15 HR Analytics Case Studies with Business Impact
5x more likely. That’s how much better top-performing organizations are at turning HR insights into real change. These aren’t just dashboard visuals —this is people analytics driving action, savings, and strategy. Here’s what it looks like in practice.
HR analytics has evolved far beyond reporting. Today, it’s a strategic tool with the power to inform better decisions, lower costs, and improve employee outcomes. But to truly demonstrate its value, we need real-world examples that clearly connect people’s data to measurable business results.
Below are 15 HR analytics case studies that do just that. Several are drawn from the book Introduction to People Analytics: A Practical Guide to Data-Driven HR, which features powerful examples of analytics in action. Others come from recent industry reports, vendor case studies, and organizational insights shared publicly. Together, they offer a practical look at how HR teams use data to drive change and deliver results that matter.
15 HR analytics case studies
1. How a European shipping company used HR analytics to reduce absenteeism through job redesign
In 2020, a European shipping company struggled with persistently high absenteeism rates among its port-based security officers. Despite offering competitive market pay and revising employment contracts, attendance issues persisted. The roles were seen as transactional, with limited teamwork or purpose, leading to disengagement and high contractor reliance to cover absentee shifts.
With limited technology at their disposal, the HR team turned to basic yet effective people analytics methods:
- Job analysis to understand core tasks and pain points
- Focus groups with security officers to capture qualitative insights
- Excel-based tracking of absenteeism trends across multiple locations.
This triangulation revealed a clear pattern: the root cause of absenteeism wasn’t compensation, it was poor job design and lack of role clarity.
The HR team redesigned the affected roles to increase clarity of responsibilities, foster better teamwork among officers, and reinforce their impact and purpose. No new software or complex systems were used, just structured listening, data interpretation, and role reengineering.
Within months of implementation, absenteeism decreased by 6%, contractor costs dropped by €350,000, and team morale and cohesion improved. This case study is covered in this book. 
2. How a UK utilities provider used HR analytics to drive ROI through customer service coaching
In 2021, a leading UK utilities provider struggled with low customer satisfaction scores despite having a well-trained contact center workforce. System performance wasn’t the issue; human behavior was. The organization suspected its customer service challenges stemmed from inconsistent coaching practices and underutilized soft skills among agents.
The Learning & Development (L&D) team deployed a data-driven approach to isolate and address the problem:
- Analyzed call handling behaviors, including tone, empathy, and upselling techniques
- Reviewed coaching intervention data to identify gaps in delivery
- Tracked call resolution rates and post-call sales behaviors.
Based on the insights, the team created a behavior-based coaching program for underperforming agents. The revised coaching intervention focused on empathetic listening and conversational tone, proactive customer engagement, and cross-selling and upselling techniques.
The program was targeted, measurable, and aligned directly with business goals: 125% return on investment (ROI) and £105,000 invested in the coaching program. The company also increased customer satisfaction scores, achieved higher upsell conversion rates, and improved call resolution times. This case study appeared in this book.
3. How a multinational tech conglomerate used HR analytics to boost quality of hire
In 2020, a European-headquartered multinational tech conglomerate experienced high turnover among its project and program managers. The company’s internal metric for Quality of Hire (QoH)—which factored in new hire retention, 90-day performance, and hiring manager satisfaction—was just 38%. Poor hires disrupted team performance, increased rehiring costs, and drained productivity.
To address the issue, the HR team implemented a data-backed hiring overhaul:
- Structured behavioral interviews replaced informal manager-led assessments
- Psychometric testing was introduced to assess job-relevant cognitive and behavioral traits
- A Talent Scorecard was rolled out to monitor the hiring effectiveness of recruiters and hiring managers.
These interventions aligned with outcome-based metrics, allowing HR to track performance post-hire and iterate on hiring criteria.
Over 12 months, the revamped hiring process was consistently applied across project and program management roles. Interview panels were trained in structured assessment techniques and benchmarked candidate performance against top performers.
As a result, the quality of hire improved from 38% to 75%, and turnover among project managers declined. Hiring consistency improved across teams and regions, and time spent rehiring and onboarding replacements was significantly reduced.
While exact financial figures were not disclosed, improving QoH by nearly 2x resulted in substantial cost savings across onboarding, productivity loss, and attrition-related rehiring efforts. This case study is included in this book.
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4. How a UK-based global conglomerate used HR analytics to measure leadership development impact
In 2021, the HR team of a UK-based division of a global conglomerate needed to justify continued investment in a new operational leadership development program. Leadership believed in the potential value, but anecdotal support wasn’t enough, and budgets were tightening. The challenge: prove that leadership development delivered measurable business returns.
Rather than relying on subjective feedback, the HR team designed a robust analytics framework to track learning impact. They gathered pre- and post-program performance data, internal mobility metrics, employee promoter scores (eNPS), productivity, cost-saving outcomes, and comparative analysis against a control group. The data was benchmarked using an existing capability framework, ensuring alignment with company-wide performance standards.
Participants’ outcomes were tracked over several months after training. Compared to the control group, program graduates moved into higher roles more quickly. They also led teams with higher engagement and efficiency and contributed to identifiable cost-saving initiatives.
The results? Participants showed 20–30% higher performance scores than the control group.
Internal mobility increased by 25% among participants. Employee Net Promoter Scores improved by +12 points in participant-led teams. This case study is included in this book.
5. How Evergas used HR analytics to improve employee experience across borders
Evergas, one of the world’s leading seaborne transporters of natural gas liquids and petrochemical gases, faced the challenge of maintaining high employee engagement and retention in a highly competitive labor market.
Leadership recognized that traditional engagement surveys were no longer sufficient. They lacked depth, timeliness, and actionable insights, making it difficult to design effective EX (employee experience) interventions across their international workforce.
Evergas partnered with Livingroom Analytics, an employee experience platform that goes beyond standard engagement metrics. The solution provided frequent and in-depth surveys tailored to key drivers of employee sentiment. Real-time analytics and dashboards were made available for HR and senior leaders, giving insights into belonging, energy, and team dynamics, not just engagement. These capabilities enabled Evergas to monitor employee sentiment continuously and in context.
Leadership bought into the approach early on, with CEO Steffen Jacobsen emphasizing that “retaining the right people has a massive impact on customer satisfaction and the bottom line.”
The outcome? Improved transparency across countries and departments, faster responses to local engagement issues, and improved team morale. Evergas reported measurable improvements in retention indicators and employee feedback quality, validating the link between EX and performance. The case study appeared here.
6. How a transport business in Zimbabwe reduced road traffic accidents
A study in Zimbabwe explored the effectiveness of hiring assessments in reducing road traffic accidents (RTAs) among drivers. A local transport company, concerned about the high costs and delays caused by frequent accidents, not only due to material damage but also disrupted operations, sought a solution that could improve safety and efficiency.
Partnering with a local consultancy, the company investigated whether psychometric testing could help predict which individuals were more likely to be involved in RTAs. The goal was to identify personality or behavioral traits that could serve as useful criteria during the hiring process.
The research yielded several valuable findings. Notably, it revealed that the widely used Defensive Driving Certificate (DDC), which all drivers were required to obtain, had no measurable effect on accident rates.
More insightful, however, were the links between accident proneness and certain measurable factors: concentration levels, Reactive Stress Tolerance (RST), and the number of years a driver had held a license. Assessing concentration and RST during recruitment proved to be a practical and data-backed approach. Hiring more experienced (and often older) drivers made sense, as they were statistically less likely to be involved in accidents.
The full details of this HR analytics case study, including the statistical methods used, can be found here.
7. How a large mining company used HR analytics to achieve optimum staffing levels
A large mining company in Zimbabwe was concerned about financial losses resulting from departments being either overstaffed or understaffed.
To address this, consultants adopted a data-driven approach by analyzing staffing levels in relation to business activity. Specifically, they examined the number of employees in each business unit and compared it to that unit’s operational output over 17 consecutive quarters.
The analysis revealed a strong correlation between staffing levels and business activity, with an R-squared value of 70.34%. This indicated that the number of employees could explain 70.34% of the variation in business activity. By plotting these two variables, the team was able to clearly identify which departments were overstaffed and which were understaffed.
Excess employees in overstaffed departments were either retrenched or reassigned to understaffed areas. The financial benefits were immediate—retrenchment costs broke even in just two months, and by the third month, the company was already seeing net savings.
Click this link for the full details of this people analytics case study, including methodology and results.
8. How a large Dutch FMCG used HR analytics to A/B test employee training
An article written by Tony Brugman and Rob van Dijk based on their consulting work presents a brief case study.
The case involved a major Dutch retailer in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector that leveraged people analytics to evaluate the impact of employee training. Using A/B testing, the company measured the effect of training shop personnel on store-level financial performance.
The results were striking: training had a clear positive impact, and in the first year alone, the return on investment (ROI) for the training program reached an impressive 400%.
9. How Stockport NHS used HR analytics to improve wellbeing and workforce decision
Before 2020, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust faced a common challenge: key workforce data was stuck in silos. Teams relied on manual reporting to track critical metrics like absenteeism, training compliance, and staffing trends. As a result, it was hard for managers to respond quickly, especially when COVID-19 pushed the system to its limits.
In response, the Trust piloted the mii People Analytics platform in 2020. Built in partnership with Liaison Workforce and Activ8 Intelligence, the platform gave real-time visibility into data for more than 5,000 employees. Line managers could now drill into sickness absence by cause and role, spot early signs of stress and anxiety, and monitor training compliance across departments, all from a single dashboard.
The results? Actionable insights led to smarter, faster decisions. Stockport NHS reduced its reliance on temporary staff, improved employee wellbeing, and strengthened talent retention. Just as importantly, HR and business leaders finally had a clear, data-driven view of their workforce, and the tools to support them when it mattered most. The case study appeared here.
10. How Merck KGaA used HR analytics to advance strategic HR and DEI goals
Merck KGaA faced a familiar problem: fragmented HR data. With talent processes decentralized across regions, the company struggled with inconsistent reporting and limited visibility. That changed when they implemented Visier’s people analytics platform.
By combining more than 45 million data points from across the business, Merck KGaA was able to connect the dots between performance, team size, and sales results, helping the organization design smarter structures and workflows.
What set this transformation apart was scale. Around 3,500 users, including 3,000 line managers, gained direct access to data dashboards. This empowered business leaders to make faster, more informed decisions and freed up HR Business Partners to focus on strategic guidance instead of pulling reports. It also helped Merck exceed its 2021 goal of achieving 30% female representation, one of several signs the platform supported stronger DEI outcomes.
Beyond reporting, the company used predictive analytics to flag first-year attrition risks, identify key talent during M&As, and strengthen learning and development strategies. By layering in natural language processing, they mapped employee skills more accurately, fueling future workforce planning.
The result? A more agile, cost-effective HR function that’s not only future-ready but clearly linked to better talent retention and measurable business impact. The case study appeared here.
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With 34% of large organizations expanding HR analytics roles, upskilling your team is no longer optional. It’s essential to grow your team’s skills, too. When you invest in new tools, train your people to use data to tell a clear story, make smart decisions, and get leadership buy-in.
11. How Montu used HR analytics to scale growth without scaling HR costs
Montu, one of Australia’s fastest-growing medical cannabis companies, faced a challenge most HR teams would envy but still need to manage: hypergrowth. Over 18 months, the company expanded by 1,400%. But its HR team struggled to keep pace using manual processes and siloed data. Workforce planning, onboarding, and performance management became increasingly time-consuming and error-prone.
To solve this, Montu implemented HiBob’s HR platform early in its growth phase. The system offered real-time people analytics, automated onboarding, and performance tracking, giving the team complete visibility into workforce trends and immediate access to critical data.
The results were significant. Montu scaled its workforce without dramatically increasing HR headcount, saving on operational costs while accelerating hiring and onboarding timelines. By streamlining administrative tasks and improving internal alignment, the company reduced inefficiencies and avoided costly delays in hiring and training.
Most importantly, Montu’s investment in HR analytics supported strategic decision-making during a high-growth period, ultimately enabling the company to grow rapidly without overspending on HR operations. Read the entire case study here.
12. How a large restaurant used HR analytics to drive store performance
Another great people analytics case study took place in a large restaurant chain that was in a downward spiral. The management team didn’t understand why. They had pieces of information but struggled to implement effective policies.
A team of consultants was asked to investigate and provide insight through data.
Because there was a lack of good data, the team decided to measure it themselves using a survey. What was interesting in this case study was that they didn’t use a normal engagement survey. They instead first looked at the relevant business outcomes. The three key outcomes they identified were:
- Customer count
- Customer satisfaction
- Employee retention.
Business performance would increase if these three metrics were to go up.
The company then deployed a business-focused engagement survey where they:
- Linked employee outcomes to their real business outcomes
- Prioritize the factors that had the largest impact on business outcomes
- Show the business impact of the improvements of these factors
- Focus front-line managers on the factors that showed the most significant impact.
By mapping these factors on their own scores and their impact on business outcomes, the team could easily visualize which drivers contributed most to business performance and which drivers front-line managers should focus on.
The blue square shows the six factors that would receive the most attention. By focusing on these six factors, line managers would create the largest return.
Restaurant managers who had an average score of 4 or higher on the six key survey drivers were likely to see
- A 16 % increase in customer satisfaction,
- 18,000 more customers a year
- 10% less staff turnover.
The full report can be found here: How HR made customers happy.
13. How Kemp & Lauritzen used HR analytics to reduce turnover and improve onboarding
Kemp & Lauritzen, Denmark’s leading technical installation company, faced rising employee turnover and a patchwork of manual HR processes. Onboarding was inconsistent, systems were fragmented, and managers lacked visibility into key workforce data, which impacted retention and efficiency.
The company modernized its approach by implementing SAP SuccessFactors and developing a custom fast-hire app to streamline recruitment for field roles. These tools gave HR real-time insights and a centralized view of workforce activity.
The results were compelling. Overall turnover dropped from 35% to under 28%, and voluntary exits decreased by a third. Onboarding satisfaction jumped, with employees and managers rating the new process a 4.0 out of 5. Perhaps most notably, 80% of their mostly deskless workforce now engages with the new HR portal—an indicator of high user adoption and better employee experience.
Kemp & Lauritzen’s digital HR journey shows how analytics and automation can drive measurable improvements in retention, engagement, and workforce efficiency. The whole case study appears here.
14. How National Bank of Canada used HR analytics to save millions through automation
Managing HR processes across multiple systems had become costly and inefficient for the National Bank of Canada. Time tracking and payroll were especially burdensome—manual, fragmented, and time-consuming for HR and line managers.
The bank implemented SAP SuccessFactors to streamline operations and automate time tracking. The move eliminated manual processes and gave employees access to real-time self-service features, including pay stubs and vacation balances.
The financial impact was immediate. On the first day alone, the new system processed 1,500 time-off requests automatically. The bank now saves $4 million annually in HR staffing and administrative costs. Automation also freed up 5% of management time—time that can now be spent on strategic priorities rather than administrative tasks.
By investing in HR technology and analytics, National Bank transformed its core operations, demonstrating how HR can directly contribute to business efficiency and cost reduction at scale. Read the complete case study here.
15. How the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids used HR analytics to streamline HR and refocus on mission
The YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids employs 1,600 staff across multiple branches and school locations. But outdated, manual HR processes were slowing things down. Recruiting, onboarding, and payroll were time-consuming and error-prone, pulling HR away from strategic initiatives and the organization’s core mission: serving the community.
The YMCA partnered with Paylocity to modernize and roll out a full suite of HR solutions. The switch to digital tools automated core HR tasks, simplified employee communication, and centralized workforce data across locations.
The result? Administrative workload dropped significantly, allowing the team to focus on higher-impact work. Meanwhile, employees used mobile self-service tools for real-time access to schedules, onboarding steps, and recognition features. While financial ROI wasn’t disclosed, the shift reduced manual errors, improved workforce engagement, and provided real-time labor costs and turnover trends analytics. This data made HR decisions faster and more precise for a large, distributed workforce. For more information about this case study, read here.
A final thought
These 15 case studies prove that HR analytics isn’t just about data; it’s about decisions. Whether reducing turnover, improving hiring quality, or saving millions through smarter systems, each example shows how people analytics can drive meaningful, measurable business outcomes.
Successful analytics efforts don’t always involve complex tools or massive data sets. They often begin with a clear question, a structured approach, and a commitment to aligning HR insights with business goals. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to scale your existing analytics capabilities, these stories offer inspiration and a roadmap for turning HR data into strategic impact.
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