How People Data and Analytics is Helping to Shape the Future of Work, Workplace and Workforce

We’ve just wrapped up Series 31 of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast at Insight222, which was sponsored by our friends at ChartHop . While the conversation with guests in each episode explored a myriad of different topics, a common theme was how people data and analytics is helping to shape company culture and the future of work, workplace and workforce.

A summary of each episode together with associated links follows:

EP1: AASHISH SHARMA - How Raytheon Technologies Productises People Analytics at Scale

In the first episode of the series, I was joined by? Aashish Sharma , VP of Workforce Intelligence at RTX , who founded the function in 2016 and has since then overseen its growth to a team of 45 people with responsibilities including people analytics, workforce planning and intelligent automation.

The first three to five years of our journey was all about building and developing analytical products, a lot of the energy was there. Now, a lot of the energy is on how do we create impact, adoption and growth out of those solutions. You want to create impact, but you also want to create investment, so that the business and HR leaders feel like they are getting the return on their investment of these solutions, and (then) they continue to invest.

In my conversation with Aashish, we discuss:

• The steps involved in productising people analytics at scale
• How the workforce intelligence team supported the company through the merger of United Technologies and Raytheon
• The importance of taking a cross-functional approach in strategic workforce planning
• The future of people analytics with AI and machine learning, and the principles of privacy and explainability

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

Connect with Aashish on LinkedIn .

EP2: ELLA F. WASHINGTON - How to navigate your organisation’s DEI journey

The biggest opportunity for HR leaders in general is connecting data to their DEI journey. If we're not measuring our DEI efforts in a meaningful way, we cannot track our progress

In the second episode of series 31, my guests was Dr. Ella F. Washington , Professor of Practice at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, CEO of Ellavate Solutions, and author of ‘The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion.’

In our conversation, Ella shares her research on how organisations can navigate their DEI journey through the five stages of her DEI Maturity Model: Aware, Compliant, Tactical, Integrated, and Sustainable (see FIG 1)

In this episode, you can also expect to learn more about:

• The three Ps of DEI journeys: Purpose, Pitfalls, and Progress
• Why middle managers are critical to the success of a DEI strategy
• How to overcome common obstacles to progress on DEI
• The role of people analytics in DEI
• How to measure progress and what they should focus on next

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

Connect with Ella on LinkedIn , follow her on Twitter @EllaFWashington , and find out more about her book, The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion .

EP3: IAN WHITE - From HR to People Operations: Unlocking the Secrets of Modern HR Success

In the middle episode of the series, my guest was Ian White , Founder, CEO and CTO at people operations platform ChartHop - a platform dedicated to helping data-driven people operations teams that recently raised $20 million in Series C funding.

Technology can help first and foremost with some of the data challenges, collecting data, making it easy to surface and visualise data, get insights out of data, take action out of data, and collaborate and share on that data.

In our conversation, Ian and I discuss:

• Technology, trust and transparency
• The characteristics and differences between modern people operations and traditional HR;
• The role of technology in supporting the transition to people operations and the challenges companies face in adopting a digital approach to HR;
• The potential of generative AI in supporting people operations and people analytics;
• The skills HR professionals need to mitigate bias and manage ethical considerations when using generative AI;
• The future evolution of HR technology and new capabilities in the ChartHop platform.

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

Connect with Ian on LinkedIn , on Twitter @eonwhite , and find out more about ChartHop .

EP4: AARON FALCIONE - How to Position Employee Experience at the Centre of Corporate Culture

If we really get the culture right then our chances of success as an organisation go up exponentially.

My guest for the penultimate episode of the series was Aaron Falcione , chief human resources officer at Organon . In the run up to and ever since Organon was spun off from Merck & Co in 2021, as CHRO, Aaron has been instrumental in shaping Organon's people strategies and culture. In the episode, we explore the pivotal role HR played in the formation and growth of the company, as well as the key strategies implemented to create a nurturing and engaging environment for its 10,000 founders (employees)

Throughout the episode, Aaron and I also explore how Organon:

• Built a culture-first organisation founded on psychological safety, intrinsic motivation, and positive psychology.
• Pioneered policies that champion women's health and well-being
• Embeds connection, solidarity, and community as key factors in its approach to hybrid work.
• Combines employee feedback with organisational data to drive impactful initiatives.
• Implemented an always-on performance management model.

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

Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn .

EP5: PRASAD SETTY, DAWN KLINGHOFFER AND DAVID GREEN - People Analytics, Now and the Future: Insights from Wharton PAC

As HR and people analytics professionals, we have the opportunity to use people data to create happier, healthier, more inclusive workplaces while in parallel driving business productivity and growth.

In the final episode of the series, inspired by the recent Wharton People Analytics Conference, we look at the past, present and future of people analytics.

Using the 'Five Ages of People Analytics' model that Jonathan Ferrar and I featured in our book (see FIG 2), Excellence in People Analytics , as a lens, and inspired by the recent Wharton People Analytics conference, the episode features reflections from two of the people analytics leaders who have done most to inspire the field: Prasad Setty (who led the people analytics function at 谷歌 for 14 years to 2021) and Dawn Klinghoffer (Head of People Analytics at 微软 ).

The episode also features contributions from Tanu Dixit , Matthew Malter Cohen , Sandy Zou , Jessica Smith , Ayanna Matlock , and Garima Khator , and covers:

• The history of people analytics
• How people analytics has transformed over the past decade
• The growing influence of people analytics on organisations, as data-driven insights reshape decision-making processes and enhance business performance
• The key trends that will define the future of people analytics, including emerging technologies, ethical considerations, and the evolving role of HR professionals.

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

Connect with Prasad and Dawn on LinkedIn.

WATCH THE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF SERIES 31

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:

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THANK YOU

Thanks to all our guests in Series 31 as well as Shayna Chapel and the team at ChartHop for sponsoring this series of the podcast. Thanks too to Manpreet Randhawa , Stefan Kesi? , Jasmine Panayides and the team at Insight222 and myHRfuture for bringing the podcast to life.

Series 32 of the podcast kicks off this Tuesday (June 27) when my guest Heather E. McGowan will be sharing insights from recently published book she co-authored with Chris Shipley, The Empathy Advantage.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Green ???? ?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, 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.

MEET ME AT THESE EVENTS

I'll be speaking about people analytics, the future of work, and data driven HR at a number of upcoming events in 2023:

• 7 September?People Analytics World ?(Amsterdam)
• 26-28 September - Insight222 Global Executive Retreat (Colorado, US) - exclusively for member organisations of the?Insight222 People Analytics Program
• 17-18 October -?UNLEASH World ?(Paris)