Workforce analytics is the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in workforce-related data to inform decision making and improve performance.
The human race’s quest for information is never ending. Businesses and organizations are no exceptions. Business leaders continually seek out knowledge about their organizations to gain insights from all the data that exist so that they can make evidence-based decisions to improve the organization’s performance and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The discipline called analytics exists to meet this need. Analytics concerning human resources, people, and the workforce is known as workforce analytics. The Power of People explores how to establish, operate, and lead workforce analytics to better serve organizational ambitions.
In researching the world of analytics, we came across the book Competing on Analytics (Harvard Business Review Press, 2007) by Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris. That book remains a well-referenced resource on the topic of analytics and reminds us just what a difference a good book can make in exploring new disciplines. Davenport and Harris’s book was recommended to us as a starting point for all analytics, so we pass on that recommendation to you. In addition, we recommend an article that evolved from that book, called “Competing on Talent Analytics” (Harvard Business Review, October 2010). Laszlo Bock, former Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, has more recently authored a book Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead (Twelve Books, 2015) that has ignited the interest of businesses globally with its scientific and analytical approaches to the world of work.
All of these resources provide an excellent start for the topic of analytics applied to work. However, we still felt there was a gap in the market for more detailed guidance on how a wide variety of organizations can successfully implement workforce analytics. This topic is the focus of the book you are now reading.
So how did our book come about? We three authors first met in 2013. We come from different cultural, national, and professional backgrounds, but between 2013 and 2015, we collectively and individually wrote several articles and undertook research on topics related to people, work, and analytics. Something important happened in spring 2015. Together with a fourth colleague, we wrote and published a paper called “Starting the Workforce Analytics Journey: The First 100 Days.” The paper was launched at an analytics conference in New York, with 50 copies available for a free takeaway. Early on the first day of the conference, we discovered that all 50 copies of the paper had been taken. We printed another batch, and all of those also disappeared during the conference. The overwhelming feedback from conference attendees was that it was the first document people had read that gave a structured approach and practical tips on how to undertake workforce analytics.
Within a few days we published an infographic and other material. Then we took a step back to discuss the success of the paper. Clearly, we had only scratched the surface with our paper; a book would deliver much more practical guidance to our thirsty audience. And so the book began. Over the next several months, we met many people and interviewed scores of experts in the analytics space—academics, consultants, practitioners, HR leaders, and data scientists. We cannot thank those people enough for the insights they provided, which helped shape this book into what it has become.
This book is for anyone who is interested in improving business performance through the use of workforce data and analytics. In particular, we researched and wrote this book with the following audiences in mind:
• Business executives who want more from HR
• HR executives or leaders who want to understand how to set up analytics for success
• HR professionals who are charged with establishing, leading, or managing an analytics function
• HR professionals who want to enhance their knowledge and skills in workforce analytics
Building and running a workforce analytics function and delivering meaningful projects that improve business performance can be complicated, but learning from the experiences of others can help in successfully navigating the journey. As we collected ideas from others, we amalgamated those into four parts in this book.
Part I focuses on how workforce analytics got its name, why it is important, and its potential business impact. It also articulates a recommended approach to undertaking any analytics project, to ensure that it has purpose and clarity and also uses robust research design and analysis. In addition, this part offers case studies to help the reader understand potential benefits. Finally, we discuss the important role of the workforce analytics leader and why that person is essential for success.
This first part is important for everyone to read because it covers the fundamental elements you need before you get started. Business and HR leaders will be particularly interested in Chapter 1, “Why Analytics?” and Chapter 6, “Case Studies,” to understand potential value from a workforce analytics team or function.
Part II focuses on important concepts when starting out in workforce analytics, such as establishing the purpose of a workforce analytics program, determining why your organization wants analytics, and identifying where that demand is coming from. It also focuses on the stakeholders who will enable success and how to get started with “quick win” projects.
This part helps chief human resources officers (CHROs), aspiring workforce analytics leaders, and HR professionals tackle the first few steps and it details what they might spend the first few weeks and months doing.
This part is also helpful for anyone who wants to collect ideas about workforce analytics before recruiting someone to lead the function.
Part III enables workforce analytics leaders and other HR executives to really understand how to ensure success. It has detailed sections on managing data, technology, and partners, plus suggestions for necessary skills. Finally, this part recommends an operating model to ensure continued and integrated success of workforce analytics as it becomes operationalized in the organization.
This part gives the reader practical tips and recommendations for ensuring continued and long-lasting success. It is particularly aimed at analytics leaders and HR executives who are accountable for workforce analytics.
Sometimes simply undertaking analytics projects is not enough. Instead, time and energy are needed to change the culture of the organization. Part IV focuses specifically on how to change your organization’s HR function from largely administrative to one that embraces an analytical mindset. In addition, this part focuses on two skills that HR usually lacks: storytelling and visualization. Finally, Part IV envisions what might happen in the field of workforce analytics in the next few years.
This part is useful for HR and other business professionals who need to tell stories around an analytics topic and who need to change the mindset of the people with whom they interact.
At the end of the book, we provide a glossary that gives standardized terms and definitions for important elements of workforce analytics. Many analytics leaders requested this list to aid them in meaningful discussions with business leaders without getting lost in confused terms and misunderstandings. Using standardized terms, we can build a professional common understanding of workforce analytics.
A growing number of people around the world are involved in the field of workforce analytics. We were in touch with many of these people while writing this book. We talked to speakers and attendees at conferences, we spoke with global business leaders and practitioners, and we formally interviewed many of the world’s leading practitioners of workforce analytics.
Almost everyone we spoke with in researching this book asked us to provide practical tips. Most people recommended that we focus the book not on the why, but more on the how and what. In response, we added practical pointers from the people who practice this every day. In addition, at the end of each chapter, we summarize the main points that we believe will prepare leaders and practitioners as they set up or expand their analytics practice. Furthermore, this book contains vignettes that describe experiences from real professionals and offer great insights into their successes.
As in the pursuit of data perfection, it is not our expectation that a book such as this can ever be 100 percent complete. We do not claim to supply every answer or cover every possible situation. But we do have a rich collection of practical advice to share, based on our own experience and the advice of other analytics practitioners, academics and leaders.
Whatever your role, and whatever your reason for reading this book, our goal is to add insight and practical knowledge to the world of workforce analytics. We hope you find it helpful in developing your function and improving your organization’s performance.
Visit the authors’ website at www.thepowerofpeople.org for more details about the book.