• HR Technology
    David Green:The best HR & People Analytics articles of November 2024 The centrepiece of this month’s edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is focused around two topics – Agentic AI and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. One with a technology focus, the other very much a human topic. With Gartner predicting that that by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI (up from 0% in 2024), the word on everyone’s lips at UNLEASH World in Paris recently was Agentic AI. But what actually is Agentic AI, and what does it mean for HR technology and HR professionals? Some of the content this month explores these topics. It was also good to hear at Unleash, L’Oreal’s CHRO, Jean Claude Le Grand on the main stage saying in very clear terms that “DEI is not a trend. DEI is part of our DNA”. DEI shouldn’t be used as a political football. But with questions being asked about what Trump’s Second Term Could Mean for DEI, it is important to highlight that DEI is also about business performance. I’ve included two articles this month from Quinetta Roberson (on how to link DEI to business outcomes) and Brian Elliott (on why capitulating to DEI sceptics is counterproductive). When it comes to DEI, now is the time to stand up. This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at TechWolf Transforming talent strategies with skills-based insights Skills are the currency of the modern workforce. For Workday, unlocking the power of skills was key to transforming their talent strategy—and the results speak for themselves. Workday faced common challenges: fragmented job architecture, costly manual processes, and a need for greater agility to adapt to shifting business needs. By partnering with TechWolf, they implemented a skills-based approach that delivered measurable impact: 32% faster hiring: AI-driven skills matching reduced time-to-hire by more than a third. 85% of the workforce had critical skills aligned to their jobs. Saved 12-18 months of manual effort, creating a standardized framework for decision-making. This partnership didn’t just solve today’s challenges—it prepared Workday for the future. TechWolf’s AI continuously updates skills data, ensuring their workforce strategy remains adaptable in a rapidly changing landscape. Want to know more about Workday’s journey? ? Watch the on-demand webinar: How Workday Leads the Skills Revolution with AI and Data? Explore how a skills-first approach can make a measurable impact on your workforce strategy. To learn more about how TechWolf can help your organization, reach out to us at hello@techwolf.ai or visit the contact page. To sponsor an edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, and share your brand with more than 135,000 Data Driven HR Monthly subscribers, send an email to dgreen@zandel.org. November road report After a heavy travel schedule in September and October, November was a quieter month with my sole trip being to Germany for the final European Peer Meeting of 2024 for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®, which was hosted by Alexis Saussinan and Ruben Groen at Merck Group’s HQ in Darmstadt. During the two days, we learned about how Alexis and Khadija Ben Hammada, the CHRO, partner to deliver business value at Merck. We also learned from Ruben and Mariana Hebborn PhD on how Merck has established its enterprise data foundations, from Dawn Klinghoffer on how Microsoft has reconfigured its people analytics function in the age of intelligent automation, and Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski) on how Julius Bär democratised data across the company. If you are a people analytics leader interested in joining the People Analytics Program, and attending our 2025 Peer Meetings – including in Paris on January 28 and 29, and New York on March 4 and 5, please get in touch. Attendees at the Insight222 Peer Meeting for members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, hosted by Merck, November 19-20, 2024 Sign-up to receive the 5th annual Insight222 People Analytics Trends research report The 2024 Insight222 People Analytics Trends study will be released publicly on December 9. 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 one week earlier on December 2 by signing up here or by clicking on the image below. Share the love! Enjoy reading the collection of resources for November 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 October’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. AGENTIC AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK JOANNE CHEN AND JAYA GUPTA - A System of Agents brings Service-as-Software to life | McKINSEY - Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI With Gartner predicting that by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI, up from 0% in 2024, this is a topic we all need to learn about. Here are two resources that provide some helpful context. (1) A VC view from Joanne Chen and Jaya Gupta, writing for Foundation Capital, which they present as a “$4.6 trillion opportunity as AI transforms software from tool to worker”, with all the inherent implications that has for the workforce (see FIG 1). Thanks to Paul Daley, Gareth Flynn, Nico Orie, and Hung Lee (I recommend following all of these four people) for all highlighting this excellent article. (2) Writing for McKinsey, Lareina Yee, Michael Chui, Roger Roberts, and Stephen Xu, explore the opportunities that the use of gen AI agents presents including how they could work with potential use cases, the value they can bring, and how business leaders should prepare. FIG 1: A System of Agents (Source: Foundation Capital) JASON AVERBOOK - How AI Agents are Revolutionizing HR—and How to Get Ready | LARS SCHMIDT - Agents of (Massive) Change: How AI Agents Are Poised to Alter Work | JOSH BERSIN - AI Agents, The New Workforce We’re Not Quite Ready For (Agentic AI) | FELIPE JARA - HR - Let's Prepare for a Big Wave of Multi-Agents AI Systems For HR, Agentic AI means shifting away from repetitive administrative tasks to focusing on what truly matters: people. So, what does Agentic AI mean for HR in terms of the HR technology stack, how we deliver services to employees, and HR professionals themselves? Not surprisingly, with all the hype, there is a growing body of resources on these topics. Here are four I recommend to* Data Driven HR Monthly readers: (1) Definitely subscribe to Jason Averbook’s Now of Work Substack. In this blog, he provides five tips for HR to get ready for AI agents including: (i) Upskilling HR teams, (ii) Assessing current processes to identify and prioritise use cases, and (iii) Working on improving data quality. (2) Lars Schmidt’s primer is also highly recommended. It includes a guide to three categories of AI and how they are impacting work: bots, AI agents, and digital workers: “As we weave agentic AI capabilities into our businesses, we will likely deconstruct jobs into individual tasks and then identify the tasks that can be fully automated by these new AI technologies and agents.” (3) Josh Bersin has been all over agentic AI, and has recorded several podcasts on the topic as well as this article, which explains how the “’Large Language Models’ we’ve been learning about for the last two years are now turning into ‘Large Action Models’”, as well as outlining two potential uses cases in L&D and recruiting. As Josh mused in his keynote at Unleash World in Paris, AI is set to dominate the HR Tech stack (see FIG 2). (4) Last but not least, Felipe Jara provides a helpful synopsis of the emerging macro trends in enterprise AI for HR including a summary of the tools that major players like Workday, SAP, ServiceNow and One Model (see FIG 3) are introducing. He also lays out four focus areas of opportunity for HR including guidance on how to prepare your data foundation. FIG 2: AI dominates the HR Tech stack (Source: Josh Bersin at Unleash World, Paris, October 2024) FIG 3: The Evolution of Agents and Enterprise AI (Source: One Model – see here) ANDY SPENCE - The Next Wave of AI: Building Your Own Digital Workforce This is going to be fundamental change in how we interact with AI. It's moving us from being passive consumers of AI tools to active creators of personalized AI assistants. The great thing is we won’t need to be a machine learning expert or a seasoned programmer to get started. Finally on the Agentic AI theme this month, a twist as in an edition of his brilliant Workforce Futurist, Andy Spence writes about Agent Engineering, and how individuals (not just companies): “can create and deploy their own army of AI agents for a wide array of personal and professional tasks.” In his article, Andy breaks down what agent engineering is, the rise of personal AI agents, how to get started with agent engineering (including tools and platforms), and how it might reshape work, learning and our daily lives. FIG 4: Agent engineering framework process (Source: Andy Spence) MIT AND BCG - Learning to Manage Uncertainty, With AI Companies that boost their learning capabilities with AI are significantly better equipped to handle uncertainty from technological, regulatory, and talent-related disruptions compared with companies that have limited learning capabilities. A new study by Sam Ransbotham, David Kiron, Shervin Khodabandeh, Michael Chu, and Leonid Zhukov, Ph.D for MIT Sloan Management Review and BCG finds that companies that combine organisational learning with AI-specific learning, which they define as Augmented Learners, outperform those that apply either approach in isolation or neither (see FIG 5). For example, these Augmented Learner companies are twice as likely to weather talent-related disruptions, demonstrating that they are more resilient to workforce volatility. Thanks to Allison Ryder for highlighting the study. FIG 5: Learning Capabilities Vary (Source: MIT Sloan Management Review and BCG) DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING QUINETTA ROBERSON - How Integrating DEI Into Strategy Lifts Performance By explicitly linking DEI goals to business outcomes, companies create a clear vision of how diversity adds value. In her timely article Quinetta Roberson presents the findings of a study on diversity, equity and inclusion and company financial performance, and highlights the practices for achieving competitive advantage through DEI. These findings include that a bundled practice approach to DEI amplifies the performance effects of individual practices – see example in FIG 6. Quinetta also presents a three-point blueprint for meaningful action to DEI: (1) Strategically align DEI with business goals. (2) Systemically integrate DEI practices. (3) Make evidence-based improvements. FIG 6: DEI practice bundles (Source: Quinetta Roberson) BRIAN ELLIOTT - How to Stand Up When It Comes to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion The backlash against DEI is out of sync with the opinions held by the most important set of stakeholders: your employees. In this powerful column for MIT Sloan Management Review, Brian Elliott tackles the growing backlash by some companies in the US on diversity, equity and inclusion. He highlights two dangers of backing away. First, the fact that DEI programs are actually getting more popular with employees, not less, and increasingly view it as a business topic rather than a political one. Second, capitulating on DEI commitments doesn’t settle the issue with employees or customers especially as research by Edelman finds that 76% of employees want companies to recommit not retreat. Elliott also provides guidance on three approaches to having real conversations on this topic, highlighting examples from his experience in leading teams at Google and Slack: (1) Let people voice their concerns about DEI programs. Don’t stifle the conversation or run away. (2) Use the words diversity, equity, and inclusion — not DEI. Explain what the words mean, correct misinformation, and tie them back to business results. (3) Keep in mind that memos don’t create trust; employee engagement does. PEOPLE ANALYTICS PHIL WILLBURN - People Analytics Demystified: A Practitioner’s Handbook Highly effective HR organizations know that every area of the business makes people decisions. The best people analytics teams excel by scaling people insights to all business leaders, ensuring these insights reach those making critical people decisions Phil Willburn, the Head of People Analytics, and his team recently hosted a Peer Meeting for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program® at Workday’s global headquarters in California. During the two days, Phil and his team presented some of the amazing work they are doing with people analytics in areas such as workforce planning, employee experience and hybrid work. Some of the content they presented is in this insightful e-book, which shines a light on how Workday has scaled people analytics in its own company (see FIG 7), their product-oriented and persona-based approach, and provides details on three case studies including how the team provides insights on flexible work and collaboration. FIG 7: People analytics and insights at Workday (Source: Phil Willburn, Workday) COLE NAPPER, JIN YAN, AND BEN ZWEIG - What is happening to people analytics? A 15 Year Trend Part Two | Part Three Following on from Part One of their study on employment trends in the people analytics field over the last 15 years, which I featured in the September edition of Data Driven HR Monthly, Cole Napper, Jin Yan and Ben Zweig return for a second helping – and a third helping with Kristin Saboe, Ph.D. In Part Two, Cole, Jin and Ben turn their attentions to an analysis of the skills of people analytics professionals and the impact of the field during the last 15 years. The insights they uncover include: (1) While people analytics specialists are more likely to hold a doctoral degree (8.2%) than other HR specialists (1.4%), advanced skills (e.g. SQL, GenAI, Python) haven’t been adopted in the numbers expected. (2) There is a correlation between companies with ‘prestigious’ people analytics teams and companies being rated more highly for employee sentiment (see FIG 8). They also provide three recommendations for the field moving forward: (1) Add real value and break the cycle. (2) Mature the people analytics function. (3) Let’s get back to growth. In Part Three, Kristin takes the lead to shine the lens on how the composition of government people analytics jobs have changed over the last 15 years. FIG 8: Companies with a prestigious people analytics team are rated higher by employees (Source: Revelio Labs) ERIC LESSER, ERIC BOKELBERG, AND DEVON JOHNSON - Powering people analytics through HR data: How to strategically integrate data as a product Data products help analysts better grasp what data is available, where it comes from, how it can be used and how to put it together to gain insights effectively. When a new business question arises, the needed data is often already available in a data product, making it easy to gather the correct information. Eric Lesser, Eric Bokelberg, and Devon Johnson from Deloitte provide a helpful breakdown on how to implement data products through applying key principles of product management across the data lifecycle, namely: ownership, reuse, quality, cataloguing and security. They outline three steps to get started with data products: (1) Educate HR and IT teams about data products; (2) Focus on impactful use cases (“Instead of creating numerous data products, concentrate on those that effectively address pressing business needs”); (3) Establish a strong governance model. CHRISTOPHER ROSETT – Reporting, Analytics, Research, Statistics (RARS) | SERENA HUANG - The Future of Work: Human Skills in the Age of AI | GIOVANNA CONSTANT – The 10 Commandments for every People Analytics professional | MITCH MIHANOVIC – People Analytics Lessons | WILLIS JENSEN - An Unusual Application Using Organizational Network Data | A.J. TUFTE – Making Workforce Planning Strategic: Three Vs | BEN TEUSCH – A reflection on six years at Facebook The true value of people analytics lies in translating insights into actionable strategies and programs that enhance employee engagement and drive business performance. 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. Seven are highlighted in this month’s edition. (1) Christopher Rosett outlines the RARS (Reporting, Analytics, Research, Statistics) model he uses with his analytics teams and customers at Amazon (see FIG 9). (2) Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. presents seven human skills required in the age of AI (see FIG 10). (3) Giovanna Constant presents her ten commandments for people analytics professionals including i) You shall worship data quality, ii) You shall train HR teams in data literacy, iii) You shall not create confusing dashboards. (4) Mitch Mihanovic shares three things he has learned from working in the people analytics field, including: “The true value of people analytics lies in translating insights into actionable strategies and programs that enhance employee engagement and drive business performance.” (5) Willis Jensen walks through a case study of using ONA to support compensation decisions for employees. (6) A.J. Tufte breaks down his Three Vs of Strategic Workforce Planning: i) Value (“what value does the work provide”) ii) eVolution (“how does the work need to change”), and iii) Volume (“how much of the work is needed”). (7) Finally, Meta has made a number of layoffs including from its people analytics team in the last few weeks. One of those impacted is Ben Teusch, who penned a reflection on his six years with the company. Wherever Ben decides to go next will be very fortunate to land such a talented practitioner. FIG 9: The RARS model (Source: Christopher Rosett) FIG 10: Seven human skills required in the age of AI (Source: Serena Huang) THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE RAVIN JESUTHASAN, MIRIAM DAUCHER, AND ALEX ZEA - The future of human resources: Who will care for the human at work? As the trusted link between organizations and their employees, HR can lead the charge in creating fulfilling workplaces and helping people thrive in an era of transformative technological change, ensuring that AI serves humanity, not the other way around. Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA, Miriam Daucher, and Alexandra Zea present a new paper from Mercer on the future of human resources in the fifth industrial revolution. They paint a compelling evolution for the function to move beyond being stewards of employment to being stewards of work, and ultimate being stewards of humanity through (1) Ethical use of AI. (2) Safeguarding ESG. (3) Preserving human well-being. FIG 11: HR’s changing role through the history of industrial revolutions (Source: Mercer) ASAF JACKOBY - Work, Workforce, and Workplace: The Role of CHROs in Leading Change As Asaf Jackoby, VP HR for Amdocs, writes, chief human resources officers have a pivotal role to play in transforming the landscape of work, workforce and workplace. His article presents a framework (see FIG 12), and provides detail about each of the three categories and the individual components within it: (1) The Work – AI will transform the way we define work, (2) The Workplace – Creating an inclusive and adaptable environment, and (3) The Workforce – who does the work. FIG 12: Source – Asaf Jackoby WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS BRIAN FISHER, KATE BRAVERY, KATIE JENKINS, AND LAUREN ROBERTSON - Measuring skills in the age of agile work A helpful primer from the Mercer team of Brian Fisher, Kate Bravery, Katie Jenkins, and Lauren Robertson on three ways to ascertain employee skills (see FIG 13): (1) Inferred skills (“The starting point for skills measurement”), (2) Rated skills (“The employee and manager view of skills proficiency”), and (3) Validated skills (“Approaches for validating behavioural and technical skills”). As the authors highlight: Although each method of collecting skills data has its respective merits, methods can also be combined to paint a more complete skills picture that strengthens talent decision-making and can better inform business strategy. FIG 13: Three components of a skills measurement strategy (Source: Mercer) EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING MICHAEL ARENA AND AARON CHASAN - Fostering Friendships: The Game Changer in Employee Retention One study found that an employee’s position in the network can predict turnover with 85% accuracy. This is especially true for friendship networks. Research consistently finds that those with friends at work are far more likely to stay. Indeed, in their article for HR Exchange Network, Michael Arena and Aaron Chasan share the results of a study with a technology company, which found that there was a 44% drop in turnover rate for those who went from 0 friends to just 1. They also provide guidance on how organisations can create a climate for friendships to blossom: (1) Create opportunities for employees to connect; (2) Actively encourage friendships among colleagues; (3) Evaluate the level of connections in the workplace; (4) Create an environment of belonging. KENNEDYFITCH – Employee Experience Report 2024: Humanized Growth In A Digital Era You need data to prove your cause, prove your arguments and prove your impact. This is a highly impressive report on the current state and long-term vision for employee experience by the team at KennedyFitch including Joan Beets, Frank van den Brink, Sander de Bruijn and Patrick Coolen. Highlights include: (1) Analysis on the current state of EX as it relates to maturity (see FIG 14), tools, skills, team responsibilities, leadership buy-in and main obstacles. (2) Insights into the goals, planned skills/tools development and anticipated challenges for the next 12 months. (3) Exploration of how AI and other factors will transform EX and HR. (4) Case studies from EX trailblazers including Sebastian Knepper (Deutsche Telekom), Vasuki Ranganath (Volvo), Lea Mikus (Celonis), Andreas Mayer (ING), Volker Schrank and Joachim Decock (Mondelez), and Ruth Bielderman (Royal BAM Group). An absolute must-read report for anyone working or interested in employee experience. FIG 14: EX Maturity Model (Source: KennedyFitch) DAVE ULRICH AND WENDY ULRICH - What Is the Next Step for Employee Experience? The Why, What, and How of Hope Hope is an emerging fifth wave of managing mental health challenges that shape employee experience which in turn impacts stakeholder value. The cost of mental illness and the related consequences is projected to be $6 trillion globally by 2030. As Dave Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich write, in the workplace, mental health often connects to the employee experience, which in turn impacts stakeholder and business outcomes (see FIG 15). The article then identifies hope as a new dimension of the employee experience (see FIG 16), and details six principles of what hope means in an organisational setting, so that organisations with hope: (1) Transform the future, (2) Are based in healthy relationships and conversation, (3) Ensure efficacy, (4) Rely on realistic optimism, (5) Empower people, and; (6) Address personal needs. Finally, Dave and Wendy offer seven skills for leaders to master to turn principles into actions that increase hope. An important and timely article. FIG 15: Logic of Mental Health, Employee Experience and Stakeholder Value (Source: Dave Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich) FIG 16: Evolution of Ideas Related to Employee Experience (Source: Dave and Wendy Ulrich) LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING McKINSEY - Go, teams: When teams get healthier, the whole organization benefits Team effectiveness is less art, more science A new McKinsey study identifies the elements of team effectiveness that have the most significant impact on team performance: trust, communication, innovative thinking and decision-making. The authors debunk several other myths about how teams operate, and highlight the importance of context and how it determines the behaviours that matter most for a team to function effectively. A framework is presented that categorises teams into three archetypes: cycling, relay and rowing teams, which also highlights the top performance drivers for each (see FIG 17). Finally, the article details four actions for leaders to help their teams succeed: (1) Take a hard look in the mirror. (2) Make sure the changes stick. (3) If you are a team leader, don’t stand in the way of progress. (4) Embed team effectiveness in the organization’s DNA. (Authors: Aaron De Smet, Gemma D'Auria, Liesje Meijknecht, Maitham Albaharna, Anaïs Fifer, and Kimberly Rubenstein, PhD) FIG 17: Three archetypes of teams (Source: McKinsey) ALLAN H. CHURCH AND JANINE WACLAWSKI - Humpty Dumpty and the 9-Box: Five Steps to Putting it Back Together Again Using the Science of Leadership Potential (The 9-box) should be about understanding the consistency between what the organization thinks of its talent (designated potential) and what the data indicates against a validated predictive model (assessed potential). As Allan Church, Ph.D. and Janine Waclawski outline in their revealing article, while the 9-box model is commonly used talent management tools many companies struggle to use it effectively. Church and Waclawski believe this is because most organisations are doing it wrong, explaining the tendency to fall into “the performance-potential paradox”. They ten outline five steps towards having a best-in-class 9-box: (1) Throw Out Performance Ratings – They Should Be a Gatekeeper, not a Predictor. (2) Keep Your Current Talent Framework and Embrace it – But Re-label it as Designated Potential. (3) Introduce the Science of Leadership Potential – By Using Formal Assessments & Data (see the New 9-box in FIG 18). (4) Don’t Box Yourself In – Determine the Right Size Grid for Your Organization. (5) Use Data to Diagnose the Gaps – Between Designated Potential and Assessed Potential. FIG 18: Leadership potential for the new 9-box (Source: Allan H. Church and Janine Waclawski) 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 November that I recommend readers delve into. In a slight change-up this month, I’ll start with a couple of pieces that analyse the people analytics and wider HR technology market: DAVE ZIELINSKI - How GenAI is Transforming People Analytics Software – Analysis by David Zielinski for SHRM on how GenAI is democratising the use of people analytics and lowering the barrier to entry, which features insights from Stacia Sherman Garr, Jeremy Shapiro, Lydia Wu, and Sameer Raut. EKTA LALL MITTAL - The Realities of HR Tech Part 1 | Part 2 - In her column for Transform, Ekta Lall Mittal provides insights and guidance on the HR technology market. In Part 1, she looks at how to get started and ways to connect business and people strategy with technology. In Part 2, Ekta provides guidance on how to conduct a current state analysis of your tech stack. LISA SIMON - The Ripple Effect of Female Leadership in Data – Lisa K. Simon, Chief Economist at Revelio Labs, highlights some of the main findings from a report on the Career outlook for women in D&A and AI, she co-authored with Asha Saxena and Robert Parr. One of these was that companies with more women in senior executive data roles have higher female representation in data roles across the organisation. The difference is greatest for junior roles (see FIG 18). FIG 18: The more woman in leadership, the more women overall (Source: Revelio Labs) VISIER – Embracing the AI Driven Workforce: 5 Workforce Trends for 2025 – It’s that time of year when we start hearing the word ‘trends’ a lot, and Visier Inc. is one of the first out of the traps with their five workforce trends for 2025. It’s an insightful read featuring contributions from the likes of Angela LE MATHON, Jill Larsen, Keith Bigelow, and Dawn Klinghoffer. FIG 19: The ABCDs of Creating a Future-Proof Agile Workforce (Source: Visier) DIRK JONKER - Finance and Human Resources: A Strategic Partnership for Business Growth – Crunchr CEO Dirk Jonker explains why and how HR and Finance should work together, and paints a vision where: “Together, HR and finance can unlock a future where employees are seen for what they truly are: a company’s most significant (and measurable) asset.” FRANCISCO MARIN - The Shift from Authority to Influence: Power Distribution in a Network-First Future of Work – Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions continues his excellent series of articles on moving to a network-first approach by analysing the shift of power from authority to influence. 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): BROOKE WEDDLE, BRYAN HANCOCK, AND WENDY MILLER - Why being in HR is getting tougher—and how to break through – In a fascinating episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Brooke Weddle, Bryan Hancock, and Wendy Stratman Miller join host Lucia Rahilly to discuss the dynamics that are making HR tougher than ever—as well as what leaders can do differently to begin turning morale around. CONNIE NOONAN HADLEY - Make it Safe for Employees to Speak Up – Connie Noonan Hadley guests on Steelcase’s Work Better podcast with host Chris Congdon to discuss why and how managers should encourage employees to speak up about mistakes, ideas, and questions – essentially by creating a psychologically safe work environment. DANIELLE BUSHEN – Navigating Pay Transparency with People Analytics - Danielle Bushen, Global Head of People Analytics Data Governance and Stewardship at Sanofi, joins David Turetsky on HR Data Labs to explore how people analytics intersects with compensation, how to modernise compensation through data-driven practices, and the importance of pay transparency. MATTHEW HAMILTON - How To Master People Analytics and Deliver Insights That Actually Work - Matthew Hamilton, VP of People Analytics & HRIS at Protective Life, joins host Christopher Rainey on HR Leaders to discuss the challenge of delivering actionable insights to leaders -  the last mile problem - and the importance of storytelling with data. PAUL RUBENSTEIN AND JOSH BERSIN - What’s Holding Back People Analytics? – Josh Bersin and Paul Rubenstein, Chief Customer Officer at Visier, discuss how the people analytics market has evolved, and why only around 10% of People Analytics teams deliver strategic business value. VIDEO OF THE MONTH LEENA NAIR – View From the Top Leena Nair is that rarity of a chief people officer that rises to the role of CEO having transitioned from CHRO at Unilever to CEO at Chanel in January 2022. In this interview with Ayesha Kamik as part of Stanford’s View From the Top series, Leena shares her inspiring journey with insights from her life and career, including her time in human resources, how to build company culture, her leadership principles, how to break barriers and her thoughts on AI and the future of work. BOOK OF THE MONTH RUSSELL KLOSK – Talent Prophecy: Creating Strategic Impact Through Workforce Planning and Talent Strategy In Talent Prophecy, Russell Klosk (智能虎) provides a comprehensive guide to workforce planning, which should have particular resonance for HR professionals involved in workforce planning activities. The book provides readers with practical and accessible tools to: (1) Analyse your current workforce capabilities. (2) Predict future talent needs across various business scenarios. (3) Create adaptive strategies for talent acquisition and development. (4) Leverage AI and emerging technologies. (5) Build stakeholder support for talent initiatives. RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH ZHEYUAN (KEVIN) CUI, MERT DEMIRER, SONIA JAFFE, LEON MUSOLFF, SIDA PENG, AND TOBIAS SALZ - The Effects of Generative AI on High Skilled Work: Evidence from Three Field Experiments with Software Developers This paper explains the findings from a study to evaluate the impact of generative AI on software developer productivity through analysing data from three trials conducted at Microsoft, Accenture, and an anonymous Fortune 100 electronics manufacturing company. The researchers ( Kevin Zheyuan Cui, Mert Demirer, Sonia Jaffe, Leon Musolff, Sida Peng, and Tobias Salz) found that introducing a generative AI tool to software developers did increase productivity, with less-experienced developers showing higher adoption rates and greater productivity gains. You can also read this summary of the paper by Dylan Walsh: How generative AI affects highly skilled workers. FROM MY DESK November saw the final two episodes of Series 42 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by Workday (thanks to Sophie Barnes and Jennifer Neumann), an article rounding up the key learnings from series 42, and the first two episodes of Series 43, sponsored by TechWolf (thanks Maaike Standaert, Mikaël Wornoo?, Andreas De Neve ?). ANISH LALCHANDANI - The Four Reskilling Principles Every HR Leader Should Know - Anish Lalchandani, Global Head of Talent Management at Maersk, joins me to discuss insights from his book, The Skills Advantage, including why reskilling should be a key component of talent management strategy, the four cornerstones of reskilling, and key metrics to tie reskilling efforts to business value. LARA WAINWRIGHT AND DUNCAN REYNELL - How Digital Transformation Fuels Skills and EX at Lloyds Banking Group - Lara Wainwright, Product Owner and Lab Lead, and Duncan Reynell, Group Talent & Development Director, join me to share how digital transformation is driving Lloyds Banking Group’s shift to a skills-based organisation. SANDRA LOUGHLIN - Building a Skills-Based Organisation: Lessons from a 30-Year Journey – Sandra Loughlin, PhD, Chief Learning Scientist, discusses the lessons EPAM Systems has learned over its 30-year skills journey and how organisations can apply these insights to their own skills transformations. KEITH SONDERLING – Responsible AI in HR: The Ethical Roadmap for Success – For four years, Keith Sonderling was the Commissioner at the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). During this time, Keith openly engaged with the HR tech and people analytics community on AI in HR. In this episode, recorded just before Keith’s term ended, we reflect on what AI in HR means for organisations and technology firms, as well as have a broader discussion on discrimination in the workplace. DAVID GREEN - How can organisations use workforce data to drive culture, inclusion and engagement? - A round-up of the key discussions and learning from series 42 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast featuring: Michael Fraccaro, Michael Arena, Jason Scheckner, Anish Lalchandani, Lara Wainwright and Duncan Reynell. SIGN UP TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PEOPLE ANALYTICS NETWORK CENSUS This is a great initiative by Andrew Pitts, Richard Rosenow, Matthew Diabes, PhD, and Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D. Together they have launched the People Analytics Network Census (PANC), which aims to map and understand the global people analytics network, tracking connections across professionals in our field through a single active organisational network analysis. You can find out more about the initiative and sign up to PANC here. LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE IN PEOPLE ANALYTICS OR HR TECH? I’d like to highlight once again the wonderful resource created by Richard Rosenow and the One Model team of open roles in people analytics and HR technology, which now numbers over 475 roles, and has now been developed into a LinkedIn newsletter too – you can read the latest edition here. THANK YOU Richard Rosenow for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast episodes with Craig Starbuck, PhD and Rob Briner on his Election Day Playlist Veronika Birkheim for including me on her list of experts on LinkedIn to read, listen and follow Thomas Kohler for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Anish Lalchandani in his excellent list of HR resources Nick Broughton for including me on his list of top 40 voices in the remote work industry. Wolfgang Brickwedde for including me in his article on the Recruiting Tech Highlights of Unleash 2024 OpenHR UK for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast as one of four must-listen to podcasts, along with podcasts by Matt Alder Ben Geoghegan and Lucinda Carney ? Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who either shared the October edition of Data Driven HR Monthly and/or posted about the Digital HR Leaders podcast, conferences or other content. It's much appreciated: Scott Rogers Tobias W. Goers ツ Jordan Hartley David McLean Jaqueline Oliveira-Cella Tim Sharp Delia Majarín Andreea Lungulescu Dart Lindsley Sharna Wiblen Amardeep Singh, MBA Selina Yankson Olivier Vidal Lukasz Sowinski Lenka Máchová Nick Lynn Russ Fatum BS, BS, MSA, MBB, PMP Tanguy Dulac Aurélie Crégut Roshaunda Green, MBA, CDSP, Phenom Certified Recruiter Stephanie Denino Ian Grant FCIPD Purvi Vasani Lewis Garrad Rafael Senise David Simmonds FCIPD William Thai, Ph.D. Olivia Li Md Shahid Ullah Bhuyan Facundo Tomás García Bob Pulver Corine Boon Alessandro Cosentino Jose Luis Chavez Vasquez Kalifa Oliver, Ph.D. Samir Murgude , SPHR®, SHRM-SCP, IHRP-SP Jayashree Shivkumar Dr. Jeeta Sarkar Abbie Gnewuch Zachary Schurmann ?️? Aurangzeb Soharwardi CDIS. CHRP. SAP HCM Aravind Warrier Catriona Lindsay Luis Maria Cravino Kerron Ramganesh Ralf Buechsenschuss David Hodges Ouarda Guergour Marijana Brasiello, MHRM Malgorzata Langlois Amit Mohindra Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD) Lore Muraina, PMP, PMI-ACP, CPP Alan Susi Yuyan Sun Sven Hultin Greg Pryor Kathleen Kruse Jaap Veldkamp Aleksandra Borisova, RODP Hrvoje Bulat Jaejin Lee Wayne Tarken Caitie Jacobson Nathalie Kumbrink, PHR®, SAFe® APM Melissa Arronte Nicole Lettich Nils Bunde Mia Norgren Shane Walsh Irina Villacreces, M.S., SPHR, PMP Jaana Saramies ? Stacy Davies Ruben Santos Justin Shemeley Richie Citta Erin Gerbec, Ph.D. Mircea-Stefan Glavici Bri Klein Indre Radzeviciute Alex Paton Ramesh Karpagavinayagam Megan Cox (née Phelps) Natasha Ouslis, PhD Tina Peeters, PhD Joseph Frank, PhD CCP GWCCM Lucie Vottova John Fisher Whitney Giga, PHR, SWP Graham Tollit Dave Millner Nicole Davis Barry Swales Dr. Sebastian Projahn David Littlechild Tatu Westling Philipp Heller Blaine Ames Shujaat Ahmad Irene Wong Greg Newman Adam McKinnon, PhD. Kanwal Safdar Irada Sadykhova Hanadi El Sayyed Tanya Arrowsmith Nabil Dewsi Henrik Håkansson Lina Makneviciute Alejandro Giordanelli Andras Szabo Radka Krempova David van Lochem Andreas Maroulis Ohad Geron Placid Jover Sydney Dolanch Isabel Naidoo Rob Kok Kimberly Rose Nick Hayter Annia Balcazar Cabana Anna A. Tavis, PhD Claire Masson Agnes Garaba Sebastian Kolberg Sabine Bothe Sophia Huang, Ed.D. Mariami Lolashvili Philip Arkcoll Erik Otteson Alexandra Nawrat Kristina Schoemmel Craig Starbuck, PhD Maria Alice Jovinski Toon van der Veer Petra Noble Julia Brandon, PhD Aritra Majumdar Scott Nemeth Shannon Rutledge Gal Mozes, PhD Ken Clar Kelly Monahan, Ph.D. Jacob Nielsen Olimpiusz Papiez Nick Hudgell Sonia Mooney Marcela Mury Christopher Cerasoli Dr. Peter Schulz-Rittich Ludek Stehlik, Ph.D. Craig Forman Kelly Satterfield Perri Ma Anna Gullstrand Victoria Holdsworth Joanna Bloor Pietro Mazzoleni Andrés García Ayala Kristhy Bartels Tim Peffers John Golden, Ph.D. Nicole Hazard Søren Kold Kirsten Edwards Doug Shagam Geetanjali Gamel John Gunawan Jack Liu UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL OF YOUR PEOPLE ANALYTICS FUNCTION THROUGH THE INSIGHT222 PEOPLE ANALYTICS PROGRAM At Insight222, our mission is to make organisations better by putting people analytics at the centre of business and upskilling the HR profession The Insight222 People Analytics Program® is your gateway to a world of knowledge, networking, and growth. Developed exclusively for people analytics leaders and their teams, the program equips you with the frameworks, guidance, learnings, and connections you need to create greater impact. As the landscape of people analytics becomes increasingly complex, with data, technology, and ethical considerations at the forefront, our program brings together over one hundred organisations to collectively address these shared challenges. Insight222 Peer Meetings, like this event in London, are a core component of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®. They allow participants to learn, network and co-create solutions together with the purpose of ultimately growing the business value that people analytics can deliver to their organisations. If you would like to learn more, contact us today. ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Green ?? is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As Managing Partner and Executive Director at Insight222, he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 100 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222, David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and is an instructor for Insight222's myHRfuture Academy. His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar, Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value was published in the summer of 2021. 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: December 5 - Visier Outsmart Local - Building Your People Data Strategy, London December 10-12 - Workday Rising EMEA, Amsterdam January 23 - The Strategic Outlook for People Analytics in 2025 with Ian Cook and Dawn Klinghoffer (WEBINAR - Register here) February 26-27 - People Analytics World, Zürich April 29-30 - People Analytics World, London More events will be added as they are confirmed.   原文来自：https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-hr-people-analytics-articles-november-2024-david-green--aofje/
    HR Technology
    2024年12月01日
  • HR Technology
    2025北美华人人力资源洛杉矶论坛1月4日举办，报名开启 北美华人人力资源洛杉矶论坛将于2025年1月4日在洛杉矶隆重举行，这是一场为在美华人HR专业人士量身打造的盛会。论坛将聚焦人力资源管理的多个核心话题，从人才招聘、组织发展、薪酬福利，到多元化与包容性、HR科技等，全面探讨华人HR在职场中面临的独特挑战和机遇。 积极响应南加华人HR的呼声，特别举办本次洛杉矶论坛，诚邀南加的HR童鞋们积极参与！ 作为华人HR社群的一员，您将有机会在这里与来自各领域的优秀同行直接交流，拓展专业人脉，为职业发展带来新思路。此外，论坛还特别欢迎HR服务机构、法律、猎头等等领域的专业合作伙伴加入，与参会者深入互动，共同探讨华人HR市场的最新动态与前沿解决方案。 期待您的参与，与我们共同打造一个推动北美华人HR领域发展的高质量交流平台！ Stay Together Stay Powerful 立即报名，锁定席位，探索人力资源的无限可能！ 2025北美华人人力资源洛杉矶论坛 2025 North American Chinese HR Forum - Los Angeles 时间：2025年1月4日周六 9:30-16:30 地点：大洛杉矶地区 交通方便易达 （报名后告知） 报名地址：https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/D1098614-EA75-67CF-6B55-7DEA34FC1C4F 会议费用：100美元/人 12月1日前报名支付 150美元/人 12月25日前 现场门票200美元/人 会议期间提供咖啡和茶等 注：午餐需自理，届时各小组自行组队 （不含会议午餐） 、 你为什么不能错过NACSHR峰会： 聆听行业大咖的精心分享： 演讲嘉宾包括成功的企业家、重量级的行业内大咖、优秀的人才战略专家。 他们精通中国以及北美的人力资源市场，乐于分享他们的观点和经验。 确保您能听到行业内最专业成功人士的分享。 学习新知识，掌握新动态： 不论您是职场老将还是新兵，更新知识库是一个永恒的课题。 峰会设置了多种会议形式，各种方式获取行业动态和职场经验。 有行业内大咖的独家分享，帮助您打开新视野，更具竞争力。 职业发展新机遇，更广泛的选择： NACSHR设置了北美地区HR岗位需求，现场更有机会面对面沟通交流。 非正式的会议交流，更有益深入交流，为您的职场铺就成功之路。 南加地区最大的华人HR行业盛会： 聚焦南加华人人力资源行业精英，汇聚南加职场华人力量。 汇集首屈一指的企业家、创业家和行业先锋，打造北美唯一、最大的华人HR盛会。 交流新资讯，结交新伙伴： 探讨行业热点话题，激发创新思维，共同推动HR行业的发展。 利用大会机会结识北美地区的华人HR同仁，拓展个人交际圈。 启发职场新思维，实现职业新突破： 探讨华人管理者如何实现职场发展目标。 设有职场人讨论环节，与嘉宾、行业专家和同行伙伴一起探讨如何在美国职场实现自我价值。 如何可以参与NACSHR峰会？ 作为人力资源服务机构，有多种方式可以参与共襄盛举。你可以选择各种赞助形式，如钻石赞助、演讲赞助、设置展位、Demo展示，年度合作等多种方式，具体可以联系我们。 另外如果贵司还没有加入北美华人人力资源服务图谱，点击这里可以加入： https://www.nacshr.org/map/Register/join 参展赞助与合作： Annie annie@nacshr.org 或者点击这里：https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/CDBE9324-6291-EB0E-3E50-91532A2A70BB 同时2025年NACSHR 活动计划和NACSHR年度合作伙伴计划也已经推出，欢迎索取加强合作 参与分享演讲：（仅限 inhouse HR） Gavin nacshr818@gmail.com 嘉宾申请链接： https://www.nacshr.org/1732.html The North American Chinese HR Forum will be held in Los Angeles on January 4, 2025, tailored specifically for Chinese HR professionals in the U.S. This forum will focus on multiple core topics in human resource management, ranging from talent acquisition, organizational development, and compensation & benefits to diversity and inclusion, HR technology, and more. It will comprehensively explore the unique challenges and opportunities faced by Chinese HR professionals in the workplace. In response to the strong demand from Chinese HR professionals in Southern California, this Los Angeles forum is specially organized, inviting HR peers from SoCal to participate actively! As a member of the Chinese HR community, you will have the opportunity to engage directly with top professionals from various fields, expand your network, and bring fresh perspectives to your career development. Additionally, the forum warmly welcomes partnerships from HR service providers, legal advisors, recruitment firms, and other specialized partners to interact with attendees and discuss the latest trends and innovative solutions in the Chinese HR market. We look forward to your participation as we work together to build a high-quality exchange platform for advancing the Chinese HR field in North America! Stay Together Stay Powerful Register now to secure your spot and explore the endless possibilities in human resources! 2025 North American Chinese HR Forum - Los Angeles Date: Saturday, January 4, 2025, 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM Location: Los Angeles (details will be provided upon registration) Registration Link: https://www.nacshr.org/Survey/D1098614-EA75-67CF-6B55-7DEA34FC1C4F Registration Fees: $100 per person if paid by December 1st, $150 per person if paid by December 25th, $200 per person for on-site tickets Note: Coffee and tea will be provided during the forum. Lunch is self-arranged, with groups forming to organize meals. Lunch is not included in the event.
    HR Technology
    2024年11月13日
  • HR Technology
    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。
    HR Technology
    2024年11月03日
  • HR Technology
    Josh Bersin:Digital Twins, Digital Employees, And Agents Everywhere 2025 年，数字员工和人工智能助理的崛起将彻底改变人力资源运营，改变招聘、数据分析和员工管理等任务。 这些技术包括数字双胞胎和智能代理，它们将与人类专业人员一起工作，以提高生产力和优化工作流程。 随着人工智能工具成为日常业务不可或缺的一部分，人力资源领导者必须拥抱这些创新，同时继续关注技能培训、心理健康和包容性工作环境。 向人工智能的转变还将重塑团队动态，这对人力资源部门重新设计角色和流程以保持竞争力提出了挑战。 I recently heard Elon Musk predict that every citizen would have multiple Optimus robots in their homes within five years. And while I often ignore his predictions because they’re exaggerated, I think he’s on to something. We are about to witness an explosion of Digital Employees in our companies, and these may be the “robots” we’ve heard about for years. Let me explain. This week I talked with dozens of vendors and clients at Unleash and then visited our development partner Sana Labs in Stockholm. It’s now clear that we’re going to be working with multitudes of “digital employees” in the year ahead. (And as Dario Amodei, the founder of Anthropic explains, AI can do many more positive things in business, science, and health than we ever imagined.) By “digital employee” I mean a software powered agent that can talk with us, answer detailed questions, solve complex analytic problems, and navigate a multitude of systems. ChatGPT and its peers, which introduced the idea of an agent, has now spawned dozens of “agentic” use cases, which I’d be willing to refer to as personalities. Let me start with a “Digital Twin.” Imagine you have a superb customer service agent with years of experience helping your most demanding clients. If you load the last five years of their emails, coupled with all their internal documentation, and a log history of their last two years of service calls, you can essentially “create him or her” digitally with all the knowledge, style, and internal contacts this person has developed. This twin, which may look initially like an AI assistant, could then carry on this employee’s work when the real life worker is on vacation. One of our clients, a large insurance company, has already built “digital twins” for claims processing. If you think about the complexity and workflow of processing a claim, much of it could be learned by an agent, making the “claims robot” an expert on this important process. And as you change claims rules and limits, the agent will learn new guidelines in only seconds. Our AI assistant Galileo, a trained expert on HR (Galileo is trained on 25 years of research and thousands of conversations with clients and vendors), is essentially a “digital twin” of me and the other analysts in our firm. I’m not saying Galileo is as fun to talk with as we are, but I can assure you that he (or she) is as knowledgeable and supportive. And Galileo is even smarter than I am: he has instant knowledge of skills models, compensation benchmarks, turnover statistics, and other data bases which I can only access by looking them up on demand. And using the Sana platform we can configure Galileo to have multiple personalities. Galileo the “Recruitment Agent” might have in-depth knowledge of screening, interviewing, and candidate skills assessment and he may have direct linkage to SeekOut, Eightfold, or any other sourcing applications. In his candidate facing personality he may be able to answer candidate questions, explain shift schedules, and “sell” the company to top job candidates. (This is what Paradox has done for years and vendors like Eightfold and LinkedIn are launching now.) But there’s more. Imagine that this “digital twin” or “digital employee” has intimate knowledge of Workday, SuccessFactors, or a variety of other systems. Now the assistant can not only answer questions and help solve problems, he can also process transactions, look things up, and run reports against multiple system. The digital employee has turned into a “digital analyst,” who can find things and do work for you, saving you hours of effort in your daily life. (Vee from Visier is designed for this.) Suppose you ask your digital friend to attend meetings for you, participate in conversations on certain topics, and alert you in real time when urgent issues come up for discussion. He could help you scale your time, keep you informed about decisions you need to know about, and help you manage your action items. And the list goes on and on and on. Best of all, what if your digital twin can talk to you. Suppose he “checks in” with you about the project you asked for help with last week, so you inform him how things are going and he gets “smarter” about what you may need next. Galileo does this today, prompting you to dig into a problem and explore areas you may not have considered. And if you ask him about management or people issues, he could give you advice and coaching, based on the leadership models or even CEO interviews in your own company. (BetterUp, Valence and others are working on this.) This is not science fiction, my friends. All this is becoming reality and will certainly be common next year. Every vendor has a slightly different focus. The Microsoft Copilot specializes in MS Office-related activities, ServiceNow’s focuses on internal service and support, Galileo is focused on the needs of HR, and Joule is an expert on all the functions of SAP. Each of these “digital employees” needs training, feedback, and connections to stay current and relevant. So it’s doubtful that one digital employee will do everything. (Training a digital employee means managing his or her corpus of information, which will be a major new role in HR.) One thing is very clear: we are going to be living and working with these guys. And as we use them and see what they’re capable of, we’re going to redesign work. Little by little we’ll offload tasks, projects, and workflows. And as we do, we’ll get smarter and smarter about redesigning our teams. I liken the process to that of a carpenter who gets a new multi-function power drill. Before the drill he may have manually drilled holes, carefully selecting the drill bit and the level of pressure based on wood density. Now he drills holes faster, more accurately, and with more precision. Soon he just speeds through the process, spending more time on cabinet fit, finish, or design. The same thing will happen to our HR tasks, projects, and designs. And these new digital employees are programmable! So once we figure out what they’re capable of we can adjust them, customize them, and connect them together. Eventually we’ll have intelligent assistants that operate as entire applications. And that’s the threat to incumbent software companies – the agents hollow out many of our existing applications. How Do Our Digital Employees Impact Our Own Work? One more observation. Many a few of the clients I talked with kept asking “what about our softskills?”  What work is truly human? I think that’s the wrong question. Rather we should ask the opposite: how much can I delegate to my new friends as fast as possible! Have you been upset that your vacuum cleaner took away the rewarding human work of sweeping a floor? How much joy do you get from washing dishes? Did your dishwasher make you feel deflated when you stopped splashing around in the soapy water? Of course not – these tools eliminated tasks we considered to be “drudgery.” Well today, thanks to digital assistants, creating a pivot table to do cross-tab analysis has become drudgery. You can stop getting your hands wet with that task – ask Galileo or Copilot to analyze the data, and then ask him to chart it, add more data, and try new assumptions. The more we learn to use these new digital employees the more “drudgery” we can stop doing. And consider complex “human-centered” activities like “change management.” A client asked me “how could Galileo help me with change management for our new HCM system?” I answered her with dozens of ideas: ask Galileo for case studies of other companies and have it build a checklist to consider based on what other companies did. Then ask Galileo to build a training plan; ask it to read the user documentation and create a table of what features are new; then ask Galileo to rewrite that change plan by role. And finally ask Galileo to write a press release about success, craft some compelling communications to employees, and ask it to compute the ROI of all the steps eliminated. These are all “manual” human tasks we do today and they take time and ingenuity to figure out. If you went through this process in Galileo you could ask your digital employee to save these steps and prompts in a “template,” and you have just taught your digital employee how to do change management. The next time you need him he can step you through the process. As I started to explain this to my client I stopped and said: wait a minute. I can’t possibly show you everything Galileo can do. You have to try it for yourself. And that’s my big message. Don’t wait for a vendor to drop a finished solution in your lap. These are intelligent, trainable, digital experts. You have to get to know them so you can figure out where they fit in your job, your projects, and your company. Just like you do with any new hire. I say it’s time to get started. No more sweeping floors or washing dishes by hand. Let’s meet our digital employees, tell them about our projects, and ask for their help. Step by step, day by day, we can redesign our jobs to be more more productive, liberating us to do greater things.
    HR Technology
    2024年10月19日
  • HR Technology
    2025年HR领域的6大关键趋势：迎接未来工作的变革 随着技术的进步和员工期望的不断变化，2025年的人力资源管理将面临前所未有的挑战和机遇。以下是六大关键趋势，它们将推动未来职场的发展： 1. 远程和混合办公模式的普及 远程和混合办公已成为员工最期待的工作形式。2025年，更多企业将采用灵活的工作安排，不仅能提高员工的满意度，还能减少运营成本。HR团队需要确保远程员工享有与办公室员工相同的支持和资源。 2. 人工智能（AI）深度融入HR流程 AI技术正在快速改变HR流程，如招聘和绩效管理。2025年，AI将更加普及，帮助HR自动化日常任务，并提供数据洞察以优化决策。但企业在使用AI时必须保持透明，定期进行偏见审查。 3. 强调员工健康和心理健康 员工心理健康在疫情后成为企业的首要关注点。到2025年，企业将进一步加大对员工健康的投入，如提供灵活的工作安排、心理健康资源等，以提高生产力并减少员工流失。 4. 多样性、公平性和包容性（DEI） DEI是未来工作的核心。2025年，更多公司将推进多元化招聘和公平政策，培养包容性的企业文化，以推动创新和更好的决策。 5. 技能提升与再培训 技术的快速发展导致技能过时的速度加快。到2025年，50%的员工需要再培训。企业将需要投资于员工的持续学习计划，以确保其技能与未来工作需求匹配。 6. 人才分析的兴起 人才分析通过数据驱动决策，使HR能够更有效地管理员工并优化业务成果。2025年，企业将加大对数据工具的投入，提升HR决策的科学性和精准性。 2025年，企业若能掌握这些趋势，将在未来职场中占据竞争优势。
    HR Technology
    2024年10月19日
  • HR Technology
    Josh Bersin: When Will The Trillions Invested In AI Pay Off? Sooner Than You Think. 近年来，生成式人工智能（GenAI）的投资已达数万亿美元，但围绕其回报问题的争论不断升级。一些分析师，如麻省理工学院教授达隆·阿西莫格鲁（Daron Acemoglu）和纽约大学心理学与神经科学教授加里·马库斯（Gary Marcus），对AI的经济影响持悲观态度，认为其对美国生产力和GDP增长的推动作用有限，甚至可能导致市场崩溃。相反，另一派如高盛的全球经济学家则乐观地认为，AI有望在未来十年内大幅提高生产力。然而，文章指出，生成式AI的真正价值在于其特定领域的应用。例如，Paradox和Galileo等HR技术平台通过高度专业化的解决方案，显著提升了招聘和人才管理的效率。最终，文章强调，AI行业仍处于早期阶段，成功的关键在于找到具有专注性和精确性的创新解决方案。 In the last few weeks there has been a lot of concern that Gen AI is a “bubble” and companies may never see the return on the $Trillion being spent on infrastructure. Let me cite four analyst’s opinions. Will Today’s Massive AI Investments Pay Off? MIT professor Daron Acemoglu estimates that over the next ten years AI will impact less than 5% of all tasks, concluding that AI will only increase US productivity by .5% and GDP growth by .9% over the next decade. As he puts it, the impact of AI is not “a law of nature.” On a similar vein, Gary Marcus, professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University, believes Gen AI is soon to collapse, and the trillions spent will largely result in a loss of privacy, increase in cyber terror, and a lack of differentiation between providers. The result: a market with low profits and big losses. Goldman Sachs Head of Equity Research Jim Covello is similarly pessimistic, arguing simply that the $1 Trillion spent on AI is focused on tech that cannot truly automate complex tasks, and that vendors’ over-focus on “human-like features” will miss the boat in delivering business productivity.  (He studies stocks, not the economy.) And Goldman Sachs Global Economist, who is a fan, estimates that AI could automate 25% of work tasks and raise US productivity by 9T and GDP by 6.1% over the next decade. He follows the traditional business meme that “AI changes everything” for the better. What’s going on? Quite simply this new technology is very expensive to build, so we’re all unsure where the payoffs will be. Buyers Are Looking For A Return Soon If we discount the work going on at Google, Meta, Perplexity, and Microsoft to build AI-based search businesses, which make money on advertising (Zuckerberg essentially just said that in a few years AI will guarantee your ad spend pays off), corporate IT managers are asking questions. An article in Business Insider pointed to a large Pharma company that cancelled their Microsoft Copilot licenses because the tool was not adding any significant value (Chevron’s CIO was quoted similarly in The Information). Another quoted a Chief Marketing Officer who stated Google Gemini’s email marketing tool and the new AI-powered ad-buying tool performed worse than the human workers it was intended to replace (or support). Given that these tools almost double the “price per user” for the productivity suites, I think it’s fair that CIOs, CMOs, to expect them to pay for themselves fairly quickly. What’s Going On?  The Big Wins Will Be Domain Specific As with all new technologies that enter the market quickly, “the blush on the rose” is over. We’ve been dazzled by the power of ChatGPT and now we’re searching for real solutions to problems. And unlike the internet, where research was funded by the government, there’s going to be a lag (and some risk) between the trillions we spend and the trillions we save. Given that ChatGPT is less than two years old and OpenAI has morphed from a research company into a product company, it’s easy to see what’s happening. Every vendor and tool provider is narrowing its AI “strategy” and not just pasting little AI “stars” on their websites, looking for useful things to do. And this process may take a few years. In the world of HR, I think we can all agree that a “push the button job description generator” is a bit of a commodity. However if the AI analyzes the job title, identifies the skills needed through a large skills engine, and tunes the job description by company size, industry, and role, then it’s a fantastic solution.  (Galileo does this, as does SeekOut, SAP, and some other vendors.) The more “specific” and “narrow” the AI is, the more useful it becomes. Generic LLMs that aren’t highly trained, optimized, and tuned to your company, business, and job are simply not going to command high prices. So while we all thought ChatGPT was Nirvana, we’re now figuring out that highly specialized solutions are the answer. Let me give you some examples. The first is the platform built by Paradox, a pioneering company that started work on AI-based recruiting agents in 2016. Paradox, now valued at around $2 Billion, delivers an end-to-end recruitment platform that automates the entire process of candidate marketing, candidate experience, assessment, selection, interview scheduling, hiring, and onboarding. Most people believe its a “Chatbot” but in reality it’s an AI-powered end-to-end system that radically simplifies and speeds the recruitment process in a groundbreaking way. Companies like 7-11, FedEx, GM, and others see massive improvements in operational efficiency and both candidates, managers, and recruiter adore it. It took Paradox eight years to build this level of integrated solution. The second is our platform Galileo. Galileo, which is now licensed by more than 10,000 HR professionals, is a highly tuned AI agent specifically designed to help HR professionals (leaders, business partners, consultants, recruiters, and other roles) do the “complex work” HR professionals do. It’s not a generic LLM: it’s a highly specialized solution designed specifically for HR professionals, and we’ve added specialized content partners and are building special integrations with other HR platforms. Our clients tell us it’s saving them 1-2 hours a day. The third is the platform HiredScore, that was recently acquired by Workday. Founded in 2012, the HiredScore team built tools to help identify “fit” between individuals and jobs, and tuned its AI to be highly explainable, unbiased, and very easy to use. It took Athena Karp and the team a few years to nail down the use-cases and user interface but now HiredScore is considered one of the most powerful recruitment “orchestration” tools in the market, and is also used for internal hiring and many other applications. Every customer I talk with tells me it’s essential and saves them months of manual, error-prone effort. The fourth is the platform Eightfold, which was invented in 2016 as a way to build “Google-scale” matching between job seekers and jobs. Through many years of engineering, product management, and ongoing sales process the company has become the leader in a new space called “Talent Intelligence,” now a billion dollar rapid-growing category. The company is about ten years old and now has some of the world’s largest companies building their hiring, career management, and talent management processes using AI. Companies like EY, Bayer, and Chevron now use it for all their strategic talent programs. Each of these vendors, including others like Gloat, Sana, Arist, Lightcast, Draup, Uplimit, Firstup, and hundreds of others have patiently taken the power of Generative AI and applied it with laser precision to their solutions. Each of these companies is different, and as we work with them we see lightning bolts of innovation: not in AI itself, but in finding new ways to solve problems and do what I call “crawling up the value curve.” This is the path for AI in the coming years. As with all new technologies, the “trough of disappointment” is always followed by the “bowling pin” of hitting the nail on the head. Innovators, entrepreneurs, and startup founders are the ones who will take GenAI and apply it in unique ways to solve problems. And soon enough, “AI-powered” will be a phrase we barely even need to say. The Best Solutions Will Be Narrow Not Wide GenAI solutions require a large “platform” of data, infrastructure, and software. That alone is not where the value resides. Rather, the big productivity advantages come after years of effort, focusing the data sets and working with customers to find the features, UI designs, and data sets that add enormous value. And we are still in the early stages. If you want to learn more about HR Technology and AI, join me at the HR Technology Conference on September 24-25 in Vegas, or at Unleash in Paris in October 16-17. While I can’t predict who will win the core AI platform game (Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Meta, Amazon will fight it out), I can predicts this: Generative AI will deliver massive improvements in business productivity. You just have to shop around a bit and wait for just the right solutions to arrive.
    HR Technology
    2024年08月10日
  • HR Technology
    Agency Law and the Workday Lawsuit 文章讨论了在Workday诉讼中，代理法的相关法律问题。原告声称，Workday的AI筛选工具因种族、年龄和残疾而对他进行了歧视。这起案件提出了HR技术供应商是否可以对歧视性结果直接负责的问题。法律的复杂性包括AI在招聘决策中的角色、代理责任以及对雇主和AI开发者的潜在影响。此案件提醒雇主在实施AI招聘工具时要谨慎，并确保避免法律风险。AI开发者也必须确保其产品无歧视行为，因为该诉讼可能会树立重要的法律先例。 Editor's Note Agency Law and the Workday Lawsuit Agency law is so old that it used to be called master and servant law. (That's different from slavery, where human beings were considered the legal property of other humans based on their race, gender, and age, which is partly why we have discrimination laws.) Today, agency laws refer to principals and agents. All employees are agents of their employer, who is the principal. And employers can have nonemployee agents too when they hire someone to do things on their behalf. Generally, agents owe principals a fiduciary duty to act in the principal's best interest, even when that isn't the agent's best interest. Agency laws gets tricky fast because you have to figure out who is in charge, what authority was granted, whether the person acting was inside or outside that authority, what duty applies, and who should be held responsible as a matter of fairness and public policy. Generally, the principal is liable for the acts of the agent, sometimes even when the agent acts outside their authority. And agents acting within their authority are rarely liable for their actions unless it also involves intentional wrongs, like punching someone in the nose. Enter discrimination, which is generally a creature of statute that may or may not be consistent with general agency law even when the words used are exactly the same.   Discrimination is generally an intentional wrong, but employees are not usually directly liable for discrimination because making employment decisions is part of the way employment works and the employer is always liable for those decisions. The big exception is harassment because harassment, particularly sexual harassment, is never part of someone's job duties. So in harassment cases, the individual harasser is liable but the employer may not be unless they knew what was going on and didn't do anything about it. It's confusing and makes your head hurt. And that's just federal discrimination law. Other employment laws, both state and federal, deal with agent liability differently. Now, let's move to the Workday lawsuit. In that case, the plaintiff is claiming that Workday was an agent of the employer, but not in the sense of someone the employer was directing. They are claiming that Workday has independent liability as an employer too because they were acting like an employer in screening and rejecting applicants for the employer. But that's kinda the whole point of HR Technology—to save the employer time and resources by doing some of the work. The software doesn't replace the employer's decision making and the employer is going to be liable for any discrimination regardless of whether and how the employer used their software. If this were a products liability case, the answer would turn on how the product was designed to be used and how the employer used it. But this is an employment law and discrimination case. So, the legal question here is whether a company that makes HR Technology can also be directly liable for discriminatory outcomes when the employer uses that technology.   We don't have an answer to that yet and won't for a while. That's because this case is just at the pleading stage and hasn't been decided based on the evidence. What's happened so far is Workday filed a motion to dismiss based on the allegations in the complaint. Basically, Workday said, "Hey, we're just a software company. We don't make employment decisions; the employer does. It's the employer who is responsible for using our software in a way that doesn't discriminate. So, please let us out of the case. Then the plaintiff and EEOC said it's too soon to decide that. If all of the allegations in the lawsuit are considered true, then the plaintiff has made viable legal claims against Workday.   Those claims are that Workday's screening function acts like the employer in evaluating applications and rejecting or accepting them for the next level of review. This is similar to what third party recruiters and other employment agencies do and those folks are generally liable for those decisions under discrimination law. In addition, Workday could even be an agent of the employer if the employer has directly delegated that screening function to the software.   We're not to the question of whether a software company is really an agent of the employer or is even acting like an employment agency. And even if it is, whether it's the kind of agency that has direct liability or whether it's just the employer who ends up liable. This will all depend on statutory definitions and actual evidence about how the software is designed, how it works, and how the employer used it.   We also aren't at the point where we look at the contracts between the employer and Workday, how liability is allocated, whether there are indemnity clauses, and whether these type of contractual defenses even apply if Workday meets the statutory definition of an employer or agent who can be liable under Title VII.   Causation will also be a big issue because how the employer sets up the software, it's level of supervision of what happens with the software, and what's really going on in the screening process will all be extremely important.   The only thing that's been decided so far is that the plaintiff filed a viable claim against Workday and the lawsuit can proceed. Here are the details of the case and some good general advice for employers using HR Technology in any employment decision making process.   - Heather Bussing AI Workplace Screener Faces Bias Lawsuit: 5 Lessons for Employers and 5 Lessons for AI Developers by Anne Yarovoy Khan, John Polson, and Erica Wilson at Fisher Phillips   A California federal court just allowed a frustrated job applicant to proceed with an employment discrimination lawsuit against an AI-based vendor after more than 100 employers that use the vendor’s screening tools rejected him. The judge’s July 12 decision allows the class action against Workday to continue based on employment decisions made by Workday’s customers on the theory that Workday served as an “agent” for all of the employers that rejected him and that its algorithmic screening tools were biased against his race, age, and disability status. The lawsuit can teach valuable lessons to employers and AI developers alike. What are five things that employers can learn from this case, and what are five things that AI developers need to know? AI Job Screening Tool Leads to 100+ Rejections Here is a quick rundown of the allegations contained in the complaint. It’s important to remember that this case is in the very earliest stages of litigation, and Workday has not yet even provided a direct response to the allegations – so take these points with a grain of salt and recognize that they may even be proven false. Derek Mobley is a Black man over the age of 40 who self-identifies as having anxiety and depression. He has a degree in finance from Morehouse College and extensive experience in various financial, IT help-desk, and customer service positions. Between 2017 and 2024, Mobley applied to more than 100 jobs with companies that use Workday’s AI-based hiring tools – and says he was rejected every single time. He would see a job posting on a third-party website (like LinkedIn), click on the job link, and be redirected to the Workday platform. Thousands of companies use Workday’s AI-based applicant screening tools, which include personality and cognitive tests. They then interpret a candidate’s qualifications through advanced algorithmic methods and can automatically reject them or advance them along the hiring process. Mobley alleges the AI systems reflect illegal biases and rely on biased training data. He notes the fact that his race could be identified because he graduated from a historically Black college, his age could be determined by his graduation year, and his mental disabilities could be revealed through the personality tests. He filed a federal lawsuit against Workday alleging race discrimination under Title VII and Section 1981, age discrimination under the ADEA, and disability discrimination under the ADA. But he didn’t file just any type of lawsuit. He filed a class action claim, seeking to represent all applicants like him who weren’t hired because of the alleged discriminatory screening process. Workday asked the court to dismiss the claim on the basis that it was not the employer making the employment decision regarding Mobley, but after over a year of procedural wrangling, the judge gave the green light for Mobley to continue his lawsuit. Judge Gives Green Light to Discrimination Claim Against AI Developer Direct Participation in Hiring Process is Key – The judge’s July 12 order says that Workday could potentially be held liable as an “agent” of the employers who rejected Mobley. The employers allegedly delegated traditional hiring functions – including automatically rejecting certain applicants at the screening stage – to Workday’s AI-based algorithmic decision-making tools. That means that Workday’s AI product directly participated in the hiring process. Middle-of-the-Night Email is Critical – One of the allegations Mobley raises to support his claim that Workday’s AI decision-making tool automatically rejected him was an application he submitted to a particular company at 12:55 a.m. He received a rejection email less than an hour later at 1:50 a.m., making it appear unlikely that human oversight was involved. “Disparate Impact” Theory Can Be Advanced – Once the judge decided that Workday could be a proper defendant as an agent, she then allowed Mobley to proceed against Workday on a “disparate impact” theory. That means the company didn’t necessarily intend to screen out Mobley based on race, age, or disability, but that it could have set up selection criteria that had the effect of screening out applicants based on those protected criteria. In fact, in one instance, Mobley was rejected for a job at a company where he was currently working on a contract basis doing very similar work. Not All Software Developers On the Hook – This decision doesn’t mean that all software vendors and AI developers could qualify as “agents” subject to a lawsuit. Take, for example, a vendor that develops a spreadsheet system that simply helps employers sort through applicants. That vendor shouldn’t be part of any later discrimination lawsuit, the court said, even if the employer later uses that system to purposefully sort the candidates by age and rejects all those over 40 years old. 5 Tips for Employers This lawsuit could have just easily been filed against any of the 100+ employers that rejected Mobley, and they still may be added as parties or sued in separate actions.  That is a stark reminder that employers need to tread carefully when implementing AI hiring solutions through third parties. A few tips: Vet Your Vendors – Ensure your AI vendors follow ethical guidelines and have measures in place to prevent bias before you deploy the tool. This includes understanding the data they use to train their models and the algorithms they employ. Regular audits and evaluations of the AI systems can help identify and mitigate potential biases – but it all starts with asking the right questions at the outset of the relationship and along the way. Work with Counsel on Indemnification Language – It’s not uncommon for contracts between business partners to include language shifting the cost of litigation and resulting damages from employer to vendor. But make sure you work with counsel when developing such language in these instances. Public policy doesn’t often allow you to transfer the cost of discriminatory behavior to someone else. You may want to place limits on any such indemnity as well, like certain dollar amounts or several months of accrued damages. And you’ll want to make sure that your agreements contain specific guidance on what type of vendor behavior falls under whatever agreement you reach. Consider Legal Options – Should you be targeted in a discrimination action, consider whether you can take action beyond indemnification when it comes to your AI vendors. Breach of contract claims, deceptive business practice lawsuits, or other formal legal actions to draw the third party into the litigation could work to shield you from shouldering the full responsibility. Implement Ongoing Monitoring – Regularly monitor the outcomes of your AI hiring tools. This includes tracking the demographic data of applicants and hires to identify any patterns that may suggest bias or have a potential disparate impact. This proactive approach can help you catch and address issues before they become legal problems. Add the Human Touch – Consider where you will insert human decision-making at critical spots along your hiring process to prevent AI bias, or the appearance of bias. While an automated process that simply screens check-the-box requirements such as necessary licenses, years of experience, educational degrees, and similar objective criteria is low risk, completely replacing human judgment when it comes to making subjective decisions stands at the peak of riskiness when it comes to the use of AI. And make sure you train your HR staff and managers on the proper use of AI when it comes to making hiring or employment-related decisions. 5 Tips for Vendors While not a complete surprise given all the talk from regulators and others in government regarding concerns with bias in automated decision making tools, this lawsuit should grab the attention of any developer of AI-based hiring tools. When taken in conjunction with the recent ACLU action against Aon Consulting for its use of AI screening platforms, it seems the time for government expressing concerns has been replaced with action. While plaintiffs’ attorneys and government enforcement officials have typically focused on employers when it comes to alleged algorithmic bias, it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to the developers of these products. Here are some practical steps AI vendors can take now to deal with the threat. Commit to Trustworthy AI – Make sure the design and delivery of your AI solutions are both responsible and transparent. This includes reviewing marketing and product materials. Review Your Work – Engage in a risk-based review process throughout your product’s lifecycle. This will help mitigate any unintended consequences. Team With Your Lawyers – Work hand-in-hand with counsel to help ensure compliance with best practices and all relevant workplace laws – and not just law prohibiting intentional discrimination, but also those barring the unintentional “disparate impact” claims as we see in the Workday lawsuit. Develop Bias Detection Mechanisms – Implement robust testing and validation processes to detect and eliminate bias in your AI systems. This includes using diverse training data and regularly updating your algorithms to address any identified biases. Lean Into Outside Assistance – Meanwhile, collaborate with external auditors or third-party reviewers to ensure impartiality in your bias detection efforts. 原文来自：https://www.salary.com/newsletters/law-review/agency-law-and-the-workday-lawsuit/
    HR Technology
    2024年08月10日
  • HR Technology
    Josh Bersin: 随着经济放缓，关注未来的技能：改变的能力 本周，我们看到美国失业率“上升”到 4.3%，经济学家开始呼吁降低利率。对于那些每天与公司和领导者交流的人来说，我会说我们正经历一个正常的经济周期。 上一次重大衰退（不包括疫情，因为那不是需求放缓）是在2008年和2009年。这意味着我们已经有近16年没有经历严重的经济周期了，几乎是通常周期的两倍。虽然疫情确实让公司放慢了脚步，但我们迅速恢复了。所以从失业率来看，它大致是这样的。 在经历了50年的失业率变化后，目前的失业率比五十年前降低了12%，这让我得出结论，我们正生活在“长期劳动力短缺”中。同时，美国的GDP在此期间增长了1500%。 虽然我们目前的GDP增长可能有所放缓（我认为这是由消费者价格使我们耗尽了支出引起的），但实际上我们只是看到从“工业化、高劳动密集型企业”向所谓的“后工业化”公司的长期转型，这些公司往往需要更少的“工人”和更多高技能员工。（阅读我们的后工业时代研究。） 仍然有大量的小时工工作：护理、医疗、交通、建筑、零售、娱乐、能源和许多其他行业依赖各种类型的“劳动”工人。这些工作随着时间的推移变得越来越自动化，导致工资提高和技能升级，但美国仍有约63%的工人没有大学学位，其中大多数人找到了工作。 虽然每个人似乎对英特尔、UKG, Intuit或其他“与AI相关”的裁员感到有些恐慌，但美国经济的反应良好。我知道许多公司正在试验AI和其他技术，每个公司都担心失去有价值的人才，因为劳动力市场依然竞争激烈。 是的，一些公司会进行裁员。通常这是由糟糕的领导、糟糕的规划或只是对投资者的本能反应引起的。最终，随着出生率保持在低水平，我们仍将面临劳动力短缺，人的价值将继续上升（正如我过去指出的，裁员并非不可避免）。 在过去的三周里，我与欧洲超过20家大公司会面，每家公司都在投资于员工发展、技能再培训、内部流动性和提高生产力的项目。在欧洲，裁员既困难又昂贵，因此公司感受到劳动力短缺的压力，他们仍在投资员工。 至于消费者需求开始下降，我们正面临一个“长期结束”阶段，这是由高价格的延续引起的。消费者对过去五年的高价格感到厌倦，而在此之前，我们经历了近十年的零利率时期，房价和大多数资本品价格持续上涨。现在这两个因素都结束了，我们只是回到了更正常的经济状态。 换句话说，如果你因为“可以”而提高价格，最终你将付出代价，当消费者反抗时。如果你停止投资于员工，他们会“悄然离职”或另寻他处。这些是我认为的“正常商业经济”，我认为我们正看到这种正常性的发生。 作为一个动态组织运营 当然，最大的“趋势”是各行业的数字化和AI革命。汽车制造商被“虚假”引导进入电动车领域，发现混合动力发动机、数字相机和电子产品以及新的购车方式非常具有破坏性。出版商正在找出如何应对AI平台，这次他们保留了自己的知识产权并协商了许可协议。能源公司正在慢慢转向新来源，其他公司都在找出如何实现数字化、AI赋能，并进一步简化我们生产和销售的产品。 这都是商业的“激动人心的工作”，一切都与成为一个动态组织有关。我们的研究指出，以动态方式运营完全是关于人。 经济，通常以周期性变化（通常由过度兴奋和随之而来的疲惫引起）为特征，只是需要应对的事情。对于我这样经历了许多这种高峰和低谷的人来说，当事情不再上升并且我们看到一些冷却期时，我总是感到有点“解脱”。 是的，股市可能会暴跌。它总会在某个时候发生。但那实际上是“众包”效应，通常与我们的公司无关。如果你照顾好你的客户，投资未来，迅速学习AI和所有新技术，你将顺利过渡。正如许多HR领导本月与我谈到的，你的成功很大程度上取决于人。 未来的技能很明确：推动变革的能力 今天我与一群我们每隔几周就交流的HR领导进行了一次有趣的会议。每一位CHRO和其他领导都告诉我们，他们正在投资于员工的“变革管理”和“业务转型”技能。这意味着什么？ 这意味着这样。虽然我们都希望公司有更多的工程师、制造专家、科学家和销售与营销专家，但我们最需要的“技能”是“推动变革的能力”。这种特定的技能非常复杂，需要时间来学习，并且在当前尤为重要。这引出了我的最后一点。 如果你是图凡·厄金比尔吉，劳斯莱斯的首席执行官，你正处于业务转型的过程中，旨在推动工程效率和卓越，你不仅要担心工程师。你要担心那些能够推动、领导、激励和创造变革的人。我相信，这些就是大家常谈的“未来技能”。如果你作为一个专业人士、经理或领导者真正知道如何“推动和执行变革”，这些经济周期在你的职业生涯中只是“一个小波折”。 在与HR领导交谈超过30年并在许多周期中经营我们自己的业务后，我敦促你“不要过于担心”这些大的经济数据。我们正生活在一个每个公司中每个人的经济价值飙升的时期。投资于你的员工和自己，随着经济的变化，你会做得很好。   https://joshbersin.com/2024/08/as-the-economy-changes-focus-on-the-real-skills-of-the-future/
    HR Technology
    2024年08月03日
  • HR Technology
    Josh Bersin谈首席人力资源官 (CHRO) 职责的扩展 推荐介绍：这是Josh Bersin最新的一篇文章，谈到了CHRO角色的问题，这确实是一个好问题！在当今快速变化的商业环境中，首席人力资源官（CHRO）的角色变得尤为重要。随着人工智能变革、全球劳工实践和组织重组等挑战，CHRO的职责显著扩大。企业面临广泛的人事问题，包括混合工作带来的压力、劳动力短缺以及需要提高生产力和内部流动性。CHRO在重新设计传统人力资源实践和整合全球及技术进步方面至关重要。 在劳动力短缺的背景下，CHRO需要将旧的“雇用以增长”模式转变为“提高生产力和内部流动性”的模式，这比看起来更难。全球化也是一个挑战，CHRO必须引领公司进行全球化领导力和薪酬实践的调整。此外，行业整合使得大多数CHRO都在处理收购或被收购的前景，带来裁员和组织整合等问题。 领导力的发展同样是CHRO的重要职责。随着组织趋向扁平化，公司需要在各个层面培养领导技能，这是所有人力资源投资中最重要的。 技术也是一个复杂的问题，CHRO必须整理遗留的人力资源系统，并应对技术带来的挑战。 优秀的CHRO不仅是聪明、有创造力的变革领导者，还是精明的商业人士。他们展示了在我们的领域内进行业务转型的能力。我们的CHRO研究计划将为CHRO的专业发展提供支持。   我们一起来看正文： 随着时代变迁，曾被认为是C级高管中地位较低的职位，如今CHRO可能是最重要的职位之一。随着AI不断改变我们的业务，CHRO的职责每天都在增加。（Jack Welch经常说 CHRO是公司中第二重要的职位，甚至比CFO更重要。） 公司面临着各处的人力挑战 首先显而易见的是：公司在各个方面都面临人力问题。大多数公司仍在努力适应混合办公模式，经理和员工压力巨大，员工幸福感处于历史最低点。疫情的创伤切断了公司与员工之间的联系，使各类员工能够自主做出许多决定。 应对劳动力短缺 在这种背景下，我们还面临着持续的劳动力短缺。低生育率和退休的婴儿潮一代将失业率推至50年来的最低点，这个问题在几十年内都不会消失。旧的“雇佣增长”模式正在失效，我们在快速增长的科技公司中看到了“雇佣，然后裁员”的循环。 CHRO们必须将这种模式转变为“提高生产力和内部流动性”，这个转变比看起来要困难得多。 重新设计组织 此外，在过去几年里，公司终于决定废除职能层级结构。我们交谈的大多数公司都在扁平化，取消中层管理人员，并以更跨职能的方式运营。前瞻性组织（如Bayer、ING Bank、Telstra、Mastercard、Netflix）正在采用我们称之为“动态组织 (Dynamic Organization)”的运营模式，创造新的敏捷性和市场响应时间。CHRO必须领导这一努力，并找出如何重新设计工作设计、薪酬、绩效管理和职业发展的传统实践。 每家公司现在都是全球性的 随着远程工作的普及，每家公司现在都具有全球性。这意味着我们必须了解全球劳工实践、不同的人才市场以及如何领导远程团队。CHRO必须领导决策，例如在哪里雇佣、在哪里设立设施，以及如何全球化领导力、薪酬实践、雇佣政策和劳资关系。 并购 我们也处于一个整合的周期。媒体、零售、医疗和科技等行业正在整合。这意味着大多数CHRO都在处理并购或被收购的前景。这些交易带来了裁员、组织整合和高级领导团队对齐的问题。许多人将波音的问题归咎于1997年收购McDonnell Douglas，这次收购创造了一种新的文化。我觉得我们都在成为收购新公司的专家，这迫使CHRO领导不断的整合和变革。 改变领导力培养路径 CHRO还有另一个棘手的角色：领导力模型已经发生了变化。我们不仅需要培养总经理，领导者现在无处不在。扁平化的组织迫使公司在各个层面建立领导技能。当做得好时（如我在下面讨论的Marriott和Delta），领导力发展是至关重要的。在我们所有的HR投资中，领导力发展带来的价值最大。这也落在了CHRO的肩上。 更新传统HR技术 HR技术有些混乱。公司拥有几十甚至上百个传统的HR系统，这些系统充斥着招聘、培训、排班、入职、调查和合规的工具。AI有望提供帮助，但即使是Workday的客户也对他们的系统感到厌倦，（阅读“为什么每个人都讨厌Workday”）。CHRO不能再忽视技术：他们必须解决这些问题。 重新设计HR职能 最后是运行HR这一极其复杂的工作。CHRO领导着公司中最复杂的职能之一，通常被认为是成本中心。CHRO必须改造自己的团队，建立一个敏捷、智能和咨询型的组织。这意味着创建一个系统性HR运营模型 (Systemic HR operating model)，简化员工体验，并培养能够与高级运营领导者咨询和建议的HR领导者。 高绩效的CHRO是什么样的？ 我们每年与数百位CHRO交谈，有许多衡量成功的方法。优秀的CHRO不仅是聪明、有创意的变革领导者，他们也是精明的商业人士。 这些个人帮助领导他们的消费导向公司渡过了疫情，达到了有史以来最大的增长。Delta现在是美国排名第一的航空公司，Marriott现在是世界上排名第一的酒店公司。在这两种情况下，正如我们的HR Hero奖所指出的，这些人展示了创意、商业头脑和我们领域的广泛技能。 介绍我们的CHRO研究计划：CHRO Insights™ 我们正在启动一个以CHRO为导向的大型研究计划，研究CHRO的角色。该计划包括研究、教育、工具和信息。我们已经发现了一些重要的事情（我们查看了47000名全球CHRO的数据，并将他们的职业与许多业务结果进行了比较）。 首先，我们看到CHRO角色在C级高管中的重要性大幅增加。 CHRO的薪酬迅速增加，越来越多的公司告诉我们，HR正在领导公司的AI计划、生产力计划和文化变革。 其次，CHRO的工作比看起来要难。 大多数公司没有为CHRO提供良好的继任计划（84%的高影响力CHRO职位是外部填补的），这告诉我们需要关注这个角色。这激励我们在这里集中精力，您将在接下来的几个月中看到我们关于CHRO职业发展的更多内容。 第三，CHRO角色必须融合对业务、技术、文化和多种HR领域的深刻理解。 我们的全球HR能力模型涵盖了94个不同的领域，超过11000名HR专业人士的平均信心水平约为3分（满分5分）。想象一下CHRO必须面对的各种问题：从AI战略到全球文化、员工体验、薪酬、多样性等等。 第四，CHRO角色正在扩展。 我交谈的许多CHRO现在负责设施战略（因为设施影响混合工作、福利和工作体验）、整体员工体验战略（包括健康和福祉）、员工沟通战略，以及公司中的所有合规、培训、招聘、薪酬和绩效计划。 最后，强大的CHRO正在改造他们的HR职能。 公司正在使用我们的系统性HR模型来整合HR中的职能孤岛，创建新的产品和解决方案团队，并对HR团队进行交叉培训，以应对AI和这些新问题。优秀的CHRO不仅是出色的领导者和高级HR从业者，他们还是商业变革专家。 今年夏天晚些时候，我们将发布我们的第一份CHRO角色研究，并详细描述我们的CHRO Insights计划。 与此同时，我想庆祝那些承担这些角色或渴望承担这些角色的人，并告诉你们我们正在准备一些令人兴奋的事情。
    HR Technology
    2024年06月22日
  • HR Technology
    Josh Bersin:AI最终会连通整个企业界吗？问问ServiceNow，他们的回答是肯定的。 本周，ServiceNow在其年度用户大会上迎来了超过22,000名IT和技术专业人士，同时公布了几项对其战略的重大增强。ServiceNow的目标是通过一个全新的工作流软件层整合企业资源，使之能够实现全面连接，进而让员工、顾客以及企业领导通过一个统一的界面访问信息和系统。 历史上，ServiceNow主要通过一系列案例管理和服务交付工具来实现这一目标，这些工具主要服务于IT部门。这个平台极大地帮助IT服务团队自动化和优化了他们日常面临的各种IT请求和问题处理。但随着公司的发展及其野心的扩大，尤其是在Bill McDermott这位我所见过的最杰出领导者的带领下，ServiceNow的发展已经远远超出了原有范畴。 在员工服务领域，ServiceNow即将推出一系列雄心勃勃的产品。首先，原名为HR的员工工作流服务现已扩展到包括工作场所管理、员工入职、调查问卷以及技能分析工具等，还包括从Hitch收购的人才智能平台、内部职位调动与招聘等功能。公司正在开发专门的招聘工作流程，以帮助企业简化面试安排、候选人管理以及内外部候选人关系协调等复杂问题。这个看似小众的领域实际上正变得越来越重要，因为越来越多的公司开始重视内部职位流动和动态。 但在我本周参加这次会议时，我注意到ServiceNow的战略叙述发生了显著变化。Bill McDermott花了近一个小时重申他之前的讲话，但这次他将重点从工作流转移到了人工智能。他基本上将原本的工作流引擎战略替换为了“商业转型的AI平台”，显然，他们不再仅仅关注“数字化转型”。 ServiceNow的商业转型AI平台 他们强调的一个非常重要的信息是，AI将成为企业变革的技术，这与数字化变革的影响相似。 几个月前我们还在讨论数字化转型，现在，这已成为过去式：未来的变革将借助AI实现。没错，从某种意义上来说，每种技术都能成为业务变革的工具，但AI带来的变革程度将远超过互联网本身。这一点我稍后将进一步解释。 ServiceNow将其视为一个集成了异构系统的集合，中心是一个AI引擎。会议上的一个关键案例是一家面包店，因应不同地点的天气变化而调整各种烘焙产品的生产。中心的AI系统能够感知这些变化，预测接下来的行动，并指导工厂调整生产策略，从而满足市场需求，提升销售额。这是一个非常吸引人的案例。 ServiceNow的AI架构 有趣的是，像SAP在20世纪80年代推广集成供应链管理，Qualtrics推广客户体验管理时讲的故事，似乎都在用不同的方法解决相似的问题。Bill McDermott凭借丰富的经验，将这一叙事应用于ServiceNow，展现了他作为CEO的卓越远见和沟通能力。 那么，AI真的能成为未来的企业协调系统吗，将各种遗留平台联系起来，提供解决方案吗？ 我确信这将成为现实。虽然这不会一夜之间实现，但最终会发生。这种变革同样适用于我们的消费者生活。 我们日常工作中的效率之所以低下，往往是因为在寻找信息、处理文档、查询库存等活动中分心。如果能直接通过AI查询并获取答案，无疑会极大提升工作效率。（正如我尝试让Siri帮忙却发现它做不到的那样。） 正如我在本周的播客中讨论的，通过语音或文本提出问题比在Workday、Oracle、SAP等系统中四处查找要简单得多。我们曾努力使这些系统更加用户友好，现在，生成式AI的出现将为这些努力带来新的变革。 ServiceNow之所以能够很好地定位自己，有两个主要原因。 首先，他们长期以来一直在开发工作流工具，很多系统都设计得非常用户友好，即便是普通用户也能轻松使用。这就是为什么有这么多IT开发者选择使用ServiceNow的原因。（我在这周的大会上亲眼见证了这一点。） 其次，他们对这些后端系统的工作原理非常熟悉。ServiceNow的工程和产品团队对SAP、Oracle、Workday等系统进行的工作流程和交易处理有深入了解。 我与HR产品团队有过深入的交流，他们向我展示了如何将员工交易集成到ServiceNow平台中，以便构建生成式AI解决方案，与公司内部的系统进行交互。这一过程需要时间，也不会十全十美，但他们已经在正确的道路上迈出了坚实的步伐。这也引出了一个问题：我们是否应该将所有企业系统整合到这种新的界面下。 ServiceNow的HR产品 然而，这种架构也有潜在的缺点。 首先，成本较高。你现在不仅要购买ServiceNow这一复杂的企业平台，还要维护你现有的复杂企业平台。Oracle、SAP、Workday、Salesforce和Hubspot等都在尝试提供类似服务。你已经为他们的建设付出了巨大的成本，现在又要为ServiceNow付费。ServiceNow的产品不便宜，这从他们的收入就可以看出。 其次，这可能会造成系统的脆弱性。ServiceNow的工作流本身可能会因为业务规则的嵌入而变得过时，你必须管理许多小型应用程序，这些应用程序位于你的其他应用程序之上。当这些应用程序更新或被替换时（很多软件公司被收购后，其产品线会发生变化），作为客户的你需要重新配置在ServiceNow中所做的设置。 这让我回想起我在IBM的日子，当时我在主机世界工作，我们的应用程序都是定制开发的，我们有大量的COBOL程序员在构建这些系统。我曾与数据处理部门合作，探讨他们是如何在公司内部整合所有这些系统的。现在，你可能需要在ServiceNow基础设施中构建类似的工具。 如果我现在能与Bill McDermott面对面交谈，我相信他会说：“这是一种更有效的运营方式，我们ServiceNow将为你自动化这一切。”我相信这将随着时间的推移逐渐成为现实。但这也引出了一个问题：你希望将多少组织功能和经验整合进ServiceNow，而不是选择其他核心系统？ 每当我们需要构建新功能时，我们都必须决定将其部署在何处。我们是应该将职业管理平台部署在Workday、Eightfold、Degreed还是Cornerstone？你的决定将决定你依赖于哪个供应商及其发展路线图。 考虑到ServiceNow已经取得了巨大的成功，许多公司都在说：“既然我们已经为此付出了代价，那就让我们继续吧。” 生成式AI能否实现这一承诺？例如，在天气变暖时，它能否提前告诉你需要烘焙更多的面包圈？ 根据我们通过Galileo®获得的AI经验，我认为答案是肯定的。 这项技术的重要性堪比电力的发明。虽然这听起来有些夸张，但我是认真的。我从未见过如此自我发展、强大并且发展迅速的技术。我们正处于生成式AI进入市场的初期阶段。 在未来几年内，生成式AI很可能会改善这些连接，开发代码，并优化这些端到端的“单一视窗系统”。Google正在消费者领域推进此类工作，Microsoft则在办公生产力领域努力。如果ServiceNow能成为企业级应用中的佼佼者，那将不足为奇。
    HR Technology
    2024年05月10日
    • 12
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