Turnover and Data

In 2016, Experian’s global human HR management found that the company’s resignation rates were 4% over the industry benchmark.^[4] This was not only a staffing issue; the company determined that every 1% increase in turnover cost the business approximately $3 million and that the churn was constraining growth and innovation. Additionally, higher turnover diverted HR staff from core culture- and employee-building initiatives.

In order to identify employees who were a flight risk, Experian built a predictive model that factored in 200 attributes, including team size and structure, supervisor performance and commute distance.^[5] The model identified both risk factors and flight risk triggers, one of the latter being a move that increased the employee’s commute. Analytical insights, combined with good management practices, allowed management to address issues on both an individual level and at scale. Business impact: attrition was reduced by 4% globally, saving the business $14 million over two years. Experian Group HR Director Mark Wells observed that applying analytics not only saved the company millions, it has become “the backbone of how we make the best decisions for our people. We’re now better able to anticipate and predict what our employees value and that’s helped us to retain talent that keeps Experian innovating.” Experian has also turned their predictive model into a “Workforce Analytics for Retention” service.