Nearly two years after implementing workforce analytics, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital has saved more than $10 million on costs by addressing staff issues and increasing employee engagement.

According to Christine Silvia, productivity manager of New Brunswick, New Jersey-based RWJUH, the improvements were accomplished without layoffs or firings. Rather, management used the employee analytics tool, developed by Kronos, to determine whether the organization was properly staffing each department.

"We were looking for something to manage our labor better, to not only hold us against our benchmarks, but also our budget to make sure we were staffing properly," Silvia says. "I'm looking at the organization as whole to make sure each department is on the right path and able to reach its goals."

Reports are updated daily, and directors and managers are directly in control of the data says Silvia, adding that the reports act as a roadmap – enabling the hospital to not only see past trends, but also where each department will end up. The analytics piece determines whether the department is on the right trajectory.

The implementation of Kronos' employee analytics at Robert Wood Johnson's flagship hospital took place over six to nine months, and while there were some "growing pains," Silvia says, "the original implementation helped us to learn how to better implement at our other campuses.

And its success was determined by the staff, according to Silvia. Not only do managers need to "buy-in" to the analytics, but all levels of staff must be engaged.

"It doesn't work without everyone buying into it," she says. "It's about getting the staff involved, so everyone is on the same page and so we don’t get to the point of layoffs or eliminating a position. We're managing our labor better before it gets to that point."

"With today's healthcare challenges, just accumulating a lot of data is not enough," Silvia said in a statement. "We needed data that would help us improve operations, make evidence-based decisions and take the most appropriate action."

Kronos' employee analytics will go live at two more Robert Wood Johnson campuses within the next two weeks, officials say.