AI冲击下的白领危机：你准备好职业重塑了吗？概要：随着 AI 技术的快速普及，白领就业市场正悄然发生结构性变化。ADP 数据显示，需要高等教育背景的岗位增长最慢，而零售、餐饮、制造业等“传统蓝领”岗位需求激增，薪资涨幅甚至是白领的三倍。Josh Bersin 提出，白领专业人士需正视现实，主动进行职业重塑。这不仅仅是“学习新技能”，更是一次心态与方向的双重更新。经验与判断依然宝贵，但如果不能掌握AI工具和新方法，将难以在职场中保持竞争力。在这个快速变化的时代，你是否也思考过如何在5年、10年后仍保持职业优势？欢迎留言分享你正在学习的新技能，或者你对“终身职业”概念的看法。
以下是正文，最后附录英文原文：
在过去六个月里，我们已经看到大量迹象表明白领经济正处于衰退之中。员工停止跳槽，工资增长放缓，而研究表明，拥有大学学历的员工如今是市场上最不被需要的群体。
请看 ADP 的最新研究，数据显示：那些需要高等学历（“高度准备”的岗位）现在是增长最慢的职业类别。
? 大学学历的需求正在下降
好消息是，这也让低薪、教育程度较低的群体迎来了更多机会。
餐饮、医疗、零售和制造行业的就业需求强劲，工资增长速度甚至是白领工作的三倍。从整体来看，这对美国经济是利好的，因为它有助于缩小收入差距、提升生活水平。
但对于那些在大学、研究生教育甚至博士学位上投入了大量金钱和时间的人来说，我们是否正在变成“未来被边缘化的劳动力”？不幸的是，答案是是的。
那么，我们（以及雇主）该怎么办？
简单地说，“赶快学会使用 AI”，对吧？研究显示，使用 AI 的软件工程师生产效率在几周内提高了 26%。对于市场营销、研究、出版、设计等专业人士来说也同样有效。
但这种转变需要时间。
一次令人震惊的拍摄经历
我最近在伯克利为一门在线课程拍摄视频，当我走进拍摄场地时，我惊讶地看到 6 名资深的视频/音频人员，一个摆满灯光、摄像机和音响设备的房间，还有一名制片人、剪辑师以及其他专业人员，他们大多是 40 到 50 岁之间。这一天的拍摄团队成本估计至少在 5 万美元以上。
而实际上，很多内容完全可以在一个灯光良好的家庭环境中，用一部 iPhone 和几只好麦克风就搞定了。请一位熟悉剪辑的 YouTube 博主，也能出不错的效果。虽然质量可能不同，但我几乎整整一个下午都在注视着一群“旧模式的工作者”。
老一代的职业失落感
我还看过一篇关于 Gen-X（40-50岁）职场人的职业困境的文章，一位资深广告人感叹道：
“我花了 20 年研究广告和品牌，而现在一个 20 岁的网红比我更懂营销！”
这太真实了，真的。
接受现实：我们必须适应变化
我们这些曾经的顾问、分析师、工程师和专业人士，如今正在经历 1970 到 80 年代制造业工人曾面临的焦虑。我们也必须学会适应。
以下是我个人的一些建议：
1️⃣ 放下偏见，承认需要重塑自我
我曾经不断为自己 1970 年代接受的人文学科教育辩护，那段经历确实美好且重要。它教会我“看待世界的角度”，但并不等同于“实用技能”。
此后的职业生涯，我不断“自我重塑”：
80年代学电脑和IT
90年代学数据、市场和分析
2000年代了解互联网、创业、领导力
最近十年，深入研究 HR、管理、领导力和 AI
每个十年，我都重新开始，而“谦逊”是最大的动力。说实话，我曾以为 AI 只是 LISP 编程和一些疯狂的 UC Berkeley 计算机科学家搞出来的东西。直到三年前我才开始重新学习，从 YouTube 视频、播客、文章中补课。
无论你是财务、市场、工程还是设计专业人士，都需要这样做。曾经用滑尺的你，得接受 HP 计算器，再接受电子表格，现在要接受 AI。不学习，你也会被取代。
这很难受，但你任何时候都可以重新学习。请接受这个现实。
并且要明白，“资历”可能并不重要。在这个时代，你可能得重新成为一个“学徒”。
2️⃣ 不要抛弃你的智慧与判断力
尽管技术在变，但你的经验、判断力、教育背景仍然很重要。
比如一位资深的视频制作人，他也可以像年轻人一样掌握 iPhone 和 AI 工具，但他的经验、审美、品牌意识、语言控制力，是新人难以比拟的。
AI 可以让每个财务部门都变得“自动化”，但最终真正盈利的公司，一定是那些更懂成本结构、盈利产品和商业模式的。这些能力不是工具教你的，而是智慧与判断的积累。
3️⃣ 尝试新事物，失败就放弃
技术快速变化，很多人会选择“观望”，等那个“最牛”的工具出现再去学。
但那通常是失败之路。
例如 Galileo 这样的系统，也许已经比你现在用的工具好 10 倍了。即使它未来可能失败，也值得尝试。
1980 年代 Lotus 1-2-3 是一项伟大发明，首次实现了表格、文档和演示的整合。但最终它也被淘汰了。
但那些第一时间学会 Lotus 的人，很快又掌握了下一代工具。一位我在 IBM 的朋友，就是 Lotus 的第一位系统工程师，后来成了 Yahoo 亚洲区总经理，最后还当上了风投合伙人。
如果他当时只顾担心 Lotus 会不会失败，也不会有后面的辉煌。
4️⃣ 投资你的激情、能量和生命力
接受职业终结是痛苦的。有时候让人焦虑、迷茫、甚至抑郁。
我也经历过，花了多年学习的知识，如今一提就被人白眼：“你还活在过去。”我自己也常常这么做，可能跟年龄有关。
解决方法是：重启你的个人能量。
我花很多时间和年轻的 HR 领导、创业者、家庭成员相处，保持活力，吸收新鲜观念。
保持身体健康（散步、早起、健身）也非常重要。这些让你有精力去“重启”。
我每个周六早上都会录播客，这既是总结，也是前瞻。这种反思与更新，是重塑的重要部分。
5️⃣ 接受不确定性
最后一点也是最重要的。
当你的工作没了、或你需要重新开始时，就像跳下悬崖——你不知道落地在哪里。
但这是可以接受的。
如果你愿意更新技能、接触新世界，总会有新机会出现。就像那些失去工厂岗位的蓝领工人，后来转行做木工、包工、教师等等。
如今我们这些“白领被冲击者”，可能无法像从前那样清晰地规划未来。
但我敢保证，新机会一定存在。只要你准备好，未来一定充满希望。
Over the last six months we’ve seen much evidence of a white-collar recession. Employees have stopped changing jobs, wage growth is slowing, and research shows that workers with college degrees are the least “in-demand” in the market.
Note this new research by ADP which shows that jobs requiring advanced degrees (“extensive preparation”) are now the slowest-growing part of the job market.
The positive of this is that lower-wage, less educated workers are seeing opportunities.
Demand for food service, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing workers is strong, and in fact their wages are growing at 3-times the growth of white-collar jobs. And this is positive for the US economy, since it reduces income inequality and raises standards of living.
But for those of us who invested heavily in college, graduate school, and other advanced degrees, are we becoming the new “dislocated workforce” of the future? Unfortunately the answer is yes.
What Should We (and Employers) Do?
Well the simple answer is “get your act together with AI,” right? Studies show that software engineers who use AI are 26% more productive in weeks, and the same is true for those of us in marketing, research, publishing, and design.
But this shift takes time.
I recently spent an afternoon doing a video-shoot for an online course here in Berkeley, and when I arrived at the location I was astounded to see 6 senior video/audio people, an entire room of lighting, cameras, and audio equipment, and a producer, editor, and other professionals, each of whom were in their 40s or 50s. This massive team of video producers was probably costing the vendor $50,000 or more for the day.
I bet most of this could have been done in a nicely lighted home with an iPhone and some good microphones and a YouTube influencer who knows video editing. I’m not saying the quality would be the same, but I was literally staring at “legacy work” for hours as I sat painstakingly through the interview.
I recently read an article about the career frustrations of Gen-X workers (now in their 40s and 50s) and I had to smile. One of the professionals lamented “I spent 20 years learning about advertising and branding and now a 20-year old Influencer knows more about marketing than me!”
So true, so true.
Let me not belabor the issue, we just have to accept that things have changed. We, as the privileged consultants, analysts, engineers, and professionals in the world, face the same frightening fate which manufacturing workers felt in the 1970s and 1980s. And we have to learn to adapt.
Let me give you my advice.
1/ Let go of your bias and admit you have to reinvent yourself.
I spent a lot of my life cost-justifying the “liberal arts education” I received in the 1970s, and it was a wonderful and important experience. And I continue to maintain that learning about history, science, and philosophy is valuable over time. But what it taught me was “perspective,” not skills. Yes, I learned to read and write and think, but most of my career since has been about reinventing myself regularly.
In the 1980s I learned about computers and IT; in the 1990s I learned about data, marketing, and analytics; in the 2000s I learned about the internet, entrepreneurship, and leadership; and in the ensuing decades I’ve learned about HR, leadership, management, and now AI.
Every decade you have to reinvent yourself, and in every situation your humility is what drives you. Honestly I thought AI was all about LISP programming and the crazy UC Berkeley computer scientists I worked with until three years ago. I woke up like everyone else and “relearned” what I needed to know, watching YouTubes, reading, and listening to podcasts.
If you’re a finance person, marketing professional, engineer, or other white collar worker, you must do the same. Just because you found your slide-rule fun and trendy to use in the 1980s, you had to shift to the HP calculator, spreadsheet, and now AI to stay ahead. If you fail to reinvent, you too can find yourself “thrown aside” for a younger replacement.
This is a humbling experience, but you can learn at any age. Just accept that the world has changed.
And let me add this. Your “seniority” and “experience” may not really matter. In a world of career reinvention, you may have to be a bit of an apprentice again.
2/ Don’t let go of your wisdom, judgement, and maturity.
Despite the amazing skills of some, your experience, judgement, and education does matter. While you learn new tools and skills, it’s ok to fall back on everything you’ve learned before. And that means you, as a white-collar professional, are bigger and more than your “skills.”
Consider the videographer, for example. He or she may learn to use AI and the iPhone like a teenager, but they bring their experience with mood, branding, tone, and language. Your experience as a finance professional, an engineer, a designer, or a leader still matters.
Technical skills are actually the easiest to obtain – it’s the judgement, wisdom, and experience that create value.
Imagine, for example, if every finance department is fully “AI-enabled.” That doesn’t mean every company in an industry will be as profitable – it will be the companies that deeply understand their cost structure, their profitable products, and their business models that outperform. That stuff comes from wisdom, judgement, and experience.
3/ Try new things and throw them away if they fail.
When technology changes quickly there’s a tendency to “wait.” I’ll just wait until the world’s leading “design tool” or “finance tool” comes along, and then I’ll jump in and reskill myself.
Sorry, that’s a recipe for failure. New systems (like Galileo, for example), may be 10 times better than the ones you’ve used before, even though some may fail.
Lotus 1-2-3 was a miraculous invention in the 1980s and it taught us how to integrate spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. (Believe it or not, nobody even considered such integration in the 1980s.) But Lotus went the way of the dinosaur, and those skills were stranded.
The people who jumped into Lotus and learned how to use it quickly migrated to a new generation because they had been playing around. One of my friends at IBM in the 1980s left the mother ship to join Lotus as their very first systems engineer. Yes, he eventually left but later that he became the general manager of Yahoo Asia and then a successful venture capitalist.
If he had worried about Lotus’s future (it was a small company at the time), he never would have succeeded as he did.
I play with lots of new tools all the time, often just to see what’s going on in my domain. This is why I talk with almost every HR tech vendor that approaches us.
4/ Invest in your own passions, energy, and longevity.
It’s not easy to face the demise of your career. It’s painful, frightening, and sometimes depressing.
I spent so many years learning about my old stuff and when I bring it up people roll their eyes and think “this guy is living in the past.” I know I still do it and maybe it’s because of my age.
The solution is to reinvigorate your energy: personal and professional. I spend a lot of time with young HR leaders, young entrepreneurs, and my own young family members. It helps me stay current and excited about the future, because many of the things they do are amazing and unexpected.
Take care of your physical health (go for walks, get up early, go to the gym). This gives you the energy to “reinvent.” I spend every Saturday morning working on my podcasts, largely as a way to “think ahead” as well as summarize the week. These periods of personal reflection and exercise are vital as you reinvent yourself.
This morning I was watching a video of a job fair in Washington DC, watching dozens of middle-aged professionals who had been “DOGE’d” out there looking for work. One woman, a senior research professional in the FDA, was lamenting her need to reinvent her career at the middle of her life. I could see the sadness and fear in her eyes.
She made the comment, “I spent a few days sitting on the couch wondering how I could ever get up again,” but then went to a job fair and suddenly realized there was a huge market of new opportunities. The reporter asked her how she felt, and I could see her eyes flash as she realized “maybe this reinvention will be good for me.”
5/ Uncertainty is ok.
And that leads me to the final point. When your job is gone or you need to reinvent, it’s like jumping off a cliff. You don’t know where you’ll land.
Well that’s perfectly ok. In most cases if you build your skills and reach out into the new world, you will find something new that you never expected. Many blue collar workers who lost factory jobs became carpenters, contractors, teachers, or other careers. We, as the white collar disrupted, may not see the future as clearly as we have in the past.
I can guarantee, however, that new opportunities do await. Just strap in for a ride and positive things will happen ahead.
Additional Information
Josh Bersin
2025年03月31日
David Green
David Green: The best HR & People Analytics articles of February 20252025年2月的 Data Driven HR Monthly 深入探讨了影响未来HR战略的关键趋势，涵盖了混合办公、AI驱动的技能管理、组织设计以及人力资源分析的最新发展。
麦肯锡提出了一种全新的HR运营模式，强调**“人力资源战略家、数据科学家和技术专家”** 的三位一体架构，以增强HR的战略影响力。同时，世界经济论坛（WEF）发布了**《全球技能分类法工具包》**，推动企业采用通用的技能语言，以提升人才管理能力。
另一个重要议题是任务智能（Task Intelligence），TechWolf的研究表明，企业应关注员工实际执行的任务，而不仅仅是他们具备的技能。这种方法有助于精准规划人才需求、优化招聘和培训，并挖掘自动化机会，以提升企业效能。
此外，混合办公和多样性、公平性、包容性（DEI）等议题正日益被政治化。美国最新数据表明，2025年1月仍有29%的工作日为远程办公，但企业对重返办公室（RTO）的讨论持续升温。随着AI的发展，HR部门如何平衡企业需求与员工期望，将成为未来几年最重要的挑战之一。
本期还关注了HR科技市场的发展，例如Gartner对2025年首席人力官（CHRO）的三大战略优先事项，以及AI在HR转型中的应用案例。对于希望在人力资源管理中充分利用数据和科技的HR领导者来说，本期内容不容错过！
February is supposed to be the shortest month but the 2025 version felt conspicuously long. We may be living in a post-truth world but it is an irrefutable fact that it was Ukraine that was invaded just over three years ago by 150,000 Russian troops. The Ukrainian people - and Volodymyr Zelenskyy - need to be supported not disparaged.
Compiling this month’s edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly proved to be a welcome distraction from geopolitics, even if two hitherto work topics that are increasingly being politicised - hybrid work and diversity, equity and inclusion - feature prominently. Other selections include a fresh take on the HR operating model from McKinsey, which is founded upon a strategic triumvirate of people strategists, people scientists, and people technologists. Look out also for a Global Skills Taxonomy toolkit from the World Economic Forum, as well a list of 20 global people analytics influencers, which was compiled using active ONA data. Enjoy!
This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at TechWolf
Are we looking at skills the wrong way?
AI and automation are reshaping work. By 2028, one-third of enterprise software will automate tasks and decisions (Gartner), and McKinsey estimates this could add 1.2% to annual GDP growth.
Yet, 92% of HR leaders say (Gartner) they don’t have reliable data on the skills of their workforce. The challenge is clear:
How do we ensure skills evolve as fast as work itself?
Which skills actually drive business value?
How can companies align business and talent strategies with real work?
Most organizations track skills through self-reports, manager assessments, and outdated frameworks. An AI data layer like TechWolf revolutionizes that issue. But skills alone don’t tell the full story—tasks do.
"Skills tell us what someone càn do, tasks tell us what they actually do" says Jeroen Van Hautte ?, TechWolf’s CTO & Co-Founder, "They explain why those skills are needed and what value they bring."
So to understand skills, we need to understand work itself. That’s where Task Intelligence comes in.
By analyzing real work data—from projects, collaboration tools, and enterprise systems—Task Intelligence connects skills to actual work, giving companies a real-time, unbiased view of workforce capabilities.
Organizations using task intelligence to gain insights in the skills of their workforce can:
Plan workforce needs with confidence
Target learning & development where it matters
Improve hiring by focusing on real skills
Identify automation opportunities to free up time for high-value work
Curious to see how task intelligence and AI-powered skills insights are shaping the future of work? Dive into our latest insights:
? How TechWolf Bridges Skills and Work
? Exploring the Task-Skill Connection
TechWolf helps large enterprises understand the skills they have, the skills they need, and how to manage the gap in between—powered by AI.
To explore how TechWolf’s AI can help your organization, reach out at hello@techwolf.ai or visit techwolf.ai.
To sponsor an edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, and share your brand with more than 140,000 Data Driven HR Monthly subscribers, send an email to dgreen@zandel.org.
FEBRUARY ROAD REPORT
In the last week of February, I had the privilege of chairing the second People Analytics World event in Zürich, which Ralf Buechsenschuss perfectly captures in his key takeaways and learnings. Thanks to Barry Swales and his team for organising a great two days. From Zürich, I am now heading to New York where Jamie Nevshehir and his team at NBC Universal are hosting a peer meeting for members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®. It promises to be an enthralling two days with more than 70 people analytics professionals attending and a line-up of speakers including: Dawn Klinghoffer, Geetanjali Gamel, Anshul Sheopuri and Jeremy Shapiro. Also in March, I’m looking forward to delivering keynotes at HiBob’s Heartcore HR Live event in London on March 13, as well as the Workhuman Live Forum, also in London on March 19. I hope to see some of you there. February also saw the acquisition of eqtble by Paradox - congrats to Adam Godson, Gabe Horwitz, Joseph Ifiegbu and all concerned.
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for February and, if you do, please share some data driven HR love with your colleagues and networks. Thanks to the many of you who liked, shared and/or commented on January’s compendium.
If you enjoy a dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is usually published every other Tuesday – subscribe here – and read the latest edition.
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
PHIL KIRSCHNER - McKinsey On Return To Office: Leaders Are Focused On The Wrong Thing | AARON DE SMET, BROOKE WEDDLE, BRYAN HANCOCK, MARIN MUGAYAR-BALDOCCHI, AND TAYLOR LAURICELLA - Returning to the office? Focus more on practices and less on the policy | NICK BLOOM - There are lies, damned lies and statistics | NICK BLOOM - The Future of Working from Home
Leaders must stop obsessing over where work gets done and start improving how it gets done.
February’s edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly has to start with this debate on RTO and hybrid. As Phil Kirschner’s article in Forbes explains, McKinsey has been publishing the findings of its ‘talent trends’ research through six studies since 2021. He observes that one clear trend has emerged: “The tension between where employees work and how effectively work gets done has been growing.” The latest McKinsey study finds that there was a surge in RTO from 2023 to 2024, with the proportion of mostly in-person workers (those working in person at least four days a week) doubling to 68 percent, from 34 percent in 2023. In his LinkedIn post citing Mark Twain’s infamous quote, Nick Bloom, who tracks work arrangements and attitudes monthly – see wfhresearch.com – questions the McKinsey data, explaining why he believes it is flawed and has both recall and sample biases. Bloom provides alternative data sources, which find that in January 2025, 29% of paid days in the US were work-from-home days (see FIG 1). Bloom’s supposition is that McKinsey may have felt pressurised by clients that want the narrative that work from home is failing in the media. One hopes that’s not the case, particularly as the main message the authors of the McKinsey article (Aaron De Smet, Brooke Weddle, Bryan Hancock, Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi and Taylor Lauricella) appear to be making is that: “The working model is far less important than the work environment leaders create.” They highlight five core practices to help firms implement a policy that fits their culture: collaboration, connectivity, innovation, mentorship, and skill development (see FIG 2). With the increasing politicisation – and even weaponisation by the new US Administration - of work topics such as flexible working and DEI, expect more debates like this as the year continues to unfurl.
FIG 1: About 29% of Paid Days in the US in January 2025 Were Work-From-Home Days (Source: WFH Research)
FIG 2: Employees’ ratings of their organization’s maturity in five practices by working model (Source: McKinsey)
CALLUM MCRAE AND SAMUEL BAMIDELE - Redefining workplace flexibility: Harmonizing corporate culture and employee satisfaction | KIM PARKER - Many remote workers say they’d be likely to leave their job if they could no longer work from home | BRIAN ELLIOTT, ANNIE DEAN, AND KEVIN OAKES – Navigating the Return-to-Office, Hybrid and Remote Landscape
Three more resources to help readers of the Data Driven HR Monthly navigate the latest research, challenges and discussions on flexible working. (1) Callum McRae and Samuel BAMIDELE present the key findings from WTW’s 2024 Workplace Flexibility Pulse Survey. One finding is that while 50% of 1,200 companies who participated in the study have policies in place requiring employees to be in the office for two to four days per week, the actual number of in-person days per week is lower (see FIG 3). (2) Similar to the WTW study, which also highlights the risk of employee attrition if companies fail to balance employer and employee needs, Kim Parker presents data from the Pew Research Center, which finds that nearly half of workers who currently work from home some of the time would likely leave if they were no longer able to do so (see FIG 4). (3) Finally, I highly recommend tuning into a recent The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) webinar, which saw Brian Elliott, Annie Dean, Kevin Oakes, and host Tom Stone get into the complexities of RTO, hybrid and remote work strategies. Topics covered included workplace design, how AI can augment human potential, and how blanket RTO mandates erode trust and engagement.
FIG 3: In-office-days required vs. actual by country (Source: WTW)
FIG 4: Source: Pew Research Center
HANNAH MAYER, LAREINA YEE, MICHAEL CHUI, AND ROGER ROBERTS - Superagency in the workplace: Empowering people to unlock AI’s full potential
Almost all companies invest in AI, but just 1 percent believe they are at maturity. The biggest barrier to scaling is not employees—who are ready—but leaders, who are not steering fast enough.
Inspired by Reid Hoffman’s book Superagency, this new report from McKinsey asks a similar question: How can companies harness AI to amplify human agency and unlock new levels of creativity and productivity in the workplace? Perhaps the standout conclusion is that employees are ready for AI but that the biggest barrier to success is leadership. The report is presented in five chapters. (1) An analysis of the rapid advancement of technology over the past two years and its implications for business adoption of AI. (2) The attitudes and perceptions of employees and leaders, with the former three times more likely than leaders realise to believe that AI will replace 30 percent of their work in the next year. (3) An examination of the need for speed and safety in AI deployment, with half of employees worrying about AI inaccuracy and cybersecurity risks. (4) A look at how companies risk losing ground in the AI race if leaders do not set bold goals. (5) Guidance on what is required for leaders to set their teams up for success with AI: “The challenge of AI in the workplace is not a technology challenge. It is a business challenge that calls upon leaders to align teams, address AI headwinds, and rewire their companies for change.” Finally, the article poses three questions each for leaders and employees to meet their AI future (see FIG 5). If you enjoy the article, I also recommend diving into AI in Action, an interactive four-part learning journey featuring Reid Hoffman and Lareina Yee, one of the authors of the McKinsey report. (Authors: Hannah M. Mayer, Lareina Yee, Michael Chui, and Roger Roberts).
FIG 5: Questions to shape a company’s AI future (Adapted from McKinsey)
FELIPE JARA - The Reality Check: Making AI in HR Actually Work
While 75% of organisations are still in early stages of AI adoption, those taking a systematic, process-led approach will see remarkable results - from 40% efficiency gains to fundamental transformations in how HR operates.
In his comprehensive and illuminating article, Felipe Jara analyses AI transformation in HR, breaking it down into four sections: (1) The Reality Check, which examines some of the barriers holding HR back: capability, financial constraints, delivery limitations, and technology. (2) The Process Revolution, examining the promise. With cases studies from the likes of Mastercard, IBM and Stanford Health Care, and how AI can augment the employee lifecycle (see FIG 6). (3) The Maturity Journey, which presents a maturity model from Deloitte and provides guidance on how to move forward. (4) The Implementation Framework, presenting a four-step approach to enabling AI in HR.
FIG 6: The AI-Augmented Talent Lifecycle (Source: Felipe Jara)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
ANDREW PITTS, MATTHEW DIABES, RICHARD ROSENOW AND STEPHANIE MURPHY - Top 20 People Analytics Influencers and more from the PANC
Whilst I always appreciate being included on ‘influencer’ lists, most are wholly subjective and compiled using little or no data. This makes the People Analytics Network Census (PANC), all the more interesting. The initiative, which is the brainchild of Andrew Pitts, Matthew Diabes, PhD, Richard Rosenow and Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D., uses active organisational network analysis to map the global people analytics network. The results, which are based on more than 450 participants, are presented in five groups: (1) Top 20 Overall People Analytics Influencers, (2) Top 3 Networking Influencers, (3) Top 3 Mentorship Influencers, (4) Top 3 Technical Influencers (5) Top 10 Influencers from Outside of the United States. It’s a real honour to be included in the first list. Congrats to all those selected – many of whom I count as friends, colleagues and inspirations: Al Adamsen, Alexis Fink, Amit Mohindra, Andrew Pitts, Cole Napper, Dave Ulrich, Dawn Klinghoffer, Heather Whiteman, Ph.D., Ian OKeefe, John Boudreau, Josh Bersin, Mark H. Hanson, Michael Arena, Michael M. Moon, PhD, Patrick Coolen, Richard Rosenow, Rob Cross, Stacia Sherman Garr, Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D., Annika Schultz, Barry Swales, Greg Pryor, Lexy Martin, Michelle Deneau, Kevin Erikson, Kevin S., Michael Walsh, PhD, Adam McKinnon, PhD., David Shontz, Jaap Veldkamp, Kinsey Li, Leopoldo Torres, Ludek Stehlik, Ph.D., Martha Curioni, Rafael Uribe, Sanja Licina, Ph.D.
MCKINSEY - What makes product teams effective?
In episodes of the Digital HR Leaders podcast with leaders such as Ian OKeefe (here) and Aashish Sharma (here), we’ve talked about the importance of productisation in people analytics. Moreover, Insight222’s 2024 People Analytics Ecosystem study found that ‘analytics at scale’ teams (those teams that turn an insight, prediction, or algorithm into a product) have emerged as a core capability in the people analytics function of Leading Companies. As such, this article by Santiago Comella-Dorda, Vik Sohoni, Arun Sunderraj, Dan Gardner, and Lauren Gingerich McCoy for McKinsey is required reading for people analytics leaders. They analysed data from 1,700 teams, to measure how five capabilities (strategy, structure, people, process, and technology) impact four main outcomes (effectiveness, speed, productivity, and quality). This article focuses on the key capabilities required for three sub-outcomes of effectiveness: (1) Delivery predictability, (2) Value realisation (see FIG 7), and (3) Team engagement.
FIG 7: The ten key capabilities of value realisation in product teams (Source: McKinsey)
HELEN FRIEDMAN - Early Trends Influencing People Analytics Agendas In 2025 | BEN BERRY - The Rise of External Talent Intelligence as a Strategic Priority | DAVID BOYLE - Beyond Build-Buy-Borrow: "Blend" Emerges as a Pillar of Workforce Strategy | HESHAM AHMED - The three pillars of competitive advantage in data & analytics
In each edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I feature a collection of articles by current and recent people analytics leaders. These are intended to act as a spur and inspiration to the field. Four are highlighted in this month’s edition. (1) Helen Friedman walks through three topics shaping many current people analytics agendas: workforce planning, AI in relation to skills and pay equity, and using data to drive decisions around turnover, pay and managing uncertainty. (2) Ben Berry explains why the use of external talent intelligence data by organisation is rising sharply, how they’re using this data and what we can expect to see in the future. (3) David Boyle writes on the emergence of ‘blend’ as a fourth pillar of workforce planning: “Workforce strategy and AI strategy have the potential to trip over each other if they are not synchronized.” (4) Hesham Ahmed outlines three ways data and analytics can drive competitive advantage: superiority of information, insight and action (see FIG 8): “Superiority of action: it is not sufficient to know something that others don’t. It is the ability to act on that information or insight that leads to an advantage or edge.”
FIG 8: Three pillars of competitive advantage in data and analytics (Source: Hesham Ahmed)
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
ASMUS KOMM, FERNANDA MAYOL, NEEL GANDHI, SANDRA DURTH, AND JASMIN KIEFER - A new operating model for people management: More personal, more tech, more human
Organizations that excel in both people development and financial performance are four times as likely as peers to outperform financially and one and a half times as likely as peers to remain top tier year on year.
In the last three years, the most popular resource I have shared on LinkedIn, with over 1m views is McKinsey’s 2022 article, HR’s new Operating Model. The sequel is likely to drive just as much interest. In this article, which I was grateful to be invited to contribute to, the McKinsey team of Asmus Komm, Fernanda Mayol, Neel Gandhi, Sandra Durth, and Jasmin Kiefer explore a new vision of people management, centred on hyper-personalising the employee experience. Their findings conclude that that only about 20 percent of the most strategic activities in today’s HR portfolios will remain with two-thirds of current HR tasks being automated to a large degree (see FIG 9). They also outline the core elements of the operating system required to turn their vision into reality encompassing (1) Establishing a strategic triumvirate of people strategists, people scientists, and people technologists, (2) Streamlining the people operating model: more strategic, more fluid, and more tech-enabled (see FIG 10), and (3) Mastering complexity with technology. The authors also set out concrete steps organisations can take to implement a new people operating system. These steps include the need to experiment, a focus on continuous improvement and an onus on scaling what works.
FIG 9: Two-thirds of today’s people management processes can be largely automated (Source: McKinsey)
FIG 10: The future operating model for people management will be more strategic, fluid and tech-enabled (Source: McKinsey)
GARTNER - Top 3 Strategic Priorities for Chief HR Officers
CHROs are navigating a complex landscape shaped by several key trends. CEOs prioritizing growth through transformation, AI deployment challenges and shifting labor market pressures on talent strategies are influencing how the best organizations are leading HR to achieve business goals.
New research from Gartner identifying the three top CHRO focus areas for 2025: (1) Elevating HR’s impact on the organisation’s growth strategy. (2) Building a deep bench of change leaders. (3) Creating a future-ready workforce. The report provides a deep-dive on the three priorities with guidance and methodologies on how to drive success in each, such as the Talent Risk Assessment Heat Map (see FIG 11). The report also contains a powerful section on the new capabilities required by chief people officers (see FIG 12) and HR professionals. A must-read.
FIG 11: Example Talent Risk Assessment Heat Map (Source: Gartner)
FIG 12: Model of a World-Class CHRO (Source: Gartner)
DAVE ULRICH AND ROBERT DAVID - How HR Can Help Deliver Both Market Share and Customer Share through Human Capability
The evidence shows that when HR engages customers in talent, organization, leadership, and HR department initiatives, both market share and customer share improve.
What role can chief human resources officers play in helping their organisations to increase customer share while building market share? In their article, Dave Ulrich and Robert David outline five specific steps CHROs can take, which together demonstrate how HR can move from its traditional support role to help drive customer relationships and business growth: (1) Identify targeted customers – focus human capability investments on these. (2) Track customer share. (3) Define customer connection. (4) Engage with target customers (see FIG 13), and (5) Change HR conversations. For more on why and how HR professionals can increase their engagement with customers, do listen to Dave in discussion with Stacia Garr and me on this episode pf the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How HR Can Create Stakeholder Value and Drive Organisational Growth.
FIG 13: Ways to connect and engage with customers (Source: Dave Ulrich and Robert David)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM - Global Skills Taxonomy Adoption Toolkit: Defining a Common Skills Language for a Future-Ready Workforce
Skills and talent shortages are critical challenges hindering economic growth, limiting business opportunities, and curbing individual potential. As technology rapidly advances and economic landscapes continue to shift, a common skills language is urgently needed to bridge gaps and enable workforce transformation.
The World Economic Forum is spoiling us thus far in 2025. Not content with publishing the barnstorming Future of Jobs 2025 report, they have also released the Global Skills Taxonomy Adoption Toolkit, which will be a boon for workforce planners and people analysts everywhere. The toolkit is designed to equip leaders with actionable steps, evidence-based insights, and real-world case studies to adopt a common skills language and embed skills-first approaches into talent management strategies. Contents include (1) reasons for adopting a common skills taxonomy, (2) a Global Skills Taxonomy roadmap comprised of three phases (see FIG 14), and (3) key insights and methodologies for implementing each phase. Kudos to the authors - Neil Allison, Ximena Játiva, and Aarushi Singhania along with a stellar cast of contributors including Peter Brown MBE, Simon Brown ??, Shannon Custard, Soon Joo Gog, Kelli Jordan, and Jan Meyer.
FIG 14: Global Skills Taxonomy adoption roadmap (Source: World Economic Forum)
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
IT SURVEY GROUP - The Future of Feedback: Trends Shaping Employee Listening in 2025
AI and technology advancement are game changers for the listening and survey space. They will allow us to synthesize and interpret data – particularly qualitative data – with unprecedented speed and complexity
What are the key trends shaping the evolution of employee listening? Who better to ask than practitioners at the forefront of this important work. In their article, members of the IT Survey Group – including Megan Sherman, Ph.D., Kristin Saboe, Ph.D., Sophie Horneber, Anthony Ariano, Caitie Jacobson Mikulis, David Koch, Kellie Roberts, M.A., Stephanie Andel, PhD, and Robyn Petree-Guzman, Ph.D. present five trends shaping employee listening in 2025 (see FIG 15): (1) Supercharging sentiment, (2) “Silent” signaling, (3) Synergising surveys, (4) Guiding greatness, and (5) Refining the rhythm.
FIG 15: Top five trends for employee listening (Source: IT Survey Group)
NICK LYNN - Proactive Accountability: Turning Employee Insights into Action
Proactive accountability is more than just a practice — it’s a cultural commitment to transforming insights into meaningful action. It thrives on clear ownership, well-defined goals, and unwavering transparency.
Nick Lynn uses the concept of ‘proactive accountability’, which is commonplace in health and safety work, to solve the habitual challenge of turning insights gathered from employee listening work into meaningful actions (see FIG 16). Nick examines some of the common challenges from moving from insight to action such as the lack of a framework to prioritise feedback, slow decision-making, and poo communication. He explains why proactive accountability matters and how to foster it including developing a structured framework, assigning clear ownership, setting measurable goals, leveraging technology, building a community of change leaders, and celebrating success.
FIG 16: Proactive accountability (Source: Nick Lynn)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING
DARRELL RIGBY AND ZACH FIRST – The Power of Strategic Fit
Companies that excel at creating stakeholder value attract and retain the most valuable stakeholders, gaining a competitive advantage.
In their article for Harvard Business Review, Bain partners Darrell Rigby and Zach First how to create a cohesive strategy that unleashes the power of ‘strategic fit’, which they define as: “Strategic fit is the degree of alignment and amount of synergy in a company’s business system.” They identify seven strategic factors: (1) the mental model, (2) purpose and ambitions, (3) stakeholder value creation, (4) macro forces, (5) markets and products, (6) competitive advantages, and (7) the operating model. They explain how aligning them generates beneficial multiplier effects, and – especially relevant for HR and people analytics professionals – demonstrate how creating value for employees and other stakeholders leads to higher returns (see FIG 17).
FIG 17: Strategic Fit Leads to Higher Returns (Source: Bain)
ANNE MCSILVER | LINKEDIN – Workplace Learning Report 2025: The rise of career champions
Learning combined with career development — leadership training, coaching, internal mobility, and more — accelerates the flow of critical skills to keep pace with business needs
The key theme of LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report 2025 is that the 36% of companies categorised as ‘career development champions’ (those companies with robust programs that yield business results) enjoy positive correlations with profitability outlook, confidence to attract and retain talent, and increased adoption of GAI. The report, with lead author Anne McSilver, features contributions from a host of talent leaders including: Vidya Krishnan (“The companies that outlearn other companies will outperform them.”), Chris Louie, Chris Foltz, Jennifer Shappley, Al Dea and Amanda Nolen (“You must be able to answer at least one of these three questions: How will this initiative help you to make money, save money, or mitigate risk for the company.”). The report also presents five talent foundations designed to accelerate career-driven learning: (1) Build the right skills, faster (see FIG 18). (2) Help people – and skills – move more easily. (3) Measure business impact. (4) Empower managers to support employee careers. (5) Inspire individual career growth. Thanks to Jennifer Gronski for making me aware of the report.
FIG 18: Skills-based talent and career development champions (Source: LinkedIn)
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING
STACIA GARR - Understanding the Impact of Recent DEI Executive Orders | KENJI YOSHINO, DAVID GLASGOW, AND CHRISTINA JOSEPH - The Legal Landscape Around DEI Is Shifting. Your Messaging Should, Too | JOSH BERSIN - Despite Political Firestorm, Diversity Investments Are Alive And Well | JOELLE EMERSON - Continuing the Work of DEI, No Matter What Your Company Calls It |
While DEI the acronym may be on the decline, the work itself will remain vital for organizations that want to thrive today and in the future.
President Trump’s two executive orders (EOs) to “end radical and wasteful” Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility initiatives, and litigate up to nine private companies as examples have set off a hailstorm of amazement and uncertainty. From what I’ve come across to date, here are some resources I recommend consuming: (1) Stacia Sherman Garr of RedThread Research was one of the first out of the blocks with a very helpful summary of the EOs and their implications. (2) Kenji Yoshino, David Glasgow, and Christina Joseph from the NYU School of Law’s Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, set out best practices on communicating about DEI, offer some sample language to avoid legal risk, and share strategies to disseminate these best practices throughout your organisation. (3) Josh Bersin offers a glimmer of hope in his article, first by highlighting organisations like Apple, Microsoft and JP Morgan that have all come out publicly against anti-DEI initiatives, and second by emphasising that rather than turning away from DEI, many companies are instead “embedding DEI into the disciplines of leadership, recruitment, performance management, and rewards.” (4) Joelle Emerson presents findings from a study by Paradigm, The State of Culture and Inclusion: 2024 Trends and a Look Ahead at 2025, which outlines three ways companies should consider shifting their approach to DEI: resetting the narrative, using data more effectively, and moving from siloed efforts to an embedded company-wide focus on creating cultures that work for everyone.
HR TECH VOICES
Much of the innovation in the field continues to be driven by the vendor community, and I’ve picked out a few resources from February that I recommend readers delve into. In a slight change-up this month, I’ll start with a couple of pieces that analyse the people analytics and wider HR technology market:
FRANZ GILBERT AND MATTHEW SHANNON - How agentic AI is changing HR dynamics in 2025 – Deloitte's Human Capital Forward team of Franz Gilbert and Matthew Shannon unveil six trends that will likely change how humans and technology work together in the year ahead. Their first prediction is that: “Improved macroeconomic factors will drive increased investment and transactions in the HR technology market.”
MERCER - The 2024/2025 Skills Snapshot Survey report – The Mercer team of Brian Fisher, Melba Gant, Katie Jenkins, ?Heather Ryan, and Peter Stevenson unveil the findings from their skills snapshot survey. One of the main findings is that the number of organisations attaining a high or very high level in skills maturity has increased significantly compared to 2023 (see FIG 19).
FIG 19: Skills maturity across organisations in talent practices, 2024 vs 2023 (Source: Mercer)
PHILIP ARKCOLL - How to get people to care about your insights – Philip Arkcoll, CEO at Worklytics, provides a five-step guide to help organisations turn insights from people data into meaningful outcomes.
JOHN GUY AND GARETH FLYNN - Simply Skills Chat: SWP, Tasks, AI, Skills and HR – John Guy and Gareth Flynn explore how HR can take advantage of the latest data, toolsets and mindsets to advance the field and drive business value.
LOUJAINA ABDELWAHED - Remote Companies Grow Twice as Fast – Loujaina Abdelwahed, PhD presents analysis by Revelio Labs, which finds that workforce growth in companies offering remote and hybrid work arrangements has outpaced that of in-person firms (see FIG 20).
FIG 20: Remote and hybrid companies have grown twice as fast as in-person companies (Source: Revelio Labs)
PODCASTS OF THE MONTH
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected five gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
HEATHER BUSSING – Navigating Trump’s DE&I Executive Orders: Clarity – In a must-listen episode of Workplace Stories, Heather Bussing joins Stacia Sherman Garr and Dani Johnson to unpick the recent executive orders on DE&I, what they mean for businesses, and how employers can navigate this complex landscape without overreacting.
JEFFREY PFEFFER – Is Work Killing Us? – “An employer can be a good steward of the human beings whose lives have been entrusted to them — or not,” explains Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of Dying for a Paycheck, to host Kevin Cool, in this powerful episode of the if/then podcast from Stanford Business School.
MARC EFFRON - The Science of Talent, 8 Steps to High Performance – Marc Effron joins Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD of the Directionally Correct podcast for an absorbing discussion covering topics such as why top I/O psychology Ph.D. programs aren’t more practitioner focused, as well as Marc’s two recent articles: “It’s not the mortar, it’s the bricks” and “Is the juice worth the squeeze”.
RICHARD ROSENOW – Reimagining HR: Leveraging AI and Data for Better Outcomes – Richard Rosenow guests on the Capital H podcast with Kyle Forrest to discuss the role of data quality, governance, and AI in enabling HR teams to focus on strategic insights and drive business outcomes.
DEBORAH PERRY PISCIONE - Employment Is Changing Forever – Sharing insights from her new book with Josh Drean, Employment is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies are Revolutionizing the Way We Work, Deborah Perry Piscione joins host Alison Beard on HBR IdeaCast to explain why we’re at a pivot point where old models of employment will be replaced by entirely new ones, and how mindset shifts and upskilling can help us prepare.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
NAOMI VERGHESE, MADHURA CHAKRABARTI, AND DAVID GREEN | INSIGHT22 – People Analytics Trends Webinar
Hopefully, I’ll be excused the mild dose of self-indulgence here, but this month’s ‘Video of the Month’ is the recent webinar I hosted with Naomi Verghese and Madhura Chakrabarti, PhD on the key findings of fifth annual Insight222 People Analytics Trends report. The webinar includes a deep dive on the four main findings of the study, which include insights on the impact of AI on people analytics, how leading companies measure the value of their work, and what we’ve identified as the adoption gap in people analytics.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
SERENA HUANG - The Inclusion Equation: Leveraging Data & AI For Organizational Diversity and Well-being
Serena H. Huang, Ph.D.’s debut book is incredibly well-timed given the current assault on diversity, equity and inclusion. The Inclusion Equation provides a compelling guide to merging DEI and wellbeing initiatives with people analytics and AI to deliver outcomes for employees – and the business. As I wrote in my endorsement of the book: “The Inclusion Equation acts as a guide for chief people officers to harness data, analytics and technology to create a truly inclusive and healthy environment where workers can thrive.”
RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH
KYLE LAGUNAS - Unlocking AI’s Potential in HR: A Practical Guide for Leaders
This new report from Kyle Lagunas and the team at Aptitude Research is certainly worth a read. It features insights from seasoned HR thinkers and executives like Bob Pulver, Manjuri Sinha, Dustin Cann, and Meghan Rhatigan as well as a practical framework – impact, complexity, and risk - for assessing AI use cases, helping HR and operations professionals cut through the hype and so making smarter technology decisions.
FIG 21: Adoption of AI in HR is slowing, but interest isn’t (Source: Aptitude Research)
BONUS RESOURCES
Some bonus resources to also consume this month:
I don't anyone is writing with more quality or consistency on the impact of AI on work and on HR than Jason Averbook read one of his latest pieces, Thriving, Not Just Surviving, in an AI-First World, and then - if you haven't already - subscribe to his Now to Next Substack.
Adam Bryant’s Strategic CHRO newsletter is always required reading as his recent interviews with Ellyn Shook (CHROs Must Never Forget That They Are The Voice Of The People On The C-Suite Team) and Peter Fasolo, Ph.D. (You Have To Be Curious About How All The Levers Work In Large-Scale Social Systems) ably demonstrate.
Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks Can AI Fix Succession Planning? and highlights how passive data can be used to help predict leadership success: “The work of David Stillwell, Sandra Matz and Michal Kosinski demonstrates how AI can infer personality traits and leadership potential from digital footprints, as well as internal company data not historically seen as critical to leadership talent.”
In a recent edition of his This Week, In Recruiting newsletter, Hung Lee asks is Elon Musk an existential threat to HR, and presents six compelling arguments to suggest he might be. After reading Hung’s piece, readers may wish that Musk is handed a one-way ticket to mars.
Thomas Otter is one of my favourite writers, and in The difficult second album: Advice for HR TECH vendors on launching a second product uses The Stone Roses sophomore album, The Second Coming (actually, a very good album) as a warning for HR Tech vendors intent on launching a second product.
Tom Redman and Donna Burbank explain how by mixing together some training, providing an opportunity to speak up, and having better KPIs, leaders can hone a data driven culture: How to Make Everyone Great at Data.
In his article, Laurent Reich provides five learnings to make the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and opportunity for HR: CSRD: HR's Burden or Breakthrough? Turning Compliance into Opportunity: 5 learnings.
FROM MY DESK
February saw the final two episodes of series 44 the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by our friends at TalentNeuron (thanks to John Lynch, David Wilkins, Maureen McGinness, and the TalentNeuron team). It also saw a special bonus episode featuring my colleagues from Insight222, and the first episode of series 45, sponsored by our friends at Amazing Workplace, Inc. (thanks to Shon Holyfield).
HENRIK HÅKANSSON - What People Analytics Leaders Need to Know About Scaling Their Function – Henrik Håkansson, who has built people analytics functions at three companies: Sony, Delivery Hero, and now Volvo Cars, joins me to share practical insights from his journey—what worked, what didn’t, and the lessons he’s learned on scaling people analytics along the way.
TOBIAS BARTHOLOMÉ – How Lufthansa Group Combines Operational and Strategic Workforce Planning - Dr. Tobias Bartholomé, Project Lead for Strategic Workforce Planning at Lufthansa Group, joins me to explore why—after nearly a decade—Lufthansa has taken a bold step back to reimagine how it plans for the future of work.
JONATHAN FERRAR AND NAOMI VERGHESE - How Leading Companies Turn People Analytics Into Business Value – In a special bonus episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, I was joined by my Insight222 colleagues Jonathan Ferrar and Naomi Verghese to uncover what truly differentiates leading companies in people analytics, and what research tells us about the evolution of the field over the last five years.
ERIN MEYER - How to Bridge Cultures and Lead Global Teams for Success – Erin Meyer, Professor at INSEAD and author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business joins me for a conversation exploring how cultural differences shape the way we work, lead, and collaborate.
DAVID GREEN - How do you leverage People Analytics to inform Strategic Workforce Planning initiatives? – A wrap up of series 44 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, which featured conversations with Stacia Sherman Garr, Dave Ulrich, Prasad Setty, David Wilkins, Henrik Håkansson, and Dr. Tobias Bartholomé, and featured the common question: How do you leverage People Analytics to inform Strategic Workforce Planning initiatives?
LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE IN PEOPLE ANALYTICS OR HR TECH?
I’d like to highlight once again the wonderful resource created by Richard Rosenow and the One Model team of open roles in people analytics and HR technology, which – as Richard’s latest newsletter reveals - now numbers over 500 roles. Look out too for Richard’s People Analytics Talent Book.
THANK YOU
The team at 365Talents for including me in their Top 50 HR influencers to follow in 2025
Mila Pascual-Nodusso for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast in her list of the Top 6 Spotify Podcasts on Human Resources, Talent Management, and Leadership Development.
Neeru Monga for also including the Digital HR Leaders podcast on a list of her seven favourite podcasts.
Steve Hunt for concluding after running a ChatGPT summary of the January edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, that my version “is far more informative, interesting, and enjoyable even if it does take more time to read.” I won’t hang up my cap, just yet then ;-)
Hirex for including me as one of 10+ influential experts you need to follow in 2025
Thinkers360 for including me in their list of Top 100 B2B Thought Leaders, Analysts & Influencers You Should Work With In 2025 (EMEA).
Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who either shared the January edition of Data Driven HR Monthly and/or posted about the Digital HR Leaders podcast, conferences or other content. It's much appreciated: Thomas Kohler, Steve Sands, Christian Vetter ??, Ashish Pant, Stela Lupushor, Jo Thackray, Elin Thomasian, Guusje Brummer, Russell Flint, Kevin Le Vaillant, RJ Milnor, Ben Berry, Sewmini Amanda, Malinda Perera, Terri Horton, EdD, MBA, MA, SHRM-CP, PHR, Nesimi Akgul, Charlotte Copeman, Amardeep Singh, MBA, Diego Miranda, Jeff Wellstead, Dr Philip Gibbs, Amber O'Mahony, David Simmonds FCIPD, Sachin Sangade, Thiago Pimentel Pinto, Robin Haag, Susan Podlogar (she/her), Torin Ellis, Scott Reida, Catriona Lindsay, Kris Saling, Graham Tollit, Aravind Warrier, Jacob Nielsen, Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD), Lewis Garrad, Viktoriia Kriukova (Вікторія Крюкова), Ying Li, Marc Steven Ramos, Danielle Farrell, MA, Greg Pryor, Jose Luis Chavez Vasquez, Michel Ciampi, Jacqui Brassey, PhD, MA, MAfN ?️ (née Schouten), Till Alexander Leopold, Richard Bretzger, José Valdivieso, John Golden, Ph.D., Kathleen Kruse, Kyle Forrest, Matthew Hamilton, Asaf Jackoby, David McLean, Dave Millner, Ben Waber, Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA, Federico Bechini, Rebecca Ray, Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP, Tobias W. Goers ツ, Andrew Spence, Michelle Lee ?, Alex Franco, MHRM, Destin Cacioppo, Anisha Aulbach, Megan Reif, Dolapo (Dolly) Oyenuga, Kirsten Edwards, Kimberly Rose, Amanda dos Reis Garcia, Paola Alfaro Alpízar, Anna Kjellberg, Lucie Vottova, Kouros Behzad, Alexis Vergani, Francesca Gabetti, Brandon Roberts, Delia Majarín, Peter Ryan, John Gunawan, Sergio Garcia Mora, Dan George, Gal Mozes, PhD, Chris Long, Ohad Geron, Ryan Wong, Raja Sengupta, Pedro Pereira, Nikita D'Souza, Timo Tischer, Dave Fineman, Monika Manova, Shuang Yueh Pui, PhD, Holly Kortright (she-her), Hanne Hoberg, Andrés García Ayala, Arne-Christian Van Der Tang, Daisy Grewal, Ph.D., Nicolas Quadrelli, Erik Otteson, Bejoy Mathew, Stephen Hickey, Agnes Garaba, Gawain Wang, Emanuele Magrone, Maria Ursu, Marc Caslani, Dan Lapporte, Patrick Coolen, Ian Grant FCIPD, Joonghak Lee, Jaejin Lee, David Balls (FCIPD), Craig Starbuck, PhD, Mariami Lolashvili, Mattijs Mol, David Elkjær, Marie-Hélène Gélinas, MBA (Cand.), Aurélie Crégut, Nick Hudgell, Teodora Staneva, Sonia Mooney, Elizabeth Esarove, Søren Kold, Moïra Taillefer, Monika Mardaus, Tina Peeters, PhD, Ken Clar, Maria Alice Jovinski, Marcela Mury, Toon van der Veer, Madeline Cedeno, Marc Voi Chiuli. (MSc. HRM. Assoc CIPD. MIHRM.), Herbert Burri, Alexander S. Locher, Ava Dossi, Anna Kuzmenko
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Green ?? is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As Managing Partner and Executive Director at Insight222, he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 100 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222, David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and is an instructor for Insight222's myHRfuture Academy. His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar, Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value was published in the summer of 2021.
MEET ME AT THESE EVENTS
I'll be speaking about people analytics, the future of work, and data driven HR at a number of upcoming events in early 2025:
March 13 - HiBob Heartcore HR LIVE, London
March 19 - Workhuman Live Forum, London
April 10-11 - Wharton People Analytics Conference, Philadelphia
April 29-30 - People Analytics World, London
May 6-8 - UNLEASH America, Las Vegas
June 4-6 - TALREOS (Talent Analytics Leadership Roundtable Economic Mobility Summit), Chicago
July 31 - August 1 - People Matters TechHR India 2025, Delhi
October 21-22 - UNLEASH World, Paris
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
【火热报名中】2025北美华人人力资源夏季论坛6月7日-8日在硅谷举办，诚邀参加，欢迎合作
2025年备受关注的北美华人人力资源夏季论坛将于6月7-8日在硅谷重磅举办！
从2016年起，北美华人人力资源协会（NACSHR）一直致力于构建一个专为HR专业人士及商业精英打造的交流平台。多年来，NACSHR的论坛已经发展成为北美地区最有影响力的人力资源活动之一，吸引了众多行业领导者和专家的关注与参与。 2025年6月，我们非常荣幸能够邀请北美优秀的华人人力资源专业人士以及从业者，一起加入NACSHR的夏季盛典。基于我们多年会议的成功传统，NACSHR夏季论坛将是一场专业前沿、落地实践、聚焦华人发展的形式丰富多样的盛会。
2025年的夏季盛典将继续探索更多活动形式和深入的交流活动。不仅旨在提供最新的行业知识和趋势，而且为与会者提供了一个与行业顶尖专业人士进行近距离交流的宝贵机会，并且与同行探讨建立深度合作的可能，促进华人人力资源行业的繁荣和发展！2025夏季论坛我们将聚焦华人人力资源同仁关注的热点话题，如政策变化、人才发展、华人HR职业发展，中资在北美、AI热点及更多专业领域新知。会议形式也将更加丰富多彩！
我们期待着北美地区的华人人力资源同仁能够共聚一堂，共同探索和塑造未来华人人力资源的新趋势。
Stay Together Stay Powerful
诚挚邀请全球华人HR以及人力资源行业从业人员参加本次夏季论坛。
30多位北美华人优秀的HR及专家为你带来2天充实的专业内容，2025将会更多精彩更多机会！
相信一定不可错过！
广泛的北美华人人力资源网络社群
适合华人HR职场发展的专业分享
潜在的工作和发展机会
立即报名，锁定席位，与北美HR同仁相聚
2025北美华人人力资源夏季论坛 2025 NACSHR Summer Forum
时间：2024年6月7日-8日 周六周日 （9:00-17:00 ） 周六8点半签到
地点：Silicon Valley CA （报名后告知）
主办：NACSHR Chuhai.tips
会议形式：专业论坛+小组讨论+晚宴酒会+职业机会+企业参访+互动交流 (更多精彩陆续发布)
晚宴：150美元/人（不单独销售，需购买门票，名额有限，售完为止 参与者为分享嘉宾、特邀专家、VIP参会等40人规模）
报名： https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/B86228DD-27A2-360E-078F-0B57F24B9F7B （因会场空间大小，名额有限，先到先得）
门票类型
HR Leader Pass：仅限InhouseHR和学生及企业内部HR相关职能 （其中5月1日前有一个特惠价格 500美元 /买一送一 ）
General Pass：适用于HR服务机构、顾问、猎头人才服务等非InhouseHR相关
（会议期间提供咖啡和茶等 注：但午餐需自理，因酒店午餐成本非常高，所以不含会议午餐）
为了确保所有参会者的最佳体验，NACSHR论坛管理团队将定期审核注册名单，并可能根据需要调整注册类别。如果您的注册类型被调整，您需补缴相应的费用差额。本政策旨在维护公平性，并提升所有与会者的参会体验。
付费指南：https://www.nacshr.org/2768/
更多会议相关内容，我们会不断更新，并通过NACSHR官网和社交媒体发布。
会议参展及赞助演讲合作
联系人：Annie（nacshr818@gmail.com）或 点击申请 ： https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/CDBE9324-6291-EB0E-3E50-91532A2A70BB
加入北美华人人力资源服务图谱：点击注册
申请演讲分享嘉宾：https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/898DB159-05B5-1C3E-BCD4-9C7A6E324482
媒体合作：联系 nacshr818@gmail.com（备注媒体合作）
如何可以参与NACSHR夏季论坛的合作？
我们欢迎各界同仁一起共襄盛会，各种合作形式可以参与其中：
· 作为人力资源服务机构，有多种方式可以参与共襄盛举。你可以选择各种赞助形式，如钻石赞助、演讲赞助、设置展位、Demo展示，年度合作等多种方式，具体可以联系我们。 另外如果贵司还没有加入北美华人人力资源服务图谱，点击这里可以加入：https://www.nacshr.org/map/Register/join
赞助合作： Annie nacshr818@gmail.com 备注 赞助合作
· 希望作为嘉宾分享交流，我们特别欢迎在北美地区有丰富实践经验的InhouseHR的同仁，可以点击申请演讲分享嘉宾的链接 （https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/898DB159-05B5-1C3E-BCD4-9C7A6E324482 ），或者邮件我们 nacshr818@gmail.com备注 嘉宾
· 行业媒体或华人协会等其他组织，热烈欢迎加入到论坛的合作中 ，邮件我们 nacshr818@gmail.com 备注 媒体合作
你为什么不能错过NACSHR峰会：
聆听行业大咖的精心分享：演讲嘉宾包括成功的企业家、重量级的行业内大咖、优秀的人才战略专家，精通中国以及北美的人力资源市场。
学习新知识，掌握新动态：不论您是职场老将还是新兵，更新知识库是一个永恒的课题，峰会设置了多种会议形式，帮助您打开新视野。
职业发展新机遇，更广泛的选择：NACSHR设置了北美地区HR岗位需求，提供面对面沟通交流机会。
北美地区最大的华人HR行业盛会：汇聚北美职场华人力量，打造北美唯一、最大的华人HR盛会。
交流新资讯，结交新伙伴：探讨行业热点话题，激发创新思维，共同推动HR行业的发展。
启发职场新思维，实现职业新突破：探讨华人管理者如何实现职场发展目标，与嘉宾和行业专家共同探讨如何在美国职场实现自我价值。
往届回顾：
https://www.nacshr.org/762.html
https://news.nacshr.org/1991/
https://www.nacshr.org/2299/
2025 North America Chinese HR Summer Forum: A Premier Event for HR Professionals!
Date: June 7-8, 2025 (Saturday & Sunday)
Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Check-in starts at 8:30 AM on Saturday)
Location: Silicon Valley, CA (Exact venue details will be provided upon registration)
Registration: Register Now
Since 2016, the North America Chinese Society for Human Resources (NACSHR) has been dedicated to building a platform for HR professionals and business leaders to connect, share insights, and grow together. Over the years, the NACSHR Forum has become one of the most influential HR events in North America, drawing industry leaders and experts from various fields.
In June 2025, we are excited to welcome outstanding Chinese HR professionals and industry practitioners to join us for the NACSHR Summer Forum, a landmark event focused on cutting-edge HR trends, practical insights, and professional networking for Chinese HR leaders. Continuing the success of our past forums, this year’s event promises an even richer and more dynamic experience, offering unparalleled opportunities for learning, collaboration, and career advancement.
What to Expect at NACSHR 2025?
Engaging Keynotes & Expert Panels – Learn from 30+ top Chinese HR professionals and industry leaders.
Interactive Roundtables & Workshops – Gain hands-on insights into the latest HR strategies and best practices.
Networking & Career Development – Expand your professional network and explore new career opportunities.
Exclusive Corporate Visits & Social Events – Connect with HR peers through in-depth discussions, company tours, and an evening gala.
Stay Together, Stay Powerful – Join us in shaping the future of HR for Chinese professionals in North America!
Ticket Information
HR Leader Pass – For in-house HR professionals and students (Special Early Bird Offer before March 1: $300 Buy-One-Get-One-Free).
General Pass – For HR service providers, consultants, recruiters, and other non-inhouse HR professionals.
Coffee and tea will be provided during the event. Please note that lunch is not included due to high venue costs.
To ensure an optimal experience for all attendees, the NACSHR organizing team reserves the right to review and adjust registration categories. If your registration type requires adjustment, you may need to pay the price difference.
Sponsorship & Speaking Opportunities
Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor
Partner with us to showcase your brand to a highly engaged HR audience. We offer various sponsorship packages, including keynote sponsorships, exhibition booths, product demos, and annual partnership opportunities.
Apply for Sponsorship
Contact: Annie at nacshr818@gmail.com (Subject: Sponsorship Inquiry)
Become a Speaker
We welcome experienced in-house HR professionals in North America to share their insights and best practices.
Apply to Speak
Contact: nacshr818@gmail.com (Subject: Speaker Inquiry)
Media Partnerships & HR Community Collaborations
We invite media outlets and HR associations to collaborate and promote this prestigious event.
Contact: nacshr818@gmail.com (Subject: Media Partnership)
Why You Can’t Miss NACSHR 2025?
Hear from Industry Experts – Gain insights from successful entrepreneurs, HR leaders, and talent strategists who understand both Chinese and North American HR landscapes.
Stay Ahead of the Curve – Whether you're an HR veteran or a rising professional, our sessions will equip you with the latest knowledge and strategies.
Career Growth & Job Opportunities – Discover new job openings and connect directly with hiring professionals.
The Largest Chinese HR Forum in North America – Join the biggest gathering of Chinese HR professionals and industry peers.
Expand Your Network – Engage in thought-provoking discussions, exchange ideas, and build meaningful professional relationships.
Unlock New Career Potential – Learn how Chinese professionals can navigate and thrive in North America’s HR industry.
Spots are limited—Register now to secure your seat!
Sign Up Today
We look forward to welcoming you to NACSHR 2025! ?
NACSHR活动
2025年02月06日
David Green
The best HR & People Analytics articles of January 20252025年伊始，人工智能（AI）和人力资源（HR）领域发生了一系列重大变革。DeepSeek的崛起是否标志着AI的“斯普特尼克时刻”尚未可知，但可以确定的是，AI正以前所未有的速度重塑产业、企业和工作方式。与此同时，混合办公、DEI（多元、公平与包容）等工作议题的政治化，在特朗普政府的回归下变得尤为突出，使得HR领导者面临更大挑战。
全球HR趋势与预测
世界经济论坛《未来工作报告2025》：未来五年内将新增1.7亿个新岗位，但9200万个工作将被取代，人才技能转型成为关键。
Spotify CPO Katarina Berg 提出HR应从“资源”转向“关系”，建立更具信任感和数据驱动的HR模式。
Gartner：AI第一的企业可能会因过度追求生产力而适得其反。
AI与人才分析
Josh Bersin的“AI超级员工”概念：AI将助力员工提高生产力、创造力，并推动企业文化变革。
Visier报告：欧洲64%企业高管 已获得员工数据分析权限，数据驱动HR决策成为主流。
员工体验与健康
麦肯锡健康研究院研究表明，关注员工健康的企业在业务表现上明显优于同行，健康与生产力紧密相关。
组织架构正在向技能为本的模式转型，人才战略已成为企业核心竞争力之一。
2025年，HR的核心任务将围绕AI技术、数据分析、员工福祉展开。面对变革，HR如何借力AI，实现企业与人才的双赢？欢迎讨论！?
To rework Lenin’s infamous observation, replacing weeks with months: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are months where decades happen” – this manifestly could be applied to January 2025. It’s still way too early to judge whether the sudden emergence of DeepSeek is AI's Sputnik moment, but it is safe to say that AI is already rapidly reshaping industries, companies and how we work. We are increasingly seeing the politicisation of work topics such as hybrid work and diversity, equity and inclusion programs – especially with the arrival of the new Trump administration in the United States. Let's just say that there’s a lot on the plate for chief people officers to contend with at the moment.
Perhaps this partly explains the slew of insightful resources in January, which has made compiling this month’s collection as challenging as it has been enjoyable. Selections include the unmissable new Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum, the big trends and opportunities to look out for in HR, AI and data science in the year ahead, and a powerful new study from the McKinsey Health Institute, which finds that companies that prioritise employee health and wellbeing enjoy better business outcomes than their peers - a ray of light in the darkness. There’s lots to enjoy and learn from.
This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at Visier
In Visier's latest research report, "The State of People Analytics in European Organisations," we explore how European companies are leveraging data-driven strategies to achieve measurable business outcomes. With 64% of organisations now enabling senior executives to access people insights, the shift toward analytics-driven decision-making is clear.
Based on a recent study by The Josh Bersin Company in partnership with Visier Inc., the report highlights key people analytics adoption trends in Europe, the maturity journey of people analytics teams, and the tangible advantages experienced by organisations using advanced people analytics platforms. From adaptive workforce planning to meeting regulatory demands, this report is essential for HR leaders driving growth and innovation in 2025.
Download the new report to learn:
Key trends driving people analytics adoption and growth in Europe
Why strategic investments in people data are critical for the future of work
The measurable business benefits of advanced people analytics practices
To sponsor an edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, and share your brand with more than 140,000 Data Driven HR Monthly subscribers, send an email to dgreen@zandel.org.
JANUARY ROAD REPORT
I’m typing this on the Eurostar on my way back from Paris, where Laurent Reich and his team hosted the first Peer Meeting of 2025 for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program® at L'Oréal’s Global HQ. A huge thank you to Laurent, his team and all the speakers over the two days: Isabel Gomez Garcia de Soria, Theo Leccia, Ashish Pant, Tracy Villanueva, David Tregidgo, Luc-O D L, Kai Wehmeyer, and Julien Legret, as well as my Insight222 colleagues: Naomi Verghese, Jordan Pettman, Jane Bloomfield, David Bebb and James Garrett, and all those who attended what was an absorbing, collaborative and fun two days.
Attendees at the January 2025 Peer Meeting for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, hosted by L'Oreal in Paris
January also saw two webinars, the first with the Italian People Analytics community (thanks to Martha Curioni, Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP and Federico Bechini), and the second, where I moderated a panel with Anette Bohm, Dawn Klinghoffer and Ian Cook on The Strategic Outlook for People Analytics in 2025 (click to get access to the recording) – thanks to Barry Swales, People Analytics World and Visier Inc. for organising. Speaking of webinars…
Join me for an Insight222 webinar on February 5 to discover the key themes shaping People Analytics in 2025.
If you want to learn how AI, close alignment with people strategy, and data democratisation, are enabling Leading Companies to drive business value with people analytics, register for the Insight222 People Analytics Trends Webinar. The webinar, which will take place on February 5, will be hosted by me and feature Naomi Verghese and Madhura Chakrabarti, PhD unpack the findings from the recently published 5th annual People Analytics Trend study. You can register for the webinar here – or by clicking the image below.
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for January and, if you do, please share some data driven HR love with your colleagues and networks. Thanks to the many of you who liked, shared and/or commented on December’s compendium as well as the five-part 2024 retrospective (Part 1: Creating value through people analytics, Part 2: Orchestrating the future of work, Part 3: Enhancing employee experience and wellbeing, Part 4: Developing leaders, culture and inclusion, and Part 5: Building the strategic HR function.
If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is usually published every other Tuesday – subscribe here – and read the latest edition.
2025 HR PREDICTIONS, TRENDS AND PRIORITIES
KATARINA BERG - 2025 HR Predictions: Looking Into the Crystal Ball
In 2025, it’s time for HR to double down on the Human and rethink the Resources.
Katarina Berg, Chief People Officer at Spotify, presents ten predictions organised under her clarion call for HR to focus on the Human and replace Resources with Relationships. Three that stand out are: Make Trust and Purpose Great Again (“Trust is the glue, and purpose is the fuel”), Data-Informed HR: Sherlock, Not Skynet (“Data is your detective, not your dictator.”), and Ethical AI: Keep It Human (“AI is like your overachieving intern – it’s great at automating the boring stuff, but it can’t replace human judgment”). These are, in my view, by far and away the best set of HR trends, predictions for HR in 2025. If you agree, I also recommend buying Katarina’s book, Bold: A New Era of Strategic HR, and subscribing to the Spotify HR Blog.
GARTNER – 9 Future of Work Trends for 2025 and HR Toolkit | JEANNE MEISTER - 10 HR Trends As Generative AI Expands In The 2025 Workplace | JOSH BERSIN - The Rise of the Superworker: Delivering On The Promise Of AI
There has been the usual flood of commentators offering their take on the trends, priorities, and opportunities for HR in 2025 – including my own 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025: Thriving People, Thriving Organisation. With so many to choose from, it can be a challenge to ‘separate the wheat from the chaff,’ but hopefully I have done this for readers here! As well as those I highlighted in the December edition from the likes of Steve Hunt, Andrew Spence, and Lars Schmidt – and the one above from Katarina Berg, here are three others I recommend diving into. (1) Gartner’s Emily Rose McRae presents nine future of work trends for 2025 (see FIG 1) with perhaps the standout being that “AI-first organizations will destroy productivity in their search for it.” (2) I always enjoy Jeanne C M.’s annual set of HR trends, and the 2025 edition is no exception. Jeanne frames her ten trends around her belief that 2025 will see a more organisations “moving from experimenting with generative AI to making it an essential part of their business planning process”, and that this will transform HR. Two of Jeanne’s predictions that standout are: a) AI Agents Will Proliferate And Become The Killer App In The AI Era, and b) Generative AI Will Transform the Future of HR Jobs, where she highlights 13 HR jobs of the future (see FIG 2). (3) Josh Bersin’s 2025 set of HR and leadership predictions is themed: The Rise of the Superworker: Delivering On The Promise Of AI. Josh describes a Superworker as “an individual who uses AI to dramatically enhance their productivity, performance, and creativity,” and a Superworker company as “an organization that embraces this transformation, building a culture of adaptability where people reinvent themselves.” The study breaks down four types of superworker (see FIG 3) as well as the five imperatives for 2025, including the need to redesign works, jobs, and organisational models.
FIG 1: 9 Future of Work trends for 2025 (Source: Gartner)
FIG 2: 13 HR jobs of the future (Source: Jeanne Meister)
FIG 3: The four dimensions of AI automation – and ‘superworker’ (Source: The Josh Bersin Company)
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM – Future of Jobs Report 2025
Analytical thinking remains the most sought after core skill among employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential
The fifth edition of the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report is, like its predecessors, an absolute treasure trove of data, insights, and visualisations. The 2025 report is based on data from more than 1,000 companies and over 14m workers, and will be a much referenced resource by researchers as well as workforce planning and people analytics practitioners. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the interconnected trends shaping the global labour market and explores what this will mean for the evolution of jobs and skills over the next five years. There are far too many highlights in the report to list them all here, but here are some standout ones for me: (1) By 2030, 170 million new jobs will emerge, yet 92 million will be displaced—a net increase of 78 million roles (see FIG 4), which not surprisingly means that (2) Skill gaps are considered the biggest barrier to business transformation, with 63% of employers identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025- 2030 period. (3) On average, workers can expect that two-fifths (39%) of their existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period. (4) Analytical thinking remains the most sought after core skill among employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential in 2025 (see FIG 5). (5) Two demographic shifts are increasingly transforming global economies and labour markets: aging and declining working age populations, predominantly in higher income economies, and expanding working age populations, predominantly in lower-income economies. Kudos to the authors: Attilio Di Battista, Sam Grayling, Ximena Játiva, Till Alexander Leopold, Ricky LI, Shuvasish Sharma, and Saadia Zahidi. If you only read one of the resources I've selected this month, read this.
FIG 4: Total job growth and loss 2025-2030 (Source: World Economic Forum)
FIG 5: Top sought after skills by employers in 2025 (Source: World Economic Forum)
RAVIN JESUTHASAN, RUPAL KANTARIA, AND SIMON LUONG - Workforce Transformation In The AI Era
Leaders need new talent strategies as AI and demographic changes create the need for agile, skills-based organizations.
In their article, Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA, Rupal Sachdev Kantaria, and Simon Luong explain how with several workforce megatrends converging successful CEOs are being transformed into talent architects, with workforce strategy becoming as important to companies as financial strategy (see FIG 6). This is expanding the role of the chief people officer, whose mandates at some companies have expanded to include strategy, transformation and operations. All this, argue the authors, is leading to a transformation of work and the human experience of work across three critical dimensions: (1) Redesigning work for a truly agile operating model. (2) Skills as the currency (see FIG 7). (3) Adaptive leadership. The report is part of a series, The State of Our World 2025, compiled by the Oliver Wyman Forum, which has been designed to help global leaders navigate what is a turbulent and exhilarating environment. These include: The Revenge of Geopolitics, Solving the Demographic Dilemma, and Unlocking the Value of AI. If you want to know what's on your CEO's mind, read this.
FIG 6: Talent strategy is leading board agendas (Source: Oliver Wyman Forum)
FIG 7: The need to rethink skills as currency (Source: Oliver Wyman Forum)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
TOM DAVENPORT AND RANDY BEAN - Five Trends in AI and Data Science for 2025
Our long-term prediction is that generative AI alone is not enough to make organizations and cultures data-driven.
The 2024 edition of this article, by Tom Davenport and Randy Bean was MIT Sloan Management Review’s most-read article of last year, and the 2025 version looks set to similarly popular. The five trends outlined in the article are: (1) Leaders will grapple with both the promise and hype around agentic AI. (2) The time has come to measure results from generative AI experiments. (3) Reality about data-driven culture sets in. (Only 37% of companies surveyed said they work in a data- and AI-driven organisation, and 33% said they have a data- and AI-driven culture. 92% believe that cultural and change management challenges are the primary barrier to becoming data- and AI-driven). (4) Unstructured data is important again. (5) Who should run data and AI? Expect continued struggle.
RICHARD ROSENOW – People Analytics Conferences: 2025
By focusing on community building, providing diverse and practical content, and addressing accessibility concerns, conferences can better serve the evolving needs of People Analytics professionals.
A terrific resource compiled by Richard Rosenow on the top events scheduled for 2025, which was based on a survey of people analytics professionals. It lists the top events that practitioner are attending (including People Analytics World, TALREOS and Wharton People Analytics), those events that are top of the wishlist, which I’m proud to see includes the Insight222 Global Executive Retreat, plus insights on what people enjoy and need from these events.
SCOTT REIDA - The Augmented Workforce: Redefining Roles and Hierarchies in the Age of GenAI | MATTHEW HAMILTON - Three mental blocking & tackling drills to recenter your People Analytics efforts | CAITLIN VAN MIL - SHAP Values | AMIT MOHINDRA – Who is the Human in the Loop?
In each edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I feature a collection of articles by current and recent people analytics leaders. These are intended to act as a spur and inspiration to the field. Four are highlighted in this month’s edition. (1) Scott Reida, a workforce strategist at AWS, walks through a workforce scenario from now to 2035 to demonstrate year-on-year how tasks for data scientists will be automated through AI (see FIG 8) allowing human workers to focus on more strategic work with role-levels consolidated and cost savings realised. (2) I’ve always enjoyed Matthew Hamilton’s thoughtful musings, and in this article, he walks through three mindsets for people analytics professionals to adopt including: embracing the power of visual analytics. Thanks too to Matthew for his kind mention of the Data Driven HR Monthly in his article. (3) Caitlin van Mil launches her Everything Data Science microblog series with a piece that breaks down SHAP values. (4) Amit Mohindra outlines how The “human-in-the-loop” imperative presents an opportunity for HR to elevate its role in leading their organisation’s adoption of AI:
Organizations do not adopt AI; individuals do. HR facilitates organizational change through its influence on leadership, culture, and learning. The chief people officer is in a better position to spearhead AI adoption initiatives than the chief technology officer.
FIG 8: Source – Scott Reida
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
KEVIN COX, SUSAN PODLOGAR, AND KATIE BURKE - Less is More: The Transformative Power of Discarding Outdated HR Concepts
If HR sees technology as someone else’s work, HR will have missed a huge opportunity. To drive these discussions, rather than follow others, HR leaders should be students of technology and how it can influence work, strategy, and culture.
As this excellent article in People + Strategy begins, the job of the chief people officer is increasingly complex with their C-suite peers often turning to them to solve the new challenges that have made leadership so hard in this turbulent decade. Instead of more, three experienced chief people officers, who have recently stepped down from their roles, provide some thoughts on what HR should be spending less time on moving forward. One example from each: (1) Kevin Cox highlights culture surveys, and advocates how AI can create better assessments by analysing more sources. (2) Susan Podlogar (she/her) calls for the setting aside of low-value HR work to focus instead on high-value transformation work including being at the forefront of how technology is integrated (see quote). (3) Katie Burke writes how HR needs to be better at connecting employee experience and happiness to impact, productivity and business results.
DAVE ULRICH, REBECCA RAY, AND ALAN TODD - Next Step in GenAI for Human Resources: Proliferation vs. Prioritization
Proliferation offers an abundance of innovative ideas but can lead to being overwhelmed and not having a clear idea about where to invest. Prioritization filters the opportunities into priorities that deliver value.
With the proliferation of GenAI in the HR market (estimated at $3.25 billion USD in 2023 and projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24.8 percent from 2024 to 2030), how can HR leader prioritise the investments in GenAI apps that will provide the biggest benefit to their stakeholders and organisations? That is the question tackled by Dave Ulrich, Rebecca Ray, and Alan Todd in their article, where they provide four concrete recommendations: (1) Define desired stakeholder and outcome (“focus on impact rather than activity”). (2) Rely on an integrated framework to organise apps (see FIG 9). (3) Determine which GenAI apps best deliver stakeholder value. (4) Build a guidance system on existing HCM platforms.
FIG 9: Human Capability Framework (Source: Dave Ulrich)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
MARC RAMOS - 6 Part Series: Tasks Versus Skills - Squaring the Circle of Work with AI - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
The world of work is changing rapidly, and the skills we need to succeed are evolving faster than ever before. While a strong focus on skills development is crucial, many organizations find that a sole skills-based approach is insufficient. There's a missing piece of the puzzle: tasks. Tasks are the building blocks of work, and understanding how they connect with skills is essential for developing effective workforce strategies, particularly as AI becomes increasingly integrated into our workflows.
As I’ve been sharing broadly, HR, Talent and Learning & Development teams have increasingly had a laser focus on skill development, upskilling/reskilling, Skill-Based Organisations, and most recently gaining the right AI skills. Marc Ramos takes a slightly different approach: “A dilemma regards an over-reliance on a skills-first mindset as a somewhat dominant charter. What’s missing is acknowledging the proportional value of tasks, quantifiable tasks with the complementary value of skills, qualified skills.” AI and AI tooling is at the heart of this provocative new series; that is, how to address the combination of Tasks + Skills + AI. Part 1 and Part 2 re-emphasise the critical value of tasks and provide 7 Playbook Takeaways. The remaining “What-If” sections share forward-looking AI-centric scenarios: Let Learning Breathe, A Task Intelligence Control Room, Employee Experience as an AI Product, and Ramos has also created an Instructional Quality AI Agent using OpenAI’s API Models. Marc has also generously bundled all of this into a free eBook.
FIG 10: Control Room mock up or heatmap of tasks not accomplished and negative impacts to sales quotas and related skills (Source: Marc Ramos)
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
BARBARA JEFFERY, BROOKE WEDDLE, JACQUELINE BRASSEY, AND SHAIL THAKER - Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve productivity and change lives
By making work a place that improves health, organizations can build a strong, productive, and engaged workforce and release greater individual and organizational potential.
A landmark new report from the McKinsey Health Institute in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, which has the headline finding that enhanced employee health and well-being could generate up to $11.7 trillion in global economic value. The report, authored by Barbara Jeffery, Brooke Weddle, Jacqui Brassey, PhD, MA, MAfN ?️ (née Schouten), and Shail Thaker, addresses three key questions: (1) Why prioritise workplace health? (e.g. financial return, improvements in productivity, engagement and retention, lower healthcare costs and absenteeism, enabling a more resilient and adaptive workforce – see FIG 11). (2) What is the current state of workplace health? (with a survey of 30,000 employees worldwide finding only 57% reported good holistic health). (3) How can organisations measure workforce health and develop an action plan? (how to build the investment case and company-specific KPIs – see FIG 12, case studies from the likes of Novo Nordisk, Swiss Re, and Novartis, and the role of people analytics including a case study from Experian. Finally, guidance is provided on six principles organisations can follow to get started: (i) understand the baseline health status of employees and the value at stake, (ii) develop initiatives for a sustainable healthy workforce, (iii) pilot interventions to test and learn, (iv) track three to five metrics to measure success, (v) ensure leadership commitment and sponsorship, and (vi) embed employee health into organisational culture. A tour de force.
FIG 11: Workplaces with high well-being outperform other stock market indexes (Source: McKinsey)
FIG 12: KPIs to build the investment case for employee wellbeing (Source: McKinsey)
CARLIJN POPELIER AND RUUD RIKHOF – The (de)Humanized Workforce: Job Deconstruction - to what extent is the future workforce at risk of being further dehumanized?
HR must take the lead in understanding AI’s impact and guide conversations about how these benefits are distributed. By doing so, we can keep the human experience at the center of this transformation.
The cornerstone of this thoughtful paper from Carlijn Popelier and Ruud Rikhof is the concept of Humanized Growth, which they describe as “integrating the interests of employees, consumers, local communities, government, the planet, and broader humanity.” The paper takes a deep dive into the (un)intended consequences of new work arrangements and how they impact ‘humans’ and provides some helpful recommendations to chief people officers and senior leaders. Three of these are: (1) Leave HR service delivery to others and set expectations for employee experience. (2) Have a point of view on how AI impacts the workplace and how the benefits of productivity improvements are distributed. (3) Lead the transition to a skill-based approach. The authors also provide a primer on deconstructing jobs, including a helpful visualisation of the hopeful and cynical view of implementing this approach (see FIG 13). A highly recommended read.
FIG 13: The ‘hopeful’ and ‘cynical’ view of deconstructing jobs (Source: Popelier and Rikhof)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING
JONATHAN HUGHES, JESSICA WADD, AND ASHLEY HETRICK - Why Influence Is a Two-Way Street
Managers achieve better outcomes when they prioritize collaborative decision-making over powers of persuasion
The ability to wield influence is important for meeting team and individual goals in highly matrixed organizations, but research, presented by Jonathan Hughes, Jessica Wadd, and Ashley Hetrick finds there is too much of an emphasis on selling one's own point of view (see FIG 14). The authors explain how this can hamstring good decision-making and argue for a collaborative model of influence where the best decision for the organisation is the primary goal. They also share five research-based strategies on how managers can steer culture toward two-way influence. (1) Expand job definitions and responsibilities so that they provide guidelines for cross-functional engagement. (2) Replace traditional influence training with training focused on collaborative influence. (3) Engage in cross-functional goal setting and alignment of incentives. (4) Rethink criteria for promotions to management and executive leadership. (5) Model behaviours of collaborative influence.
FIG 14: How Influence Is Wielded in Organizations (Source: Hughes et al)
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING
TORIN ELLIS - Reducing Bias in HR using Artificial Intelligence
Only 27% of companies are using AI to address bias despite AI’s potential to automate processes and minimize personal and unreasoned judgment.
This research study provides a helpful primer on how the thoughtful application of AI can remove bias from HR processes such as hiring, promotion and performance management. The report, which is a collaboration between Torin Ellis as well as Madeline Laurano and Kyle Lagunas of Aptitude Research for plum, covers: (1) How AI impacts HR processes and its role in either perpetuating or eliminating unconscious bias. (2) How to implement AI tools to foster DEIB values. (3) Examples where AI has been successfully employed to neutralise bias and promote fairness in HR practices.
FIG 15: Actions companies are taking to reduce bias (Source: Torin Ellis, Aptitude Research)
LILY ZHENG – What Comes After DEI?
Instead of the performative, individual-centered, isolated, and zero-sum methods of the current mainstream approach, DEI work must evolve to become outcomes-based, systems-focused, coalition-driven, and win-win.
A timely and thoughtful article by Lily Zheng, which outlines how their new framework built around fairness, access, inclusion, and representation can succeed where Lily believes that DEI has failed. As Lily explains, (1) Fairness is when all people are set up for success and protected against discrimination. (2) Access is when all people can fully participate in a product, service, experience, or physical environment. )3) Inclusion is when all people feel respected, valued, and safe for who they are. (4) Representation is when all people feel their needs are advocated for by those who represent them.
HR TECH VOICES
Much of the innovation in the field continues to be driven by the vendor community, and I’ve picked out a few resources from January that I recommend readers delve into:
FRESIA JACKSON AND HEATHER WALKER - The biggest lie continues: The impact of leaders vs. managers – Fresia Jackson and Heather Rose Walker, PhD mine Culture Amp’s extensive data to bust the oft-repeated myth that “People don’t quit companies; they quit managers.’ The findings they do uncover include: (1) Career opportunities, leadership, and company confidence drives employee commitment, and; (2) Leader’s impact on engagement has grown since 2020 (see FIG 16).
FIG 16: Leadership’s impact on employee engagement has grown since 2020 (Source: Culture Amp)
LIGHTCAST – The Speed of Skill Change – A new report from Lightcast, which analyses the extent of skills disruption in US job postings, finds that the average job has seen one-third of its skills change from 2021 to 2024. The report identifies three big themes: (1) Adapting to Artificial Intelligence, (2) The Growth of Green Skills, and (3) Cybersecurity skills Continue Climbing, and provides workforce planning tips for each.
FRANCISCO MARIN - Why Now is the Time for Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) to Go Mainstream – Advancing social capital is one my 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025, and in his article, Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions, looks at the historical evolution of the field and writes why the time is now for ONA.
FIG 17: The historical evolution of ONA (Source: Cognitive Talent Solutions)
JOHN GUY - Skills-Powered – Our maturity framework for getting the right skills – John Guy outlines the skills-powered maturity framework that developed with Simply Get Results’s customers (see FIG 18).
FIG 18: Skills-powered maturity framework (Source: Simply)
PHILIP ARKCOLL - How to Evaluate and Defend Your Flex Work Strategy – This is a terrific resource from Philip Arkcoll and the team at Worklytics. It highlights 15 common issues they are seeing in their research into flexible working and the metrics they’re using to help organizations identify them. These include: (1) Are people maintaining their networks or becoming isolated? (2) Is your organization becoming more siloed? (3) Do you have enough overlap on distributed teams? (see FIG 19).
FIG 19: Team overlap based on working hours (Source: Worklytics)
PODCASTS OF THE MONTH
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected five gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
JEREMY SHAPIRO - People Analytics Trends for 2025 & Revisiting Competing on Talent Analytics – Jeremy Shapiro joins Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD on the Directionally Correct podcast for a lively and insightful discussion on the evolution of the field, reflections on Jeremy’s seminal 2010 HBR article, Competing on Talent Analytics, and a review of 2025 predictions for people analytics from Jeremy, Cole and Scott, as well as research from RedThread, Bersin, and Insight222.
BRANDON ROBERTS - The future of AI in the workforce: Lessons from ServiceNow’s four-point strategic journey – Brandon Roberts, Head of People Analytics and AI at ServiceNow, joins host Kyle Forrest on the Capital H Podcast to dive into the company's transformative journey with AI. He shares a four-point plan guiding their AI strategy, covering key areas like AI operating models, data and tech infrastructure, the right investments and talent, and workforce enablement.
STACEY HARRIS - The Future of HR – Stacey Harris from Sapient Insights Group joins hosts Stacia Sherman Garr and Dani Johnson on RedThread Research’s Workplace Stories to discuss the HR landscape as we enter 2025. They have an absorbing conversation on what ‘engagement’ truly means, the limitations of current AI applications, and why a company’s culture—not its tech—might be the biggest obstacle to success in 2025
AMIT MOHINDRA – Strategic Workforce Planning – Amit Mohindra joins Nick Kennedy on SWP – The Strategic Workforce Planning Podcast, to talk all things SWP and people analytics.
ELLEN HENDRIKSEN – Dealing with Perfectionism – In a fascinating episode of HBR IdeaCast, psychologist Ellen Hendriksen speaks with Curt Nickisch about her new book, How to Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists, where perfectionism comes from and how it affects teams.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
BEN WABER, GEORGE LAROCQUE, AND CLIFF JURKIEWICZ – Helping Employees Gain Valuable AI Skills
In this insightful panel discussion on Nasdaq, Ben Waber, George LaRocque and Cliff Jurkiewicz of Phenom join host Jill Malandrino to discuss how to strike a balance that helps employees gain valuable AI skills while simultaneously giving the organization a competitive edge.
BOOKS OF THE MONTH
AIZHAN TURSUNBAYEVA - Augmenting Human Resource Management with Artificial Intelligence | MARTIN R. EDWARDS, KIRSTEN EDWARDS, AND DAISUNG JANG - Using R in HR Analytics: A Practical Guide to Analysing People Data
There are two book recommendations this month. First, Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP’s book explores human resource management technologies across operational, relational, and transformational elements. It includes an analysis of vendor value propositions, and pays significant attention to the ethical implications of AI and how they can be addressed through Responsible AI principles. The second book, by Martin Edwards, Kirsten Edwards, and Daisung Jang is designed to help readers learn how to use R and R Studio to analyse HR data and deliver insights that drive workforce and business performance. The authors also cover data privacy and the ethical considerations of using people data. Two excellent and complementary reads.
RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH
SCOTT HINES, JUSTIN O’NEAL, CHRIS HUNYH, AND JOHN GOLDEN - An alternative path to unlocking high-potential talent: Universal models beware
In this paper for the Consulting Psychology Journal, Scott Hines, PhD, Justin O'Neal, Ph.D. Chris Hunyh, and John Golden, Ph.D., investigate the intricacies of identifying high-potential talent within organisations overcoming the challenges of using a single defined measure of potential. As John Golden highlights here, insights from the paper include: (1) Redefining Potential: The article challenges traditional notions of potential, advocating for a behavioural framework that aligns with strategically critical roles: “It’s not just about climbing the ladder; it’s about finding the right fit for every rung.” (2) Innovative Methodologies: By integrating multiple theoretical constructs and utilising behavioural ratings, this study paves the way for predicting employee readiness for future growth opportunities. For those unable to access the report, have a listen to this podcast on the study.
BONUS RESOURCES
Some bonus resources to also consume this month:
Hung Lee published his annual set of forecasts for recruitment and HR technology, which are always worth checking out and cover much, much more than recruiting: See Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.
In a recent edition of his excellent Workforce Futurist newsletter, Andrew Spence unveils 35 New AI Roles to Watch Out For.
Sharna Wiblen’s article in MIT Sloan Management Review, Who’s Making Your Talent Decisions? explores how technology—algorithms, vendors, and systems—shapes talent decisions to a much greater extent than many of us realise.
Stacia Sherman Garr provides a helpful primer on Understanding the Impact of Recent DEI Executive Orders.
Speaking of DEI, Bruce Daisley does an admirable takedown of Mark Zuckerberg’s cowardly decision to roll back on DEI at Meta: Zuckerberg cancelling DEI is a grim day for work.
Finally, Nathan Warren’s column on Exponential View, outlines five contrarian ideas that may just change your perspective—and your strategy—on AI at work. These include: You're likely only scratching the surface – with organisations actually needing to retool entire processes around AI (see FIG 20).
FIG 20: The shift from assistants to agents will be dramatic (Source: Exponential View)
FROM MY DESK
January proved to be a productive month for writing as well as the first three episodes of Series 44 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by our friends at TalentNeuron (thanks to John Lynch, David Wilkins, Maureen McGinness, and the TalentNeuron team).
DAVID GREEN – The Best HR and People Analytics Articles of 2024 – My 11th annual retrospective of the best articles of the year came in five instalments: Part 1: Creating value through people analytics, Part 2: Orchestrating the future of work, Part 3: Enhancing employee experience and wellbeing, Part 4: Developing leaders, culture and inclusion, and Part 5: Building the strategic HR function. Enjoy!
DAVID GREEN - How can organisations leverage skills intelligence to make more informed decisions? – A wrap-up of Series 43 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, which featured Sandra Loughlin, PhD, Keith Sonderling, Mikaël Wornoo?, Melissa Daimler, and Christophe Cabrera , and featured the common question: How can organisations leverage skills intelligence to make more informed decisions?
STACIA GARR AND DAVE ULRICH - How HR Can Create Stakeholder Value and Drive Organisational Growth in 2025 – In our traditional opening to the year at the Digital HR Leaders podcast, I was joined by Stacia Sherman Garr and Dave Ulrich for a conversation on the key priorities and opportunities in 2025.
PRASAD SETTY - How Will AI Shape the Future of People Analytics? – Having established and led the fabled people analytics team at Google, Prasad Setty has an abundance of knowledge and wisdom to share about people analytics. We discuss learnings from his time at Google, current challenges in the field, and how AI is shaping the future of people analytics.
DAVID WILKINS - How to Turn Strategic Workforce Planning Into Impactful Action – David Wilkins joins me to share TalentNeuron’s findings on the key priorities for organisations when it comes to SWP. This shapes our conversation on what it really takes to master Strategic Workforce Planning.
LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE IN PEOPLE ANALYTICS OR HR TECH?
I’d like to highlight once again the wonderful resource created by Richard Rosenow and the One Model team of open roles in people analytics and HR technology, which now numbers over 600 roles. You can also read Richard’s latest newsletter related to this here.
THANK YOU
Nick Lynn for including the Data Driven HR Monthly in his list of recommended newsletters alongside some of my personal favourites by the likes of Bruce Daisley (Make Work Better), Rachel Botsman (Rethink with Rachel), and Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. (From Data to Action).
Gianni Giacomelli for also recommending the Data Driven HR Monthly in his 2025 New Years Resolution: Only Read Good Newsletters post, which included another of my favourites from Thomas Otter (Work in Progress).
Mike Irvine for including my 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025 article in a recent edition of LinkedIn’s The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week.
Rick Leunisse for including me in this ‘General HR Tech Influencers’ category in his list of LinkedIn Influencers to follow. Rick also included categories for Workday Subject Matter Experts, Workday Employees, and HRIS Innovators and Thought Leaders.
Offbeat for including me as one of 50 learning professionals to keep an eye on in 2025. I can happily return the favour by highly recommending Offbeat’s weekly newsletter, edited by Lavinia Mehedințu, which is one I read every week: Where L&Ds Always Learn.
Thanks to Matt Manners and the Inspiring Workplaces team for including me as one of The Top 101 Global Employee Engagement & Experience Influencers 2025
Kyle Forrest for generously including me in two posts. Firstly, in a list of six 2025 set of predictions and trends for the world of work, and then secondly, in his list of non-Deloitte sources to obtain insights in the HumanCapital and HR ecosystem.
MagnusHR for including Excellence in People Analytics as one of its five reading recommendations for 2025.
Jeroen Naudts for including me in his list of 10 People Analytics Experts to Follow.
Kalpana Joshi for including me in her list of five top HR influencers on LinkedIn to follow in the HR and people management space.
Teamflect for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast at number 5 in its list of 15 Podcasts for HR Professionals.
Thinkers360 for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast in its article: 125 Podcasts from You Should Listen To in 2025.
Aurélie Crégut for citing the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Yves Van Durme, in her excellent post on Structuring Data for Success: A Guide for HR Teams.
Phil Kirschner for including me in his group of inspiring thought leaders who introduce and amplify new perspectives on the future of work.
Olimpiusz Papiez for posting another wonderful set of learnings from an episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, this time the one with Stacia Garr and Dave Ulrich: How HR Can Create Stakeholder Value and Drive Organisational Growth in 2025.
Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who either shared the December edition of Data Driven HR Monthly and/or posted about the Digital HR Leaders podcast, conferences or other content. It's much appreciated: Ollie Henderson, Paola Alfaro Alpízar, Sarah White, Mila Pascual-Nodusso, Robin Haag, Elliott King, Ryan Wong, Mark Woodhouse, Hakan Sahin, Veronika Birkheim, Gareth Flynn, Thomas Kohler, Monika Manova, Alice Reinhold, Javier Calzolari, Nicolas Quadrelli, Bastiaan Starink, Dan George, Jaqueline Oliveira-Cella, Alessandro Cosentino, Kouros Behzad, Diane Gherson, Ihuaku Ugwu, Amardeep Singh, MBA, Ian Grant FCIPD, Kevin Metherell, Francisca Solano Beneitez, Sanja Licina, Ph.D., Laura Oh, PhD, Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD), Irada Sadykhova, Ian OKeefe, Anna A. Tavis, PhD, Bengi Bozdag, Monica Sirbu, Shonna Waters, PhD, Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski), Sachin Sangade, Robin Kane, Jason Saltzman, Johnatan Moreno, Roshaunda Green, MBA, CDSP, Phenom Certified Recruiter, Jaap Veldkamp, Patrick Coolen, José Valdivieso, Danielle Farrell, MA, Nevena B., Menna Shehab ElDin, David Simmonds FCIPD, Debbie Harrison, Meghan M. Biro, Kathleen Kruse, John Healy, Greg Pryor, Daria Manoilenko, Samir Murgude , SPHR®, SHRM-SCP, IHRP-SP, Catriona Lindsay, Mark North, Maria Alice Jovinski, Zohaib Azhar, Michael Arena, Michelle Lee ?, Malgorzata Langlois, Erin Spencer, Timo Tischer, Richard Bretzger, Nick Hudgell, Evan Franz, MBA, Darshana D., Johannes Sundlo, Luis Maria Cravino, Sergio Garcia Mora, Graham Tollit, Ifraan Karim, John Gunawan, Jay Chang, Hanadi El Sayyed, Alexis Baker, Neil Vyner, Giovanna Constant, Marcela Mury, Monika Buzasy, Lewis Garrad, Tina Peeters, PhD, Lewis Garrad, Abhilash Bodanapu, Kouros Behzad, Dan Lapporte, Ying Li, Stephanie Andel, PhD, Kris Saling, Caitie Jacobson Mikulis, Roxanne Bisby Davis, Joonghak Lee, Delia Majarín, Emanuele Magrone, Claire Masson, Lucie Vottova, Gawain Wang, Sophia Huang, Ed.D., Jacob Nielsen, Søren Kold, Samy Ben Said, Ralf Buechsenschuss, Gal Mozes, PhD, Alexis Fink, Dave Fineman, Danielle Bushen, Peter Ryan, Elizabeth Esarove, Ken Clar, Erik Otteson, Mariami Lolashvili, Craig Starbuck, PhD, Maria Ursu, Mattijs Mol, Toon van der Veer, Arne-Christian Van Der Tang,
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Green ?? is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As Managing Partner and Executive Director at Insight222, he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 100 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222, David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and is an instructor for Insight222's myHRfuture Academy. His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar, Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value was published in the summer of 2021.
MEET ME AT THESE EVENTS
I'll be speaking about people analytics, the future of work, and data driven HR at a number of upcoming events in early 2025:
February 26-27 - People Analytics World, Zürich
March 13 - HiBob Heartcore HR LIVE, London
March 19 - Workhuman Live Forum, London
April 10-11 - Wharton People Analytics Conference, Philadelphia
April 29-30 - People Analytics World, London
May 6-8 - UNLEASH America, Las Vegas
June 4-6 - TALREOS (Talent Analytics Leadership Roundtable Economic Mobility Summit), Chicago
July 31 - August 1 - People Matters TechHR India 2025, Delhi
October 21-22 - UNLEASH World, Paris
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
David Green
2025年02月02日
Josh Bersin
Despite Political Firestorm, Diversity Investments Are Alive And WellJosh Bersin 发表文章：尽管政治压力和社会对多元化与包容性（DEI）计划的批评日益加剧，许多公司依然重视相关投资。这些企业将DEI从单独的HR计划融入到领导力、绩效管理和招聘战略中，形成了更加全面的文化建设方式。在员工对企业领导层信任度下降的背景下（如Edelman信任晴雨表指出的68%员工认为CEO不诚实），信任、透明和公平已成为企业文化的核心要素。
企业如今更注重绩效文化，通过构建基于能力与高绩效的包容环境，吸引各年龄、性别及种族的优秀人才。杰米·戴蒙等领导者已公开表示支持DEI，证明高绩效与包容性是现代企业成功的关键。尽管DEI独立职能角色在减少，但相关实践已经深度融入企业运营。各行业的领先企业正通过这种方式实现快速转型和增长，进一步强调了DEI对企业文化和绩效的重要性。
下面是全文，请欣赏：
As the WSJ has reported extensively, companies like Harley Davidson, Tractor Supply, Walmart, and McDonalds are publicly pulling back on DEI programs, largely under pressure by political activists. Fueled by the supreme court’s striking down of affirmative action in 2023, there is a political movement to dismantle the “social justice” movement that took hold in corporate HR departments.
Now, driven by the new administration, the Federal Government is “ending radical and wasteful” government DEI programs. And the executive order is asking the Justice Department to litigate up to 9 private companies as examples.
As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.
Of course this has created a firestorm of debate, and many companies are doing away with dedicated DEI roles in HR. But our research, which includes discussions with many dozens of Chief HR Officers, heads of recruitment, and others, finds that the investments are alive and well.
Here’s where I sense we are.
While DEI and pay equity programs have been around since the 1960s (companies like Coca Cola and Google have been sued for gender and racial pay inequities), the topic got out of hand.
Post George Floyd, which was a traumatic event in the United States, companies went overboard with training and messaging about social justice, oppression, micro-aggression, and other uncomfortable topics. Many programs included discussions of topics like “white fragility,” “intersectionality,” “oppression,” and other social topics.
While this was trending in the media, many employees told us these programs made them uncomfortable. In a country like the United States (I just got back from two weeks in South Africa, where these issues are front and center) where we have a long history of immigration and diversity, this topic has been debated for hundreds of years.
I worked at IBM during the days of affirmative action (1970s and 1980s) and my personal experience was very positive. Black and Asian professionals were actively recruited and promoted at IBM during my tenure and I have fond memories of IBM as a company with a powerful culture of “respect for the individual” (IBM’s motto).
(Read Thomas Watson’s 1963 manifesto: it’s a bit gender-biased but remains relevant today. Watson, the founder of IBM, talks extensively about equity between white and blue collar work, fair wages and benefits, and opportunities for all. Note that IBM is one of the only tech companies that has survived more than 100 years so these principles have served the company well.)
Now that we’ve entered a business focus on productivity, AI, and technology transformation, companies want to build a culture of meritocracy, skills, leadership, and internal mobility. The #1 issue we hear from CHROs and CEOs is “how do we transform our company faster?” Sitting around to debate diversity targets or DEI agendas just doesn’t feel important.
That said, as we discuss regularly with leaders in every industry, CEOs and CHROs are very concerned about corporate culture.
The new Edelman Trust Barometer describes a shocking drop in trust among workers. More than half of all employees believe CEOs are overpaid and 68% believe they lie on a regular basis. So cultural topics of inclusion, fairness, and respect are extremely important. (The Edelman research even points out that 40% employees believe that hostile activism against their employer is acceptable (violence, property damage, social media attacks).
So building a culture of trust, transparency, and listening remains essential. And that’s why culture still matters.
As I discuss in our research “The Rise of the Superworker,” (and PwC’s 2025 CEO survey also points this out), companies that transform faster make more money. And transformation, regardless of the technology behind it, is always dependent on people. So when we read about corporate transformations at companies like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, we know that there are always issues of culture.
Where does the DEI agenda now fit? As I talk with leaders around the world, it has clearly not gone away. Today, rather than focus on representation targets or social issues, companies are embedding their focus on meritocracy within the business, moving it out of the world of an “HR program.” And this, despite the political backlash, is a good thing.
As even Robby Starbuck points out, every leader believes in meritocracy. We want our teams to reward high performance and encourage everyone to learn, grow, and advance in a fair way. DEI, which became a standalone mission of its own, is now a part of “building a culture of performance,” and that means respecting high performance among all genders, races, disabilities, and ages. It means creating a culture of psychological safety where people can speak up, and it means being crystal clear with feedback, accountability, and behaviors we value.
Finally, let me celebrate the public statement by Jamie Dimon, one of the most respected CEOs in the world. When asked about DEI activists at the World Economic Forum, he answered “bring them on, we’re proud of what we do.”
While much of the political focus against DEI seems to focus on “moving companies to the right,” I think the real trend is quite different. Leaders and HR departments are taking the high-profile DEI agenda and embedding it into the disciplines of leadership, recruitment, performance management, and rewards. And even today, as Lightcast data shows, there are more than 7,000 DEI roles posted for hire.
The highest performing companies in the world are inclusive and fair by nature – that’s why high-performers want to work there. Let’s let “DEI” as an HR agenda move aside, and move the topic back into the business of leadership where it belongs. (Listen to real-world case studies in The Josh Bersin Academy or browse all our DEI research in Galileo.)
超级员工的崛起 -The Rise of the Superworker: Delivering On The Promise Of AI《超级员工的崛起》研究报告揭示了AI如何深刻改变工作场所与工作方式。随着AI技术融入工作流程，传统工作模型被重新定义，AI正助力“超级员工”以创新的方式提升生产力和创造力。
报告指出，企业若想在AI时代中保持竞争力，必须重新设计工作与组织模式。首先，需要通过AI实现任务自动化并提高工作效率；其次，推动工作流程的整合，利用智能代理提升整体生产力；最后，培养员工适应变化的能力，推动动态化的工作环境。
AI并不是简单地取代工作，而是通过赋能实现员工能力的跃升。例如，一些企业利用AI快速生成培训计划，将原本需要数月的工作缩短为数天。报告也强调，随着AI成为“同事”，全新岗位将随之出现，如知识库维护员、AI数据隐私与伦理管理者等。
为了迎接这一变革，报告提出了五大关键战略：重新设计工作与组织模式，构建动态人才模型，调整薪酬与绩效体系，加强以人为本的领导力，以及加速系统性HR®的转型。只有将技术与人的因素完美结合，企业才能成功实现AI转型。
报告强调，AI的核心并非技术，而是通过创新推动人与组织的共同成长。1月28日的发布会将深入剖析这些趋势与战略。
We’re excited to launch our groundbreaking research “The Rise of the Superworker,” a deep dive into the impact of AI on the future of work. As our hallmark research for the year, it defines the roadmap for leadership, technology, and HR. (Register for the launch webinar on January 28.)
The Workforce and Workplace Environment
We are entering a year of political change, economic disruption, and changing labor markets. As I discussed recently (The Tumultuous Year Ahead), the world is experiencing talent shortages in front-line and blue collar work (US unemployment remains at 4.1%) while white-collar employment is softening. CEOs are investing in AI in a quest for productivity and workers are asking to be retrained. And many core values (diversity and inclusion, pay equity, remote work) remain challenging.
Companies believe that AI will transform their business, so investment in technology is exploding. Yet as history tells us, this “trillian dollar AI-based re-engineering” effort is about people, not technology. As the research points out, the AI revolution, as exciting as it feels, is all about redesigning the way we get things done. And that lands in the laps of HR: how we redesign, reskill, and redeploy people in a world of highly intelligent systems.
Understanding The Superworker and The Superworker Company
Let’s start with the basics. Companies are filled with business processes, tools, and job models designed around traditional people-centric work. Every job function, from sales to marketing to manufacturing, has been designed around the old-fashioned job families of the past.
In other words, we’ve run our companies as “people machines.” We design a set of jobs and job families, then hire, train, and promote people to grow. This model creates a sprawling company filled with skills challenges, people wanting promotion, and fragility as the business goes through change.
The digital revolution, which defines the last 27 years of transformation, did speed things up. It automated many processes and opened up the ideas of self-service, e-commerce, and direct consumer transactions. But it didn’t fundamentally change how companies are organized: rather it accelerated the processes we had.
Suddenly, with AI everything is different. As the most intelligent and data hungry technology ever, AI stands to integrate and redefine every business process and “superpower” every employee. And this shift, toward copilots, agents, digital twins, and intelligent platforms, forces us to rethink how we’re organized, what we do, and what we define as a “job.”
We are building a company of Superworkers.
What exactly is a “Superworker?”
A Superworker is an individual who uses AI to dramatically enhance their productivity, performance, and creativity. As routine work gets automated, AI has the potential to empower everyone, eliminating some roles while empowering many others.
A “Superworker company” is an organization that embraces this transformation, building a culture of adaptability where people reinvent themselves. Our new Dynamic Organization research shows that such change-ready companies outperform their peers by six-times.
Just as Superman Clark Kent learned to channel his powers, we must learn to harness AI for individual and team performance. This means not just automating existing tasks, but rethinking how work gets done, empowering people to do more, and creating opportunities for growth.
The Historical Perspective: From Automation to Autonomy
We’ve seen waves of automation before, but this time it’s different.
In the past we used machines to automate the work of craftsmen and tradespeople. A welder, farmer, or shoemaker had his or her expertise built into a machine so their craft could scale at low cost. The expert didn’t go away, rather he or she helped design the machine.
AI does the same for white collar work. Writers, analysts, marketers, and sales people are now superpowered, leveraging their skills to drive scale. AI will not replace these special individuals: it empowers them to scale and expand their impact.
But in the case of AI we go further: it doesn’t just automate tasks; it becomes a co-worker itself: listening, learning, reasoning, and acting. So new and better jobs are created, designing, training, and managing the AI.
And the shift to Superworker happens everywhere: from the retail clerk to the nursing supervisor to the senior executive.
The New Corporate Imperative: Redesign Work and Jobs
This transformation won’t happen without effort.
Today, as AI systems still mature, our challenge is not implementing AI, but redesigning jobs, and business processes around AI. And that’s why success with AI is a people problem, not a technology one. And if you don’t get this right, your AI transformation will lag.
Academic studies show that 45% of change management programs fail, and 72% of the reason is “people resistance.” So consider this:
For each dollar spent on machine learning technology, companies may need to spend nine dollars on intangible human capital,” Erik Brynjolfsson wrote in 2022, citing research by him and others.
Consider the four stage model below, where we look at “current jobs” vs “re-engineered jobs” on the horizontal, and level of output on the vertical.
AI transformation begins with assistance, then moves to augmentation, then to work replacement and then to autonomy. The level of performance improvement goes up exponentially.
This process of rethinking business processes takes time. When electricity was invented companies replaced horse-driven machines with motors. Decades later engineers realized we could redesign the entire manufacturing process by integrating the entire supply chain.
The same will happen again. We may start by automating emails and data access, but over time we build “digital twins” and configurable agents to manage entire projects and business processes.
One of our clients built an entire platform that can interview stakeholders, import documentation, build training programs, and publish training and certification programs by AI. Humans are still needed, but now they’re the “super-curators” and “craftsmen” perfecting the product. New programs that took 3-6 months can be generated in a few days.
This kind of redesign is now being used for claims analysis, sales enablement, RFP generation, and workplace design. (Our report 100 Use Cases For Galileo explains dozens of such solutions available now for HR.)
The Work Redesign Challenge
How do we get there? Business and HR teams work together, following these stages.
Improve efficiency at current job: Use AI to make existing work more efficient: same job as before, new tools to make it easier. Examples include an office worker using MS Copilot.
Automate tasks to increase scale: An engineer uses AI to write code. A marketer builds videos and campaigns automatically. An HR manager rapidly builds job descriptions or analyzes performance.
Integrate processes to improve productivity: Agents now handle multiple connected steps. A retail clerk automatically checks out customers; a nurse uses a machine to monitor dozens of patients and make diagnostics; an HR manager builds learning programs in minutes.
Leverage autonomy for more: The AI manages multi-step processes (customer service, candidate communications, recruiting, campaign design) and the people “manage” the digital employee.
This creates four types of Superworker:
An Example: The HR Business Partner
Consider the role of HR Business Partner (HRBP), a complex job that’s constantly changing.
An HR business partner (HRBP) equipped with AI like Galileo™ can automatically analyze turnover, productivity, individual performance, and leadership potential. The AI HR Agent can help compare job candidates against multiple requirements. Analysis, coaching, and hiring speed goes up, and the HRBP is now a Superworker.
Then the transformation continues. What if we give the AI to managers. Do we need the HRBP at all? (IBM has made this step.)
Yes, now the HRBP manages the AI. Just as Wayze may drive you automatically, someone behind the scenes is monitoring your trip to help you when things go wrong. This “Superworker” job is the upgraded role of the HRBP.
AI As A Job Creation Technology
Many new jobs will be created. Who maintains the knowledge base that feeds the AI? Who ensures data privacy and security? Who handles the ethical issues that arise? Who monitors the AI to make sure it’s trained well? And once these multi-step digital employees exist, who will manage them?
These are new Superworker jobs.
Five Imperatives for 2025
How do we make this transition a success?
Here are five key imperatives detailed in our study:
Redesign Work, Jobs, and Organizational Models: Focus on the customer, how success is measured, then apply AI. This is what we call “productivity-based job design”. Deconstruct work into activities, evaluate AI solutions, and determine the human role alongside AI, using the models above.
Create a Dynamic Talent Model: The traditional “prehire to retire” model is becoming obsolete. We need a more dynamic approach where people move across roles and projects. Prioritize internal mobility and foster a culture of growth. Focus on “doing more with what we have” by upgrading the productivity of our existing workforce. Focus on building “talent density“.
Rethink Pay, Rewards, and Performance: Move from traditional pay models to “systemic rewards,” based on role, skills, and output. New roles may warrant higher pay, not lower. (Lightcast sees a $45,000 premium for workers with AI skills.)
Refine Leadership and Culture: Focus on human-centered leadership: this is a time of change. Ensure leaders understand AI, foster innovation, and focus on productivity, not headcount. Start co-design projects in every functional areas. Get line employees involved in transformation efforts.
Accelerate the Shift to Systemic HR®: HR must operate in a consulting role. Integrate HR silos, develop a change-enablement team. Experiment with AI tools in HR and train the HR team about AI.
Let me give you an example.
One of our large clients, a healthcare company, created a “transformation enablement” team in HR that does co-design workshops throughout the business, helping with process redesign, role design, job changes and pay and rewards changes. They built a set of tools and methodologies which are well established. HR professionals rotate into this team for education. Every HR function should set up “AI transformation teams” like this.
AI isn’t here to replace us; it’s here to empower us.
How To Get The Research and Learn
The Rise of the Superworker predictions report is available to all users of Galileo™, The Josh Bersin Academy, or Corporate Members. (A Galileo Pro membership is only $39 per month, and JBA membership is $49 per month.)
If you want to learn more and follow our ongoing case studies, briefs, and AI tools, download the Rise of the Superworker Overview today. You will be registered for regular updates. And please register for our launch webinar on January 28 where I will detail this entire story.
The Superworker era has arrived, join us in the journey!
Josh Bersin
2025年01月16日
David Green
The Top HR Articles of 2024: Creating Value with People Analytics
It was in 2014 that I first compiled a year-end compendium of 20 people analytics and data-driven HR articles from the previous 12 months and published it on LinkedIn.
Back then it was an achievement to find 20 articles. Now it is an impossible task to prune so many wonderful resources down to a single summary – such has been the explosion of people analytics in the last decade as it has shifted from the periphery to the centre of people strategy. Indeed, as I reminisced by reading the ten collections to date for 2014, 2015, 2016 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Part 1 and Part 2) and 2023 (Part 1 and Part 2), it became abundantly clear that the growth in the field has been staggering.
The advance of people analytics has been mirrored by the human resources field in general as it elevates itself from a support function to a strategic partner. As I wrote in my article, 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025, the field has a huge opportunity to build a thriving workforce, a thriving culture, and a thriving organisation. People analytics is pivotal to this mission.
So, in the second decade of the Data Driven HR Monthly, it’s time to change up this annual reflection on the year that has just passed. As such, in the coming days and weeks, there will be five editions of this newsletter organised into the following five themes:
Part 1: Creating value through people analytics
Part 2: Orchestrating the future of work
Part 3: Enhancing employee experience and wellbeing
Part 4: Developing leaders, culture and inclusion
Part 5: Building the strategic HR function
I hope you enjoy reading the selections for 2024. If you do, please subscribe to my Data Driven HR newsletter, and tune in to the Digital HR Leaders podcast.
Join me for a Insight222 webinar on February 5 to discover they key themes shaping People Analytics in 2025.
If you want to learn how AI, close alignment with people strategy, and data democratisation, are enabling Leading Companies to drive business value with people analytics, register for the Insight222 People Analytics Trends Webinar. The webinar, which will take place on February 5, will be hosted by me and feature Naomi Verghese and Madhura Chakrabarti, PhD unpack the findings from the recently published 5th annual People Analytics Trend study. You can register for the webinar here – or by clicking the image below.
1. CREATING VALUE WITH PEOPLE ANALYTICS
JONATHAN FERRAR, NAOMI VERGHESE, AND MADHURA CHAKRABARTI - Harnessing Data for Growth: The Impact of People Analytics Article | Full Report
The fifth annual People Analytics Trends study, which was published in December 2024, was our biggest yet at Insight222, with 348 participating organisations. The four key findings were: (1) Growth: people analytics continues to expand in scope and investment. (2) Intelligent automation: the advent of GenAI has catalysed HR’s use of AI with people analytics at the core and central to AI strategy in HR. (3) Adoption crisis: the adoption of people analytics remains a challenge with a significant gap between the democratisation of people insights and data (71% of organisations) and a high-level of adoption within HR (47%) and outside HR (28%) – see FIG 1. (4) Value: measuring and demonstrating value is now essential for people analytics teams to increase their impact and drive greater ROI. Kudos to the authors: Jonathan Ferrar, Naomi Verghese, and Madhura Chakrabarti, PhD Thanks too to the practitioners featured in the study: Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski), Peter Ryan, and Phil Willburn.
FIG 1: Trends in the democratisation and adoption of analytics (Source: Insight222)
DELOITTE - 2023 High-Impact People Analytics Research
Prioritizing PA customers means understanding their needs—and how those needs align (or don’t) with the function’s capabilities and broader business priorities.
The report by Eric Lesser Peter DeBellis and Marc Solow which is based on a 2023 study by Deloitte of more than 400 organisations across 18 countries, presents a People Analytics Maturity Model (see FIG 2) and discusses six key findings. These are: (1) People Analytics has become an organisational imperative. (2) Data culture is the single biggest predictor of people analytics performance. (3) Tech investments mean nothing without human capability (and vice versa). (4) Today’s challenges demand more data from more sources. (5) An expanding customer base means new demands on the people analytics function. (6) People data is business data – treat it as such.
FIG 2: High-Impact People Analytics Maturity Model (Source: Deloitte)
COLE NAPPER, JIN YAN, AND BEN ZWEIG - What is happening to people analytics? A 15- year trend: Part One | Part Two | Part Three (with KRISTIN SABOE)
How has people analytics employment changed in the last 15 years, and specifically how has the environment changed in the last two years? That was the question that Cole Napper along with Jin Yan and Ben Zweig sought to answer after being inspired by Alexis Fink to analyse these topics. The findings were delivered in three articles. Part One presented a number of interesting – and perhaps counterintuitive – findings, including that people analytics positions in the US actually declined in the last two years – the data collated by Revelio Labs suggests more than 1,000 people have left the field during this time (see FIG 3). In Part Two, the team turned their attentions to an analysis of the skills of people analytics professionals and the impact of the field during the last 15 years. Insights included that there is a correlation between companies with ‘prestigious’ people analytics teams and companies being rated more highly for employee sentiment. In Part 3, Kristin Saboe, Ph.D. gets involved to shine the light on how the composition of government people analytics jobs have changed over the last 15 years. Finally, the team provide three recommendations are provided to move the field forward: (1) Add real value and break the cycle. (2) Mature the people analytics function. (3) Let’s get back to growth.
FIG 3: People analytics positions have been decreasing in the last two years (Source: Revelio Labs)
MARGRIET BENTVELZEN, CORINE BOON, AND DEANNE N. DEN HARTOG - A person centered approach to individual people analytics adoption
In their paper, Margriet Bentvelzen Corine Boon and Deanne Den Hartog study people analytics adoption through the lens of the implementation of people analytics technology. They identify four profiles related to differences in user satisfaction and the frequency and versatility of PA technology use. They demonstrate that performance benefits, social influence, required effort, and facilitating conditions jointly affect the use of PA technology, but that the latter two might be the most influential factors. FIG 4 demonstrates the four user profiles identified in the paper: the skeptic diplomats, the optimistic strugglers, the optimists, and the enthusiasts.
FIG 4: Source – Bentvelze, Boon and Den Hartog (2024)
PATRICK COOLEN - The 10 golden rules for establishing a people analytics practice
A successful people analytics practice starts with the right people analytics leader
Patrick Coolen’s first iteration of his ’10 golden rules for people analytics’ (one prescient ‘rule’ was to combine strategic workforce planning and analytics) was published in 2014 when he was in the early stages of building the function at ABN Amro. A decade on, Patrick updates his seminal article, with insights from his own career journey, Ph.D research, and the evolution of the field itself. As ever, Patrick is right on the mark with his ten selections including these three: (1) The people analytics leader can make the difference, (2) Create a clear people analytics operating model, and (3) Upskill HR in data-driven decision making.
SHONNA WATERS, ERIN EATOUGH, SHEHZAD BASHIR, AND IAN O'KEEFE - People Analytics Across Company Growth Stages: Evolving Your Approach as You Scale
HR Analytics adoption is associated with higher return on investment by an average of 6.2% for return on capital employed
In their white paper, four esteemed experts in people analytics - Shonna Waters, PhD Erin Eatough, PhD Shehzad Bashir and Ian OKeefe, break down how to build and refine people analytics capabilities that grow with your organisation. The authors introduce a practical framework for people analytics based on four pillars - each with its own set of capabilities: Governance (with seven capabilities including strategy, ethics and compliance), Infrastructure (also with seven capabilities such as storage, performance and security), Methods (with eight capabilities including primary research, statistical models and machine learning), and Products (with nine capabilities including metrics, dashboards, and nudges), which they state form the basis for organisations to build and subsequently scale their people analytics function. This is a well-researched, practical and helpful paper.
NAOMI VERGHESE, JONATHAN FERRAR, AND JORDAN PETTMAN - Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v2.0 ARTICLE | FULL REPORT
One of the questions we get asked most by the people analytics leaders and chief people officers we work with at Insight222 is: What capabilities do I need to build into our people analytics function? Based on research of more than 250 companies, focus interviews with 20 organisations, and our experience of working with more than 120 global companies as part of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, my colleagues Naomi Verghese, Jonathan Ferrar and Jordan Pettman developed the report: Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v 2.0. The executive article provides a summary of the key highlights, while the full report breaks down the six elements of the People Analytics Ecosystem (see FIG 5): (1) A Value Chain: from client drivers to business outcomes. (2) People Strategy at the Centre: a symbiotic relationship exists between people strategy and people analytics. (3) Five Core Capabilities: consulting, data science and research, employee listening, analytics at scale, adoption. (4) Four Additional Capabilities: reporting, data governance, workforce planning, AI strategy. (5) Internal Partnerships: HR and other business stakeholders are key to operational effectiveness. (6) External Partnerships: external suppliers and expertise are important for enabling success.
FIG 5: The People Analytics Ecosystem (Source: Insight222 Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v 2.0)
JAAP VELDKAMP - Positioning People Analytics into the HR Service Model: A Path to Sustainable Impact
Embedding People Analytics within the HR Service Model is essential for creating a lasting and meaningful impact.
In his thoughtful article, Jaap Veldkamp, Global Head of People Analytics and Organisational Effectiveness at ABN AMRO, provides guidance on how people analytics should be positioned within the broader HR service model. Jaap provides a simplified view of the HR operating model (see FIG 6), which has three components: (1) Identifying needs. (2) Prioritising needs. (3) Executing and evaluating strategies. He then describes how the key capabilities of ABN AMRO’s people analytics function (Dashboarding and reporting, Employee listening, Data science and research, Organisational effectiveness, and Consulting) flow through the HR service model. As Jaap highlights: “the overall aim is to ensure that the capabilities of the People Analytics team are part of every step in the HR Service Model.”
FIG 6: Simplified HR Service Model (Source: Jaap Veldkamp)
RICHARD ROSENOW - From Data to Strategy: The New Role of Workforce Systems Leaders in Transforming HR
Without a Workforce Systems Leader, these decisions fall to the CHRO, pulling them into day-to-day inter-functional debates when they should focus on the strategic vision
In Insight222’s 2024 study, Building the People Analytics Ecosystem, we identified three types of people analytics leader that are emerging as the people analytics operating model continues to evolve. One of these – the Portfolio Analytics leader – has similarities to a trend identified by Richard Rosenow in his white paper for One Model. The findings are based on more than 40 HR teams hiring a Workforce Systems Leader combining people strategy, operations, technology, data and analytics (see FIG 7). In the paper, Richard covers: (1) Key challenges in people analytics – how the role of people analytics often extends far beyond their original role description. (2) Mastering the People Data Supply Chain – highlighting the essential steps to building a robust people analytics function. (3) The emergence of Workforce Systems Leaders. Read a preview in Richard’s LinkedIn post and download the full paper here.
FIG 7: The role of a Workforce Systems Leader (Source: One Model)
DIRK JONKER - Finance and Human Resources: A Strategic Partnership for Business Growth
Empathy has always been HR’s superpower, but it’s time to extend that empathy to seeing the workforce through a financial and business lens.
In our research into Leading Companies in people analytics at Insight222, one relationship stands out: the partnership with finance. Of the 25% of companies (86 out of 348 companies) who participated in our 2024 People Analytics Trends study and told us that they had built a partnership with finance, 93% reported that the people analytics team had delivered measurable outcomes over the last 12 months. In his article, Crunchr CEO Dirk Jonker explains why and how HR and Finance should work together, painting a vision where: “Together, HR and finance can unlock a future where employees are seen for what they truly are: a company’s most significant (and measurable) asset.” For more from Dirk on this topic, I recommend tuning into his conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: Driving Business Transformation with Advanced People Analytics.
PIETRO MAZZOLENI - Transforming HR: How IBM measures the success of its people data platform investments
For those of you who haven’t already subscribed to Pietro Mazzoleni’s People Data Platform newsletter, I highly recommend you do. In this edition, Pietro walks through the three tiers of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) IBM uses to evaluate investments in Workforce 360, its people data platform (see FIG 8). For more on how IBM infuses people analytics and AI into HR, listen to a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, where I discuss with CHRO Nickle LaMoreaux - how IBM is augmenting HR programs with AI.
FIG 8: Three tiers of KPIs to evaluate investments in a people data platform (Source: Pietro Mazzoleni)
ETHAN BURRIS, BENJAMIN THOMAS, KETAKI SODHI, AND DAWN KLINGHOFFER - Turn Employee Feedback into Action
Ultimately, success (in employee listening) lies in empowering leaders to translate insights into concrete actions, effectively communicating progress, and fostering a continual feedback loop that values and respects the diverse voices within the organization.
"To manage the employee experience, leaders must deeply understand employees’ perceptions, feelings, and desires and respond thoughtfully. This is particularly crucial when immense resources are invested in gathering employee feedback through pulse surveys, town halls, and data scraping from internal communications. But leaders are often overwhelmed by the data and struggle to translate it into actionable insights." In their Harvard Business Review article, Ethan Burris, Benjamin Thomas, Ph. D, SHRM-CP, Ketaki Sodhi, PhD and Dawn Klinghoffer, share insights from interviews with more than two dozen companies to outline seven challenges and demonstrate how leading places to work have built an integrated process for assembling and understanding employee input and translating it into action. The seven challenges are: (1) Making sense of all that data. (2) Making sure employees feel heard. (3) Identifying the actual underlying problems. (4) Protecting employee privacy. (5) Navigating conflicting views. (6) Not burying bad news. (7) Providing meaningful follow-up.
PHIL WILLBURN - People Analytics Demystified: A Practitioner’s Handbook
Highly effective HR organizations know that every area of the business makes people decisions. The best people analytics teams excel by scaling people insights to all business leaders, ensuring these insights reach those making critical people decisions
Phil Willburn, the Head of People Analytics, and his team recently hosted a Peer Meeting for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program® at Workday’s global headquarters in California. During the two days, Phil and his team presented some of the amazing work they are doing with people analytics in areas such as workforce planning, employee experience and hybrid work. Some of the content they presented is in this insightful e-book, which shines a light on how Workday has scaled people analytics in its own company (see FIG 9), their product-oriented and persona-based approach, and provides details on three case studies including how the team provides insights on flexible work and collaboration.
FIG 9: People analytics and insights at Workday (Source: Phil Willburn, Workday)
EMILY KILLHAM - From Insight to Action: New Data on the State of Employee Listening (Article) | The State of Employee Listening 2024 (Report)
(Leading firms ensure) listening efforts are aimed at the most important business and talent priorities facing their organizations today.
Emily Killham highlights the key findings from Perceptyx’s third annual State of Employee Listening report, which is informed by survey of more than 750 senior HR leaders from global firms with at least 1,000 employees. These include: (1) 78% of firms surveyed conduct some kind of listening event at least once a quarter, compared to 70% in 2023 and 60% in 2022. (2) Nearly 40% of organisations can share listening data with managers within two weeks. (3) When compared with their peers, the most mature listening organisations are 6x more likely to exceed financial targets, 9x more likely to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, 4x more likely to retain talent, even during times of high attrition, 7x more likely to adapt well to change, and 7x more likely to innovate effectively.
FIG 10: Employee Listening Maturity (Source: Perceptyx)
RESOURCES FROM CURRENT AND PREVIOUS PEOPLE ANALYTICS LEADERS
In each edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I feature a collection of articles by current and recent people analytics leaders. These are intended to act as a spur and inspiration to the field. Nine of the best from 2024 are presented here:
In Our Real-Life Journey with GenAI in Skills and Talent Management (with code!!), the Wolters Kluwer talent analytics team of Mariëlle Sonnenberg, Federico Bechini, Sietse Schröder and Caitlin van Mil share a case study of using GenAI to provide the foundation of their work to transition to a skills-based organisation.
Andrés García Ayala, Group Head of People Analytics and Strategic Workforce Planning at Legal & General, discusses five reasons why people analytics should be at the heart of AI’s successful workplace adoption.
Martha Curioni provides guidance on how to support HR to adopt people analytics harnessing insights from the likes of Isabel Naidoo, Patrick Coolen, Greg Newman, and Amit Mohindra.
In a two-part post, Hallie Bregman, PhD discusses the pros and cons of situating people analytics in or outside HR: Part 1 and Part 2.
In an edition of his excellent Making People Analytics Real Substack, Willis Jensen digs into what makes a ‘good’ and a ‘bad’ people analytics metric. The secret? Ask yourself: “Can I make a line chart of the metric?”
In The Three Most Common Statistical Tests You Should Deeply Understand, Keith McNulty explains that hypothesis testing is one of the most fundamental elements of inferential statistics. He uses an example to show three common hypothesis tests (Welch’s t-test, Correlation test, and Chi-square test of difference in proportion) and how they work under the hood, as well as showing how to run them in R and Python and to understand the results.
Having worked in both domains, Scott Rogers is well-qualified to explore the dynamics of the HRBP-People Analytics relationship. He presents a framework identifying the key focus areas for people analytics leaders (e.g. championing HR operational excellence) and HRBPs (e.g. engaging with and advocating for people analytics).
Jackson Roatch outlines how people analytics teams can move from correlation to causation and create more impact by adding econometric methods to its tools and capabilities.
Nelson Spencer presents his S.T.A.R.T Framework (see FIG 11), which is designed to solve a perennial problem for many HR functions: the disconnect between analytics, technology and operations. As Nelson explains, S.T.A.R.T has been designed “to consider these three critical functions holistically, acknowledging that they are part of a bigger puzzle and are all deeply interconnected.” The five pillars, which Nelson describes in detail in his article, are: (1) Strategy, (2) Technology, (3) Analytics, (4) Results, and (5) Transformation. He then provides guidance on how to implement the framework in organisations of varying sizes, from small to large.
FIG 11: The S.T.A.R.T Framework (Source: Nelson Spencer)
READ THE OTHER INSTALMENTS OF THE BEST ARTICLES OF 2024
Don’t forget to check out the four other editions of Data Driven HR Monthly, where I reveal my best articles of 2024:
Part 2: Orchestrating the future of work (available from Sunday, January 12)
Part 3: Enhancing employee experience and wellbeing (available from Thursday, January 16)
Part 4: Developing leaders, culture and inclusion (available from Sunday, January 19)
Part 5: Building the strategic HR function (available from Thursday, January 23)
THANK YOU
Thanks to all the authors and contributors featured in the best articles of 2024 as well as across the monthly collections from 2024 – see January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December - your passion, knowledge and expertise continues to inspire. Thanks also to my colleagues at Insight222, the guests and sponsors of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast in 2024 and the great many of you that share and engage with the content I share. It’s much appreciated. I wish you all well for a happy, healthy, and successful 2025.
UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL OF YOUR PEOPLE ANALYTICS FUNCTION THROUGH THE INSIGHT222 PEOPLE ANALYTICS PROGRAM
At Insight222, our mission is to make organisations better by putting people analytics at the centre of business and upskilling the HR profession The Insight222 People Analytics Program® is your gateway to a world of knowledge, networking, and growth. Developed exclusively for people analytics leaders and their teams, the program equips you with the frameworks, guidance, learnings, and connections you need to create greater impact.
As the landscape of people analytics becomes increasingly complex, with data, technology, and ethical considerations at the forefront, our program brings together over one hundred organisations to collectively address these shared challenges.
Insight222 Peer Meetings, like this event in London, are a core component of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®. They allow participants to learn, network and co-create solutions together with the purpose of ultimately growing the business value that people analytics can deliver to their organisations. If you would like to learn more, contact us today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Green ?? is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As Managing Partner and Executive Director at Insight222, he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 100 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222, David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and is an instructor for Insight222's myHRfuture Academy. His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar, Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value was published in the summer of 2021.
David Green
2025年01月09日
NACSHR活动
【成功举办】2025北美华人人力资源洛杉矶论坛成功举办—共话未来，共创机遇2025年1月4日周六，北美华人人力资源协会(NACSHR)在洛杉矶地区成功举办了“2025北美华人人力资源洛杉矶论坛”。此次论坛积极响应南加州华人HR同仁的热切呼声，汇聚了40余位北美华人HR领域的专家与从业者。论坛由庞飞律师事务所、OCBridge、AP Global HR Consulting联合赞助支持，为与会者提供了深入探讨行业趋势、交流实践经验的绝佳平台。我们衷心感谢每一位演讲嘉宾和参会者，共同助力论坛的圆满成功，推动南加华人人力资源发展。
精彩分享：聚焦行业趋势与实践创新
Gawain Wang：2025 HR科技趋势和NACSHR服务图谱发布
会议伊始，NACSHR与Chuhai.tips合伙人Gawain Wang通过《2025 HR科技趋势暨北美华人人力资源服务图谱》的发布，为与会者带来一场2025年全球科技驱动的人力资源趋势展望。从AI First的新思路到与人工智能协作的未来！同时现场发布了2025北美人力资源服务采购指南的NACSHR图谱（点击可以直接下载）
庞飞律师：签证与绿卡的实务指南
庞飞律师事务所创始人庞飞的演讲聚焦于企业出海背景下的人才管理。他全面解析了常见的签证类型与绿卡申请策略，并结合实际案例剖析如何更好地支持企业实现全球化的人才配置，特别是近期H1B、J1等新政的影响。
Kirby Deng：AI与新能源人才市场趋势
OCBridge创始人兼CEO Kirby Deng从行业现状出发，详细分析了美国AI与新能源领域的招聘趋势及挑战。他的演讲通过数据与经验相结合，帮助与会者更好地理解未来人才市场的变化，更加体现了OCBridge区别与传统人力服务机构独特专业投入度。
圆桌论坛：突破边界，赋能职业发展
由East West Bank HR People Partner Joki Jin主持的圆桌讨论围绕“2025 Breaking Barriers, Unlocking Potential and Building Impactful Career”展开。与会嘉宾庞飞、Nexus Urban Development创始人Sean Li以及East West Bank高级副总裁Jessica Wu分享了他们在职业发展与组织创新中的实践与思考，为参会者提供了颇具价值的经验分享。
下午深度互动与专业探讨
HR岗位现场宣讲
本次会议专门设计了这个环节，邀请了现场招聘HR岗位的企业介绍了目前的岗位需求信息和更进一步的细节，从现场传递出的招聘需求中，我们发现了对华人人力资源专业人士的需求之迫切！未来机会之多！更多的HR招聘岗位，会通过NACSHR招聘频道发布：https://www.nacshr.org/job
Sandy Qian：教练技术在HRBP中的应用
Transglobal Holding HR总监Sandy Qian通过实践案例，讲解了教练技术在HRBP角色中的应用。在她的环节中，参会者通过互动投票讨论了“信任在组织中的重要作用”，这一环节激发了热烈讨论，并进一步引导大家思考如何通过信任构建更高效的组织合作。
Joki Jin：从洞察到行动，做出更智能决策
East West Bank HR People Partner Joki Jin在演讲中通过现场案例研究，展示了如何利用数据分析优化HR决策过程。通过实际案例与互动讨论，她为与会者提供了可操作性极强的解决方案，获得了广泛好评。
Alice Tian：国际招聘助力全球扩张
AP Global HR Consulting CEO Alice Tian聚焦“国际化招聘的战略”，她详细分享了如何为企业的全球化扩张制定高效的人才招聘计划，帮助企业提升跨文化竞争力。
总结与展望
为期一天的论坛以高质量的分享和多维度的互动圆满落幕。40余位来自北美各地的华人HR同仁，通过交流前沿观点与实践经验，拓展了行业视野，建立了宝贵的专业联系。此次论坛不仅彰显了北美华人人力资源协会为行业发展所做的努力，更为未来持续的合作与创新奠定了坚实基础。
再次感谢庞飞律师事务所、OCBridge、AP Global HR Consulting的鼎力支持！
期待在未来更多的活动中，与广大HR同仁携手共进，共创卓越！更多行业动态，欢迎关注北美华人人力资源协会！
The North American Chinese Society for Human Resources (NACSHR) successfully hosted the “2025 North American Chinese HR Los Angeles Forum” on January 4, 2025. With over 40 HR professionals in attendance, the forum provided a platform to explore HR trends, share best practices, and foster collaboration. Key sessions included Gawain Wang’s release of the 2025 HR Technology Trends and NACSHR Service Map, legal guidance on visas and green cards by Peng Fei, and Kirby Deng’s insights into AI and renewable energy talent markets. Highlights also featured a roundtable on career development, discussions on coaching techniques in HRBP roles, and strategies for global recruitment. The event was supported by Peng Fei Law Firm, OCBridge, and AP Global HR Consulting.
Josh Bersin
David Green
Josh Bersin
NACSHR活动
David Green
Josh Bersin
NACSHR活动
Josh Bersin
David Green
NACSHR活动
