Organizations collect a large amount of employee data throughout the employee lifecycle. From measuring how long it takes to fill a position to analyzing employee productivity, workforce turnover, and other benchmarks, there are plenty of valuable insights that HR professionals can use to improve employee engagement and boost a company’s bottom line. However, many don’t know what to do with this “people” data. 

Workforce analytics can help behavioral health and human services organizations identify and solve a variety of operational issues. HR managers (and other team leaders) can use this data to hire more efficiently, manage labor budgets, and even deliver better patient care. Find out how to take control of your data with the right workforce analytics solutions.

What Are Workforce Analytics?

Workforce analytics, sometimes called people analytics or HR analytics, are data analysis tools and metrics that provide insights into different aspects of an organization’s workforce. These analytics may include data related to recruiting, employee productivity, labor costs, retention, and other talent management concerns. When utilized correctly, workforce analytics can improve strategic decision-making and operational efficiency. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to fully leverage their data.

Most organizations have a wealth of HR data, but many don’t have the tools to easily transform that raw data into actionable workforce analytics. Using software with the right business intelligence features can help companies organize and analyze their data.

How to Use Workforce Analytics

There are a number of different ways that behavioral health organizations can use workforce analytics to make better decisions and achieve better business outcomes. Let’s take a closer look at several areas where it can help.

Recruiting 

Recruiting is a major challenge for the behavioral health and human services industry. Organizations are often unable to offer highly competitive compensation due to tight budgets, which can make it hard to attract top talent. As such, optimizing the recruiting process is essential to find the right talent and get them in the door.

Workforce analytics can help these HR professionals understand how to better optimize their recruiting process to fill roles more efficiently. These analytics can provide actionable insights on the time to hire, the number of applicants to fill a position, offer acceptance rates, and more. 

Moreover, workforce analytics can help organizations identify the cause of delays in the recruiting process, the best applicant sources, and other pertinent recruiting insights. Predictive analytics can also be used to estimate the cost and time associated with filling an open position and help plan for future expenses and staffing needs. 

Labor Cost Tracking and Budgeting

Behavioral health organizations need to keep a close watch on their labor costs. With financial constraints, short staffing, and high demand for services, overtime expenses and staffing costs can quickly run over budget. Human resources leaders may also have trouble deciding which roles to fill when the budget may not cover all of the open roles.

Workforce analytics can help with this. With tools like ContinuumCloud’s HCM solution, HR departments can track their actual labor costs against budgeted labor costs to identify any discrepancies and understand which opening they can afford to fill at any given time. With real-time workforce analytics, they can analyze the available budget and current staffing levels to make hiring decisions that fit their needs.

Revenue 

Beyond labor cost analytics, behavioral health organizations can leverage revenue cycle management tools and metrics to keep track of revenue and profitability. Behavioral health providers may want to track insurance processing times, claim denial rates, and how their operational costs compare to their billed charges. Since behavioral health companies operate with tighter budgets and often depend on insurance reimbursements, closely tracking this data is crucial. These data collection and tracking tools are included in ContinuumCloud’s EHR software.

Employee Retention

Employee retention is a major challenge for many behavioral health and human services organizations. While industry-wide turnover data is limited, some studies have found turnover rates of up to 70% within the field. Reviewing employee turnover rates on a regular basis can help organizations identify changes or trends in their retention data. It can help them explore factors impacting turnover in order to improve employee retention and anticipate future staffing trends.

Productivity 

Workforce analytics are also helpful for monitoring employee performance and productivity. Administrators or managers can use workforce analytics to track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to employee productivity so that they can address potential challenges and performance issues in a timely manner.

In larger organizations (or very busy organizations, such as behavioral healthcare centers), management may not be able to closely track productivity and performance without the right data. They may be able to name a couple of staff members who they view as top performers, but many others are overlooked — and a struggling employee may fall through the cracks until it’s performance review time. 

By frequently reviewing performance data and productivity analytics, management can be more proactive in addressing drops in productivity before they become a larger issue.

Patient Care Quality and Outcomes

Behavioral health organizations can also use analytics to monitor patient outcomes and data. It’s worth noting that most workforce analytics tools will not include this feature. However, ContinuumCloud’s solutions are designed specifically for behavioral health and human services organizations. 

With ContinuumCloud’s EHR software, administrators can track and review key metrics, including:

• Staffing ratios
• Staff training
• Patient discharges
• Patient wait times
• Patient satisfaction scores
• Re-admission of patients
• Safety incidents
• Medication errors

Just as workforce data can be used to improve the employee experience, these metrics can help organizations improve the patient experience.

Workforce Analytics Software Features

In ContinuumCloud’s 2022 Tech Experiences and Impact Report, only 34% of respondents reported that their organization is already leveraging technology for workforce analytics. This means that there are still a large number of companies that are missing out on the benefits of workforce analytics, such as clearer cost tracking and decision-making.

Organizations that are ready to adopt a workforce analytics solution should carefully shop for the software that best meets their specific needs. When evaluating workforce analytics tools, look out for the following software features:

• Customizable reporting: Workforce analytics and reporting are most effective when you can tailor them to your specific needs. It’s helpful to have pre-built reports available, but it’s best to choose software that also offers customizable reporting. This way, reports can be built or customized to fit the specific concerns or needs of the organization.
• Position management: Position management organizes data based on positions rather than individual employees. This can be a helpful way to get a different view of workforce data, hiring needs, and labor costs. ContinuumCloud provides a more extensive approach by offering Position Control, which uses positions as the foundation of the HCM system rather than an add-on for a more comprehensive approach.
• Labor cost tracking: It’s vital for behavioral health organizations to monitor costs in addition to standard HR metrics. As such, it’s best to choose workforce analytics software with budgeting and labor cost forecasting tools. Additional features, such as insurance billing analytics, can also help organizations improve financial sustainability.
• Industry-specific data collection and analytics: There are numerous workforce analytics solutions on the market, but most of them are not well-tailored to the behavioral health and human services industry. Consider solutions like ContinuumCloud’s human capital management that are designed with industry-specific features.
• Excellent customer service: When choosing a software vendor, make sure they offer excellent customer service. Getting started with workforce analytics and advanced reporting tools can feel a bit complicated and overwhelming at first, so high-quality support is a must when you need assistance.

Take Control of Your Workforce Data With ContinuumCloud 

Behavioral health and human services organizations can use workforce analytics to create more efficient workflows, identify trends within their workforce, and make stronger data-driven decisions. If you aren’t properly utilizing your workforce data, you could be missing out on valuable insights.

ContinuumCloud’s HCM platform is the only human capital management software that was built entirely with the behavioral health and human services industry in mind. That focus also extends to business intelligence tools — ContinuumCloud’s EHR software can also provide case management and patient care data. When used together, these two programs provide comprehensive analytics, health record, and workforce management support.

Contact us today to learn how ContinuumCloud can help your company leverage workforce analytics to improve the overall experience for providers and patients.