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The Best HR & People Analytics Articles of October 2020

David Green

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve been hearing a lot about how Covid-19 is acting as an accelerant to digital transformation and the future of work. As Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, succinctly put it, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”

The impact of the crisis on the field of Human Resources has been significant. The Economist even likened the pivotal role being played by the Chief Human Resources Officer in this crisis to that of the Chief Financial Officer in the Global Financial Crisis.

We are now nine months into a crisis that looks set to last for some time yet. October saw the release of several research studies that dig into the impact of the crisis and the future role of HR. Common themes that emerge include: trust, humanity, skills, wellbeing, collaboration, personalisation and learning. Whatever the future holds, it seems clear that HR and People Analytics teams will be at the forefront of reshaping work – for the better. 

Last month, I wrote that September’s collection of resources was the best I had curated yet. This month’s is even stronger – and includes new research studies from IBM, Accenture, Mercer, RedThread Research and the World Economic Forum. There’s an article featuring an interview with Satya Nadella and contributions from senior HR leaders at global companies like Unilever, Novartis, Ericsson, McKinsey and Mastercard. If that wasn’t enough, there are also contributions from some of the leading thinkers in our field including Dave Ulrich, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Amy Edmondson. 

Next month I’ll be featuring some new research we’ve undertaken at Insight222 into how the people analytics function is delivering value amidst the global pandemic and economic uncertainty. As part of the study, we’ll also be unveiling a new Operating Model for people analytics, which is based on the purpose of delivering value at speed and scale. If this sounds of interest, you can register here (or click on the image below) to receive a copy of the white paper when it is published in November.

Enjoy this month’s bumper collection. Share some data driven love with your network and above all – stay safe and healthy.

THE FUTURE OF HR

ELLYN SHOOK, DAVID RODRIGUEZ, EVA SAGE-GAVIN & KELLY MONAHAN - Care to Do Better: Building trust to enhance employee potential and leave your people and your business Net Better Off

According to this extensive global study by Accenture of 3,200 senior executives (50 per cent HR leaders, 50 per cent other CXOs) and 15,600 workers, trust is the new currency at work. To help firms capture this opportunity, the authors have developed a framework (“Net Better Off”) to meet six fundamental human needs through work (see FIG 1). Accenture’s research finds that 64 per cent of a person’s potential is influenced by whether or not they feel better off across these six dimensions. The report then provides guidance for CHROs and their teams on how to realise this opportunity including ‘sweet spot’ practices and the key questions to tackle (see FIG 1) – which look perfect for a people analytics team.

The CHRO has never been better positioned to be the catalyst for such meaningful change—not only for their people, but also their organizations and communities

FIG 1: The Net Better off Model, dimensions and key questions (Source: Accenture)

AMY WRIGHT, JANET MERTENS, DIANE GHERSON & JOSH BERSIN - Accelerating the journey to HR 3.0 

Humanity, employee experience and skills are also central tenets of a two-year study by IBM, which identifies ten action areas (see FIG 2) critical to the radical redefining of HR. The findings presented in the study make an irrevocable case that the overhaul of HR is a business imperative, and that the guiding principles for this transformation are personalisation, skills at the core, data-driven decision making, transparency and agility. The paper features guidance and case studies for each of the ten action areas.

FIG 2: Ten action areas critical to HR 3.0

JOHN SUMSER - The Emerging HR Data Department (Part 1) | The HR Product Manager in The Emerging HR Data Department (Part 2) | The HR Product Manager in The Emerging HR Data Department – Conclusion (Part 3)

Always thought-provoking and consistently prolific, John Sumser’s writing has reached a new peak in 2020. His three-part series explores what John refers to as “the emergence of a new set of analytics-driven data-based elements of the HR department.” Part 1 introduces the elements of the emerging function (see FIG 3). Part 2 delves into the role of the HR Product Manager (“The primary function of the job is to turn digital transformation into a series of cross-silo, achievable projects while expanding the momentum of the projects that emerge from increasing measurement and analysis”). Finally, Part 3 rounds things off by examining complexity science, group Intelligence, and the limits of specialised AI.

Over the next two to five years HR’s most important asset will be its data

FIG 3: Elements of The Emerging HR Data Function (Source: John Sumser)

LEADERSHIP & CULTURE

SATYA NADELLA & JOE WHITTINGHILL - Success at Microsoft Grows Out of Organizational Culture | JOE WHITTINGHILL - Purpose in a Digital Organization

Satya Nadella is rightly extolled as the epitome of the empathetic and purposeful leader required in today’s world. In an illuminating interview with Joe Whittinghill, who leads Talent, Learning and Insights at Microsoft, Nadella highlights two impacts of the pandemic on future ways of working: flexibility (“Instead of becoming very dogmatic about some new paradigm, the key is to enable flexibility”) and social capital (“how do we maintain the social capital that comes from being together in the workplace?”) – witness the recent announcement by Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s Chief People Officer on how Microsoft is embracing a flexible workplace. Nadella also outlines how Microsoft sees productivity in an organisation moving forward being comprised of three things: collaboration (“every organization will need a system of collaboration to support how work gets done” [see FIG 4]), learning (“every organization will require a system of learning—a continuous feedback loop between the work, skills and learning required to succeed at the task at hand”), and wellbeing (“organizations will need a system of well-being to support the health of employees as they adapt to new work norms”). Joe Whittinghill’s article describing how Microsoft found that by aligning personal and organisational purposes a measurable boost is provided to culture, learning and bottom-line success is the perfect companion piece.

FIG 4: Remote work success is aided by relationships formed in person – “cognitive load is much higher when you first collaborate remotely instead of in person” (Source: Microsoft)

AMY EDMONDSON & TOMAS CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC - Today’s Leaders Need Vulnerability, Not Bravado

The pandemic has shown that the political leaders that embrace data, display candour and adopt an empathetic approach are the ones who have mitigated the health and economic damage to their countries. As Amy Edmondson and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic explain in their article: “People in organizations of all types are better off when their leaders are smart, honest, and caring when taking bold, potentially unpopular actions — when their focus is on helping the organization move forward, not on how they look and certainly not on creating a false sense of invincibility that actually harms people.” Their article provides guidance on what you can do to cultivate a more vulnerable style of leadership. Let’s hope the likes of Boris Johnson take on board the first tip: “Start by telling the truth.” It would certainly make a refreshing change. If you want to hear more from the authors, please tune in to the Digital HR Leaders Podcasts episodes with Amy on how to create psychological safety at work and Tomas on the role of leadership in crisis.

JIM HEMERLING, DEBORAH LOVICH. AHLEY GRICE & ROBERT WERNER - Transforming Beyond the Crisis with Head, Heart, and Hands

As this report from BCG states: COVID-19 has catapulted us five to ten years into our digital future, and the transformation this requires for organisations has become more complex, more uncertain and more multi-faceted. At the centre of everything is the workforce, which as a result of the crisis is facing unprecedented change and deep psychological challenges. As such, the ideas outlined in this article, as illustrated in FIG 5, of focusing transformation on the head (“infuse your priorities with humanity”), heart (“build on strengths forged in crisis”) and hands (“shape the new reality of work”) are as welcome as they are timely.

For many leaders, the question now is, how do we bottle what worked so well to get us through the crisis?

FIG 5: Transforming with Humanity using Head, Heart and Hands (Source: BCG)

STACIA GARR - Responsive Managers: How they've pierced the fog

Stacia Garr and her team at RedThread Research continue with their landmark compendium of research in 2020 with their latest study into what makes for effective managers in 2020. Read the whole report to absorb all the findings but two that standout for me are that managers who have been highly effective during the pandemic have outsized impacts on their teams and organisations, and that these managers excel at specific practices within the four lenses of responsivity (see FIG 6 below).  (May require subscription).

FIG 6: High-responsivity manager behaviours (Source: RedThread Research)

THE FUTURE OF WORK

LEENA NAIR - This is how to empower the workforce to shape the future of work

In October, the World Economic Forum launched their 2020 Future of Jobs Report, mapping the jobs and skills of the future and tracking the pace of change. In her article, Leena Nair, CHRO at Unilever and a previous guest on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, explores how businesses must ensure that human capital is treated as an asset - not a burden - so that the economic recovery is fuelled by people thriving, adapting, growing and proactively shaping the future of work.

To imagine the future of work, we must start with defining how human beings can adapt and grow

FIG 7: Source: Future of Jobs Report, 2020, World Economic Forum

TOMAS CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC & IAN BAILIE - Tech Is Transforming People Analytics. Is That a Good Thing?

The prolific Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic together with my Insight222 colleague, Ian Bailie, examine how technology continues to help advance people analytics. They highlight the good (e.g. how companies are using active and passive listening to support employees during the crisis and their preferences for returning to the office) and the bad (e.g. how other companies are considering the use of intrusive monitoring software that can take screenshots and track people’s movements). Without sufficient governance such as an ethics charter for people analytics in place, people analytics is at risk not just of unethical practice, but of less success in driving business value. 

It’s not enough to hope that ethics are at the forefront when companies are considering new technology or people analytics projects. In our view, companies need to adopt an ethics charter for people analytics that helps them to clearly govern what they should or shouldn’t do.

 

CINDY ANDERSON & ANTHONY MARSHALL – Covid-19 and the future of business

The second report this month from the IBM Institute for Business Value highlights five ‘epiphanies’ from leading executives for the post-pandemic business landscape, offering new perspectives on digital transformation, the future of work, transparency, and sustainability. These include: ‘Digital transformation was never just about the technology’ (“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation at 59 percent of organisations we surveyed”), ‘Health is the key to sustainability’, and pertinently for our field, ‘The human element is the key to success,’ which includes the worrying finding in FIG 8 below, highlighting the trust gap between employers and employees.

FIG 8: Employees and Executives don’t see eye to eye (Source: IBM Institute for Business Value)

DAVE ULRICH, NORM SMALLWOOD & ALAN TODD - How to Get Results from Your HR Transformation

Building on the Organizational Guidance System initiative Dave Ulrich and his team at RBL has been focused on for the last 18 months, this article looks at the four stages of HR maturity (essential foundation, functional, strategic, outside in) across the nine domains of HR impact on business results (see FIG 9). Findings include the (perhaps) unexpected insight that doing foundational HR work is critical to all business results. 

FIG 9: HR Transformation: 4 stages of HR maturity across 9 HR domains (Source: Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Alan Todd)

PEOPLE ANALYTICS

ELIZABETH LEDET, KEITH MCNULTY, DANIEL MORALES & MARISSA SHANDELL - How to be Great at People Analytics

This article presents the findings of a study by McKinsey’s People Analytics team of 12 of their peers in global organisations across different industries “to try to understand what teams are doing, the impact they are having, and how they are doing it.” The result is the ‘Stairway to Impact’ for People Analytics (see FIG 10), which ranges from poor data to strong data, through advanced analytics to reliable predictions. This article is an important step to drive maturity and advancement in the field and is already receiving great feedback from practitioners.

FIG 10: The People Analytics ‘Stairway to Impact’ (Source: McKinsey)

SIMON HAINES - Unlocking value from People Analytics: How to Harness Innovation

As CEO of Simply Get Results, Simon Haines is immersed in the field of people analytics. His article examines whether people analytics is at a crossroads and whether an ‘innovation mindset’ could be the key to unlocking value in the year ahead. Simon then offers five ideas to help organisations maximise the strategic value of People Analytics including partnering across organisational boundaries, embracing team diversity and having a skilful leader to knit everything together.

While People Analytics is an innovative domain and a ‘team sport’ - the ‘best’ team members may not be the first, most obvious selection

ADAM McKINNON & MONICA ASHTON - What is the Forecast for People Analytics?

Another brilliant practical guide from Adam McKinnon and Monica Ashton on how to do people analytics – this time on forecasting - aka Time Series Analysis- using the R library ‘ModelTime’ to model the future interest in the people analytics field (see FIG 11). I have to agree with Amit Mohindra, who called this article an important contribution to the library of people analytics literature as it addresses an important capability, reveals Adam’s and Monica’s methodology, and provides guidance for people to replicate and build upon their work.

FIG 11: The future level of interest in the domain of People Analytics using Google Trends data (Source: Adam McKinnon and Monica Ashton)

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

ANDREW MARRITT - How to gain insight from employee text feedback

In terms of motivating change, executives are more likely to act on text-based employee feedback, but as Andrew Marritt explains it’s what you do with the analysed data that determines success. Further analysis and visualisations are needed to provide context and balance – and these must be aligned to the decisions that executives want to make. Andrew’s article provides some examples of analyses or visualisations you might want to perform once you have coded the data including visualising how the themes are linked (see FIG 12), grouping who said what, understanding how themes are changing over time, linking to other variables and moving towards causality.

FIG 12: Weighted Co-occurrence graph. Edges show the likelihood that the relationship between the themes is unusually strong (Source: Andrew Marritt, Organization View)

SUJAY SAHA, MATT EGOL & MATTHEW SIEGEL - Enterprise agility and experience management efforts work best when they work together

Not content with penning a regular stream of terrific articles, Andrew Marritt’s weekly Empirical HR newsletter continues to be a fount of knowledgeable insights. This article from PwC’s Strategy & Business, which presents the case for combining efforts to transform enterprise agility and experience management (including employee experience), is the perfect example. The article outlines PwC’s return on experience (ROX) concept, which is designed to “help companies center both agile and experience management efforts on customer and employee experiences, enabling leaders to better direct their efforts and amplify their results” (See FIG 13).

FIG 13: Return on experience (ROX)strengthens both experience management and enterprise agility (Source: PwC)

LEARNING

LEWIS GARRAD - What are the Skills needed to Create a Culture of Lifelong Learning?

As Satya Nadella has said, “the learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all”. For many people, the idea that having the right mindset is central to learning and change, makes sense. In his article for myHRfuture, Lewis explores what organisations really mean when they say they need a ‘growth or agile mindset’ – he proposes the focus should be on teaching a specific set of skills that help people learn and adapt. He shares the work he and Mercer did with the Singapore government, building “skills to build skills” or “critical core skills” (see FIG 14)

FIG 14: The skills to build skills (Source: Lewis Garrad, Mercer, Skills Future SG)

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

SARAH COURY, JESS HUANG, ANKUR KUMAR, SARA PRINCE, ALEXIS KRIVKOVICH & LAREINA YEE - Women in the Workplace 2020 | ROBIN ELY & DAVID THOMAS - Getting Serious About Diversity: Enough Already with the Business Case | SANJA LICINA – Elevating Women in Technology | IAN COOK - Why Cohort Analysis is Key to Effective D&I Programs | RYAN WONG & LISA ARDILL - Is data analytics the answer to improving diversity at work?

There were so many important resources published about diversity and inclusion in October, it seemed sensible to collect some of the best of them together. First, McKinsey’s sixth Women in the Workplace report looks at the some of the most alarming impacts of the pandemic on women – including higher levels of exhaustion and burnout amongst senior-level women (see FIG 15), and explore the opportunities created in 2020 for a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Next, writing in the Harvard Business Review, Robin Ely and David Thomas counsel against focusing on the business case for diversity (where they argue there is correlation but not necessarily causation) and instead diversify your company because it is the right thing to do (“If company profits come at the price of our humanity, they are costing us too much”). Then Sanja Licina, who spoke so eloquently recently at PAFOW, highlights how Globant combines powerful diversity and inclusion initiatives, a strong culture technology platform, and people analytics (see FIG 16) to create a culture of co-elevation and support for women in technology at the company. Finally, in two separate articles, Ryan Wong and Ian Cook of Visier outline the role of people analytics and cohort analysis in creating effective diversity and inclusion programs.

If women leaders leave the workforce, women at all levels could lose their most powerful allies and champions

FIG 15: Companies need to do more to address challenges facing employees due to Covid-19 (Source: Women in the Workplace, 2020, LeaninOrg and McKinsey)

FIG 16: Networks of women and men at Globant (Source: Sanja Licina, StarMeUp)

HR TECH

GEORGE LAROCQUE – Q3 2020 HR Tech Global VC Update | 6 keys to buying HR software successfully

It was a canny move by Marc Coleman to recently bring George Larocque and his HRWins business into the UNLEASH fold as George is one of the top analysts in the HR Tech space. In this pair of articles for the relaunched (and rather excellent) UNLEASH blog, George first unveils his Q3 analysis of VC HR tech investments, which as FIG 17 illustrates that despite (or maybe, due to) the pandemic, the amount ($1.65 billion) is the second largest since George began tracking the market in 2017. Categories leading the way in terms of investment include collaboration, learning and wellness solutions. In the second article, George outlines six steps to successfully buying HR technology solutions.

FIG 17: HR Tech investment quarter by quarter (Source: George Larocque)

PATRICK KULESA - From lockdown to reopening: Anxieties continue shaping the employee experience | FRANCISCO MARIN - 5 Ways ONA Creates Value in Mergers and Acquisitions | JAN REZAB - My 10 Productivity Hacks for Working Remotely

In this month’s lightning round-up of three articles from HR Tech companies that caught my eye, Patrick Kulesa (Willis Towers Watson) highlights the evolving way that the pandemic is impacting employees (see FIG 18). Then, Francisco Marin (Cognitive Talent Solutions) explores how ONA can help organisations unlock value from M&A. Finally, Jan Rezab (Time is Ltd.) outlines ten very helpful productivity hacks for working remotely – my favourite is #2: block out focus time, which for me is absolutely essential.

FIG 18: Source: Willis Towers Watson

PODCASTS OF THE MONTH

SARAH GRETCZKO, LAURA STEVENS, YVES VAN DURME & AMEL ARHAB & BURT REA - Governing workforce strategies: New questions for better results | CATALINA SCHVENINGER & MATT ALDER – Ep 305: Skills for the Future | SIMON BROWN & DAVID GREEN – Ep 44: How Novartis promotes learning curiosity to drive business value | VIDYA KRISHNAN & DAVID GREEN – Ep 45: Making learning a habit that matters at Ericsson

Four podcasts for your aural listening pleasure this month. Firstly, Deloitte’s Capital H Human Capital Podcast is an episode of two halves with Sarah Gretczko, Chief Learning and Insights Officer at Mastercard explaining how her company shapes the talent experience using analytics followed by a panel discussion featuring Laura, Yves and Amel on the importance of workforce metrics. The second podcast sees Catalina Schveninger and Matt Alder talking about the skills talent acquisition professionals will need in the future and how they can acquire them (congrats to Matt on recently reaching 300 episodes and over one million listens of his excellent Recruiting Future podcast). Finally, the ninth series of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast was all about learning and skills – hear from Chief Learning Officers, Simon Brown and Vidya Krishnan, on how learning is helping drive business outcomes at Novartis and Ericsson respectively.

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

AMIT MOHINDRA - A Few Thoughts for Your (Brilliant) People Analytics Career

I had the pleasure of co-hosting some of the PAFOW online conference with Al Adamsen and a host of people analytics leaders at the beginning of October. Some of the talks are available on the PAFOW YouTube channel including this one from Amit Mohindra, which was one of my favourite sessions of the whole two days. Amit has been in the field for over ten years, and as such his thoughtful reflections are a highly recommended view.

RESEARCH REPORTS OF THE MONTH

RIGAS HADZILACOS, AIDAN MANKTELOW, TILL ALEXANDER LEOPOLD, SAAIDA ZAHIDI, SARA TIEW, CLADIA UKONU, MILAN TAYLOR & KATE BRAVERY - Resetting the future of work: Disruption and renewal in a post-COVID world

As I signposted in the introduction of this month’s collection, October left us spoilt for choice when it came to fascinating research about people analytics and the future of the HR profession – see earlier entries from the likes of Accenture, IBM, McKinsey and the World Economic Forum to name but four. This collaboration between Mercer and the World Economic Forum makes it five. The paper shares critical insights and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic response, including workforce-related best practices from more than 80 CHROs at leading global employers. This report provides organisations with an overarching view to addressing the future of work through the five imperatives illustrated below in FIG 19.

CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

NEW Skills... NEW Future... NEW Opportunities

The myHRfuture academy is a learning experience platform for HR professionals looking to invest in their careers. We have many online HR certifications that are designed for People Analytics professionals and HR Business Partners to help them build their knowledge and get a People Analytics certification or a certification in Digital HR and understand how to become more digital and data-driven. All of our online HR certifications reflect the core HR skills you need to develop for the future, giving you a professional edge while providing evidence of the skills you’ve mastered, helping you get ahead and Press PLAY on your Career® for only £25 per month.

David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast on myHRfuture.

SEE ME SPEAK AT THESE EVENTS

I’ll be chairing and/or speaking about how to drive business value and employee experience through people analytics as well as the Nine Dimensions for Excellence in People Analytics model at the following upcoming events: