The best HR & People Analytics articles of December 2024
The December edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is an opportunity to reflect on the year that is about to pass into history and look forward to what lies ahead. 2024 has proved to be another tumultuous year of geopolitical tension, economic uncertainty, and upheaval in the world of work. Perhaps for HR and people analytics it is a case of “in chaos, there is opportunity,” as we move into 2025.
Enjoy this month’s collection of resources, and to all readers who are taking a break over the festive season, I wish you Happy Holidays, and a prosperous and healthy 2025. Thank you to everyone who has supported Insight222, the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, and the Data Driven HR Monthly in 2024. It means a lot and is much appreciated.
This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at TechWolf
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What are the biggest opportunities for HR in 2025?
HR’s role in creating a thriving workforce and organisation is the underlying theme of my recently published 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025 article (see FIG 1). I’m crowdsourcing the final two opportunities, so if you’d like to contribute suggestions for opportunities 11 and 12, please click here and add your suggestion in the comments.
FIG 1: 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025 (Source: David Green)
December Road Report
The main event for December was the publication of the fifth annual Insight222 People Analytics Trends study, which was our biggest yet with 348 participating organisations. A summary of the key findings follows in the ‘People Analytics’ section below, but one is that 62% of companies told us that they were in the first year of their AI journey in HR. Click here to download the report, and see how the people analytics function in your company compares to ‘A Teams’ by taking the Leading Companies Diagnostic.
I had the privilege of taking the findings from the study out on the road to two events in December. First, I delivered the opening keynote at Visier Inc. Outsmart Local in London, which also featured the likes of Nick Hudgell, Rosemary Byde, Kevin Metherell, and Neera Ridler-Mayor, AIA (see more here). The following week I was in Amsterdam for Workday Rising EMEA, where I was interviewed on stage by Phil Willburn, as well as delivering a keynote on the characteristics of People Analytics ‘A Teams’ (see more on Workday Rising here).
2024 seemed like the year when the 'in-person' event fully returned - and as such it proved to be a busy year on stage. I emceed Unleash World in Paris, People Analytics World events in Zurich, London, and New York, and the Insight222 Global Executive Retreat in Amsterdam. I keynoted at the three People Analytics World events, Workday Rising in Las Vegas and Amsterdam, Gloat Live in New York, the Deloitte Workforce Innovation Forum in Dallas, a Mercer/Corporate Research Forum event on Productivity, Purpose and Profit in London, and Visier Outsmart Local in London. I moderated panels at a number of these events as well as at Strategic HR Analytics MeetUp in New York.
Share the love!
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for December 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 November’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 on Tuesday: subscribe here.
2024 REFLECTIONS
HUNG LEE - What Happened in Recruiting in 2024 - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |
Don't be fooled by the title, Hung Lee's 2024 reflections covers topics much broader than recruiting, and contains a plethora of data, analysis and visualisations that should act as a guide for the year ahead too. Taking one highlight from each of the four-part series (and 20 reflections in total), I'd go with AI and Automation (Part 1), the re-emergence of Talent Density (Part 2), Atlantic Divergence on DEI - see FIG 2 (Part 3), and War on Middle Managers (Part 4). If you don't already follow Hung's twin newsletters, Recruiting Brainfood, and This Week in Recruiting, I highly recommend you do.
FIG 2: Is DEI a 'good thing'? (Source: Pew Research Center)
2025 HR PREDICTIONS, TRENDS AND PRIORITIES
STEVE HUNT - A guide to HR predictions, trends, and forecasts | ANDREW SPENCE - 5 Big Questions for Work in 2025 | DANIEL ZHAO - Glassdoor Worklife Trends 2025 | VISIER – Embracing the AI Driven Workforce: 5 Workforce Trends for 2025 | i4CP – 2025 Priorities and Predictions | LARS SCHMIDT - 7 ways HR will look different in 2025 | JOSH BERSIN - A Tumultuous Year Behind: A Challenging, Important 2025
A people analytics team cannot sit on the sidelines while AI is poised to transform the world of HR. If you don't embrace AI to surface insights and support data-driven decisions, you may miss out on the ability to scale decision intelligence
Putting my own 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025 to one side, there are a plethora of other HR trends, predictions, and priorities being published. Here are seven resources that I recommend digging deeper into. (1) Firstly, Steve Hunt provides a helpful ‘buyer beware’ guide on eight lessons to consuming HR predictions, trends and forecasts, including a warning that most HR forecasts are designed to influence buying behaviour. (2) Despite being a Man United fan, Andrew Spence’s Workforce Futurist newsletter is one of the best around. In a recent edition, Andrew ponders five big questions for work in 2025 including: Is the office dead or just evolving (see FIG 3)? (3) Daniel Zhao presents five trends based on Glassdoor data including: Employers are investing in holistic wellbeing. (4) Visier Inc.’s five workforce trends for 2025 includes the need for organisations to build the backbone of data infrastructure to fully realise the promise of AI in HR and workforce topics, and features contributions from the likes of Dawn Klinghoffer, Eric Bokelberg (see quote above), Angela LE MATHON, Ryan Wong and Adam McKinnon, PhD. (5) As Kevin Oakes writes in his Foreword to The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)’s thoughtful annual look at the year ahead: “perhaps the safest prediction we can make is those who embrace agility will have much more success than those who resist change.” (6) Lars Schmidt takes his annual look at how HR is likely to evolve as a function in the year ahead, with my favourite of his seven being that "Learning and development will take center stage." (7) Josh Bersin looks back at a tumultuous 2024 to highlight the priorities for the year ahead in his big idea of 'Citizenship': "Our job in HR is to help our leaders and organizations practice this kind of citizenship. In a year of tumultuous change, Citizenship will serve us well."
FIG 2: Office utilisation 2020-now (Sources: Andrew Spence, Nicolas BEHBAHANI)
HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
BRIAN ELLIOTT - Five Hybrid Work Trends to Watch in 2025 | JOSE MARIA BARRERO, NICK BLOOM, SHELBY BUCKMAN, AND STEVEN J. DAVIS - SWAA December 2024 Updates | LYNDA GRATTON - Seven Truths About Hybrid Work and Productivity | BETH SCHINOFF, ASHLEY E. HARDIN, KRIS BYRON, AND RACHEL BALVEN - Research: How WFH Can Actually Strengthen Bonds Between Coworkers
Forward-looking organizations will shift toward measuring performance based on results, not attendance
As I wrote in 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025, HR has the opportunity to help their organisations elevate the conversation on hybrid working from where to how. With outliers like Amazon getting a lot of column inches about their decision to bring employees back to the office five days a week (although this move may not be working out well), HR leaders in other firms may come under pressure from their CEOs to follow suit. Five articles that can help resist this move are included here. (1) First, Brian Elliott outlines five hybrid work trends to look out for in 2025 including: “Organizations that embrace flexible work will steal talent from organizations that impose harsh return-to-office mandates.” (2) The latest data from Nick Bloom and his WFH Research team finds that only 44% of employees would comply if their company imposed a five-day return to office (compared to 53% in 2022), which suggests Elliott’s prediction is likely to be prescient. (3) Lynda Gratton unveils seven key findings from what she is seeing from experiments in hybrid working including: (i) Hybrid work is a continuum. (ii) Productivity is usually challenging — and measurement is always complex. (iii) It’s useful to view hybrid work as fundamentally a job design option. (4) Beth Schinoff, Ashley Hardin, Kris Byron, and Rachel McCullagh Balven present research that finds (contrary to beliefs that employees are able to form richer relationships in person than they can working remotely), remote work can actually make coworkers feel closer by giving them authentic glimpses into each others non-work lives through video calls.
FIG 4: Compared to Fall 2022, Persons Who WFH 1+ Days/Week Are Less Willing to Comply With RTO Mandates (Source: WFH Research, December 2024)
RASMUS HOUGAARD AND JACQUELINE CARTER - How AI Can Make Us Better Leaders
In their article for Harvard Business Review, Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter outline their research, which finds that AI can enhance and empower leaders, and actually help them to be more human. They explain why leaders need to focus on the core leadership qualities of awareness, wisdom, and compassion, as well as take on a both/and mindset. In this way, the “AI-augmented leader” can leverage both the power of AI and develop their most human qualities, bringing the best of both human and machine to their leadership practice.
FIG 5: The AI Augmented leader (Source: Potential Project)
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
JONATHAN FERRAR, NAOMI VERGHESE, AND MADHURA CHAKRABARTI - Harnessing Data for Growth: The Impact of People Analytics Article | Full Report
The fifth annual People Analytics Trends study was our biggest yet at Insight222, with 348 participating organisations. The four key findings were: (1) Growth: people analytics continues to expand in scope and investment. (2) Intelligent automation: the advent of GenAI has catalysed HR’s use of AI with people analytics at the core and central to AI strategy in HR. (3) Adoption crisis: the adoption of people analytics remains a challenge with a significant gap between the democratisation of people insights and data (71% of organisations) and a high-level of adoption within HR (47%) and outside HR (28%) – see FIG 6. (4) Value: measuring and demonstrating value is now essential for people analytics teams to increase their impact and drive greater ROI. Kudos to the authors: Jonathan Ferrar, Naomi Verghese, and Madhura Chakrabarti, PhD. Thanks too to the practitioners featured in the study: Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski), Peter Ryan, and Phil Willburn.
FIG 6: Trends in the democratisation and adoption of analytics (Source: Insight222)
RICHARD ROSENOW – People Analytics is Growing | People Analytics Roles Review
Richard Rosenow devotes part of his monthly People Analytics Roles Update newsletter to data highlighting the growth of people analytics. He cites three sources: (1) The 30% increase in people analytics roles that Richard and the One Model team have tracked between 2023 and 2024. (2) The aforementioned Insight222 study, which found that the ratio of people analytics professionals to total employee headcount has improved from 1:4000 in 2020 to 1:2500 in 2024. (3) Data by Jason Saltzman at Live Data Technologies, which finds that both core and specialist people analytics roles are on the rise (see FIG 7).
FIG 7: The growth of people analytics jobs (Source: Live Data Technologies)
BENJAMIN ROGOJAN – Data Science v Data Engineering | PATRICK COOLEN – What Is Not People Analytics | PIETRO MAZZOLENI - The Power of Integration: Why People Data Thrives Within Enterprise Frameworks | JACKSON ROATCH - From Correlation to Causation: Levelling Up People Analytics with Econometrics | SCOTT REIDA - Transform Performance Evaluations with GenAI: Smarter Grading, Visual Insights, and Next Steps | CHRISTOPHER ROSETT – Storytelling: The Story Arc and The Journalist’s Pyramid
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) Thanks to Richard Rosenow for highlighting Benjamin Rogojan’s post, which may be the best explanation (and visualisation – see FIG 8) yet on why you need data scientists and data engineers in an effective analytics team. (2) Patrick Coolen provides a powerful list of what is not people analytics – my favourite is: “People Analytics is ??? about HR (only). It should be strongly focused on high impact business threats and opportunities.” (3) In a recent edition of his (excellent) People Data Platform newsletter, Pietro Mazzoleni explains how HR and people analytics leaders can increase their impact by integrating people data with broader organisational impacts. (4) Jackson Roatch outlines how people analytics teams can create more impact by adding econometric methods to its tools and capabilities. (5) Scott Reida explains how to use GenAI to transform employee performance evaluations from vague feedback into actionable insights. (6) Christopher Rosett breaks down two models – The Story Arc and The Journalist’s Pyramid (see FIG 9) – that can be used to underpin storytelling with data in different contexts.
FIG 8: How data engineers and data scientists deliver value (Source: Benjamin Rogojan)
FIG 9: The Story Arc and The Journalist’s Pyramid (Source: Christopher Rosett)
THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE
DAVE ULRICH - The Next Agenda for Human Resources: What’s So? So What? Now What?
Evidence shows that organizational capability has 4x more impact on results than individual talent efforts alone - yet most of the HR field remains heavily focused on talent.
Dave Ulrich provides some astute observations on the current state of the HR field, and concludes that most of the focus is on the talent domain of his human capability model (see FIG 10) and so on individuals rather than organisational capability. He then provides four ‘next agenda’ recommendations to shift the profession to creating stakeholder value through human capability: (1) Advance that HR is less about HR and more on creating stakeholder value. (2) Offer a complete human capability agenda and assessment. (3) Prioritise using analytics and AI. (4) Upgrading HR professionals.
FIG 10: Human Capability Taxonomy (Source: Dave Ulrich)
KENNETH KUK, DONALD DELVES, AND JOHN BREMEN - A Board Outlook on Effective Human Capital Governance
Human capital governance can be an overwhelming subject for the board. They do not want to get stuck with minute detail about HR policies or programs. Best practice is for the board to focus their oversight on human capital areas most material to the business, either because they pose a significant risk or are a differentiator for competitive advantage.
Kenneth Kuk, Don Delves, and John Bremen present the findings of WTW research into board prioritisation of human capital governance. Findings include: (1) Boards do not spend enough time on long-term strategic workforce planning. (2) Leadership succession and development, talent attraction and retention, and workforce planning and skills for the future were identified as the top three priority human capital topics. (3) Only one-third of board members agree that human capital governance is effective on their boards. (4) Boards do not spend enough time, nor do they receive the right level of information, to engage in meaningful and strategic discussions about human capital governance (see FIG 11).
FIG 11: Boards do not spend enough time or receive enough information on human capital governance topics (Source: WTW, Directors & Boards)
WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM AND PwC - Leveraging Generative AI for Job Augmentation and Workforce Productivity: Scenarios, Case Studies and a Framework for Action
The organizations quickest to adopt GenAI in their workforce are those that could be described as “data-driven”
In their new report, the World Economic Forum and PwC present the findings of their study into how early adopters are leveraging GenAI across the workplace, the impact it is having, and the lessons they have learned along the way. The big takeaway is that they found that success depends as much on people as it does technology. Workers need to understand, trust and adopt GenAI. The report also presents four different scenarios for how the deployment of GenAI in organisations could play out (see FIG 12). With the recent Insight222 People Analytics Trends study finding that 62% of companies are in the first year of their journey with AI in HR, this report will be required reading. Credit to the authors: Adèle Jacquard, Isabelle Leliaert, Till Alexander Leopold, Shuvasish Sharma, Peter Brown MBE, Marlene De Koning, Kiera Thomas, and Astrid van der Werf.
FIG 12: Four scenarios for the near future of GenAI (Source: PwC and World Economic Forum)
THE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE - Measuring the Impact of Skills-Based Talent Initiatives
A helpful and practical guide from The Business Roundtable group of companies to help other organisations effectively implement skills-based hiring and talent management strategies. The report provides a blueprint for how to measure the success of skills-based talent strategies, which is comprised of four components: (1) Aligning on goals and selecting the right metrics to achieve them. (2) Enhancing internal data reporting (see sample balance scorecard in FIG 13). (3) Leveraging data for strategic change management. (4) Collaborating to report success at scale. Thanks to Brian Heger for highlighting in his Talent Edge newsletter.
FIG 13: Measuring the impact of skills-based talent initiatives – sample balance scorecard (Source: The Business Roundtable)
EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
SHARON K. PARKER AND CAROLINE KNIGHT - Design Work to Prevent Burnout
Small, locally led work design changes can have a powerful effect on work quality.
Employee burnout and disengagement is bad for business and bad for workers. A much better approach is to create healthier and more sustainable jobs through good work design. In their article, Sharon Parker and Caroline Knight, outline their SMART Work Design model (see FIG 14), which is designed to improve worker wellbeing and performance. The authors describe each of the five characteristics in the model, before emphasising that the first step in improving work design is to start with data: “The first step in improving work design is to assess its current state, using employee surveys, interviews, and observations. The most comprehensive assessment would incorporate all three.” They then provide guidance on five ways to use the model to drive positive collaboration between managers and their teams to: (1) Redesign teams' work, (2) Align people management systems, (3) Build leader capability for SMART work design, (4) Guide and evaluate operational change, and (5) Encourage and support employee job crafting.
FIG 14: A model for making work smarter (Source: Sharon K. Parker and Caroline Knight)
JACQUELINE BRASSEY, AARON DE SMET, AND DANA MAOR WITH SHEIDA RABIPOUR - Developing a resilient, adaptable workforce for an uncertain future
To successfully move their business strategies forward, 21st-century leaders need an engaged and innovative workforce that can change course quickly, effectively, and fluidly.
A recent study by the McKinsey Health Institute finds that when employees experience strong levels of organisational support, psychological safety, resiliency and adaptability, these are associated with high levels of engagement and innovation (see FIG 15). In their article, Jacqui Brassey, PhD, MA, MAfN ?️ (née Schouten), Aaron De Smet, Dana Maor, and Sheida Rabipour, PhD present a blueprint composed of four actions for leaders to develop their own capacity for change while in parallel fostering resilience and adaptability in the workforce: (1) Setting a North Star for the organisation. (2) Building a psychologically safe community, not just a workforce. (3) Ensuring that leaders themselves are resilient, adaptable, and can serve as role models. (4) Encouraging teams to build resilience and adaptability skills in groups.
FIG 15: The relationship between organisational support, psychological safety, resilience and adaptability with engagement and innovation (Source: McKinsey)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING
STEVEN LEVY - Relevance! Relevance! Relevance! Microsoft at 50 Is an AI Giant—and Still Hellbent on Domination | KATHLEEN HOGAN AND DAWN KAWAMOTO - How Microsoft’s chief people officer built a dynamic company culture
In 2015, Nadella called for a major transformation of Microsoft’s culture: from a ‘know-it-all,’ fixed mindset culture to a ‘learn-it-all’ growth culture
When Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, Microsoft was seen as lumbering and uncool. Together, with Kathleen Hogan, who he appointed as Chief People Office, Nadella cleaned up a toxic culture, crafted the deal of the decade, and put Microsoft back on top. These two resources provide the context from a business perspective and a people one, on who this was achieved. The first article, in Wired, tells the business story: including the acquisitions of LinkedIn and GitHub, the partnership with OpenAI, and how Microsoft closed the AI gap with its competitors. The second article and video, sees Kathleen Hogan sharing how the company changed its company culture and how that evolution continues: “We always joke, the minute you think you’ve arrived and have a growth mindset is the minute you have a fixed mindset.”
MICHAEL ARENA AND PHILIP ARKCOLL - When flatter isn’t better: The hidden cost of collaborative demand
In an effort to create flatter organizational structures, indiscriminately cutting managers without first assessing collaborative demand can have detrimental consequences.
In order to speed up decision making, companies like Meta and Amazon have cut managers as part of a ‘flatter is faster’ approach. The theory is that fewer managers means more speed, more agility, and more innovation. In their article, Michael Arena and Philip Arkcoll provide a counterpoint through Worklytics data showing that when managers are stretched thin—leading teams of seven or more— they encounter overwhelming workloads, rising burnout, and reduced ability to effectively support their teams (see FIG 16). To strike the right balance, Arena and Arkcoll advocate the use of data to assess collaborative demand and drive targeted actions. They provide guidance on (1) Optimising span of control , (2) Focusing on managerial overload, (3) Providing delegation strategies, and (4) Monitoring workloads.
FIG 16: Manager hours worked compared to team size (Source: Worklytics)
ARNE GAST, ERIK MANDERSLOOT, KAI GRUNEWALD, AND NEIL PEARSE WITH CARMEN JAMES AND NATACHA CATALINO - All about teams: A new approach to organizational transformation
Team-focused transformations can lead to 30 percent efficiency gains in organizations that implement these strategies effectively.
According to McKinsey, when it comes to organisational transformations there is a third way beyond the top-down or bottom-up approaches that are typically employed. That is a team-centric approach. Indeed, in their article, Arne Gast, Erik Mandersloot, Kai Grünewald, Neil Pearse, Carmen James, and Natacha (Simon) Catalino reveal that a team-centric approach can lead to 30 percent efficiency gains in organisations that implement these strategies effectively. The article provides guidance on four practical steps to empowering teams and unleashing their potential: (1) Identifying the highest-value teams, (2) Activating the value-creating teams (see FIG 17), (3) Lifting the leaders to support their teams, and; (4) Scaling this approach to more and more teams.
FIG 17: Transformation requires collaboration within and across teams throughout the organisation (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 December that I recommend readers delve into:
FRANCISCO MARIN - Unlocking HR Potential with Organizational Network Analysis: Insights from Gartner’s 2025 HR Priorities – Francisco Marin of Cognitive Talent Solutions takes inspiration from Gartner’s Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2025 report to highlight the role ONA can play in areas such as change management and leadership development – highlighting a case study by Allstate that is contained in the Gartner report (see FIG 18).
FIG 18: Network model for change planning and execution (Source: Gartner)
LISA K. SIMON - AI Isn’t Coming for Your Job—Unless You Ignore It – Lisa K. Simon reveals insightful data from Revelio Labs, on the exposure and adoption of different roles to AI. Findings include: (1) High AI exposure is positively correlated with higher salaries: A ten percentage point increase in AI exposure is associated with 25% higher salaries. (2) The higher the AI exposure, the higher the adoption of AI tools (see FIG 19).
FIG 19: Data scientists lead the way in AI adoption (Source: Revelio Labs)
BEN WIGERT AND COREY TATEL - The Great Detachment: Why Employees Feel Stuck – Ben Wigert, Ph.D, MBA and Corey Tatel, Ph.D. present data from Gallup that finds that employees across the US are increasingly detached from their jobs – hence The Great Detachment – with satisfaction at record lows, employees seeking new opportunities at the highest rate since 2015, but with a cooling job market organisations face risks with regards to productivity and future talent loss (see FIG 20).
FIG 20: Overall satisfaction and intent to leave, among US employees (Source: Gallup)
PODCASTS OF THE MONTH
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected five gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
NICK HUDGELL - AI And Data Governance – Nick Hudgell, Global Head of People Insights at Sanofi, joins hosts Stacia Sherman Garr and Dani Johnson on Workplace Stories, to discuss how his team has built an infrastructure that connects disparate systems, improves data quality, and uses machine learning to unlock insights that genuinely improve employee experiences.
LASZLO BOCK - Becoming a Courageous, Data-Driven HR Leader - Laszlo Bock, co-founder of the Berkeley Transformative CHRO Academy joins Lars Schmidt on what looks like the last episode of Redefining Work (for now at least – see here) to share his journey from shaping Google’s data-driven HR practices to mentoring the next generation of CHROs. If it does prove to be the final episode, Lars you certainly went out on top.
MARK MA - RTOs: Research-backed Realities and Recommendations - Mark Ma, a research professor at the University of Pittsburgh, joins host Sophie Wade on the Transforming Work podcast to shares his discoveries that stock market declines generated RTO mandates but not improved corporate results. In the episode, he advocates for workplace flexibility – giving choices to employees and teams.
ERIN SPENCER AND MACKENZIE WILSON - AI and innovations in HR technology – In this episode of the Capital H podcast, hosts David Mallon and Franz Gilbert sit down with Human Capital analysts Erin Spencer and Mackenzie Wilson to discuss innovative AI solutions emerging in the market from established vendors and agile startups.
BRYAN HANCOCK AND BROOKE WEDDLE - What works—and doesn’t—in performance management – In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Bryan Hancock and Brooke Weddle join host Lucia Rahilly to share their research on what drives performance: what motivates employees most, what matters less than you think, and the changes organisations need to make to ensure their feedback, ratings, and review processes are on track.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
BRIAN ELLIOTT, LAURIANNE MCLAUGHLIN, AND M. SHAWN READ - RTO Mandates: Hard Truths for Leaders
In this video, Brian Elliott, who we featured earlier in the special on hybrid working, discusses the impact of RTO mandates with Laurianne McLaughlin and M. Shawn Read. Brian highlights data and examples that shines a light on return-to-office directives, offers predictions for those companies who have implemented these mandates. He also provides alternative, evidence-based strategies that forward-thinking leaders can use to boost productivity without hurting employee trust, engagement, or talent retention.
RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH
SHONNA WATERS, ERIN EATOUGH, SHEHZAD BASHIR - People Analytics Across Company Growth Stages: Evolving Your Approach as You Scale
In an era where people are at the heart of organizational success, making data-driven talent decisions is no longer optional - it's a strategic imperative.
In their white paper, four esteemed experts in people analytics - Shonna Waters, PhD, Erin Eatough, PhD, Shehzad Bashir, and Ian OKeefe, break down how to build and refine people analytics capabilities that grow with your organisation. The authors introduce a practical framework for people analytics based on four pillars - each with its own set of capabilities: Governance (with seven capabilities including strategy, ethics and compliance), Infrastructure (also with seven capabilities such as storage, performance and security), Methods (with eight capabilities including primary research, statistical models and machine learning), and Products (with nine capabilities including metrics, dashboards, and nudges), which they state form the basis for organisations to build and subsequently scale their people analytics function. This is a well-researched, practical and helpful paper.
HR Analytics adoption is associated with higher return on investment by an average of 6.2% for return on capital employed
BOOK OF THE MONTH
KATARINA BERG – Bold: A New Era of Strategic HR
Behind every innovative company there should be an innovative HR function. That certainly applies to Spotify and Katarina Berg, the company’s Chief People Officer where being bold is etched into the DNA of the HR function she leads. This is evident in the Spotify HR Blog, and now in Bold, which is finally available in English. As I describe in my endorsement of the book:
The pandemic has thrust HR into the spotlight and given the function the opportunity to lead in shaping the new model of work. To do this, HR has to embrace data and digital. It must deliver for leaders and employees alike. Above all, HR must be bold. Spotify’s HR function, under the leadership of Katarina Berg, is setting the template for other to follow. With ‘Bold’, Katarina and her team build on the visionary Spotify HR Blog, providing a rich vein of insights on the practice of a leading-edge HR function and how it delivers value for employees and the business.
BONUS RESOURCES
Some bonus resources to also consume this month:
Andrew Kilshaw provides data, insights and guidance to companies looking to streamline their organisations in Middle Management Is Tough Enough As It Is.... If You're Going to Streamline Your Organization, Do It Right And Give Them "Space to Lead".
The latest edition of Gareth Flynn’s consistently excellent newsletter summarises the findings of his research into skills-based approaches to talent management: 2024 Skills Research - You Don't Need to Become a SBO or SPO to Drive Value From Skills.
Tejas Kumar provides some helpful guidance on how to grow professional relationships (see FIG 21).
Madeline Laurano and Kyle Lagunas provide some helpful guidance on how HR Tech vendors can build better partnerships in 2025.
Donald Sull highlights here the excellent series of 'Culture Champions' based on a webinar series and research by Donald and the CultureX team, which features interviews with leaders including Sharon MacBeath, Manny Maceda, Jim Whitehurst, Marvin Boakye, and Katie Burke.
Rob Briner provides a cautionary tale about telling stories with data.
FIG 21: The Journey to Synergy (Source: Tejas Kumar)
FROM MY DESK
December saw the final three episodes of Series 43 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by TechWolf (thanks Maaike Standaert, Andreas De Neve ?).
MIKAËL WORNOO - How to Use Skills Data to Solve Business Challenges – Mikaël Wornoo? joins me to explore how organisations can move beyond surface-level discussions centred on build a skills-based organisation to drive real business impact.
MELISSA DAIMLER - Drive Success Through Intentional and Adaptive Company Cultures – Melissa Daimler, Chief Learning Officer at Udemy and author of ReCulturing: Design Your Company Culture to Connect with Strategy and Purpose for Lasting Success, joins me to share how HR leaders can design company cultures that are intentional, adaptive, and aligned with business goals.
CHRISTOPHE CABRERA - How to Navigate Challenges in Skills-Based Transformation Journeys - Christophe Cabrera, Director and Head of IT Talent and Company Reputation at UCB, joins me to share how UCB kicked off its skills transformation with an initial proof-of-concept for 500 employees, how it used AI, and its rollout across additional parts of the company.
LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE IN PEOPLE ANALYTICS OR HR TECH?
I’d like to highlight once again the wonderful resource created by Richard Rosenow and the One Model team of open roles in people analytics and HR technology, which now numbers over 550 roles.
THANK YOU
Oli Meager for including me in his list of HR Tech Analysts you can Trust along with a number of people I really respects such as Stacia Sherman Garr, David Perring, FLPI, Kyle Lagunas, and Dani Johnson
Gareth Flynn for posting about the Digital HR Leaders podcast episodes with Sandra Loughlin, PhD and Mikaël Wornoo? as part of sharing his insightful learnings on skills
Josh Tarr for also posting about the Digital HR Leaders podcast episodes with Sandra and Mikael here
Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. for including Excellence in People Analytics as one of ten books that inspired her to write her first book, The Inclusion Equation, which is published in January 2025
Laureano Pérez Caballero for including Excellence in People Analytics in his selection of five books to give as gifts
Thomas Kohler for including the November edition of Data Driven HR Monthly in his list of HR resources
Thinkers360 for including me in their list of Top Voices EMEA 2024
Teamflect for including me on their list of leaders redefining HR
Paul's Job for including me in their list of Experts Shaping the Future of HR
Voxeon Communicationsfor including me in their list of Visionaries redefining the Future of Work
Finally, a huge thank you to the following people who either shared the November edition of Data Driven HR Monthly and/or posted about the Digital HR Leaders podcast, conferences or other content. It's much appreciated: Tanguy Dulac Joseph Nabarro Sven Hultin Alan Susi Sibusiso Mkhize Sebastian Knepper Samir Murgude , SPHR®, SHRM-SCP, IHRP-SP Catriona Lindsay Amardeep Singh, MBA Kouros Behzad Matthew Hamilton Ian Grant FCIPD Dave Millner Vijay Patnaik, MBA Kathleen Kruse Danielle Farrell, MA Aravind Warrier Alexis Fink Errol Kruger Jose Luis Chavez Vasquez Marijana Brasiello, MHRM Andrew Pitts Joachim Decock David Simmonds FCIPD Dr. Jeeta Sarkar Maximilian Lankheit Chris Long Maria Alice Jovinski Felipe Jara David McLean Danielle Bushen Swechha Mohapatra (IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD) Lukasz Sowinski Geetanjali Gamel Timo Tischer Henrik Håkansson Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. Sander de Bruijn, Kristin Saboe, Ph.D. Giovanna Constant Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA Russ Fatum BS, BS, MSA, MBB, PMP Ekta Lall Mittal Luis Maria Cravino Sameer Raut Chandresh Natu Praful Tickoo Ron Ben Oz Emanuele Magrone Laurent Reich Scott Nemeth Chris Lovato Philippa Penfold FCIPD Gal Mozes, PhD Christina Bui Matt Burns Bhawna Bist Melissa Hopper Fritz Rex Blodgett Delia Majarín Asaf Jackoby Joonghak Lee Jaejin Lee Mark Lawrence Kimberly Rose Mariami Lolashvili Malgorzata Langlois Irene Wong Kelly Monahan, Ph.D. Doug Chartier Sophia Huang, Ed.D. Caitie Jacobson Roxanne Bisby Davis Hanna Salo Toon van der Veer David Littlechild Jeff Wellstead Pedro Pereira Dr. Sebastian Projahn Melissa Arronte Linda Jonas John Healy Greg Pryor Kristina Kersiene, PhD Kris Saling Dr Philip Gibbs John Golden, Ph.D. Irada Sadykhova Dolapo (Dolly) Oyenuga, Phil Inskip Joseph Frank, PhD CCP GWCCM Lina Makneviciute Alexandra Nawrat John Brazier Marcela Mury Jacob Nielsen Søren Kold Lucie Vottova Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D. John Gunawan Gawain Wang Dave Fineman Craig Starbuck, PhD Ralf Buechsenschuss Bob Pulver Daniel Ivezaj Nico Orie Greg Newman Brandon Mistry Elizabeth Esarove Julia Brandon, PhD Evan Franz, MBA Erik Otteson Higor Gomes Ken Clar Ruben Santos Dr. Peter Schulz-Rittich Mattijs Mol Tina Peeters, PhD Tim Peffers Ludek Stehlik, Ph.D. Abhilash Bodanapu Mukesh Jain Ohad Geron Jonathon Frampton
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.
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