When numbers hurt more than words
?HR Analytics: When numbers hurt more than words
?We’re sharing this experience not to tell you how important HR analytics is. If you don’t already know then:
?A) you are too late
B) you need to quickly familiarize yourself with the speed at which the area of HR analytics has evolved
C) for most CHROs this is one of the biggest area of opportunity
D) You better upskill immediately
?We are a fan of analytics, have always been and massive proponents of how analytics not only helps with effective and efficient talent decision-making, but more importantly it allows for a very different kind of discussion with the business leaders.
?This is where numbers hurt more than words. Not literally of course.
?We talk from experience and we are here to share that exactly with you. This is one example
From a reward perspective, typically, when the salary survey review is finished around October/November, many compensation teams will share the results of their analysis, results, summary with HRBPs, HR Heads and sometimes with business leaders as well. This is usually a hardcore compensation survey review where you show salary movements, pay competitiveness, competitiveness by grades, levels, functions, other fancy analysis etc.
Based on our experience, all of that is fantastic but for discussions with leaders we need to take it up one level higher and for that, we recommend a holistic market review approach. This is where analytics comes in.
What we are suggesting is that you tell stories. Your compensation summary should actually be the last part of this journey.
1)?????Start with the market context. Leader/s should know you understand what the market conditions are, what the key business challenges are and then the HR/talent challenges. Bring a level of market intelligence so they know you know what is happening externally. Act as a business leader
2)?????Talk about framing of the leader’s concern. You should already know what the leader always talks about. In our experience, leaders have very strong views on talent challenges, compensation issues, feedback they get from employees etc, so highlight these so the leader knows you are aware of the issues they care about and you are here to address them
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3)?????Share with them a series of HR analytics where you show them a picture they don’t get to see regularly. This will be a 6-8 or more visualizations each with insights and stories that you will take them through. Link each with the business and talent challenges. Explain what the numbers are saying. This is where the power of analytics comes alive. Just like business analytics, people analytics will drive a different level of conversation
The key here is to give them insights on each chart. You will notice that that this is something many leaders don’t get to experience. This is your opportunity to let the numbers do the talking and here the numbers hurt more than words. We have seen plenty of times how leaders agree that their opinions or views might have been misled or wrong in some cases. ?
Your insights will lead to a real discussion on how much of the talent challenge is compensation-related and how much of it is structure-related, or leader-related or other organizational factor related. You might be surprised at the level of discussion this derives?and how honest sometimes leaders get and vulnerable too
4)?????Now you move on to compensation review covering key details like peer groups, companies you compete with, lose talent to or hire from and then share the compensation summary.
a.??????Remember they are not compensation experts so use a few slides but summarize them. Highlight numbers that you want them to focus on
b.??????Note that all the leaders want to know whether you are competitive or not. Simplify this
c.??????Show what the areas of improvement are and how much it will cost
d.??????Share insights around new hire compensation and exits
?You will be surprised how often leaders mellow down when they see the right numbers. They might have very strong feelings about certain things but numbers don’t lie and this is where facts and figures rule.
?This is the one opportunity where compensation teams can really connect directly with business leaders, engage with them, and truly get their insights on things. They have eyes and ears on things you might not find in the open market, you want to learn this during the interaction. They might even share things that are to come and something you might find handy for the future.
?More importantly, it is to share with them something which they don’t get to see and in our view, the experience is really amazing. This build credibility, goodwill and trust. ?
We highly recommend this tried-and-tested approach that has really worked for us over the years. We have built tremendous rapport with our business leaders and this is just one of the very effective ways of doing it
If this is something you are struggling with and would like to learn more, please get in touch with us and we will be very happy to help.?