33% – Very confident: using it regularly
33% – Somewhat confident: starting to use it
20% – Not confident: it’s incomplete
13% – What people data?
This paints a clear picture:
Whilst some organisations are confidently using people data as a decision-making tool, the majority are still early in their journey, or struggling to unlock its full potential.
Why People Data Matters More Than Ever
People data, from retention metrics to skills mapping, can:
📈 Identify gaps before they impact performance
📌 Pinpoint where engagement and morale are dropping
🤝 Support fair pay and promotion decisions
📊 Forecast hiring needs based on business growth
According to Deloitte’s 2024 Human Capital Trends report, companies that make data-informed people decisions are 2x more likely to exceed their financial targets and 3x more likely to engage and retain top talent.
Where Businesses Get Stuck
From our work across the creative, media, and marketing sectors, the common barriers we see are:
🔧 Fragmented systems – The data is spread across various spreadsheets and project tools, making it hard to collate and analyse.
🧠 Lack of analysis skills – Businesses have done the hard work in collecting the data, but they don’t have a clear way to interpret it.
↩️ Data not linked to strategy – Information is collected without aligning it to business priorities, so the results are far less useful than they could have been.
💡 Fear of bias – Concern that data may reinforce existing inequalities if not handled carefully… leading to no data collection at all!
How to Build Confidence in Your People Data
If your organisation falls into the 33% who are “somewhat confident and starting to use it”, or the 20% who are “not confident”… here’s where to start:
- Audit what you already have.
- Map your current data sources: HR systems, surveys, performance reviews, and exit interviews.
- Define your “critical questions” that you want answers to.
- Start with 3–5 questions you want your data to answer (e.g., Where are we losing talent? Which roles take longest to fill?) ✨ Top Tip: Focus on quality over quantity; it’s better to have a small set of reliable, regularly updated metrics than a large pool of outdated or inconsistent ones.
- Invest in data literacy by equipping HR, leadership, and hiring managers with the skills to interpret and act on data, not just collect it.
- Pair the numbers you’re seeing with the narratives that they support; after all, data should inform, not replace, the human stories that explain why trends are happening.
Our Take
At Impact, we believe data and human judgment go hand in hand. Numbers can highlight patterns and risks, but it’s people (recruiters, leaders, managers) who turn insight into action.
If you’re looking to strengthen your talent strategy for the second half of 2025, now is the time to get confident in the data that drives your people decisions.
Where does your organisation fall on this scale, and what’s holding you back from making the most of your data?
📩 Get in touch if you any assistance with your hiring process!
Subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter to get all the top tips, industry news and job opportunities 🔗 ⬆️