The best HR & People Analytics articles of October 2021

What is now a monthly compendium of resources on people analytics and data informed HR began in 2014, when I first curated a collection of articles on what was then an emerging field. In the seven years since, I’m pretty certain that one single edition has not featured resources by as many people analytics leaders and practitioners as October’s collection.

There are resources featuring 14 people analytics leaders and practitioners including from the following companies: Microsoft, Nike, Vodafone, Infineon, Cox Enterprises, Workday, PTC, Wayfair, Spotify, Merck Group, PayPal, Capital One and ABN Amro, whose leader Patrick Coolen appeared in the first compendium back in 2014! It’s people analytics professionals like these who do so much to further the field by sharing insights from their work with others.

The people analytics space continues to thrive as highlighted in Insight222’s People Analytics Trends 2021 study – Accelerating People Analytics: A Data Driven Culture for HR – captures. Three of the key findings are highlighted in FIG 1 below – click on the image to access a download of the full report.

FIG 1: Source: Insight222

Let’s get on with this month’s selections. As ever, enjoy reading and if you do, please share some data driven HR love liberally with your colleagues and networks.

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PEOPLE ANALYTICS

JONATHAN FERRAR, CAROLINE STYR AND NAOMI VERGHESE - Accelerating People Analytics: A Data Driven Culture for HR Article | Full Report

The aforementioned Insight222 People Analytics Trends 2021 study highlights that people analytics continues to grow in size – and in importance. To be successful, the people analytics leader needs to continue to invest in people analytics professionals and technology, as well as take lead responsibility to create a data driven culture. The CHRO demands this culture across HR so that people analytics is not just the preserve of the C-Suite. The use of data and analytics should be used for in-the-moment people decisions across the enterprise, whilst allowing the C-Suite to also tackle the most complex workplace and societal topics of the current era – hybrid working, mental wellbeing and diversity, equality, inclusion, and belonging. The key findings of the study are provided in the article, with full detail provided in the report.

Leading Companies invest more in people, have bigger teams, productise analytics at scale and have a data driven culture for HR

FIG 2: Three Components of a Data Driven Culture for HR (Source: Insight222)

PATRICK COOLEN AND JAAP VELDKAMP – 8 Big Tickets for People Analytics

As highlighted in the introduction, I started creating this compendium of people analytics resources back in 2014, initially as an annual collection and in more frequent editions as the field has grown considerably over the past seven years. Patrick Coolen has featured at least once every year. During this time, he has shared several insights tracking the growth and progress of people analytics and fact-based HR at ABN Amro, where he is the Global Head of People Analytics. In his latest article, written with his colleague Jaap Veldkamp, Patrick shares the ‘eight big tickets’ for people analytics for the bank over the next year. The first three ‘tickets’ are: i) Analytics for personalising career journeys and learning (“One important rule we apply is that the personalized analytical services we provide need to benefit our employees”), ii) Analytics for skills (“Based on a skill engine, we are able to see where specific skills are over- or underrepresented in our organization”), and iii) Analytics for quantifying the business value of HR (“The starting point in everything we do is to understand how we create business value”).

FIG 3: Source: Patrick Coolen and Jaap Veldkamp

ALESSANDRO LINARI - My Experience in Building a People Analytics Function

A brilliant article from Alessandro Linari, who has spent the past three-and-a-half years founding and building the people analytics team at Vodafone. As he explains, introducing people analytics into an organisation isn’t easy especially with minimal budget, but it can be done: with the right skills, support from senior stakeholders, and a relentless focus on business outcomes (skills, stakeholder management and business outcomes are three of the nine dimensions Jonathan Ferrar and I write about in our book – Excellence in People Analytics!). Alessandro’s article writes about the different challenges involved in ‘early-stage people analytics’ (“The first step consists of setting up a small function whose sole focus is to identify opportunities to prove value to the business”) and ‘mature people analytics’ (“Once the value is proven, the team can grow and take on wider responsibilities, including accelerating the transformation of HR into a truly strategic and data driven function”) and is laced full of practical guidance. Alessandro’s closing advice of: “Making growth (of the people analytics function) conditional to delivering value creates a sense of urgency that helps the team focus on what really matters” is a particularly astute observation. ?

FIG 4: Early-stage and Mature People Analytics (Source: Alessandro Linari)

CHRISTIAN OTTO - A 6-step-approach for People Analytics

Christian Otto shares the six-step approach (see FIG 5) he and the people analytics team at Infineon use to guide their work: “The steps are designed to ensure a scientific, analytically driven, fact-based approach to decision making.” The approach is similar to the Eight-Step Methodology for Purposeful Analytics we recommend at Insight222, and which was laid out in The Power of People (Guenole, Ferrar and Feinzig, 2017). The first step in each model involves identifying and clarifying the problem you are trying to solve before formulating hypotheses that can be tested with analytics (i.e. ‘Don’t start with the data, start with the business problem that needs to be solved!’)

The more strategic HR wants to become the more it finds itself in a consulting role. And consult means actually to convince

FIG 5: A 6-step-approach for People Analytics (Source: Christian Otto)

CHRIS SHORT - Diversity Forecasting with Markov Chains

Chris Short leads People Analytics at Cox Enterprises and, as he describes in his article, much of the focus of his team has been in collaborating with Cox’s inclusion, diversity and equity department. One of the challenges of work in this vital area is to help senior leaders understand the impact of changes in hiring, promotion and turnover over a period of time (e.g. Where will be in five years if our current rates of gender hiring and turnover continue?). As Chris explains and demonstrates with a helpful example, Markov Chains can help to visualise trends, stimulate discussion and drive action with senior leaders. A helpful and practical read for those working in or interested in the application of people analytics to topics related to inclusion, diversity and equity.

?FIG 6: Source: Chris Short

RICHARD ROSENOW – Buy-Side People Analytics

A key finding from the newly published Insight222 People Analytics Trends 2021 ?report is that one of the most important elements in delivering value through people analytics is having a data driven culture in HR. Richard Rosenow, who does so much to further our field through his thoughtful LinkedIn posts, advocates strongly (and in my view, correctly) in his latest article that HR business partners should not be overlooked in a people analytics delivery model. He then outlines six steps to invest in what he terms ‘buy-side people analytics’ including i) educating HRBPs and CoEs about people analytics (“This is almost as important if not more important than your first People Analytics hire”), ii) introducing self-service tools (“Creating intuitive products for access but also enabling self-service through training”), iii) Rotations (encompassing HRBPs spending time in people analytics teams and vice-versa), and iv) Accountability from CHROs (“Hold HRBPs and COE leaders accountable for understanding their data”). Alongside his concept of ‘buy-side people analytics’ (“Clients who want to solve problems in the business and believe they can do so with workforce data”), Richard also introduces a counterpart: ‘sell-side people analytics’ (“On the sell-side, in People Analytics teams we generate workforce data, insights, reports, products, research, and consulting that the business can put to use”). A must-read for all HR and people analytics professionals.

When we look at the people analytics marketplace, we have sell-side people analytics and buy-side people analytics and as a PA team, HR leader, or company interested in workforce data, you’ve got to consider and invest in both.

FUTURE OF WORK, HYBRID WORK AND RETURN TO WORKPLACE

KATHLEEN HOGAN AND KATHRYN MAYER – Rebooting Microsoft’s Culture

Microsoft’s Chief People Officer, Kathleen Hogan, was recently named HR Executive of the Year by Human Resource Executive magazine, and this interview demonstrates clearly why the award is so richly deserved. The article describes the key challenges Kathleen has had to solve – namely i) a company culture that had stifled innovation as well as prohibiting learning and collaboration, and ii) navigating the ongoing pandemic. It also outlines Kathleen’s key accomplishments – namely i) leading a cultural overhaul (“One of the key shifts was changing to a growth mindset, promoting learning and coaching that empowers employees”), ii) progressing diversity and inclusion, iii) embracing a flexible workplace, and iv) prioritising wellbeing during Covid-19. To learn more about the topics covered in the article, please listen to Kathleen’s guest appearance on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and watch the clip below: How did Microsoft transform its culture?

ALEXIS SAUSSINAN - Realizing “Future Ways of Working”? Only with accelerating HR Digitization!

Alexis Saussinan, shares insights from Merck Group’s Future Ways of Working initiative, which is designed to shape changes in “the way we work, learn and lead in the future.” As befits his role as Global Head of Digital HR Technologies and People Analytics, Alexis highlights digitalisation as a driving force behind the initiative explaining that: “It is crucial to ensure we make the best out of data and technology to drive high business impact and deliver best-in-class user experience across all our people technologies.” Alexis then provides two examples that harness machine learning to equip leaders with the right data and insights to make people decisions at Merck Group: i) factors of employee engagement that have the most significant impact on retention (see FIG 7) and, ii) an HR chatbot called Ad@m. Both examples support Merck Group’s mantra: “No Business Plan without a People Plan, and no People Plan without data.”

No Business Plan without a People Plan, and no People Plan without data

FIG 7: Influencing factors of employee engagement on flight risk (Source: Alexis Saussinan)

DION HINCHCLIFFE – How to Think About and Prepare for Hybrid Work

With the exception of a few notable outliers such as Goldman Sachs, the hybrid model is now generally accepted by the majority of organisations as the future of work. The challenge will be to make this shift as seamless as possible for both physical and remote employees. As such, Dion Hinchcliffe’s compelling and comprehensive essay, which lays out a sensible path forward – one that prioritises wellbeing, promotes resilience and is centred on workers - is extremely timely. Dion tackles three leading priorities of a hybrid work model: i) preserving the productivity dividend of remote work, ii) sustain the long-term engagement of remote workers and connect them to the mothership, and iii) dealing with the disruptions yet to come.

FIG 8: Source – Dion Hinchcliffe

THE FUTURE ROLE OF HR

ALLAN FREED AND DAVE ULRICH - 5 Simple Concepts for Becoming a Better HR Business Partner

Allan Freed and Dave Ulrich team up distil the findings of the recent 8th round of the HR Competency Study to break down five practical concepts to be a better HR business partner. These include: i) If?your mindset is wrong, your skillset?hardly matters (“The best HR Business Partners realise that HR isn’t about HR – it’s about contributing to business success”), ii) Data is everywhere. Insight is hard to find (“What decision is the data encouraging the business leader to make that will improve performance?”), and; iii) Keep it simple (“Avoid jargon and the use of HR specific terms and phrases that have little meaning in a broader business context”).

To have high impact, the HR function must present as a unified and focused team

FIG 9: Created from source material by Allan Freed and Dave Ulrich

PLACID JOVER – Future Ready Talent Strategy: 10 Provocations – Part 1 and Part 2

When I first entered the people analytics field in 2013, one of the first people analytics leaders I met was Placid Jover from Unilever, who at the time was Vice-President for HR Organisation Design and Analytics and is now the VP of HR for Latin America. Placid was - and continues to be - one of the smartest thinkers in our field, as the ten provocations he recently discussed with a group of HR leaders (and which he shared as two LinkedIn posts) ably demonstrates. All ten provocations resonate, but as a taster here are three: i) Quick access to skills (“When we look at the ‘buy, build, borrow’ talent options, the role of ‘borrowing’ will become more dominant”), ii) Review success metrics (“One of the measures ‘par excellence’ is attrition; my point of view is that as long as it is more than 5% and lower than the market then you’re in a good place”), and iii) A superb talent engine (“The role of HR technology to manage all talent and people data, and extract the right insights through people analytics is key for sound decision making”).?

People work for people; good managers who own and care about people/talent drive commitment and engagement in the business.

WORKFORCE PLANNING

AARON DE SMET, ANGELIKA REICH AND BILL SCHANINGER - Getting skills transformations right: The nine-ingredient recipe for success

As companies continue to grapple with the need for new skills to support wholesale changes in business strategy and ways of working, new research from McKinsey highlights nine ingredients (see FIG 10), which together provide a recipe for a successful skills transformation. As well as providing context on each ingredient, the article provides a persuasive argument for using each of the nine ingredients across three iterative phases of a skills transformation: “At the organizations that have implemented all nine practices, respondents report a nearly 100 percent chance of having a successful skills transformation—which is 2.5 times higher than the success rate for organizations that have failed to implement at least one of the practices”.

FIG 10: Nine key practices of a skills transformation (Source: McKinsey)

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SERENA HUANG - Tech-Enabled Strategic Workforce Planning – Do’s and Don’ts

Another helpful piece from Serena Huang, who leads people analytics and HR technology at PayPal, in which she reflects on her experience of leading workforce planning and implementing technology solutions to support a skills-based approach. One do and one don’t to whet your appetite: i) Do leverage technology to understand workforce skills and gap analysis (“If you are only cost-focused and aren’t incorporating skills in strategic workforce planning, you may end up with the right number of people, at the right costs, without the right skills needed to deliver for the business.”), and; ii) Don’t assume what works for one group will work across the enterprise (“Pilot in small groups with critical needs for planning and use the lessons learned to scale”).

Skills are the new currency, and it is how companies have started to hire and develop talent.

EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE

ASHISH PARULEKAR - An engineer’s take on improving productivity of knowledge workers: Part 1: Cartesian Method | Part 2: Systems Thinking | Part 3: Math

As Ashish Parulekar (Head of Recruiting Analytics at Capital One) writes in the first of his fascinating three-part series, identifying “How to sustainably improve the productivity of knowledge workers is the big unsolved problem in People Analytics.” Ashish then proceeds to apply three problem solving techniques to answering his question: i) Cartesian (“Divide a complex problem into components which are less complex and repeat until the parts become simple to solve”), ii) Systems thinking (“Understand how different components relate to each other i.e. dependencies, relative importance, relative effort”), iii) Math (“An equation that helps the different components add up into the final product”).

FIG 11: First 3 levels of the productivity issue tree with components that may experience more stress due to COVID + WFH highlighted in red (Source: Ashish Parulekar)

?FIG 12: Information to be fed into a multivariate model to study factors of employee performance (Source: Ashish Parulekar)

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

JONATHAN EMMETT, ASMUS KOMM, STEFAN MORITZ AND FRIEDERIKE SCHULTZ - This time it’s personal: Shaping the ‘new possible’ through employee experience

Research from McKinsey finds that people who report having a positive employee experience have 16 times the engagement level of employees with a negative experience, and that they are eight times more likely to want to stay at a company. Moreover, the research also finds that different experiences in the three core areas of EX—social, work, and organisation—explain most of the variation in how positively or negatively employees view their journey with their company. The article then illustrates and describes a three-step systematic approach to employee experience (see FIG 13) based on design thinking principles: i) Establish a baseline and build on it, ii) Identify and transform employee journeys using an approach encompassing personas and moments that matter (see FIG 14), and iii) Equip the full organisation for an EX transformation “implementing systems that let the organization scale EX—through better data, measurement, systems, and capabilities”.

FIG 13: Source – McKinsey

?FIG 14: Source - McKinsey

LEADERSHIP, CULTURE AND ETHICS

AMY EDMONDSON AND PER HUGANDER - Psychological Safety Is Not a Hygiene Factor

During Insight222’s recent fourth annual Global Executive Retreat, Amy Edmondson extolled the importance of leaders thinking like scientists and why psychological safety matters now more than ever. In this article for Psychology Today, Amy teams up with Per Hugander to outline ‘Three levels of Psychological Safety’ (see FIG 15). As the article explains, a level of 2 or below represents a toxic environment, a company that falls between 3 and 6 appears reasonably healthy, but is likely to be: “less engaged, open, and learning-oriented than first meets the eye.” Finally, an organisation that sits on the scale at a 7 and above, represents a significant culture achievement.

FIG 15: Three levels of psychological safety (Source: Per Hugander)

DAVE ULRICH – Crises are opportunities to lead

Dave Ulrich revisits the Leadership Code he first created together with Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman in 2009, revised in 2017 and now updates again to reflect the new leadership insights revealed in the crises of the last 20 months. This Leadership Code 3.0, which is shown below in FIG 16 and described in detail in Dave’s article, captures ten requirements for discovering and maximising opportunities in crises.

FIG 16: Leadership Code 3.0 (Source: Dave Ulrich)

TOMAS CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC AND NATHALIE NAHAI - Surprising behavioral science you can use to find out if your employer is ethical | TOMAS CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC - The toxic side of authentic leadership

As Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Nathalie Nahai write in their article for Fast Company: “Aside from the moral or ethical imperative, there are two clear benefits to being seen as a conscious, kind, and caring company. Namely, customer loyalty and advocacy, and attracting, engaging, and retaining sought-after employees, who are typically interested in being good organizational citizens and often dislike the idea of being associated with a selfish or greedy brand.” Tomas and Nathalie then offer suggestions to employees to help them determine whether their current or prospective employer really lives up to their values including: i) Listen to other employees, and ii) See how the company handles contentious issues. If you enjoy this article, I also recommend checking out Tomas’ article in The Guardian (far and away, the UK’s best newspaper) on why the best leaders are rarely themselves.

When it comes to finding a moral employer, the most important choice is not where you decide to work, but how you decide to impact that organization

ROB CROSS, GREG PRYOR AND DAVID SYLVESTER - How to Succeed Quickly in a New Role: Five Ways to Build a Strategic Network

The cover article of the latest edition of the Harvard Business Review, which is based on research by Rob Cross, Greg Pryor and David Sylvester of employee relationships and communication patterns in more than 100 diverse companies. The key discovery of the analysis was a hitherto overlooked key success criteria with regards to a role transition (i.e. a promotion, a move to a new organisation or a fresh challenge in an existing role): the effective use of internal networks. The article then describes five practices that amplify success: i) surging rapidly into a broad network by asking a lot of questions and discovering boundary-spanning, innovative people across the company; ii) generating pull by understanding, energising, and adjusting to new connections; iii) identifying how to add value, where one falls short, and which people in the broad network can help fill any gaps; iv) creating scale by using the network to engage other key opinion leaders, expand the scope and impact of one’s projects, and more efficiently deliver outsize results; and v) shaping the network for maximum thriving by making connections that enhance one’s workplace experience.

Employers can lead the way in showing people how to quickly build the connections that will help them thrive.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

TIFFANY BURNS, JESS HUANG, ALEXIS KRIVKOVICH, ISHANAA RAMBACHAN, TIJANA TRKULIJA AND LAREINA YEE – Women in the Workplace 2021

The headline finding in the seventh year of the prestigious Women in the Workplace study, conducted by McKinsey in partnership with LeanIn.Org, is that a year and a half into the pandemic, women in corporate America are even more burned out than they were last year—and increasingly more so than men. Despite this, the study also finds that women leaders are stepping up to support employee well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts (see FIG 17), but that work is not getting recognised. The article provides a number of powerful insights (e.g. despite small gains, women are still grossly underrepresented at the c-suite level) and guidance on how to accelerate progress (e.g. steps to make the workplace more inclusive, and address burnout): “The path forward is clear. Companies need to take bold steps to address burnout. They need to recognize and reward the women leaders who are driving progress. And they need to do the deep cultural work required to create a workplace where all women feel valued.”

FIG 17: Source: Women in the Workplace, 2021 (McKinsey and LeanIn.Org)

STACIA GARR AND PRIYANKA MEHROTRA - Creating a DEIB Culture: The Skills Every Employee Needs

A sumptuous collaboration between RedThread Research and Degreed, which analyses what a skills-based approach to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and belonging (DEIB) looks like and how it can drive business impact. The 58 pages in the report provide a host of insights including the following two: i) Top DEIB organisations are 81% more likely to have high customer satisfaction and 45% more likely to retain their employees (see FIG 18), and ii) at top DEIB organisations different employee populations focus on specific skills sets (see FIG 19).

FIG 18: Individual & Organizational Outcomes for High DEIB Index Orgs (Source: RedThread Research)

FIG 19: Skills for a DEIB Culture—By Employee Level (Source: RedThread Research)

HR TECH VOICES

Much of the innovation in the field continues to be driven by the vendor community, and I’ve picked out a few resources from October that I recommend readers delve into:

• AMY KING – Why Wellbeing Strategies Fail – A powerful essay by Amy King, CEO of People Matter (who recently won the CIPD People Management 'Best use of People Analytics' award for their work with Experian) on why to truly address mental health in the workplace, companies need to first confront their nefarious and often toxic workplace cultures.
• GARETH JONES – Company Culture Must Match Recruitment Practices – Headstart’s CEO Gareth Jones addresses why to truly support neurodiversity companies need to ‘throw the rule book out the window’ when it comes to traditional hiring practices. This supports the creation of systems that are more inclusive of a range of abilities, behaviours and skills.
• PHIL WILLBURN - Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Revamp Your Employee Experience –Workday’s Head of People Analytics, Phil Willburn, highlights findings from Peakon’s latest Employee Expectations Report to argue that now is the time to reimagine the employee experience of the future.
• JESSICA BRANNIGAN - Psychological capital: The key to high performance? – Another helpful resource from Culture Amp as Jessica Brannigan breaks down the definition of psychological capital and its applications to coaching, feedback, and performance.
• HALLIE BREGMAN AND KARRA BARRON - To Win the Skills War, Forget Job Silos | EMILY YU AND KARRA BARRON - Performance Equity Data is Key to Employee Retention – Visier’s series of interviews with people analytics leaders continues with two articles featuring Hallie Bregman (on the role analytics is playing on return to work and skills at PTC) and Emily Yu of Wayfair (on how people analytics is helping to drive action on DEI at Wayfair).

PODCASTS OF THE MONTH

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

• HEATHER WHITEMAN, STACIA GARR, DANI JOHNSON AND CHRIS PIRIE – Skills Odyssey: Bringing Skills to Life in the Workplace | VIDYA KRISHNAN, STACIA GARR, DANI JOHNSON AND CHRIS PIRIE – Skills Odyssey: Using Skills to Create a Learning Culture – I’m enjoying the new series of RedThread Research’s podcast - the Skills Odyssey – that it only seems right to include two episodes. First, Heather Whiteman walks through implementing a skills-based approach and the myriad of ways you can use the data. Then, Vidya Krishnan, Chief Learning Officer, explains how Ericsson is connecting skills data with learning.
• DAN SCHAWBEL AND LAURIE REUTTIMANN – Building Collaboration and Trust in the Workplace – A fascinating episode of Punk Rock HR with Dan Schawbel joining host Laurie Reuttimann to discuss how to build trust in the workplace: “Listening to employees and building connections encourages employees and helps them get behind a company’s vision of success.”
• DAWN KLINGHOFFER AND AL ADAMSEN – The World of Work and People Analytics - Dawn Klinghoffer, Head of People Analytics at Microsoft, joins Al Adamsen on the People Data for Good podcast ?to share her insights on the world of work today as well as how her team is working to solve problems in the people analytics space.
• KERRY OLIN, JAY CLEM, MARK KASHMAN AND CHRIS McNULTY FEAT. KATHLEEN HOGAN – HR in the Cloud – Continuing the Microsoft theme, Kerry Olin (Microsoft CVP, HR Services) and Jay Clem (Microsoft GM, HR Services) provide insights on how Microsoft adjusts its practices and technology to improve the employee experience for 160K full-time global employees. The episode includes introductory thoughts “on the importance of data and insights” from Kathleen Hogan from her recent guest appearance of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast (see here).

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

ANNE-MARIE ANDRIC AND GARY MUNRO – DISCO: Where People Data Comes to Dance | DISCO: The Next Dancing Moves

A great two-part vodcast featuring Gary Munro, Spotify’s people analytics leader, being interviewed by Anne-Marie Andric about Spotify’s internal people analytics app called DISCO (a brilliant name, by the way), and the difference between being data driven versus data informed in HR.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

RUPERT MORRISON – Data-Driven Organization Design

A timely second edition of Rupert Morrison’s seminal award-winning book: Data Driven Organization Design, which provides a practical guide with powerful visualisations of how to drive business performance with your organisation data and analytics. If you are looking to turn organisational design theory into practice - and align it to data - then this is the book for you.

RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH

JASON CORSELLO - The State of Work 2021

October was a rich month for new research including the aforementioned studies from RedThread Research (on creating a DEIB culture), McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace and Insight222’s 2021 People Analytics Trends. The month also sees an extensive compilation of research and data by Jason Corsello, which helps better understand macro trends impacting the future of work. Insights include: i) the workforce is becoming highly distributed, nomadic, and demanding greater flexibility, ii) the time to reskill is now, and iii) Worktech is booming (see FIG 20).

FIG 20: Source: Acadian Ventures

TRAINING COURSE OF THE MONTH

IAN BAILIE - Using Human Centred Design Principles in HR

In this new course from the myHRfuture Academy, Ian Bailie explores the principles and process of human centred design and how these can be applied in HR to improve the experience of work and to help organisations to attract and retain top talent. Not only does this course aim to provide you with a solid set of tools to begin re-designing the experience of work within your organisation but it really brings the principles of human centred design to life sharing four real world case studies.

FROM MY DESK

October saw our first in-person Peer Forum for clients of the Insight222 People Analytics Program for 20 months, which was followed on the same day by the book launch for Excellence in People Analytics, the book I co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar. In November, I’ll be heading to the US for the first time since February 2020 for another Peer Forum – this time with New York based clients of the Insight222 People Analytics Program. October also saw four new episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast:

• How does ING create a culture of learning agility? - Maarten van Beek, HR director for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg at ING discusses ING's culture of learning agility.
• How does a great learning experience deliver value to the business? – Peter Manniche Riber joins me in a conversation on what a great learning experience should look like, and how learning delivers value to the business and the workforce.
• How Companies Can Interrupt Bias to Truly Create Inclusion – Acclaimed expert on social inequality, Joan C. Williams speaks about how to connect diversity and inclusion initiatives to business metrics that matter, with case studies from companies around the world.
• How Can Organisations Provide the Right Environment for Employees to Learn? – Degreed’s Chief People Officer, Janice Burns on the role of leaders in learning, coaching and mentoring, and why companies should not limit the impact of learning to the four walls of the organisation.

THANK YOU

I’d like to say thank you this month to:

• Barry Swales and the Tucana team for inviting me to speak at People Analytics World LATAM on 27 October, and Federico Barcos von der Heide for expertly moderating my session.
• HR magazine for including me at #14 on their annual list of HR Most Influential Thinkers. Thank you very much for the recognition.

Until next month. Stay safe and stay well.

David

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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.

• EP 83: Janice Burns - How Can Businesses Provide the Right Environment for Employees to Learn?
• EP 82: Joan C. Williams -?How Companies Can Interrupt Bias to Truly Create Inclusion
• EP 81: Peter Manniche Riber -?How does a great learning experience deliver value to the business?
• EP 80: Maarten van Beek -?How does ING create a culture of learning agility?
• EP 79: Ralf Buechsenschuss -?How to take a skills-based approach to workforce planning
• EP 78: Mika?l Wornoo -?How Do You Understand the Skills of Your Workforce?
• EP 77: Rob Cross -?How Can You Reduce Collaborative Overload?
• EP 76: Dave Ulrich, Jonathan Ferrar and David Green -?How to Build Excellence in People Analytics
• Bonus Episode: Kathleen Hogan -?Microsoft's Chief People Officer on Creating a Data Driven Culture in HR
• EP 75: Toon van der Veer -?How AB InBev uses Data, Analytics and AI in Talent Management
• EP 74: Joanne Kuipers -?How Tata Steel uses skills data for learning and workforce planning
• EP 73: Rick van Echtelt -?What are the benefits of measuring employee skills data?
• EP 72: Tertia Wiedenhof -?How Rabobank Has Created an Agile HR Function
• EP 71: Ron Friedman -?How Can You Reverse Engineer Success?
• EP 70: Steven Baert -?How is Novartis reimagining Performance Management?
• EP 69: Melissa Corwin -?How Does AT&T Link Business Transformation, Culture and Performance Management?
• EP 68: Greg Harris -?Why Employee Experience And Performance Management Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin
• EP 67: Jolen Anderson -?How BNY Mellon Supports Employee Wellbeing and Resilience
• EP 66: David Rock -?How neuroscience can help organisations drive meaningful change
• EP 65: Jimmy Zhang -?How Vertex has build a world-class people analytics function
• EP 64: Jignasha Grooms -?How to build a culture of trust and measure its impact
• EP 63: Ian White -?How to manage and visualise people data to create actionable insights
• EP 62: Isabel Naidoo -?How to design HR programs for impact and personalised experiences
• EP 61: Claude Silver -?Building a culture that drives business success and wellbeing
• 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 speaking about people analytics, the future of work at a number of upcoming events:

• 14-15 March 2022 -?HR Core Lab?(Barcelona, Online)