Data and HR and Midterms, oh my!
Getting ready for the midterm season!
Simran Kaur
Although the semester has just started, work has already started to pile up and you may have started to understand the type of content covered in IRHR courses—the courses in our program range from studying law and organizational theories to understanding finance and accounting. In many cases, we may undermine the importance of data, especially in a field like IRHR, which at first glance, seems to be reliant on theories rather than calculations, but in reality, the integration of data in human resources is essential.
Various HR processes including employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, workforce planning, and many others focus on incorporating data to be able to make informed decisions that help with implementing more impactful strategies. Many courses in our program utilize data to a great extent, including IRE342: Essentials of Finance and Accounting, and IRE379: Research and Data Analytics, along with some new courses including IRW220: Statistics for Work and Organization. While these courses provide an in-depth focus on qualitative data and its analysis, they also allow us to understand how crucial data analysis is for human resources and how it can be used alongside the theory in real-life scenarios to develop people analytics. According to Forbes.com, data analytics have allowed human resources departments to utilize both intuition along with analytics to make informed decisions, which can then help with performance evaluation, providing fair compensation, and helping with employee retention and engagement.
To learn more about how data and human resources are related, feel free to look over some relevant books available at the CIRHR digital library!
Now, let’s move on to talk about the upcoming midterm season. For many of you, this may be your first midterm season at university, while others are just used to it by now! University life can be very different from being in high school, with there being a different level of expectation, added responsibilities, and just being able to settle into the environment. For this reason, I believe that everyone will have their highs and lows at some point during their time at university and that rather than being discouraged, they should use it as motivation to perform better and achieve their greatest level of potential!
Regardless, it is time to take a breather and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. Although everyone has their own way of studying and excelling, some steps can be taken to navigate this period with the greatest level of confidence and success, including creating a balanced study schedule, using various resources such as study timers or a productivity workspace, such as Notion, taking regular breaks, and having an ideal study environment. Not all of these will work for everyone and that is alright. Personally, I find that being able to have a quiet working environment, whether it be at home or a library, is ideal for me as it ensures that I am not distracted and I am able to get my work done. Take some time to figure out what works best for you and you will be on the path to success!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
General Meeting Webinar: October 6th (5-6 pm)
IRHRSA Social: TBA
EXEC TIP OF THE MONTH
When we are surrounded by deadlines, we often turn to completing easier tasks first, regardless of when they are due, only because we are afraid of tackling the more complex assignments. This could be either because they seem to be time-consuming, or you may not be as comfortable with the content, leading you to procrastinate and complete other work instead. While this may seem to be effective, I always suggest focusing on the more challenging tasks first and then moving on to the “easier” tasks or tasks that we are more comfortable with. Doing this allows me to be certain that I am trying my best to complete tasks despite the level of difficulty and am not finding the easy way out! If you are unsure about the most productive way of completing tasks, feel free to talk to a learning strategist or an academic mentor at your college!