Today's guest post comes to us from Teresa Smith, senior manager of UKG's HCM Strategic Advisory group and was written in collaboration with Chas Fields, senior partner of UKG's HCM Advisory Group.
Many HR leaders and practitioners get inundated with terms like strategic data, artificial intelligence, people analytics, and many others. It can be frustrating when we're told these areas should be our focus without any sense of how that will happen, or where all these activities will fit in our day-to-day.
Think of a time where you've been instructed to make an organizational or strategic change to your people processes – you pull the data and it looks like a foreign language, leaving you feeling a bit like Keanu Reeves when he gets told for the first time what "the Matrix" is.
So how do we take our HR data, determine what's achievable, and put the right people strategies into action? Here are 3 focus areas that will help you take action:
Leaders everywhere need access to people data to help drive organizational and departmental success. The problem is that they don't always have all the data needed when making decisions about the organization. This can be frustrating for executives, especially if data is missing, doesn't add value to their overall strategy, or doesn't provide a complete picture of key business areas. Executives expect to be able to gain insight easily and quickly into the entire organization, so they can address the needs of the business and reach their strategic goals.
When companies find themselves with a disconnect between what's expected out of data and what's available, HR professionals can help bridge the gap. A data strategy can help you identify how your people information is collected, stored, managed, and shared. These tips can help lay the foundation for your HR and payroll data strategy:
As strategic partners in the organization, HR professionals need to drive technology initiatives that will transform the way executives look at data.
Providing executives with data across multiple reports or in a single report is only part of gathering information. While reporting is a good first line of defense when it comes to measuring, monitoring, and alerting you to what's happening in the business, it is just the tip of the iceberg. HR needs a path to action from that data for it to be effective and deliver deeper meaning to the organization.
Analytics can answer questions that come to light from reporting, interpret information at a deeper level, and provide recommendations on actions. People analytics is crucial for executives to gain a clear view of their wider business data, proactively analyze trends that are happening with their people, and ensure they are capable of achieving their goals. Delivering the right data through real-time analysis of employee activity and automating that data's delivery helps organizations plan and reach their strategic initiatives.
However, people analytics can't exist in a vacuum. HR needs it to be integrated into day-to-day processes and displayed in the same place they manage most of their activities so they can intuitively move between seeing data and doing something about it.
While people analytics is a great way to monitor and provide insight into day-to-day activities, it shouldn't be its own item on your to-do list. Analytics need to be rolled into your priorities and goals to make effective decisions on behalf of the organization. When you're tackling recruiting, benefits, retention, operations, and other focus areas you should be using data to inform your decisions in those moments. This way it's not a burden, it's just part of your normal process. Your system should proactively serve up the data you need in those contexts.
These steps will take you some time. As you navigate your data, when you question its validity or output, have discussions with your people managers and those making day-to-day decisions to help you fully grasp where progress or improvements need to be made. When taking action, ask yourself ”œwho will this impact and will it drive the organization forward?” If the answer is yes, celebrate the success. From there, monitor your decisions on a regular monthly or quarterly basis to ensure you stay on top of the trends to allow you to remain agile.
Find an expanded version of this article on the UKG What Works blog here.
Today's post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member David Creelman.
Take a look at this people analytics data prepared by Revelio Labs. It looks at turnover (churn) vs. revenue growth. There is something very odd about Costco at the bottom right.
© Revelio Labs (2021)
One thing that is different at Costco relative to their competitors is a high ratio of junior to senior employees, i.e. a flat organization.
© Revelio Labs (2021)
If you want to read more of Revelio Lab's piece on Costco click here: https://www.reveliolabs.com/news/business/what-makes-costco-a-great-place-to-work
However, I wanted to focus this blog on a larger take-away than just what's happening with Costco.
What we're seeing here are HR analytics that will be really intriguing to business leaders. The ability to use advanced technologies to gather and analyze data from a wide variety of public sources such as Indeed and LinkedIn to get a clear picture of an organization's talent strategy and its impact on meaningful measures is a huge leap forward.
Historically, HR analytics work has been myopically focused on the data we can pull out of our own HRIS systems. This new work from Revelio Labs points to a new and much bolder direction for HR analytics. We can now do all kinds of analysis that compares our organizations to competitors. We can look at which departments competitors are investing in compared to which ones we are investing in. We can look at where they are getting talent and who is taking our talent. We can look at estimates of diversity data even if our competitors don't report it.
The sheer volume of public data that is out there in the public sphere is astounding and I'm very excited to see what Revelio Labs and others continue to do to find value in that data.
What sources of data are your company looking at and measuring these days? What do you think are the most meaningful metrics in HR analytics? Share your thoughts in the Comments section.
Today's post is from Joyce Maroney, Executive Director of the Workforce Institute.
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Peter Navin, the senior vice president of employee experience at Grand Rounds, a company that provides an employer-based solution that gives employees and their families the technology, information and support they need to make decisions about whether and where to receive medical treatment. Before joining Grand Rounds, Peter has had a long and varied career in human resources leadership at companies like DocuSign and Shutterfly. He has also recently authored a Harvard Business Review article with Workforce Institute Board member David Creelman and fellow HR luminary John Boudreau on the topic of Why More Executives Should Consider Becoming a CHRO.
In this podcast recording of our conversation, you'll learn how Peter's career led him to the CHRO role and what advice he has for others who are CHRO's or who aspire to be. He shares his four principles for creating a culture of engagement and performance as well as how executives aspiring to the CHRO role can prepare to make that move.
You'll also hear his responses to the following questions, among others:
Listen to the podcast below:
Are you an HR professional? What would be your tips for someone who wishes to advance in the profession?
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