Kenexa’s Research Institute (KRI) is a bellwether of workforce analytics and an extremely small (but incredibly valuable) portion of Kenexa’s overall infrastructure. If you haven’t heard of them or studied their findings, you’re missing out on some terrific insights, including:

• WorkTrends Studies: KRI has been assessing U.S. employee opinions since the mid-1980s and global trends since 2007. For an example, see For the slim majority of women, work and personal lives are balanced, but not for all.
• The Employee Confidence Index: A forecastable construct for measuring and predicting organizational success. See their white paper here.
• High-Performance Engagement Models: Exploration of the relationship between engagement and financial performance. For an example, see Engagement Trends over Time.

Remember, I’m married to a researcher and understand the value these studies can bring to an organization. But for many, putting that content into the context of their specific organizational needs is a barrier to action and change. And this is where the secret sauce of Kenexa’s new strategy really comes into play.

For several strategic clients, Kenexa has applied its KRI team for the specific purpose of attacking the “quality of hire” question. The insights gathered in this initial consultative research fundamentally change the sourcing strategies and resulting screening and assessment process. The outcome is a “tunnel” versus “funnel” candidate experience with the explicit goal of supporting only quality hires. It is this piece specifically – including competitive market research, top performer research and company culture assessment – that could change the face of recruiting as you know it.