Module 3 – Case
People Analytics
Assignment Overview
Signature Assignment: Quantitative Reasoning, Reinforced level
In this assignment, your quantitative reasoning skills will be assessed. The Quantitative Reasoning rubric will be useful for this purpose. In course HRM401, quantitative reasoning skills were assessed at the introduced level. In HRM404, they will be assessed at the reinforced level. Finally, in MGT491, your quantitative reasoning skills will be assessed at the emphasized level. The grading rubric for quantitative reasoning at the undergraduate level has been developed to measure student success in meeting the HRM404 Case 3 expectations. Rubrics for the other two courses are included in their respective assignments.
Employee Turnover and Why It Is Such an Important Part of HR Management Information
Employee turnover usually refers to all leavers of an organization, including those who resign, are made redundant, take retirement, or exit the organization for any other reason; however, this case study is only about voluntary turnover.
The cost of employee turnover can be substantial and has been projected at 93200 per cent of each single leaver’s salary depending on his or her skill, level of responsibility, and how difficult it is to replace them (Griffeth & Hom, 2001). When this is accumulated across all leavers in an organization, the cost is substantial; hence, it is a key area where sound analysis into causes and problem diagnosis can make an enormously valuable contribution to the organization’s bottom line.
Costs of employee turnover

One of the most common activities that an HR information or management information (MI) function will conduct is the regular reporting of turnover statistics. This is partly because of the potentially massive costs associated with replacing people who leave, including recruiting and then getting new joiners up to the same level of productivity (as well as the importance of having people in the right place at the right time doing the right things).
Most organizations will view turnover reports in a spreadsheet showing the percentage of people in a team, function, or division who have left over a given period, but very little analysis will be conducted to explore why this might be. There may be some graphs on a spreadsheet showing which countries or teams have the highest turnover rates, but little modelling or controlling for other explanatory factors will be carried out. The result is often unfounded speculation about possible causes, such as ‘the culture is different in Asia and people are more likely to move jobs’ or ‘the nature of sales is to chase the money so turnover will naturally be higher in that team’, etc. This potentially leads to overgeneralized assumptions and a misdiagnosis of organizational problems, masking the real issues, which may run far deeper.
Measuring Turnover at Individual or Team Level
Organizational turnover is often presented as a percentage of all employees on a monthly or yearly basis. For example, the U.K.’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 2014, recommends the following formula:

The measures of employee flows, as set out below, have all been seen in organizations.
Measures of Employee Flows
Note, these are usually presented as a percentage ( 100):

Review the bulleted lists below and become familiar with the questions.
One of the things that has the largest impact on employee turnover is job satisfaction. (You can determine the accuracy of this statement by doing a quick Google search of reasons for employee turnover. While you might not see job satisfaction in the title, all add up to job satisfaction.) Job satisfaction encompasses several facets, such as employees supervisors, job titles, job growth, lack of flexibility, company reputation, and others. Once the management team knows what the issues are, they will develop a plan for improving employee job satisfaction.
HR professionals also track these other 13 areas:
How satisfied are employees with their jobs?
How satisfied are employees with their supervisors?
What is the time to fill job openings? (the period from job requisition approval to new hire start date)
What is the length of employment (by job title, department)? (from employment start date to employment end date)
What is the number of days the positions were vacant (vacant period)?
What is the new hire performance level? (average performance appraisal of new hires, compared to previous period)
What is the manager satisfaction level (survey of hiring managers, compared to previous period)
What is the turnover rate of new hires (during a specified period)?
What is the financial impact of bad hires? (comparing turnover cost and cost per hire)
What is the preventable turnover? (the reasons the employee left and what measures may be taken to prevent it)
What Is the diversity turnover? (turnover rate in professional, managerial, and technical positions)
Learning and Growing Opportunities (percentage of employees who are satisfied with the learning and growth opportunities in the organization)
On-the job learning (percentage of employees who are satisfied with on-the-job learning, projects assignments for growth and development and job rotation)
Case Assignment
Select one of the following two options for this assignment.
Opt. 1: Select this option if you are currently employed and have an HR manager or analyst onsite.
Meet with your HR Manager or Analyst and gather information from them that addresses at least 8 of the above metric questions. They may be able to provide you a report of this information; otherwise go there with a notebook to take copious notes. Using the formulas listed, determine the six rates by plugging in the numbers obtained from your HR Manager or Analyst. What do the resulting rates indicate to the company?
Opt. 2: Select this option if you are not currently employed; your company HR Manager or Analyst is not onsite; or if you do not have access to another HR Manager or Analyst.
Visit a company in your area that has a local HR department. Gather information from the HR employee you meet with that addresses at least 8 of the above metric questions. The company may be able to provide you a report of this information; otherwise go there with a notebook to take copious notes. Using the formulas listed, determine the six rates by plugging in the numbers obtained from your HR Manager or Analyst. What do the resulting rates indicate to the company?
Discuss your findings in a 3- to 4-page paper (not counting the cover and reference list pages; not less than 3 full pages) formatted according to APA guidelines.
Use at least 3 additional sources to help strengthen your discussion. Reference all material cited. Sources used must be valid and reliable and come from the library. At least one of the three reference must be from a peer-reviewed academic journal and not on the list of readings for this Module.
Submit your paper through the appropriate drop box by the due date and time.
Citation and reference style instructions are available at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/. Also see Trident University’s Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper.
You will find the following useful as you critique sources:
Cornell University. (2015). Critically analyzing information sources: Critical appraisal and analysis. Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill26.htm
Cornell University. (2014). Evaluating Web sites: Criteria and tools. Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html
What is critical thinking?
Before starting this assignment, be sure that you are familiar with what is meant by critical thinking.
Critical thinking is one of the five key rubric criteria by which your assignments are graded. Therefore, you are expected to demonstrate evidence of critical thinking in all assignments. For an overview of critical thinking, first read the Kurland article and then review the chart and watch the video:
What is Critical Thinking? (2012) Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oAf3g5_138
Foundation for Critical Thinking (2015). Our Concept and Definition of Critical Thinking. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/our-concept-of-critical-thinking/411
Kurland, D. (2000). What is critical thinking? Critical Reading. Retrieved from http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_thinking.htm
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. (2014) A must-have chart featuring critical thinking skills. Retrieved from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/05/a-must-have-chart-featuring-critical.html
Assignment Expectations
Demonstrate critical thinking and analysis of the employers people analytics activities.
Proofread your work and make sure it is as professional-appearing as possible.
Your submission will be assessed on the criteria found in the Quantitative Reasoning grading rubric for this assignment:
Critical Thinking: Expressing quantitative analysis of data (factual information) to support the discussion showing what evidence is used and how it is contextualized.
Interpretation: Explaining information presented in mathematical terms (e.g., equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, words)
Presentation: Ability to convert relevant information into various mathematical terms (e.g., equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, words)
Conclusions: Drawing appropriate conclusions based on the analysis of factual information/data.
Timeliness: Assignment submitted on or before the due date.