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Our data-driven features: The key to better decisions and strategies
Our data-driven features: The key to better decisions and strategies
Updated over 6 months ago

Today’s business world is a data-dominated one. The shift towards data-driven practices is empowering HR to harness the power of metrics, fostering a more strategic and informed approach to managing your organization.

In this Recipe, we delve into the transformative potential of data-driven HR and explore how you can leverage features in your Small Improvements toolkit to be a part of the growth.

Found in: Insights tab

Definition: Performance ratings calculates a group’s average overall ratings score over a select period of time

What does it do? The corresponding graph visually represents the average performance scores across the company. You can also break down the data by selecting specific groups such as location or department.

Useful for: Gaining valuable insights into your employees’ performance ratings over time.

Use Performance Ratings to:

  1. Identify areas for improvement and training needs by identifying employees who might not be meeting expectations. Low performers can be given the support they need to improve their performance. This information can also be used to develop or seek out training programs that fill the gaps within certain groups.

  2. Offer recognition and incentives. Use this data to identify high-performing employees who can be rewarded through promotions, salary adjustments, or other forms of acknowledgment.

  3. Develop succession planning. By tracking performance ratings over time, you can identify employees with the potential to take on increased responsibilities and leadership roles within the organization.

  4. Ensure fair ratings through calibration: The comparative analysis of performance ratings over time for different employees and teams increases equitable evaluations and minimizes biases. A calibration process strengthens fairness and objectivity in performance assessments.

Found in: Insights tab

Definition: An algorithm that identifies employees who are at risk of leaving their jobs.

What does it do? The algorithm reviews a variety of data on performance, feedback, and turnover, and identifies patterns that it uses to predict future turnover.

Use this to: Take steps to keep an eye on employee satisfaction and prevent employees from leaving, such as providing additional training or support, or addressing any underlying issues that may be causing them to consider leaving.

Use Leave Risk Prediction to:

  1. Address underlying issues. If the employee is leaving because of something that the company can control, such as low salary or poor work-life balance, then you’ll be able to take steps to address these issues early.

  2. Cost-savings measure. Employee turnover is costly, with recruitment, training, and lost productivity expenses. By predicting turnover, you can take proactive measures to reduce these costs, such as offering retention incentives or implementing initiatives to improve job satisfaction and engagement.

  3. Prepare recruitment strategy. Using leave prediction can help you identify critical roles that require immediate attention. This could also involve hiring temporary staff during peak periods, or having contingency plans in place in case of unexpected departures.

  4. Improve performance management. Predictive analytics can help managers identify employees who may be disengaged or experiencing challenges in their roles. This enables timely intervention, coaching, and support to improve performance and reduce turnover risk.

  5. Boost employee wellbeing. Leave prediction can highlight segments that might be experiencing high levels of stress, burnout, or dissatisfaction. This can guide the development of employee wellness and well-being programs.

Found in: Performance Reviews

Definition: The 2D Graph in the Small Improvements tool is a visual representation of how managers and employees evaluate performance.

What does it do: The 2D Graph allows the reviewer to plot performance in a visual manner across two customizable metrics. For example, Small Improvements uses the measures of “Behavior” and “Results” where reviewers can plot themselves based on how effective they are within both categories. A person with great behavior and impressive results would place themselves in the upper right corner of the graph.

Use the 2D Graph to:

  1. Identify alignment gaps between managers and employees. For example, if the employee’s self-assessment is much higher than the manager’s assessment, this could indicate that there is a gap in understanding of the employee’s expectations. By using the comparison view located in your cycle’s dashboard, you can quickly identify misalignments between manager and direct report.

  2. Identify potential issues or biases. The presence of a team with suspiciously higher or lower ratings may indicate a tendency in manager ratings. Similarly, an employee who is rated as “below expectations” by their manager but has consistently met or exceeded their goals may be a sign of managerial subjectivity.

  3. Cross compare teams: Some managers are more aligned with their team than others. By assessing different teams in the 2D graph, you can easily understand which teams are more clustered together, and which are further apart with how they plot performance.

Found in: Under ‘Insights’ in Anytime Feedback

What does it do? Track the use of the feature and identify areas where there may be opportunities for improvement.

Use this to:

  1. Track the overall usage by summarizing the number of feedback requests and feedback given, as well as which employees have used the feature. This information can be used to measure the overall effectiveness of the feature and inform next steps.

  2. Identify areas for improvement and areas where the feature is not being used as effectively as it could be. For example, if there are a lot of feedback requests but not a lot of feedback given, this could indicate that employees are not feeling comfortable giving feedback.

  3. Track engagement around a specific initiative: By filtering feedback for a specific template or topic, you can track key feedback initiatives that you are hoping to drive.

  4. Track trends over time. By using the ‘Time Period’ filter, you can identify trends in the use of the feature over time. This information can be used to track usage of the feature over time, compare different times of year, and make adjustments as needed.

Found in: Pulse Surveys

What can you do: View and analyze Pulse Survey results. The overview provides access to all of the survey data, including the aggregated results and the trends over time.

Use the Pulse Survey Results to:

  1. Identify areas where there are opportunities for improvement, based on areas where employees are satisfied or dissatisfied. You can use this information to prioritize certain improvement needs and to implement interventions to improve employee satisfaction. For example, if results show that employees are dissatisfied with their compensation, you can focus on improving compensation policies.

  2. Track trends in employee satisfaction over time and see areas where employee satisfaction is improving or declining. This information can be used to identify areas where interventions are having a positive impact and areas where more work is needed.

  3. Target interventions to specific groups of employees. This can be done by filtering the results by department, location, or other factors. This can help you ensure that interventions are effectively reaching the employees who need them most.

  4. Share Pulse Surveys results to employees and stakeholders and highlight key findings. This can help to build trust and transparency in the organization. It can also help to keep employees informed about the organization’s progress in improving employee satisfaction.

Found in: ‘Integrations’ in the Admin sidebar.

What does it do? HRIS integrations help you improve data accuracy, automate workflows, enhance reporting, improve compliance, and provide a better employee experience.

Use HRIS Integrations to:

  1. Improve data accuracy. Integrating Small Improvements with HRIS systems enhances data accuracy and keeps employee information up-to-date. For example, with the Workday integration, data from Workday automatically syncs with Small Improvements, ensuring accurate records all the time.

  2. Automate workflows. HRIS integrations streamline processes in Small Improvements. It can also help to ensure that data is entered correctly and consistently.

  3. Better employee experience. Integrations make it easier for employees to manage their info, helping boost employee engagement. The Slack integration, for example, sends workers notifications about changes to their performance reviews. This can help employees to stay informed about their performance and to take steps to improve their performance.


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