The workplace nemesis -- apathy -- is at it again, gaining strength in the shadows.

Gallup found that only 13 percent of employees are engaged at work. And research performed by Deloitte discovered that 87 percent of companies rate engagement and retention as a high-priority problem, while 50 percent rate it as urgent.

But companies will need more than traditional human resources tactics to combat the low-morale monster. A new superhero is needed -- one that asks the hard questions, gets the right data, and empowers employees.

What your company needs is people analytics. People analytics is the combination of the most important business intelligence data -- namely, HR data and relational data -- into insightful analytics that solve high-value business problems.

This combination of business intelligence and big data about employees can be used to boost morale and identify quality workers. People are a company's greatest asset because behind every product or service is a team member making important decisions.

Companies that use people analytics outperform their competitors in hiring, retention rates, and leadership capabilities. Just take a look at Google. Not only has the corporation used people analytics to determine the best workplace designs and predict a person's likelihood of quitting, but it also used the data to create its famous "20 percent time" program to spur innovation and passion.

People Analytics to the Rescue

At my company, we believe people analytics should focus on two key components: relational data and traditional HR data.

Relational data is information on how people connect and work together, while HR data is a broad categorization of the records HR departments already measure about employees (e.g., pay, engagement, and tenure). By combining these two metrics, people analytics uncovers the inner workings of your company.

People analytics can actively measure the intangibles that seem impossible to track, such as collaboration, information sharing, and trust. Without this vital information, you could roll out an initiative to improve employee collaboration without knowing that most employee departmental groups don't communicate with one another. Then, you'll wonder why your efforts didn't work.

For example, social engagement is critical to satisfaction on the job. That's why, in the face of change as the financial crisis came to an end, Bank of America's new leadership wanted to reduce turnover and increase productivity in its call center. An analysis found that employee engagement, team interconnection, and job satisfaction were low. Changes were implemented to spark more social engagement, and a few months later, the test was run again. This time, huge improvements were discovered in productivity and satisfaction on the job.

In another situation, people analytics were used to measure social interactions among people who had just met to take part in a weeklong entrepreneurship program. Sociometric Solutions measured everything from speech characteristics to interaction time to physical activity of the participants on the first day.

It was determined that winning teams generally displayed more energy, spoke more, and were consistent. After that analysis, it was found that people analytics -- collected on the first day -- could calculate the winning teams with 90 percent precision.

That's how people analytics can also identify the go-to people your business can't afford to lose. In every organization, there's a subset of people who tend to have an oversized impact, bridging the various silos. Losing one of these people can be catastrophic.

But by measuring the intangibles, you show employees that these factors are important to your company and that you refuse to let low morale get the best of you. Collecting data about your team members can actually empower them.

Here are a few ways people analytics can elevate company morale:

1. Produce Accurate Performance Assessments
Most performance management tactics are flawed and biased, where supervisors' perception -- not actual performance -- of employees' work accounts for 62 percent of a review.

But as people analytics evolve, there will be more ways for employees to see and manage their own data. This way, team members can see how they stack up compared to their peers and ensure their work is being accounted for.

At one company that just began using people analytics, management added an unexpected candidate to its list of people to be considered for a senior leadership position based on the newly collected intangible data. This person wound up beating the others out for the job. Without people analytics, he never would have been on the radar.


2. Standardize the Rewards System
If you don't measure or reward something, employees won't think it's important. But you can't do this haphazardly. For example, one R&D company thought it was encouraging employee collaboration, but it was actually only rewarding individual contributors. This sent mixed messages, which created misalignment and unhappy employees.

Using people analytics, you can standardize your rewards system and show team members which behaviors your company values. With clear-cut goals, employees can get on board and excited to work hard.


3. Praise People Publicly
In your office, there's someone who works late, comes in early, and takes calls on weekends to help others. This person is rarely rewarded informally and almost never acknowledged formally. But his enthusiasm only goes so far without praise

Thanks to people analytics, she will finally earn the recognition she deserves. You don't always have to pay people more to make them happy. By making a concentrated effort to praise people, you'll show the team which behaviors are valued.


4. Cut Through the Hierarchy
People analytics have a way of exposing how flat an organization really is by empowering the people who already get things done but are often overlooked. When hierarchy is removed, it exposes others as informal experts.

For example, one Fortune 500 company experimented with people analytics to improve communication through an online Q&A system with anonymous usernames. When the data came back, it found that most of the conversation came from a thread started by a summer intern. The CTO was responding directly to and asking the intern questions without knowing who she was.