people analytics

Definition

Using data and statistics to make workforce decisions, transforming HR from gut feelings into spreadsheets. It's great until you realize they're tracking your bathroom breaks and email response times.

Example Usage

Our people analytics dashboard shows I'm 'below average' in collaboration because I decline meetings that could be emails.

Origin

Emerged in the 2000s-2010s as HR adopted data science methodologies, popularized by Google's People Operations

Fun Fact

Despite heavy investment in people analytics, many HR teams still make decisions based on which VP yells loudest in the meeting.

Source: Data-driven HR and workforce planning terminology

Related Terms

Advanced

job leveling

The systematic process of categorizing positions into hierarchical levels based on scope, impact, and complexity. It's corporate's way of creating a caste system with spreadsheet precision.

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

bona fide occupational qualification

A legally permissible reason to discriminate in hiring based on characteristics like age, sex, or religion because they're essential to the job. Abbreviated as BFOQ, the rare loophole in anti-discrimination law.

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

dual career ladder

A career development structure offering advancement paths for both management and technical roles, allowing specialists to grow without becoming managers. It's HR's admission that not everyone wants to lead people.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

quiet firing

The cowardly art of making someone's job so miserable they quit voluntarily, saving the company from having to actually fire them and pay severance. It's passive-aggressive management disguised as organizational restructuring, complete with removed responsibilities and excluded meeting invites.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

termination for cause

Firing an employee for a specific violation of company policy or poor performance, as opposed to layoffs or restructuring. It's the difference between 'you did something wrong' and 'sorry, budget cuts.'

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

pay transparency

The practice of openly sharing salary ranges, compensation formulas, or actual employee pay—radical honesty that supposedly reduces wage gaps but makes everyone uncomfortable at company parties.

👥 Human Resources

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