People Analytics: Work and Labour Protection in the Era of HRM through Big Data

In today’s knowledge-based economy, increasing attention is given to data collection and analysis, for knowledge creation also rests upon information gathered from available data.The amount of data produced in productive and social contexts is significant, often making traditional data analysis techniques unsuitable. In this sense, new technologies might certainly help, making it possible to simultaneously process different data and extracting information from them, an approach that forms part of the so-called “big data” phenomenon.Operators in the digital and the traditional market have readily acknowledged the central role and the potential big data might have in economic terms, to the extent that the European Commission has argued that « [d]ata is at the centre of the future knowledge economy and society». Better and more detailed data analysis enables one to collect useful information helping decision making at both the institutional and managerial level. For this reason, employers are significantly investing, also economically, in this sector in order to make different decisions, including business policies, organisational and human resources aspects. The present paper will focus on this last aspect, namely the use of big data in human resource management, to look at the impact that the growing use of these practices will produce. While labour law literature in the US has already covered this theme, this paper wants to provide an overview of this topic by considering Italy’s case, particularly labour law legislation and that on personal data, therefore taking into account the recently-issued European General Data Protection Regulation.