Schools and data: accessing the total view of the staff member
With your current systems and available data, can you see each staff member clearly, across their whole journey and in relation to the students they work with? Can you make confident, informed decisions based on this data?
This is the problem most school HR and operational leads have – access to staff data but not connected insights. Keep reading to learn more about this visibility gap and how connected systems can close it.
Schools, data and staff members: the current reality
Most schools will use a variety of systems to track staff from the initial stages of recruitment and through their entire journey at the school, with an individual system for each of:
- Job advertising
- Applicant tracking
- HR
- Payroll
- Tracking growth and career progression
- Resourcing and lesson planning
The list goes on. The problem here is that different people see different data at the various stages of a staff member’s journey. Decision makers rarely see the whole picture to be able to make informed decisions.
In short, schools tend to not lack technology. They lack a single, connected view of each member of staff across their whole school journey.
Introducing the patchwork problem
This lack of connectivity is the patchwork problem. It’s the gap between holding fragmented information and the information seamlessly coming together to provide actionable insights. This gap prevents school operations from running efficiently and delivering the best outcomes for both staff and students.
Schools tell us that putting the pieces together into a cohesive picture is often impossible. This means warning signs can be missed, challenges can escalate, money can be wasted and school resources risk being used inefficiently.
However, when information is connected, schools can act earlier and direct their effort where it will matter most. When schools can act early, precious time and funding reach the people who need them.
What leading schools do differently with data
Leading schools don’t treat each stage of a staff member’s journey as a separate activity. They treat attraction, hiring, onboarding, development and retention as one continuous relationship with each staff member.
From the first job ad through to onboarding, development and retention, the same record follows each person. This means that HR and operational leads can see where talent is coming from, where the process is stalling and who may be at risk long before they hand in their notice. Leading schools build a single view across that journey.
This doesn’t stop after induction. It continues into the day-to-day management of each staff member:
- HR and payroll
- Compliance tracking
- Professional development
- Timetable
- The students and classes they work with
- Sick leave and arranged cover when needed
Recruitment, onboarding, staff administration, timetabling and students become one connected record, not a chain of separate handovers and individual responsibility. Practically, this means:
- Higher staff retention
- Better staff wellbeing
- Constant learning experiences
- More efficient practices
- Better finance and resource allocation
How to access the total view of your staff members
As a school leader, ask yourself one question: can you see each staff member clearly, across their whole journey and in relation to the students they work with?
Schools that have a connected view of their workforce are better positioned to make smarter decisions at every stage of the employee journey. Whilst this connected view is neither quick nor simple to achieve, it gives HR and operation leads the clarity they need to better manage their staff, retain key talent and recruit the strongest candidates.
To access this connected view, schools first should review their existing technology stack and check for integrations. Some platforms allow for third party integration which provides more joined-up data.
However, in cases where this isn’t possible, schools may need to move towards using one provider that offers ecosystem technology – for example one provider that offers recruitment, onboarding, HR, payroll and retention platforms.
Build a more connected view of your workforce
For HR and operational leaders, disconnected systems make it difficult to see the full picture behind workforce decisions. When recruitment, HR, payroll, timetabling and staff development data sit in separate places, valuable insights are easily missed, making it harder to plan resources effectively, retain talent and support school improvement.
Download our new report, The patchwork problem: how a ‘connected view’ has become critical to school improvement to explore the impact of fragmented data across schools, understand why a connected view is becoming increasingly important, and discover how leading organisations are approaching workforce visibility. Get your copy today and see what a more connected view could mean for your school.