How to Use Workforce Data to Create Business Value: Excellence in People Analytics by Jonathan Ferrar and David Green

People analytics is the key to unlocking the true potential of your workforce. In “Excellence in People Analytics: How to Use Workforce Data to Create Business Value,” Jonathan Ferrar and David Green provide a comprehensive guide to harnessing the power of employee data to drive business success.

Keep reading to discover how you can transform your organization through the effective use of people analytics.

Genres

Business, Management, Human Resources, Data Analysis, Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Technology, Psychology, Strategy, Economics

“Excellence in People Analytics” is a comprehensive guide to leveraging workforce data to create business value. The book provides a step-by-step approach to implementing people analytics, from defining objectives to measuring success. Ferrar and Green emphasize the importance of aligning people analytics with business strategy and ensuring buy-in from key stakeholders.

They cover essential topics such as data governance, privacy, and ethics, and provide practical tips for overcoming common challenges. The authors also share real-world case studies and best practices from leading organizations that have successfully implemented people analytics.

Throughout the book, Ferrar and Green demonstrate how people analytics can be used to improve decision-making, enhance employee engagement, and drive business performance.

Review

“Excellence in People Analytics” is a must-read for HR professionals, business leaders, and anyone interested in leveraging workforce data to create value. Ferrar and Green provide a clear and compelling case for the importance of people analytics in today’s data-driven business environment.

The book is well-organized and easy to follow, with practical advice and real-world examples that bring the concepts to life. The authors’ extensive experience in the field is evident throughout, and their insights are both thought-provoking and actionable.

One of the strengths of the book is its emphasis on the human side of people analytics, including the importance of building trust, ensuring transparency, and maintaining ethical standards. The authors also provide a realistic assessment of the challenges involved in implementing people analytics and offer practical strategies for overcoming them. Overall, “Excellence in People Analytics” is an essential guide for anyone looking to harness the power of workforce data to drive business success.

Recommendation

What makes people analytics such a powerful business tool? Analytics and HR experts Jonathan Ferrar and David Green provide a thorough, practical guide to harnessing the power of workforce data to improve companies’ decision-making and outcomes. Their clear, actionable steps for leveraging people analytics insights and examples drawn from more than 30 detailed case studies will serve as a valuable resource for HR professionals, business leaders, and anyone interested in building, maintaining, and continuously improving people analytics functions to drive business success.

Take-Aways

• People analytics drive sound business decisions and results.
• Vest in the foundational elements of governance, methodology and stakeholder management.
• Focus on skills, technology, and data to build people analytics capabilities.
• Build excellence through workforce experiences, measuring business outcomes, and embedding people analytics in your culture.
• Continuously improve through collaboration, quick wins, and ambitious goals.
• People analytics are an indisputable value proposition.

Summary

People analytics drive worthy business decisions and results.

People analytics apply data and analytical techniques to understand, improve, and optimize their workforce. Effective people analytics drive better decision-making, increased employee engagement, and improved organizational performance.

“What is people analytics? The analysis of employee and workforce data to reveal insights and provide recommendations to improve business outcomes.”

People analytics emerged from early 20th-century scientific management. It gained sophistication with the advent of Big Data and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Today, businesses use people analytics to translate employee data into actionable insights for improved decision-making and competitive advantage. People analytics teams should engage with HR and company executives to determine strategically essential people topics, quantify work output, and deliver insights that drive business value and operational improvement.

Vest in the foundational elements of governance, methodology and stakeholder management.

Governance establishes the frameworks for how a company conducts and mitigates risks in people analytics. Align analytics with corporate strategy, craft a vision statement articulating people analytics’ purpose and aspirations, and create a mission statement to define objectives and expected outcomes. Build a recognizable brand to increase visibility within the organization, establish a guiding board for people analytics, and prioritize ethical considerations with a transparent ethics charter to ensure proper and responsible use of data.

“People analytics is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for companies but an absolute must-have for any chief executive officer or chief human resources officer if they want to positively impact all of the stakeholders across the enterprise.”

Suku Mariappan, VP of Global HR Technology and People Analytics at Trimble, Inc., has cultivated a robust people analytics brand since the company’s inception in 2016. Mariappan built the brand at Trimble gradually by focusing on delivering reliable and useful insights. The brand has three core principles:

1. Addressing crucial business problems over mere metrics.
2. Being transparent about data limitations and assumptions.
3. Managing data sharing to maintain trust.

Mariappan’s strategy hinges on these principles. CHRO Mike Scarpa bolsters these efforts by emphasizing the importance of evidence-based decision-making.

Successful people analytics hinges on effective prioritization, structured processes, and dedicated sponsors. Consider the business value of your efforts before starting any analytics projects. Engage stakeholders to define business questions and develop clear hypotheses. Establish a project prioritization forum to review and guide priorities. Include leaders from people analytics, HR, finance, and business.

People analytics must respond swiftly during crises. Jeremy Shapiro’s Workforce Analytics team at Merck, for example, effectively navigated COVID-19 by aligning with company values, empathizing with employees, and understanding business strategy. This approach allowed Shapiro’s team to prioritize and address critical business needs and ensure employee safety.

Apply a comprehensive framework such as the Complexity-Impact Matrix to select high-impact analytics projects, focusing on “Quick Wins” and “Big Bets” while avoiding low-effect endeavors. Every major project should have a committed sponsor with a specific business problem and the authority to implement solutions, thus maximizing value and impact.

Engage all relevant stakeholders to help direct and ensure the success of your people analytics efforts. To manage stakeholders, ask insightful questions about their needs and interests. Listen actively to shape people analytics initiatives and build essential long-term relationships.

Focus on skills, technology, and data to build people analytics capabilities.

A successful people analytics team requires a capable people analytics leader and should include workers with six critical skill types: business acumen, consulting, HR, work psychology, data science, and communications. Integrate the team leader within the HR leadership team. Position people analytics visibly within the organization by adopting an outside-in, value-focused approach to develop scalable solutions. Include individuals on your team who can bridge the gap between business challenges and analytical insights and translate connected elements into actionable recommendations.

“The most essential skills for a people analytics leader are business acumen, a consultative approach and sharp communication skills.”

Technology facilitates data collection, analysis, and the scalable implementation of analytics solutions across an enterprise. Stay informed about the latest technology trends but invest in technology that addresses specific business problems. Prioritize strong privacy and ethical standards. Engage with your procurement team to ensure alignment between business needs and vendor selection. Choose vendors that offer partnership, flexibility, and defined data privacy practices. Secure sponsorship, collaborate with finance on investment cases and work transparently with HR and enterprise tech teams to scale solutions. Incorporate product management and human-centered design skills to enhance the effectiveness of your people analytics team.

Data is fundamental to all analytics efforts. Success in people analytics depends on effectively structuring, managing, governing, and securing this data and exploring new data sources for business insights. Appoint a chief data officer for HR to oversee data management, data science, and analytics. Implement robust governance practices to ensure privacy and proper data handling. Align data-management activities with your company’s overall strategy by establishing clear data definitions and standards. Invest in data-engineering resources and adopt a cross-functional approach to leverage data and expertise across the organization. Continually seek emerging data sources, both internal and external, to address business challenges innovatively.

Build excellence through workforce experiences, measuring business outcomes, and embedding people analytics in your culture.

Incorporating people analytics to enhance personalized workforce experiences benefits managers, executives, and the workforce as a whole. Utilize a data-driven approach to assist HR teams in defining, measuring, and managing employee experiences. Offer personalized insights, create a digital ecosystem for continuous feedback, provide managers with democratized data for team understanding, and supply executives with advanced analytics solutions in intuitive, user-friendly formats.

“Insight without outcome is simply overhead.’ Realizing measurable outcomes from people analytics avoids accusations of ‘analytics for the sake of analytics,’ creates value for organizations and their workforces, demonstrates why analytics matters, and builds the case for increased investment.”

People analytics should improve business performance, strategic support, and risk management. To achieve desired outcomes, adopt a value-chain approach, align client drivers with measurable business results, and focus on delivering tangible outcomes. Collaborate with finance to establish outcome measurement criteria, master the art of storytelling tailored to different audiences, and scale analytics initiatives across the organization to maximize value. Don’t confine analytics to mere experiments, projects, or pilots.

As head of Global Workforce Analytics at MetLife, Laura Shubert oversees a team that provides data-driven insights to facilitate informed workforce decisions. In 2020, her team embarked on a strategic workforce planning initiative and developed an internal career marketplace, requiring additional investment for successful implementation. Leveraging her background in finance, Shubert emphasized the importance of involving financial analysts early on in such projects and translating HR actions into business outcomes. By conducting thorough research and financial analysis, Laura effectively communicated the value of the initiative to company executives. She ultimately secured the necessary funding.

Collaborating closely with finance experts, Laura’s team successfully presented the business case for their projects, leading to approval and support from senior management. Her team’s transparency, financial acumen, and strong relationships with the finance team proved critical factors in gaining approval and navigating challenges, such as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Laura’s successful funding strategy highlights the importance of proactive engagement with finance, using financial language, sharing detailed financial models openly, and fostering collaborative relationships for mutual success.

The Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of People Analytics should collaborate on key strategies, including promoting belief in analytics by showcasing its value, investing in educational initiatives to upskill HR professionals, creating engaging tools for analytics adoption at all HR levels, providing opportunities for hands-on learning with real business challenges, and encouraging a mindset shift toward data-driven practices through consistent communication and reinforcement.

Continuously improve through collaboration, quick wins, and ambitious goals.

Prioritize regular, transparent interactions with business leaders to align analytics efforts with essential business goals and challenges. Define goals for the people analytics team that serve your brand and mission in collaboration with HR leadership. Ultimately, fostering a data-driven culture, securing support from the CHRO, and consistently communicating the team’s ambitions drive successful outcomes and generate long-term value for the organization.

“Connect with business stakeholders. If there is only one action for a people analytics leader to undertake — this is it.”

The Allstate Corporation has a long history of utilizing people analytics, but in 2019, the HR organization recognized a need for transformation. Despite lacking a specific catalyst for change, signs indicated the need for enhanced people analytics capabilities. The arrival of a new Chief Human Resources Officer further solidified the strategic focus on data-driven HR approaches, culminating in the introduction of Allstate’s Transformative Growth Plan.

In collaboration with critical stakeholders, Allstate’s HR leadership team delved into the “whys” behind their analytics initiatives, emphasizing the importance of understanding the business context, data relevance, and the role of people analytics within the organization. The team embraced a holistic transformation journey of their people analytics function by engaging external experts and following a phased approach — guided by a passion for talent development and data utilization.

People analytics are an indisputable value proposition.

The discipline of people analytics will shape the future of HR by addressing the human experience of work, the skills conundrum, investor demands, and societal improvements. By enhancing employee experiences through data-driven insights, resolving skills gap challenges, responding to investor inquiries, and engaging with societal issues such as diversity and inclusion (DEI), people analytics teams drive organizational success while making a broader societal impact.

“By 2025, it is estimated that 50 percent of all employees will need to be reskilled, with 97 million new jobs emerging and 85 million being displaced by a shift in labor between humans and machines.”

To tackle multifaceted business challenges effectively, the people analytics function’s role and relationships within organizations will evolve, leading to functional realignments within HR and greater integration with broader enterprise analytics efforts.

About the Authors

Jonathan Ferrar, the CEO and co-founder of Insight222, a people analytics and HR professional services firm, collaborates with David Green, the firm’s Managing Partner.