How can People Analytics drive business value?

Today marks the first birthday of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast. When Ian Bailie, I and the team first developed the concept for the show, we had no idea if it would work.

Thanks to you – our listeners and also our sponsors and the raft of brilliant guests we’ve had on the Podcast, we’ve not only made it to our first birthday, but we also recently passed the landmark of 100,000 listens, which exceeded all our expectations when Episode 1 with Sharon Doherty was launched twelve months ago.

So, a huge thank you to all of you for listening ??.

To celebrate, we thought we’d do something different. So, Ian managed to persuade me to record a special role-reversal episode of the Podcast where I’m in the hot seat and Ian is asking the questions some of you – including one of our previous guests, Dave Ulrich, have kindly taking the time to send in.

In this episode we look at the role of People Analytics in driving business value and how it is a key ingredient in HR’s success in the future.

You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.

In our conversation, Ian and I discuss:

• Five steps to getting started in people analytics and why analytics is a team sport
• Why People Analytics "should sit right at the heart of HR and people strategy" and how the field has been impacted by Covid-19 ("The crisis has really elevated many of the people analytics teams that we work with at Insight222"
• Why a strong partnership with HR business partners is key to the success of People Analytics
• How an Ethics Charter should underpin the work of the People Analytics team
• The most important skills required by HR professionals in a digital context (see also FIG 1)
• The factors that provide me with optimism and pessimism about the future role of HR in delivering value ("The best companies need good HR leaders to survive and thrive. So I think ultimately I am confident about the future of HR")
• Why a human-centred approach encompassing analytics, employee experience and digital technologies promises a bright future for HR

Ultimately it is the workforce that make or break a company and as long as HR evolves, embraces digital, becomes more analytical, puts human centred design at the heart of what it does and eschews the one size fits all approach, then HR will be absolutely fine

This episode should be an interesting listen for anyone in a workforce or people analytics role, HR and business professionals interested in how people data can drive business outcomes, and CHROs looking to build or scale their people analytics capabilities.

FIG 1: The six skills HR professionals most want to learn (Source: HR Skills of the Future, myHRfuture (2019)

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: How can People Analytics drive business value

WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics Ian and I covered in our conversation.

GET INVOLVED

If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

1. Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
2. Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU

Usually at this point, I thank this week's Podcast guest for sharing their time and knowledge, but clearly I'm not going to thank myself ??.

So, instead I'd like to thank all the guests who have appeared on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast in our first year (a link to each episode is provided below in the next section. I'd also like to thank Culture Amp, ClickIQ (now IndeedIQ), pymetrics, Perceptyx, OrgVue, Gapsquare and Crunchr for each sponsoring a series of the podcast.

Thanks also to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.

Finally, and most importantly, a huge thank you to you - our listeners. Without you, the Digital HR Leaders Podcast wouldn't exist. So, thanks for listening over the past 12 months. We hope you'll continue to tune in and that you get value and enjoyment from listening.

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 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

__________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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