevented
* Could frequent absences disguise other problems, e.g. domestic issues
* Planning cover for the work of the absent staff members
* Identifies patterns of ill-health that could highlight possible work-related causes, or the onset of disability
* Can assist with benchmarking your company’s performance against competitors to judge whether your record is good or bad
Other types of data to be captured can include :
* Equal opportunities
* Equal pay
* Recruitment needs (planning)
* Assess targets e.g. percentage of women in management roles
* Talent and performance management
How the data is stored is as important as the data stored. Computerised HR systems seem to be standard in most companies as a wide range of sophisticated software becomes more readily available. Some smaller companies may still operate a manual system such as using index cards for personal information and manual forms to track absence and sickness details. Any record keeping system, however, needs to fulfil certain criteria. It must be accurate, reliable, confidential (only access of certain users to certain areas), compatible with company systems and adaptable to support changes, easy to use and financially viable for the company. It is also important to know where records will be kept, who has access to the records and if the data management system complies with company security regulations, as well as any Data Protection Regulations.
The benefit of each method are :
Computerised
Having a computerised system holds several benefits to a company. If the system is of such a nature that employees have access to “self service”, it can empower employees by giving them some ownership of selective data management, but also reduce the maintenance needed by HR. Some systems can be customised to fit the specific HR tracking needs of a company in addition to the mandatory requirements as set out by UK legislation.
Manual
This type of data storage would normally only be used by very small organisations. This is mostly because they have a very small workforce and the need for a sophisticated system is unnecessary and sometimes costly. From a financially viable point of view, the manual data system is more feasible for the company. It is low cost & easily accessible.
However, any type of system needs to ensure that it complies with the UK’s legislation with regards to recording, storing and accessibility of the HR data. One such legislation is the Data Protection Act 1998. The Act stipulates that only data shall only be obtained for specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes, that data shall be subject to appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage and that employees having the right to have access to details of data held about them, to know for what purpose information is held, and its relevance to their working life. The 1998 Act introduces new restrictions on the holding and processing of what is termed sensitive personal data, such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, whether a member of a trade union, physical or mental health, sexual life, and any court record, or allegations of such.
Activity 2
This analysis will cover the employee turn-over over the period of one calendar year. The data will focus on the Global Mobility function. As the skills needed to work in this function is quite specialised, it would be important and applicable for the company to track the employee turn-over and establish the reason for a high turn-over, if applicable. A high turn-over in this field could mean increased recruitment and training cost for the company, but also a significant loss in high talent. There is also a risk that a high turn-over can stir up uncertainty in other members of staff and losing specialised staff to a competitor can give them an edge in the market. In order to identify any trends and reasons why staff is leaving, it would be beneficial for a company to have a leaver’s analysis form.
Figure 1
Analysis of employee turn-over | | | | |
| | | | | |
Period of service | Resignation | Dismissed | Redundancy | Sex | Total |
| | | | | |
Less than 1 month | 1 | 0 | 0 | M | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | F | 1 |
1 - 3 months | 0 | 0 | 0 | M | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | F | 1 |
4 - 12 months | 1 | 1 | 0 | M | 2 |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | F | 9 |
1 - 5 years | 1 | 2 | 1 | M | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | 0 | F | 7 |
Over 5 years | 1 | 3 | 0 | M | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | 0 | F | 9 |
Total | 4 | 6 | 1 | M | 11 |
| 19 | 6 | 2 | F | 27 |
Considering the above graph, it would seem that it is mostly females who resign from the company. This could be due to a number of reasons such as pregnancy, access to flexible working or work / life balance policies of the company. This could have an impact on a company’s compliance with equal opportunities. It is therefore important to keep records as indicated below.
Figure 2 | | | | M | F | Total |
Total employed at beginning of period | 49 | 72 | 121 |
| | | |
Total number of leavers during this period | 11 | 27 | 38 |
| | | |
Total starters during the period | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| | | |
Total employed at end of period | 36 | 38 | 74 |
| | | |
Average number employed during period <(a)+(d)>/2 | 42.5 | 55 | 97.5 |
| | | |
The figure above indicates that the company employs more female than male staff members. However, the concern on the above graph would be that there doesn’t seem to be a replacement staff member for each leaving staff member. I would question whether the workload has reduced and ascertain who is taking on the extra work. If the remaining staff members are tasked to take on the work without any assistance or addition to the team, it could put undue pressure on them resulting in additional staff losses.
The above are examples of manual data capturing and basic reporting. These examples highlight why there is such a need for accurate data management, as well as potential impact to the business in such events as high staff turn-overs.