The best HR & People Analytics articles of June 2024

I’m putting the finishing touches to June’s Data Driven HR Monthly in the airport lounge at Minneapolis-St Paul after a successful peer meeting for more than 50 North American members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program. The two-day peer meeting featured speakers including: Justin Taylor Keith Sonderling Guru Sethupathy and a collaboration between Bennet Voorhees and Eunice Ok . We also previewed the soon-to-be-published Insight222 research study: Building the People Analytics Ecosystem: Operating Model v 2.0 (click on the link to register to receive a copy).

Other highlights in June included:

• We also ran a peer meeting for European members of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which was hosted by Nestlé and featured sessions run by Nataliya Filonenko Michael Cox Alex Browne Thomas Tchako Nowe Piyush Mathur Jack Liu and Martin Janhuba .
• We delivered an Insight222 webinar on AI in HR and People Analytics, which featured Andrew Elston Justin Shemeley and Jasdeep Kareer, PhD (née Bhambra) . Watch the recording here.
• In the HR Tech space, TechWolf announced a new $42.75m round of Series B funding. Congrats to Andreas De Neve 🐺 Mikaël Wornoo🐺 Jeroen Van Hautte 🐺 and the team.
• Welcome to the more than 2000 new subscribers to the Data Driven HR Monthly newsletter, who joined in the last month.

This edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly is sponsored by our friends at Mercer

Strategic Shift: Skills-Powered Organizations in the Age of AI

Forty-four percent of workers’ skills will be disrupted by technology in the next five years.*

To thrive through this disruption, businesses must adapt their operating models to perpetually reinvent themselves as demand for skills ebbs and flows with greater velocity and volatility.

The next-generation organization will be at the forefront of this strategic shift toward making skills the currency of work, cultivating a culture of talent sharing, automating work to take mundane tasks off employees’ hands, augmenting human creativity with AI, and reshaping the entire talent life cycle.

Find out how to make the shift to a skills-powered organization

The new Skills Strategy Guide from Mercer and MIT SMR Connections explores:

• Why skills should be a top priority in rethinking work in the age of AI
• The obstacles that stand in the way
• Practical steps to overcome challenges and reap the rewards
• Learnings from Standard Chartered Bank’s skills journey
• How to build a skills-powered approach to work

 Read the Strategy Guide

 *Source: The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report

To sponsor an edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, and share your brand with close to 130,000 Data Driven HR Monthly subscribers, send an email to dgreen@zandel.org.

Heartfelt thanks to Richard Rosenow

It’s ten years since I published the first edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly (which featured pioneers like Luk Smeyers Andrew Marritt Ian OKeefe Jonathan Ferrar and Greta Roberts ). Unbeknown to me, Richard Rosenow organised a wonderful surprise – see here. It’s such a kind gesture - thank you Richard and the One Model team for creating this and the 100 people - friends, colleagues, clients, and peers - many of whom have inspired me in my journey in the wonderful world of people analytics. Thank you too to my colleagues at Insight222 - and everyone who has contributed to the Data Driven HR Monthly over the last decade.

Share the love!

Enjoy reading the collection of resources for June and, if you do, please share some data driven HR love with your colleagues and networks. Thanks to the many of you who liked, shared and/or commented on May’s compendium (see Thank You section at the end of this issue).

If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is published every Tuesday – subscribe here.

HYBRID, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK

MCKINSEY - The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value

If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI, 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology.

New research from McKinsey highlights that adoption of AI – and GenAI – has surged in the last 12 months, that organisations are reporting measurable benefits, that there is increased mitigation of the risk of inaccuracy, and that there are a small group of high-performers leading the way. From a HR perspective, the study finds: (1) 12% of respondents are regularly using GenAI in HR. (2) Organisations most often see meaningful cost reductions from GenAI use in HR (see FIG 1). (3) HR functions are most often able to put their GenAI capabilities to use within one to four months. (4) Talent is one of six areas of best practice where high-performers are leading with GenAI (see FIG 2). (Authors: Alex Singla Alexander Sukharevsky Lareina Yee and Michael Chui with Bryce Hall )

FIG 1: Organizations most often see meaningful cost reductions from generative AI use in HR and revenue increases in supply chain management (Source: McKinsey)

FIG 2: Organizations seeing the largest returns from generative AI are more likely than others to follow a range of best practices (Source: McKinsey)

MARK MORTENSEN AND AMY EDMONDSON - Leaders Need to Reframe the Return-to-Office Conversation

Framing refers to how an issue is presented; it’s the meaning layered onto an issue or situation that shapes how people think about its objective facts. More precisely, it’s about re-framing: deliberately replacing taken-for-granted cognitive frames with more helpful ones.

Mark Mortensen and Amy Edmondson discuss the concept of ‘framing’ and its role for leaders in engaging in dialogue with employees about the balance between in-person and flexible working. They offer a three-step process to communicate flexible work policies: (1) Acknowledge the bind and be patient. (2) Focus on mutual value, not just organisational benefits. (3) Approach the process as data-driven, co-created, iterative learning. For more on this topic, listen to Mark in conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How to Foster Collaboration Within Hybrid Working Teams.

RASHLEEN ARORA - Design a Return-to-Office Strategy That Balances Organizational and Employee Needs

It’s becoming increasingly evident that rigid return-to-office (RTO) mandates can backfire by antagonising employees and impacting retention. Rashleen Kaur Arora presents Gartner research that outlines how HR leaders can craft a RTO strategy that balances organisational objectives with employee buy-in. The article includes a powerful case study on how Scotiabank implemented an evidence-based hybrid RTO model (see FIG 3).

FIG 3: Scotiabank’s role aligned hybrid personas (Source: Gartner)

PIETRO MAZZOLENI - Generative AI in HR: making smart choices depending on your data maturity | GREG NEWMAN - What's the employee journey of an AI chatbot? | MARTIJN WIERTZ - How will we use GenAI to redefine our Work Design: Creating Great Places to Be | MAX BLUMBERG - Saving your People Analytics Career in the Face of AI | SCOTT LATHAM AND BETH HUMBERD - Four Ways Jobs Will Respond to Automation

Organizations which provide an environment where the needs of the workforce are aligned with the outlines of the future will have the competitive advantage.  

June saw a plethora of insightful reads about the impact of AI on HR and people analytics, so I’ve gathered five together here along with a prescient piece from 2018 on the professions most susceptible to automation. (1) Pietro Mazzoleni examines the importance of data maturity when it comes to the successful adoption of GenAI solutions in HR. (2) Greg Newman outlines why using the language of the employee journey will help your organisation maximise the value you gain from digital workers. (3) Martijn Wiertz presents a compelling vision where GenAI helps redefine our work design, creating time we can utilise for doing the work, care and training we need as a community – from great places to work to great places to be (see FIG 4). (4) Max Blumberg (JA) 🇺🇦 explores how people analytics roles may evolve in the age of AI, the skills needed to remain relevant, and the importance of transparency in these issues within the people analytics community. (5) Finally, and thanks to Hung Lee for featuring it in a recent edition of Recruiting Brainfood, let’s revisit an article by Scott Latham and Beth Humberd that outlines four ways in which jobs will respond to automation based on two factors: the type of value provided and how it’s delivered (see FIG 5).

FIG 4: Source – Martijn Wiertz

FIG 5: Which Professions Are Most Vulnerable to Automation? (Source: Latham and Humberd)

PEOPLE ANALYTICS

MAYA BODAN, DON MILLER, SUE CANTRELL, GARY PARILLIS, AND CARISSA KILGOUR - Harnessing organization network analysis (ONA): Measure workforce performance and optimize strategies

ONA reveals insights absent in traditional organizational charts—such as how people collaborate, who influences decision-making and/or operates in silos, and sentiments surrounding trust and influence.

A helpful primer on how to use Organisational Network Analysis (ONA) from the Deloitte team of Maya Bodan Don Miller Susan Cantrell Gary Parilis and Carissa Kilgour . Their article discusses the myriad of use cases ONA can be used for, including to: (1) Measure workforce performance, (2) Understand individual workforce performance, and (3) Optimise workplace strategies.

FIG 6: ONA can help uncover collaboration within an organisation (Source: Deloitte)

DAVE HODGES - Facts Over Fads: HR Decisions Grounded in Research |HENRIK HÅKANSSON - People Analytics: The fear of missing out | AMIT MOHINDRA - The "Rule of 72": A Gentle Reminder | LOUISE BAIRD - Machine Learning and its Applications in People Analytics | MARTHA CURIONI - Building Explainable AI Into HR Processes | NICK JESTEADT AND ERIN FLEMING - People Analytics Frontiers aka Why are We Asking the Same Questions Again? | CHRISTOPHER ROSETT - The People Analytics Cube

If you’re not practising evidence-based HR, what type of HR are you practising?

In recent editions of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I’ve featured a collection of articles by people analytics leaders. These act as a spur and inspiration to the field. Seven are highlighted here. (1) David Hodges takes inspiration from Rob Briner ’s research to make the case for evidence-based HR. As Dave asks: “If you’re not practising evidence-based HR, what type of HR are you practising?” (see FIG 7). (2) Henrik Håkansson applies the popular concept of “fear of missing out” to people analytics in his astute article. (3) Amit Mohindra provides a handy explanation of the ‘Rule of 72”, which can be used to extract a key parameter from a growth rate. (4) Louise Baird breaks down the two different types of machine learning – supervised and unsupervised – and how it can be applied to people analytics. (5) Martha Curioni provides examples of building explainable AI into a range of HR processes including: hiring, predicting attrition, and assessing promotion readiness. (6) Based on their survey of people analytics practitioners, Nick Jesteadt and Erin Fleming highlight three common yet seemingly elusive themes in the field: productivity, skills and productisation. (7) Christopher Rosett breaks down the People Analytics Cube (see FIG 8) in his LinkedIn post with a nod to Alexis Fink.

FIG 7: What is being used in HR instead of evidence? (Source: Evidence Based HR: A New Paradigm by Rob Briner, Corporate Research Forum)

FIG 8: People Analytics Cube (Source: Christopher Rosett)

WILLIS JENSEN - Finding a People Analytics Job

One of the features of the people analytics field is that it is pretty fluid with many that work within it moving roles in the last 12-18 months – as evidenced by the invaluable People Analytics Job Board that Richard Rosenow oversees. In his article, Willis Jensen shares insights from his recent transition to a new role including: (1) Being very clear about what you want in your next job. (2) Don’t write an AI-generated cover letter. (3) Use a resume tool to help you tailor your resume for each job. (4) Do not use a shotgun approach of applying for hundreds of jobs. (5) Use LinkedIn as a job-hunting tool. For more on people analytics careers, listen to Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. in discussion with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How to Enhance Your Career in People Analytics.

ETHICS AND PRIVACY SPECIAL

GREGORY VIAL, JULIEN CROWE, AND PATRICK MESANA - Managing Data Privacy Risk in Advanced Analytics | CATHY O’NEIL, JAKE APPEL AND SAM TYNER-MONROE - Auditing Algorithmic Risk | ÖYKÜ ISIK, AMIT JOSHI, AND LAZAROS GOUTAS - 4 Types of Gen AI Risk and How to Mitigate Them  

Three articles covering ethics, risk and privacy with regards to advanced analytics and AI, which should be invaluable to people analytics professionals and HR technologists alike. (1) Gregory Vial Julien Crowe and Patrick Mesana present five approaches to measuring data privacy and how each approach impacts on data usability (see FIG 9) before discussing mitigation strategies. (2) Cathy O’Neil Jacob Appel and Sam Tyner-Monroe, Ph.D. lay out a set of simple frameworks (see example in FIG 10) designed to help organisations evaluate that their AI tools and algorithms are fair and working as intended. (3) Öykü Işık Amit Joshi and Lazaros Goutas outline a blueprint for managing four types of generative AI risk (see FIG 11).

FIG 9: Five Approaches to Preserving Data Privacy (Source: Vial, Crowe and Mesana)

FIG 10: A Simplified Ethical Matrix (Source: O’Neil, Appel, and Tyner-Monroe)

FIG 11: Four types of AI risk (Source: Isik, Joshi, and Goutas)

THE EVOLUTION OF HR, LEARNING, AND DATA DRIVEN CULTURE

JOSH BERSIN - The Ever Expanding Role Of The Chief HR Officer (CHRO)

The CHRO must transform the HR team, moving from the “service delivery” model to an HR team of consultants, problem-solvers, and analysts.

Josh Bersin lays out a compelling case for the CHRO being the most important role of all in the c-suite now. He highlights factors such as the abundance of people challenges, labour shortages, organisation redesign, and globalisation. Josh also introduces his initial findings from a study of 47,000 CHROs: (1) There is a major increase in the C-level importance of the CHRO. (2) The CHRO job is multi-disciplinary, and more difficult than it looks. (3) The CHRO role is expanding. (4) Strong CHROs are now transforming the HR function. (5) The HR function is not developing itself - 80% of high-performing CHROs are external hires.

FIG 12: The two roles of the CHRO (Source: Josh Bersin)

JEANNE MEISTER – 13 HR jobs of the future

In HR, this is our Promethean moment as we navigate a complex future, one with limitless possibilities in how we work, where we work, who we work with and what we expect in our workplace.

Based on her conversations with HR leaders, Jeanne C M. presents 13 HR jobs of the future, which will emerge between now and 2030 (see FIG 13). Jeanne then explains how each of these roles “embody five core workplace themes enabling leaders to embrace reinvention as a strategy where humans and machines collaborate to deliver in which to the organization.” The five themes are: (1) Building GenAI literacy, (2) Working from anywhere, (3) Building human-machine partnerships, (4) Driving innovation and wellbeing in the workplace, (5) Creating a personalised employee experience.

FIG 13: 13 HR Jobs of the Future (Source: Jeanne Meister)

NAOMI VERGHESE - Investing in the Right Approach to Upskilling HR

When the CHRO and HRLT role-model the use of people data and analytics in their day-to-day job, then other HR professionals also use people data and analytics in their work.

Naomi Verghese shares the key findings from research she led at Insight222 to identify the key skills HR professionals need to consult and communicate effectively with data. The study, Upskilling the HR Profession: Building Data Literacy at Scale, identified five essential skills for HR professionals: (1) Consulting, (2) Influencing Stakeholders, (3) Data Interpretation, (4) Building Recommendations from Insights, (5) Storytelling. The study also identified the importance of role-modelling by the CHRO and HR leadership team with regards to data literacy (see FIG 14, and above quote).

FIG 14: (Source: Insight222, Upskilling the HR Profession: Building Data Literacy at Scale)

WORKFORCE PLANNING, ORG DESIGN, AND SKILLS-BASED ORGANISATIONS

MIT SMR CONNECTIONS AND MERCER - Strategic Shift: Skills-Powered Organizations in the Age of AI

By making skills the backbone of their talent practices, organizations can better allocate people to projects, help employees explore different career paths, and gain the flexibility to allocate their capital more effectively as their needs change.

In their collaborative study, MIT and Mercer break down why skills should be a priority in rethinking work and people management in the age of AI. The report highlights the benefits for employees and employers of a skills-based approach (see FIG 15), provides practical guidance on how to overcome challenges, and provides powerful learnings from Standard Chartered’s skills journey. Features contributions from experts including Peter Cappelli Tanuj Kapilashrami Ravin Jesuthasan, CFA, FRSA Brad Bell Joseph Fuller Tom Kochan and Audrey Mickahail .

FIG 15: Benefits of a skills-powered approach (Source: MIT and Mercer)

LINKEDIN LIVE: Skills-Powered Organizations in the Age of AI | JULY 24, 2024

Register to join Tanuj Kapilashrami, Ravin Jesuthasan and David Green for a LinkedIn Live discussion on Skills-Powered Organizations in the Age of AI on July 24 at 10.00am EST.

BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE - Skills-Based Internal Mobility Playbook Summary | White Paper

Skills are five times more predictive of a person’s future performance than their education

An excellent playbook compiled by the Business Roundtable on skills-based internal mobility, which is organised into five chapters covering critical areas such as stakeholder engagement, skills assessment and validation (see FIG 16), how to connect people with opportunities, how to measure success, and enabling technologies. Features examples from a myriad of companies including: Walmart, Chevron, Workday and Vistra.  Thanks to Brian Heger for highlighting this resource in his excellent weekly Talent Edge newsletter.

FIG 16: Skill validation characteristics (Source: Business Roundtable)

EMPLOYEE LISTENING, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

DAWN KLINGHOFFER, KAREN KOCHER, AND NATALIE LUNA - Onboarding New Employees in a Hybrid Workplace

New hires who are provided with clarity about their role responsibilities, feedback on how they are doing, and resources to help them answer questions are three to four times more likely to contribute to their team’s success during the first 90 days.

Now we are in the era of hybrid work, what’s the ideal way to onboard new employees today? That was one question that the people analytics team at Microsoft sought to answer in a recent study, along with: How can we ensure that new hires thrive while also supporting flexibility? The findings confirmed that onboarding to a new role, team, or company is a key moment for building connections with the new manager and team and doing so a few days in person provides unique benefits. But just requiring newcomers to be onsite full time doesn’t guarantee success. In their article, Dawn Klinghoffer Karen Kocher and Natalie Luna explain and provide examples of how onboarding that truly helps new employees thrive in the modern workplace is less about face time and more about intention, structure, and resources. For example, the study found that the top factors that make the most difference in onboarding new employees are clarity about role responsibilities, feedback on how they are doing, and resources to help them answer questions. New hires who are successfully set up with these three elements are three to four times more likely to contribute to their team’s success during the first 90 days. For more on Microsoft’s approach to employee thriving, which they define as: being energized and empowered to do meaningful work, listen to Dawn in conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: How Microsoft Created A Thriving Workforce By Going Beyond Employee Engagement.

LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND LEARNING

DAVE ULRICH - Reflections on Performance Management: How to Make Meaningful Progress

In May’s Data Driven HR Monthly, I featured a McKinsey article on a performance management system that puts people first. In his recent article, Dave Ulrich cites a number of sources highlighting that pretty much all stakeholders (including employees, executives and HR leaders) are unhappy with their performance management systems. Ulrich lays out a four-step process for performance management (see FIG 17) comprising: (1) Clarifying expectations with meaningful goals. (2) Measuring and tracking performance. (3) Allocating financial and non-financial rewards. (4) Having positive coaching conversations. Dave then highlights the recently launched Manifesto for Flourishing at Work, a collaboration of practitioners, consultants, and academics to reinvent performance management. He highlights three critical topics from the manifesto:

First, align performance and purpose by making sure that performance encourages progress towards a company’s purpose that includes all stakeholders. Second, manage the complex system of performance by focusing both on individuals within the system and also the system itself. Third, ensure that leaders are secure enough in themselves to use their power to empower others and to allow employees to contribute to their own improvement.

FIG 17: Performance management process – four steps (Source: Dave Ulrich)

ERIN MEYER - Build a Corporate Culture That Works

If you hire people whose personalities don’t align with your culture, no matter what else you get right, you are unlikely to get the desired behaviors.

Ever since Peter Drucker’s infamous assertion that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” it has been widely acknowledged that managing corporate culture is the key to business success. Yet the link between ‘values’ and ‘behaviours’ is often stark. As INSEAD professor Erin Meyer asks in her latest Harvard Business Review article: “If culture eats strategy for breakfast, how should you be cooking it?” Erin blends in examples from the likes of Amazon, Netflix, Airbnb, Pixar and others and presents six guidelines to help managers who are confronting the challenges of culture building: (1) Build Your Culture Based on Real-World Dilemmas. (2) Move Your Culture from Abstraction to Action. (3) Paint Your Culture in Full Colour. (4) Hire the Right People, and They Will Build the Right Culture. (5) Make Sure that Culture Drives Strategy. (6) Don’t Be a Purist. An absolute must-read. At Insight222, we’re delighted that Erin Meyer will be speaking at our Global Executive Retreat in Amsterdam in September. The Retreat is exclusively for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program. Click on this link to find out more.

ROB CROSS AND KATHERYN BREKKEN | I4CP - The Team Network Effect™: How Precision Collaboration Unleashes Productivity

A new study of 1,400 organisations on team effectiveness, led by Rob Cross and Katheryn Brekken, Ph.D. for The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) , finds that 80% of teams fall short of reaching their full productivity potential due to corporate dysfunction. The study identifies six snares that stifle team performance (see FIG 18), and provides powerful examples including from Roche, which found that efforts to increase geographic and cross-functional collaboration across teams in 89 countries reaped a direct revenue impact of $500 million in less than two years.

FIG 18: How companies rank against the six dysfunctions that stifle team performance (Source: i4CP)

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING

SHUJAAT AHMAD - From Productivity to Prosperity: The AI Shift Leaders Must Embrace

The jobs most at risk from AI automation are jobs occupied by women and minority racial groups. In his compelling essay, Shujaat Ahmad argues that this calls for a shift from the current focus on a productivity-only AI model (with an emphasises on cutting costs at the expense of worker well-being and creativity) to a prosperity-first AI model, championing AI's potential to improve human life, promote fairness, and ensure sustainable progress alongside economic growth. Shujaat then breaks down the differences between the two models in four scenarios: software development, product management, go-to market, and recruitment (see FIG 19), as well as outlining three steps for leaders seeking to build a prosperity-first AI strategy: (1) Adopt a Prosperity-First True North and Accountability Measures for AI Adoption. (2) Put Employees in the Pilot Seat. (3) Commit to Responsible AI Development; Integrate AI Ethically and Inclusively.

FIG 19: Productivity Only vs. Prosperity First AI – Recruitment (Source: Shujaat Ahmad) 

BCG - Women Leaders in Tech Are Paving the Way in GenAI

A recent BCG study finds that that senior women in technical functions are ahead of their male peers in adopting GenAI—but junior women are lagging behind (see FIG 20). The study identifies three key attributes that correlate with gender disparities in GenAI adoption: (1) Awareness of GenAI’s criticality to job success. (2) Confidence in GenAI skills. (3) Risk tolerance for using GenAI prior to having a company policy. The authors ( Maria Barisano Neveen Awad Adriana Dahik Julie Bedard Uche M. Gunjan Mundhra and Katherine Lou ) conclude that if the number of senior and junior women with GenAI skills increases, then it’s likely that women’s representation in tech leadership will grow, and call for highly targeted upskilling programs, leadership advocacy and change management.

FIG 20: Women leaders in tech are ahead in GenAI adoption (Source: BCG)

HR TECH VOICES

Much of the innovation in the field continues to be driven by the vendor community, and I’ve picked out a few resources from June that I recommend readers delve into:

• RICHARD ROSENOW - 6 Emerging People Analytics Trends for a People-Focused Future – Richard Rosenow of One Model shares his observations on shifts in the people analytics field including related to regulation, team structure and focus, and the people data supply chain (see FIG 21). Definitely worth a read.

FIG 21: The People Data Supply Chain (Source: One Model)

• ALICIA ROACH - Want Better Business Planning? Budgeting? Recruiting? Read This! – Alicia Roach of eQ8 provides a treatise on the rising importance of strategic workforce planning: “SWP is a business planning and forecasting process that just happens to be grounded in people.”

FIG 22: Source – eQ8

• ANNIE DEAN – State of Teams 2024 – Annie Dean presents Atlassian ’s newly published report on the State of Teams, which has a plethora of insights including that teams and leaders who use AI are better at collaborating.

FIG 23: Team that use AI on a regular basis (Source: Atlassian)

SHAY DAVID - From Automation To Augmentation: The Evolution Of HR Tech – Shay David of retrain.ai explains how leveraging HR technology to enhance human capabilities and enrich the employee experience is transforming the workplace.

PODCASTS OF THE MONTH

In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected five gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):

• REID HOFFMAN - Gen AI: A cognitive industrial revolution - In this episode of At the Edge, Reid Hoffman speaks with McKinsey’s Lareina Yee about the generative AI revolution and how it can teach users to understand and harness its power.
• PATRICK COOLEN – The Evolution of People Analytics – In a fascinating episode of the Talent Intelligence Collective podcast, Patrick Coolen joins hosts Toby Culshaw Alan Walker and Alison Ettridge to discuss all things people analytics and the factors that drive success.
• MARCO BURELLI – Shaking Up Silos – Marco Burelli joins the HR Visionaries podcast to walk through the HR transformation journey at TomTom including breaking down old silos to create a more unified and dynamic team structure.
• JOSH BERSIN - A New, Transformed Role For The HR Business Partner – Josh Bersin outlines some of his latest research in relation to the new and transformed role of the HR Business Partner, which as Josh says has become pivotal to a company’s successful people strategy.  
• SHUBA GOPAL - Computational Biology Helps People Analytics with Small Samples & More – In another must-listen episode of the Directionally Correct podcast, Shuba Gopal joins hosts Cole Napper and Scott Hines, PhD to discuss how techniques gleaned from computational biology can help in people analytics.

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

PRASAD SETTY – Tech It Up a Notch: GenAI for HR Leaders

In his keynote at the i4CP Next Practices Now Conference, Prasad Setty , formerly Head of People Analytics at Google, breaks down the opportunities and challenges of GenAI in organisations and posits a path forward for HR leaders to champion humanity in the workplace. At Insight222, we’re delighted that Prasad will be speaking at our Global Executive Retreat in Amsterdam in September. The Retreat is exclusively for member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program. Click on this link to find out more.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

SHARNA WIBLEN - Rethinking Talent Decisions: A Tale of Complexity, Technology and Subjectivity

In ReThinking Talent Decisions, Sharna Wiblen , presents an uncomfortable truth: Talent decisions are always subjective. Drawing on examples from business, sports, movies and everyday interactions, Sharna emphasises the importance of understanding complexity and encourages deliberate, intentional, and informed decisions and conversations around talent. For a teaser from the book, read my expert interview with Sharna: Rethinking Talent Decisions and Navigating Subjectivity in HR.

RESEARCH REPORT OF THE MONTH

NICHOLAS BLOOM, RUOBING HAN, AND JAMES LIANG - Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance

There are a lot of opinions about the impact of hybrid work and some executives argue that it damages productivity, innovation and career development. But what does the data say? In their study, Nick Bloom Ruobing Han and James Liang find that hybrid working improved job satisfaction and reduced quit rates by one-third. The reduction in quit rates was significant for non-managers, female employees and those with long commutes (see FIG 24). For more from on this topic, listen to Nick Bloom in conversation with me on the Digital HR Leaders podcast: Unmasking Common Myths Around Remote Work.

FIG 24: WFH cut attrition by 33% overall, and had a particularly strong effect for non-managers, women and those with longer commutes (Source: Bloom et al)

FROM MY DESK

June saw the final three episodes of series 39 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, which was kindly sponsored by our friends at Crunchr . Thank you to Ralf Bovers and Dirk Jonker for your partnership and support. Also included are two articles inspired by series 38 and 39 of the podcast respectively.

• DIRK JONKER – Driving Business Transformation with Advanced People Analytics - Dirk Jonker , one of the most knowledgeable and passionate leaders in the people analytics field, joins me to discuss how people analytics is enabling HR to play a more active role in business transformation and strategy.
• ARMAND SOHET - Painting the Future of HR with AI, Analytics and Curiosity - Armand Sohet , Chief Sustainability, HR, and Communications Officer, joins me to discuss how a data-driven approach to HR has led to substantial cost savings and efficiency gains at AkzoNobel.
• ERIN GERBEC – How Cardinal Health Transformed Their People Analytics Function – Erin Gerbec, Ph.D. shares insights from her three-year journey of transforming the people analytics operating model at Cardinal Health, and how they shifted from a build to a buy strategy for its people analytics platform.
• DAVID GREEN - Revolutionising Workplace Experience through Employee Insights and Analytics – In this article for myHRfuture, I look at how people analytics and AI is reshaping the employee experience through the eyes of recent guests on the Digital HR Leaders podcast including Loren I. Shuster Nickle LaMoreaux and Craig Starbuck, PhD .
• DAVID GREEN - How can HR leaders use people analytics to uncover and address inclusivity gaps? – A round up of series 39 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, with insights from Daisy Auger-Domínguez (she/her/ella) , Kate Bravery , and Ilya Bonic as well as Dirk, Armand, and Erin.
• PETER SCHULZ-RITTICH AND DAVID GREEN – D as in Data Analytics – In June, I also had the pleasure of joining Dr. Peter Schulz-Rittich Caroline Amalie Allard and Christina May on ISS’s A People and Culture Podcast to discuss the power of people analytics within HR, where we are today – and where we are going.

LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE IN PEOPLE ANALYTICS OR HR TECH?

I’d like to highlight once again the wonderful resource created by Richard Rosenow and the One Model team of open roles in people analytics and HR technology, which now numbers over 500 roles.

THANK YOU

• Thomas Kohler for including the May edition of Data Driven HR Monthly in his round-up of resources for HR professionals
• Amit Mohindra (here), Oliver Kasper (here) and Michelle Deneau (here) for sharing details on the Insight222 People Analytics Trends survey for 2024
• Neeru Monga (here), Agostina Verni (here), and Tristan H. (here) for sharing takeaways from the recent Insight222 webinar on Transforming HR and People Analytics with AI.
• Sharon Saldanha for sharing her key learnings on the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Kate Bravery and Ilya Bonic on the importance of skills and trust
• Similarly, Olimpiusz Papiez also highlighted the relationship between trust and employee engagement, productivity and retention, which Ilya, Kate and I discussed in the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode: Navigating the Future of Work: AI, Skills, and Trust in the Modern Workforce.
• Marcela Niemeyer for recommending and sharing her key learnings on the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Nickle Lamoreaux on How IBM uses AI to transform HR.
• Harisenin.com for including me in their list of 12 people to follow for HR professionals on LinkedIn.
• Aurélie Crégut for sharing her key takeaways (here) from the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Dirk Jonker: Driving Business Transformation with Advanced People Analytics
• Alicia Roach for posting about the fifth anniversary of the Digital HR Leaders podcast (see here), which included her episode, How Strategic Workforce Planning Contributes to Business Success, ranking in the top 10 most listened to episodes!
• Sonali Kumar for sharing her learnings on the Digital HR Leaders podcast episode with Piyush Mehta , How to Create Personalised Employee Experiences.
• Thank you to everyone that contributed to the amazing video celebrating ten years of the Data Driven HR monthly: Sue, Jeremy. Eden, Kalifa, Lexy, Greg, Adam, Dawn, Chris, John, Jonathon, Kris, Greg, Paul, Anna, Cole, Shannon, Al, Toby, Thomas, Dirk, Antony, Alan, Michael, Ian, Chris, Craig, Andrew, Alexis, Patrick, Sanja, Dan, Mark, Ben, Sukumaran, Stela, David, Christopher, Daisy, Serena, Tony, Chad, Pietro, Kathi, Casey, Gabe, Lydia, Mark, Allen, Nicole, Nicholas, Stephanie, Andrew, Ramesh, Hallie, Dave, Roxanne, Matt, Max, Stacia, Travis, Jordan, Kelly, Ethan, Bethany, Rob, Anthony, Meg, Shawn, RJ, Jordan, Justin, Tanmay, Jon, Christine, Nick, Madhura, Brian, Raja, Henrik, Ben, Ben, Prasad, Maja, Stacey, Courtney, Buddy, Kristin, Shujaat, Gary, Alicia, Fabian, Philipp, Irene, Nick, Ryan Hammond , Amit Mohindra Gregor Teusch and of course Richard Rosenow .
• Finally, a huge thank you to the following selection of people who shared the May edition of Data Driven HR Monthly. It's much appreciated: Viktoriia Kriukova (Вікторія Крюкова) Juan Antonio V. Davina Erasmus Dan Riley Danielle Farrell, MA Ugur Zel (Prof. / ACC) Veronika Birkheim Chris Louie Jaqueline O. Ganchimeg Gantulga EDLIGO Talent Analytics and Learning Analytics Ken Oehler Nick Lynn Sohil Varshney Jackson Roatch Graham Tollit RADICL Adam Tombor (Wojciechowski) Reshma Mawji Jeremy Carpenter, M.S., MPA Terri Horton, EdD, MBA, MA, SHRM-CP, PHR Bilal Laouah Catriona Lindsay Ayomide Ebietomiye Irada Sadykhova Caroline Arora Lawson Iduku German Arciniegas Brandon Merritt Johnson Jim de Vries Dave Millner Aravind Warrier Terrance Edwards David Simmonds FCIPD Stefano Di Lauro Francesca Caroleo (SHRM-SCP, ICF-ACC) Emmanuel Dominick Chris Long Cedric Borzee Maria Alice Jovinski Aurélien GOZET Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP Susan Knolla Markus Graf Matt Elk Robert Newry Anil Saxena Fresia Jackson Conor Gilligan Alexandra Nawrat Hanadi El Sayyed Kannu Priya Arora Patrick Svensson Phil Inskip Jennifer Moore John Gunawan Ann-Marie Clayton Johnson Roshaunda Green, MBA, CDSP, Phenom Certified Recruiter Rebecca Thielen Shilpa Shah Tom Morehead PCC,MBA,SPHR David Balls (FCIPD) Meghan M. Biro Sebastian Kolberg Olivier Bougarel Catherine Coppinger Aimee Wilkinson Andrew Bamber Matt Higgs MBA FCIPD Chandresh Natu David Duewel Nicola Wood Andrew Pitts Kerrian Soong Andrés García Ayala Sanja Licina, Ph.D. Jeremy Shapiro Chris Lovato Tatu Westling Ken Clar Brandon Roberts David van Lochem Placid Jover Ohad Geron Carly Fordham Tobias W. Goers ツ Dave Fineman Laura Thurston Higor Gomes Kirandeep Chakrabarti Stephen Hickey Liz Mackay Lina Makneviciute David McLean

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 2024:

• June 25-26 - Insight222 North American Peer Meeting (Minneapolis, US) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
• July 24 - LinkedIn Live - Skills-powered organizations in the Age of AI, with Ravin Jesuthasan and Tanuj Kapilashrami
• September 16-19 - Workday Rising (Las Vegas)
• September 24-26 - Insight222 Global Executive Retreat (Colorado, US) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
• October 2-3 - People Analytics World (New York)
• October 16-17 - UNLEASH World (Paris)
• October 22-23 - Insight222 North American Peer Meeting (hosted by Workday in Pleasanton, CA) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program
• November 12-14 - Workday Rising EMEA (London)
• November 19-20 - Insight222 European Peer Meeting (hosted by Merck in Darmstadt, Germany) - exclusively for member organisations of the Insight222 People Analytics Program

More events will be added as they are confirmed.