The best HR & People Analytics articles of October 2024
Never forget what the ‘H’ in HR stands for...
This was the unanimous advice of the CEO panel, skilfully moderated by Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts, at the recent Unleash World show in Paris, where I had the privilege of being emcee of the Main Stage. One of the main themes that emerged from the show (see my key learnings from Unleash) is that HR continues to make significant progress in its journey from support function to strategic partner. To complete this transition, HR must embrace data (as opening keynote Peter Hinssen put it: “You can’t connect the dots, if you don’t collect the dots”). Moreover, as I said in my opening words:
HR can’t lead the charge on AI, skills and new ways of working, if it doesn’t upskill itself.
This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at Visier
Pay Equity: A Critical Workforce Challenge You Can No Longer Ignore.
According to a recent study by The Josh Bersin Company on pay equity, as it stands today, the gender pay gap won't close until 2048. Even worse: progress in some areas is slowing with less than 5% of companies excelling in pay equity despite it having 13 times the impact on employee experience compared to pay levels. Read the report.
The report, “The Surprising Truth about Gender Pay Equity”., examines:
The current state of gender pay equity
Barriers companies face in addressing pay
The projected timeline for closing the gender pay gap
Examples of companies implementing strategies to achieve pay equity
It’s time to face the challenge head-on, embed pay equity into everyday practices, and have informed conversations about compensation.
Get the report.
Visier gives you a Workforce AI Edge: the set of AI-powered capabilities every leader needs to confidently navigate an exponentially more challenging business environment.
October road report
October was a busy month. It started in New York, where I moderated a panel on Workestration at the NY Strategic HR Analytics Meetup Group before co-chairing the first People Analytics World to take place in the US. The next stop was Paris, for the aforementioned UNLEASH World, which had over 7,000 attendees. Finally, it was back to the US for a Peer Meeting for North American members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®, which was hosted by Phil Wilburn and his team at Workday.
For more on People Analytics World, I recommend reading takeaways from Craig Starbuck, PhD (here), Al Adamsen (here), Christopher Cerasoli (here), Lore Muraina, PMP, PMI-ACP, CPP (here), Lydia Wu (here), and Melissa Arronte (here). Thanks to Barry Swales for entrusting me to co-chair with Michael M. Moon, PhD.
For more on Unleash, read my key learnings, as well as checking out the Unleash site for articles by Alexandra Nawrat, John Brazier and Lucy Buchholz. A huge thank you to Marc Coleman, Paige Richmond, Zoltán Kőváry and the whole Unleash team – it was a joy to work with you all again.
A huge thank you too to Phil Willburn and the Workday team for hosting the Insight222 Peer Meeting at Pleasanton, as well as the speakers at the Peer Meeting: Shannon Vallina, Kanwal Safdar, Dr. Sebastian Projahn, Ashley Goldsmith, Rex Blodgett, Kun Gu, Victoria Holland, Greta Stahl, Kinnari Desai, Sven Linsmaier
Finally, thanks as well to Stela Lupushor for inviting me to chair the panel on Workestration, Anna A. Tavis, PhD for hosting us at NYU, and Annie Dean, Brydie Lear and Chris Butler for making it such a rich conversation.
Attendees at the Insight222 Peer Meeting for members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, hosted by Workday, October 22-23, 2024
Sign-up to receive the 5th annual Insight222 People Analytics Trends research report
The 5th Annual Insight222 People Analytics Trends study will be released on December 2. The report, which is informed by a survey of 340 participating organisations, will uncover how AI, data democratisation, and impactful people analytics strategies drive business value and elevate workforce decision-making.
You can pre-register to receive the report on the day of release here or by clicking on the image below.
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for October 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 September’s compendium.
If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is published every Tuesday – subscribe here.
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
ERIC ANICICH AND DART LINDSLEY - Reimagining Work as a Product
If companies listen to employees the way they do customers, they can increase retention and engagement.
In their Harvard Business Review article, Eric Anicich and Dart Lindsley challenge the traditional approaches to employee experience by painting a vision where work is viewed as a product employers offer to employees. Drawing on Clayton Christensen’s the jobs to be done theory, they suggest that employees ‘hire’ their jobs to fulfil specific needs, much as customers choose products. This perspective shifts the focus from maximising productivity to something akin to customer satisfaction. The authors share examples from a myriad of companies including Asana, Eli Lilly, Shopify and Dropbox, explain how companies can better balance company needs with employee satisfaction (see FIG 1), and discuss the merits of splitting the manager role in two (see also ‘Managers Can’t Do It All’ by Lynda Gratton and Diane Gherson). Finally, the article examines four challenges of implementing the model: (1) Changing HR (“Work-as-a-product requires a new HR mindset”). (2) Balancing employee preferences and organisational needs. (3) Maintaining flexibility and fairness. (4) Aligning incentives.
FIG 1: Balancing company needs with employee satisfaction (Source: Anicich and Lindsley)
NICHOLAS BLOOM, JAMES LIANG, AND RUOBING HAN - One Company A/B Tested Hybrid Work. Here’s What They Found
With Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently announcing that Amazon is going back to five days in the office: “to further strengthen our culture and teams”, this article by Nick Bloom, James Liang, and Ruobing Han based on A/B testing at Trip.com into different work modes makes for very interesting reading. The experiment involved 1600 employees being split into two groups. The first group worked five days a week in the office, with the second working three days in the office and two days a week at home. Over a two-year period, the experiment found no differences between the two groups in productivity, performance, promotion, learning or innovation. However, the study found that the hybrid group experienced higher satisfaction and lower attrition rates compared with their colleagues who worked exclusively from the office (see FIG 2). This reduction in turnover saved millions of dollars in recruiting and training costs, thereby increasing profits for the company. As the article explains, organisations can learn several valuable lessons from this study to implement a successful hybrid work model: (1) Establishing rigorous performance management systems, (2) Coordinating team or company-level hybrid schedules, (3) Securing support from firm leadership, and (4) A/B test their own management practices to find what works best for them.
Our results showed that under a hybrid-work policy, Trip.com was able to generate millions of dollars of profits by reducing expensive attrition without any impact on performance, innovation, or productivity.
FIG 2: Source: Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance
MICHAEL ARENA AND PHILIP ARKCOLL - The collaboration mandate: Does returning to the office improve innovation?
What we need isn’t an office mandate—it’s a “collaboration mandate.” Shifting our focus from where we work to how we work could unlock the innovation we’re seeking.
In all the hullabaloo of return to office mandates, there’s still too much focus on where employees work rather than how they collaborate. As Michael Arena and Philip Arkcoll write in their excellent article, dragging employees back into the office won’t magically spark innovation. Instead of an office mandate, they advocate for a “collaboration mandate”. The article explains how innovation is generated through three critical phases of collaboration: (1) Discovery (“the generation of new ideas and insights, often benefiting from the intentional bridging of connections and in-person interactions”), (2) Development (“transforming those ideas into viable solutions, where the focused team interactions of experimentation and rapid iteration are essential. It also requires an environment with minimal distraction for focused concentration.” – see FIG 3) and (3) Scaling (“the process of implementing solutions across the organization, which requires more deliberate interactions with key influencers to ensure widespread adoption and buy-in.”). The article examines the impact of remote and in-person on each stage, and provides guidance on practices to improve collaboration in each. For more, I recommend listening to Michael on a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast with me: What the Impact of Distributed Work on Organisational Networks Tells Us About the Future of Talent Management.
FIG 3: High levels of focus, such as 4.4 hours daily versus a low focus level of 2.7 hours, significantly drive productivity in development (Source: Worklytics)
https://youtu.be/-giwBOuYwio
BCG - Five Must-Haves for Effective AI Upskilling
Embedding AI in daily tasks at all levels creates a network effect: the more people use and understand it, the more the entire organization gains in knowledge, innovation, and efficiency.
Upskilling its workforce on AI helps a company maximise its investments in the technology and equips it with a competitive edge. In a new study by BCG, Hean-Ho Loh, Vinciane Beauchene, Vladimir Lukic, and Rajiv Shenoy provide guidance on five actions to help achieve this: (1) Assess needs and measure outcomes (the article recommends using the Kirkpatrick method). (2) Prepare workers for change - individually, at the team level, and organisation-wide. (3) Introduce appropriate incentives to unlock employees’ willingness to learn (e.g. nudges). (4) Position the C-suite at the forefront of adoption and training initiatives. (5) Use AI tools and the network effect to upskill people on AI (see FIG 4).
FIG 4: AI learning and support tools fall into four categories (Source: BCG)
KAI HAHN | INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE LEADERS ALLIANCE - AI & The Future of Work
Within People Analytics’ transformation into a strategic business partner the advance of AI is shaping up as an accelerator if used to drive business outcomes
Kai Hahn presents the results of a comprehensive study by the Intelligent Enterprise Leaders Alliance on the state of AI adoption in HR and people analytics. The report features a stellar list of contributors including: Arianna Huffington, Dave Ulrich, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Amit Mohindra, Nicole Lettich, Kalifa Oliver, Ph.D. and Alim A. Dhanji. Key findings include: (1) Talent Acquisition is at the forefront of embracing AI tools with 70% currently piloting/leveraging AI, followed by People Analytics and L&D with 65%. (2) Priorities for People Analytics in the next 6-12 months with AI are first and foremost automating HR operations. (3) The biggest barrier to adoption is resistance to change, ahead of skills gaps, challenges with data quality and security, privacy and trust, and ethical concerns and bias.
FIG 5: Where organisations are leveraging AI in HR (Source: IELA)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
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 recent 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 new 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)
SCOTT ROGERS - People Analytics & HRBPs - Navigating the art of imperfect collaboration | ALDAR NIKOLAEV - People Analytics Recipes: Advancing Employee Turnover Story P.1 | RALF BUECHSENSCHUSS - Becoming a data-driven (HR) organization - Leveraging generative AI to democratize data and insights | PETER MEYLER – How much time do People Analytics teams spend on reporting vs. analytics? | PATRICK COOLEN – The Four Faces of People Analytics | YUYAN SUN - 5 Ways to Use AI in People Analytics Everyday
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. Six are highlighted in this month’s edition. (1) 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). (2) Aldar Nikolaev provides a practical guide on how to analyse and visualise employee turnover and conduct scenario planning (see FIG 8). (3) Ralf Buechsenschuss offers a practical guide – including videos – to showcase what is already possible when embedding generative AI into the flow of work in the context of people analytics. (4) Peter Meyler presents the findings of his survey, which finds that 48% of people analytics teams spend at least 75% of their time on data and reporting. (5) Patrick Coolen documents the four faces of people analytics practices: the strategist (see FIG 9), the gatekeeper, the specialist, and the designer. (6) Yuyan Sun breaks down five ways to use AI everyday in people analytics:
Don't just use AI as a tool. Use it as a thought partner.
FIG 8: Measuring employee turnover (Source: Aldar Nikolaev)
FIG 9: The Four Faces of People Analytics: The Strategist (Source: Patrick Coolen)
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
MARC EFFRON - It’s (Still) the Mortar not the Bricks
Some CHROs are not willing to drive significant change in reducing headcount, upgrading the capabilities of their team or holding their HRLT accountable to “wire” the business properly.
Marc Effron and his team at The Talent Strategy Group cut through the hyperbole to analyse the state of the HR operating model, critique what the consulting firms (EY, Deloitte, Gartner, Mercer and McKinsey) propose and where they fit with the Ulrich Model, and offer guidance on how to structure, upskill and wire your HR operating mode for success. Highlights include Effron’s views that: (1) Dave Ulrich’s model is the reference standard for good HR operating models. (2) That despite statements to the contrary by the consulting firms advocating why the HR operations model needs to change, the world of work remains largely the same. (3) HRBP’s should be fewer in number, stronger in capabilities and deployed against major business units and/or geographies. (4) The future HR service centre will perform a far larger percentage of overall HR work and do at least 80% of this through technology. (5) Companies should create an ‘HR Wiring Team’ to assess where the HR wiring is either not fully developed or isn’t being followed. Effron defines wiring as “Wiring means the agreement among HR team members about how vital processes will flow – the steps, the accountabilities, the technology, etc.” A compulsory read for any chief people officer considering whether to revamp their HR operating model.
FIG 10: People Value Chain (Source: EY)
SHARI CHERNACK AND JONATHAN GORDIN | MERCER - 2024 Voice of the CHRO: Maximizing HR effectiveness in a changing landscape Article | Full Report
While much of the focus and headlines of Mercer’s 2024 Voice of the CHRO report, authored by Shari Chernack and Jonathan Gordin, is understandably on the challenges and opportunities associated with AI (see FIG 11), what really stands out for me is the section on maximising HR’s influence with the C-suite and board. The results demonstrate that HR is increasingly a strategic partner: 56% of CHROs meet with the board every week, 51% report higher levels of C-suite engagement than previous years, and 71% report high alignment on HR and people priorities. Data is increasingly key, with 76% of CHROs believing that using data to showcase HR’s impact on business performance will help drive further engagement with the C-suite and board. The report highlights six key actions for CHROs: (1) Accelerate AI for HR readiness. (2) Drive AI adoption across the enterprise. (3) Strengthen C-suite relationships and alignment. (4) Understand and plan to bolster key skills. (5) Don’t sleep on employee experience. (6) Build your HR team for the future.
Build your HR team for the future. Reshape and develop your team to reflect the cross pressures of increasingly complex demands on HR, including an anticipated need for greater technology and analytical expertise on the team, and the lean HR team size in most organizations.
FIG 11: AI’s anticipated impact (Source: Mercer)
MARK WHITTLE, LIANA PASSANTINO AND MAGGIE SCHROEDER-O’NEAL | GARTNER - Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2025
Leader and manager development remains the No. 1 priority in 2025 for HR leaders for the third consecutive year, according to Gartner, with organisational culture, strategic workforce planning, change management and HR technology rounding off the top five (see FIG 12). The report (authors: Mark Whittle, Liana Passantino, PhD, and Maggie Schroeder-O’Neal) provides detailed analysis on each of the top five priorities, defining the problem statement and imperative for each along with a case study. My eyes were drawn to the section on Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) and the rather stark finding that only 15% of organisations currently practice SWP. Guidance is provided on expanding the scope and complexity of SWP through small phases and a powerful case study is provided on Merck (kudos Ruben Groen Alexis Saussinan) (see FIG 13):
Instead of striving for perfection and getting stuck gathering every piece of information available, Merck’s SWP team reduces the complexity of SWP by narrowing their team’s focus to solving a problem, enabling them to take action and drive impact.
FIG 12: Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2025 (Source: Gartner)
FIG 13: How Merck prioritizes SWP needs by relevance and actionability (Source: Gartner)
ROB BRINER | CORPORATE RESEARCH FORUM - Driving Organisational Performance: HR’s Critical Role
HR functions can and should do more to contribute to organisational performance. But, in order to do this, they need to be able to identify for themselves and in their context what specifically they need to do to help the business meet its strategic objectives.
The purpose of this excellent new report, authored by Rob Briner for the Corporate Research Forum (CRF), is to provide a framework for HR functions to more effectively drive performance – within their own organisational context. There’s lots to unpack in the report, but highlights include: (1) The evaluation of six ways of thinking about how HR impacts organisational performance (see FIG 14). (2) Key questions HR should be able to answer about the business, its strategic objectives, and how HR can help achieve these objectives. (3) Guidance on joining the causal dots between HR practices and strategic objectives. (4) A self-assessment for HR leaders to assess how well their own function contributes to organisational performance. (5) An eight-step process model of how HR can drive organisational performance. For more from Rob Briner, I recommend listening to his conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: What is Evidence Based HR and Why is it Important?
FIG 14: Perspectives of how HR contributes to organisational performance and likely value (Source: CRF, Rob Briner)
PwC - Saratoga Annual Benchmarking Report 2024
As the introduction to this report highlights, PwC Saratoga has over 30,000 benchmarks for 1000+ metrics covering a wide variety of HR and workforce topics. This annual report includes benchmarks for 400 organisations across 20 industries including those related to employee attrition, talent attraction, and diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as benchmarks relating to HR and people analytics FTE ratios (see FIG 15 for FTE ratios for business partners and people analytics). Similar to the annual People Analytics Trends study we publish at Insight222, Saratoga finds that people analytics is showing rapid growth in many industries including technology, financial services and manufacturing/engineering.
There is an increasing focus on people analytics as organizations invest deeper into digital capabilities and as the importance of data is elevated across industries.
FIG 15: HR Business Partners and People Analytics FTE ratios 2022 and 2023 (Source: PwC Saratoga)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
JAEJIN LEE - Skill-based Transformation: “Don't Start with Skills, Start with Work!”
Jaejin Lee takes an incredibly thoughtful deep-dive on the shift towards a skills-based organisation. He analyses a number of factors driving this shift including why the consensus is shifting towards skills, the technology changes driving the movement, and the need to start with the work while viewing the transformation through an employee-centric lens. Jaejin also shares two examples from his consulting work of skills-based network analysis (see FIG 16 for example that clusters the company’s employees' skills based on their similar attributes). Finally, Jaejin shares resources from experts including John Boudreau, Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA, and Tanuj Kapilashrami, and rounds proceedings off by providing a checklist for companies to conduct a self-diagnosis with regards to skills (see FIG 17). A tour de force.
FIG 16: Using network analysis to group skills with similar attributes into categories (Source: Jaejin Lee.
FIG 17: Skills-based organisational diagnostic self-checklist (Source; Jaejin Lee)
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
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.
STEPHANIE DENINO - Moving Beyond Work as a Black Box: Uncovering & Addressing the Hidden Friction
Work is more than just a black box of outputs—it’s a complex system with hidden friction that we often overlook. In her thoughtful article, Stephanie Denino, Managing Director at TI PEOPLE, examines the consequences of treating work like a black box. She breaks down the core components that make up work: “(1) a worker that is (2) trying to do something (key activities or moments of their work experience), in which (3) they interact with things like technology, people, and processes” (see FIG 18). Stephanie identifies that by capturing data on how work unfolds from the worker’s perspective, leaders can better identify and reduce work friction, ensuring productivity gains and enhancing employee satisfaction. The article presents strategies to move beyond surface-level metrics and focus on the intricate moments of work that truly drive business outcomes.
FIG 18: Work can be broken down into three components (Source: Stephanie Denino)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING
MCKINSEY - Going all in: Why employee ‘will’ can make or break transformations
For a company undergoing transformation, cultivating employee “will” to change the way it operates is critical for success.
Writing for McKinsey, Dominic Skerritt, John Parsons, Mary Lass Stewart, Matthew Schrimper, and Nicolette Rainone, Ph.D. highlight the people element of successful transformations. They set out a three step-process (see FIG 19): Elevate, empower, energize to cultivate employees’ will to drive transformation. (1) Elevate a strong core of employees across all levels to lead the transformation. (2) Empower a broad coalition of change leaders to embody new ways of thinking and working. (3) Energize all employees to transform.
FIG 19: Organisations can galvanise a workforce’s will to transform with three actions (Source: McKinsey)
CONSTANCE NOONAN HADLEY AND SARAH L. WRIGHT – We’re Still Lonely at Work
In recent years, the huge impact that work loneliness is having on healthcare costs, absenteeism, and turnover has received widespread attention. Despite growing awareness, the problem remains, with one in five employees worldwide feeling lonely at work. In their article for Harvard Business Review, Connie Noonan Hadley and Sarah Wright debunk myths about work loneliness, such as the belief that in-person work or team assignments can solve the issue. They provide guidance on seven actions companies can take to put loneliness on the agenda: (1) Measure loneliness (see FIG 20); (2) Design slack into the workflow; (3) Create a culture of connections; (4) Build socialising into the rhythm of work; (5) Keep social activities simple; (6) Maximise each work mode for connection; (7) Actively recruit participants.
FIG 20: A tool for measuring work loneliness (Source: Constance Noonan Hadley and Sarah L. Wright)
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING
McKINSEY AND LEANIN.ORG – Women in the Workplace: The 10th Anniversary Report
Organizational change is a marathon, not a sprint, and making meaningful strides for women requires both hope and resilience. When leaders create a compelling vision of what’s possible, workplaces are better equipped to drive and sustain progress.
Despite progress over the past decade, parity for all women in the workspace is almost 50 years away according to the 10th Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey and Leanin.Org. At the current trajectory, it will take 22 years for white women to achieve leadership parity—and more than twice as long for women of colour (see FIG 21). As ever, the report is an absorbing read with part 4, A Data-Driven Approach to Solutions, being required reading for people analytics professionals. In terms of implementing consistent processes, the report recommends four key building blocks: (1) making sure employees understand why a new practice is important; (2) teaching employees the skills they need to do their part; (3) putting mechanisms in place to support the practice; and (4) ensuring leaders role model the right behaviours. Finally, the report also provides guidance on tackling three areas that are especially important for advancing women and fostering inclusion: (1) De-biasing hiring and promotion (see FIG 22); (2) Inspiring and equipping employees to curb bias and practice allyship; and (3) Unlocking the power of managers to influence careers and team culture. Kudos to the authors: Alexis Krivkovich, Emily Field, Lareina Yee, and Megan McConnell, with Hannah Smith.
FIG 21: It will take nearly 50 years to achieve gender parity for all women (Source: McKinsey)
FIG 22: Research based tips for making hiring and performance reviews fairer (Source: McKinsey)
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 October that I recommend readers delve into:
LOUJAINA ABDELWAHED, LISA K. SIMON, TOBY CULSHAW, AND REMY GLAISNER - Stuck in Neutral: Why Employees are Staying Put – Loujaina Abdelwahed, PhD, Lisa K. Simon, Toby Culshaw, and Remy Glaisner highlight Revelio Labs data finding that employee attrition rates are at their lowest in a decade. They explore the reasons for this and outline the conditions that would return attrition rates to their long-term average e.g. an increase in demand (15% increase in job postings), combined with 10% higher salaries and a tighter labour market (job postings taking 10% longer to fill).
FIG 23: The decline in attrition in 2024 is unexplained by common factors (Source: Revelio Labs)
DIDIER ELZINGA AND AMY LAVOIE - Research: The Long-Term Costs of Layoffs – Didier Elzinga and Amy Lavoie share the findings of a study by Culture Amp to understand the impact of company layoffs on employee engagement. These include: (1) After layoffs, companies see a significant drop in employee experience in many key areas. (2) High employee engagement prior to layoffs won’t protect you from the negative impact of doing layoffs. (3) Recovery takes time (see FIG 24).
FIG 24: Change in favourability from pre-layoff (Source: Culture Amp)
FRANCISCO MARIN - The Power of Collaborative Freedom: Aligning Interests, Collaborators, and Schedules – Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions explains how collaborative freedom, which he sees as the underlying principle of a network-first future of work, discusses how the key facets of collaborative freedom – from increased autonomy and cross-functional cooperation to enhanced transparency - contribute to creating a more effective, agile, and rewarding work environment, “where employees are motivated not just by individual success but by the shared goals and achievements of the organization.”
VISIER - Visier's Top 50 HR Leaders To Watch in 2025 – It’s a nice move (and a clever marketing one!) by Visier Inc. to highlight a group of their data-driven innovator clients. It’s certainly good to see the likes of Adam McKinnon, PhD., Angela LE MATHON, Jeremy Shapiro, Katherine Ward, Doug Shagam, Poonam Sirigidi, Julien Legret, Annalyn Jacob, Ph.D., Erik Otteson, Shannon Rutledge, Kai Wehmeyer, Jill Larsen, Ian Bailie, Alan Susi, and Scott Judd get some well-deserved recognition.
PODCASTS OF THE MONTH
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected six gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
MARK PRICE AND BRUCE DAISLEY - Can happy workers improve your company results? – Mark Price, former CEO at Waitrose, joins Bruce Daisley on the consistently excellent Eat Sleep Work Repeat to discuss the business benefits of investing in happy employees. The episode features a powerful example of how after acquiring Somerfield, and focusing on motivating the inherited workforce, Mark was able to reduce employee turnover from 75% to 17% within months.
ETHAN BERNSTEIN AND MICHAEL HORN - The Real Reasons Employees Quit — and How to Retain Them – Ethan Bernstein and Michael Horn join Alison Beard on HBR IdeaCast to share their research on employee turnover, which points to a host of push and pull forces that cause workers to jump ship, and also outlines better retention strategies.
NICK LYNN - “Small Changes Can Add Up To Something Big” – Culture, Change Management and the Employee Experience – Nick Lynn joins Mike Petrusky on the Workplace Innovator podcast to discuss the current world of the workplace and how leaders can build a culture of trust and higher engagement
BRYAN HANCOCK AND EMILY FIELD - Will generative AI hurt middle managers—or help them? – In an episode of The McKinsey Podcast, together with host Lucia Rahilly, Emily Field and Bryan Hancock revisit their book, Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work, one year on to share how middle managers can use gen AI to support their teams more effectively—and update their image while they’re at it.
KELLY MONAHAN - What trends will have the most impact on the future of work? – Kelly Monahan, Ph.D. joins host JP Elliott, PhD on The Future of Work Podcast to discuss the key trends that are impacting the future of work including why she believes that the skills-based organisation movement is stuck in the theory phase and the challenges it faces in implementation.
GREG PRYOR - Why Social Network Perspective Matters – Greg Pryor joins Stacia Sherman Garr and Dani Johnson on Workplace Stories to share how social capital—our connections and relationships—drives business outcomes, sparks innovation, and boosts career growth. Listen to Greg, and then tune in to his sparring partner, Michael Arena, on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: What the Impact of Distributed Work on Organisational Networks Tells Us About the Future of Talent Management.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
NICKLE LAMOREAUX - How IBM Uses AI to Transform HR
In celebration of IBM's CHRO Nickle LaMoreaux recently being recognised as HR Executive of the Year, this month's Video of the Month features Nickle in discussion with me earlier this year on the Digital HR Leaders podcast where she shares how IBM is pioneering the use of AI in HR, and how this is revolutionising its approach to talent management, employee engagement, and predictive analytics.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
YUVAL NOAH HARARI - Nexus
While I was on my travels at People Analytics World in New York and then Unleash World in Paris, at least ten people I respect told me that I simply had to read Nexus, the new book by Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari. So, I ordered it in time to take with me to the US the week after Unleash – and they were right. It’s brilliant. It’s basically the story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. With the opportunity – and threat of AI – this is a book everyone in our field should read. Rory Stewart describes Nexus as: “Bold, original, erudite, provocative and entrancing,” and I couldn’t agree more.
RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH
ALEXIS FINK AND COLE NAPPER - The World of HR Is Changing Rapidly: I-O Psychology Can Help – In their new paper for Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Alexis Fink and Cole Napper, people analytics leaders at Meta and FedEx respectively, break down the role of the industrial-organisational (IO) psychologist, and how they are helping organisations to manage the transformation being driven by advancements in artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and evolving cultural landscapes. Insight222 ’s research on Leading Companies in People Analytics, identified I/O psychology as one of three key skills these companies are focused on hiring, developing and retaining to drive success (along with data scientists, and consultants), so this paper is an important read for chief people officers looking to advance their people analytics function.
FROM MY DESK
October saw the final episode of Series 41 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by Visier Inc. (thanks Adedamola Adeleke), and the first three episodes of Series 42, sponsored by Workday (thanks Sophie Barnes and Jennifer Neumann) as well as a number of articles penned by yours truly.
Key Learnings from Unleash World 2024 – My key learnings from the main stage at the recent Unleash World show in Paris - together with the slides I used to kick off the event.
Key Learnings from Insight222 Global Executive Retreat 2024 Insights: Shaping the Future of People Analytics – My key learnings from the recent 7th Annual Insight222 Global Executive Retreat, which features learnings from speakers including: Janine Vos , Prasad Setty, and Erin Meyer.
How can workforce analytics enhance HR decision-making and drive business success? – A round-up of Series 41 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, with insights from episodes featuring: Diane Gherson, Lynda Gratton, Angela LE MATHON, Keith Bigelow, Tanuj Kapilashrami and Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA.
Three ways to Upskill HR in Data Literacy – The team at Workday shared a summary of insights from my recent speech at Rising on how to improve the data literacy of HR professionals.
SHARON TAYLOR AND JACO VAN VUUREN - Digitising HR for 55,000 Employees: Lessons from Standard Bank – Sharon Taylor, Chief People and Culture Officer, and Jaco Van Vuuren, Chief Operating Officer for Human Capital, join me to share the HR transformation journey at Standard Bank.
MICHAEL FRACCARO - How Mastercard is Using AI to Drive Employee Success and Leadership Growth – Michael Fraccaro , Chief People Officer at Mastercard, shares how the company is using AI across HR, building a skills-based organisation, and how their Culture Health Index helps shape discussion and decisions with the Board.
MICHAEL ARENA - What the Impact of Distributed Work on Organisational Networks Tells Us About the Future of Talent Management – Michael Arena joins me to discuss what the latest research on network analysis teaches us about hybrid working, team sizes, and the importance of social capital.
JASON SCHECKNER - How Talent Orchestration Connects AI Investments to Real Business Results – Jason Scheckner of HiredScore by Workday joins me to discuss how talent orchestration is the key to unlocking AI’s full potential and transforming HR operations into a strategic powerhouse.
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 close to 500 roles – and has now been developed into a LinkedIn newsletter too.
THANK YOU
Nick Broughton for including me in his list of remote work leaders to follow.
Thomas Kohler for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Michael Fraccaro in his HR Resources of the Week.
Thinkers360 for including me in their Top Voices EMEA 2024.
Elaine Parr for sharing the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Nickle LaMoreaux on how IBM is pioneering the use of AI in HR.
Olimpiusz Papiez for his thoughtful learnings about the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Jason Scheckner.
Sven Hultin for publishing his analysis of Insight222's recent research on the People Analytics Operating Model: Democratizing workforce insight in a relevant context fuels adaption towards future relevance.
Stela Lupushor for inviting me to moderate a panel at the recent New York Strategic HR Analytics MeetUp on Workestration and Neeru Monga (here), Tony Ashton (here), Ekta Lall Mittal (here), Anna A. Tavis, PhD (here) and Olivia Li (here) for their LinkedIn posts sharing some of the key learnings and pictures from the event.
Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who either shared the September edition of Data Driven HR Monthly and/or posted about my sessions at Unleash, People Analytics World, and Workday Rising. It's much appreciated: Craig Forman, Zornitza Iankova, SPHR, Brandon Merritt Johnson, Hrvoje Bulat, Rebecca Hone, Emma Mercer (Assoc CIPD, MLPI), Dr. Max Muge Bakkaloglu, Kerron Ramganesh, Kristina Schoemmel, Perri Ma, Justin Shemeley, Kelly Satterfield, Luis Maria Cravino, Zina Al Taie, MBA, Joachim Rotzinger, Tobias W. Goers ツ, Anna Gullstrand, Ian Bailie, John Guy, Ouarda Guergour, Markus Graf, Sydney Dolanch, Noam Mordechay, Dorothy Dalton, Victoria Holdsworth, Nima Sherpa Green, ✅ Sarah E. Danzl Nirit Cohen ?, Andrew Pitts, Pierre Dejonghe, Jane Bech, MA-OP, CODP, Shannon Peterson, Nicole Davis, Davina Erasmus, Blaine Ames, David Balls (FCIPD), Dan George, Amardeep Singh, MBA, Yotam Ainom, Roshaunda Green, MBA, CDSP, Phenom Certified Recruiter, Henrik Håkansson, Kouros Behzad, Marijana Brasiello, MHRM, Catriona Lindsay, Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski), María Esther Sánchez, Silvia Schleiffer-Gouveia, Rajarshee Mukherjee, Volker Jacobs, Laszlo Bock, Daniel Farrell, Kevin Legel, Aravind Warrier, Lewis Garrad, Francisca Solano Beneitez, Jose Luis Chavez Vasquez, Dr. Jeeta Sarkar, Jorge Arevalo, Andreea Lungulescu, Maria Alice Jovinski, Philip Arkcoll, Corine Boon, Pietro Mazzoleni, Dave Millner, Bob Pulver, Wayne Tarken, David McLean, Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD), Aurélie Crégut, David van Lochem, Vivek Ojha, Hanadi El Sayyed, Phil Kirschner, David Hodges, Jean-Francois Riand, Malgorzata Langlois, Shujaat Ahmad, Graham Tollit, Sebastian Kolberg, Phil Inskip, Sebastian Knepper, Caitie Jacobson, Asaf Jackoby, Melissa Hopper Fritz, Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D. Paul Daley, Stephen Hickey, Sarajit Poddar, Søren Kold, Jacob Nielsen, Dolapo (Dolly) Oyenuga, Manisha Singh, Monalisa Routray, Courtney McMahon, Irada Sadykhova, Geetanjali Gamel, Dave Fineman, Megan Buttita, MLIS, Mariana Hebborn PhD, Rob Kok, Keran Dhillon, Alex Browne, Chris Long, Pedro Pereira, Gal Mozes, PhD, Aritra Majumdar, Mia Norgren, Matthew Fleisher, PhD, Matt Elk, Christina Bui, Agnes Garaba, Laurent Reich, Jeff Wellstead, Danielle Bushen, Nick Hudgell, Jordan Hartley, John Gunawan, Casey G. Brower, PMP, Serena H. Huang, Ph.D., Bo Vialle-Derksen, Trish Uhl, PMP ??, Ken Clar, Isabel Naidoo, Mariami Lolashvili, Sophia Huang, Ed.D., Philippa Penfold, Sonia Mooney, Ian Grant FCIPD, Dr. Peter Schulz-Rittich, Irene Wong, Tim Peffers, Marcela Mury, Andrés García Ayala, Giovanna Constant, John Golden, Ph.D. Tanguy Dulac
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 2024 and early 2025:
November 19-20 - Insight222 European Peer Meeting (hosted by Merck in Darmstadt, Germany) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
December 5 - Visier Outsmart Local - Building Your People Data Strategy, London
December 10-12 - Workday Rising EMEA, Amsterdam
February 26-27 - People Analytics World, Zürich
April 29-30 - People Analytics World, London
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
主要作者和贡献者:
David Green - Insight222的管理合伙人,专注于HR数据分析和未来工作趋势。
Eric Anicich 和 Dart Lindsley - 探讨“将工作视为产品”的方法。
Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, Ruobing Han - 基于Trip.com的混合办公A/B测试研究。
Michael Arena 和 Philip Arkcoll - 关于协作的重要性,倡导“协作要求”而非“办公要求”。
Hean-Ho Loh, Vinciane Beauchene, Vladimir Lukic, Rajiv Shenoy - 来自波士顿咨询公司(BCG),探讨AI技能提升的关键因素。
Kai Hahn - 智能企业领袖联盟的报告撰写者,探讨AI在HR中的应用。
Jaap Veldkamp - ABN AMRO的全球HR数据分析负责人。
Richard Rosenow - Insight222的一份研究报告撰写者,讨论HR系统的演变。
Scott Rogers, Aldar Nikolaev, Ralf Buechsenschuss, Peter Meyler, Patrick Coolen, Yuyan Sun - 各自讨论了HR数据分析在不同领域的应用。
Marc Effron - The Talent Strategy Group创始人,专注于HR运营模式。
Shari Chernack 和 Jonathan Gordin - Mercer的CHRO报告作者,探讨HR的战略角色。
Mark Whittle, Liana Passantino, Maggie Schroeder-O’Neal - 来自Gartner,讨论2025年HR的五大优先事项。
Rob Briner - Corporate Research Forum的作者,提供了HR推动组织绩效的框架。
Jaejin Lee - 探讨技能导向的组织转型。
Ethan Burris, Benjamin Thomas, Ketaki Sodhi, Dawn Klinghoffer - 在Harvard Business Review中讨论如何将员工反馈转化为行动。
Stephanie Denino - TI People的总监,讨论工作中隐藏摩擦的影响。
Dominic Skerritt, John Parsons, Mary Lass Stewart, Matthew Schrimper, Nicolette Rainone - McKinsey作者,探讨组织变革中的员工意愿。
Constance Noonan Hadley 和 Sarah L. Wright - 研究工作中的孤独感。
Alexis Krivkovich, Emily Field, Lareina Yee, Megan McConnell, Hannah Smith - 来自McKinsey和LeanIn.Org的性别平等报告的作者。
Loujaina Abdelwahed, Lisa K. Simon, Toby Culshaw, Remy Glaisner - Revelio Labs的数据分析师,研究员工流动率。
Didier Elzinga 和 Amy Lavoie - Culture Amp的研究人员,探讨裁员的长期影响。
Francisco Marin - Cognitive Talent Solutions的代表,关于协作自由的重要性。
Adam McKinnon, Angela LE MATHON, Jeremy Shapiro, Katherine Ward, Doug Shagam, Poonam Sirigidi, Julien Legret, Annalyn Jacob, Erik Otteson, Shannon Rutledge, Kai Wehmeyer, Jill Larsen, Ian Bailie, Alan Susi, Scott Judd - Visier公司列出的2025年HR领导者。
Mark Price 和 Bruce Daisley - 在Eat Sleep Work Repeat上探讨员工幸福感的影响。
Ethan Bernstein 和 Michael Horn - HBR IdeaCast上的嘉宾,讨论员工流失的原因。
Nick Lynn - Workplace Innovator的嘉宾,讨论文化和员工体验。
Bryan Hancock 和 Emily Field - 在McKinsey Podcast上讨论生成式AI对中层管理的影响。
Kelly Monahan - The Future of Work Podcast的嘉宾,讨论未来工作的关键趋势。
Greg Pryor - Workplace Stories的嘉宾,讨论社交资本的影响。
Nickle LaMoreaux - IBM的CHRO,讨论AI在HR中的应用(视频)。
Yuval Noah Harari - 其新书《Nexus》被推荐阅读,探讨信息网络对世界的影响。
Alexis Fink 和 Cole Napper - I-O心理学家,探讨心理学在HR转型中的作用。
Employee Experience
2024年11月03日
Employee Experience
The best HR & People Analytics articles of September 2024
September has been a phenomenal month. Indeed, in the ten years I’ve been writing the Data Driven HR Monthly, I can’t recall a month when there has been so much insightful content to choose from. I believe this is indicative of the journey HR is on from its traditional role as a support function to becoming a true strategic partner to the CEO and the board. As Janine Vos, Managing Board Member and CHRO at Rabobank, highlighted this past week at the Insight222 Global Executive Retreat, people analytics has an important role to play in elevating the HR function and enabling it to successfully navigate this transition:
People Analytics helps give the chief human resources officer credibility (with the executive team and board).
This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at Worklytics
A New Way to Approach Manager Effectiveness
If you’re using eSat scores to evaluate Manager Effectiveness, you’re moving too slowly.
eSat scores are a lagging indicator of how it’s going. And in today’s distributed work environment, you can’t afford to wait.
Instead, use ONA-powered outcome driver analysisto identify what your best managers are doing differently.
You might measure behaviours like:
Manager Cross-Department Connectivity
Co-Attendance in Directs’ Meetings
Manager-Driven Disruptions (Slack DMs)
Curious to see what that looks like in practice? Find out how your managers stack up.
To sponsor an edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, and share your brand with more than 135,000 subscribers, send an email to dgreen@zandel.org.
The Changing Role of the People Analytics Executive
My personal highlight of September was the 7th annual Insight222 Global Executive Retreat, which took place from September 24 to 26 at the Duin en Kruidberg for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®. I’ll share more about the Retreat in a separate blog in a few days time, but for now I'll highlight this year’s theme: The Changing Role of the People Analytics Executive, and the stellar cast of inspirational speakers:
Janine Vos discussed the strategic influence of the CHRO and the close partnership she has at Rabobank with the people data and innovation team led by Marc Jansen.
Prasad Setty shared insights from his 14 years leading people analytics at Google as well as painting a vision of the future of people analytics in the age of generative AI.
Kevin Friesen, Neora Myrow PhD, and Nancy Duarte delivered an interactive workshop on influencing through data storytelling.
Erin Meyer ended proceedings with a tour de force masterclass on leading across cultures I global organisations.
The Retreat is one of the services included as part of the Insight222 People Analytics Program. If you are a people analytics leader and would like to find out more, you can contact the team here.
Attendees at the Insight222 Global Executive Retreat 2024, Duin en Kruidberg, Amsterdam
September and October World Tour
As well as the Retreat, I’m speaking at and attending a number of events in October. This week, I’m in New York, moderating a panel on Workestration at the New York Strategic HR Analytics Meetup (Sept 30), and chairing People Analytics World (Oct 2 and 3). The next stop after that will be Paris, where I’ll once again have the privilege of hosting the main stage at UNLEASH World (Oct 16 and 17) - thanks to Marc Coleman and the team. Then it’s back to the US for the North America Peer Meeting for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®, which will be hosted by Phil Willburn and his team at Workday in Pleasanton (Oct 22 and 23). I hope to see some of you at one of these events. Thanks too to Marcus Downing for hosting me at the recent Mercer event in London where I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA (see here), and Jennifer Neumann for inviting me to speak at Workday Rising in Las Vegas (see here), where it was great to meet up with the likes of Priyanka Mehrotra, Richard Rosenow, and Cory Edmonds.
Speaking onstage at Workday Rising, Las Vegas, 2024
Register for an Insight222 webinar on October 10: Building the People Analytics Operating Model
Join me and the Insight222 team on October 10 when we’ll be hosting a webinar on the recently published research on. You can register for the webinar here.
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for September 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 August’s compendium.
If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is published every Tuesday – subscribe here.
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
ANDY JASSY - Message from CEO Andy Jassy: Strengthening our culture and teams | JOSE MARIA BARRERO, NICHOLAS BLOOM, SHELBY BUCKMAN, AND STEVEN J. DAVIS - The Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes – September 2024 | ANNIE DEAN – Lessons Learned: 1,000 Days of Distributed at Atlassian
This special on hybrid work was inspired by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s announcement that Amazon is going back to five days in the office: “to further strengthen our culture and teams.” This comes hot on the heels of KPMG’s CEO Outlook Survey, which finds that CEOs are hardening their stance on returning to pre-pandemic ways of working, with 83 percent expecting a full return to the office within the next three years. Forensic analysis by Bruce Daisley (here), Phil Kirschner(here) and Nick Bloom (here) examines Amazon’s move and the validity of KPMG’s claim. This confirms that (1) Amazon is an outlier. (2) The findings by KPMG contradict the WFH Research that Nick is publishing every month, which shows working from home has remained flat since early 2023 and has stabilised at around 25% (see FIG 1). As Bloom suggest “shock sells,” which explains the extent of the media coverage about Amazon and the KPMG survey. To balance things out, I recommend reading about Dropbox’s Virtual First model (which chief people officer, Melanie Rosenwasser explains has “led to clear benefits, including higher employee engagement and retention.”). I also recommend reading a new report authored by Annie Dean summarising the findings from the first 1,000 days of Atlassian’s Team Anywhere approach to distributed work. As Rabobank’s CHRO Janine Vos urged in her session at Insight222’s Global Executive Retreat this week, the role of HR and People Analytics teams is to provide data that steers executive decision making around hybrid and return to office. It would be interesting to learn what data (if any) was used to inform Amazon’s decision to return to the office five days a week.
FIG 1: WFH is stable at c35% of days (Source: WFH Research)
BCG HENDERSON INSTITUTE - GenAI Doesn’t Just Increase Productivity. It Expands Capabilities
The ability to rapidly take on new types of work with GenAI - particularly tasks that traditionally require niche skills that are harder to find, such as data science - can be a game-changer for individuals and companies alike.
The BCG Henderson Institute follow-up their first landmark study on GAI in the workplace (see: How People Can Create - and Destroy - Value with Generative AI). The sophomore experiment tests how workers can use GenAI to complete tasks that are beyond their current capabilities. The findings from the study are illuminating: (1) Participants were able to instantly expand their aptitude for new data-science tasks, even when they had no prior experience in coding or statistics. (2) Those with moderate coding experience performed better on all three tasks, even when coding was not involved. This suggests that an engineering mindset - which coding helps develop - could be a key success factor for workers adapting to GenAI tools. The article also provides guidance on: When and how to pair humans with GenAI (see FIG 2), as well as visualising and detailing the workforce change-management implications (see FIG 3). (Authors: Daniel Sack, Lisa Krayer, PhD, Emma Wiles, Mohamed Abbadi, Urvi A., Ryan Kennedy, Cristián Arnolds, and François Candelon).
FIG 2: When and How to Pair Humans and GenAI (Source: BCG Henderson Institute)
FIG 3: Workforce and Change-Management Implications (Source: BCG Henderson Institute)
GARTNER - Hype Cycle for the Future of Work, 2024
Only 14% of organizations have reached the level of maturity where they are able to empower workers to embrace new ways of working.
Gartner’s inaugural Hype Cycle for the Future of Work (see FIG 4) highlights the core technologies set to transform how work is done by augmenting and enhancing human capabilities with intelligent technology. Five standouts from the analysis are: (1) Workers want a more personalised experience, and are building it for themselves. (2) CEOs are captivated by AI and are investing in new strategies. (3) Low digital workplace maturity is a barrier to improving worker productivity and time to competency. (4) Data Storytelling and Generative AI (already!) have entered the Trough of Disillusionment. (5) Hybrid Work and Self-Service Analytics are on the Slope of Enlightenment. The article also contains some illuminating analysis on a number of the ‘on the rise’ innovations including Exoskeletons (Tori Paulman), Cyberpsychology (Cynthia P.), Digital Twin of the Employee (Helen Poitevin) and Workforce Nudgetech (Rania Stewart). Thanks to Phil Kirschner for alerting me to this work in his excellent LinkedIn post on the study, which linked to an insightful article Phil co-authored with Natasha Ouslis, PhD and Dr. Julia Sperling-Magro on applying behavioural science and nudging to the workplace.
FIG 4: Hype Cycle for the Future of Work, 2024 (Source: Gartner)
NICKY DRIES, JOOST LUYCKX, AND PHILIP ROGIERS - What 570 Experts Predict the Future of Work Will Look Like
While it’s impossible to know exactly what the future of work will look like, it doesn’t stop (lots of!) people from having opinions. In their study, Nicky Dries, Joost Luyckx, and Philip Rogiers from KU Leuven, asked 570 experts to rank the likelihood of predictions made by technologists, economists and journalists. They landed on the sequence of events laid out in FIG 5, which get increasingly concerning and dystopian by the decade. Not one for the faint hearted!
FIG 5: A timeline of future of work predictions (Source: Dries et al)
MCKINSEY - Charting a path to the data- and AI-driven enterprise of 2030
Generative AI has increased the focus on data, putting pressure on companies to make substantive shifts to build a truly data-based organization.
These are the opening words to a recent article by McKinsey’s Dr. Asin Tavakoli, Holger Harreis, Kayvaun Rowshankish, and Michael Bogobowicz, which provides guidance on seven essential priorities for leaders to focus on to realise the data-driven enterprise of 2030. They argue that the key enabler to realising the potential of GenAI is data: “Without access to good and relevant data, this new world of possibilities and value will remain out of reach.” Three of the seven priorities outlined are (1) Data Leadership (“Companies need to find leaders skilled in governance and compliance, engineering and architecture, and business value"). (2) Talent (see FIG 6), and (3) Digital Trust.
FIG 6: New skills to manage GenAI will likely lead to both expanded and new data roles (Source: McKinsey)
PwC - 2024 Workforce Radar Report Executive Summary | Full Paper
The workforce of today won’t become the workforce of tomorrow unless businesses act right now.
But how? That’s the exam question that PwC’s inaugural Workforce Radar study attempts to answer across an insightful and thought-provoking report of 48 pages. The research identifies five workforce signals (see FIG 7) that business leaders and chief people officers can use to deliver enterprise-wide transformation. (1) Taking both a talent magnet and talent factory approach (e.g. levers such as meaningful work, skill-building, and culture). (2) Devising a location strategy that appreciates over time. (3) The intelligent enterprise – through HR harnessing and taking the lead on GenAI (see FIG 8). (4) Empowering transformation with a workforce balance sheet. (5) Investing in building transformative leadership. Kudos to the authors: Anthony Abbatiello, Julia Lamm, Reid Carpenter, Craig O'Donnell, and Christopher Hannegan.
FIG 7: Five Workforce Radar Signals (Source: PwC)
FIG 8: Emerging areas for Leading Digital HR Leaders to lean-in (Source: PwC)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
NAOMI VERGHESE, JONATHAN FERRAR, AND JORDAN PETTMAN - Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v2.0 ARTICLE | FULL REPORT
In the August edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I highlighted the new Insight222 study on the evolution of the people analytics operating model. This month I’d like to highlight one specific aspect of the report about the role of the people analytics leader. The research, which was conducted by my colleagues, Naomi Verghese, Jonathan Ferrar and Jordan Pettman, found that three profiles of people analytics leader are emerging (see FIG 9): (1) Data and Analytics Specialist Leader (focused on a scope for data and analytics research, insights and analytical product development and deployment). (2) Analytics-led Strategy Leader (encompassing a broad set of analytics responsibilities: consulting, research, employee listening, product development, reporting, data governance, workforce planning and AI). (3) Portfolio Analytics Leader (responsibility for people analytics and one or more other closely associated topic, such as people strategy, HR technology, HR operations, skills management, or employee experience). Read the report for more detail on each of the profiles together with examples of each leader persona Featuring Anthony Ferreras, Aashish Sharma, and Alexis Saussinan.
FIG 9: Responsibilities of the three people analytics leader personas, aligned to the People Analytics Ecosystem (Source: Insight222)
COLE NAPPER, JIN YAN, AND BEN ZWEIG - What is happening to people analytics? A 15- year trend (Part 1)
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 study identified a number of interesting – and perhaps counterintuitive – findings. These include: (1) People analytics positions in the US have actually declined in the last two years – the data suggests more than 1,000 people have left the field during this time (see FIG 10). (2) 83% of people leaving the field move to roles outside people analytics but mostly in HR. (3) People analytics positions are sensitive to changes in interest rates and money supply.
FIG 10: People analytics positions have been decreasing in the last two years (Source: Revelio Labs)
PIETRO MAZZOLENI - People Data Excellence: Driving Quality through Empowerment, Standardization, and Automation
Ensuring high-quality (people) data is crucial for building leaders' trust in data-driven talent decisions and reducing the need for manual reconciliation. Moreover, maintaining top-tier data quality is essential for the successful implementation of AI and GenAI technologies.
In the latest edition of his excellent People Data Platform newsletter, Pietro Mazzoleni breaks down the three ingredients IBM brought together to build Workforce 360, IBM’s internal people data platform, and deliver people data excellence: (1) Empowerment (“Putting Data & Knowledge in the Hands of Users”). (2) Standardisation (“Establishing a Unified Approach for data and processes”). (3) Automation (“Enhancing Efficiency Through Technology”).
FIG 11: Source – Pietro Mazzoleni
HENRIK HÅKANSSON - People Analytics: Generative AI | AMIT MOHINDRA – Definitions of People Analytics | KEITH MCNULTY - The Three Most Common Statistical Tests You Should Deeply Understand | LAURA HILGERS - How to Measure Quality of Hire, According to 4 Experts | JILL BARTH - How people analytics transformed this org’s HR from old-school to inspirational
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. Five are highlighted in this month’s edition. (1) Henrik Håkansson highlights a common predicament for people analytics leaders – stakeholder requests to implement GenAI. He offers sage advice on the ideal response: “GenAI is a solution. So naturally I ask: What is the problem? What is the value? Why would GenAI be better than what we are doing today? Are we trying to save money and cut costs, or actually do things better or faster?” (2) Amit Mohindra assembles a handy list of definitions of people analytics. (3) As Keith McNulty explains, hypothesis testing is one of the most fundamental elements of inferential statistics. In his article, Keith 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. (4) Laura Hilgers’ article on the elusive quality of hire metric is a must-read for people analytics and talent acquisition professionals. It features guidance from four experts in the field: Hung Lee, Tim Sackett, SPHR, SCP (see FIG 12 for Tim’s equation to measure quality of hire), Stacey A. Gordon, MBA, and Jennifer McClure. (5) Finally, Sonia Boyle, CHRL - chief people officer at Gore Mutual, explains to Jill Barth HR Tech Editor how people analytics has been at the centre of the company’s HR transformation.
FIG 12: How to measure Quality of Hire (Source: Tim Sackett)
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
DAVE ULRICH - Realizing Talent Advantage: Evidence and Implications from the Organization Guidance System
In 2020, Dave Ulrich and his colleagues at The RBL Group, developed the Organization Guidance System (OGS), which was designed to align desired stakeholder outcomes across four human capital pathways: talent, organisation, leadership and human resources. Five years on, in a new series of articles, Dave provides an update on the key findings to date. In this article, Dave focuses on the talent pathway, highlighting ten talent investments that deliver stakeholder value, and then presents analysis from 187 companies on the relative impact of these investments across five stakeholder outcomes (see FIG 13). The article then describes how individual companies can use the OGS to guide investment in the areas that will provide them with the greatest return.
FIG 13: Heatmap of impact of ten talent initiatives on five stakeholder outcomes (Source: Dave Ulrich)
JILL GOLDSTEIN, CHRIS HAVRILLA, CHACKO THOMAS, AND CATHY FILLARE - Reimagine human potential in the gen AI era: Revolutionizing work to boost business value
With their unique perspective and understanding of organizational culture, workforce needs, skills development, and change management, HR leaders are well-positioned to take a leadership role in their organization’s future of work strategy.
A new study by the IBM Institute for Business Value and Oracle, highlights the top concerns facing executives around the future of work, including the need for a skills-focused foundation and a well-defined strategy. The big takeaway for HR leaders is that while executives acknowledge that HR contributes to their organisation’s future of work strategy, not enough of them are in the driver’s seat. Only one in five executives say HR owns the future of work strategy in their organisation today. The report provides guidance to HR leaders on possible actions: (1) Build a future-ready culture that encourages experimentation. (2) Give your workforce a voice in the future of work strategy. (3) Drive technology transformation and champion AI use case adoption. The report also highlights critical workforce skills that will increase in demand by 2026 (see FIG 14). (Authors: Jill Goldstein, Chris Havrilla, Chacko Thomas, and Cathy Fillare).
FIG 14: Critical workforce capabilities—increases from today to 2026 (Source: IBM Institute of Business Value)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
MCKINSEY - The gen AI skills revolution: Rethinking your talent strategy
Developing the software talent companies need to grow means thinking in terms of skills rather than roles to navigate this period of uncertainty around talent.
According to McKinsey research, nearly 70 percent of top economic performers, versus just half of their peers, use their own software to differentiate themselves from their competitors. GenAI offers an opportunity to multiply this value. In the article, Alharith Hussin, Anna Wiesinger, Charlotte Relyea, Martin Harrysson, Suman Thareja, Prakhar Dixit and Thao Dürschlag, provide guidance on: (1) The new skills software teams will require. (2) How their evolution will alter roles and risks. (3) How companies can orient their talent management practices toward developing skills for greater flexibility and responsiveness. This includes grounding strategic workforce planning in business needs and skills.
The talent transformation starts with HR leaders developing a strategic workforce plan that’s built around skills.
FIG 15: Generative AI affects every phase of the software development life cycle (Source: McKinsey)
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
VOLKER JACOBS – Squaring the Circle: Why the old promise of P&O transformation –more for less – can finally be fulfilled
With effective, generative AI, P&O transformations can deliver a better, friction-free work experience for managers and employees. With a friction-free experience for managers and employees, we enable higher productivity and engagement levels. And it goes without saying that with AI taking on P&O tasks we can reduce cost of the function: More for less. Squaring the circle. Three ingredients: Data, AI, and EX.
In his thoughtful paper, Volker Jacobs, CEO at employee experience experts TI PEOPLE, highlights how HR transformations have historically undelivered their promise of more business value at lower cost. Instead, Volker argues, with the capabilities offered through AI and digitisation allied to rising expectations for better work experiences, the scene is now set to realise the dream of ‘more for less’. The catalyst? A shift from transformation focus on process to data as one of three ingredients to square the circle: Data, AI and Employee Experience leading to the business outcomes including improved productivity, better customer experience, and lower cost (see FIG 16).
FIG 16: Shifting HR transformation focus from process to data (Source: Volker Jacobs, TI People)
MALISSA CLARK - A Workaholic’s Guide to Reclaiming Your Life
In the latest edition of the Harvard Business Review, the Big Idea Series focuses on an increasingly important topic: Overcoming Overwork and Workaholism. Workaholism is defined in the lead article, by Malissa Clark, as: “Workaholism is when work dominates your thoughts and your activities, to the detriment of other aspects of your life, including but not limited to your relationships and your health.” Does that sound uncomfortably familiar? If so, like me you’ll probably welcome the six coping strategies Malissa outlines in her article: (1) Redefining “urgent”. (2) Reinventing the to-do list (see FIG 17). (3) Learning to say “no” and delegate. (4) Fixing the workaholic clock. (5) Controlling rumination. (6) Embracing rest and recovery.
Through mechanisms such as redefining what is and is not urgent, fixing the workaholic clock, and embracing rest and recovery, workaholics can unlearn toxic behaviors and reclaim their time and lives.
FIG 17: The Eisenhower Matrix (Source: Marissa Clark, Harvard Business Review)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING
PER HUGANDER AND AMY EDMONDSON - Skills Training Links Psychological Safety to Revenue Growth
Organizational performance can be improved by viewing psychological safety as a trainable skill that individuals develop with practice.
Hugander Per and Amy Edmondson present a case study from Nordic bank SEB where training for executives on psychological safety and perspective taking was identified as the catalyst that enabled the investment bank to achieve revenues 25% above yearly targets in a strategically important market segment. The article provides four recommendations for leaders who want to make progress on strategic challenges and improve financial results by leveraging psychological safety and perspective-taking: (1) Focus on two levels in parallel: individuals and teams. (2) Expand leadership responsibility. (3) Keep strategy and performance front and centre. (4) Link skills to short-term gains to counteract perceived costs. For more on psychological safety, tune in to Amy’s conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How Learning to Fail Can Help People and Organisations to Thrive.
ANDREW WHITE, ADAM CANWELL, AND MICHAEL SMETS - Is Your Organizational Transformation Veering Off Course?
Leaders who achieve successful transformations create and maintain an environment where people can experiment, learn, and take ownership of their work — and ultimately feel good about their effort
According to a study by Andrew White, Adam Canwell and Michael Smets, 96% of all organisational transformations face significant challenges that can derail the whole program. Their research identified that changes in a team’s emotional energy (“the collective mood, vibe, and intensity of emotions within a group”) can signal when a transformation is in danger (see FIG 18). They then reveal the three-step process successful leaders use to navigate a turning point – increasing transformation performance by 12 times from 6 to 72 per cent: (1) They look for shifts in the team’s emotional energy (e.g. lack of clarity on how to proceed, ineffective collaboration, decreased engagement). (2) They dig into the underlying issue at play – by involving the whole team to decide the course of action. (3) They get to action — quickly (e.g. by creating team alignment, adjusting organisational priorities, and investing in the skills and mindset required for the transformed company).
FIG 18: How emotional energy can signal a transformational turning point (Source: White et al)
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING
LORI NISHIURA MACKENZIE, SARAH A. SOULE, SHELLEY J CORRELL, AND MELISSA C. THOMAS HUNT - How DEI Can Survive This Era of Backlash
When they’re given adequate support — like protected time, advancement opportunities, leadership development, and compensation for their DEI work — ERG leaders can act as a strategic conduit between employees and organizational leaders.
Despite recent backlash against and cuts to organisational DEI initiatives, researchers from the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab - Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, Sarah Soule, Shelley J. Correll, and Melissa C. Thomas-Hunt - argue in their Harvard Business Review article that DEI isn’t dead in the U.S. Instead, they say it’s experiencing a period of what social movement scholars call “closed doors,” where the obvious route for change is no longer easily accessible. They recently convened a gathering of 14 chief diversity officers (CDOs) to unpack what’s happening in their world. In the article, they highlight the striking similarities between current DEI strategies and the tactics used by feminist movement builders during times of closed doors — and present four strategies for continuing the important work of DEI while it’s under attack: (1) Sustain networks of people engaged in DEI work. (2) Preserve the collective memory. (3) Reframe and rename the work for survival. (4) Nurture the collective identity within the DEI community.
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 September that I recommend readers delve into:
JASON CORSELLO AND THOMAS OTTER | ACADIAN VENTURES - 2024 Future of Work 100 - An excellent resource compiled by Jason Corsello and Thomas Otter of Acadian Ventures counting down the top 100 venture-backed companies building businesses that make work better, fairer, more meaningful, and ultimately more productive. Together, the Future of Work 100 has raised a cumulative $29.5 billion with a total market valuation over $140.3 billion.
FIG 19: Source – Acadian Ventures
PHIL WILLBURN - Global Workforce Report: Top Talent Is Hard to Find, Harder to Keep – Phil Willburn, head of people analytics at Workday summarises the key findings of the recently released Workday Global Workforce Report: Restoring Trust Before Your Top People Leave covering hiring, turnover of top performers, meaningful work, and internal mobility. Phil also highlights the key actions for business leaders: (1) Rebuild trust through transparency. (2) Make work meaningful. (3) Personalise your employee experience efforts based on tenure. (4) Embrace AI strategically. An absolute must-read.
FIG 20: Current use of AI and ML for recruiting (Source: Workday)
CATHERINE COPPINGER - Manager Facetime: Why It's Useful and How to Measure It – The latest in a series of insightful articles by Catherine Coppinger of Worklytics analyses the importance of manager facetime and provides guidance on how to use the insights identified to improve team effectiveness.
FIG 21 – Source: Worklytics
BEN COWAN - You Don’t Need to Abandon Jobs to Become a Skills-Based Organization – Ben Cowan of Degreed explains that while jobs aren’t likely to disappear this shouldn’t hinder efforts by companies to adopt skills-based talent practices: “The reality is that moving away from jobs is not something most organizations are likely to do in the near term and it does not need to hold you back from adopting other skills-based practices.”
FRANCISCO MARIN - Towards a Network-First Future of Work – Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions provides an insightful breakdown of the differences between Hierarchy-First and Network-First approaches across then organisational concepts (see FIG 22): “While hierarchies have long been the norm, favoring clear lines of authority and collaborative control, the network-first model prioritizes collaborative freedom, decentralization, and the strength of informal relationships.”
FIG 22: Hierarchy-First vs. Network-First Approach (Source: Francisco Marin)
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 AND CHRIS SHULTZ - HR, Workforce Automation, and GenAI at Merck – Jeremy Shapiro and Chris Shultz join Stacia Sherman Garr and Dani Johnson on RedThread Research’s Workplace Stories podcast to share how (and why) Merck is embracing AI to streamline HR processes, support innovation, and maintain ethical considerations.
COURTNEY MCMAHON – People Analytics at Colgate-Palmolive – Courtney McMahon joins Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD on the Directionally Correct podcast to discuss how to get a smaller people analytics function to punch above its weight, and how Colgate-Palmolive is using One Model to scale people analytics to HRBPs and the business.
KEITH MCNULTY – Applying Mathematical Principles to People Analytics Part 1 | Part 2 – In a two-part episode, Keith McNulty joins hosts Matthew Lampe, PsyD, Natasha Ouslis, PhD, and Bilal Alperen Ergun on the ScienceForWork podcast to discuss how mathematical principles can be applied to organizational data and people analytics.
JEFFREY PFEFFER - How Modern Work is Creating a Health Crisis - Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behaviour at Stanford University and author of Dying for a Paycheck, joins Lars Schmidt on Redefining Work to discuss employee well-being and explore the harmful effects of workplace stress and poor working conditions on employee health.
SUE CANTRELL AND TRAVIS DION - Beyond productivity: Rethinking performance metrics – In an episode of Deloitte’s Capital H podcast, host David Mallon, talks to Susan Cantrell, and Travis Dion about moving beyond traditional employee productivity metrics —followed by a roundtable discussion featuring David, Sue, Julie Duda, and Diane Sinti.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
LASZLO BOCK - Former Google exec talks about what makes a strong CHRO candidate
In an interview with Human Resource Executive, Laszlo Bock, former Head of HR at Google and a arch proponent of people analytics, provides guidance on what makes a strong chief people officer. He emphasises the need for HR executives to develop their understanding of business beyond a simple familiarity with their company’s products and services: “It’s not that (CHRO candidates) don’t understand that we make widgets. It’s that they don’t understand why we’re willing to pay $1.3 billion to buy a company but not $1.4 billion.” For aspiring chief people officers, I’d also recommend investigating the Berkeley Transformative CHRO Leadership Program, where Bock is co-faculty director.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
RAVIN JESUTHASAN AND TANUJ KAPILASHRAMI – The Skills-Powered Organization: The Journey to the Next-Generation Enterprise
Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA and Tanuj Kapilashrami provide a step-by-step guide to designing, implementing and activating the skills-powered organisation. They outline why and how jobs are giving way to skills as the currency of work and why this pivot requires us to rethink everything we know about work. The inspiring cases presented in the book discuss how leading companies are reinventing themselves to be skills-based organisations and how this is helping them to transform value for customers, communities, and stakeholders.
RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH
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, 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 23 demonstrates the four user profiles identified in the paper: the skeptic diplomats, the optimistic strugglers, the optimists, and the enthusiasts. Thanks to Dirk Jonker for highlighting this insightful contribution to the field.
FIG 23: Source – Bentvelze, Boon and Den Hartog (2024)
FROM MY DESK
September saw the return of the Digital HR Leaders podcast after its summer sojourn with the first four episodes of Series 41, kindly sponsored by our friends at Visier Inc.. Thanks to Adedamola Adeleke and the team.
LYNDA GRATTON AND DIANE GHERSON - The Key Role of HR In Successfully Integrating a Blended Workforce – Lynda Gratton and Diane Gherson join me to discuss the impact of a blended workforce on organisational structures, the evolving role of managers, and the opportunities and challenges for HR.
ANGELA LE MATHON - How GSK is Using Data, Analytics and AI to Drive its HR Transformation - Angela LE MATHON, Vice President of People Data and Analytics at GSK, joins me to explore how GSK is utilising data-driven strategies and AI integration to future-proof their HR initiatives.
KEITH BIGELOW - HR’s Strategic Role in Managing the AI-driven Talent Restructure – Keith Bigelow, Chief Product Officer at Visier, joins me to explore the critical role HR plays in leading digital transformation—and how AI is changing the game.
TANUJ KAPILASHRAMI AND RAVIN JESUTHASAN - How to Build the Skills-Powered Organisation – Tanuj Kapilashrami and Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA join me to share insights from their book, The Skills-Powered Organisation: The Journey to the Next-Generation Enterprise (see Book of the Month). Tanuj also shares insights from the skills journey at Standard Chartered, including how the bank quantified a saving of $60,000 per person by upskilling and reskilling employees to redeploy talent from sunset jobs to sunrise jobs.
Skills [are] becoming the currency of work and work flowing not to jobs, but to skills... If done well, it has the massive power to unlock untapped productivity potential within the company.
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 close to 500 roles – and has now been developed into a LinkedIn newsletter too.
THANK YOU
Srikant Chellappa and the team at Engagedly Inc for including me in their 8th annual list of the 2024 Top 100 HR Influencers
Hallie Bregman, PhD for her wonderfully generous post following our meeting at the Boston People Analytics MeetUp organised by Ramesh Karpagavinayagam – Hallie, it was wonderful to meet you too.
Paul Daley for referencing the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Diane Gherson and Lynda Gratton in his post on how HR strategy needs to support the independent / blended / contingent workforce of the future
Similarly thanks to Olimpiusz Papiez for his post sharing his takeaways from the podcast episode with Diane and Lynda
Thanks also to Jaqueline Oliveira-Cella for her post, are you ready for the shift, which was also inspired by the podcast episode with Diane and Lynda
Piyush Mathur for providing his takeaways on insight without outcome is overhead in relation to his speaking sessions at the Peer Meetings in New York and Vevey for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
Esther Abraas for including my article, The role of Organisational Network Analysis in People Analytics, in her excellent list of ONA resources.
Wayne Tarken for his post on How AI can Help HR, which was informed by the digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Nickle Lamoreaux on how AI is transforming HR at IBM.
Thomas Kohler for including the podcast episode with Keith Bigelow in his weekly round-up of future of work resources.
The Talent Games for including me in their list of HR Leaders redefining the Future of Workin recognition of HR Professionals Day.
Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who shared the August edition of Data Driven HR Monthly and other content in the last few weeks. It's much appreciated: Craig Forman Zornitza Iankova, SPHR Brandon Merritt Johnson Hrvoje Bulat Rebecca Hone Michael Arena Emma Mercer (Assoc CIPD, MLPI) Dr. Max Muge Bakkaloglu Priyanka Mehrotra Kerry Ghize Deviprasad Panda Richard Stein Stela Lupushor David Balls (FCIPD) Emily Ricci Danielle Farrell Dan George Patrick Coolen Catriona Lindsay Katrina A. Stevens, CHRE Kouros Behzad Kathleen Kruse Martha Curioni Adam McKinnon, PhD. Greg Newman Dr Philip Gibbs Sally Smith Hanadi El Sayyed David van Lochem Amardeep Singh, MBA Rick Rome Ken Oehler Vaibhav Deshmukh María Victoria Sáinz Roshaunda Green, MBA, CDSP, Phenom Certified Recruiter Aysun Öz Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. Nelson Spencer Tristan Hack Penny Newman Vivek Ojha Aravind Warrier Francisca Solano Beneitez Kalifa Oliver, Ph.D. Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D. John Healy Greg Pryor Lewis Garrad Jose Luis Chavez Vasquez Audrey Burke-McCarthy, MBA, Adv Dip Coaching, MII Grad Aurélie Crégut Max Blumberg (JA) ?? Vanessa Monsequeira Shujaat Ahmad Jeff Wellstead Jackson Roatch Maria Alice Jovinski Rafael Uribe Truong Hong Ha (Mr Niem Tin) Dan Weiss David Hodges Toby Culshaw David McLean Dr. Peter Schulz-Rittich Timo Tischer Stephanie Denino Jacqui Brassey, PhD, MA, MAfN ?️ (née Schouten) Gianni Giacomelli Terri Horton, EdD, MBA, MA, SHRM-CP, PHR Placid Jover Andrews Cobbinah, MLPI, ACIHRM Emily Killham Al Adamsen Tim Frazier Tim Peffers Julie Asselin Chandresh Natu Anabel Fall Ralf Buechsenschuss Anna A. Tavis, PhD Marcela Niemeyer Meta McKinney, MLIS Aritra Majumdar Gustavo Araujo Vijaya Das Kirsten Edwards Graham Tollit Joy Kolb Remco van Es Ahmed Salah ?? Sebastian Knepper Melissa Beasley Bo Vialle-Derksen Malgorzata Langlois Abhilash Bodanapu Isabel Naidoo Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi Nirit Peled-Muntz Ron Ben Oz Littal Shemer Haim (ליטל שמר חיים) Joseph Frank, PhD CCP GWCCM Bob Pulver Jaejin Lee Kristhy Bartels Geetanjali Gamel Chris Hare Alicia Roach Caitie Jacobson John Gunawan Doug Shagam Davey Nickels Paul Davies Tatu Westling Mia Norgren Nick Lynn Alexandra Nawrat Gal Mozes, PhD Dave Millner Prachi Agasti Jacob Nielsen Matt Elk Chris Long Kimberly Rose Ilse Venter Søren Kold Irada Sadykhova Dave Fineman Agnes Garaba Sebastián Mestre Victoria Holdsworth Elpida Ormanidou Megan Buttita, MLIS Danielle Bushen Robert Bolton Stephen Hickey Dolapo (Dolly) Oyenuga Higor Gomes Irene Wong Ludek Stehlik, Ph.D. Sonia Mooney Mariami Lolashvili Joonghak Lee Raja Sengupta Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD) Alfonso Bustos, Ph.D. Marcela Mury Olivier Bougarel Martijn Wiertz Veronika Birkheim
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 90 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 2024:
September 30 - New York Strategic HR Analytics MeetUp - Workestration: Working across human, digital and physical workplace dimensi (New York)
October 2-3 - People Analytics World (New York)
October 16-17 - UNLEASH World (Paris)
October 22-23 - Insight222 North American Peer Meeting (hosted by Workday in Pleasanton, CA) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
November 12-14 - Workday Rising EMEA (London)
November 19-20 - Insight222 European Peer Meeting (hosted by Merck in Darmstadt, Germany) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
Employee Experience
2024年09月29日
Employee Experience
ADP Lyric HCM, The Next-Gen HR Platform Many Have Waited ForJosh Bersin 写文章介绍了ADP的 Lyric HCM,给予了高度评价。ADP于2018年启动了一项秘密项目,目标是开发下一代企业人力资源管理平台。这个项目最终被命名为ADP Lyric HCM,它的设计旨在应对当代灵活多变的工作环境。Lyric HCM基于高度可扩展的微服务架构,能够处理包括全职、兼职、临时工、自由职业者等多种员工类型,同时支持多重管理结构。该平台具有灵活性,可帮助企业快速适应组织重组、兼并收购等变化,且能够实现全球薪资和税务管理,提供符合各地法律法规的自定义规则。
Lyric HCM的设计不仅注重系统的灵活性,还融入了大量的AI功能,使其在用户体验上更加智能化和易用。通过ADP Assist这一AI工具,用户可以通过自然语言与系统互动,轻松进行复杂的HR操作。此外,Lyric HCM还提供实时的行业基准数据,帮助企业根据最新的薪酬和岗位信息做出决策。该系统的“人本位”架构使其更具灵活性,相比传统以职位为基础的系统,它可以更好地满足当代企业多重任务、多角色管理的需求。
Lyric HCM不仅支持多种HR功能,如招聘、绩效管理、培训和发展,还拥有一个统一的员工体验平台,员工可以通过简单的查询完成例如婚假申请等事务。此外,ADP还建立了强大的全球服务团队,确保客户获得定制化的实施和长期支持。
自上线以来,ADP Lyric HCM已经吸引了超过120个大型客户,证明了其系统的稳定性和可扩展性。其核心市场定位是为全球化、分布式的企业提供服务,尤其是在零售、医疗保健、餐饮等行业。作为一款融合AI技术的全新平台,Lyric HCM展示了未来人力资源管理系统的潜力,并成为Workday、Oracle、SAP等主要HCM供应商的有力竞争对手。
In the Spring of 2018 I attended a confidential meeting in New York City to learn about a project called Lifion. ADP had hired a new team of engineers convened in a secret mission to build the “next-generation platform” for ADP’s offerings in the enterprise market.
This new system, designed ten years after the release of Workday, was intended to be a highly scalable, configurable, micro-services based system, capable of managing payroll, HR processes, and all talent applications for any category of employee. The system had to support dynamic teams, many worker modalities (full-time, part-time, hourly, gig, contract), and enable a company to manage many organization structures within its corporate function, each with different business rules and overlapping employees.
It was designed, in a sense, for the highly flexible, dynamic companies of the post-pandemic era.
In addition to this flexible architecture, the system was designed to support workers with multiple managers (and multiple time sheets), dynamic reconfiguration for M&A or new business entities, and global payroll and tax services with custom business rules that might be variable across the company. It needed to include a recruiting module, a variety of options for goals and performance management, tools for onboarding and development, excellent reporting, and an easy-to-use narrative interface that let any employee, manager, or HR professional use, configure, or run reports on the system.
In my initial meeting I walked away impressed, and I wrote an article describing this project. Today, almost six years later, this product has a name (ADP Lyric HCM) and it has reached general availability for ADP customers with 1,000 customers or more.
Today ADP has 120+ large accounts so the system is proven. And since its inception Lyric HCM has been infused with extensive AI features (ADP Assist is on par with SAP Joule as a true AI interface) and benchmark information from ADP’s data cloud.
In other words, this system has the potential to be a “The Next Generation” HCM platform in the market.
What Is ADP Announcing And Offering
The core HR system has to do a lot of things. Not only does it have to manage payroll, benefits, and tax rules (in a global, constantly changing regulatory environment), it has to be flexible, easy to configure, and filled with easy-to-use interfaces for employees and HR. And by “flexible” I mean the system has to make it easy to open a new org structure, move employees around, and create multiple modes for a “manager” or supervisor.
Almost all traditional HCM providers, Workday, Oracle, and SAP, were not designed to work this way. These vendors built contract work add-ons but in most cases when you want to flatten your organization, merge with another company, or reorganize roles it’s difficult. Flattening the organization often means “re-implementing” your HRMS. Most companies only do it once a decade.
ADP Lyric HCM is designed to fix this. Imagine a company like Gold’s Gym where the company is constantly opening new Gyms and hiring new managers, with employees dual reporting to multiple managers.
I talked with Gold’s Gym and as you can imagine the company went through a transformation during the pandemic. Started as a Southern California fitness company, Gold’s was acquired and is now a global organization branching into many new offerings. Facilities were consolidated and each local fitness center operates with a lot of management independence.
For example, an employee who is a trainer in one gym with one manager may also be a trainer or support staff in another gym with another manager. This type of “work-centric” (as opposed to “job-centric”) operation is becoming very common. Lyric HCM supports these multi-manager work models, including features for performance management, time tracking, and contract workers.
Think about any retailer, healthcare company, or other highly distributed operation. One Gold’s Gym may pay overtime in one way, another in a different way. You can imagine the permutations. Every company has situations like this.
I was recently at Rolls-Royce where they are centralizing engineering teams away from product groups, making 30 to 40% of their engineers “floaters.” Rolls has enormous contracts with government and commercial customers, each with different financial models. They need a system like this just like a gym, restaurant chain, or elder care network.
There’s more. In addition to these HRMS and global payroll features, ADP has built an employee experience platform, employee communications system, and learning and development system. You simply type a query like “I’m getting married” and the system shows a page that consolidates tasks and resources in one place. If an HR manager wants to “pay a bonus” the system asks what organization, shows a list of people, and lets the manager define the bonus without hunting for menus and panels.
Highlights Of The Next Gen Approach
Since this system was architected in the age of AI, it has some very unique capabilities out of the box.
First, in the area of flexibility, this is a “person-based” architecture, as opposed to a “role-based” architecture. That feature alone enables all these features to be possible.
Second, in the area of usability, the system is among the most “AI-enabled” interfaces I’ve seen. While most HCMs are building assistants to speed through transactions, Lyric HCM literally “learns” what you’re trying to do and prompts you through the process. Remember these HCM systems are complex (Workday’s “Users Guide” is 2500 pages long), so we want the system to feel approachable not intimidating.
As you can see from this slide, ADP also offers embedded benchmarks as well as a nudge engine. The benchmarks come from ADP’s data cloud, giving companies up to date salary ranges and other metrics by job title and job level (no other HCM platforms do this). The nudge engine is used for Lyric HCM’s onboarding and development system, reminding users of tasks or activities they need to perform.
ADP Assist, the company’s Gen AI tool, lets you ask questions about any employee or group, legal and tax issues, and payroll or financial data. It’s quite powerful and I would say it rivals Joule as a conversational interface for HCM.
Third, the system has a novel and approachable interface for employees. Rather than offer people a variety of “centers” or “portals” to find things, the system is smart enough to give employees exactly what it thinks they need. Typical HR transactions like changing your family status or address, or looking at benefits or pay are simple. Persona-based dashboards are designed for payroll or tax managers. And any HR professional can customize the interface for their use.
Because the system is so dynamic, users can set up smart reports and other views to pinpoint the data and organizational unit they’re interested in. And ADP has built a management development tool (to take newly promoted supervisors through development), an onboarding system, and many features for performance and goal management.
Where Will This Go? ADP Services
When we think about ADP’s platforms we have to remember that ADP is not just a cloud software company. Most of the company’s revenue comes from services: payroll, PEO, and license fees around those offerings. This means ADP’s sales and service organization is very service-centric and highly trained in all areas of HR. (Most HR software sales teams are not HR domain experts.)
To support Lyric HCM the company put together a global service team combined with dedicated client success executives to make sure each customer has a personalized, outcome-based implementation plan. This means ADP Lyric HCM is not just a great platform, but a set of people to help with configuration, utilization, integration, and long-term planning. ADP is starting to work with integrators, but likely will handle most of their customer implementations themselves.
Impact On The Market.
At this point Lyric HCM is positioned as an offering for mid to large companies headquartered in the United States with global workforces. This means Lyric HCM is directly positioned to compete with UKG, Ceridian, Workday, Oracle, SAP, and vendors like Darwinbox, HiBob (which is going upmarket), Lattice, and others. The “Pay” companies (Paychex, Paycor, Paycom) are focused primarily on smaller companies, but as they grow their offering they may compete as well.
That is not to say ADP can solve every client need. These platforms mature over many years and each vendor has different industry and focus features. At this point I believe ADP will most likely win in industries like retail, hospitality, health care, and other distributed, hourly workforce companies. And given ADP’s focus on small and medium business, it will take time for ADP to reach large companies.
Nevertheless, it’s time for change in HCM. Designed for agility and infused with AI, ADP Lyric HCM shows us a future we’ve been looking for.
Employee Experience
2024年09月23日
Employee Experience
David Green:The best HR & People Analytics articles of August 2024
I’ve just returned from a three-week family holiday in the South of France and am feeling refreshed, recharged and ready for the final four months of the year. These are invariably the busiest for the team at Insight222, and 2024 is set to be no different.
The Digital HR Leaders podcast returns from its summer sojourn on September 3 with a special episode on how HR can help their organisations embrace the blended workforce, featuring Diane Gherson and Lynda Gratton, and based on their brilliant recent HBRarticle,
The Insight222 Global Executive Retreat, which we host annually for leaders of 100+ companies that are part of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, takes place in Amsterdam from September 24-26 with guest speakers including: Erin Meyer, Prasad Setty, Janine Vos, and a workshop on storytelling with Duarte, Inc..
The fifth annual Insight222 People Analytics Trends report, which studies how leading companies are using people analytics to generate business value will be published in October – you can read the 2023 study here.
Additionally, I will be speaking at a number of conferences before the end of the year including Workday Rising (Las Vegas, September 16-19), People Analytics World (New York, October 2-3), UNLEASH World (Paris, October 16-17), and Workday Rising EMEA (London, November 12-14).
This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at 365Talents
365Talents goes beyond traditional approaches, offering more than just technology for Skills-Based Organizations. Our approach is not just about managing skills; it's about making the entire process seamless, effective, and enjoyable. Picture real-time insights into your workforce's skills, coupled with the expertise to implement strategic HR projects aligning with your business goals.
Our experience in talent mobility and skill development contribute to creating a more democratic, inclusive, and future-ready world of work where every individual has the power to shape their professional path. Start your skills journey with 365Talents today and join the ranks of trailblazers like Veolia, SLB, TotalEnergies, SocGen, and more! To find out more click here: https://www.365talents.com/en/lp/experience-365talents
2024 Skills Impact Report
In today’s fast-paced and increasingly disruptive environment, companies need to adopt a more flexible approach that puts its people and their skills at the center of its talent management strategies. This has become more and more imperative as:
59% of the global workforce are disengaged.
69% of job candidates say they would reject a job offer from an employer with a negative reputation, even if they were unemployed.
87% of organizations currently have an existing skills gap or expect to within the next two to ten years.
Enter the 2024 Skills Impact Report. It explores the business imperative of talent experience for Skills-Based Organizations, the impact it has on your employees, the pillars of design thinking for HR and how to start applying it to your strategy with 5 intuitive roadmap worksheets.
CASE STUDY: SEGULA Technologies Group
In 2020, as the world faced significant engineering transformations, the COVID crisis, talent shortages, and the rise of AI, SEGULA Technologies Group launched a strategic initiative to plan and manage the resources and skills of its workforce. The goal of this ambitious project was to identify and leverage the talents of the Group's 15,000 employees across 30 countries, using AI to drive innovative skills management and enhance overall performance.
Read the Case Study to learn all the steps and actions taken to successfully tackle the challenge!
To sponsor an edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, and share your brand with more than 130,000 Data Driven HR Monthly subscribers, send an email to dgreen@zandel.org.
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for August 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 July’s compendium.
If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is published every Tuesday – subscribe here.
NEW: Insight222 research report on the People Analytics Ecosystem
Access the new Insight222 study here: Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v 2.0.
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
MCKINSEY - Gen AI’s next inflection point: From employee experimentation to organizational transformation
HR plays an especially important role in gen AI, both by transforming the people domain and by acting as a gen AI copilot for all employees. One executive noted that for every $1 spent on technology, $5 should be spent on people.
A new study by McKinsey finds that to generate value from the momentum associated with GenAI, businesses must transform their processes, structures, and approach to talent. The article, penned by Charlotte Relyea, Dana Maor, Sandra Durth, and Jan Bouly, outlines the key findings from the research: (1) Employee use is at an inflection point, while their organisations lag behind. (2) The next inflection point will see organisations shift from individual experimentation to strategic value capture. (3) Reinvent domains by translating vision into value. (4) Reimagine talent and skilling by putting people at the centre (see FIG 1). (5) Reinforce the changes to continue transforming (“To make gen AI changes stick, organizations need the right infrastructure to support continuous change and win over hearts and minds”).
FIG 1: Early adopters prioritise talent and the human side of GenAI more than other companies (Source: McKinsey)
DAVE ULRICH - How are You Doing at AI for HR? A Ten-Item Assessment to Evaluate Your Progress
Getting started in AI for HR often begins with initiatives that can be done relatively quickly and easily.
Dave Ulrich shares key takeaways from a recent deep-dive, he and his colleagues at The RBL Group facilitated with senior HR leaders on AI in HR. He distils these into ten dimensions designed to help HR leaders assess how they are doing at applying AI for HR to their organisation (see FIG 2). These include: (1) Articulate a business case. (2) Develop Talent who can ‘do’ AI. (3) Create Responsible AI policies. (4) Create metrics to guide and measure success. (5) Start with low-hanging fruit.
FIG 2: Criteria to evaluate how well your organisation is using AI for HR (Source: Dave Ulrich)
DUNCAN HARRIS AND KATE ZOLNER - 5 Employee Fears of AI and How to Overcome Them
If companies want to get the most out of AI, they need employee trust. Securing it is not easy. More than three-quarters of employees don’t think their organization’s future use of the technology will be ethical.
Duncan Harris and Kate Zolner present the findings of Gartner research on the five main employee fears of AI use by their organisations (see FIG 3), which have a negative impact on employee trust. They then explain how leaders can address these fears through initiatives in areas such as learning, co-creation, effective communications, ethics and data privacy. As well as enabling the organisation to benefit from AI, Harris and Zolner argue that these solutions will lead to higher levels of inclusion, engagement and effort.
FIG 3: Five Employee Fears of Organizational AI Use (Source: Gartner)
STACIA GARR - How is HR using Gen AI today? | MAX BLUMBERG - GenAI in HR: Slashing Costs, Boosting Efficiency | SWANAND DEODHAR, FAVOUR BOROKINI, AND BEN WABER - How Companies Can Take a Global Approach to AI Ethics | BAIN - AI Survey: Four Themes Emerging
Four more resources tracking topics related to GenAI in HR. (1) Stacia Sherman Garr’s LinkedIn post summarises RedThread Research analysis of how HR is using GenAI today (see FIG 4). (2) Max Blumberg (JA) ?? provides a summary of his report on Slashing HR Costs: The Ultimate Blueprint for Implementing GenAI in HR, which provides guidance on implementing GenAI to transform HR cost efficiency, and includes Max’s GenAI HR Cost Reduction Maturity Model (see FIG 5). (3) Ben Waber teams up with Swanand Deodhar and Favour Borokini in a Harvard Business Review article offering guidance on how companies can take a global approach to AI ethics: “Because AI and related data regulations are rarely uniform across geographies, compliance can be difficult. To address this problem, companies need to develop a contextual global AI ethics model that prioritizes collaboration with local teams and stakeholders and devolves decision-making authority to those local teams.” (4) Gene R., Sanjin Bicanic, Jue Wang, Richard Lichtenstein, and Arjun Dutt share the four key themes that emerged from Bain’s recent AI survey, which includes that the emphasis has shifted from experimentation in 2023 to delivering real value 12 months later – thanks to Hung Lee for sharing Bain’s research in a recent edition of Recruiting Brainfood.
FIG 4: How HR is using GenAI (Source: RedThread Research)
FIG 5: GenAI HR Cost Reduction Maturity Model (Source: Max Blumberg)
MARC EFFRON - Above the Fray: What We Know About How WFH and Hybrid Affect Work
We should approach solving this problem in the same intelligent way as we suggest all human problems be solved – start with the science.
As his article on skills-based organisations testified, Marc Effron has a penchant for cutting through the hype and getting to the heart of an issue. As such, I highly recommend digging into his new analysis on what the science and evidence says are the trade-offs among WFO, WFH and hybrid work. Firstly, Effron dispels four myths propagated by proponents and opponents on CEOs, real estate, proximity bias and employees who prefer WFH. Then he examines the consequences of different work arrangements on (1) performance, (2) creativity, (3) innovation (4) work relationships, (5) collaboration, and (6) managing based on the emerging knowledge available via Google Scholar.
LYNDA GRATTON - Seven Truths About Hybrid Work and Productivity | BRIAN ELLIOTT - Hybrid Work: How Leaders Build In-Person Moments That Matter | REBECCA KNIGHT - 17 Team-Building Activities for In-Person, Remote, and Hybrid Teams
To get the most from hybrid work, leaders should prepare for trade-offs, make expectations clear, and think harder about how productivity is measured.
Three more resources on hybrid work to read in conjunction with Marc Effron’s article above. First, Lynda Gratton unveils seven key findings from what she is seeing from experiments in hybrid working including: (1) Hybrid work is a continuum. (2) Productivity is usually challenging — and measurement is always complex. (3) It’s useful to view hybrid work as fundamentally a job design option. Second, Brian Elliott provides guidance on the four essential times leaders should be intentional about building moments that matter for hybrid workers: (1) Team development (“Get people together three or four times a year, with a 50-50 mix of business and social”). (2) Onboarding and training. (3) New-team formation and major-initiative kick-offs (“Grapple together over the objectives and norms of a project”). (4) Business-function-specific activities (“Let teams figure out the best in-person schedules for their needs”). Finally, Rebecca M. Knight provides guidance to leaders on team-building activities for in-person, remote and hybrid teams.
FIG 6: Focus on Productivity, Not Physical Presence (Source: Brian Elliott, Future Forum)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
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 have developed a new 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 7): (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 7: The People Analytics Ecosystem (Source: Insight222 Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v 2.0)
NELSON SPENCER - Introducing the S.T.A.R.T. Framework
The strategy pillar is all about aligning with your overall HR and Business goals. You should be able to connect how your strategy is driving business outcomes.
Nelson Spencer, who has worked in both sports and people analytics, presents his S.T.A.R.T Framework (see FIG 8), 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 8: The S.T.A.R.T Framework (Source: Nelson Spencer)
MICHAEL LUCA AND AMY EDMONDSON - Where Data-Driven Decision-Making Can Go Wrong
When making decisions (using data), managers should consider internal validity—whether an analysis accurately answers a question in the context in which it was studied. They should also consider external validity—the extent to which they can generalize results from one context to another.
Drawing on their research and work with companies, Michael Luca and Amy Edmondson present an approach that considers internal validity and external validity that leaders can apply to discussions of data to support better decision-making. This approach is designed to help leaders avoid five common pitfalls (see FIG 9) associated with data-driven decision-making.
FIG 9: How to avoid predictable errors (Source: Michael Luca and Amy Edmondson)
WILLIS JENSEN - Building a Network View of Data | MARTHA CURIONI - Supporting HR Adoption of People Analytics | JACKSON ROATCH - Your Best Career Move could be Going for a Run | SERENA HUANG - The Future of Work is Wellbeing | JASPAR SPANJAART - How NVIDIA's Talent Intelligence approach helped fuel its trillion-dollar rise | TOBY CULSHAW - The Talent Nexus: Redefining Business Agility for the 21st Century CEO
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. Six are highlighted in this month’s edition. (1) In another excellent edition of his Making People Analytics Real blog, Willis Jensen discusses how to get a network view of data: “Linking your data together should be a top priority for any people analytics team.” (2) 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. One of Martha’s tips focuses on the importance of including HRBP’s rather than going around them. (3) As someone whose best ideas invariably come when I’m on a run, I particularly enjoyed Jackson Roatch’s article exploring the link between physical exercise and workplace learning, performance and thriving. (4) In an edition of her From Data to Action blog, Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. explores how AI can support wellbeing and lays out a ten-point plan on responsible AI principles for workplace wellbeing (see FIG 10). (5) NVIDIA’s Meta McKinney, MLIS and Nickolas Dowler, MBA explain to Jasper Spanjaart how the company’s Talent Intelligence strategy helped fuel its growth: “A winning Talent Intelligence strategy requires several key ingredients: data-driven and tested theories, meticulous and thoughtful research, reliable data, creative problem-solving, clear communication of the rationale, trusted relationships with business leaders, and the financial support and freedom to execute.” (6) Toby Culshaw provides a compelling breakdown of what he describes as The Talent Nexus: “The Talent Nexus represents a revolutionary approach to talent management and acquisition in the modern business landscape. It's an AI-driven, quantum-computing-enhanced ecosystem that transforms how organizations interact with, deploy, and develop talent.” A must-read for all those involved in talent intelligence, people analytics and workforce planning.
FIG 10: Responsible AI Principles for Workplace Wellbeing (Source: Serena Huang)
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
RAVIN JESUTHASAN - The AI revolution is coming to L&D
AI will empower the L&D function to support strategic workforce planning through skills-related insights and interventions. This will help organizations shift from costly ‘churn and burn’ strategies to more cost-effective and sustainable reskilling and upskilling programs.
Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA examines how AI is set to transform the learning and development function. He highlights Mercer analysis that finds that AI and automation will likely augment some L&D activities (see FIG 11), as well as outlining four potential AI uses cases for corporate L&D: (1) Producing L&D content. (2) Personalising L&D delivery. (3) Driving the skills-powered revolution. (4) Democratising knowledge. For more from Ravin, watch the recent LinkedIn Live on Skills-Powered Organisations in the Age of AI, which I moderated and featured Ravin alongside Tanuj Kapilashrami.
FIG 11: Time by task: L&D versus AI and Automation (Source: Mercer)
NANCY DUARTE - Are Your Presentations Too Emotional — or Too Analytical?
When making a presentation, leaders need to balance appeals to both logic and emotion — the head and the heart.
Nancy Duarte provides invaluable guidance on how to strike a balance between logic and emotion when making a presentation, and how credibility plays a crucial role in this balancing act. She explains that the first step in achieving this balance is understanding the audience: “Are they data-driven decision makers who thrive on statistics and factual evidence? Or are they more likely to be swayed by personal stories and emotional connections?”
FIG 12: An Analytical and Emotional Balance That’s Just Right (Source: Nancy Duarte)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
SANDRA LOUGHLIN – Seven Elements of Skills Data Quality
Skills data quality isn’t talked about much despite being the foundation for the SBO value proposition, a critical input to selecting and gaining value from skills tech vendors, and arguably the most difficult part of a skills transformation.
These wise words open Sandra Loughlin, PhD’s excellent article, where she outlines seven aspects of skills data quality, why they matter and their trade-offs: (1) Relevance (“Skills that are tracked should be the skills that need to be tracked—there’s no point in collecting skills data that won’t help you make better business decisions”). (2) Accuracy. (3) Validity. (4) Completeness. (5) Consistency (“Skills data should be consistently defined, recorded, and categorized across systems and within the organization”). (6) Timeliness. (7) Uniqueness. Thanks to Victoria Holdsworth for highlighting Sandra’s article.
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
CATHERINE COPPINGER - Introducing Two New Metrics: Fragmented & Interrupted Time
Catherine Coppinger from Worklytics introduces two new metrics: (1) Fragmented Time (“the sum of the total number of hours people have in blocks of time that are too short to get any deep work done”) and (2) Interrupted Time (“a metric designed to measure those periods of the day where people keep getting interrupted and just can’t find enough concentrated time to finish an important task”). Understanding these can help individuals and managers organise time more productively while enhancing employee wellbeing (see FIG 13). Read as a follow-up to another recent article by Catherine: 4 New Ways to Model Work, which featured in the July edition of Data Driven HR Monthly.
FIG 13: Source: Catherine Coppinger, Worklytics
MCKINSEY - What employees say matters most to motivate performance
Performance management is most effective when it features strong, consistent internal logic that employees understand
In their article, Asmus Komm, Brooke Weddle, Dana Maor, Katharina Wagner and Vivian Morrow Breaux present the findings of a McKinsey study of more than 1,000 employees across the globe on what matters most to motivating employee performance. The findings provide insights to employers to guide their approach with regards to performance management. These include: (1) Performance management frameworks should be consistent and clearly articulated. (2) Goal setting has impact when goals are measurable and clearly linked to company priorities (see FIG 14). (3) Performance reviews with skilled managers are crucial to employee performance. (4) Rewards that include nonfinancial incentives provide a boost.
FIG 14: Employees are motivated by measurable goals linked to company/team (Source: McKinsey)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING
MEGAN REITZ AND AMY EDMONDSON - When a Team Member Speaks Up — and It Doesn’t Go Well
Speaking up — and being heard — in organizations is critical. What gets said, and what doesn’t, directs ethical behavior, innovation, inclusion, and performance.
In their article for Harvard Business Review, Megan Reitz and Amy Edmondson explore how 'conversational failures' often cause breakdowns in psychological safety rather than being used as opportunities to learn and develop. They discuss why they occur and the reasons why it is difficult to learn from these failures, before providing guidance on how these failures can become ‘intelligent’: (1) Prepare to learn from conversations. (2) Notice critical moments. (3) Implement process tools. (4) Attend to learning over the long term. For more on ‘intelligent failure’, tune in to Amy’s conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How Learning to Fail Can Help People and Organisations to Thrive.
If you’re not failing, you’re not journeying into new territory
JAMIE SMITH - How boards can champion a resilient talent strategy
Talent strategy is increasingly vital to driving overall strategy.
Based on a study of by EY and Corporate Board Member magazine of US public company directors across a range of industries, Jamie Carroll Smith presents analysis of the four opportunities identified in the research for boards to champion a resilient talent strategy: (1) Gain deeper insight into the employee experience. (2) Enable a workforce for the future (“Directors recognize that AI developments demand a reskilling of the workforce”). (3) Harness the value of diversity, equity and inclusion (“The future talent pool may depend on companies prioritizing DEI”). (4) Identify opportunities to strengthen talent governance. Thanks to Brian Heger for highlighting in an edition of his excellent Talent Edge newsletter.
FIG 15: The biggest impacts of AI on company workforce strategy (Source: EY)
JEN FISHER, SUE CANTRELL, JAY BHATT, AND PAUL SILVERGLATE - The important role of leaders in advancing human sustainability
More than eight out of 10 executives surveyed say a stronger commitment to prioritizing a positive human impact would increase their company’s ability to attract new talent (82%), appeal to customers and clients (81%), and profitability (81%).
Jen Fisher, Susan Cantrell, Jay Bhatt, and Paul Silverglate outline the key findings from Deloitte’s third annual Workplace Wellbeing report. The primary finding suggests that leaders can play a key role in prioritising and advancing a human sustainability agenda, particularly when it comes to measuring outcomes and holding their organizations accountable for progress. Insights identified in the study include: (1) The three trends impacting today’s workforce the most are skills, burnout and mental health. (2) The modern work experience doesn’t promote human sustainability but C-suite leaders aren’t seeing it. (3) While three out of four executives believe workforce wellbeing is excellent or good, workers are having a different experience (see FIG 16). The article then provides guidance on the metrics companies can implement to measure human sustainability including on skills development, purpose, DEI and societal impact.
FIG 16: Source – Deloitte Wellbeing at Work survey, 2024
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING
JANINE LEE - Breaking Down Barriers to Belonging for Women of Color in Tech
In her article in Harvard Business Review, Dr. Janine Lee, MBA, Ed.D. Global Head of L&D at Google, outlines the findings from her doctoral research on workplace belonging for women of colour in the tech industry. Janine highlights the top belonging contributors and detractors identified in the study (see FIG 17), and then offers three recommendations to boost workplace belonging: 1) Invest in programs that foster peer-based relationships, 2) Enable sponsorship and mentoring opportunities, and 3) Hold leaders accountable to “walk the talk.”
FIG 17: Sense-of belonging contributors and detractors (Source: Janine Lee)
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 August that I recommend readers delve into:
GURU SETHUPATHY – Understanding the EU AI Act in Four Handy Charts – Guru Sethupathy of FairNow provides an invaluable breakdown of the EU AI Act and its implications.
FIG 18: The four risk levels under the EU AI Act (Source: FairNow)
EMILY KILLHAM - How to Build a Better Boss: What Leaders (and Their Teams) Need Now to Thrive – Emily Killham delivers a new study by Perceptyx identifying five key behaviours for managers, the positive and negative impacts of manager behaviour on employees and organisations, and the role of employee feedback in help managers take corrective action.
FRANCISCO MARIN - The Role of Active and Passive Organizational Network Analysis in Cybersecurity – Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions breaks down how active and passive ONA can support organisational cybersecurity initiatives including the detection of anomalous communications, enhancing incident response and tailoring security strategies.
LOUJAINA ABDELWAHED - How To Lose an Employee in 10 Days – Loujaina Abdelwahed, PhD presents analysis by Revelio Labs highlighting the negative impact of return to office on employee reviews and attrition.
FIG 19: Negative reviews of RTO correlate positively with attrition (Source: Revelio Labs)
ALICIA ROACH – Not all ‘Workforce Planning’ is the Same – If you are interested in workforce planning and don’t follow Alicia Roach of eQ8 on LinkedIn, you really should. In her recent post, Alicia reflects on her ‘triangle of workforce planning’ (see FIG 20), which skilfully illustrates the value of ‘strategic’ workforce planning.
FIG 20: Source – Alicia Roach
PODCASTS OF THE MONTH
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected six gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
EMILY HACKER AND DAN WEISS - The Critical Role Data Plays in Skills Development - Emily Hacker, CPTD and Dan Weiss share insights from MetLife's skills journey with Stacia Sherman Garr and Dani Johnson of RedThread Research on the Workplace Stories podcast. The key learning from the conversation is that your skills data doesn't need to be perfect to benefit employees, improve talent acquisition, and enhance workforce planning.
JOSH BERSIN - The Future Of The Workforce Has Arrived, Can’t You See It? – Inspired by his recent trip to Europe, Josh Bersin explains why the traditional industrial work model has ended, gig work is now mainstream, reskilling should be given primacy, and why HR professionals need to reskill in AI to stay relevant.
BRYAN HANCOCK AND EMILY FIELD - Managing in the era of gen AI – In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field, two of the authors along with Bill Schaninger, Ph.D. of Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work, join host Lucia Rahilly to explain why middle managers matter, what leaders could do differently to make more of the managers on their teams, and how gen AI could change middle managers’ jobs—for the better.
ANSHUL SHEOPURI - How Mastercard is Training Employees for the AI Era – Anshul Sheopuri, EVP People Operations and Insights at Mastercard, joins Christopher Rainey on the HR Leaders podcast to shares insights on leveraging AI in HR and the importance of continuous learning.
JAMES GALLMAN - Bridging HR Technology, Analytics, AI Agents, LLMs, & Nudging at NetApp - James Gallman , VP HR PMO, Systems and Analytics at NetApp, joins hosts Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD on the Directionally Correct podcast to discuss the overlap between HR technology and people analytics.
LILY ZHENG - Ground Your DEI Efforts in Data – In an episode of Women at Work, DEI strategist and consultant Lily Zheng joins hosts Amy Bernstein and Amy Gallo to explain the role of data and analytics in DEI, and the importance of measuring outcomes to make lasting progress.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
JULIET SCHOR - Smarter Work for a Better World?
Studies suggest that the Four Day Week may reduce burnout and depression, while also offering significant opportunities to reduce our collective carbon footprint.
One of my favourite sessions at this year’s Wharton People Analytics Conference saw Professors Juliet Schor and Iwan Barankay discuss what we know about the four-day work week and share their different perspectives on what this alternate structure might mean for organisations and their employees.
BOOKS OF THE MONTH
One of the benefits of being on holiday the past few weeks has been that it enabled me to catch up on some reading, hence there being two books of the month for August:
NICK VAN DAM – Boosting Your Well-being: The Best Version of Me - A wonderful book – and a wonderful cause with 100% of the book’s royalties being donated to the e-Learning for Kids Foundation. Written by Prof. dr. Nick van Dam, and 20 co-authors, this is a comprehensive book on professional wellbeing. It delves into the interconnected aspects of four key dimensions: body, mind, purpose, and environment, and offers a compelling approach to self- improvement. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on resilience and adaptability (written by Jacqui Brassey, PhD, MA, MAfN ?️ (née Schouten) ), sleep (Dr Els van der Helm) and contribution (Emily Ricci). An uplifting and potentially life-changing read.
KALIFA OLIVER – I Think I Love My Job: Secrets To Designing A People-Centered Employer Value Proposition - At times a powerful and relatable story of the ups and downs of corporate life, and at others a compelling narrative on how to approach work, harness data and build a world-class employee experience. Kalifa Oliver, Ph.D. combines both an academic and a practitioner mindset that empowers the reader to take charge of their career, challenge workplace norms, and use data to revolutionise the employee experience.
FROM MY DESK
August saw us reach a notable milestone on the Digital HR Leaders podcast – our 200th episode, and we celebrated in style with a special guest, Amy Edmondson, Thank you to Louis Gordon and the team at HiBob for sponsoring series 40 of the podcast.
AMY EDMONDSON - How Learning to Fail Can Help People and Organisations to Thrive – Harvard professor, pioneer of psychological safety and Thinkers50 #1, Amy Edmondson joined me for our 200th episode, where we discussed intelligent failure, and how failing well can drive individual and organisational success.
DAVID GREEN - What key elements do you believe are essential to building a strong company culture? - A round up of series 40 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, with insights from John Winsor, Maureen N. Dunne, Ph.D., Nirit Peled-Muntz, Heidi Manna and Amy Edmondson.
DAVID GREEN - Five Key Elements For Building a Strong Company Culture? – A recent article for myHRfuture, where I break down five elements in building a strong company culture including aligning with organisational mission and using people data as your GPS.
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 close to 500 roles – and has now been developed into a LinkedIn newsletter too.
THANK YOU
Wayne Tarken for kindly writing a post about me on LinkedIn: Curious About People Analytics? - What Leaders Can Learn from Thursday's Thought Leader.
Ester Martinez and her team at People Matters for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast in their list of 100 must-read resources for HR and talent leaders.
Rachel Collins for her post emphasising the need to move from employment to employability, inspired by the LinkedIn Live I hosted recently with Ravin Jesuthasan and Tanuj Kapilashrami.
Similarly, thanks to James Elliott for also posting here about the LinkedIn Live with Ravin and Tanuj.
David McLean , whose post on learning from your failures references the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Amy Edmondson.
Veronika Birkheim , whose post on Culture Diagnostics, references the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Heidi Manna.
Andrew Gadomski for his post on how he uses the Data Driven HR Monthly as a learning tool at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Irada Sadykhova for her post on how to build a strong company culture, which was inspired by a recent series of the Digital HR Leaders podcast.
Ashley Utz for her post reflecting on the recent Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Nirit Peled-Muntz.
HR Executive Leadership Exchange for including me in their list of the Top 10 HR Leaders You Should Follow.
Mirro.io for including me in their list of Top HR Leaders to Follow in 2024.
Daniyal Wali and The Talent Games for including me in their list of the Top 10 HR Tech Leaders to Follow in 2024.
Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who shared the July edition of Data Driven HR Monthly. It's much appreciated: Jaqueline Oliveira-Cella Andrés García Ayala Kristhy Bartels Sandy Zou Danielle Farrell, M.A. David Hodges Jeff Wellstead Gord Johnston MA, BHJ, BA, CHRP Debbie Harrison Dave Millner Sharna Wiblen Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP Catriona Lindsay Amardeep Singh, MBA Walter Maes Marcano Gert-Jan Tretmans Tim Peffers Kouros Behzad Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski) Lewis Garrad Sebastian Szachnowski Bob Pulver John Golden, Ph.D. Ben Wigert, Ph.D, MBA Ken Oehler Alexis Fink Katia Simões Francisca Solano Beneitez Abbas Qaidari Onno Bouman Aravind Warrier Kathleen Kruse Adedamola Adeleke ☁️ Elodie MENAGER Susan Knolla John Healy David Simmonds FCIPD Andrews Cobbinah, MLPI, ACIHRM Deviprasad Panda Vanesa C. David McLean Timo Tischer Prachi Agasti Maria Alice Jovinski Tristan Hack Adam McKinnon, PhD. Nicole Hazard Michael Arena Andras Vicsek Jane Kuhn Emily Pelosi, PhD Malgorzata Langlois Ahmed Salah ?? Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD) Paul Daley Kyle Forrest Shivaani Talesra Ryan Wong Shujaat Ahmad Tessa Hilson-Greener Vivek Ojha Jacob Nielsen Søren Kold Tobias W. Goers ツ Terri Horton, EdD, MBA, MA, SHRM-CP, PHR Galo Lopez Noriega Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi Alexandra Nawrat Marian Stancik Hanadi El Sayyed Marcela Niemeyer Higor Gomes Kirsten Edwards Andreea Lungulescu Bradford Williams Faiza Tasneem(Associate CIPD) Alysson DuPont, SHRM-SCP, MBA Dr. Peter Schulz-Rittich Joaquin Hernandez Doug Shagam Mariami Lolashvili Caitie Jacobson Jaap Veldkamp Jaejin Lee Yvonne Bell (She/Her) John Gunawan Roberto Amatucci Philipp Heller Tina Peeters, PhD Gianni Giacomelli Lina Makneviciute Roshaunda Green, MBA, CDSP, Phenom Certified Recruiter Jacob Bradburn, Ph.D. Ying Li Phil Inskip Jack Liu Jonathan Berríos Leiva Stephen Hickey Lars Schmidt Geetanjali Gamel Dan George Anabel Fall Alejandra Barbarelli Adam Gibson Mia Norgren David van Lochem Nick Lynn Silja Kupiainen Heather Whiteman, Ph.D. Meghan M. Biro Martijn Wiertz Agnes Garaba Dolapo (Dolly) Oyenuga Laurent Reich Sebastian Kolberg Sebastián Mestre Chris Long Penny Newman Ralf Buechsenschuss Sebastian Knepper Marcela Mury Joseph Frank, PhD CCP GWCCM Dave Fineman Ron Ben Oz Danielle Bushen Kimberly Rose Daorong Lin Sukumaran Mariappan Abhilash Bodanapu Sonia Mooney Kerrian Soong Jay Polaki⚡️ SHRM-SCP/SPHR Remco van Es Ken Clar Matt Elk Aulia Raubien Natalie Wiseman Graham Irene Wong David Balls (FCIPD) Olivier Bougarel Ramesh Karpagavinayagam Oliver Kasper Andrew Kilshaw Nick Hudgell Gal Mozes, PhD Tatu Westling Brandon Merritt Johnson
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 90 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 2024:
September 11 - Productivity, Purpose, and Profit: How to thrive in ‘25 (London)
September 16-19 - Workday Rising (Las Vegas)
September 24-26 - Insight222 Global Executive Retreat (Colorado, US) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
October 2-3 - People Analytics World (New York)
October 16-17 - UNLEASH World (Paris)
October 22-23 - Insight222 North American Peer Meeting (hosted by Workday in Pleasanton, CA) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
November 12-14 - Workday Rising EMEA (London)
November 19-20 - Insight222 European Peer Meeting (hosted by Merck in Darmstadt, Germany) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
Employee Experience
2024年09月03日
Employee Experience
The Key to a Thriving Workforce? A Smart Approach to AI微软的最新数据强调了人工智能对员工赋权、活力和生产力的积极影响。领导者可以通过关注其员工队伍是否在“繁荣”中来促进良好表现,微软将“繁荣”定义为被赋予权力和充满活力地进行有意义的工作。员工信号调查显示,人工智能的使用能通过减少乏味工作并促进有意义的工作来提高生产力、努力和影响。人工智能工具还与更高的赋权和活力得分相关,表明员工队伍的“繁荣”。成功的关键在于将人工智能与支持性文化相结合,提供必要的培训,并使人工智能项目与公司目标保持一致。
New data reveals how access to AI can help employees feel more empowered and energized, and find more meaning in their work.
what’s the best way for leaders to foster good performance? How can they tell if their efforts are successful or not? Often, companies try to answer these questions by measuring metrics like engagement or financial results. And while those are critical to business success, at Microsoft, we also want to explore whether the workforce is thriving.
“Thriving has become the North Star for how we understand employees,” says Microsoft VP of People Analytics Dawn Klinghoffer, who leverages data to help leaders understand and improve employee’s experience. “We define thriving as being empowered and energized to do meaningful work. Are people excited to come to work every day, excited about the opportunities ahead?”
One of the ways we gauge this at Microsoft is with our Employee Signals survey, a biannual company-wide poll. The recent results not only offered insights into the tangible benefits of thriving, they also uncovered a key catalyst for fostering it: access to AI.
The Benefits of Thriving
We are focused on fostering a culture of thriving because our research suggests that doing so can boost how effective our workforce perceives itself to be. We also found that employees who are thriving are likely to have the highest scores on our indicators of high performance, like productivity, effort, and impact
Additionally, survey results suggest that employees who are thriving are more likely to go above and beyond what is expected of them. They take more pride in their work and they are less apt to look for employment elsewhere.
Recent Employee Signals survey results give us some new insights about what it means to thrive in this new era of work. We discovered that higher scores on what we’ve identified as the most important factors that support thriving—finding meaning in work, feeling empowered, and feeling energized—also translate to a measurable boost in productivity. Furthermore, access to AI seems to correlate with higher scores on each of these pillars.
Meaningfulness: According to our data, employees who find their work meaningful are 59% more likely to say they are productive at work—and 28% more likely to say they put in extra effort. Key to that is minimizing time spent on tasks that don’t feel meaningful. This is where AI comes in: AI assistants can lighten the load by generating rough drafts, sifting through piles of data, or simply acting as a sounding board and brainstorming partner to help people nail down a plan of action. Crucially, incorporating AI into the day correlated to a 20% jump in scores relating to meaningful work.
“What we find is that AI is really there to help you take friction and toil out of the system, and to remove the drudgery of work,” Klinghoffer says. “And when people are able to remove some of that drudgery, we see that they’re more productive, and they thrive more.”
Empowerment: Survey results also point to a future in which AI empowers people in their jobs. People who are empowered do not feel they have resource constraints, and they aren’t overburdened with people telling them how to do their work, Klinghoffer says, “so they have more freedom to do things the way they want and need to get the job done.” Access to AI tools and resources, we found, correlated to 34% higher scores for questions related to empowerment.
Energy: Our employees who say they feel energized are 44% more likely to say they feel proud of their work, and 22% more likely to say they take the initiative to be productive and put discretionary effort into their work. All levels of AI use— learning about it, grasping its value, incorporating it into processes and products, or simply having AI resources—correlated to higher reported energy levels. In fact, scores on energy-related questions for those using AI jumped almost 27%.
These results offer solid evidence that AI can be a catalyst for thriving and high performance. But how a company goes about making AI available will determine whether the company can reap these benefits. If employees are equipped with the right knowledge, tools, training, and resources to leverage AI in their work, they can begin to tap the full potential of an AI companion.
The key to success, Klinghoffer says, is integrating AI in a way that spans culture, learning, and people management. That way, everyone will understand how AI can help them focus on the most meaningful work.
The ABCs of Thriving with AI
Klinghoffer recommends keeping the following blueprint top of mind.
Accelerate alignment: Strengthen connections between employees, the company’s mission, and the transformative potential of AI. Clarify how AI initiatives align with the company’s goals and employees’ roles. Celebrate contributions to AI projects to highlight their impact on the company and customers.
“Employees who felt more connected to the mission and really understood how their work fits into the larger system were also the ones who were really thriving,” says Ketaki Sodhi, Senior HR Data Analyst at Microsoft. “When we looked at Copilot and employee sentiment around AI, these were also the folks who were willing to experiment and find ways to use AI to take some of the drudgery out of the day-to-day.” Smart leaders should seek out those internal champions and offer them support and encouragement.
Be inclusive: Create an environment where all employees feel equipped to engage with AI. This includes providing AI education, training, and resources, as well as fostering a culture of innovation and supporting a safe space for experimentation. Regular check-ins and feedback sessions can help employees express concerns and share ideas related to AI. Once users are encouraged and equipped to explore the possibilities of AI, our research suggests that a time savings of just 11 minutes a day is all it takes for them to start to appreciate its value.
Cultivate collective growth: Create a culture that empowers employees to decide how to do their best work, while investing in moments that matter together. Provide employees with the flexibility to plan their days and create time to meaningfully engage with AI. Encourage them to explore how AI can help them free up time for creative and strategic work. Then highlight use cases and foster collaboration among teams to encourage knowledge sharing.
Collective growth encompasses in-role experiences (how do we create time and space for employees to learn within their role?) and beyond (what comes next for me? Is there a viable career that excites me at this company?). AI can help with both—by eliminating the drudgery that keeps employees from doing more creative work, and by facilitating positive employee movement. “You see a huge boost. People get excited doing something new, growing their skills and experiences, and furthering their career,” Klinghoffer says. “A couple of months ago on my team we had people who were interested in a different role raise their hands, and we facilitated changes for about 20% of my org.”
2024年组织中人力资源部门的21个关键角色-来自AIHR
组织中人力资源部门的21个关键角色,分为“关键角色”、“合规角色”和“新兴角色”三个部分,如下所示:
关键角色
吸引候选人:开发和执行策略以吸引合适的候选人。
选择候选人:从众多申请者中挑选出最适合的候选人。
内部和外部招聘:内部晋升和外部招聘的管理。
绩效评估:对员工的工作表现进行评估。
薪酬:设计和实施薪酬策略。
员工福利管理:设计和管理员工福利计划。
学习与发展:确保员工技能与组织需求保持一致。
合规角色
晋升:晋升机制的设计与实施。
问题解决小组:创建和管理解决问题的小组。
全面质量管理(TQM):实施全面质量管理以提高服务或产品质量。
信息共享:确保重要信息能够及时传达给所有员工。
组织发展:通过战略性的人力资源管理提升组织效能。
调查管理:管理各种员工调查,收集反馈以改进工作环境。
合规管理:确保公司遵守所有相关法律和规章制度。
商业合作伙伴:HR作为管理层的战略合作伙伴,提供人力资源解决方案。
新兴角色
数据与分析管理:使用数据分析来支持决策过程。
人力资源技术管理:管理和优化HR相关的技术和系统。
变更管理:领导和管理组织变更。
员工体验:设计和改进员工的整体工作体验。
多元化、公平、包容和归属感(DEIB):推广和实施多元化和包容性策略。
公关:管理公司的公共形象和应对公关危机。
原文来自:https://www.aihr.com/blog/human-resources-roles/
Attracting candidates, Selecting candidates, Hiring from within and from outside, Performance appraisals, Compensation, Employee benefit management, Learning & development, Promotions, Problem-solving groups, Total quality management (TQM), Information sharing, Organizational development, Survey management, Compliance management, Business partnering, Data & analytics management, HR technology management, Change management, Employee experience, DEIB, PR
吸引候选人、选择候选人、内部和外部招聘、绩效评估、薪酬、员工福利管理、学习与发展、晋升、问题解决小组、全面质量管理 (TQM)、信息共享、组织发展、调查管理、合规管理、业务合作、数据与分析管理、人力资源技术管理、变革管理、员工体验、DEIB、公共关系
Employee Experience
2024年05月12日
Employee Experience
David Green : The best HR & People Analytics articles of April 2024
My highlight for April, and indeed of the year so far, was the People Analytics Worldconference in London. I first chaired the event in 2014, and over the last decade People Analytics World has established itself as the go-to event in Europe for the field.
The 2024 edition was sold out with close to 400 people attending across the two days (4x compared to 2014!). I had the privilege of co-chairing, along with Cole Napper and Michael M. Moon, PhD and also delivering the opening keynote on how leading companies deliver value with people analytics, based on our research at Insight222.
You can find the slides I shared in the keynote below. These include the results of three polls I ran with attendees at People Analytics World on (1) the current state of people analytics in their organisation, (2) the financial impact of people analytics in the last 12 months, and (3) the data literacy of HR professionals. Additionally, you can also access the Insight222 research I shared here.
The conference only ended a few days ago, but already many of the attendees have shared some of their key takeaways and learnings. Do check out the ones from Patrick Coolen (here), Giovanna Constant (here), Sebastian Knepper (here), Mariana Rossi Campos (here), Fatma Hedeya (here), Pietro Mazzoleni (here), Maria Manso Garcia (here), Ekkehard Ernst (here), Marcela Mury (here) and Jaejin Lee (here).
Finally on People Analytics World, congratulations to Barry Swales and the Tucana team for organising such a successful event, thank you to all those who attended the Insight222 dinner, visited the Insight222 stand and who took the time to interact with me over the two days. Lastly, thank you to all of the brilliant speakers and panellists in the Plenary sessions and Strategy track that I moderated: Richard Rosenow Ian Cook Sue Lam Rob Briner Peter Cheese Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP Abigail Gilbert Alexis Saussinan Michael Cox Gemma McNair David Shontz Amit Mohindra Clare Moncrieff Jo Thackray Lucie Vottova Andrew Elston Rob Etheridge Isabel Naidoo James Fenlon and Ekkehard Ernst.
People Analytics World 2024 | London
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for April 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 March’s compendium (including those in the Thank You section below).
If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is published every Tuesday – subscribe here.
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
DIANE GHERSON AND LYNDA GRATTON - Highly Skilled Professionals Want Your Work But Not Your Job
Without question, there has been a huge shift. Many of the individuals we’re looking to attract—in technology, data sciences, machine learning, blockchain, and the internet of things—have a different mindset now. They want more-flexible working arrangements.
This quote from Peter Fasolo, Ph.D. chief human resources officer at Johnson & Johnson, perfectly captures the challenge that Diane Gherson and Lynda Grattonhighlight in their article for Harvard Business Review: more and more workers want to work as freelancers. As the article highlights, Gartner predict that independent workers will make up 35% to 40% of the global workforce by 2025. Moreover, one-third earn more than $150,000 per year, and just over half were providing knowledge services—such as computer programming, marketing, IT, and business consulting. Integrating and managing what this ‘blended workforce’ will be one of the main managerial challenges in the years ahead. Based on their interviews with executives at leading companies that are experimenting with how best to bring freelancers into their organisations, Diane and Lynda set out some guidance and highlight emerging management practices that forward-looking companies are embracing. These include: (1) Helping freelancers understand and embrace company culture. (2) Following rigorous practices to retain institutional knowledge. (3) Adopting a ‘sponsor’ mindset to guide freelancers’ performance. (4) Leveraging digital workflows and building trust to manage changes in project needs.
FIG 1: The Emerging Blended Workforce (Source: Diane Gherson and Lynda Gratton)
LEILA HOTEIT, ANTON STEPANENKO, PAVEL LUKSHA, SAGAR GOEL, AND LEONID GORENBURG - The Next 50 Years of Work
Contrary to popular fears that the future will offer fewer work opportunities for people, most experts anticipate that rewarding work options will be plentiful.
The key finding of a recent BCG study is that workforce experts anticipate that jobs will flourish over the next fifty years, with four boundaries framing the future growth of the economy (see FIG 2). The study, authored by Leila Hoteit Anton Stepanenko Pavel Luksha Sagar Goel and Leonid Gorenburgalso highlights bionic skills (e.g. tech literacy, data-driven decision making, AI-enhanced creativity, and ease with human-machine collaboration) and creativity as the skills that will be in highest demand. But to complement these skills, workers should also cultivate adaptability and the ability to take initiative.
FIG 2: The four boundaries within which the future economy will grow (Source: BCG)
ETHAN MOLLICK - Reinventing the Organization for GenAI and LLMs
Consider this an early eulogy for the traditional organizational structure, which began in 1855 with the first modern organizational chart and thrived, more or less successfully, until the 2020s, when it succumbed to a new technology, the large language model (LLM).
That’s the bold claim by Ethan Mollick in his compulsive article in MIT Sloan Management Review. While he concedes that previous waves of technology have ushered in innovations that have strengthened traditional organisational structures, Mollick makes the case that GenAI and LLMs are different. He then outlines three principles for reorganising work around AI: (1) Identify and enlist your current AI users. (2) Let teams develop their own methods. (3) Build for the not-so-distant future. If you enjoy this article, I recommend subscribing to Mollick’s One Useful Thing blog.
BCG - What GenAI’s Top Performers Do Differently
The top GenAI performers have the biggest lead across five main capabilities: a clear link to business performance, modern technology infrastructure, strong data capabilities, leadership support, and a grounding in responsible AI.
While GenAI is becoming an integral part of business ecosystems, only 10% of companies have mastered scaling GenAI to create value and secure other benefits from this transformative technology (see FIG 3). That’s according to recent research by BCG, which finds that 10% of companies lead in five key areas: (1) a clear link to business performance, (2) modern technology infrastructure, (3) strong data capabilities, (4) leadership support, and (5) a grounding in responsible AI. A helpful read for HR leaders as they think how HR can lead organisational transformation in the age of AI as well as incorporate the technology into HR programs too. (Authors: Amanda Luther Romain de Laubier Nicolas de Bellefonds Tauseef Charanya Suraj Shah Kevin Nnaemeka Ifiora and Patrick Forth)
FIG 3: Three categories of companies in relation to GenAI adoption (Source: BCG)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
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.
PIETRO MAZZOLENI - Mastering data governance for effective people data platforms: lessons from what we did at IBM
Data Governance is the process that ensures the availability, usability, integrity, and security of data in enterprise systems
Pietro Mazzoleni shares the three key elements related to ‘governance-by-design’ that together provided the fundamental principles underlying the design and implementation of Workforce360, IBM’s people data platform. In the article, Pietro presents the three elements – trust, transparency and compliance (see FIG 4) – and provides a detailed description of each.
FIG 4: Key governance questions to consider when designing a people data platform (Source: Pietro Mazzoleni)
JASDEEP KAREER - The Importance of Data and Upskilling in Driving Growth
Jasdeep Kareer, PhD (née Bhambra) shares key learnings from the recent Peer Meeting for North American member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which was hosted by Colgate-Palmolive in their global headquarters in New York. The Peer Meeting, which was attended by more than 60 people analytics leaders and practitioners from more than 40 companies was framed on the key findings from the Insight222 People Analytics Trends study for 2023. In her article, Jas highlights five themes from the Peer Meeting: (1) The importance of data and upskilling in driving growth (with insights from Sally Massey). (2) How strategic partnerships and data governance pave the way for successful People Analytics initiatives (with insights from Courtney McMahon Pavel Nouel and Nayana Pai). (3) How insights-driven decision-making and storytelling can drive impactful outcomes in People Analytics (with insights from Durrell Blake Robinson and Mona Routray). (4) Factors influencing the adoption of people analytics (with insights from Patrick Coolen and Brydie Lear). (5) Influencing senior stakeholders with people analytics (with insights from Piyush Mathur). If you would like to learn more about our People Analytics Program, contact us today.
FIG 5: 8 Characteristics of Leading Companies. (Source: Insight222 People Analytics Trends Report 2023)
BURAK BAKKALOGLU – Deploying GenAI in HR | KEITH MCNULTY – How I Created an AI Version of Myself | KATE GUARINO - How to Turn ChatGPT into Your Personal Consultant: A 5-Step Approach | NATALIA GORMANN - Improving Employee Experience with a Solid Data Strategy | PATRICK GALLAGHER - Is It Time to Stop Measuring Employee Engagement?
In recent editions of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I’ve been featuring a collection of articles by current and recent people analytics leaders. These act as a spur and inspiration to the field. Five are highlighted here. (1) Burak Bakkaloglu dedicates an edition of his If Interested blog to the topic of GenAI including breaking down three layers of GenAI for HR (see FIG 6). (2) Keith McNulty provides a tutorial (including code) on how he built a 'Keith-bot' to answer questions on statistics based on the content of his regression textbook, using a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture. (3) Katie Guarino also provides a practical framework on how to use ChatGPT as your personal consultant and coach on any topic, regardless of your expertise in it. (4) Natalia Gormann discusses challenges for people teams to build partnerships with finance before guidance on how to build an effective data strategy to support employee experience strategies. (5) Patrick Gallagher looks at the case for and against measuring employee engagement, concluding that organisations with mature employee listening and PA functions just don’t need it anymore.
FIG 6: Three layers of GenAI in HR (Source: Burak Bakkaloglu)
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
VINCENT BÉRUBÉ, BEN FOGARTY, NEEL GANDHI, RAHUL MATHEW, MARINO MUGYAR-BALDOCCHI, AND CHARLOTTE SEILEROUTLINE - Increasing your return on talent: The moves and metrics that matter
An organization that views its employees as its most important resource can maximize its return on talent by following a holistic strategy—with HR in the driver’s seat.
Drawing on McKinsey research that finds companies that put talent at the centre of their business strategy realise higher total shareholder returns than their competitors, Vincent Bérubé Ben Fogarty Neel Gandhi Rahul Mathew Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi and Charlotte Seiler outline five actions organisations can take to maximise their return on talent. The five actions are: (1) Build a skills-based strategic workforce planning capability. (2) Create a hiring engine that brings in the right talent to fill critical roles. (3) Invest in learning and development. ((4) Establish a stellar performance-oriented culture. (5) Elevate HR’s operating model to become a true talent steward.
FIG 7: Factors that drag down employee and organisational productivity (Source: McKinsey)
PETER CAPPELLI AND RANYA NEHMEH – HR’s New Role
If leaders realized that the true cost of turnover is often a multiple of an employee’s annual salary, they would immediately demand changes.
In their thoughtful article for Harvard Business Review, Peter Cappelli and Ranya Nehmeh set out the case for the HR function to return to its roots as employee advocates. They argue that in a period of low unemployment and labour supply shortages, focusing on cost-cutting and restructuring is counterproductive and the onus should instead be on retention and preventing burnout. To realise this, HR needs to change outdated policies on compensation, training and development, layoffs, vacancies, outsourcing, and restructuring. Cappelli and Nehmeh recommend the first step should be for HR to create dashboards with metrics on the true costs of turnover, absenteeism, reasons for quitting, illness rates, and employee engagement. They contend that: “If leaders realized that the true cost of turnover is often a multiple of an employee’s annual salary, they would immediately demand changes." They also outline guidance on why and how to measure employee stress – particularly with regards to AI and restructuring. The article also provides examples of companies with HR functions that are moving to an employee advocacy approach. These include the likes of Walmart and Neiman Marcus (both on compensation and reward), as well as IBM and Unilever (both internal talent mobility).
DAVE ULRICH - Upgrading HR Professionals: How to Develop HR Professionals so They Rise to Their Opportunity
HR matters. Now more than ever.
In a recent article from his Human Capability Impact LinkedIn newsletter, Dave Ulrich explains why HR functions and professionals are rising in importance, and then lays out a playbook, process and assessment designed to develop HR professionals so they can fulfil expectations and rise to the opportunity (see FIG 8).
FIG 8: Summary and assessment of ways to upgrade HR professionals (Source: Dave Ulrich)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
NICK VAN DER MEULEN, OLGERTA TONA, AND DOROTHY E. LEIDNER – Resolving Workforce Skills Gaps with AI-Powered Insights
As Christina Norris-Watts and Doug Shagam shared with me in an episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, Johnson & Johnson has used AI-driven skills inference as part of their skills transformation (see: How Johnson & Johnson are Scaling Their Skills-Based Approach to Talent). In their paper for MIT, Nick van der Meulen Olgerta Tona and Dorothy Leidner provide an in-depth case study on Johnson & Johnson to demonstrate how skills inference can provide detailed insight into workforce skills gaps and thereby guide employees’ career development and leaders’ strategic workforce planning. The paper includes a detailed description of the three steps of the skills inference process (see FIG 9). The sections in the paper on employee trust, privacy and use cases are particularly instructional for companies looking to emulate this work in their organisations.
FIG 9: The three steps of the skills inference process (Source: MIT Center for Information Systems Research)
JORDAN PETTMAN - Workforce Planning: A Beginner's Guide to Strategic Success
Jordan Pettman, one of my many talented colleagues at Insight222, shares some tips and guidance for practitioners looking to start or accelerate their workforce planning efforts. He highlights the Nine Dimensions for Excellence in Strategic Workforce Planning model we use with clients at Insight222 (see FIG 10), explaining that you need to consider each of the decision points that the model presents in terms of getting the foundations right, ensuring your resources are fit for purpose and that you deliver value out of the cycle for the business and employees. Jordan also shares insights from the likes of Jonas Ottiger and Gergo Safar as part of his guidance on two key elements: workforce planning essentials and building skills-based workforce planning.
FIG 10: Nine Dimensions for Excellence in Stategic Workforce Planning (Source: Insight222)
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
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 11: Employee Listening Maturity (Source: Perceptyx)
NICK LYNN - Trust and Distrust: Why and how you may need to tackle both
Building trust is not always sufficient, you may also need to tackle the causes of distrust. The problems are not always the same. They may sometimes require different solutions.
Nick Lynn constructs a wonderful treatise on ‘trust’ and ‘distrust’ in organisations and offers potential solutions to build the former and tackle the latter. Through analysing four models to build trust, Nick identifies some common ingredients including: communication, consistency, integrity, fairness, empathy, and psychological safety. When it comes to tackling distrust, he assembles four elements of organisational health: work, total rewards, people, and purpose into a framework of employee experience leadership (see FIG 12).
FIG 12: Driving employee experience through connection and contribution (Source: Nick Lynn)
STEPHANIE DENINO, TIMO TISCHER, AND DAVID GREEN - Moving Towards Excellence in EX Management
In the January edition of Data-Driven HR Monthly, I highlighted the fascinating report State of EX 2023-24 study, published by The EXchange, Inc, TI PEOPLE and FOUNT Global, Inc. In this article, for myHRfuture, I interview Stephanie Denino and Timo Tischer, two of the contributors to the study. We dig into what constitutes ‘excellence’ in EX management, the barriers and how to overcome them, and the priorities for EX teams in 2024 (see FIG 13). Stephanie and Timo also provide tips for organisations looking to manage EX more deliberately, which includes: (1) Identifying the moments that matter, (2) Measuring and listening continuously to people’s experiences across these moments, and (3) Clarifying responsibilities (who ‘owns’ which journeys, moments and/or touchpoints) to ensure accountability, and improving high importance / low satisfaction moments.
FIG 13: Top five priorities for EX teams in 2024 (Source: State of EX 2023-24 study)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND INCLUSION
ANNA BINDER - Build Your Culture Like a Product
Anna Binder, Asana's Head of People, shares her step-by-step guide to intentionally building the company culture, which has helped Asana scale from 100 to over 2,000 employees during the last eight years. The article includes tips on building a people strategy from the ground-up, constructing a culture pyramid to supercharge your organisation (see FIG 14), how to bring conscious leadership to the executive suite, and building trust. A highly insightful and practical guide.
FIG 14: The pyramid of company culture (Source: Anna Binder)
ARNAUD CHEVALLIER, FRÉDÉRIC DALSACE, AND JEAN-LOUIS BARSOUX - The Art of Asking Smarter Questions
Advances in AI have caused a seismic shift from a world in which answers were crucial to one in which questions are. The big differentiator is the ability to craft smart prompts.
The ability to ask great questions is a powerful skill for unlocking value – especially in the age of AI. As such, the cover article of the current edition of the Harvard Business Review by Arnaud Chevallier Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux of IMD Business School is well worth digging into. The authors provide a typology of five topics of questions to ask during strategic decision making: (1) investigative, (2) speculative, (3) productive, (4) interpretive, and (5) subjective (see FIG 15). The article also includes a self-assessment that enables readers to evaluate the types of questions that are their strong and weak points, and then provides guidance to help you improve. From completing the assessment myself, it seems I need to work on my subjective questioning technique.
FIG 15: What’s your question mix? (Source: Chevallier et al)
CHRISTIAN HAUDE, IVO BLOHM, AND XAVIER LAGARDÈRE - How Lufthansa Shapes Data-Driven Transformation Leaders
Effective data leaders bridge a crucial gap that still exists in too many organizations. These leaders play a key role in transforming organizations that are leveraging data and AI to increase business value.
An excellent example from Lufthansa on how they created a program to educate leaders on data leadership, and how it provided insights on the roles that people play in data-driven change. In their article, Christian Haude Ivo Blohm and Xavier Lagardere outline the challenge the program was designed to solve, the six different roles for data leaders that were defined (see FIG 16), details of the three training modules: Spark, Inspire and Activate, and four key strategies for success.
FIG 16: Data Leadership: Six key roles (Source: Haude et al)
SHARNA WIBLEN AND DAVID GREEN - Rethinking Talent Decisions and Navigating Subjectivity in HR
Accumulating deliberate, intentional, and informed decisions can unleash exponential returns.
In her book, Rethinking Talent Decisions, Sharna Wiblen highlights an uncomfortable truth: Talent decisions are always subjective. As such, I was delighted to explore this in more depth with Sharna in an article for myHRfuture. In the article, Sharna, an Assistant Professor and Senior Lecturer at Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong, unpacks the nuanced role of subjectivity in talent decisions and the symbiotic relationship between technology and human judgment in the workplace. The uncomfortable truth is that decisions about talent are invariably coloured by personal perceptions, and instead of shying away, Sharna argues that we should lean into this discomfort to emerge with more informed and nuanced strategies.
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 April that I recommend readers delve into:
FRANZ GILBERT, MATTHEW SHANNON, AND ERIN SPENCER - 2024 HR tech predictions: Headless platforms place HR tech in the flow of work – The Deloitte Human Capital Forward team of Franz Gilbert Matthew Shannon and Erin Spencer outline the key HR technology trends they believe will drive innovation in the field in 2024 (see FIG 17).
FIG 17: HR technology trends primed to innovate further in 2024 (Source: Deloitte)
JARED SPATARO, KATHLEEN HOGAN, AND CHRIS FERNANDEZ - Our Year with Copilot: What Microsoft Has Learned About AI at Work - Senior leaders at Microsoft, including Jared Spataro Kathleen Hogan and Christopher J. Fernandezshare insights, learnings and guidance from their experience of using Copilot. For example, Hogan reveals:
Our HR service professionals are able to handle employee inquiries more efficiently. So far we are seeing a 26 percent reduction in initial response time thanks to Copilot.
CATHERINE COPPINGER - Manager Effectiveness: It’s Time for a New Playbook – Catherine Coppinger shares Worklytics research on how companies can understand and improve manager effectiveness. Insights include the impact of isolation on ‘quiet quitting’ and how low manager engagement is a big predictor of isolation (see FIG 18). For more, please listen to Catherine’s discussion with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How to enhance manager effectiveness.
FIG 18: Source - Worklytics
FRANCISCO MARIN - The Role of AI-Powered Passive Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) in Mitigating Burnout, Absenteeism, and Turnover Risk – Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions explains how ONA has emerged as a critical tool in identifying and mitigating the risks of burnout, absenteeism, and turnover.
ANDREW PITTS AND CHAD MITCHELL - Mapping and Understanding the Connections Between SIOP 2024 Conference Presenters – Andrew Pitts and Chad Mitchell provide a practical example of ONA by utilising Polinode to understand and map the connections of the presenters at the recent Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) 2024 conference in Chicago.
PODCASTS OF THE MONTH
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected four gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
ANDREW STRAUSS AND MATT ALDER - Talent Lessons From Elite Sport – I’ll happily admit to some green-eyed envy towards Matt Alder for the coup of getting former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss onto his Recruiting Future podcast to discuss what elite sports can teach business about leadership.
JOHANNES SUNDLO AND LARS SCHMIDT - Practical Use Cases for Generative AI in Human Resources – Johannes Sundlo joins Lars Schmidt on his Redefining Work podcast to dig into use cases for GenAI in HR including in learning and compensation.
MALISSA CLARK AND CURT NICKISCH - Companies Can Win by Reducing Overwork - Malissa Clark, associate professor and head of the Healthy Work Lab at the University of Georgia, joins Curt Nickisch on HBR IdeaCast to explain how companies unwittingly create a workaholic culture, and what they can do to change this.
ALAN COLQUITT, COLE NAPPER AND SCOTT HINES - Is Performance Management Fine, Or Rotten To The Core? – An interesting discussion ensues as Alan Colquitt, Ph.D. joins hosts Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD to discuss the pros and cons of performance management.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
ANNA TAVIS AND WOODY WOODWARD - The Digital Coaching Revolution: How to Support Employee Development with Coaching Tech
According to Anna A. Tavis, PhD, and Dr. Woody Woodward, PhD, PCC: “Digital coaching is transforming employee experience and the future of work as we know it.” In their book, The Digital Coaching Revolution, they provide guidance on how to scale digital coaching in your organisation – whether the C-suite is already on board or not. The book features case studies from the likes of Visa, CVS, and Hilton, and is a recommended resource for HR, EX, and L&D professionals looking to understand and/or roll digital coaching within their companies.
RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH
ROB BRINER – Evidence-Based HR: A New Paradigm
Evidence-based HR (EBHR) is a process which delivers more informed and hence more accurate answers to two fundamental questions: first, which are the most important problems (or opportunities) facing the organisation which are relevant to HR? Second, which solutions (or interventions) are most likely to help?
These are the opening words to a recently published report from the Corporate Research Forum (CRF), authored by Rob Briner, on Evidence-Based HR (EBHR). The report tackles, the why, what, and how of EBHR, explains why it is not the same as people analytics, provides case studies from Thales, Uber and the Financial Conduct Authority, and provides a practical toolkit for practitioners on the EBHR process (see FIG 19). For more, have a listen to Rob speaking to me in a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast: What is evidence-based HR and why is it important?
FIG 19: The Evidence-Based HR Process (Source: Rob Briner, Corporate Research Forum)
FROM MY DESK
April saw three episodes from Series 38 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by our friends at Worklytics - thank you to Philip Arkcoll and Laura Morris, as well as a round-up of series 37:
NICKLE LAMOREAUX - How IBM Uses AI to Transform Their HR Strategies – Nickle LaMoreaux, CHRO at IBM, joins me to share how IBM is harnessing AI to transform HR practices, drive business outcomes, and elevate employee experience. One of the examples Nickle shares is IBM’s digital worker, HiRo, which takes on the manual, repetitive tasks of data gathering during our quarterly promotions process and in 2023 saved IBM managers 50,000 hours.
COLE NUSSBAUMER-KNAFLIC - How HR Professionals can Master Storytelling with Data - Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic joins me for a deeply insightful conversation on the transformative power of storytelling in the context of people data and analytics.
CATHERINE COPPINGER – How to Use Passive Data to Enhance Manager Effectiveness - Catherine Coppinger, Head of Customer Insight at Worklytics joins me to discuss her recent research on manager effectiveness, which includes discussion on the impact of network density, team size, and span of control on team and manager effectiveness.
DAVID GREEN - How can HR help create a thriving organisational culture? - A round-up of series 37 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, with insights from episodes featuring Rebecca Thielen Dorie Clark Didier Elzinga Rob Briner Louise Millar and Olivia Edwards.
LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE IN PEOPLE ANALYTICS OR HR TECH?
’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 550 roles.
THANK YOU
Reem Janho, JD Michael Griffiths Obed Garcia-Colato Kim Eberbach and the rest of the Deloitte team for inviting me to speak at their Workforce Innovation Forumat the Deloitte University in Texas.
Olimpiusz Papiez for sharing his key learnings on advancing your career in people analytics (with insights from the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Serena H. Huang, Ph.D.), on how to quantify the impact of a thriving company culture (with insights from the episode with Didier Elzinga), and on IBM’s HiRo digital assistant (with inisghts from the episode with Nickle LaMoreaux)
Luis Miguel González Soriano for posting about Excellence in People Analytics.
Juliette Matharan for writing about Excellence in People Analytics, and Arnaud COULON for recommending the book to Juliette.
Ancile Digital for including my quote on how HR can harness AI in its post on the best advice for HR professionals.
Mirro.io for featuring me as one of their top HR thought leaders to follow in 2024.
Employ.com for also featuring me as one of their top 16 HR influencers to follow on LinkedIn.
Ganesh Iyer for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast in his list of 25 HR leadership podcasts to subscribe to.
Thomas Otter for endorsing the Digital HR Leaders podcast here.
Kevin Green for recommending series 37 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast.
Thomas Kohler for including the March edition of Data Driven HR in his round-up of recommended HR resources.
Yen Dang for including the Data-Driven HR Monthly in her top 3 newsletters for HR professionals.
Neha Asthana for including me in her group of HR thought leaders and influencers.
Caroline Arora and JooBee Yeow, PhD for recommending me on Mark Shortall’s list of content creators in the people and talent space.
Lars Schmidt for also the Data-Driven HR Monthly (this newsletter!) in his excellent list of HR newsletters to subscribe to.
To the following people who sharing the March edition of Data Driven HR Monthly. It's much appreciated: David Simmonds FCIPD Hafiz Adam Hanafi Reshma Mawji Hakki Ozdenoren Jo Iwasaki Aravind Warrier Katrina A. Stevens, CHRE Muhammad Firdaus Chrechen Jeja Kouros Behzad Arin Buawatthana Abid Hamid Robert Rogowski Terri Horton, EdD, MBA, MA, SHRM-CP, PHR Anvita Patnaik Paola Valerin Francisca Solano Beneitez Beverly Tarulli, Ph.D. Nicola Vogel Alexander S. Locher Kingsley Taylor Jacqui Brassey, PhD, MA, MAfN (née Schouten) Ralf Buechsenschuss Aysegul Tigli Philipe Ferreira Jane Datta Malgorzata (GOSIA) LANGLOIS Karen Edelman Indre Radzeviciute Hallie Bregman, PhD Adam McKinnon, PhD. Amanda Painter Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski) Chris Lovato Nabil Dewsi Tatu Westling Kristina Schoemmel Janeen Rabinowitz Susan Knolla Dan George Catriona Lindsay Patricia Carmona Ulrich E. Basler Caitie Jacobson Warren Howlett Jackson C. Trent Melissa Hopper Fritz Ankit Saxena, MBA Martha Curioni Anna Nord ?? Amardeep Singh, MBA Irada Sadykhova Christina Bui Higor Gomes Tanya Pastor Danielle Bushen Nicole Lettich Ken Clar Kerrian Soong Laurent Reich Stephen Hickey Olivier Bougarel Jana Glogowski Marcela Mury Tina Peeters, PhD Aimee Wilkinson Ludek Stehlik, Ph.D. Phil Inskip Adam Gibson Daniel Bosman Todd Tauber Violeta Lennon Soojeong Bae Aurélie Crégut.
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 90 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.
SEE 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 2024:
June 4-5 - Insight222 European Peer Meeting (hosted by Nestlé in Vevey, Switzerland) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
June 25-26 - Insight222 North American Peer Meeting (Minneapolis, US) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
September 16-19 - Workday Rising (Las Vegas)
September 24-26 - Insight222 Global Executive Retreat (Colorado, US) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
October 16-17 - UNLEASH World (Paris)
October 22-23 - Insight222 North American Peer Meeting (hosted by Workday in Pleasanton, CA) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
November 12-14 - Workday Rising EMEA (London)
November 19-20 - Insight222 European Peer Meeting (hosted by Merck in Darmstadt, Germany) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
Employee Experience
2024年05月02日
Employee Experience
是时候重塑人才招聘了 -Research Shows It’s Time To Reinvent Talent AcquisitionJosh Bersin 的文章 "研究表明,是时候重塑人才招聘了 "强调了人才招聘亟需进行的变革。由于只有 32% 的人力资源高管参与战略规划,而且许多人觉得自己只是个接单员,因此这篇文章呼吁进行战略改革。在劳动力短缺和急需技能型招聘的情况下,目前削减成本和减少招聘力度的方法与对技能型专业人才日益增长的需求相矛盾。文章敦促企业将人才招聘作为一项重要的战略职能,利用现代技术并将其与学习和发展相结合,以提高效率并关注内部人才流动。
原文如下:
This week we published a disappointing research study, Talent Acquisition at a Crossroads. The study, conducted in partnership with AMS, points out that talent acquisition leaders (this is a senior position) are largely left out of their company’s strategic planning process and many feel they operate as “order takers.”
In today’s world of labor and skills shortages, this is a wakeup call for change.
Here’s the data:
Among these 130+ HR executives only 32% are involved in any form of strategic workforce planning, 42% believe their company has no workforce plan at all, and 46% say “they’re running around to keep up.” And when layoffs do occur, often the recruiters go first. (Witness Tesla this week.)
All this is happening in a world where 58% of companies feel skills shortages are significantly impacting their business plans, more than three-quarters believe they must transform their talent practices to grow, and “skills-based hiring” is a top priority yet difficult to implement.
Here’s the paradox: companies are cutting their talent acquisition spending at the same time CEOs feel that skills shortages are getting worse. What’s going on?
Talent Acquisition Needs A Reinvention
Let’s just face it: recruiting as a business function has to change. Once considered the “staffing department,” where companies posted jobs and scanned resumes, talent acquisition has become highly strategic operation. What skills do we need? How do we find people who will fit our culture? What internal candidates should fill our key positions? Who are the right leaders for us to hire?
Unfortunately, almost 80% of talent acquisition functions are quite tactical. PwC’s CEO survey found that CEOs rate “hiring” as the third most bureaucratic process in their companies, tied with “too many emails” and “too many meetings” as a time-wasting process. And that explains why two-thirds of TA leaders are being asked to cut costs.
I had a conversation last week with a former TA leader for one of the Big Three automakers. He told me that in the fervor to hire staff for EV engineering he was asked to hire “any engineer he could find, regardless of skill,” because the company was in such a hurry. No time for skills assessment, competitive planning, or even location analysis. Just “go out there and hire engineers.”
We have been studying the auto industry as part of our GWI study and found that important EV roles (reliability engineer or power plant engineer, for example), are quite specialized and hard to find. Strategic recruiting departments need to understand these roles and source these individuals carefully. Just hiring engineering grads from a local community college is not going to move this needle.
(Consider the data by Draup on what these roles are. Talent Acquisition teams with talent intelligence skills can pinpoint who to hire.)
And it gets worse. In our Dynamic Organization research we found that high performing companies focus heavily on internal hiring, talent intelligence tools to find hidden talent, and continuous internal development to fill skills gaps. We can’t simply throw job requisitions over to the recruiting function any more: the people we need may be buried inside the company.
This week Tesla announced a layoff of 10% of their workforce. Was their time to balance and redeploy talent internally? Absolutely not. According to my sources every business unit had to let 10% go, and and many of the people being fired were talent acquisition leaders, the very people who help with these issues.
We talk with many HR executives and there is an enlightened group. Companies that understand this issue (about one in eight) have elevated Talent Acquisition to a strategic function, they merge or integrate TA with L&D, and they redefine their recruiters as “talent advisors.” Mastercard, as a leader, just renamed their recruiters as “Career Coaches,” demonstrating their role in helping people find the right jobs.
Despite the onslaught of AI, this role is becoming even more human-centric. High-powered recruiting teams source internal candidates, understand company culture, and have a deep knowledge of jobs, roles, and organizational dynamics. When well supported and trained, these professionals are strategic advisors, not just “recruiters.” And companies that understand this often outsource or automate much of the administration in recruiting.
Technology plays a major role in this reinvention. Most large companies have dozens of legacy systems, many of which make the candidate experience difficult. When organizations focus on modernizing and streamlining their technology, talent acquisition can become 10-100X more efficient. This, in turn, gives recruiters and talent advisors the time to search for the right skills, carefully select the best candidates, and focus on internal hiring and development as a strategy.
Technology Is Here But Not The Entire Answer
Of all the HR technology markets, recruiting is the most innovative of all. New AI-powered systems like HiredScore (just acquired by Workday), Paradox (leader in conversational AI), Eightfold, Gloat, Draup, and Lightcast (pioneers in talent intelligence), and many others can reduce time to hire from months to weeks and weeks to days. But none of this technology works if the Talent Acquisition team is left on an island.
In the last year I have met with more than 50 heads of talent acquisition and once the door is closed and we talk honestly, they always tell me the same thing. “We are not treated as a strategic function, we are being asked to cut costs, and we are constantly running from fire to fire to keep executives happy.” This type of “service-delivery” focus simply will not work in the new economy.
What should companies do? As part of our Systemic HR initiative, we help companies evolve their TA Function to operate in a more strategic way. Organizations like Bayer, Verizon, and many others have elevated the role of recruiter to talent advisor, they’re building skills in talent intelligence, and they’re integrating the recruiting function with L&D, career management, and employee engagement.
I’ve always felt that recruiting is the most important things HR professionals do. If we can’t get the “right” people into the company, no amount of management can recover. But what does “right” mean? And how can we source, locate, and attract these particular people?
This is a highly strategic operation, and one that must integrate with internal mobility, culture, and employee experience. I encourage you to read our Systemic HR research, join our Academy, or reach out to us or AMS for advice. In this new era of talent and skills shortages, we simply cannot run recruiting in this tactical way any longer.
Employee Experience
2024年04月24日
Employee Experience
The 10 golden rules for establishing a people analytics practice十大黄金法则:
战略适配性:确保人力资源分析项目与组织的战略目标对齐,以实现最大的价值和影响。
持续的员工倾听:通过整合员工和业务的声音,优先处理正确的战略人力资源问题。
证据基础的HR服务整合:将所有基于证据的HR服务整合到一个功能中,提升人力资源分析的交付速度和质量。
清晰的人力资源分析操作模型:建立一个目标操作模型,明确客户、可交付服务、服务水平和交付时间。
数据隐私合规性:遵守数据隐私法规,同时考虑数据分析在文化和业务连续性方面的影响。
数据驱动决策的HR能力提升:通过提升HR社区的数据和洞察力使用,将业务机会转化为分析服务。
管理HR数据:建立集中的企业级数据基础设施,改善数据的组合、共享和分析能力。
产品设计和思维:确保人力资源分析服务的用户设计友好,易于导航,并激励用户在决策中使用数据。
实验与最小可行产品:通过实验和最小可行产品,逐步评估和改进解决方案,避免大规模实施失败。
利用人工智能的潜力:构建和实施基于机器学习的AI功能,确保模型的性能和有效性,同时控制数据偏见和合法性。
这些法则展示了通过系统方法创建并采纳人力资源分析实践的重要性,强调了以数据和证据为基础支持人力资源功能的必要性。
It is time for an update on my previous posts on the 10 golden rules of people analytics, simply because so much has happened since then. For example, continuous employee listening, artificial intelligence (AI in HR), agile HR, employee experience, strategic workforce management, and hybrid working are just a few emerging topics in recent years listed in Gartner's hype cycle for HR transformation (2023).
In the last year, I have spoken to many people working in different organisations on establishing people analytics as an accepted practice. I have also joined some great conferences (HRcoreLAB, PAW London & Amsterdam) where I learned from excellent speakers. I also (re)engaged with some excellent people analytics and workforce management vendors, such as Crunchr, Visier, eQ8, AIHR, One Model, Mindthriven, and Agentnoon. Finally, I also enjoyed having multiple elevating discussions with some thought leaders who influenced my thinking (e.g., David Green, Rob Briner, Jonathan Ferrar, Dave Millner, Sjoerd van den Heuvel, Ian O'Keefe, Brydie Lear, Jaap Veldkamp, RJ Milnor, and Nick Kennedy).
These encounters and my ongoing PhD research on adopting people analytics resulted in a treasure trove of new ideas and knowledge that confirmed my experience and beliefs that it is all about creating an embraced people analytics practice using a systemic approach in supporting HR in becoming more evidence-based. So, like I said, it's time for an update. I hope you enjoy and appreciate the post, and I invite you to engage and react in the comments or send me a direct message.
Create a strong strategy FIT.
It is obvious but not a common practice that your people analytics portfolio needs to align or fit with your strategic organisational goals. A strong strategic FIT ensures you execute people analytics projects with the most value and impact on your organisation. It is, therefore, important to integrate the decision-making on where to play in people analytics with your periodic HR prioritisation process.
Strategic workforce management and continuous employee listening are pivotal in prioritising the right strategic workforce issues
The bigger picture is that two people analytics-related HR interventions, strategic workforce management and continuous employee listening, are pivotal in prioritising the right strategic workforce issues. By blending the insights from these HR interventions, you ensure you are prioritising based on the voice of the business and the voice of the employee. See also my previous post on strategic workforce management. Because people analytics is at the core of these HR interventions and provides many additional strategic insights, I argue we need a new HR operating model where the people analytics practice is positioned at the centre of HR.
I argue that we need a new HR operating model where the people analytics practice is positioned at the centre of HR
Grow and integrate evidence-based HR services.
Based on my experience and research, I strongly advise integrating all evidence-based HR services into one function. See also my previous post on establishing a people analytics practice. This integration will enhance the speed and quality of your people analytics delivery, make you a trusted analytical strategic advisor, and make you a more attractive employer for top people analytics talent. All other people analytics function setups seem like compromises.
With evidence-based HR services, I refer to activities such as reporting, advanced analytics, survey management, continuous employee listening, organisational design and strategic workforce management. It is hardly ever that a strategic question is answered by only one of these services. In most cases, you will need to combine survey management (i.e., collecting new data), perform advanced analytics (i.e., build a predictive model), and share the outcomes in a dashboard (i.e., reporting) or build new system functionality based on the models (e.g., vacancy recommendation).
You will need to combine various people analytics services to provide real strategic value
Create a clear people analytics operating model.
Because the people analytics practice is maturing, it deserves a clear target operating model. In a target operating model, you clarify to the organisation whom you consider your clients, what services or solutions you can deliver, what service levels your clients can expect, and when and how you will deliver the solution.
Being transparent about your target operating model will build trust and legitimacy in your organisation. Inspired by the work of Insight222, a people analytics target operating model consists of a demand engine (understanding and prioritising demand), a solution engine (e.g., data management, building models, designing surveys), and a delivery engine (e.g., dashboards, advisory with story-telling, bringing models to production), ideally covering all the evidence-based HR services mentioned under rule 2 in this post. Additionally, more practices are applying agile principles to increase time-to-delivery and are using some form of release management to balance capacity.
Built trust and legitimacy
Compliance with data privacy regulations has been an important topic since the early days of people analytics ten years ago. Even before the GDPR era, organisations did well to understand when personal data could be collected, used, or shared. Legislation such as GDPR offers guidance and more structure to organisations on how to deal with data privacy issues.
Being fully compliant is not where responsible data handling ends
However, being fully compliant is not where responsible data handling ends. Simply because you can, according to data privacy regulations, doesn't mean you should. There are also contextual and ethical elements to take into account. For example, being able and regulatory-wise allowed to build an internal sourcing model matching internal employees with specific skills with internal vacancies doesn't mean you should. From a cultural or business continuity perspective, creating internal mobility may not be beneficial or desired in specific areas of your organisation. Assessing the implications of using data analytics in a broader context than just regulations will also enhance the needed trust and legitimacy.
Upskill HR in data-driven decision-making
Having a mature people analytics practice that delivers high-quality, evidence-based HR services is not enough to ensure value creation for your organisation. Suppose your organisation, including your HR community, struggles to translate business opportunities into analytical services or finds it hard to use data and insights on a daily basis in their decision-making. In that case, upskilling is a necessary intervention.
HR upskilling in data-driven decision-making is a necessity in growing towards a truly evidence-based HR culture
Creating awareness of the various analytical opportunities, developing critical thinking, creating an inquisitive mindset, identifying success metrics for HR interventions and policies, evaluating these metrics, and understanding the power of innovative data services, such as generative AI, is essential. When upskilling, be sure to recognise the different HR roles and their needs and preferences. For example, your HR business partners will likely want to develop their skills in identifying strategic workforce metrics and strategic workforce management. However, your COE lead (i.e., HR domain leads) wants to develop their ability to collect and understand internal clients' feedback and improve their HR services (e.g., recruitment, learning programs, leadership development). So, diversify your learning approach to make it more effective.
Manage your HR data
There is enormous value in integrating your HR and business data in a structured matter. Integrated enterprise-wide data allows you to combine, improve, share, and analyse data more efficiently. More organisations are using data warehouse and data lake principles to create this central enterprise-wide data infrastructure based on, for example, Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services technology.
A mature people analytics team is best equipped to create an HR data strategy and manage the corresponding data pipeline.
HR would do well to improve its capability to manage the data pipeline by hiring data engineers. It is an interesting discussion about where to position this data management capability and related skill set. The first thought is to position this capability close to the HR systems and infrastructure function. This setup might work perfectly. However, based on your HR context and maturity, I argue that the people analytics practice is a good and sometimes better alternative. Mature people analytics teams are likely more able to think about data management and creating data products and services built with machine learning models. Traditional HR systems and infrastructure teams may tend to focus too much on the efficiency of the HR infrastructure (e.g., straight-through processing, rationalising the HR tech landscape).
Excel in product design and thinking
Successful people analytics or evidence-based HR services excel in product design. Whether built with PowerBI or vendor-led BI platforms (e.g., Crunchr, Visier, One Model), dashboards must be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and motivate users to work with data in their decision-making. The same applies to functionality based on machine learning models, such as chatbots, learning assistants, or vacancy recommendations. The user design, the functionality provided, and the flawless and timely delivery all contribute to maximising the usage of these analytical services and, ultimately, decision-making.
Strong product design and thinking requires product owners to have a marketing mindset
As important as the product design is product thinking by the product owner. A product owner for, e.g., recruitment or leadership programs, should be constantly interested in hearing what internal clients think about their products. This behaviour requires product owners to have a marketing mindset. As part of a larger continuous listening program, an internal client feedback mechanism should provide the necessary information to improve your products and services continuously. A product owner should be curious about questions like: Are your internal clients satisfied? Should we tailor the products for different user types? What functionality can we improve or add?
Allow yourself to experiment
When a solution looks good and makes sense based on your analytics, management tends to go for an immediate big-bang implementation. However, don't be afraid to experiment and learn before rolling out your solution to all possible users. Starting with a minimum viable product (i.e., MVP) allows you to evaluate your product among a select group of users early in the development process. Based on feedback, you can enhance your product incrementally (i.e., agile) manner.
It also enables you, when valuable, to compare treatment groups with non-treatment groups. These types of experiments (i.e., difference-in-difference comparisons) help you to evaluate the effect the new product intends to have. People analytics services can support this incremental approach, testing a minimal viable product (MVP) and obtaining feedback to provide additional insights that may avoid a big implementation failure of your new products.
Embrace the potential of AI in HR
Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is predominantly based on machine learning (ML). These AI-ML models provide powerful functionality such as vacancy and learning recommendations, chatbots, and virtual career or work schedule assistants. There is no need to fear these applications, but having a deeper understanding of them is necessary. However, implementing these types of functionality without checking and validating them is risky and, therefore, unwise.
A mature people analytics practice allows you to build your own machine-learning-based AI functionality
A mature people analytics practice allows you to create and build these AI functionalities internally. You can also buy AI functionality by implementing a vendor tool, but please ensure you do not end up with a new vendor for each AI functionality you desire. If you choose to buy AI functionality, the people analytics team should act as a gatekeeper. Internally built machine learning models are subject to checks and balances. And rightfully so. However, the same should apply to ML-based AI functionality from external providers. The people analytics team should check the performance and validity of the model and control for biases in the data and legal and ethical justification.
The people analytics leader can make the difference
If you are the people analytics leader within your organisation, it might be daunting or reassuring to hear that you can make the difference between failure and success. You bring the people analytics practice alive by reaching out to stakeholders, developing your team, understanding your clients, learning from external experts, and building a road map to analytical maturity.
A successful people analytics practice starts with the right people analytics leader
As a people analytics leader, you should excel in business acumen, influencing skills, strategic thinking, critical and analytical thinking, understanding the HR system landscape, understanding the possibilities of analytical services, project management, and, last but not least, people management (as all leaders should). The result of having all these capabilities is that a people analytics leader, together with the people analytics team, becomes a trusted advisor to senior management, understands the most pressing issues within an organisation, can effectively manage the HR data pipeline, and can build new analytical services to enhance decision-making and ultimately drive organisational performance and employee well-being.
I hope you enjoyed my update on the 10 golden rules for establishing people analytics practice. If you enjoyed the post, please hit ? or feel invited to engage and react in the comments. Send me a direct message if you want to schedule a virtual meeting to exchange thoughts one-on-one.
Thanks to Jaap Veldkamp for reviewing.
作者 :Patrick Coolen
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-golden-rules-establishing-people-analytics-practice-patrick-coolen-85use/