The best HR & People Analytics articles of March 2021

In the preface to February’s selection of articles, I wrote about how the pandemic was exposing outdated thinking when it comes to managing people at work - witness news of Teleperformance, a company that employs about 380,000 people in 34 countries, telling staff that specialist webcams will be fitted to check for home-working “infractions” that "hamper your productivity".

Another prime example comes from David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, who has labelled remote work as an “aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible”. What does this say about the investment bank’s culture? This recent article about “inhumane 100 hour weeks” at Goldman Sachs might provide a further clue.

Solomon would appear to share similar views to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, respectively the UK’s Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Johnson, who at times seem to live in a parallel universe to the rest of us, suggested last week that people have had enough “days off” at home during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Sunak warned that workers must be allowed to return to the office or they may quit if forced to stay at home.

Back in the real world there is increasing evidence that the vast majority of companies are rethinking their approach to the future of the workplace and hybrid work by putting employee wellbeing at the fore. For example, Citibank has announced ‘Zoom-free Fridays’, Standard Chartered is piloting a virtual water cooler and Spotify is now several weeks into its work from anywhere shift. The key message in new research from Microsoft (included below) is that the move to hybrid working will be as big a disruption as last year’s sudden shift to remote working.

In Think Again, our book of the month, Adam Grant contends that “bold, persistent experimentation might be our best tool for rethinking.” This approach is echoed in one of this month’s selections from Tom Davenport and Thomas Redman, which recommends HR create experiments and use data to drive decision making on return to workplace strategies.

That is what is happening in several companies. In the resources I’ve selected this month you’ll learn from several chief people officers and heads of people analytics about the work they are leading to reshape workplace strategies in the post-pandemic world including: Leena Nair (Unilever), Stephen Baert (Novartis), Kathleen Hogan and Dawn Klinghoffer (Microsoft), Katarina Berg and Alexander Westerdahl (Spotify), Alexis Fink (Facebook), Jeremy Shapiro (Merck), Donna Morris (Walmart) and Serena Huang (Kraft Heinz). There is much to take inspiration from.

Efforts to shape return to workplace and hybrid work strategies are adding another layer of complexity to workforce planning. As one people analytics leader said to me last week: “If my company decides to fully embrace hybrid working, just imagine what doors will open in terms of where we can hire and locate our talent.”

Each year at Insight222, we work with the 70+ global organisations who are members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program? to deliver co-developed diagnostic tools for some of the most complex topics in People Analytics. In the last 12 months, this has seen the development of ‘Building the Future Organisation: A New Playbook for Workforce Planning.’ You can download an extract of the report here.

As part of the research, across almost 50 global organisations nearly all companies surveyed (90%) expressed a desire to build a skills-based workforce planning process. However, only a quarter of companies (26%) are actively doing so (see FIG 0). Jonathan Ferrar’s article, which follows below provides further insights from the Playbook

FIG 0: Use of skills-based approach to workforce planning (Source: Insight222)

I hope you enjoy this month’s bumper selection of resources, which is the largest monthly collection I’ve compiled yet. There is so much good content out there at the moment, which I believe is indicative of HR’s enhanced role, a surge in the growth and use of people analytics and (in most companies at least) a more human-centric approach to managing people.

Enjoy reading, and please share liberally with your colleagues and networks.

THE FUTURE OF WORK | RETURN TO WORKPLACE

MICROSOFT – 2021 Work Trend Index: The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready?

A blisteringly insightful report from Microsoft, based on a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries and analyses of trillions of productivity and labour signals across Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn. The study features seven hybrid work trends [including: i) leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call, ii) high productivity is masking an exhausted workforce – see FIG 1, and iii) shrinking networks are endangering innovation (“When you lose connections, you stop innovating. There are no new ideas getting in and groupthink becomes a serious possibility”)], five ways forward [including i) combating digital exhaustion from the top, ii) prioritising rebuilding social capital and culture, and; iii) rethinking employee experience to compete for the best and most diverse talent], and a host of stellar contributors [including Kathleen Hogan, Jared Spataro, Dr. Mary Donohue, George Anders, Dr. Nancy Baym and Karin Kimbrough].

Managers have always had an important role in unlocking the potential of employees, and that role has been amplified during the pandemic.

Kathleen Hogan

FIG 1: Source - Microsoft 2021 Work Trends Index

TOM DAVENPORT & THOMAS REDMAN - Experiments and Data for Post-COVID-19 Work Arrangements

In last month’s collection, I highlighted a brilliant article by John Boudreau and Pete Ramstad, which urged for the coupling of future work design with agile experimentation. In a similar vein, Tom Davenport and Thomas Redman’s article in MIT Sloan Management Review calls for companies to eschew guesswork and instead create experiments and use data to drive decision making on return to workplace strategies. The article provides insights from Alexis Fink (on the work Facebook is doing to understand whether being co-located with a manager is crucial to high performance ratings and promotions) and Jeremy Shapiro (whose studies at Merck point to the workforce being heterogeneous and that no single policy will be appropriate for all employees). Davenport and Redman then provide guidance on how to successfully set up and run an experiment of this nature. 

Work arrangements adopted after the pandemic are likely to persist for decades, so it’s worth the trouble to get them right.

LEENA NAIR - Fit for the postpandemic future: Unilever’s Leena Nair on reinventing how we work | Stitching the world of work back together

Leena Nair is a standard bearer of the modern chief human resources officer, so it’s a real treat to include two articles featuring Leena this month. The first article, an interview with McKinsey, examines how the pandemic has changed organisations, how Unilever is equipped to drive change in its workforce, and what lessons (see FIG 2) have been reinforced over the past year to help the company become ‘future fit’. The second article, written by Oliver Balch for Raconteur, dives into how Unilever is implementing its three-pronged purpose and skilling-up its workforce.

Everything we had previously talked about as an organization came to the forefront: digitization, agility, resilience, and sustainability. What the pandemic did for organizations and for Unilever is to accelerate that future.

Leena Nair

FIG 2: Five lessons from the pandemic for HR leaders

FRANS DAGELET, ATTILA HAVAS AND MARJOLEIN WEVERS - The Future of Work is here

This new report from Deloitte and Liberty Global outlines a future world of work shaped by the pandemic which requires more transparent and consultative leadership, greater focus from employees on career development as automation increases and a more proactive role for governments to invest to close the digital divide. It draws on interviews from 26 business leaders, policymakers and researchers, exploring disruptive changes (see FIG 3) to work, the workforce and the workplace – and plots the way forward.

FIG 3: The seven disruptive trends shaping the future of work (Source: Deloitte)

ERIN E. MAKARIUS, BARBARA Z. LARSON & SUSAN R. VROMAN - What Is Your Organization’s Long-Term Remote Work Strategy? | ALEXANDER WESTERDAHL – Work from (M)anywhere

The shift to remote working in 2020 due to the pandemic was unexpected, unplanned and executed quickly with haste. Fortunately, organisations are now able to take a far more intentional, data-driven and strategic approach to planning for the post-pandemic workplace, which can be seen by the pivotal role being played in many companies by people analytics teams. In this article, researchers highlight a number of company policies and management practices that will need to be revisited with regards to remote and hybrid working. They also list ten questions to help shape thinking including: Are you ready for a work from anywhere (WFA) approach? How can you maintain a strong company culture? What HR policies need to be updated? The second article, from Alexander Westerdahl, provides an update on Spotify’s WFA approach five weeks after it was launched (see also Spotify’s Chief People Officer, Katarina Berg in Podcasts of the Month).

WORKFORCE PLANNING

JONATHAN FERRAR - How to Build a Workforce Planning Strategy that Delivers Business Value | IAN BAILIE & CAROLINE STYR – A New Playbook for Workforce Planning (Extract)

As highlighted in the preface, each year at Insight222, we work with the 70 global organisations who are members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program? to deliver co-developed diagnostic tools for some of the most complex topics in People Analytics. In the past 12 months this has seen the development of ‘Building the Future Organisation: A New Playbook for Workforce Planning (download an extract of the report here). Jonathan’s article focuses on findings in the research on significant factors that leading companies perform when they ‘do workforce planning well’ (including measuring the value of workforce planning and its link to business outcomes). Jonathan also presents and describes a new framework we have developed at Insight222 as a result of the research: the Insight222 Nine Dimensions for Workforce Planning?.

FIG 4: Insight222 Nine Dimensions for Workforce Planning? (Source: Insight222)

THE EVOLUTION OF HR

ASMUS KOMM, FLORIAN POLLNER, BILL SCHANINGER, AND SURBHI SIKKA - The new possible: How HR can help build the organization of the future

We often hear about an increasing need for talent and business agility. But what does a more dynamic work model really look like? Research from McKinsey suggests future-ready companies share three characteristics: they know what they are and what they stand for; they operate with a fixation on speed and simplicity; and they grow by scaling up their ability to learn and innovate. To propel this transformation, HR must facilitate positive change in these three areas, by focusing on nine sub-imperatives (see FIG 5).

The pandemic underscores the urgency for a more dynamic talent and work model. Human-resources leaders can help by focusing on identity, agility, and scalability.

FIG 5: Nine imperatives can help HR leaders ready their organizations for the future (Source: McKinsey & Company)

STEVEN BAERT - Goodbye performance ratings, hello impact!

Steven Baert, the Chief People Officer at Novartis, is the embodiment of a new breed of chief human resources officer – business focused, human-centric and data-driven. In his latest article, Steven shares how prompted by feedback from their workforce, Novartis is reimagining performance management around four pillars: bold objectives, frequent feedback, recognition and rewards. Steven explains: “After a series of rigorous, data-driven experiments involving over 16,000 employees across the business, this January, we waved goodbye to numbers, and said hello to impact.”

The pandemic is driving businesses to seek out new ways of working for a new kind of workforce and letting go of the old management principles. By reimagining performance management, we’re enabling an environment where our people can grow, contribute and be their best.

NORM SMALLWOOD, DAVE ULRICH & ALAN TODD - From Benchmarking to Guidance: A New Paradigm for Setting Priorities and Delivering Results

Dave Ulrich and his colleagues at RBL provide an update on their Organization Guidance System (OGS) initiative, which they have piloting now for 18 months. It is designed to get beyond the traditional reliance of HR on benchmarking and best practice and instead harness data and technology to provide guidance on the decisions that will drive the most impact on your organisation’s results (see FIG 6). The results revealed in their article are impressive and point the way to HR’s future.

FIG 6: What outcomes do we most want to improve in the next 12-18 months? (Source: RBL) 

ROBYN FORMAN POLLACK AND DINA PERREAULT - 5 Challenges Facing CHROs at Midsize Companies Today

HR has arguably never been so important and has never been more visible. We’ve been talking and hearing a lot from Insight222 clients about the shifting role of the CHRO since the start of the pandemic – indeed we covered this topic with Arianna Huffington and Donna Morris in this week’s episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast. But what unique challenges face CHROs in middle-market enterprises where there’s additional opportunity to positively impact rebound and growth? This article in HBR identifies five issues including reskilling/upskilling, diversity, equity and inclusion, and growth that are top of mind for CHROs of midsize companies and tips for how to address them.

CHROs in 2021 have a lot to accomplish, but never before has the office of the CHRO been so critical and relied on to maximize not just talent performance, but enterprise financial performance as well.

PETER HINSSEN – Reinventing HR to Thrive in the ‘Never Normal’

In his article on the future of HR, Peter Hinssen compares the function to marketing: “If you look at marketing departments, and compare it to HR, I would estimate they have a 10 year lead on skills, instruments, and tools.” He continues by outlining that the reinvention of HR will need to combine technology with a renewed focus on the human element: “As the pandemic has shown, it’s not enough to slap technology onto the problem, hoping that will fix it.”

We have massive amounts of data and information that could guide us to help improve how people work, learn, and collaborate. But we haven’t even scratched the surface.

TOM DAVENPORT & GEORGE WESTERMAN - How HR Leaders Are Preparing for the AI-Enabled Workforce

To understand how organisations are preparing for the future of their workforces, Tom Davenport and George Westerman conducted a study with HR leaders in large companies. They identified four workplace strategies companies are pursuing: i) Doing Nothing (by far the most common), ii) Building Digital Skills (Amazon and DBS Bank), iii) Predicting Job Trends (e.g. JP Morgan Chase and General Motors), and; iv) Helping Workers Choose Their Own Futures (e.g. Unilever, GE Digital). With the first strategy being the most common, it seems that Westerman’s first law of digital innovation applies: ‘Technology changes quickly, but organizations change much more slowly’.

The changes are not about AI or COVID-19 or any specific new technology. They’re about understanding that companies need to be more agile in skilling and staffing, and their ability to adjust to change.

PEOPLE ANALYTICS

DAWN KLINGHOFFER - In Hybrid Work, Managers Are the Link That Keeps Teams Connected | ERIC ROSENBAUM - The message Microsoft is sending to managers after a decline in team connectedness

Ever since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft’s head of people analytics, Dawn Klinghoffer, and her team have studied the impact of remote work on Microsoft’s more than 150,000 employees, and daily survey results quantify this challenge all too clearly. The research highlights that when it comes to hybrid work, managers matter more than ever: “We found that when managers stepped in to help teams prioritize, feel productive, and maintain work life balance, employees felt more connected to one another.” The first article contains some stunning animated visuals tracking results from the Daily Pulse survey, identifies three key factors impacting employees’ feeling of connection (see FIG 7) and analyses the impact of onboarding 25,000 new employees virtually. The second article, from CNBC, highlights that Microsoft is incorporating the lessons learned from the pandemic into its return to workplace and hybrid working strategies. Once again, Microsoft is setting the template for others to follow when it comes to using people data to drive decision making.

New hires' reliance on their managers for onboarding support increased nearly 20 percent compared to before the pandemic

FIG 7: Three factors impacting employees’ feelings of team connection (Source: Microsoft)

BRAD CLUM - How to Execute High Impact People Analytics Surveys

A really helpful piece by Brad Clum highlighting the key elements of a ‘Survey Playbook’ created by Genetech’s People Analytics team to redefine their process in order to increase impact. Brad then walks through six stages: i) Define Goals, ii) Develop Survey, iii) Test and Launch, iv) Analyse Results, v) Communicate Insights, and the often overlooked final step: vi) Conduct Retrospective. As Brad highlights, surveys can often result in little change or action – the steps outlined here can prevent this from being the case.

It’s more effective to take the time to clearly define the survey’s purpose and goals before beginning to think about questions

SERENA HUANG - Use HR Tech and People Analytics to Shape Your Post-Covid Workplace Strategy

Serena Huang, who leads people analytics globally at Kraft Heinz, provides a helpful summary of how data, analytics and technology can help organisations in shaping their post-pandemic workforce strategies. Serena dives into tools and techniques including employee listening, workplace safety and vaccine management, organisational network analysis, diversity and inclusion, and workplace experiments.

The pandemic has provided a unique opportunity for organizations to rethink their workplace strategy

TERENCE SHIN - Why You Should Consider Being a Data Engineer Instead of a Data Scientist

The inclusion of this article has been prompted by discussions I’ve had with a number of people analytics leaders this year – including Richard Rosenow - around the topic of data management and engineering. In his deliberately provocative piece, Terence Shin provides several reasons why you might want to pursue a career in data engineering over data science – including why the former is more important than the latter (see FIG 8). Does this mean that the data scientist role, once heralded as ‘the sexiest job of the 21st Century’ has been usurped? Is there in Shin’s words “a new king of the jungle”? Answers in the Comments section below, please.

FIG 8: Data hierarchy of needs (Source: Terence Shin)

MARTA GASCON CORELLA - Four Considerations for the Future of People Analytics

What is the future of People Analytics, where is it headed and how do we ensure that we’re adding real value? In her article, Marta Gascón Corella shares four key considerations for the future of people analytics. She examines the role of predictive vs advanced analytics, the necessary ethical improvements and considerations required when leveraging data and finally the role of people analytics in managing people based on evidence for organisational improvement.

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

IBM INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS VALUE – What employees expect in 2021

I’m not sure how I missed this report from IBM’s Institute of Business Value when it was published in January, so it’s time to redress the balance. The report studies the evolving expectations of employees as we emerge out of the crisis (see FIG 9) and highlights a stark finding: fewer than 1 in 5 employees giving employers excellent marks for supporting worker wellbeing.

Outperforming CEOs said they support employee well-being—even if it hurts profitability—nearly twice as often as their underperforming peers

FIG 9: Workers want it all: Employee expectations extend well beyond compensation (Source: IBM Institute of Business Value)

OLGA KHAZAN - Only Your Boss Can Cure Your Burnout | ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, DONNA MORRIS & DAVID GREEN - How Walmart is helping its associates achieve healthier habits

A powerful article in The Atlantic to read as a complement to the latest episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast where I speak to Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and Donna Morris, Chief People Officer at Walmart on why “if you are in the people function, you need to be authentic, you need to be accessible and frankly, you need to be the champion for the wellbeing of your people.” Olga Khazan’s article echoes the words of Arianna and Donna by stressing that burnout is technically a work problem that only employers can solve. The article highlights six elements of work that cause burnout: i) pure workload, ii) the level of control and autonomy an individual has over their work, iii) lack of recognition or reward, iv) workplace culture, v) whether policies and practices are administered fairly, and; vi) whether work creates meaning. A sobering, yet powerful read.

VOLKER JACOBS - The Missed Opportunity for Meaningful Impact on EX – The Business Leader

Volker Jacobs and his team at TI People have been working with global organisations since 2016 to design and implement employee experience programs, which deliver quantifiable business value and enrich people’s lives at work. During this time, they have collected a lot of data – 1m+ global X datasets to be precise. Multiple linear regression analysis of this data has identified that a positive response to the ‘I perform my job’ moment that matters yields a nearly 2x impact on the overall human experience at work. The article also provides an example of how one company used the ‘Business Value tree’ pictured below (see FIG 10) to support more effective conversations with senior customer facing leaders by visualising how experience drives business results.

 FIG 10: Source - TI People

LEARNING

ADAM GRANT - Building a culture of learning at work

Taking his cue from work he undertook with the Gates Foundation, Adam Grant weaves a compelling story on how to build a learning culture. As Grant, reveals creating a learning culture requires combining elements such as psychological safety (“the foundation of a learning culture is psychological safety — being able to take risks without fear of reprisal”), open feedback, vulnerability from leaders, accountability on processes as well as outcomes and experimentation. This is an excerpt from Grant’s brilliant new book - Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know (see also Book of the Month).

In performance cultures, people are determined to prove themselves. But in learning cultures, people are more interested in improving themselves — and the organization around them

LYNDA GRATTON - An Emerging Landscape of Skills for All

One of my previous guests on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, Lynda Gratton discusses the corporate role in the upskilling and reskilling agenda, suggesting that the focus needs to shift to lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs, which require more skill development and are at greater risk of automation. Companies can do this in three ways: make developmental pathways visible, leverage new learning habits and partner to build the whole skills ecosystem of a region or country.

There is an opportunity now to leverage new learning habits to really boost the skills agenda

HR TECH

JOSH BERSIN - HR Technology 2021 Now Published: Shattering Changes In The Market Article | Report

Josh’s annual analysis of the HR Tech market is always required reading, and this applies particularly after the seismic events of 2020. As he perfectly captures: “the HR Tech market is turned inside out – it’s entirely focused on employees, not HR.” In the article, Josh goes on to summarise the key highlights of the report including: i) how Microsoft’s entry into the market could change everything, ii) that skills engines and Talent Marketplace are now mainstream, and iii) why employee listening tools have become critical infrastructure. The report itself is 96 pages long and organised into 13 categories of HR Tech, which all helps provide clarity on where HR Tech is headed (see FIG 11). 

FIG 11: Where HR Tech is now going (Source: Josh Bersin)

CAROLINE STYR - How Working with HR Tech Start-Ups Drives Innovation at Unilever

In a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, I spoke with Jeroen Wels from Unilever about driving innovation with talent marketplace. We touched upon the challenges and opportunities for large organisations in collaborating with HR tech start-ups (see more in the video below including Jeroen’s three horizon framework for HR tech at Unilever). In her article, Caroline develops the themes of corporate venturing and open innovation in more detail, incorporating Jeroen’s great insights on these topics.

THOMAS OTTER – 10 things HR Tech buyers need to stop doing right now

Not many know the HR Tech market better than Thomas Otter, who spent a combined 15 years at SAP SuccessFactors (latterly with global responsibility for product management) and Gartner prior to forming his own advisory business. His recent article for UNLEASH contains a host of sage advice including: i) bringing your data protection officer in early, ii) not treating start-ups the same as large vendors and iii) remembering that SaaS solutions are not a bespoke consulting project.

Involve data privacy and works councils early in the project

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 March that I recommend readers delve into:

• SAMANTHA McLAREN - 4 Key Insights About Managers That Can Help Lift Your Team - A summary of Glint’s recent State of the Manager 2021 report, which highlights the pivotal role managers play as the critical link between an organisation’s strategy and its execution. Thanks to Ritu Mohanka and Anne McSilver for highlighting.
• BEN WABER - Is the Hybrid Workplace the Future - Humanyze founder Ben Waber highlights the role of collaboration data in understanding the level of disruption in teams in a virtual environment and how this can help shape strategies around the ‘hybrid workplace’.
• EMILY KILLHAM & BRETT WELLS - The Gender Gap Widens: Three Critical Actions Required to Support Women in the Workplace - While signs of a recovery are emerging, including accelerating vaccinations, Perceptyx research suggests that as organisations begin to formalise their “return to work” plans, troubles for women in the workplace may be just beginning, with potentially damaging consequences for reaching diversity and equity goals.
• IAN COOK - How to Identify the Right People Analytics Projects - Based on Visier’s work with hundreds of companies over a ten year period, Ian Cook presents a decision model to evaluate, justify and explain the work that a people analytics team will and won’t do.

FIG 12: People analytics projects matrix (Source: Ian Cook, Visier)

PODCASTS OF THE MONTH

This month I’ve selected six varied but all brilliant podcasts to dive into (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):

• ADAM GRANT & BRENé BROWN - Taken for Granted: Brené Brown on What Vulnerability Isn'?t - The new season of Adam Grant’s WorkLife podcast promises to be the best yet. I still have to catch up on the episodes with Daniel Kahneman and Malcolm Gladwell, but this one with Brené Brown is a must-listen. In this conversation, Adam and Brené unpack the power of showing vulnerability at work—and explore how much is too much.
• KATARINA BERG & BILL KERR – Spotify’s Talent Play: distributed, flexible and diverse - Spotify increased its headcount by over a third in 2020. Katarina Berg, Spotify’s Chief People Officer, joins Harvard’s Manging The Future of Work Podcast to reveal how Spotify managed to scale during the pandemic as well as more on its Work from Anywhere approach.
• HUNG LEE & MATT ALDER – Future Brainfood - Two wise sages debate the latest trends in recruiting technology in EP338 of Matt Alder’s long-running and always listenable Recruiting Future podcast. Learn how the last 12 months have turbo boasted some aspects of the market and radically disrupted others.
• ANNE-LAURE FAYARD – Workplace Design, Post-Pandemic - A recent episode of the HBR IdeaCast sees Anne-Laure Fayard, associate professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, explains why hybrid working is here to stay and how businesses need to reimagine offices as places built less for individual knowledge work than for learning, collaboration, and culture-building. Read the accompanying article: “Designing the Hybrid Office,” which Anne-Laura authored along with John Weeks and Mahwesh Khan.
• CRAIG MARTELL, SHERVIN KHODABANDEH & SAM RANSBOTHAM - Less Algorithm, More Application – Lyft’s Craig Martell kicks off the new season of BCG’s and MIT Sloan Management Review’s Me, Myself and AI podcast with a discussion on how as organisations depend more on technology-driven solutions to solve business problems, algorithms themselves are less important than how they fit into an overall engineering product pipeline and product development road map. Some good lessons here for people analytics as it shifts from a project to product focus.
• DEAN CARTER & LARS SCHMIDT – Redefining HR Ep78 - Dean Carter, Patagonia’s CHRO, also oversees Finance and Shared Services. He walks through what this entails with Lars Schmidt as well as looking at the impact of the pandemic and what lies ahead.

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

MARY MORRIS, SOLANGE CHARAS, LARRY BEEFERMAN, JEREMY SHAPIRO & STELA LUPUSHOR – New York HR Analytics Meetup: Understanding the Human Capital Management Disclosure Requirements

As I wrote last month, one happy consequence of the pandemic is that if you don’t live in New York you can now join the regular New York Strategic HR Analytics Meetup, which Jeremy, Stela and others have been running for several years. The March meeting, which helped provide a thorough understanding of the human capital management disclosure requirements and what it means for HR functions and the people analytics field, is an absolute must watch. Start the video about eight minutes and forty seconds in and learn: i) a summary of the revised SEC guideline, ii) materiality and current disclosures, iii) views from the Board and Sustainability Community, and; iv) the role of people analytics teams.

RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH (AND A FUTURE MONTH!)

MACKENZIE WILSON, MATHHEW SHANNON, DENISE MOULTON & JULIE HIIPAKKA - Internal Mobility and Talent Marketplace Solutions: Market Primer

A timely primer from Deloitte on the market for internal mobility and talent marketplace technology solutions. The study includes three types of solutions that are available: internal mobility, developmental and brokerage (see FIG 13) and much more.

FIG 13: Three Marketplace Approaches Enabled by Technology Solutions (Source: Deloitte Consulting LLP, 2021)

STACIA GARR – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and Analytics – This time is (likely) different

This is a research study from one of the best analysts in our field – Stacia Garr at RedThread Research - to get involved in as it intends to dig into how DEIB and analytics can be better united to drive insight and impact. Stacia’s article explains why this year’s research is likely to be different, coming in the wake of customer expectations that companies should take action, diverse employees bearing the brunt of the pandemic and the new SEC guidelines meaning that companies will likely need to disclose more DEIB data. Read the article and get involved.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

ADAM GRANT – Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

Over the last couple of weeks, my bedtime reading has been Adam Grant’s brilliant new book – Think Again, which is all about developing the ability to rethink and unlearn – and essentially about getting comfortable with being wrong. Adam’s storytelling weaves together insight, humour and research and emphasises that: “Bold, persistent experimentation might be our best tool for experimentation.” I can’t think of a better mantra for our times. A fabulous book.

FROM MY DESK

This month has been a busy month on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast with the release of five brand new episodes:

• JEROEN WELS - How Unilever has created a culture of internal talent mobility -When the CEO cites the internal talent marketplace you’ve helped to create as a major contributor to revenue during the company’s quarterly earnings call, you know you’ve achieved something pretty special. That’s what happened to Jeroen Wels, the Executive Vice-President for HR, and architect of Flex Experiences – Unilever’s thriving talent marketplace. As you’ll hear, Flex is an outstanding example of a talent marketplace, and the impact – both to the business, employees and company culture is huge.
• RUSLAN TOBULATOV - What are the business benefits of a Talent Marketplace?- Gloat’s Ruslan Tobulatov and I take an in-depth look at talent marketplace, and the current and future developments in this exciting field of HR – and trends in the wider HR tech space.
• KAREN POWELL - Getting started with a skills-based talent strategy - Karen Powell, Chief Talent and Learning Officer at IQVIA, and I talk about how IQVIA is putting skills, careers and mobility at the forefront of its talent and workforce planning strategy, how this is being enabled with data and a talent marketplace and how this drives engagement from the workforce.
• ALEXIS SAUSSINAN - Creating business impact with people data and technology - To build sustainable success in people analytics you need a few key ingredients including: i) aligning work to the business strategy, ii) building analytical capability across the HR function; and; iii) getting sponsorship from the CHRO, global HR leadership team and senior business leaders. Alexis Saussinan, Group Head of People Data and Technology at Merck Group, has mixed these three ingredients and more since founding the people analytics team in 2016. The function he has built has become a bedrock of Merck Group’s people strategy, consistently delivering value to the business and global workforce.
• ARIANNA HUFFINGTON & DONNA MORRIS - How Walmart is helping its associates achieve healthier habits - In a special bonus episode, I am joined by Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and Donna Morris, Chief People Officer at Walmart to discuss i) the impact of the pandemic on wellbeing and the future of work, ii) how the role of the Chief People Officer has changed, iii) Why leaders need to set the tone when it comes to wellbeing and mental health, and much more.

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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.

• Bonus Episode: Arianna Huffington & Donna Morris - How Walmart is helping its associates achieve healthier habits
• EP 60: Alexis Saussinan - Creating business impact with people data and technology
• EP 59: Karen Powell - Getting started with a skills-based talent strategy
• EP 58: Ruslan Tobulatov - What are the business benefits of a Talent Marketplace?
• EP 57: Jeroen Wels - How Unilever has created a culture of internal talent mobility
• EP 56: Ina Gantcheva - Why Are So Many Companies Building Talent Marketplaces?
• EP 55: Guru Sethupathy - How Capital One delivers value at scale with People Analytics
• EP 54: Ethan Bernstein - How Can HR Help Organisations Prepare for Hybrid Working?
• EP 53: Wagner Denuzzo - How HR enables business transformation at Prudential Financial
• EP 52: Wenshan Xu - How Singapore uses skills data to support lifelong learning
• EP 51: Dave Ulrich, Brigette McInnis-Day and Rupert Morrison - The Future of HR: How can HR can be more value and business focused?
• BONUS EPISODE: David Green & Ian Bailie - 'All Eyes on HR' - HR Predictions for 2021
• EP 50: Renil Kumar - How Wipro uses People Analytics to enable hyper-personalisation
• EP 49: Michael Arena - How ONA can help understand the impact of virtual and hybrid working on innovation and wellbeing
• EP 48: Daniel West - How to Democratise People Analytics to Drive Agile Decision Making
• EP 47: Melissa Harper - How Bayer is redefining the workplace around Purpose, Innovation & Culture
• EP 46: Chin Yin Ong - How people data can drive better business and employee outcomes
• EP 45: Vidya Krishnan - Making learning a habit that matters at Ericsson
• EP 44: Simon Brown - How Novartis promotes learning curiosity to drive business value
• EP 43: Kat Kennedy - Improving Employee Experience through Learning, Skill Development & Mobility
• EP 42: Gianpiero Petriglieri - How Do You Create a Learning Culture in the Workplace?
• EP 41: Lynda Gratton - How can HR help shape the re-skilling and learning agenda?
• Bonus Episode: Diane Gherson - How IBM is Reinventing HR with AI and People Analytics
• Summer Special #5: Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui - Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation
• Summer Special #4: Dan Cable - How to help people love what they do at work
• Summer Special #3: Torin Ellis - What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations?
• Summer Special #2: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic - What is the role of leadership in times of crisis?
• Summer Special #1: Amy Edmondson - How to create Psychological Safety at work
• EP 40: David Green - How can People Analytics drive business value?
• EP 39: Jeremy Shapiro - How People Analytics has progressed in the last ten years
• EP 38: Heather McGowan - How Covid-19 is accelerating the Future of Work
• EP 37: Thomas Rasmussen - How National Australia Bank has scaled People Analytics
• EP 36: Ravin Jesuthasan - Six imperatives for HR in the Future of Work
• BONUS EPISODE: Amit Mohindra & Dawn Klinghoffer - What is the future of People Analytics?
• EP 35: Peter Hinssen - What is the role of HR in driving and enabling innovation?
• EP 34: Bruce Daisley - What do business leaders want from HR?
• EP 33: Dirk Jonker - Why People Analytics needs to behave like a start-up
• EP 32: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic - The role of storytelling in People Analytics and Data Visualisation
• EP 31: Piyush Mathur - How Johnson & Johnson uses People Analytics to drive business outcomes
• BONUS EPISODE - Heather Whiteman, RJ Milnor & Ian Bailie (Live at PAFOW) - How to develop the HR skills of the future
• EP 30: Katy Gray - How Arup uses reward data to drive behavioural change
• EP 29: Uri Ort - What is the future of talent assessment?
• EP 28: Zara Nanu - The role of People Analytics in Gender Pay Analysis
• EP 27: Julia Shaw - How can technology reduce bias in the workplace
• EP 26: Stela Lupushor - How HR can be a Catalyst for Change
• BONUS EPISODE: Volker Jacobs - How to scale Employee Experience
• EP 25: Julie Digby - How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
• EP 24: RJ Milnor - How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
• EP 23: Rupert Morrison - Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
• EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer - The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
• EP 21: John Boudreau - Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
• EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami - How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
• EP 19: Anna Tavis: What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
• EP 18: Sarah Johnson: How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
• EP 17: Leena Nair - How HR drives business value at Unilever
• EP 16: Keith McNulty - HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
• EP 15: Jason Corsello - The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
• EP 14: Jill Larsen - How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
• EP 13: Frida Polli - How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
• EP 12: Ian O'Keefe - The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
• EP 11: Dave Ulrich - The role of HR in the Digital Age
• EP 10: Jordan Pettman - How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
• EP 9: Catalina Schveninger - The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
• EP 8: Richard Collins - How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
• EP 7: Katarina Berg - Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
• EP 6: Nick Holley - How HR can become more business relevant 
• EP 5: Eden Britt - How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC 
• EP 4: Yvette Cameron - How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology 
• EP 3: Didier Elzinga - How to Create a Culture First Company 
• EP 2: Edward Houghton - The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data 
• EP 1: Sharon Doherty - How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity

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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 70 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 will be published in the summer of 2021.

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:

• 19-22 April - People Analytics World
• 5-6 May - Degreed Lens Lite