How can HR create value in the post-pandemic workplace?

We’ve just wrapped up Series 22 of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast at Insight222, which was sponsored by orgvue . While the conversation with each of the five guests explored a myriad of different topics, the one common question for each episode was themed around: What does HR need to do to add business value in the post-pandemic workplace?

A summary of each episode together with associated links is provided below – please feel free to add your own thoughts on the question for the series in the comments section below: What does HR need to do to add business value in the post-pandemic workplace?

EP1: ETHAN BURRIS - How to Encourage Employees to Speak Up

In the first episode of the series, I spoke with Ethan Burris, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Management at The University of Texas at Austin, about Ethan’s pioneering work on employee voice.

Throughout our conversation Ethan and I discuss the organisational dynamics surrounding employee voice and leadership. In particular, we discuss:

• What employees need to consider when giving feedback to their managers and selling ideas up the chain of command
• How managers can foster psychological safety and create an environment where their employees feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback
• What companies need to consider when trying to scale employee listening
• The role of people analytics teams in enabling organisations to take action on employee feedback
• How HR can add business value as we start to come out of the pandemic

Ethan also cites work by Amy Edmondson (on psychological safety) and Dawn Klinghoffer (on the employee listening ecosystem at Microsoft).

The role of the people analytics function is to be thoughtful and purposeful in providing ways for the organisation to take action on the feedback that is given by employees

Listen to my conversation with Ethan on Apple, Spotify or your podcast app of choice, by visiting the Digital HR Leaders podcast homepage and clicking the corresponding image.

Connect with Ethan on LinkedIn , on Twitter @ethanburris and find out more about his published work .

EP2: LISA CHANG - Coca-Cola's Chief People Officer on HR's Role in Organisational Transformation

In the second episode of series 21, I was joined by Lisa Chang, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at the Coca-Cola Company.

In our conversation, Lisa and I discussed:

• The role of the Chief People Officer and HR function in supporting organisational transformation
• The impact of the pandemic on employee experience and wellbeing and how Coca-Cola has addressed this
• How Coca-Cola is using people analytics to support DEI initiatives and succession planning
• The critical areas that HR needs to focus on to be successful in the future
• How HR can add business value as we start to come out of the pandemic

Listen to my conversation with Lisa on Apple, Spotify or your podcast app of choice, by visiting the Digital HR Leaders podcast homepage and clicking the corresponding image.

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn and on Twitter @lisavchang .

EP3: ABDUL HUMMAIDA - What Do You Need To Support Continuous Workforce Planning?

Abdul Hummaida, Chief Technology Officer at orgvue, joined me for the middle episode of the series.

Throughout our conversation, Abdul shares his perspective on the evolution of organisational design and workforce planning, and the shift that companies are making to more frequent and regular workforce planning cycles. We also discuss:

• The importance of having access to real-time data that can support workforce planning decisions and enable collaboration across different parts of the business
• The role of technology in supporting organisations to move to shorter planning cycles and provide better security when dealing with sensitive data
• How to build an effective planning process that supports both bottom-up and top-down planning inputs to be aggregated and integrated in a transparent way
• How the recent acquisition of Dynaplan supports orgvue’s vision of creating an end-to-end solution for workforce planning
• How HR can add business value as we start to come out of the pandemic

Listen to my conversation with Abdul on Apple, Spotify or your podcast app of choice, by visiting the Digital HR Leaders podcast homepage and clicking the corresponding image.

Connect with Abdul on LinkedIn and and find out more about orgvue .

EP4: PETER CAPPELLI - What is the Impact of Hybrid Working on Employees and Employers?

In the penultimate episode of the series, my guest was the renowned Peter Cappelli, the George W. Taylor Professor of Management and the Professor of Education and Director for the Center for HR at The Wharton School.

Throughout our conversation, Peter and I discuss:

• The impact of hybrid working on employees and employers, and the effect this could have on people and their careers now that we’re coming out of the pandemic
• How employers are approaching bringing employees back to the office and what that means for employee productivity and engagement
• Why the ‘Great Resignation’ is not a surprise, and why it’s important to distinguish between intent to quit and actually quitting
• The rise in employee activism and how organisations should respond to this
• Why, in Peter’s view, companies just aren’t getting any better at workforce planning
• How HR can add business value as we start to come out of the pandemic

Listen to my conversation with Peter on Apple, Spotify or your podcast app of choice, by visiting the Digital HR Leaders podcast homepage and clicking the corresponding image.

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn , find out more about his recent book The Future of the Office , and find out more about his published works .

EP5: RJ MILNOR - How Uber Used Employee Listening to Develop its Return to Office Strategy

In the final episode of the series, my guest was RJ Milnor, Global Head of People Analytics at Uber, where we dug into the work RJ and his team are doing around employee listening, hybrid working and productivity.

In our conversation, RJ and I discuss:

• How Uber conducts employee listening, and how its approach to surveys and continuous listening has changed throughout the pandemic
• Insights of the impact of remote work on employee productivity, focus time and collaboration
• How people analytics influenced Uber’s return to office strategy and how both the Chief People Officer and CEO used the insights in their communications to the rest of the company
• Why empathy and user centricity are not only critically important for the HR field and people analytics, but also for business
• The role of people analytics in workplace design.

People analytics is often at the right hand of the chief people officer, providing them with insights that they can then take action on. We need to get from the insights to action as quickly as we can, in a responsible way. I really encourage experimentation, disciplined measurement, so we can get that insight to action quickly

Listen to my conversation with RJ on Apple, Spotify or your podcast app of choice, by visiting the Digital HR Leaders podcast homepage and clicking the corresponding image.

Connect with RJ on LinkedIn , and read the HBR article he co-authored with Rob Cross, Mike Benson and Jack Kostal on how Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity .

WATCH THE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF SERIES 22

As well as the full podcast recording of each episode, there are two videos per episode available on the?myHRfuture YouTube channel .?A playlist collating these videos together can be viewed below – with each guest tackling the common question for the series: What does HR need to do to add business value in the post-pandemic workplace?

THANK YOU

Thanks to all our guests as well as Lee Stone and the team at orgvue for sponsoring series 22 of the podcast. Additional thanks to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa and the team at myHRfuture and Insight222 for bringing the podcast to life.

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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.