Data-driven HR management: How CFOs and CHROs are working together to ensure business success

Smart data integration as a foundation

An effective data-based strategy begins with a solid foundation: smart data integration. Combining financial and HR data in a shared platform opens up completely new insights. You get a clear overview of salary data, engagement and budget targets – all at a glance.  

CFOs and CHROs should work together to establish a unified data platform that combines financial and HR data. This enables a holistic view that connects financial and HR metrics. Your contribution as CFO lies in providing financial data such as budget plans, cost analyses and return on investment figures. As CHRO, you integrate data on employee engagement, turnover and salaries into the platform to achieve the common goal of developing dashboards that highlight trends and risks. You can start by focusing on departments with high turnover or unexpected costs.  

Practical tip: If you have the option, start with a platform that combines financial and HR data. This is the foundation for successfully implementing data-based strategies.  

Targeted salary increases to boost productivity and employee retention

Money isn't everything, but it is important. Strategic pay increases in the right places can be a catalyst for higher satisfaction, lower turnover, and higher productivity.  

The McKinsey Global Institute shows that targeted pay increases can prevent attrition. What's more, companies that adjust salaries strategically see long-term improvements in employee performance.  

Salary increases can therefore be used strategically to promote employee retention and reduce turnover. How can CFOs and CHROs work together to precisely manage investments in salaries? Cost-benefit analyses can be carried out to prioritise the areas with the highest ROI. In addition, those teams that can be particularly motivated by targeted salary adjustments should be identified.  

Practical tip: Analyse salaries based on data and prioritise departments where salary increases will have the greatest effect.

Employee Analytics: identify risks early on

In addition to salary, well-being and stress play a crucial role in employee satisfaction. Modern approaches such as employee analytics provide deep insights into the needs of your teams and help to identify risks such as burnout, churn or declining productivity at an early stage.  

The AMS research network shows that structural measures are crucial to preventing burnout. By using analytics, you can identify overwork in key departments at an early stage. Countermeasures such as flexible working hours and training can help to ensure healthier teams and reduce recruitment costs by lowering staff turnover.  

Practical tip: Use predictive analytics to identify risks early and take targeted preventive action.  

Engagement metrics for business success

The advantages of engaged employees are clear: they are more productive, more loyal and take fewer sick days – a win for any company. According to Gallup, companies with engaged teams achieve around 17% higher productivity. But how do you make this information measurable?  

The use of engagement metrics is the deciding factor in evaluating HR initiatives. To obtain a comprehensible argument for the importance of HR measures, engagement data can be linked to financial KPIs.  

To make the ROI of HR initiatives measurable, CFOs can link engagement data with financial metrics such as turnover and productivity. One possible result of the data analysis could be that targeted management training or flexibility measures are necessary to improve employee satisfaction. CHROs contribute their part by developing and implementing appropriate programmes.  

Practical tip: Use engagement metrics to make data-driven decisions about employee retention and development programmes, to put investments in HR in a strategic context and to demonstrate ROI.  

Continuous monitoring and dashboards

Data can only reach their full potential through continuous monitoring. Regularly reviewing joint initiatives ensures that the CFO and CHRO can respond flexibly to changes. Real-time dashboards of current financial and HR developments make it possible to identify problems early and respond quickly – according to Gartner, by as much as 20% faster. Interpreting the data and coming up with suggestions for adjustments is the responsibility of the CHROs.  

Practical tip: Implement dashboards that combine current data from finance and HR. This will enable agile and data-driven decision-making.

Conclusion: Collaboration and data for sustainable success

The partnership between the CFO and CHRO is key to the successful transformation of a company through data-based strategies. By combining their strengths, they can not only make better decisions but also achieve measurable success in employee retention, productivity and cost management. Such collaboration not only creates efficiency but also sustainable success.