The best HR & People Analytics articles of July 2022

It’s the time of year for many of us in Europe and North America to recharge and recuperate by taking vacation, and I’m looking forward to heading off with the family to Santorini, Naxos and Ieos in August. There is numerous research that provides a data-driven case for vacation in terms of wellbeing, performance, and productivity, so whether you are an employee, manager or leader do take time off and encourage your team to do so too!

I often get asked what we do at Insight222 , so before getting stuck into this month’s compendium of resources, I thought it might be helpful to provide a quick synopsis. The mission of Insight222 is to make organisations better by putting people analytics at the centre of business and upskilling the HR profession, which we do through:

• People Analytics Program , which develops the knowledge and capabilities of people analytics leaders and their teams in close to 100 global organisations.
• Building a data-driven culture in HR , our learning solutions empower HR teams and professionals to develop expertise in areas such as data analysis, analytical thinking, storytelling, workforce planning and design thinking.
• Scaling and transforming people analytics , through our deep expertise in people analytics our consulting solutions support companies build and execute their strategic people analytics roadmap to drive business value.

Please feel free to get in touch with me at [email protected] , if you’d like to find out more.

Enjoy reading the collection of resources for July and, if you do, please share some data driven HR love liberally with your colleagues and networks.

If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the?Digital HR Leaders newsletter ?comes out every Tuesday –?subscribe here .

FUTURE OF WORK, HYBRID WORK, RETURN TO OFFICE

ROBERT HOOIJBERG AND MICHAEL WATKINS - The Future Workplace Depends on Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Balance

In their compelling piece for MIT Sloan Management Review, Robert Hooijberg (he, him, his) and Michael Watkins present a summary of their research, which encapsulates the future workplace as a stool with three legs that must all be kept in balance – efficiency (measures focused on reducing office space, commuting, travel, and entertainment activities), effectiveness (executing on existing goals and innovating in products, services, and business models), and quality of life (ensuring that employees have the resources and support needed for work-life balance). The article then looks at this future hybrid workplace from a number of angles including: i) thoughtful design of hybrid work, ii) differentiating between shallow teamwork that can be performed virtually and deep teamwork that should be conducted onsite, iii) building in flexibility within a framework, and iv) implementing multimodal leadership encompassing four critical roles – conductor, catalyst, coach and champion (see FIG 1). ??

FIG 1: Multimodal leadership roles (Source: Robert Hooijberg and Michael Watkins

NICK BLOOM - The Great Resistance: Getting employees back to the office

Nick Bloom , a Professor at Stanford, has researched working from home before, during and after Covid (see here ), so has a wealth of data to help leaders navigate the best way forward for their companies and their workforce. In one of his recent articles, he presents findings including: i) how many employees are refusing to return to the office after two years of remote working, ii) that 40 percent of managers are ignoring this refusal (see FIG 2), iii) how employees unhappy with their schedule or boss are easily finding new jobs, and iv) the steps managers can take to restore a productive and vibrant in-office work culture. ???

FIG 2: How has your employer responded to employees who come in fewer days than requested? (Source: Nick Bloom, WFH Research)

AARON DE SMET, BONNIE DOWLING, BRYAN HANCOCK AND BILL SCHANINGER - The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pools?

New research from McKinsey highlighting that voluntary attrition is 25 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels as open jobs have increased to 11.3 million in the US alone In May 2022 (see FIG 3). Employers continue to leverage traditional levers such as compensation, titles and advancement to hire what McKinsey categorises as ‘traditionalist’ workers, but with demand increasingly outstripping supply, the authors identify four types of ‘non-traditionalist’ workers (Do-It Yourselfers, Idealists, Caregivers and Relaxers) that companies should target and present strategies to drive success with each.

FIG 3: Employee Experience factors driving attrition and retention and top reasons for quitting April 2021-2022 (Source: McKinsey)

JULIA DHAR, DEBORAH LOVICH, CHRIS MATTEY, NICK SOUTH, TATSUYA TAKEUCHI, AND SEBASTIAN ULLRICH - Why Deskless Workers Are Leaving—and How to Win Them Back

In all the copious articles about remote and hybrid work, it’s often overlooked that three-quarters of the workforce in most countries are ‘deskless’ workers – those who need to be physically present to do their jobs – that do not have the luxury to work remotely. According to new research by BCG, one-third of these workers are at risk of quitting in the next six months. The article, and embedded report, provides a sobering read before the writers outline a series of steps leaders can take to alleviate the risk of deskless workers leaving including flexible schedules, expanded benefits, career growth and upskilling, and demonstrating support and commitment.

FIG 4: The benefits deskless workers have and the ones they want (Source: BCG)

SHWETHA PAI - Top 6 metrics to measure during an economic downturn

Shwetha T. Pai of Worklytics continues her excellent recent run of articles by outlining six people metrics to measure to gain insights into team collaboration and work as companies attempt to get more done in an increasingly constrained environment. Three of the six metrics highlighted by Shwetha, which can all be measured through the analysis of passive data from collaboration tools (as well as surveys) are: i) Time spent collaborating vs. Time on individual work, ii) how many employees have more than 15 collaborators (over collaboration with more than 10 people can be a leading indicator of inefficiency in the organisation and is highly correlated with bureaucratic processes - see FIG 5), and iii) number of regular 1:1s with managers.

FIG 5: How many collaborators do employees have in their own team (Source: Worklytics)

PEOPLE ANALYTICS

TOM DAVENPORT AND DJ PATIL - Is Data Scientist Still the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century?

If you’re are as old as me, you may remember the seminal Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century article that appeared in Harvard Business Review a decade ago. Well, the two authors – Tom Davenport and DJ Patil – return to consider ten years on whether their infamous claim passes muster. As they reflect, while the field has grown and is projected to experience more growth than almost any other by 2029, the role has changed in many ways: “It’s become better institutionalized, the scope of the job has been redefined, the technology it relies on has made huge strides, and the importance of non-technical expertise, such as ethics and change management, has grown. How it operates in companies — and how executives need to think about managing data science efforts — has changed, too, as businesses now need to create and oversee diverse data science teams rather than searching for data scientist unicorns.” Looking to the future, Davenport and Patil highlight the need to democratise data science, which certainly applies to the field of people analytics.

Data scientists must contribute towards appropriate collection of data, responsible analysis, fully-deployed models, and successful business outcomes

LITTAL SHEMER HAIM – Employee Lifetime Value

As Littal Shemer Haim (???? ??? ????) highlights in her article, Employee Lifetime Value (ELV) is a helpful methodology for HR and people analytics professionals seeking to quantify the expected value an employee can provide to the organisation during their tenure. Littal’s article outlines how HR practices create value, how ELV can support a business case for HR interventions (see example in FIG 6) and provides a case study of ELV in practice at GIA. Littal’s article is based on her recent lecture at Stanford University’s People Analytics course , led by my good friend and fellow cricket afficionado Amit Mohindra .

FIG 6: Example of Employee Lifetime Value (Source: Littal Shemer Haim)

MARTHA CURIONI AND ADAM MCKINNON - Automated assessment of employee data quality using machine learning

As people analytics leaders Adam McKinnon, PhD. and Martha Curioni sagely preface their excellent article, monitoring data quality in HR can be time consuming, expensive, repetitive, and devoid of any professional enjoyment! Is there a solution? Maybe. Martha and Adam propose an automated, multi-dimensional and scalable approach to monitoring employee data quality using unsupervised machine learning. Commenting on this article , fellow people analytics leader Richard Rosenow said: “There are so few resources around HR data management and data management for HR is so unique in comparison to other data sets.” As usual, Richard captures why all those working or interested in people analytics should read Adam and Martha’s article.

FIG 7: Source – Martha Curioni and Adam McKinnon

IAN COOK - Bad Data Can’t Stop Good People Analytics

Don’t be fooled by the confident swagger of your finance colleagues – their data is not perfect, and there is a danger for some people analytics teams that by obsessing about ‘clean data’ they don’t create any impact. This practical guide from Ian Cook at Visier Inc. busts the myth that you need all of your data perfect and in one place to get started with people analytics. Instead, as Ian emphasises, your speed to value and subsequent investment will be quicker if you focus on the business challenge and just use the data you need to solve it. Ian also presents a matrix (see FIG 8) designed to balance the risks of bad data and quality of decisions when it comes to the use of people data: “The goal is to stay out of the risk zone where decisions are being made on data that is of insufficient quality; and, stay out of the waste zone where too much time is invested in perfecting the data used to advance a low risk decision.” If you’d like to hear more from Ian, do listen to his recent discussion with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How People Shapes Data, and How Data Shapes People .

FIG 8: Balance the cost of high quality data against the risks of bad data (Source: Ian Cook, Visier)

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COLE NAPPER – The role of virtue in people analytics

In his latest article, people analytics leader Cole Napper , who has featured regularly in my monthly compendiums for 2022, recounts how he crossed the rubicon in terms of our responsibility as people analytics practitioners “…as increasingly nascent and more invasive data collection procedures proliferate”. Cole looks at topics such as governance and risk (see Cole’s evolution of people analytics data chart in FIG 9), before asserting his belief that: “As a people analytics professional, I argue we must first take our own council. Before the IRB (Institutional Review Board), before governance, before abandoning the advancement of people analytics, we must have and aspire to a value called ‘virtue’.” A thought-provoking read.

FIG 9: Evolution of People Analytics Data (Source: Cole Napper)

ERIN FLEMING - Data Driven HR: The Missing Step for People Analytics

It’s impossible to disagree with Erin Fleming ’s assertion that the connection with frontline HR colleagues is critical to the success of people analytics: “If we silo ourselves within HR, then we can be as advanced as we want (and make as many cool models as our hearts desire) but it won’t make a difference to the business.” Erin, People Analytics and Visualisation Manager at TIBCO, then provides examples of how people analytics and HR work together at TIBCO including: treating HR as customers, highlighting ‘little data’ insights and supplementing these with context to make them usable, their People Analytics Touchpoint for HRBP program (see example in FIG 10), and education.

FIG 10: People Analytics Touchpoint for HRBP (Source: TIBCO)

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE AND WELLBEING

STEVE HATFIELD, JEN FISHER, PAUL H. SILVERGATE - The C-suite's role in well-being

How can C-suite leaders improve both their employees’ and their own well-being? That was the research question for a recent Deloitte study across 2,100 employees and C-suite leaders in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The findings include: i) nearly 70% of the C-suite are seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being, ii) executives significantly overestimate how well their employees are doing and how supported they feel by their leaders (see FIG 11), and iii) One-third of employees and executives are constantly struggling with fatigue and poor mental health.

Only 56% of employees think their company’s executives care about their well-being, while 91% of the C-suite think their employees believe they care about it

FIG 11: The C-suite significantly underestimates how much employees are struggling with their well-being (Source: Deloitte)

JENNIFER MOSS - The Pandemic Changed Us. Now Companies Have to Change Too.

In her powerful new Harvard Business Review article, Jennifer Moss cites Microsoft data to emphasise how collaboration has increased since the start of the pandemic. This includes the startling fact that average after-hours work increased by 28% between February 2020 and February 2022. Too many employees have been pushed past their breaking points, which many studies suggest is a significant driver in ‘The Great Resignation’ and, more importantly, is leading to a negative impact on wellbeing. Jennifer helps point a way forward, drawing on research from recent studies by Mercer and Oracle, and providing examples from companies looking to enhance employee wellbeing through hybrid (including a powerful example from Alan May , chief people officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise), paid leave (with examples from Google, AT&T and Verizon), and improving fairness. For more from Jennifer, listen to her recent discussion with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, where we talked about how to combat the burnout epidemic .

MARJOLEIN LIPS-WIERSMA, CATHERINE BAILEY, ADRIAN MADDEN, AND LANI MORRIS - Why We Don’t Talk About Meaning at Work

According to the authors of an absorbing article for MIT Sloan Management Review, meaningful work will remain elusive if managers don’t learn to overcome four barriers to healthy conversations about what gives individuals their sense of purpose. The article breaks down each barrier in turn and then provides guidance on how to overcome them (see also FIG 12) including providing the environment for employees to talk about meaning in their own words.

FIG 12: Ways to break the silence (Source: Lips-Wiersma et al)

LEADERSHIP AND CULTURE

TERA ALLAS AND BROOKE WEDDLE - Meet the psychological needs of your people—all your people

Excellent analysis from McKinsey on why too many companies fail to pay heed to the needs of their lower earners —and how they should shift gears. As it transpires, contrary to what many leaders mistakenly believe, lower earners also want their psychological needs at work to be met. As FIG 13 powerfully visualises, employees in lower paid occupations are less likely to have experiences that satisfy their psychological needs. The authors then provide guidance to leaders on practices that yield positive returns in almost every situation including recognising competence, granting autonomy, building connections, instilling meaning, and discussing purpose.

Addressing the psychological needs of lower earners makes good business sense

FIG 13: Source – McKinsey

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RAFFAELLA SADUN, JOSEPH FULLER, STEPHEN HANSENAND PJ NEAL - The C-Suite Skills That Matter Most

I’m sure that many readers would hypothesise that now, more than ever, companies need leaders that are good with people. Longitudinal analysis of nearly 7,000 job descriptions for C-suite roles since 2007 by the authors of this Harvard Business Review article supports this view with strength in social skills increasingly prioritised over strength in managing financial and material resources (see FIG 14). The article then details the reasons for this trend (e.g. increases in complexity, use of technology and workplace diversity), and how this requires leaders who are adept communicators, relationship builders, and people-oriented problem solvers. The authors argue that for companies to be successful in the future, they will need to focus on these skills when they evaluate CEO candidates and develop in-house talent.

FIG 14: Source – Harvard Business Review

THE EVOLUTION OF HR

DAVE ULRICH - How Do You Advance Your HR Agenda?

In his latest perceptive article, Dave Ulrich highlights how advancing HR requires both art (“…creative and divergent innovations that adapt to changing circumstances to discover new ideas” and science (“…disciplined and convergent insights that meld theory, research, and practice to deliver on promises”). Dave then outlines how HR has evolved (see FIG 15) and presents an integrated human capability framework (see FIG 16) that is designed to provide a blueprint for HR convergence and progress. Thanks too to Dave for classifying the resources included in my June compendium into the human capability framework.

The divergence and art of HR innovation can be coupled with the convergence and science of HR discipline so that progress will continue

FIG 15: Evolution of HR Agenda (Source: Dave Ulrich)

FIG 16: Human Capability Framework (Source: Dave Ulrich)

JOSH BERSIN - New Research Shows That High Growth Large Companies Have Distinct HR Skills

Josh Bersin presents the results from analysing data as part of his Global HR Capability Project, which finds that high growth companies have significantly deeper HR skills in a number of important areas (see FIG 17).

FIG 17: Source – The Josh Bersin Company

LEARNING

BRUCE C. RUDY - Build Learning into Your Employees’ Workflow

One of the programs we’ve launched this year at Insight222 is an immersive cohort based learning experience (see FIG 18) that couples interactive bootcamps with digital learning to help HR professionals build advanced capabilities in data-driven skills that can immediately be applied on the job. Research suggests that this type of approach known as ‘learning in the flow of work’ can help ensure that learners retain and apply new skills and concepts in their day-to-day workflows. In his article for Harvard Business Review, Bruce Rudy offers five tactical, research-backed strategies to help companies build programs that embrace this approach and deliver real results: i) contextualise the learning, ii) use frequent nudges, iii) build in time for reflection, iv) create micro-learning experiences, and v) measure progress. As Bruce persuasively argues, to build L&D programs that work “employers must invest in programs that emphasize ROI, encouraging employees to learn not in the abstract, but directly in the flow of work.”

FIG 18: Example of a blended learning journey for data-driven HR (Source: Insight222)

HR TECH

NITHYA VADUGANATHAN, COLLEEN MCDONALD, ALLISON BAILEY, RENEE LAVERDIERE, DAVID ALLRED AND SESH IYER - The $12 Billion Opportunity in HR Technology

I somehow missed this BCG study when it was published in March but am now happy to redress this omission. The article cites the huge growth and investment in the HR Tech market (see FIG 19) and breaks the talent management value chain into six steps: i) anticipate future talent needs, ii) assess skill levels, iii) source talent and match internal candidates to opportunities, iv) develop the skills and capabilities of the current workforce, v) embed workers in the organisation and vi) manage employee performance. The authors then highlight the desire of enterprise customers for an integrated solution, and present three strategies for HR tech firms to create an edge: i) develop differentiated data to power predictive analytics and insights, ii) create a strong skill taxonomy, with the capability to adapt it for industry and company context, and iii) establish a position that connects or orchestrates multiple parts of the talent management value chain.

FIG 19: Source: BCG

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 July that I recommend readers delve into (see below).

• ELIZABETH CROFOOT – No Workers to Waste – Analysis from Lightcast (the new name for Emsi Burning Glass) on how the supply deficit in the US employment market of 5.3m workers could be closed (see FIG 20) by tapping into the 5.7m ‘missing workers’ (those currently out of the labour force but want a job).

FIG 20: Source – US Bureau of. Labor Statistics and Lightcast

• TIFFANY PIRES AND ALICIA DEAN - Studying Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Workplace | Best Practices for Analyzing DEIB Survey Data – A two-part post from Perceptyx providing guidance on how to design a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) survey strategy and then analyse the data.
• NATASHA OUSLIS - How to Measure Diversity in Hiring – A helpful guide, by Natasha Ouslis, PhD on the Orgnostic blog, on the key metrics to track diversity, equity, and inclusion in your hiring efforts.
• TAKASHI SAKAMOTO, SHOTA MIYATANI AND YUKU SHIZURU - How Panasonic is Improving Manager Effectiveness and Innovation with Organizational Network Analysis – Powerful interview on the Panalyt blog outlining how Panasonic has implemented ONA, the insights discovered (see FIG 21) and the business benefits it has subsequently enjoyed. Thanks to Yusuf Raza for highlighting.

FIG 21: Source - Panalyt

• SARAH MARRS - The Psychology Behind Performance Reviews – Sarah Marrs from Qualtrics provides evidence to support how fair ratings are critical to future performance.

PODCASTS OF THE MONTH

In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected six for your aural pleasure (you can also check out the latest episodes of the?Digital HR Leaders Podcast? – see ‘From My Desk’ below):

• THOMAS OTTER, JEANNE ACHILLE AND JOHN SUMSER – How HR Tech Makes Work Better – HR Tech legend Thomas Otter , now with venture capitalist Acadian Ventures , joins Jeanne Achille and John Sumser on their #The Work podcast for an absorbing discussion on what is driving innovation in the market.
• ADAM GRANT, JENNY CHATMAN AND ANNIE KAO – The 4 Deadly Sins of Work Culture - In this episode of his brilliant WorkLife podcast, Adam Grant is joined by Jenny Chatman and Annie Kao to explore how to recognise the four deadly sins of work culture (toxicity, mediocracy, bureaucracy and anarchy) before you join an organisation, and to share strategies that can help shape a thriving workplace from the inside.
• JOSH KATZ, ROBERTA FUSARO, ANU MADGAVKAR, BILL SCHANINGER AND LUCIA RAHILLY - Learning and earning: The bold moves that change careers – A recent episode of the McKinsey Podcast, which digs into a study highlighting the importance of internal mobility in organisations.
• LYDIA WU, STACIA GARR, DANI JOHNSON AND CHRIS PIRIE – Forget work-life balance and think more integrated work-life – Lydia Wu , Head of People Analytics at Panasonic North America, joins the RedThread Research Adventures in Hybrid Work series to discuss how her experience as a remote worker before the pandemic helped shape the way Panasonic has adapted to Hybrid Work during the pandemic.
• AMY STEVENSON, COLE NAPPER AND SCOTT HINES – Employee Data Privacy – If you want to hear three people analytics leaders discuss topics related to the privacy of employee data, then this episode of the Directionally Correct podcast where Amy F. of HP joins Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD is for you.
• LAUREN WEGMAN AND CHRISTINA GIORDANO – The Value of People Analytics – Twitter’s Head of People Analytics, Lauren Wegman, Ph.D. , joins the Reimagining Company Culture podcast to discuss her thoughts on defining people analytics, leveraging data across departments, designing the world of work, and more!

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

LYNDA GRATTON AND JEFF SCHWARTZ - Lynda Gratton on evolving HR for tomorrow’s world of work

The ‘Book of the Month’ in my June compendium was Lynda Gratton ’s excellent new tome - Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organization & Make Hybrid Work for Everyone – and in this video discussion for the Gloat Book Club, Lynda and Jeff Schwartz focus on the topic that’s front of mind for nearly every HR leader: What will work look like going forward?

BOOK OF THE MONTH

RASMUS HOUGAARD AND JACQUELINE CARTER – Compassionate Leadership: How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Rasmus Hougaard for an upcoming episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, which will be released on September 13. To prepare for the discussion, I dived once again into Rasmus’s excellent recent book, which he co-authored with his colleague at Potential Project , Jacqueline Carter . Using data from thousands of leaders, employees, and companies in close to 100 countries, Rasmus and Jacqueline reveal that when leaders bring the right balance of compassion and wisdom to the job, they foster much higher levels of employee engagement, performance, loyalty, and wellbeing in their people. I highly recommend this book to any leader or HR professional looking to drive a compassionate and productive culture.

RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH

JASON CORSELLO – Future of Work VC Investment Q2 2022

If you are interested in understanding the trends in HR Tech investment, I recommend following Acadian Ventures , which was set up by Jason Corsello and Thomas Otter, two giants of the field, in 2019 and provides commentary on the market as well as providing early stage venture capital investment themselves. Their analysis shows that VC investment exceeded $3.7 billion in. Q2 2022, down just 12% from the previous quarter and even with Q2 2021. The five-page report highlights that seed investment continues to be strong (see FIG 22).

FIG 22: Source – Acadian Ventures

FROM MY DESK

July saw the first four episodes of Series 24 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by eQ8:

• JENNIFER MOSS - How to Combat the Burnout Epidemic – Jennifer Moss, author of The Burnout Epidemic, outlines what we can do as individuals, colleagues, managers and organisations to prevent burnout.

• KEVIN WHEELER - How Analytics, Data and Technology are Shaping the Future of Recruitment – The founder of the Future of Talent Institute joins me to walk through his new model for recruitment, and the crucial role played by analytics, data and technology.

• ALICIA ROACH - How Strategic Workforce Planning Contributes to Business Success – One of the foremost experts on workforce planning provides a powerful case of how to connect people to purpose through strategic workforce planning.

• PAUL LEONARDI - How to Help Your Teams Develop a Digital Mindset – The co-author of The Digital Mindset outlines the three topics – collaboration, computation and change – professionals need to achieve 30% fluency in to be able to ask the right questions and make smart decisions in the digital age.

THANK YOU

Finally, a special thank you this month to Perceptyx for including the Digital HR Leaders podcast as one of their 10 must-listen-to podcasts for HR leaders – it’s much appreciated.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work.?As Managing Partner and Executive Director at?Insight222 , he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 90 global organisations.?Prior to co-founding Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at?TrustSphere , 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.