Dive Brief:

• Recent advances in human capital analytics (HCA) have allowed innovative organizations to leverage real-time workplace data into significant competitive advantages.

• Yet the same technology can easily be perceived as "spying" on employees, eroding trust and undermining any gains achieved in efficiency and engagement.

• A new report from The Conference Board, titled "Big Data Doesn't Mean 'Big Brother': Employee Trust and the Next Generation of Human Capital Analytics," provides a offers a "comprehensive guide to balancing the promise and pitfalls of cutting-edge HCA."

Dive Insight:

Mary Young, principal researcher, Human Capital at The Conference Board and a co-author of the report., says from real-time sentiment polls to email header and calendar analysis to electronic sensing, new technologies help companies identify the behavior patterns of top performers, help other employees improve, and spot emerging issues so leaders can address them quickly.

But they can only do so if employees understand why the company wants to collect additional data, agree to participate, and trust that this information won't be used against them, she explains.

Some of the findings from the reports include the idea that any HCA initiative is only as powerful employees' willingness to share personal information and not mask their true thoughts and feelings for fear of being identified or punished. Trust is critical. Also, with properly designed opt-in and anonymization protocols, even companies operating in countries with tough data-protection rules can leverage next-generation HCA tools legally and profitably.

Also, employers must offer a strong business case understood by the entire workforce Finally, despite employees' understandable fears about "Big Brother" surveilling their workdays, the actual value of next-generation HCA lies not in tracking any specific person's behavior, but in the picture it provides of overall workforce dynamics.