Power of People, The Learn How Successful Organizations Use Work

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Praise for The Power of People
“The Power of People provides an exceptional primer for doing workforce

analytics. It includes wonderful insights from thought leaders, and specific
and usable tools for performing analytics.”
—Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University
of Michigan, and Partner of The RBL Group
“Data analytics is a crucial and fast evolving organisational capability. This

intriguing and fascinating book demonstrates not only the power of people
analytics, but also creates a clear blueprint for building action-taking
capability. A must read for any manager determined to add this valuable skill
to their portfolio.”
—Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business
School
“Trusting your gut on people issues turns out to be a bad idea. Analytics on
your workforce is the most rapidly growing field of analytics. The Power of
People is an excellent guide to this important and burgeoning topic.”
—Thomas H. Davenport, Distinguished Professor, Babson College, and
Research Fellow, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
“I believe you will find, like I did, that the frameworks and insights in The
Power of People offer valuable steps toward realizing the potential of your
workforce to create sustainable strategic success.”
—Dr. John Boudreau, Professor, Marshall School of Business; and Research
Director, Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern
California.
“This is quite an exceptional book. Extremely well-researched, it constitutes

essential reading for those involved in the burgeoning field of Big Data,
giving first-rate advice on good practices for all those involved in Workforce
Analytics.”
—Professor Peter Saville, Chairman 10X Psychology and Founder SHL and
Saville Consulting

“To build an extraordinary workplace, you need to harness the power of
analytics. The Power of People provides a comprehensive look at latest
research, offering best practices for leveraging the wealth of data now within
our reach. If you want to master HR, you need to read this book.”
—Ron Friedman, Author of “The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of
Creating an Extraordinary Workplace”
“Today’s business executives are applying pressure to all aspects of their

business (including HR and workforce areas) to use analytics to improve
their bottom line. Despite this pressure there remain few resources for those
looking to begin. The Power of People is an excellent primer providing
definition and guidance for identifying, framing, and successfully deploying
analytics solutions to solve workforce challenges.”
—Greta Roberts, CEO Talent Analytics, Corp.
“We are barreling along toward the collision between Big Data, Analytics,
and the successful acquisition, development, and retention of people in our
organizations. The Power of People gives data-led comfort and practical
guidance to business leaders that shows we not only can survive the collision,
we can harness its potential and emerge with a stronger workforce that is
motivated for business and personal success.”
—China Gorman, Board Chair, Universum Americas
“Finally! An authoritative, thoroughly researched, clearly written book to

help HR professionals be more data-driven. This volume discusses everything
you always wanted to know about workforce analytics but were afraid to ask,
with answers from top practitioners in the field.”
—Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Professor of Business Psychology (UCL
and Columbia University), CEO of Hogan Assessments, and author of The
Talent Delusion.
“Today Workforce Analytics is an emerging discipline which, in a few years

time, will become mainstream. The Power of People is exceptionally
practical and inspiring—essential reading for those executives willing to take
on the challenge of transforming their organisations. By leveraging the
authors’ as well as other leaders’ extensive experience, this book is a true
compendium for those wishing to navigate their transformation.”
—Manish Goel, CEO TrustSphere
“The Power of People is a great book for those who want to build, refine, or
fundamentally improve their HR Analytics offering. The authors have clearly
undertaken some extensive research and are drawing on the experience of a
wide range of people analytics experts. As a result, their book is full of great
advice and can be considered a really good guide for those wanting to realise
the full potential of workforce analytics in their organisation.”
—Dr. Martin Edwards, Kings College London Business School
“Listening to what employees tell us and acting on it distinguishes ‘average

HR’ from ‘HR excellence.’ New analytical capabilities mean we can discern
what people are telling us by their actions rather than what they say they
would do. The Power of People is an excellent book describing how to
harness organizational capabilities using workforce analytics to predict what
workers are most likely to do in the future and therefore how to impact
business outcomes.”
—Alan Wild, Vice President Human Resources; Employee Relations and
Engagement, IBM

THE POWER OF PEOPLE
Learn How Successful Organizations
Use Workforce Analytics To Improve
Business Performance
NIGEL GUENOLE
JONATHAN FERRAR
SHERI FEINZIG
Cisco Press
800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240 USA

© Copyright 2017
by Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar, and Sheri Feinzig
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Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar, and Sheri Feinzig:
Eight Step Model for Purposeful Analytics (Chapter 4)

Seven Forces of Demand (Chapter 7)
Complexity-Impact Matrix (Chapter 9)
Six Skills for Success (Chapter 12)
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codeMantra

CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
Foreword by John Boudreau
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Interviewees
Vignettes
Preface
I Understanding the Fundamentals
1 Why Workforce Analytics?
2 What’s in a Name?
3 The Workforce Analytics Leader
4 Purposeful Analytics
5 Basics of Data Analysis
6 Case Studies
II Getting Started
7 Set Your Direction
8 Engage with Stakeholders
9 Get a Quick Win
III Building Your Capability
10 Know Your Data
11 Know Your Technology
12 Build the Analytics Team
13 Partner for Skills
14 Establish an Operating Model
IV Establishing an Analytics Culture
15 Enable Analytical Thinking
16 Overcome Resistance
17 Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization
18 The Road Ahead
Glossary
References
Index

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Interviewees
Vignettes
Preface
I Understanding the Fundamentals

Adoption of Analytics
HR’s Contribution to Business Value
The Changing Nature of HR
The Future of Work
Summary
Focus of the Function
Activities of the Function
A Name Fit for the Future
Summary

Reporting to the Chief Human Resources Officer
Responsibilities of the Workforce Analytics Leader
Business Acumen
Leadership Attributes
Summary
A Model for Purposeful Analytics
Project Sponsors
Why Do Analytics Projects Fail?
Summary

Research Design
Objectives of Analysis
Unstructured Data
Traditional Statistics versus Machine Learning
Social Consequences of Algorithms
More on Design and Analysis
Summary
6 Case Studies
Eight-Step Methodology
Case Study Improving Careers Through Retention Analytics at Nielsen
Case Study From Employee Engagement to Profitability at ISS Group
Case Study Growing Sales Using Workforce Analytics at Rentokil
Initial
Case Study Increasing Value to the Taxpayer at the Metropolitan Police
Case Study Predictive Analytics Improves Employee Well-Being at
Westpac
Summary
II Getting Started

You Have the Job! Now What?
Listening to Prospective Project Sponsors
The Seven Forces of Demand
Agreeing on the Scope of Analytics

Developing a Vision and Mission Statement
Summary

Who Are Stakeholders?
Stakeholders Served
Stakeholders Depended Upon
Stakeholders Impacted
Working Effectively with Stakeholders
Summary
9 Get a Quick Win

Identifying Potential Projects
Complexity-Impact Matrix
Assessing Complexity and Impact
Summary
III Building Your Capability
10 Know Your Data

A Pragmatic View of Data
Solving Data Quality Challenges
Data Types and Sources
Data Governance
Remember the Basics
Summary

Starting with Vision and Mission
Components of Workforce Analytics Technology
On-Premise Versus Cloud
Technology Vendor Relationships

Summary

Six Skills for Success
Configuring Team Roles
Remember the Fundamentals!
Summary

Why Consider Partners?
Options for Building the Team
Choosing Among the Options
Summary

Defining Your Operating Model
Strategy
Governance
Implementation
Accountability
Summary
IV Establishing an Analytics Culture

Perspectives of Analytics in HR
The Translator Role
The Importance of Leadership
Summary
Resistance to Workforce Analytics
Stakeholder Skepticism
Financial Frugality
HR Hesitancy
Summary

What Is Storytelling?
Effective Visualization
Knowing Your Audience
Keeping It Simple
Summary
18 The Road Ahead

Analytics Provides New Opportunities for HR
Emerging Data Sources
Considering New Data Sources
Evolving Technology
The Workforce Analytics Function
Summary
Glossary
References
Index

The availability and power of workforce analytics have never been greater.
Leaders, workers, HR professionals, policy makers, and investors
increasingly recognize the pivotal role that their people play in strategic
success. Organizations face unprecedented change and unpredictability,
requiring new organizational forms and processes that work even when you
cannot predict the future. Volatility, unpredictability, complexity, and
ambiguity lead to a world of greater strategic opportunities but also greater
threats and pitfalls.
At the same time, organizations still face the perennial paradox of HR
analytics—the substantial opportunity it offers versus the stubborn challenges
of making a real impact on decisions, actions, strategy, and organizational
outcomes. That paradox is magnified by emerging ethical issues that require
organizations to establish limits on what should and should not be measured
and reported about employees.
This promise and paradox of workforce analytics explains why so many
leading organizations have built workforce analytics functions. Those
analytics functions bring together an amazing array of skills and disciplines.
To be sure, they include leaders from HR and psychology. However, they
often reach out to new disciplines such as marketing, storytelling,
engineering, and anthropology. I worked with one organization that had
enlisted quantum physicists to apply their frameworks to the complex
interactions in the workforce.
This book captures the practical insights from those leaders. It provides a
compendium of frameworks and guides for building and realizing the value
of workforce analytics expertise, whether it resides in a dedicated function or
is dispersed across the organization. With this book, you sit at the shoulder of
seasoned and experienced workforce analytics leaders, and hear their “voice”
to guide your workforce analytics journey. It aims to show how organizations
can tap the power of people through analytics.
Workforce analytics has existed since the first craftsmen hired apprentices
and assistants, observed the quality and quantity of their work, and
formulated pre-hire apprenticeships and other tests to detect their ability. The
two World Wars motivated the development of sophisticated aptitude tests

that revolutionized the assignment and training of troops. The 1960s and
1970s saw the emergence of systems designed to measure the cost and value
of the workforce, and “put people on the balance sheet.” In the 1980s and
1990s, the Saratoga Institute and others developed benchmark indices for the
entire employment lifecycle, from recruitment, to development, to rewards, to
engagement, to retention. Yet, today the issue of workforce analytics has
reached a tipping point. The information formerly contained in a six-inch
report from the Saratoga Institute in the 1990s is now available at the click of
a button in many of today’s human resources systems. Reports and statistical
analyses that once took months to compile using paper and spreadsheets now
appear instantly. Data mining tools can now unearth relationships that were
previously invisible. Predictive analytics hold the promise of calculating a
“risk-of-leaving” index for every employee, which changes with their work
and life situation, and alerts managers to take preventive action. Today, the
limits on workforce measurement are seldom due to a lack of data or
computing power. The priority has shifted from gathering and reporting data
to making sense of the data, finding the pivotal stories, and getting the
insights to those who can make the critical decisions—whether they be
leaders, managers, employees, boards, or investors.
As mentioned in the first two chapters of this book, when I recently worked
with a unique volunteer gathering of more than 50 chief human resources
officers and other thought-leaders (see www.CHREATE.net), we identified
five forces that will change the nature of organizational success. These
include social and organizational reconfiguration, an all-inclusive global
talent market, and a truly connected world. These forces will change the very
nature of work, which will be more democratic with shorter-duration and
varied work relationships that are more balanced between the worker and the
workplace, and more agile and responsive work arrangements through
purpose-built networks, supported by social norms and policies. Work via
platforms, projects, gigs, freelancing, contests, contracts, and tours of duty
will evolve and be increasingly empowered by automation and technology.
Leaders instinctively know that to answer these demands will rely on people,
and that great decisions about their workforce should rest on evidence and
analysis. They can clearly see the coming deluge of Big Data about the
workforce, enabled by personal devices, cognitive computing, cloud-based
storage and applications, and the innovative reconstruction of work to blend
humans and automation. They can see powerful real-time analytics applied to
global supply chains, consumer insights, and financial investment
optimization, and they yearn for workforce analytics that offers similar
insights and decision power. For example, when interviewed about the future
of their organization, one chief executive officer said, “I know that culture is
vital to our future, and what I need is a chief operating officer of culture, who
can measure, analyze and support my decisions about culture with the same
rigor that my chief operations officer can measure, analyze and support
decisions about our operations.” A pillar of such a role will be workforce
analytics.
So, workforce analytics must become a standard capability in the field of
human resources, and every organization should expect HR to have that
competency. Yet, workforce analytics must also become a capability outside
the HR profession. Just as leaders, investors, and workers are expected to
have facility with analytics applied to money, customers, and technology,
they should also be more adept at using and understanding workforce
metrics. Leaders must demand workforce analytics functions that not only
respond to their requests, but that proactively guide them toward insights. In
The Power of People, you will find frameworks to help answer these
demands, and the descriptions of analytics leaders who are doing it. This
makes a substantial contribution to the existing materials and builds on
frameworks like LAMP (logic, analytics, measure, and process) that I
currently use.
I believe you will find, like I did, that the frameworks and insights in The
Power of People offer valuable steps toward realizing the potential of your
workforce to create sustainable strategic success.
John Boudreau
Professor of Management and Organization, and
Research Director of the Center for Effective Organizations,
University of Southern California
February 2017

Acknowledgments
We wish to thank all the experts who agreed to be interviewed for this book.
Their insights have been invaluable, and without them, this book would not
have been possible.
A few people deserve special recognition. The first is Louise Raisbeck,

Managing Director of Raisbeck PR. Her outstanding editing skills and
unlimited patience are beyond compare. Our publishers and editors, Jeanne
Levine, Kim Boedigheimer, Michael Thurston, and Lori Lyons believed in us,
brought clarity and purpose, and provided much-needed editorial, sales, and
marketing support.
We are grateful to several people at IBM who helped with particular aspects:
Xiaoyuan (Susan) Zhu for assistance with literature reviews for Chapter 17,
Jackie Ryan for her help on Chapter 10, Sadat Shami for his help on Chapter
5, Dave Millner for reviewing Chapters 1 and 18, and Emily Plachy and
David Green for general guidance. Finally, we thank Steven Stansel for
guidance and coaching in turning our idea into a comprehensive proposal.
—Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar, and Sheri Feinzig
I would like to thank my wife, Magdalena, my daughters, Mia and Olivia, and
my parents, Geoff and Aivi.
—Nigel Guenole
I would like to thank my late Great Uncle Bill (William Ferrar), who sent me
two of his own books on calculus as a gift when I was 12 years old and
spurred me on in my own life to write and share my experiences with others.
I thank my son, Arthur, who has brought much joy to my life and reminded
me throughout the writing of this book of the importance of balance in life. I
also wish to thank my parents, James and Janet, and sister, Melloney, who
have supported me through the peaks and troughs of life and for keeping me
grounded.
—Jonathan Ferrar
I would like to thank my mother, Marilyn, my lifelong source of inspiration,

and my late father, Stanley, my role model for having a dream and making it
a reality. Thanks to my brother, Roy, and sister, Bonnie, for always being
there to celebrate my successes. And my most heartfelt thanks to my
husband, Steven, and our children, Ileana and Zachary, who allowed me the
hours during countless nights and weekends to “work on the book.” You
mean everything to me, and this could not have happened without you.
—Sheri Feinzig

About the Authors
Nigel Guenole is an executive consultant with IBM, where he consults with

many of the world’s most successful organizations about improving
organizational performance with psychological science. He is also Director of
Research at the Institute of Management at Goldsmiths, University of
London. Nigel’s consulting, research, and teaching focus on topics in
industrial-organizational psychology and statistical modeling. He is an
associate fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), a member of the
Academy of Management (AOM), and a member of the Society for Industrial
and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). His work on topics related to
workforce analytics has been featured in the media and popular press, as well
as in numerous scientific journals, including Frontiers in Quantitative
Psychology & Measurement and Industrial and Organizational Psychology:
Perspectives on Science and Practice.

Jonathan Ferrar is a respected consultant, speaker, and influencer in HR
strategy, workforce analytics, and the future of work. He advises clients on
how to establish human resources strategies that will improve business
performance and make HR more relevant. He was listed as one of the global
Top 50 HR Analytics Influencers on LinkedIn in 2014 and as one of the 15
HR and People Analytics Experts to Follow for 2017 by Jibe. Before he
started his own consultancy business, Jonathan worked for more than 25
years in corporate business in IBM, Andersen Consulting (now Accenture),
and Lloyds Bank, for many of those years in senior executive management
roles in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Jonathan has worked
with C-suite clients and business leaders across the globe on human resources
management and workforce analytics. He holds a bachelor of arts degree and
a master of arts degree from the University of Cambridge and a postgraduate
diploma in human resources management from Kingston Business School.
He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development (Chartered FCIPD).

Sheri Feinzig is a director at IBM, where she leads a global team of
consultants, content development experts, and the Smarter Workforce
Institute. Sheri has more than 20 years of experience in human resources
research, organizational change management, and business transformation.
She has applied her analytical and methodological expertise to numerous
research-based projects on topics such as employee retention, employee
engagement, performance feedback, social network analysis, and
organizational culture. Sheri received her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational
Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York.
She has presented on numerous occasions at national conferences and has
coauthored a number of publications and white papers. She has served as an
adjunct professor in the psychology departments of Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, New York, and the Illinois Institute of Technology in
Chicago, Illinois, where she taught doctoral, masters, and undergraduate
courses on performance appraisal, tests, and measures. Sheri is a member of
the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

Interviewees
The material in this book is derived in part from interviews the authors
collectively undertook with dozens of analytics practitioners, human
resources leaders, business executives, academics, and consultants. Together
they represent a global perspective on the state of the art regarding workforce
analytics. Conversations occurred between January and October 2016.
• Al Adamsen. Founder and Executive Director, Talent Strategy Institute.
San Francisco, CA, United States.
• Peter Allen. Managing Director, Agoda Outside. Singapore, Republic of
Singapore.
• Morten Kamp Andersen. Partner, proacteur. Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Ian Bailie. Global Head, Talent Acquisition and People Planning
Operations, Cisco. London, United Kingdom.
• Laurie Bassi. CEO, McBassi & Company. New York, NY, United States.
• Michael Bazigos. Managing Director, Global Head of Organizational
Analytics & Change Tracking, Accenture Strategy. New York, NY,
United States; and Professor, Organization and Leadership Development,
Columbia University. New York, NY, United States.
• Mark Berry. Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, CGB
Enterprises, Inc. New Orleans, LA, United States.
• Josh Bersin. Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte. Oakland, CA,
United States.
• Mats Beskow. Director of Human Resources, Landstinget Västmanland.
Stockholm, Sweden.
• Max Blumberg. Founder, Blumberg Partnership, Ltd. London, United
Kingdom; and Visiting Researcher, Goldsmiths, University of London.
London, United Kingdom.
• John Boudreau. Professor of Management and Organization, and
Research Director of the Center for Effective Organizations, University of
Southern California. Los Angeles, CA, United States.
• Ralf Buechsenschuss. Global HR Manager, People Analytics &
Transformation, Nestlé. Vevey, Switzerland.
• John Callery. Managing Director, Global Head of Workforce Strategy,
BNY Mellon. New York, NY, United States.
• Marcus Champ. Senior Manager, HR Analytics, Standard Chartered
Bank. Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
• Arun Chidambaram. Head of Global Talent Analytics, Pfizer. New
York, NY, United States.
• Patrick Coolen. Manager HR Metrics and Analytics, ABN AMRO Bank
N.V. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Christian Cormack. Head of HR Analytics, AstraZeneca. Cambridge,
United Kingdom.
• Damien Dellala. Head of People Data & Analytics Enablement, Westpac
Group. Sydney, Australia.
• Sally Dillon. Head of Business Intelligence at UK Life, Aviva. York,
United Kingdom.
• Antony Ebelle-ebanda. Global Director HCM Insights, Analytics &
Planning, S&P Global (formerly McGraw Hill Financial). New York, NY,
United States.
• Giovanni Everduin. Head of Strategic HR, Communications & Change,
Tanfeeth. Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
• Alexis Fink. General Manager, Talent Intelligence & Analytics, Intel
Corporation. Seattle, WA, United States.
• Jonathon Frampton. Director, People Analytics, Baylor Scott & White
Health. Houston, TX, United States.
• David Green. Global Director, People Analytics Solutions, IBM.
• Peter Hartmann. Director, Performance, Analytics and HRIS, Getinge
Group. Malmö, Sweden.
• Mark Huselid. Distinguished Professor of Workforce Analytics and
Director, Center for Workforce Analytics, Northeastern University.
Boston, MA, United States.
• Placid Jover. Vice President of HR–Organisation & Analytics, Unilever.
• Dawn Klinghoffer. General Manager, HR Business Insights, Microsoft.
Redmond, WA, United States.

• Terry Lashyn. Director, People Intelligence, ATB Financial. Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada.
• Tracy Layney. Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer,
Shutterfly, Inc. Redwood City, CA, United States.
• Alec Levenson. Economist and Senior Research Scientist, Center for
Effective Organizations, University of Southern California. Los Angeles,
CA, United States.
• Stela Lupushor. Head of People Analytics, Fidelity. Boston, MA, United
States.
• Eric Mackaluso. Senior Director, People Analytics, Global HR Strategy
& Planning, ADP. Roseland, NJ, United States.
• Salvador Malo. Head of Global Workforce Analytics, Ericsson. Mexico
City, Mexico.
• Andrew Marritt. Founder, OrganizationView. Zürich, Switzerland.
• Piyush Mathur. Senior Vice President, Global People Analytics, Nielsen.
Wilton, CT, USA.
• Dave Millner. Executive Consulting Partner, IBM. London, United
Kingdom.
• Mihaly Nagy. CEO, The HR Congress and Managing Director, Stamford
Global. Budapest, Hungary.
• Ben Nicholas. Director of Global HR Data & Analytics,
GlaxoSmithKline. London, United Kingdom.
• Adam Chini Nielsen. Workforce Planning Manager, Nordea.
Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Andre Obereigner. Senior Manager, Global Workforce Analytics.
Groupon. Zürich, Switzerland.
• Martin Oest. Director and Partner, True Picture Europe Limited.
Manchester, United Kingdom.
• Peter O’Hanlon. Founder and Managing Director, Lever Analytics.
Sydney, Australia.
• Ian O’Keefe. Managing Director, Head of Global Workforce Analytics,
JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York, NY, United States.
• Sofia Parveen. Wealth Management Remuneration & Development

Specialist, Nordea. Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Tanuj Poddar. HR Analytics Consultant, Citibank. Mumbai, India.
• Thomas Rasmussen. Vice President, HR Data & Analytics, Shell.
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Jackie Ryan. Director, Watson Talent Analytics, IBM. San Jose, CA,
United States.
• Kanella Salapatas. HR Data Manager and Reporting Service Owner,
ANZ Bank. Melbourne, Australia.
• Sadat Shami. Director, Center for Engagement & Social Analytics, IBM.
New York, NY, United States.
• Jeremy Shapiro. Global Head of Talent Analytics, Morgan Stanley. New
York, NY, United States.
• Luk Smeyers. Co-founder iNostix by Deloitte. Antwerp, Belgium.
• Mariëlle Sonnenberg. Global Director, HR Strategy & Analytics,
Wolters Kluwer. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Simon Svegaard. Business Analytics Manager, ISS Facilities Services
A/S. Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Eric van Duin. Manager HRIS & Analytics, PostNL N.V. The Hague,
Netherlands.
• Bart Voorn. Lead HR Analytics, Ahold Delhaize. Zaandam, Netherlands.
• Rebecca White. Talent Analytics Senior Manager, LinkedIn. San
Francisco, CA, United States.
• Patrick Wright. Thomas C. Vandiver Bicentennial Chair in Business,
Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. Columbia,
SC, United States; and Director, Center for Executive Succession, Darla
Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. Columbia, SC,
United States.
• Paul Yost. Associate Professor, Seattle Pacific University. Seattle, WA,
United States.
• Susan Youngblood. Global Senior Director of Human Resources, BNY
Mellon. New York, NY, United States.

VIGNETTES
Several vignettes have been incorporated into chapters throughout the
book. Each is meant to highlight specific practical tips. We are particularly
thankful to the interviewed experts who agreed to include their ideas and
stories.
Chapter 1, “Why Workforce Analytics?”

• “Run Your Business with Analytics,” by Tracy Layney
• “The Future of HR Is Analytics,” by Mark Huselid
Chapter 3, “The Workforce Analytics Leader”

• “Be Ego-less,” by Alexis Fink
Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics”

• “Relationship Power,” by Morten Kamp Andersen
Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction”

• “Preparing for Success: The First Few Months,” by John Callery
• “Understand Your Culture, Understand Your Demand,” by Peter Allen
Chapter 8, “Engage with Stakeholders”

• “The Case for Workforce Analytics: CEO Succession,” by Patrick
Wright
• “Bring Finance Along with You,” by Martin Oest
• “Gaining Credibility with Executives,” by Adam Nielsen and Sofia
Parveen
Chapter 9, “Get a Quick Win”

• “An Inspired First Project,” by Eric van Duin
• “Simple Changes, Big Impact,” by Marcus Champ
Chapter 10, “Know Your Data”

• “Don’t Let the Lack Of One Integrated HRIS Stop You,” by Mariëlle
Sonnenberg
• “A Data Dictionary Brings You Credibility,” by Giovanni Everduin
Chapter 11, “Know Your Technology”

• “A Mind-Set for Technology,” by Kanella Salapatas
• “Drillability Is Key,” by Sally Dillon
Chapter 12, “Build the Analytics Team”

• “A Blend Of Skills Is Best,” by Rebecca White
• “Invest in Data Privacy Skills,” by Dawn Klinghoffer
• “Anticipating Business Needs,” by Ian Bailie
Chapter 13, “Partner for Skills”

• “Start Small, Keep It Focused,” by Thomas Rasmussen
• “Accelerating Time to Value with an External Partner,” by Patrick
Coolen
Chapter 14, “Establish an Operating Model”

• “Set Yourself Up for Success,” by Damien Dellala
• “Tips for Successful Analytics Operations,” by Placid Jover
Chapter 15, “Enable Analytical Thinking”

• “Clarifying What Analytics Is and What It Is Not,” by Salvador Malo
• “Building a Culture of Analytics Through Training,” by Bart Voorn
Chapter 16, “Overcome Resistance”

• “The Accountability Hazard,” by Luk Smeyers
• “Don’t Take ‘We Can’t’ for An Answer,” by Andre Obereigner
Chapter 17, “Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization”

• “An Analytics Project Summarized in One Sentence,” by Mark Berry
• “Simplify Your Story,” by Paul Yost.

Preface
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.
Background to The Power of People

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.
Who Is the Audience for This Book?

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
Our Approach
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: Understanding the Fundamentals

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: Getting Started

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: Building Your Capability
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.
Part IV: Establishing an Analytics Culture

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.
For Reference
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.
Practical Tips
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.

I
Understanding the Fundamentals

6 Case Studies

1
Why Workforce Analytics?
“Industries are being disrupted. Talent is more mobile. All organizations
need to understand the workforce better, and how it is executing the business
strategy. And workforce analytics is at the heart of how to do this.”
—Mark Huselid
Distinguished Professor of Workforce Analytics, Northeastern University
In a globally connected world of Big Data, complexity, and

disruption, the business landscape is evolving faster than ever.
Growing competition for talent coupled with shifting worker
expectations and opportunities are changing the very nature of work.
More data exist about people than ever before, along with more
advanced technology for analysis. These developments are requiring
changes of the human resources (HR) function, which needs to adopt
an analytical mind-set and become more quantitative. Workforce
analytics allows organizations to gain insight about people at a level
never before witnessed, offering competitive advantage to improve
business performance.
The reasons driving HR’s adoption of workforce analytics can be
summarized in the following categories covered in this chapter:
• The need for HR to contribute to business value
• The democratization and consumerization of HR
• The evolution of work
Adoption of Analytics
Many organizations are already realizing the benefits of analytics. A 2014
PWC report, written by The Economist Intelligence Unit, found that 89
percent of large company executives surveyed either already were using Big
Data to make decisions or planned to start doing so in the next three years. In
HR specifically, in its 2016 CHRO report, IBM found that the number of
chief human resources officers (CHROs) using predictive analytics to make
more informed workforce decisions across HR activities had increased by
approximately 40 percent over two years. The evidence of the trend is clear,
as Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2017 reports: “People Analytics,
a discipline that started as a small technical group that analyzed engagement
and retention, has now gone mainstream.”
HR’s Contribution to Business Value

In the commercial world, businesses need to stay ahead of their competitors
to sell more products and services and to increase revenue and profit. The
general aim of businesses is to increase market share and value for their
owners. In the public or voluntary sector, organizations need to increase
value through efficiency and effectiveness in delivering products and services
to their constituents, whether they are service recipients, taxpayers, or donors.
Whether public, voluntary, or private, all organizations need to deliver value.
This requires using financial metrics and key performance indicators to
monitor and improve operations. Evidence already shows the importance of
workforce analytics to profitability, one key financial metric. In a 2015
KPMG report, written by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a large majority of
executives (91 percent in IT and technology, 81 percent in biotechnology,
and 70 percent in financial services and healthcare) indicated that an increase
in the use of data-driven insights in their HR function would affect
profitability over the subsequent three-year period.
As organizations seek to improve performance, the onus is on HR to build
value. The best way to do this is through an analytical approach. This is not
necessarily where HR has seen itself in the past. Patrick Wright, a professor
at the University of South Carolina, states: “When you hear about the work of
Finance, Marketing, or Information Technology, it’s about numbers,
numbers, numbers. When you hear about the work of HR, it’s about words,
words, words.” We also believe, however, HR should not aim to transform
itself into a purely analytical function and lose touch with the human
behaviors and characteristics that also help people and businesses succeed.
For many organizations, the analytical transformation has already begun in
areas familiar to HR, such as attrition and retention analytics, recruitment
analytics, workforce planning, compensation optimization, and employee
engagement. John Boudreau, a professor at the University of Southern
California, has witnessed this: “There are some very prominent examples of
analytics being used to answer important questions in HR—for example,
which people will leave and how successful a candidate will be if hired.
These are important questions that have been answered with analytics.”
Workforce planning is another area of HR that is ripe for analytics attention
because analytically driven techniques make it more strategic and
sophisticated. Salvador Malo, Head of Global Workforce Analytics, explains
how this is playing out at Ericsson: “Optimizing the workforce requires a
two-pronged approach: First, understand the business requirements and
translate these into needs for the future; second, get to know your workforce
in some depth. Together these insights about the business and the people who
work in it will lead to recommendations that improve workforce planning.”
Prediction of attrition and candidate success, and workforce planning are all
important topics for workforce analytics attention. Even greater value is
realized when workforce analytics contributes to business outcomes. An
impressive body of scholarly literature1 shows that a firm’s HR practices
affect performance outcomes at all levels, from individual employees, teams
and units, all the way to organizations as a whole. These HR practices can
improve the breadth and depth of employee knowledge and skills in
organizations—for example, through learning and development or the
attraction, selection, and retention processes.
“Our job as analytics experts is to ask the tough questions to enable

executives to better manage their organization and perform their fiduciary
duties.”
—Alec Levenson, Economist and Senior Research Scientist,
Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern California
A multiyear project undertaken in ISS, a global facilities services

organization, offers an example of how workforce analytics contributes to
business outcomes. The project brought together employee engagement and
customer advocacy data to link to financial outcomes. ISS concluded that
when both employee engagement and customer advocacy are high,
profitability is highest. The average profitability in units scoring highest on
both dimensions was 7.75 percent, versus 4.52 percent in the lowest-scoring
groups.
RUN YOUR BUSINESS WITH ANALYTICS
“My perspective on analytics in HR is that every other business
leader I know runs their business with analytics, but there’s a black
hole when it comes to HR.” This is the view of Tracy Layney, Senior
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at
Shutterfly, Inc.2
She goes on to explain two general types of analytics, which she tries
to keep separate:
• True workforce analytics. The approach of measuring behaviors in
organizations and knowing how to knit them together to improve
business performance. The approach is similar to that taken with
customer behavior, but this one concerns employee behaviors.
• HR analytics. The functioning of the HR team itself—for example,
analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time to hire.
Such analytics are about holding the HR team accountable.
Tracy says that every CHRO should be focusing on the first point.
“We should be giving more levels of data showing leading and
lagging indicators about our people. We have to make it an ‘insights’
exercise, not a reporting exercise—for example, using the insights to
achieve business outcomes, or to expand into new markets.”
She says it is essential to both increase the skills in HR and reset the
mind-set of business executives. “We talk about increasing the skills
of HR, but we have to recognize that we [HR] have also trained our
leaders how to think about the people part of their business, for
example—to run it in a very program-driven way (such as the annual
salary cycle or talent reviews). We have to push out of those
expectations, to do things quite differently.”
Tracy concludes, “This is a huge area of opportunity for the HR
profession. Workforce analytics and strategy together is a really
powerful combination.”
A second project, this time at global pest control firm Rentokil Initial,
focused on the predictability of sales success. The project isolated the key
behaviors of high-performing sales professionals and used automated
assessment techniques to select future candidates based on those behaviors.
Global sales rose more than 40 percent and the project had a return on
investment of more than 300 percent.
These examples, described in more detail in Chapter 6, “Case Studies,”
demonstrate that workforce analytics can contribute not just to improving the
effectiveness of HR processes, but also to improving and predicting business
outcomes such as profitability and sales.
The Changing Nature of HR

Workers, managers, and executives are demanding more from their HR
function.
• The need for more information to “run the business.” The required
response to this is the democratization of HR.
• The desire for personalized services. The required response to this is the
consumerization of HR.
These demands strengthen the argument for workforce analytics because
analytics can help deliver insights directly to managers and also provide
intelligence that enables the personalization of services to employees.
Democratization of HR
At a time when data are more readily available than ever, HR is being asked
for more information, better insights, and more precise recommendations to
help executives and managers run their businesses. This puts a strain on the
traditional HR function that primarily dealt with the process side of
recruitment, resourcing, development, and employee relations. For the last 40
years or so, HR has delivered structured programs, developed policies, and
implemented best practices to allow executives and managers to manage
people in a cyclical pattern—for example, through annual performance
reviews, specific salary increase programs, and succession planning cycles.
However, the demand has changed and new requests for information are
emerging, as Table 1.1 illustrates.
Table 1.1 Examples of Traditional, Current, and Future HR Requests from

Managers
For executives and managers to get timely answers to questions and make
informed decisions about their people, they need information, insights, and
recommendations. HR needs to respond to these requests in real time,
providing information and insights to managers and executives as they need
it. The workforce analytics function is at the heart of this change because HR
is sharing more than just data with managers and executives—it is also giving
them business insights and recommendations generated by sophisticated
algorithms.
Consumerization of HR
Bringing the type of customization experienced by consumers to the world of
work can yield great benefits. In 2012, Amazon reported a 29 percent
increase in second quarter fiscal results. A Fortune article at the time
discussed how Amazon’s recommendation engine contributed much to that
success by using algorithms to heavily customize the browsing experience for
returning customers.
HR can learn a lot from examples like this and begin to use its data to create
predictive models for the “workforce of one” (a term referring to
personalized employee experiences in Accenture’s report “The Future of HR:
A Radically Different Proposition”). But more than this, workers are starting
to expect similar customization from their employers. Many workers would
appreciate recommendations to improve their working experience. This
change is referred to as the consumerization of HR, further discussed by
Mark Feffer in a 2015 Society for Human Resource Management article
focused on recruitment: “Today, job seekers are thought of as customers.”
Examples of workforce personalization include the following:
• Recommendation of modular courses to enhance employees’ skills
• Information on benefits relevant as a worker enters new life stages (for
example, a new baby, marriage, or house purchase)
• Internal job and career moves that best meet a worker’s skills and
expertise
• Opportunities to contribute to projects across the business based on an
individual’s expertise and knowledge
• Provision of performance feedback in real time through manager- to-
employee and peer-to-peer social feedback

Ian Bailie, Global Head, Talent Acquisition and People Planning Operations
at Cisco, explains how the consumerization of HR begins with the Cisco
Talent Cloud, a huge database of all workforce-related data: “The primary
catalyst of the Talent Cloud was for employees to manage their own
development. For example, it helps them find training that matches directly to
skills, as well as potential new jobs and new assignments. It also gives them
visibility of opportunities across Cisco, breaking down silos. All that is in the
employees’ hands. And that gives us an overview of the entire workforce that
is also really helpful in running the business.”
THE FUTURE OF HR IS ANALYTICS

Mark Huselid, Distinguished Professor at Boston’s Northeastern
University, is one of the world’s experts in workforce analytics.3 He
sees this area as the future for the HR profession. “In my experience,
the outside world is changing more quickly than the organization is
changing on the inside. So there is an increased demand for talent
related information.
“The arc of the analytics story is that it is both very new and very old.
We’ve been playing at this for a long time. So what’s new? A
confluence of factors: access to data and better, easier, faster
analytics tools.” The workplace is also changing with the Internet,
social media, smartphones, and work marketplaces for jobs virtually
everywhere and for any skill. “Executing strategy through the
workforce, and helping managers do a better job of that has gotten
much more complex,” Mark says.
And so we come to analytics. “I was at Rutgers University for two
decades at the School of Labor Relations,” Mark says. “I focused on
HR in that program. I spent a lot of time working with executives and
trying to understand from them the relative returns of HR. Analytics
is just the next evolution and there’s a lot more interest now in
building analytical skills.”
He continues: “There’s enormous pressure to do things faster, better,
quicker, cheaper. In today’s world, there’s much more information
available to employees about the quality of experience in other
businesses, making talent exponentially more mobile. People won’t
put up with crummy jobs—they’ll just leave.”
Mark’s message is simple: Businesses must understand their
workforce better. And to do that, they must use analytics.
The Future of Work

Workforce analytics is most relevant when we consider the way the world of
work will change in the future. Although firm predictions are difficult, some
trends have their foundations in today’s reality. According to the Global
Consortium to Reimagine HR, Employment Alternatives, Talent, and the
Enterprise (CHREATE), five fundamental forces are driving change for the
future world of work:
• Social and organizational reconfiguration
• An all-inclusive global talent market
• A truly connected world
• Exponential technology change
• Human–automation collaboration
“Over the next 10 years, we will see work liberated from the idea of a job.
Work will be disaggregated and re-combined in ways that better suit
employers and employees.”
—John Boudreau, Professor of Management and Organization, and Research
Director of the Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern
California
In a 2014 CHRO study undertaken by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, 66

percent of C-suite executives said their organizations rely on third-party
providers for contingent workers, 57 percent rely on alternative workforce
arrangements, and 36 percent rely on crowdsourcing. The report argues that
predictive analytics will be needed to make more accurate workforce
decisions as the nature of the workforce shifts.
CHREATE and the IBM CHRO study underline the importance of analytics
in helping organizations succeed in this changing world, specifically in these
areas:

• The speed of change will alter the nature of work:
• Work will be deconstructed and analytics will be helpful in determining
the parts of the work that will remain strategic and the parts that will
remain peripheral to an organization’s core mission.
• Some work will become automated by robots and other machines.
Analytics will help define the best workforce that becomes a mix of
robots and humans.
• Workers themselves will continue to redefine work:
• The number of independent workers will continue to increase, thanks to
technological advances connecting people anywhere, anytime.
Organizations will tap into this “gig economy” for experts to add value
to work at the right place, right price, and right time. Workforce
analytics should be used to understand what work is suitable for
independent workers and for permanent employees.
• Workers’ expectations will continue to drive the need for personalized
services—for example, in learning, healthcare, benefits, and so on. But
in addition, new services will be needed as the gig economy intensifies
—for example, the need for legal advice for intellectual property (IP)
for freelancers who use their IP in multiple firms concurrently.
• The volume of data will change the nature of workforce insights:
• Wearables, sensors, nanotechnology, and other devices will provide
incredible amounts of data for analysis. Some devices will become so
small due to technological advances that they will almost disappear
from view, a term described as “disappearables” in a Reuters article by
Jeremy Wagstaff in April 2015. The decrease in size is expected to
increase the personal desire for and usefulness of devices in the
workplace.
• As the gig economy builds, the growing associated data will help
redefine a worker’s reputation based on information about the gigs
undertaken and related endorsements about the value of the work.
It’s a new world of work. Ian Bailie of Cisco summarizes this well: “It’s
about understanding the skills and capabilities of the internal workforce;
dealing with the new gig economy, contractors, and freelancers, and
understanding their skill set; getting better at moving people around the
organization; and enabling them to build careers and their own personal
brands. This will become a dataset that we don’t have today.”
This is an important time for the HR profession to adapt and create
momentum in the field of workforce analytics to capitalize on the changes
shaping the future world of work. As Max Blumberg, founder of Blumberg
Partnerships, Ltd., stresses: “You’d have to be a very brave human resources
director to say you’re not taking analytics seriously.”
Summary
Workforce analytics is a discipline that is increasingly needed in
organizations. This growing demand can be attributed to the following:
• The continued need for increased business value and market
competitiveness
• The requirement for information and data in real time from managers and
executives, to help them run their operations more efficiently and
effectively
• The move toward a consumerized working environment and the provision
of personalized services using workforce-related recommendation engines
• The deconstruction of traditional business models and the proliferation of
the gig economy and independent workers
• The ongoing explosion of Big Data from devices such as wearables and
sensors that will expand the amount of available workforce-related data
1 For pioneering work in this field, see the contributions of Mark Huselid,
Distinguished Professor of Workforce Analytics, at Northeastern
University.
2 In 1999, Shutterfly, Inc., began as a company that helped people print 4-
by-6-inch photographs from their digital cameras. Today it is an industry
leader for photo and video storage, award-winning photo books, gifts,
home decor, premium cards, invitations, stationery, and much more.
Shutterfly is headquartered in Redwood City, California
(www.shutterflyinc.com).
3 Mark Huselid spent more than 20 years at Rutgers University and the last

2 years at Northeastern University. In addition, he has been a visiting
faculty member and has taught at schools and universities around the
world to help in developing the next generation of HR leaders.

2
What’s in a Name?
“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.”
—Confucius
There are almost as many names for the workforce-focused analytics

function as there are functions that perform workforce analytics. This
itself is indicative of a discipline in its formative years. Getting the
name right is important; without a common language, practitioners
risk confusion about exactly what the function does.
This chapter explains why we recommend using the term workforce
analytics to accurately describe the function. The focus of analysis is
the workforce, and the activities of the function involve applying an
analytical approach.
Focus of the Function

Numerous articles cover the topic of analytics in the “people space.” These
articles use the terms talent, human capital, human resources, people, and
workforce interchangeably. In 2015 alone, notable authorities in this field
wrote articles in key publications using different terms—for example, people
analytics (Josh Bersin in Forbes), HR analytics (Patrick Coolen on LinkedIn),
workforce analytics (Rebecca Atamian and Travis Klavohn in Workforce),
and talent analytics (Ed Lawler in Forbes). Clearly, no standard name for the
function has yet taken hold.
The definition of talent varies widely across organizations. According to the
Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development 2016 fact sheet, “Talent
consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational
performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-
term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential.” This definition does
not represent the entire spectrum of workers in an organization and, used in
the title of an analytics function, does not describe analytics relating to the
whole organization. In support of this, many analytics experts believe the
word talent is too narrow here, so it is no longer commonly used.
The term human capital seems to be more fashionable among consulting
firms and other institutions that see people as financial assets. However, few
organizations refer to the analytics function as human capital analytics;
perhaps not surprisingly, the ones that do are usually financial institutions.
The descriptor human resources (HR) is commonly used in the analytics
business, although different schools of thought have arisen. After all, the term
HR analytics is often accurate because it describes the analytics department
in the HR function. Furthermore, HR might be broader than people because it
covers the management of human resources and the interfaces with all other
business functions (finance, marketing, sales, and so on). However, other
experts argue that HR is a limiting term because managers and executives
often link HR only to employees and the policies and processes for their
management. This perspective excludes other categories of the workforce,
including temporary, nonemployed contract staff; freelancers; and managed
services. In short, the term HR analytics implies that HR focuses only on
analytics for the HR function (that is, using analytics to affect and inform the
policies, practices, and processes that HR as a function manages—or “HR for
HR,” as it is sometimes described).
Since early 2015, the term people analytics has been gaining traction.
However, this term can be misleading because it can imply analyzing factors
about people beyond the workforce—for example, citizen or consumer
behaviors. In addition, the word people does not cover gaps in the workforce
(for example, numbers acting as placeholders for people yet to be recruited)
and the growing presence of robots in the workplace. Therefore, although the
term people analytics is fashionable, it lacks clarity as a functional descriptor
in an organization and does not represent the entire workforce.
Considering all the limitations of these terms, it is our view that the word
workforce is more descriptive of all workers (not just employees) and
includes contract staff, managed services, freelancers, and other people. The
term also allows for the future inclusion of machines that will replace current
jobs performed by humans, a topic discussed later in this chapter. Therefore,
because this book focuses on analytics that relate to the entire group of
workers for an organization, we recommend the functional descriptor
workforce.
Activities of the Function
Analytics, reporting and analytics, reporting and insights, metrics and
analytics, planning and insights, and planning and analytics are all names
that have been used to describe the activities of the function. Most teams use
the word analytics in the name of their function. Some, however, explicitly
call out reporting and analytics, to make a clear distinction between the two
disciplines. Some business professionals (including HR) might think that
reporting is analytics, so using both terms enables us to distinguish between
them.
In other cases, the function is called planning and analytics, to articulate that
planning is separate and distinct from analytics. Functions labeled as
planning and analytics tend to have an analytics leader with additional,
specific responsibility for elements of strategic workforce planning.
Occasionally, the function is called insights and analytics, to expressly state
that analytics is about insights, not data or reporting. However, because
insights are part of the entire analytics methodology, as Chapter 4,
“Purposeful Analytics,” demonstrates, there seems little need to highlight this
one element.
Therefore, we can conclude that analytics is the most accurate word to
describe the work of the function. This includes all aspects of analytics within
the end-to-end methodology, as Chapter 4 describes.
A Name Fit for the Future

Finding the right name for the function is key, but that name needs to
continue to have relevance in the future. Three key changes will impact
workforce analytics in the future:
• Artificial intelligence, robotics, and other technologies will transform
work that humans currently perform.
• The gig economy, an environment in which temporary positions are
common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-
term engagements, will expand.
• The amount of workforce-related data will exponentially increase with the
“Internet of Things” as workforce-applicable sensors, wearables, and
other devices become ubiquitous.

These changes will create a workplace that is more extensive, more
democratized, and more fluid, as the Global Consortium to Reimagine HR,
Employment Alternatives, Talent, and the Enterprise (CHREATE) describes
(www.CHREATE.net; see Chapter 1, “Why Workforce Analytics?”). As a
result, the workforce will continue to evolve, expand, and change; some
employees will morph into freelancers, and machines will do jobs that people
once handled.
Summary
Taking into account all of these points, the most descriptive and accurate
name for this function is workforce analytics. This term best describes the
broadest set of workers that contribute to organizational success and the
fullest responsibilities of the function both now and in the future.
Other experts concur with the use of the term workforce analytics as the best
description of the function. Most notably, the SHRM Foundation, the
research arm of the Society for Human Resource Management (the
professional body for the HR profession in the United States), uses the term
workforce analytics in its report “Use of Workforce Analytics for
Competitive Advantage,” undertaken in partnership with the Economist
Intelligence Unit.
With the name of the function in mind, we can define the work of the
function as follows: Workforce analytics is the discovery, interpretation, and
communication of meaningful patterns in workforce-related data to inform
decision making and improve performance.

3
The Workforce Analytics Leader
“The analytics leader must frame things in language the business leaders
understand and articulate the opportunity and impact from the work that can
be done. That’s a critical capability.”
—Mark Berry
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, CGB Enterprises, Inc.
Clearly, workforce analytics leaders know why they have the role,
what the expectations are, and broadly what they are required to
deliver. A little less clear is the precise job description and the
detailed requirements for successfully performing the role.
This chapter brings clarity to this topic. Of course, the exact skills
needed for the leader of any specific workforce analytics function
vary depending on the size, industry, and geographical complexity of
the organization. Still, most cases share some common requirements.
This chapter provides details on the essential elements that enable a
workforce analytics leader to succeed:
• Internal reporting structure
• Key job responsibilities
• The importance of business acumen and influencing
• Core leadership attributes
Reporting to the Chief Human Resources Officer

To whom should the workforce analytics leader report? The internal
positioning of the function’s leader is of critical importance in terms of both
the kinds of analytics projects the team will undertake and how the rest of the
organization will view its output. The workforce analytics leader needs strong
human resources (HR) connections, as well as ready access to other parts of

the organization. Reporting to the chief human resources officer (CHRO)
addresses these requirements and also sends another message: The CHRO is
putting analytical decision making at the heart of the HR function.
Luk Smeyers, Cofounder of iNostix by Deloitte, recommends that the
workforce analytics leader be a part of the HR leadership team itself: “Don’t
hide a key role like the workforce analytics leader away in the reporting or
HR systems department. After all, if you ‘hide’ your analytics leader away
there, the analytical reflections of your company will inevitably stay limited
to everyday HR matters.”
Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder of Bersin by Deloitte, also advocates
clearly positioning the workforce analytics leader within HR: “Don’t have
this job report to the head of HR technology; that’s a different role and focus,
and that person will not have time for analytics.”
With this advice in mind, forward-thinking CHROs will want to have the
workforce analytics leader report to them and be accountable directly to
them. With that reporting structure, the CHRO has the best opportunity to
create an analytically driven function. If direct reporting is not feasible, the
workforce analytics leader must have very strong access to the CHRO (see
also Chapter 14, “Establish an Operating Model”).
Responsibilities of the Workforce Analytics Leader

The workforce analytics leader’s primary role is to deliver analytically driven
recommendations that, when implemented, improve business performance.
Some important associated responsibilities also include:
• Manage. Workforce analytics leaders usually have a large number of
projects and operations to handle at one time. They need to manage not
only this workload, but also the associated relationships. Senior
stakeholders, including business executives, the CHRO, and other senior
HR leaders, commission projects to address important business issues.
The leader of the workforce analytics function must manage all of these
stakeholders appropriately so that projects get delivered.
• Challenge. Workforce analytics leaders must be able to challenge the
thinking of the specialists on their team, to ensure that their work is
accurate and complete. For example, data scientists should account for
possible explanations for business outcomes that executives might not

have considered already. By asking the technical specialists how they
reached conclusions, the analytics leader can challenge their thinking
before the business challenges the results of that thinking. Workforce
analytics leaders should also be able to challenge the thinking among
business executives and other leaders to ensure that projects deliver new
insights to improve business outcomes.
Some business managers shut down ideas about workforce analytics
projects that do not reflect their understanding and experiences of the way
the business is operating. Analytics processes and outcomes thus must be
challenged and validated internally before they are shared outside the
function. Mark Berry, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
of CGB Enterprises, Inc., shares this view: “Effective analytics leaders are
always asking ‘why?’ They never accept an answer until they are at the
actual cause. They collect data and analyze it to find the solutions. Then
they frame opportunities with business leaders so results can be derived
from analyses.”
• Integrate. Workforce analytics teams consist of people from a variety of
different backgrounds. This includes experts from technical disciplines
such as statistics and computer sciences, experts in human resources
policies and practices, and people well versed in the psychology of human
behavior. Strong leadership skills are key in galvanizing this diverse team
around a common vision and mission. Salvador Malo, Head of Global
Workforce Analytics at Ericsson, explains: “Expect to have a team made
up of people from different backgrounds: statisticians, programmers, HR,
and people who understand business. The role is to bridge the gap that
separates the disciplines so they learn from each other and work together
effectively.”
• Represent. The leader must be able to represent the position of technical
specialists in the workforce analytics team to stakeholders. To do this, the
workforce analytics leader should be able to talk credibly about the
business and how and why analytics will help improve business
performance. At the same time, the workforce analytics leader needs to
talk eloquently about the details of analytics projects to business leaders.
Storytelling and visualization techniques can aid the leader’s
representation of the team’s work. Chapter 17, “Communicate with
Storytelling and Visualization,” describes some of these techniques.
Business Acumen
Chapter 12, “Build the Analytics Team,” outlines the Six Skills for Success
required across the analytics team. Of those skills, business acumen is the
most important one for successful leaders to have. This skill includes
financial literacy, political astuteness, and awareness of both the internal
organization and the external marketplace.
Other members of the workforce analytics team will undoubtedly have
business acumen as well. However, the leader of the workforce analytics
team is primarily responsible for managing the political landscape and
articulating projects and analytics in synchronicity with business objectives
within the competitive landscape of the company. The leader must help the
team navigate the business environment successfully; otherwise, workforce
analytics projects will be, at best, suboptimally implemented or, at worst,
ignored.
Successfully navigating the business environment also brings credibility to
the workforce analytics leader. Terry Lashyn, Director of People Intelligence
at ATB Financial, explains how this element of business acumen helps ensure
the leader is heard: “What the leader really needs is credibility so that when
he or she goes to a business leader to talk about workforce analytics, the
business leader knows it is going to be worth taking the time to listen and that
the workforce analytics leader is there to help.”
Successful internal navigation is only one part of successful leadership,
though. Sally Dillon, Head of Business Intelligence at UK Life, Aviva, also
encourages the importance of closeness to the business: “While our analyses
might be general, our recommendations for implementation are specific,
taking into account the context in which they will play out at the unit level, at
the team level, and sometimes at the level of the individual. We check the
idea before implementation to avoid having unintended consequences in the
business.” Workforce analytics can fail when the team sits in an analytical
ivory tower, isolated from an understanding of how its recommendations
actually impact the business and its workers. Workforce analytics leaders
need to understand and even work in the business.
Alexis Fink, General Manager of Talent Intelligence & Analytics at Intel,
suggests another element of business acumen for the successful workforce
analytics leader: sophisticated influencing strategies. She says influencing the
major strategic initiatives in the business is essential: “Build partnerships
with your strategy office, get to know your business leaders, and find the
greatest opportunities in your organization. Then you can find the moment to
add talent and workforce agendas to the most significant strategic projects.
That way, you are influencing what is most important in your organization.”
Clearly, the one skill workforce analytics leaders must have and should
continuously improve is business acumen. Spend time with other leaders,
read voraciously about your organization, understand the marketplace, be
intimately aware of the metrics and key performance indicators of your
organization, ensure that you are financially literate, and network extensively
with your leaders.
Leadership Attributes
Four key leadership attributes are considered most important for the
workforce analytics leader to bring people together as an integrated and
cohesive workforce analytics team:
• Capacity to think
• Willingness to develop others
• Ability to inspire
• Drive to achieve
These attributes ensure that the team achieves more together as a result of the
leader’s actions. They also drive the team members’ engagement with the
business.
Let’s look at each of these four key attributes for success:
• Capacity to think. Many factors will compete for the attention of the
workforce analytics leader: multiple projects, demand for projects (which
can outstrip supply of resources), varied backgrounds of team members,
the need to form a cohesive team, the culture and mind-set of HR
colleagues, and resistance from others. All these leadership demands are
the result of a relatively new team (workforce analytics) in a function
(HR) that is often not considered analytically astute. Such demands
require the leader to be able to think carefully about prioritizing actions.
Furthermore, the projects themselves can be highly complex. They might
involve disparate data sources and complicated analyses to answer
business questions that are, by nature, not easy to answer (if they were
straightforward, they would not likely require the skills of a specialist
analytics team). So in addition to the need to sort through competing
priorities, team leaders must be able to think about very complex projects.
• Willingness to develop others. Team members who are perfectly
equipped to perform workforce analytics roles are in short supply. Back in
2011, McKinsey & Company reported that the United States would
experience a shortage of at least 140,000 people with deep analytical
skills by 2018. Certain skill sets likely will need to be hired and
developed; this is particularly true for data science, the most demanded
job in the United States in 2017, according to CareerCast. Although hiring
and developing skills for any team is a typical role of all leaders, it is
particularly important in workforce analytics for the following reasons:
• The profession of workforce analytics is very young. As such, more
commitment is needed initially to develop people, especially given the
short supply of certain skills.
• The team will come from varied backgrounds, so more cross-training in
a variety of skills such as statistics or financial literacy will be needed.
• The team will need to learn new and unfamiliar skills, such as
consulting and data science.
• All workforce analytics professionals who deal with internal clients
must be proficient in stakeholder management, another skill that can be
difficult to teach and learn.
Leaders need to integrate the work of people from different backgrounds
and disciplines into a cohesive team. They also need to nurture and grow
talent, take a developmental outlook toward employees, and show a
passion and drive for collective action and teamwork.
• Ability to inspire. Workforce analytics leaders need to instill a belief in
the team to succeed, often in the face of limited resources and external
pressures. Effective leaders do this by influencing key people and using
others to exert influence when necessary. They build confidence in their
team members’ ability to succeed and inspire them to work as a coherent
team around a common vision and mission. This ability is important
because the team might encounter skepticism and resistance from other
HR professionals and stakeholders (see Chapter 16, “Overcome
Resistance”).
• Drive to achieve. Workforce analytics leaders need tenacity and
resilience. Analytics projects can be complex in both the business
questions they seek to answer and the analytical methodology needed to
derive insights and recommendations. And projects don’t end there (see
Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics”): Workforce analytics projects also
require implementation to drive change in the business. All this means
that projects can take weeks or months to undertake; in some cases,
delivering a return on investment (ROI) can take years.
To ensure that the workforce analytics work gets done, team leaders must
have a proactive nature, a mentality for continuous improvement, and a
strong customer focus mindset.
BE EGO-LESS
Alexis Fink is the General Manager of Talent Intelligence &
Analytics at Intel1 and has enjoyed success in business analytics
across several organizations. She has one main piece of advice for
workforce analytics leaders: “Don’t make it about yourself.”
She explains that some people forget that analytics is about the
business and become consumed with their own self-importance.
“Their ego gets in the way and analytics projects begin to succeed or
fail due to the person behind the analytics. This is wrong.”
Alexis suggests three strategies to stay grounded:
• Don’t try to be a “know-it-all.” As an analytics leader, you have
access to all the data, but you don’t necessarily know best. Help your
leaders and colleagues understand the workforce-related data and
lead them on a journey. As Alexis recommends, “Be nonthreatening.”
• Keep pushing forward. Get to know your leaders. Deliver what
leaders ask for, and then introduce additional insights so they get
more than they asked for. This way, you will build your credibility.
As Alexis points out, “You have to serve the appetizer to get to the
main course.”
• Don’t get yourself excluded from the big projects. Learn the business
and understand who the decision makers are. Find a way to bring
analytical insights into the fold. Then impress them with your team’s
work.
Alexis summarizes, “I learned to be ego-less. I had to get really good
at getting my ideas to come out of someone else’s mouth.”
Bringing the team together around a common goal and leading them to
achieve great things is as important for workforce analytics leaders as it is for
other leaders in the business. Encouragingly, scientific research suggests that
the vast majority of leadership capabilities are learned from experiences, and
the best experiences are often on the job. Morgan McCall, a professor at the
University of Southern California, sees the following formula for acquiring
leadership skills: 70 percent of the learning should be acquired on the job, 20
percent of the learning should come from other people (for example,
experiences with good and bad bosses), and the remaining 10 percent should
come from classroom-based learning such as formal leadership training
programs.
Beyond the leadership attributes described here, workforce analytics leaders
also need a credible level of familiarity with each of the team’s
specializations. Although leaders are not likely to have the same
specialization depth as individual team members, they should have, for
example, a working knowledge of statistics and a good feel for numerical
information. For more on the core skill areas for the workforce analytics
team, see Chapter 12, specifically the section “Six Skills for Success.”
Summary
The leader of the workforce analytics team need not have followed a specific
career path before taking on the leadership role, but certain approaches,
attributes, skills, and experiences will provide a better platform for success:
• Have the workforce analytics leader report directly to the CHRO.
• Clarify the role of the workforce analytics leader and the specific
responsibilities for success.
• Develop business acumen by continuously learning about the internal
operations, metrics, and key performance indicators for the business.
• Build external awareness by learning about the marketplace, competitors,
and other external factors.

• Improve financial and numerical literacy.
• Develop leadership attributes to challenge the team, develop a cohesive
team, inspire team members for success, and drive to achieve.
• Create a workforce analytics team that has a blend of the Six Skills for
Success (see Chapter 12) and ensure familiarity with the team’s areas of
specialization.
1 Intel Corp., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is the world’s

largest semiconductor business. The organization is focused on supplying
computer chips for the next wave of technology, the Internet of Things,
by making connected chips for everything from selfdriving cars to jet
engines (www.intel.com).

4
Purposeful Analytics
“After a recent speech, an attendee came up to me and said, ‘I can predict
attrition for my firm to 92 percent accuracy.’ I said, ‘Wow! That’s great. Is
attrition a problem for your firm?’ And she said, ‘No, not really.’”
—Josh Bersin
Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte
As this quote indicates, some people are undertaking analytics in the

field of HR to solve irrelevant problems. This lack of a practical
purpose is the result of a more fundamental issue: No standard
methodology exists for undertaking workforce analytics projects to
ensure that they deliver meaningful results. Another underlying issue
is the lack of analytics project sponsors. For workforce analytics to
impact the business, senior executives need to care about a project,
what it reveals, and how it can change the business as a result.
This chapter aims to increase the robustness of workforce analytics
projects by focusing on three key topics:
• A model for purposeful analytics
• The important role of the project sponsor
• Typical reasons analytics projects fail
A Model for Purposeful Analytics

Given the nascent state of the field, it is not surprising that workforce
analytics has no standard methodology. However, it is also clear that many
people struggle with achieving impact from their workforce analytics activity
because they do not set about the project in a way that will lead to success.
For these reasons, it is sensible, if not essential, for analytics practitioners to
have a methodology for structuring analytics work. The methodology
proposed here has eight steps that can be grouped into three parts, as Figure
4.1 shows. Chapter 6, “Case Studies,” illustrates this methodology through
real examples that demonstrate how a clear approach can lead to
organizational change and improved business performance.
Figure 4.1 The Eight Step Model for Purposeful Analytics.1
Why Undertake the Project?

Unless you know why you are undertaking an analytics project, you will find
it almost impossible to bring any meaningful value to the business. When it
comes to workforce analytics, people often start with the data, but starting
with the end in mind is a better approach. In other words, first define what
you are trying to change and why. Alec Levenson, an economist and senior
research scientist at the University of Southern California and the author of
Strategic Analytics, states: “To complete an analytics project well takes time
and energy. This means you need to be a systems thinker and consider all the
links from the HR process to the business issues. For every project, there
should be a business problem to solve.”
Step 1. Frame Business Questions

Framing the business question is another way of clarifying the business
problem. This step must come first to avoid undertaking the wrong analysis
and also to give the project the best chance of success. A clearly framed and
well-defined business question ensures that the project or analytics work is
actually necessary. Without such clarity, the project is unlikely to gain
investment and sponsorship. Appropriately framing the business question
provides unambiguous direction. Defining effective business questions
involves several aspects:
• Focus on understanding the business. Christian Cormack, Head of HR
Analytics at AstraZeneca, believes business understanding is the basis of
framing questions: “You need to spend time with senior people
understanding how the business works so that when the business requests
something, you understand the context and can give a higher-quality
answer. I’m lucky that there’s never a shortage of questions from our
business.”
• Use appropriate consulting techniques. Questioning, listening, and
paraphrasing skills help get to the heart of the problems. Issues such as
internal business dynamics, external market forces, financial impact, and
linkage to organizational values must be considered. Investigating these
areas and using effective questioning techniques ensure that the business
problem is properly understood and defined. Chapter 12, “Build the
Analytics Team,” details the skills needed for this step.
• Summarize the business question back to the project sponsor. Be sure
to get agreement on the business question your analytics project will
address. Write down the question and ensure that the project sponsor signs
off on it, to signal agreement that the project should begin.
• Be thorough. This step can be as simple as one conversation or it can be
much more complex, with multiple conversations among several
stakeholders to ensure clarity. Substantial resources (money, people, time)
might be needed to deliver the project, so it is important to get clarity on
the problem to be investigated. To proceed successfully, it is best not to
move too quickly; although speed is important, diligence is critical.
Step 2. Build Hypotheses

Building and clarifying a hypothesis is important for “testing” beliefs about
the causes of business issues. Strong hypotheses should guide the data
gathering and analysis phases in a way that links to business questions.
Formulating hypotheses in advance helps guard against reaching conclusions
based on observed relationships in your data that result from chance instead
of genuine underlying relationships. Appropriate hypotheses also make it
easier to select the most appropriate analysis for the project in question.
These steps are key to writing a good hypothesis:
• Write a hypothesis as a statement, not as a question. Hypotheses are
informed, testable explanations or predictions. The statement might look
something like: If [we do this], then [this] will happen. For example, if
people are leaving the company at a higher rate than expected, the
hypothesis might be articulated as: If we increase salaries, then the
turnover rate will reduce.
• Use relevant literature to inform the hypothesis. Industrial and
organizational psychology and management scholars have studied many
common people-related problems for years, and the industry has
accumulated a wealth of knowledge on the causes and consequences of
different problems. As you develop your hypotheses, make use of the
latest scientific thinking in key academic journals in the field. Google
Scholar is a good first port of call for a literature review.
• Discuss the hypothesis with the project sponsor. Share your hypothesis
with the project sponsor to ensure that it accurately reflects the situation as
the sponsor believes it to be.
• Ensure clarity. A good hypothesis is written in clear and simple
language. Reading the hypothesis should clarify whether each possible
analysis result will support or reject the hypothesis.
• Make sure the hypothesis is testable. A scientific approach tries to
disprove hypotheses because a single refutation of a hypothesis shifts the
attention to a different line of thinking. Analysts usually proceed when
their hypotheses are not rejected. The number of times a hypothesis
should be tested depends on, for example, the rigor of the research design,
the quality of the data, and the magnitude of the work’s impact. However,
keep in mind that numerous results supporting your hypotheses could be
overturned by one additional test that disproves it.
• Don’t make the hypotheses too ambitious. Answering some business
questions will likely involve more than one hypothesis. However, multiple
hypotheses complicate the analysis, so be prepared to rationalize the
number of hypotheses where possible to reduce complexity.
How Should the Project be Carried Out?

The choices you make here influence the validity of your project’s outcomes.
This part of the methodology will likely be the most complex because of the
deep technical knowledge and skills required.
Step 3. Gather Data

The data gathering step requires identifying the most relevant data for testing
the hypotheses and determining whether data quality is sufficient to proceed.
Decisions need to be made about whether to gather existing data, collect new
data, or do both. Note that this step can easily become unwieldy. Projects
might begin with good, clear data intentions, but when analysts start data
cleansing and then run some initial analyses, new and tempting areas of
exploration could emerge. Reminding yourself of the business question you
set out to answer and the related hypothesis you sought to test should help to
avoid these distractions and ensure a better data focus. This step also includes
managing any legal and ethical aspects concerning data privacy challenges;
see Chapter 10, “Know Your Data,” for more details.
There are several tips for the data collection step of any project:
• Keep sight of your objective. Don’t get lost in data too quickly and, as a
consequence, lose sight of your end goal. Naturally, many analysts are
curious; this curiosity is an important element of succeeding in their role,
but it can also distract from the desired focus of your project.
• Build a picture of your data before you gather it. Projects commonly
progress too slowly. Resources are initially devoted to integrating existing
data that people believe will permit hypothesis testing, but they find that
the data are not as comprehensive as initially expected. To overcome this,
take the time to map out data and undertake some checks before gathering
it—for example, to ensure that it contains unique identifiers to link the
datasets that you plan to analyze.
• Focus on data that you already have. This might sound straightforward,
but many analytics practitioners complicate matters by thinking that they
always need new data. Start with the data you have and evaluate its

quality for testing your hypotheses before you collect new data.
• Think carefully about new data. Existing research (from inside or
outside the organization) might help to answer at least part of the question
driving your need for new data. If a new data set is required, think
carefully about how to collect it. A small amount of new, high-quality
data is better than a lot of semiuseful data. Also think comprehensively
about data you might need in the future, to avoid having to repeat data
collection.
• Remember existing scientific research. If existing data are poor and
collecting new data is too difficult, you might be better off relying on
research evidence in the scientific literature instead of collecting your own
new data.
Step 4. Conduct Analyses

This step is what many people consider the real part of analytics. This is
where the methodology and statistics are applied to data to test the
hypotheses and provide the basis for insights. Without this step, the
fundamental building blocks of any analytics project simply do not exist;
without performing analysis, patterns in data will never be discovered. At this
juncture, choosing the right method for analysis is critical because choosing
the right—or wrong—method will determine the validity of the results.
Many different analytical methods and associated technologies can make
analysis more focused and successful. Choosing the right technology and the
right method for analysis requires at least a basic knowledge of what the
various methods and technologies can deliver. To help with your selection
see Chapter 5, “Basics of Data Analysis,” and Chapter 11, “Know Your
Technology.”
Step 5. Reveal Insights

One of the most frequent requests in workforce analytics is, “Bring me
insights, not data.” Data are useful and analytical results are interesting, but
understanding the context and implications of the results is what leads to
insights. Workforce analysts must uncover insights for two main reasons.
First, analysts cannot assume that project sponsors and stakeholders are able
to derive the most pertinent insights themselves. Project sponsors might not
be experts at this, so workforce analytics practitioners should make it one of
their main tasks. The second reason is more subtle: If analysts present only
data and analysis without insights, executives and project sponsors might
draw their own conclusions to best fit their preconceptions. Bart Voorn, HR
Analytics Leader at Ahold Delhaize, endorsed this: “We want to improve the
quality of decision making by using insights. I prefer not to build dashboards
or to create reports. We should focus on generating insights.”
Although this step has no magic formula, some helpful hints apply:
• Write insights clearly in single sentences. If you cannot write an insight
clearly in a single sentence, ask yourself whether it really is an insight.
Describing insights in single sentences is also helpful so that you can
create effective visualizations and draw clear recommendations.
• Express each insight in one visualization, where possible. As part of
the process of clarifying insights, try to express each insight in a visual
format. Not all insights can be easily visualized, but whenever possible,
visualization significantly aids effective communication. Chapter 17,
“Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization,” discusses this in
more detail.
• Avoid displaying raw data or analysis without interpretation. Leading
practitioners recommend not using raw data as insights because this can
be distracting and cumbersome. Similarly, avoid showing analytical
output, such as lengthy tables of correlations and technical details.
Instead, present the interpretation of the data.
• Ask yourself what each insight means. As you derive the insight, you
should be able to articulate why it is important. Test the importance of the
insight by asking questions such as the following:
• What does this insight tell me?
• Does this insight relate to the business question?
• Is this insight unique or just another twist on a familiar topic?
• Is the insight clear?
• What actions might result from this insight?
• Focus on revealing key insights. Leading practitioners in workforce
analytics emphasize that staying focused on the most important insights is
vital. You might generate a large number of insights that you feel
compelled to share, but it’s better not to overwhelm your audiences with
too much information. Refer back to the business question as a guide for
where to focus the attention. Retaining this focus will contribute to the
project’s success. Chapter 17 offers more guidance in this area.
Step 6. Determine Recommendations

Just as you need data for insights, you need insights for recommendations.
Ask yourself the following: If my insight is important enough to highlight,
then what should the business do about it? Analytics projects are all about
helping the business improve its performance, so although insights are
interesting, only recommendations will help improve the business.
Recommendations are what business leaders and, in this case, project
sponsors need. A well-articulated recommendation makes a great impetus for
change.
Some analytics projects fail at this stage simply because recommendations
are not expressed clearly. To ensure that recommendations are determined
from insights, consider these tips:
• Provide one recommendation for each insight. Starting in this way
focuses the analytics professional on clarifying why the insight is
important and what the business will look like if something is done about
it.
• Group individual recommendations into main themes. After all
recommendations have been derived from insights, review them and draw
out the main themes and major recommendations.
• Be bold. Analytics professionals have a unique perspective on the
business question. Having considered empirical data and drawn insights,
they are in a strong position to make recommendations. Go ahead and
make those recommendations. Be bold.
• Write each recommendation clearly as a statement. Each
recommendation should stand alone as a clear, simple statement. It should
not need explanation. It might require discussion, but the recommendation
itself should be very clear—for example: This insight shows … and, as
such, I recommend ….
What Will Result from the Project?

Successful analytics projects conclude with decisions. Those decisions might
drive change in the organization or might reinforce the status quo—either
way, a clear decision is made. Driving change, if necessary, requires
effectively communicating the analytics findings and a clear process.
Decision making, communication, and action should then prompt a period of
evaluation for both the project itself and its associated outcomes.
Step 7. Get Your Point Across

All analytics projects have a moment of truth. This often happens as you
communicate the outcomes of the project to the sponsor or other
stakeholders, to get your point across. This is the moment when you are able
to inform their decision making. Experienced practitioners and leaders know
when they have been impactful and can tell whether their chosen method of
communication has been effective. Ralf Buechsenschuss, Global HR
Manager of People Analytics & Transformation at Nestlé, agrees:
“Storytelling is the connection between the analyses, the data, and the senior
leader. Analytics really adds value when you have that connection.”
We recommend the following approaches to get your point across:
• Translate insights into stories. Stories have to be inspired by insights
and link, through visualizations, to recommendations. Figure 4.2
illustrates this.

Figure 4.2 Linkage of insights, visualizations, and recommendations to the
story.
• Carefully consider your visualizations. Use interesting visualizations

that capture attention. Before you add any visualizations, make sure that
the message you expect from each one is clear. One tip is to write down
the message you intend before you start creating the visualization. Don’t
just copy and paste screenshots of data or statistical results, thinking that
these will suffice. Terry Lashyn, Director of People Insights at ATB
Financial, explains: “People look away from technical spreadsheets, so
show the numbers in a way that others can understand. We tell a story
using pictures rather than using columns and rows of data.”
• Start with a blank sheet of paper. Before you use any presentation
software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, sketch out your storyboard. You
will get a better flow for your story and your presentation will no doubt be
shorter: You are unlikely to sketch out 45 pages on paper, yet you’ve
probably seen many presentations with that number of slides—or more!
Step 8. Implement and Evaluate

The implementation and evaluation step has three discrete aims. First, it
ensures that decisions are made as a result of your project. Second, it
formulates actions for implementation based on those decisions. Finally, it
facilitates evaluating the project against whether it returned value to the
organization.
This is where the hard work really starts. As Ben Nicholas, Director of
Global HR Data and Analytics at GlaxoSmithKline, articulates, “I’d describe
the analytics function as welcome dinner party guests, but not someone the
other guests want to bump into the next day.” In other words, they want to
hear what you have to say, but they don’t necessarily want to have to do the
hard work of using your analytical insights to change the business. Despite
the risk of this perception, it is vital that analytics projects continue to their
conclusion and return value back to the organization’s stakeholders
(shareholders, workers, communities, and so on).
In this part of the project, several tips can help:
• Push for decisions. At this stage, sponsors and stakeholders need to
accept (or reject) recommendations and agree on clear decisions. To help
with this, ask the following questions as part of your communication and
discussions: Do you agree with my recommendation? Do you agree
something should be done about this recommendation? Perhaps you can
take the discussion further by asking, What are the next steps for
implementation? Who will be responsible for implementing the actions?
Push for clarity to get real commitment.
• Engage a change management or implementation expert. Analytics
projects can be small and can impact a few workers, or they can be
extremely complex, extensive projects that impact thousands of workers
in an organization. Depending on the scope of the recommendations, you
or your sponsor might want to engage change management or
implementation consultants to ensure that the results are delivered. This
step might be unnecessary for something as straightforward as a one-off
training course. However, if your recommendation is to implement, for
example, a new technology to automate a process that affects every
employee, you will undoubtedly need additional support.
• Work with your HR business partner (HRBP). Work closely with your
HRBP, particularly as actions from your project are being implemented.
Jonathon Frampton, Director of People Analytics at Baylor Scott & White
Health articulates this: “Our impact is in empowering our HRBPs to act
on the outcomes of the projects. We don’t measure ourselves on the
number of reports we complete, but rather on the impact we have.”
• Evaluate your project at appropriate time points. Analyzing the
effectiveness of the implemented recommendations by calculating a return
on investment (ROI) is a key responsibility of every analytics
professional. Consider the timing of the evaluation, taking into account
both the short- and long-term impacts of the project. In addition to
evaluating ROI, it is good practice to reflect on how well the project itself
was delivered and identify what could enhance the success of future
projects. Setting milestone dates for this reflection and evaluation during
and at the end of the project will help determine the success of the entire
project.
Alexis Fink, General Manager of Talent Intelligence & Analytics at Intel,
supports these points: “Workforce analytics projects should be evaluated over
both the short and long term. As an example, at a prior company, we built an
executive assessment that was very difficult to pass. We developed coaching
and learning programs based on analysis of the differences between
successful and unsuccessful candidates and, in the space of a few years, we
had more than doubled the pass rate.” Alexis indicated that, over time, they
had measurably improved the overall quality of their leadership pipeline.
However, the assessment was no longer differentiating. “By using analytical
techniques, we could monitor results over time, short and long term, and
identify when we needed to refresh the research. This ensured that the
assessment delivered exactly in the way we wanted.”
For further discussion on evaluating the outcome of projects, see Chapter 14,
“Establish an Operating Model.”
Project Sponsors
Throughout this chapter, you have seen project sponsors identified as a
critical party. In this section, we discuss the relationship between the
workforce analytics practitioner and the sponsor and explore why
sponsorship is important for success. We also map the analytics practitioner’s
requests of the project sponsor to each step in the purposeful analytics
methodology.
Project sponsors are individuals who have an active interest in one or more
specific workforce analytics project. They are usually responsible for
approving the project, providing resources needed for project execution,
advocating for the project, and working with stakeholders to ensure that
actions are implemented. In short, the sponsor has a vested interest in the
project from start to finish.
How do you know whether you have the right sponsor to help you deliver a
successful analytics project? Strong sponsors are highly respected leaders in
their organizations, with a deep understanding of the organization and the
challenges it is facing. They are well connected and able to rally support, and
are willing and able to secure the resources needed. Finally, the best sponsors
are highly motivated and available to see the project through to completion
and benefit realization. Damien Dellala, Head of People Data & Analytics
Enablement at Westpac Group, emphasized the importance of a good
sponsor: “Experience has taught me that, when starting a workforce analytics
project, having an engaged sponsor is at the top of the list of success factors.”
When securing sponsorship, setting expectations on outcomes before
undertaking an analytics project is important. This means thinking through
the possible scenarios and posing them to the sponsor. For example, if the
issue is high turnover among a certain group of employees, and the analysis
reveals compensation is a strong contributing factor, is the sponsor willing to
allocate budget to solve the problem? What if lack of career growth is a root
cause—is the organization willing to design new career guidance and
promote people at a more rapid pace than it has traditionally done? Thinking
through these possible scenarios and building commitment and willingness to
act increases the probability that the organization will actually implement the
necessary actions.
Figure 4.3 summarizes the many actions required of the project sponsor to
ensure analytics success.

Figure 4.3 Project sponsor involvement in workforce analytics.
In general, project sponsors need to prioritize project reviews and invest

sufficient time. They also need to secure funding where needed, remove
roadblocks, and leverage their relationships and status to help the analytics
team succeed. Sponsors are expected to see the project through all the steps
to completion and to be consistently available when needed. They must act as
role models in embracing and acting on the analytics insights and
recommendations, and they must hold others accountable for doing the same.
Sponsors need to challenge the naysayers and be highly visible champions of
workforce analytics.

RELATIONSHIP POWER
Some people in organizations have power because it comes with the
role—for example, the chief financial officer. This power is
institutional power. Other people have power that comes from the
relationships and influence they hold. This is relationship power.
Morten Kamp Andersen,2 an experienced consultant, puts workforce
analytics leaders in the latter category. “They don’t have power
because of the role; they create power because of the way they bring
value through relationships.” He continues to identify their key skills
in this role: “Workforce analytics leaders need to be able to sell their
projects into the organization. They need to have strong business
acumen, be good at storytelling, and be experts in stakeholder
management. These are all relationship and communication skills.”
Without such relationship power, projects do not always run
smoothly. Morten believes that a successful analytics leader in human
resources builds relationship power and uses that with key
stakeholders and sponsors: “Don’t build the project in the HR
environment alone. If you leave your sponsorship too late, you will
probably end up with no sponsorship. Create relationships with senior
business leaders and make sure you get a non-HR sponsor for every
project.” Wise words indeed!
Why Do Analytics Projects Fail?

Issues with a project sponsor are only one of the reasons analytics projects
can falter. Being aware of all the potential pitfalls helps you take steps to
avoid them and increase your chances of success. This section looks at
reasons an individual analytics project might not succeed and examines the
three parts of the model for purposeful analytics.
Undertaking the Project

A project with no clear purpose is in high danger of failure. Some reasons for
a lack of clarity at this stage follow:
• Lack of a project sponsor
• Poor communication with the project sponsor
• No clear purpose for the project or request
• Poorly defined reason for the project
Fundamentally, the best analysis in the world is of limited value unless you
know why you are doing it and have clear project sponsorship.
Carrying Out the Project

Projects often fail because of poor execution and delivery. This can result
from one or more of the following factors:
• Incomplete, inaccurate, or irrelevant data
• Poor choice of statistical technique or method
• Lack of investment in the right systems and technology
• Lack of technically competent people
• Poor extraction of insights and recommendations
• Not enough time to undertake the project properly
Even the most expertly defined business problem and well-crafted hypotheses
will not yield benefit if the project is poorly executed and an inadequate
investment is made.
Project Outcomes
Projects can fail when results are poorly communicated, no action results, or
action occurs but with no evaluation to determine the business return. These
factors can hinder success:
• Poor visualization with unclear insights
• Ineffective storytelling that loses the simplicity of the message or fails to
articulate it
• No buy-in for the outcomes of the analytics project, with no accepted or
implemented recommendations
• No clear plan or owner to implement the organizational change
recommended by the project
• Lack of evaluation to determine the project’s impact

Even a good analysis that highlights well-founded recommendations to a
known business problem can fail if it is poorly understood. And if nothing
happens as a result of the analytics, the entire project was not worth
undertaking anyway. As Terry Lashyn explains, “You need to believe that
when you undertake analytics, you are going to change something.”
Summary
Discovering, interpreting and communicating meaningful patterns in
workforce-related data demands a robust methodology. Whether for a short
project of a few weeks or a longer one that spans many months, methods
need to be straightforward and complete. Successful workforce analytics
projects follow these main methodology recommendations:
• Consistently apply all eight steps of the purposeful analytics model to
your analytics projects.
• Start projects by defining the business question and building strong
hypotheses.
• Use the most appropriate technology and methods for your analyses to
ensure robust results.
• Get the point of your analytics projects across to your sponsors and
stakeholders through clear visualization and storytelling.
• Help your business translate project recommendations and decisions into
action and evaluate the results.
• Choose your sponsors wisely, with an eye toward strong, consistent
support throughout the entire lifecycle of your projects, from request to
implementation.
• Familiarize yourself with the common reasons analytics projects fail, and
throughout the eight steps, ensure that potential problems are avoided or
addressed.
1 The Eight Step Model for Purposeful Analytics is a copyright of the

authors of this book: Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar and Sheri Feinzig.
2 Morten Kamp Andersen is a partner and analytics expert at proacteur, a
consulting firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is an agile

consultancy company that focuses on change management, manager
development, project and program management, and process-driven
support for IT implementation (www.proacteur.com).

5
Basics of Data Analysis
“You can rely on the data scientist for the details of the statistics. However,
it’s important that everyone in workforce analytics has a core understanding,
as it is easier to manage your project if you know the basics of analysis.”
—Peter Hartmann
Director, Performance, Analytics, and HRIS, Getinge Group
If you are not a data scientist or statistician yourself—and perhaps

even if you are—refreshing or familiarizing yourself with the basic
analytical methods used in workforce analytics is helpful. The array
of statistical methods for exploring data or testing a given hypothesis
is not limitless, but the number of methods available can certainly
make it seem that way.
Despite the potentially dizzying complexity, many methods aim to
achieve conceptually similar results. Focusing on the objectives of
the methods instead of the methods themselves is a sensible starting
point for learning about the goals and becoming conversant in
statistical analysis in workforce analytics.
This chapter discusses the following topics:
• The importance of strong research design
• The objectives of quantitative analysis
• The objectives of qualitative analysis
• Traditional statistics versus machine learning
• Bias and fairness in analyses
Research Design
Before quantitative or qualitative analyses can occur, decisions must be made
regarding what data will be collected, when it will be collected, how it will be
collected, and from whom it will be collected. These questions fall under the
topic of research design. The research design you apply determines how
rigorously you can reach conclusions about causes and effects following your
analysis. Identifying cause and effect is not the only goal in workforce
analytics, but it is a common one. You are unlikely to unequivocally show
causal effects from single research studies. However, designs that allow more
confidence in causality increase the probability of creating successful
interventions.
Research designs can be categorized by an effectiveness hierarchy,
summarized in Table 5.1. The strongest research designs are randomized
experiments, followed by quasi-experimental designs, observational or
correlational designs, and, finally, qualitative designs.
Without a thoughtful research design, even the most sophisticated analyses
will likely prove fruitless. Work with your data scientists to select a strong
research design before you begin your analyses.
Table 5.1 Research Design Hierarchy for Causal Inference
Experimental Designs
In a randomized experiment, you generally have two groups: one that
receives an intervention (the experimental group) and one that does not (the
control group). Employees are randomly allocated to either group. The
randomization means that the groups are, on average, equivalent in every way
at the start of the experiment.
After an intervention with the experimental group, the groups are measured
on the outcome under study. Consider, for example, a project that examines
the effect on engagement after giving employees more autonomy. In an
experimental approach, any difference in engagement between the groups
must have been caused by the intervention, assuming there are no
confounding factors (such as groups becoming aware of the goals of the
experiment). This is because before the experiment, the groups had
equivalent engagement due to randomization. In addition, the control group
did not receive the intervention that increased autonomy. A key point to note
is that variables under study are manipulated.
Randomized experiments, therefore, meet the three criteria for showing a
causal effect:
• The cause happens before the effect.
• The experiments show a relationship between the cause and the effect
(when a change occurs).
• Other possible causes are ruled out due to randomization.
The design can be further strengthened by statistically controlling for a range
of other plausible causal variables. This can help rule out alternative
explanations of findings, in case the randomization was not perfect. For
example, continuing with the autonomy and engagement example, if the
randomization did not lead to equivalent personality types across groups, the
results could be jeopardized because different personality profiles might
cause different preferences for autonomy across groups. In these cases,
worker personality could be measured and the results of the analyses adjusted
for any differences between the groups.
Quasi-Experimental Designs
Conducting randomized experiments in everyday working life is often not
possible. We cannot always isolate the variables we want to study, and
randomly allocating workers to different conditions is often impossible. As a
result, other designs are chosen that still allow some confidence in identifying
a causal relationship, even though they are not as strong as in a randomized
experiment.
The quasi-experimental design is similar to the randomized experiment, aside
from one key feature: The employees are not randomly allocated to the
experimental and control conditions. This limits the strength of inferences
that can be drawn from analyses when compared to randomized experimental
designs because the lack of randomization makes it impossible to confidently
declare that the two groups were equal, on average, before the experiment.
Despite these limitations, robust conclusions about effective interventions can
still be drawn from quasi-experimental designs in workforce analytics,
particularly if results replicate across multiple studies. A quasi-experimental
approach to the autonomy and engagement topic might involve delivering the
intervention to two different business units because randomization is often
unfeasible; treating two people differently is difficult if they are working in
the same team or unit. With these designs, it is not possible to account for
other factors, such as different managers giving different levels of
recognition; those factors might indeed have caused differences in
engagement levels. Nevertheless, this design often provides enough
confidence to decide whether to continue the intervention.
Correlational Designs
Designs that do not involve randomization and manipulation, or a control
group, are referred to as correlational or observational. In these studies,
analytics professionals observe the way variables relate to one another
without inferring a causal connection between variables. Strong dependable
correlations (for example, sizable correlations based on large random
samples) can still be useful in workforce analytics, but it is important to
understand when a causal association cannot be confirmed.
Whereas the experimental and quasi-experimental approaches to the
autonomy and engagement example included a control group, correlational
designs typically have no control group. Instead, the existing levels of
autonomy and engagement are assessed for all individuals, and the strength
of the association is studied. Inferring causal associations from these designs
is difficult, but they may be useful in identifying variables for further study
using experimental or quasi-experimental designs. These designs lead to
stronger conclusions than when relying on intuition. Advanced techniques
can help identify causal relationships by analyzing data from correlational
designs (for example, propensity scores and instrumental variable
techniques), although their effectiveness varies depending on the situation.
Qualitative Studies
In contrast to the designs discussed so far, which all involve numerical
assessments of the relationships between variables, the hallmark of
qualitative studies is that they try to understand organizational phenomena
from the perspective of workers without using quantitative methods.
Examples include ethnographic studies and focus groups. A qualitative study
that examines the association between autonomy and engagement might
involve interviews or focus groups with workers to discuss their experiences
of autonomy and engagement. An ethnographic approach might have the
researcher work for a period of time in the job, side by side with actual
workers, to understand how autonomy relates to engagement through the eyes
of the workers. It is possible to use qualitative and quantitative methods to
complement one another, a topic we discuss in the section, “Qualitative
Analysis,” later in this chapter.
On their own, qualitative methodologies do not provide the level of
confidence regarding correlational or causal effects that many business
leaders and analysts want to see before they act on recommendations from
workforce analytics. For this reason, we place qualitative studies at the lowest
level of the hierarchy of research designs for causal inference (see Table 5.1).
A Note on Longitudinal Designs

All of the designs discussed in the research hierarchy can be strengthened
when the variables being studied are measured repeatedly at multiple points
in time. This is referred to as a longitudinal study. To understand how
repeated measurement of variables such as autonomy and engagement leads
to a clearer understanding of the effects of interventions, consider the
following: An experimental intervention shows an effect on an outcome
variable that might show a causal effect, but because the outcome of interest
has been measured only once, we cannot determine how long lasting the
effect is. Furthermore, the study does not show whether the effect becomes
weaker or stronger over time, or whether the effect is reversible. To
understand these issues, it is important to measure repeatedly over a period of
time—that is, to undertake a longitudinal study.
Objectives of Analysis
The overview of analysis objectives (quantitative and qualitative) presented
in the following sections and in Figure 5.1 represents the level of detail that

the workforce analytics team should be comfortable discussing when it
comes to types of analyses.
Figure 5.1 Overview of analysis objectives.
Quantitative Analysis
In workforce analytics, most quantitative analysis (that is, statistical analysis
of numerical data) aims to do one of the following: explore, associate,
predict, classify, reduce, or segment information about employees and
organizations.
• Explore. Exploratory analysis helps understand your variables. Analysis
might involve summarizing the data with a statistic such as the average, or
looking at how spread out the values of the variable are, using a statistic
known as the variance (that is, the variability) of the variable. Exploring
might involve identifying extreme cases or determining the extent of
missing data. Analysis focused on exploration often uses simple graphing
techniques to reveal the distribution of the data (for more on these topics,
see Chapter 10, “Know Your Data”). More advanced exploratory analysis
might check differences in scores on variables for known groups, such as
men versus women, or ethnic minority versus majority groups.
Exploratory analysis is particularly useful for monitoring and reporting
demographic trends, as well as for preparing data for more advanced
analyses. Approaches include techniques such as t-tests or analysis of
variance, referred to as ANOVA. Exploring data involves understanding
your data, preparing your data for more advanced analysis, and testing
simple hypotheses.
• Associate. One goal of analytics is to look at the relationship, or
association, between variables that can take on any value between their
minimum and maximum possible values (for example, age or tenure),
with a higher score indicating more of the variable. An example might be
the relationship between extroversion and sales performance. Sales
performance can likely take on any value within a plausible minimum and
maximum, so it is considered a continuous variable. Rating scales
common in surveys (for example, strongly disagree to strongly agree) are
often analyzed as continuous.
Relationships between these types of variables are usually studied using
methods that estimate correlations. The most common correlation,
Pearson’s product-moment correlation, has a possible range from –1 to
+1. A value of –1 means that two variables are perfectly negatively related
(that is, as one increases, the other decreases by an equivalent amount). A
value of 0 indicates no relationship, and a value of +1 means the variables
are perfectly positively related (that is, as one increases, the other
increases by an equivalent amount).
• Predict. When analyses are used to make forecasts about the future, such
as estimating the value of a continuous variable of interest (referred to as
an outcome variable or dependent variable), the analyses are referred to as
predictions.
Given what we currently know about employees, the general pattern in
predictive analysis is to estimate their future behavior at work. For
example, if we know that the relationship between levels of extroversion
and sales performance is strong, sales performance should improve if we
hire people who score high on an extroversion assessment. Methods used
for making predictions include linear and multiple regression, regression
trees, neural nets, support vector machines, and time series analysis.
• Classify. Classification analyses can be thought of as analogous to
association, but this analysis focuses on associations when the outcome
variable is discrete. A discrete variable has a limited number of possible
categories and does not have an intrinsic ordering. It is sometimes called a
nominal variable. An example of a discrete variable might be whether a
worker receives a promotion or whether an employee leaves the business.
In such cases, the outcome is referred to as a discrete or categorical
outcome (not a continuous outcome).
Methods such as correlation and regression have been adapted to deal
with these types of variables. Instead of finding correlations, chi-squared
tests examine associations for categorical variables; instead of using
regressions to make predictions, techniques such as logistic regression are
used to make classifications. For example, the risk of an employee leaving
(which has only two possible values, stay or leave) can be expressed as a
probability; employees with a risk of leaving can be looked at more
closely for some sort of intervention.
• Reduce. Workforce analytics teams analyze data sets that often contain
hundreds or thousands of variables. This is too much information to make
sense of without combining some variables. The primary goal of some
statistical techniques, such as principal components analysis (PCA) and
factor analysis (FA), is to summarize (reduce) the information in many
different variables to create a smaller number of variables. Having fewer
variables makes analysis and interpretation more manageable.
The basic principle in reduction analyses is to aggregate the similar
variables into fewer variables. Say, for instance, that you have three
variables that measure employee performance: a manager performance
rating, data on whether the employee met critical milestones, and the
success that the employee demonstrated in training. Which of these
variables should you focus on predicting? Statistical analyses such as
PCA and FA can create, if appropriate, a single performance variable out
of other similar performance variables for prediction. This is usually
appropriate only if you can show that all three together are strong
measures of performance, which PCA and FA check. The new variable(s)
can then be explored or predicted without losing too much information.
• Segment. Although the focus of reduction analyses is to group a large
number of variables into a smaller number for exploration or further
analysis, the goal with segmentation is to group the number of cases (for
example, workers) in your data set into a smaller, more manageable
number that provides a meaningful representation of groups in your data.
Techniques in the segment category fall under the general label of
clustering. Cluster analysis puts similar cases into groups, for either
exploration or further statistical analysis. An example application might
involve using cluster analysis to identify subgroups of employees who
have similar responses to a variety of survey questions indicating high
stress so that some form of intervention can be applied to improve their
ability to manage stress.
Combining Quantitative Objectives in a Single Analysis

When you understand that any statistical analysis has only a few basic goals,
you can see possibilities for combining objectives in a single analysis. For
instance, certain techniques enable you to perform analyses that reduce and
segment data sets in a single analysis, segment and associate in a single
analysis, and so on. Some variations examine relationships between many
different variables simultaneously, and even on many levels (for example, the
individual worker level and the team level). These analyses have names such
as mixture modeling, structural equation modeling, and multilevel modeling.
Consider decisions about how to combine the different analytic methods to
achieve analysis objectives in relation to specific analysis problems. This is
best carried out with input from your team’s data scientists. Still, the six
analytics objectives provide you with the basic building blocks to understand
conceptually what the analyses are doing. This makes you more
knowledgeable and conversant on the topic of workforce analytics and
enables you to both appropriately challenge and accurately represent the
workforce analytics team’s work.
Qualitative Analysis
The goals of qualitative research are to understand organizational phenomena
without using quantitative data. Techniques include ethnography, focus
groups, and detailed case studies. Objectives of qualitative research in
workforce analytics include hypothesis formulation, interpretation, and
contextualization.
• Hypothesize. Qualitative analyses can be particularly valuable in
generating hypotheses when no theories or quantitative data exist. The
resulting hypotheses can then be tested using quantitative methods. For
example, interpretation and discussion about the reasons people leave a
firm can help in creating a hypothesis that can be tested with quantitative
data. In this example, a qualitative analysis of exit interview data might
suggest that the physical office environment was a factor in decisions of
employees who quit. A quantitative study might test the hypothesis that
employees are more likely to stay if they work in buildings that have been
recently refurbished.
• Interpret. Another objective of qualitative research is to help interpret
quantitative results. Qualitative studies explain why events occur instead
of simply describing the strength of relationships in quantitative terms.
For example, if quantitative data reveal that new hires are taking too long
to get up to speed, qualitative research might explain why that is the case.
In this example, focus groups might reveal that managers are not meeting
with new hires in the first week.
• Contextualize. Michael Pratt, a professor at Boston College, notes that
qualitative approaches are good for contextualizing quantitative results.
Contextualizing aims to explain technical quantitative findings to HR and
business leaders by adding color and depth to illustrate a point. For
example, including verbatim quotes from interviewees can bring to life
the results of quantitative analyses. The explanations can then help turn
the analytics project into a story, emphasizing the perspective of those
impacted by the recommended actions. For an excellent introduction to
contextualization in qualitative research, see Chapter 3, “Qualitative
Research Strategies in Industrial and Organizational Psychology,” by
Tomas Lee and colleagues in the Handbook of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology (American Psychological Association, 2010).
Unstructured Data
Increasingly, data that workforce analytics professionals encounter will be
unstructured, or difficult to store in rows and columns of a “flat” data file.
Examples include video, audio, and the vast amount of text and language that
is available via the Internet.
In the past, much of this information was used qualitatively, to help form
hypotheses, interpret findings, and contextualize results for audiences. Today
these data sets are commonly analyzed quantitatively. Perhaps most advanced
is text-mining of data sets to assess the sentiment of text passages, such as
comments in open-ended surveys. Sadat Shami, Director of the Center for
Engagement & Social Analytics at IBM, describes the potential of text
analytics. “Developments in managing and analyzing unstructured data, such
as text from social media, are really showing the value of social media as a
data source for signals that we can use to infer, for example, the level of an
employee’s engagement.”
Methods for quantitatively analyzing qualitative and unstructured data
generally focus on converting data that were captured as language or images
into a numerical representation. After that point, the objectives of analytical
techniques are the same as those already mentioned for quantitative analysis.
Examples of these techniques are rare event detection, sentiment analysis,
and trending topics.
Traditional Statistics versus Machine Learning

A noteworthy area of innovation in quantitative analyses is machine learning
methods, which are increasingly common in organizations today. Workforce
analytics techniques can often be distinguished by whether the methods
emerged from a tradition of statistical modeling or computer science (from
which machine learning emerged).
In statistical modeling, the focus is often on accurately describing
associations between variables in order to describe the world as it is and to
identify causal relationships. In machine learning, the focus is often on
making the most accurate possible classifications or predictions, regardless of
whether causal mechanisms are identified. For example, a traditional
statistician might use logistic regression for classification.
Machine learning professionals (that is, highly trained data scientists from a
computer science background) might also try logistic regression, but they will
likely adopt a wide array of other techniques as well, to try to improve the
accuracy of the model. For example, their approach might involve comparing
the results of different techniques, such as a logistic regression, classification
trees, and support vector machines. Despite the different origins of the
traditions, the objectives of analysis in machine learning and statistical
modeling are similar and fit into the six objectives presented earlier.
Machine learning techniques tend to perform better when building models to
predict outcomes from many variables and when examining complex
relationships. Machine learning experts also tend to apply more rigorous
approaches to evaluating whether models will be valid when applied to new
samples. These models are often deployed in an iterative manner, with the
models updated in real time and with results deployed into operational
business intelligence systems.
Statistical methods, on the other hand, tend to perform better when data meet
the assumptions required for the statistical method. In many cases, however,
the methods can produce very similar results. For this reason, and also
because your team should ideally have access to both types of skills, this is a
distinction with more relevance for the data scientists in a workforce
analytics team. Today’s data scientists are usually skilled in both approaches.
The decision of whether to use machine learning or traditional statistical
approaches for any given situation is best left for data scientists. They should
have a clear understanding of what the analysis must achieve.
Social Consequences of Algorithms

Data-based decision making in workforce analytics comes with a
responsibility to ensure that decisions made on the basis of algorithms are
statistically, legally, and socially appropriate. This is clearly illustrated in
Cathy O’Neill’s book Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data
Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (Crown, 2016). It is a
particularly important consideration in workforce analytics because work is
increasingly becoming more automated and the nature of decision making is
evolving. In high-volume recruitment, for example, algorithms are often used
to filter candidates; in the past, humans made those decisions. Our role in
evaluating the consequences of the decision-making algorithms in workforce
analytics is critical to ensure that the outcomes they produce are consistent
with the organization’s values and expectations.
Another reason to give attention to the appropriateness of outcomes is that
workforce analytics is becoming populated with professionals who have
strong mathematical, statistical, and computer science skills, but less
knowledge and experience in managing the legal and social consequences of
analytics in employment contexts. The computer science field refers to this
area of study as fairness-aware data mining. The topic of fairness is still
garnering attention in computer science, but it is important to note that the
realm of industrial psychology already has directly portable concepts in place
that can be implemented to ensure equitable outcomes for individuals from
different groups. Here we introduce three of these concepts: impact, bias, and
fairness.
• Impact. In the context of workforce analytics, impact refers to differences
in the rates of job selection, promotion, or other employment decisions
that disadvantage members of a particular group, such as women or ethnic
minorities. For example, if selection decisions are made on the basis of a
pre-hire employment test of integrity, impact against women can result if
males score higher than females on average. Impact can occur due to bias,
discussed in the next point, but it can also result from genuine differences
between groups.
The issue might not necessarily result from measurement accuracy; it
might stem from the choice of the variable itself. To consider another
example, if a candidate’s postcode were adopted as a selection measure,
the measurement of postcode itself would be equally accurate for every
demographic group (that is, postcode is a highly accurate indicator of
where a person lives, regardless of group). However, postcode can be a
proxy for socioeconomic status, which could result in adverse impact.
The situation is more complex when a variable is measured imprecisely,
which is often the case for psychological concepts. In this case, impact
can be the result of genuine differences between groups or bias on the
selection test. Simply observing impact does not allow someone to
differentiate between true differences and bias on the test.
• Bias. The notion of bias can be explained in the context of the previous
integrity example: the effect of a pre-hire personality test to measure
integrity on male and female job selection rates. The test is said to be free
of measurement bias if a randomly chosen man and woman of equal
integrity would get the same integrity score. If this wouldn’t happen, the
test produces measurement bias and should not be used.
Analyses can be undertaken to check whether selection scores relate to
performance scores in the same way for all groups. In the integrity
example, a test could examine whether integrity scores are equally
predictive of performance for men and women. If they are not equally
predictive, the test produces predictive bias, so alternative selection
variables might be preferred.
• Fairness. Bias and impact are statistical phenomena. Whether the process
and outcomes are “fair” is a social judgment. One interpretation of
fairness relevant to workforce analytics is that all workers should receive
consistent treatment. In the context of employment testing, for example,
this means candidates should experience the same testing conditions, have
access to the same practice materials, get the same chances to retake
questionnaires, and, where appropriate, experience accommodation for
disabilities.
Although much of this discussion has focused on detecting instances in
which algorithmic decision making can create unfairness, it is also
possible for algorithms to create outcomes that are considered “more fair.”
For example, algorithms can eliminate factors such as favoritism and
other biases that often enter into decisions about people, especially when
individual managers are making decisions. It is important to recognize
that perspectives on fairness vary among organizations and people, as well
as across time and cultures.
Impact, bias, and fairness are closely intertwined concepts that are
nevertheless important to differentiate. Doing so helps clarify the appropriate
course of action when bias, impact, or unfairness might exist.
More on Design and Analysis

The glossary in this book provides definitions of technical terms used in this
chapter and is a useful resource for readers who are not familiar with
statistical terms. For those interested in more depth on statistical analysis,
Predictive HR Analytics, by Martin Edwards from King’s College, London
and Kirsten Edwards from Pearn Kandola (Kogan Page, 2016), is an
excellent entry point. For advanced discussion, The Elements of Statistical
Learning, by Trevor Hastie, Robert Tibshirani, and Jerome Friedman
(Springer, 2011), is a key reference.
Summary
Analytically curious HR professionals, and certainly all members of the

workforce analytics team, should understand the basics of analysis so they
can have sensible and informed conversations.
• Select research designs that are appropriate for the business questions you
are trying to answer and know how to interpret the results.
• Learn the objectives that quantitative analyses aim to achieve: explore,
associate, predict, classify, reduce, and segment.
• Use qualitative analysis to generate a hypothesis, interpret results, and
contextualize findings by adding color to quantitative analysis.
• Consider the use of unstructured data for both qualitative and quantitative
analysis.
• Familiarize yourself with conditions under which statistical modeling or
machine learning is more appropriate.
• Be clear about the tools and skills you have at your disposal for advanced
analyses such as analyzing unstructured data.
• Scrutinize your analyses for their potential to produce adverse impact,
bias, or unfairness, and take corrective action as needed.

6
Case Studies
“One way to help HR on its way is to highlight examples of great work that
the pioneers in this space are doing. This is not merely to imitate their peers,
but rather to learn from and be inspired by the successes others have had.”
—David Green
Global Director, People Analytics Solutions, IBM
This chapter illustrates the methodology by examining five case

studies through the lens of the eight steps. Although the eight-step
methodology was not necessarily explicitly considered as these
projects were unfolding, each case nonetheless implemented each
step.
These successful cases were chosen to cover a range of business
challenges, types of organizations, and geographic locations. The
intent is to illustrate different organizational challenges and the value
that can be achieved by addressing them methodically with
workforce analytics. In addition to following the methodology,
success requires strong project sponsorship. Each of these cases
describes how the right sponsorship contributed to workforce
analytics success.
Following are the case studies discussed in this chapter:
• Improving Careers Through Retention Analytics at Nielsen
• From Employee Engagement to Profitability at ISS Group
• Growing Sales Using Workforce Analytics at Rentokil Initial
• Increasing Value to the Taxpayer at the Metropolitan Police
• Predictive Analytics Improves Employee Well-Being at Westpac
Eight-Step Methodology
Our eight-step methodology for workforce analytics is described in detail in
Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics.”
The first steps focus on understanding why an analytics project has been
initiated:
Step 1: Frame Business Questions
Step 2: Build Hypotheses
The next steps describe how the project will be conducted:
Step 3: Gather Data
Step 4: Conduct Analyses
Step 5: Reveal Insights
Step 6: Determine Recommendations
The final steps ensure that action will be taken as a result of the project:
Step 7: Get Your Point Across
Step 8: Implement and Evaluate
Case Study: Improving Careers Through Retention Analytics

at Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings PLC is a global information and measurement company
headquartered in the United States. It has a presence in more than 100
countries, approximately 44,000 employees, and revenues of $6.2 billion in
2015. Nielsen measures what consumers buy (categories, brands, products)
and what consumers watch (programming, advertising) on a global and local
basis.
Nielsen was just beginning its people analytics journey in mid-2015 when
Piyush Mathur was appointed Senior Vice President of People Analytics. He
was tasked with building, developing, and growing the people analytics
function and creating business value. Given the company’s heritage for
collecting and studying data, Piyush was not short of passionate people
interested in joining the team; he internally sourced a technologist, a
compensation analyst, an HR partner, and a data scientist during his first few
weeks. Later in 2015, Piyush and his team started a significant project
focused on attrition.
The Impact of Increasing Attrition

Piyush explains, “Very quickly after I took the role, we realized a trend that
had gone virtually unaddressed: the rate of attrition was rising, year over
year.” Even without a standardized definition of attrition, the analytics team
could see that the organization was constantly looking to hire externally
while continuing to lose valuable associates in key business areas and roles.
The problem was difficult to focus on, for two main reasons. First, the team
needed a standard definition of attrition to examine the problem. “We had
counted over 16 different ways people were measuring voluntary attrition,”
Piyush says. “We needed operational definitions, data governance, and robust
analytical methods.”
Second, Piyush’s team did not have a sponsor for the project. To address this
challenge, Piyush identified large businesses in the organization that had
attrition higher than the company average. He approached the president of
one such business (with approximately $1 billion revenue) and asked her
about people issues. During the discussion, the leader recognized that
retention was a problem and indicated that she wanted to do something about
it. She became the sponsor of the analytics project. Piyush explains,
“Sometimes we feel we need to find the solution and then approach the
business leader. But it is also important to get the business leader involved
early on, to recognize the problem before starting on the search for answers.”
With the sponsorship settled, Piyush initiated the analytics project. He
clarified the business questions as follows:
• What factors make associates more likely or less likely to leave Nielsen?
• What could we do about it?
• What is the financial impact of people leaving?
Understanding the extent and size of the problem and identifying a business
leader to sponsor and benefit from the project allowed the people analytics
team to clarify the intent of the project and frame the business questions (Step
1).
Piyush was confident that his team could define, measure, and understand the
factors causing attrition in a clear, predictable, and sustainable way. He was
also convinced that his team could find insights and make actionable
recommendations to address the problem. When reviewing the attrition
problem, the team identified two specific groups of people they suspected
were a high retention risk, and they tested this suspicion in the following
hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Women and diverse employees have higher attrition risk
than men.
Hypothesis 2: Employees who work remotely (for example, at a client’s
location) have higher attrition risk than employees who work from a
Nielsen office.
By isolating one sizeable yet discrete business unit, Piyush and his team
could focus on specific hypotheses to address the business questions (Step 2).
An Analytical Approach to Analyzing Attrition

After clarifying the business questions and hypotheses and having the
sponsor sign off on them, the people analytics team under Piyush’s leadership
focused on four activities:
• Isolating the geographical areas to be studied
• Defining the time period to be studied
• Collecting the correct data
• Selecting the analytical model (see Figure 6.1)

Figure 6.1 Data and model used for the study of attrition in Nielsen.
The study was limited to people in the U.S. business, to avoid specific works
council and data privacy challenges. Piyush explains: “We involved the
general counsel and the chief privacy officer and their teams from the start. In
doing so, they helped us by endorsing our project and recommending that we
begin our project in the U.S. only to simplify the gathering of data.”
The team focused on a time period of five and a half years; this was the
longest time period of consistent data, and it gave them sufficient data to
complete a strong analysis.
The two predominant technology systems that the team used to collect the
required data were the SAP Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
and the Oracle Taleo recruitment applicant tracking system.
Choosing and gathering the right data is important for any analytics project,
but Piyush outlines another caution: “Sometimes we wait for data to become
perfect. I believe in ‘design thinking,’ where we imagine the future state but
start building with what we have and keep improving as we go along.”
By identifying a relatively small number of data elements from two key

sources over a finite time period and a defined geographical area (Step 3), the
team was able to quickly undertake a specific longitudinal analysis.
The next step was analysis. As Figure 6.1 shows, the team decided to use a
Cox regression analysis, an example of the quantitative analysis objective of
classification (see Chapter 5, “Basics of Data Analysis”). Although the team
considered other techniques, such as logistic regression, it chose Cox
regression because that method allowed them to study attrition over time as a
function of the various predictor variables.
The methodology chosen is the preferred approach for modeling and

predicting employee turnover (Step 4), leading to a confident outcome.
In its analysis, the team found no support for the first hypothesis: Women and
diverse employees have no higher attrition risk. But the team did discover
three core factors contributing to attrition: lack of lateral moves,1 being
located at a client site, and recent hire date (tenure of less than one year). The
second factor supported the second hypothesis: Attrition risk was indeed
higher for associates working remotely from a Nielsen location.
These insights were clarified with a high degree of confidence. For example,
someone given a lateral move was proven to be 48 percent less likely to leave
than someone who was not given a lateral move. Interestingly, Nielsen had a
very low percentage of managers offering lateral moves or associates asking
for them; less than two percent of people received a lateral move globally.
Although lateral moves might bring a small compensation change, the new
role essentially has a similar responsibility level as before, but in a different
environment (such as for a different business, manager, or function).
The insights were revealed (Step 5) with confidence due to the strong
quantitative analysis used.
One of Piyush’s guiding principles is that business leaders will get more
excited if financial benefit for analytics can be proven. His next step was to
demonstrate exactly that. Piyush and his team, together with compensation,
talent acquisition, and other HR experts, plus people from the financial
planning and analysis group, built a cost of attrition model based on actual
voluntary attrition data. This model included factors such as lost productivity
and time (and associated cost) to recruit. Working with members of the
finance department, they ensured that any model created would be taken
seriously and be financially validated.
The financial impact analyses revealed that, for every 1 percentage point
decrease in attrition, Nielsen avoided approximately $5 million in business
costs. This analysis got the attention of the senior leaders, as Piyush
elaborates: “We shared the model with our CEO and CHRO—they loved it.
They really liked how we were using analytics empirically and financially.”
With the insights (the factors shown to contribute to attrition) gathered and
the cost of attrition model developed and validated by finance, the team could
focus on building very specific recommendations focused on talent reviews,
lateral moves, and onboarding.
The first major recommendation was to focus on lateral moves as part of
talent reviews. As part of discussions about talent and succession, leaders
were expected to spotlight key individuals who would benefit from lateral
movement to another part of Nielsen. This was embedded in the talent review
process so successfully that it became part of discussions with the CEO
beginning in late 2015.
The second recommendation concerned a program called Ready to Rotate
that already existed but was poorly used. It was designed for associates to
self-identify when they would like to be considered for a lateral move. It was
originally created but not implemented because it lacked a committed
sponsor. With the level of support Piyush had created, he was confident that a
program like this could be reignited and implemented.
Finally, beyond programs supporting lateral moves, recommendations were
implemented around onboarding. These were designed to address one of the
other insights derived regarding the relatively high attrition among employees
with less than one year of tenure. The onboarding actions included a buddy
program and an “information all in one place” system for new recruits to
allow them to more quickly feel connected and integrated.

The insights on lateral moves and onboarding led to recommendations with
associated financial benefits for Nielsen (Step 6).
Turning Recommendations into Action

Piyush remembers the president of the U.S. business and the sponsor of this
project saying, “Insight without action is overhead.” As such, he wanted to
make sure that the recommendations were implemented and communicated
properly.
The analytics team partnered internally with Nielsen’s communications team
to make the recommendations a reality. The communications team members
had the expertise to make the Ready to Rotate program a success. They
created a variety of materials, including a video2 about factors that contribute
to higher levels of retention, an innovative approach to articulating the
outcome of a people analytics study.
Together with the continued strong sponsorship of the business leader and the
buy-in of the CEO and CHRO, Nielsen decided to implement the Ready to
Rotate program globally, to shine a spotlight on talent that is asking or
willing to make a move within Nielsen.
The team communicated the various recommendations (Step 7) to the

individual associates and managers in Nielsen by partnering with and using
the skills of the internal communications team.
Piyush’s team proved the financial benefits of implementing retention

programs through a systematic and methodical analytical approach with
strong sponsorship throughout. By mid-2016, some impressive results had
emerged:
• Nielsen identified 120 key individuals and, through lateral moves for 40
percent of this group, reduced the attrition rate to zero for the first six
months after implementation.
• Through increased participation in Ready to Rotate and one-on-one
engagement, the voluntary attrition rate in the U.S. business for the first
quarter of 2016 decreased to half the rate it was during the same period in
2015. For the global enterprise, attrition was 2 percentage points lower in
the first eight months of 2016. This translated to a benefit of more than
$10 million.
• Following successful implementation in the United States, Nielsen rolled
out the analytics project to another seven countries.
The team continues to work with business leaders to measure attrition and
advocate the Ready to Rotate program (Step 8).
A methodical approach enabled the people analytics team in Nielsen to

contribute to the company’s business success. However, for Piyush, this
project was not just about improving the business. “At the end of the day, we
are improving people’s lives by helping them stay in Nielsen through these
programs. Moving companies is very stressful for people and it often affects
their families, too. So we are not only helping Nielsen financially—we are
helping people by providing them with rewarding jobs in other parts of our
business.”
Case Study: From Employee Engagement to Profitability at

ISS Group
ISS Group was founded in Copenhagen in 1901 and has grown to become
one of the world’s largest facility services providers. ISS offers a wide range
of services, such as cleaning, catering, security, property and support
services, and facility management. It has approximately 505,000 employees
and local operations in 77 countries across Europe, Asia, North America,
Latin America, and the Pacific, serving thousands of public- and private-
sector customers.
The Business Impact of Engagement

ISS drives profitability through the productivity of its employees as they
work to deliver services in client organizations. Given the central role of its
employees to its success, a key component of the ISS business strategy is to
ensure that all its employees are highly engaged. ISS takes the challenge of
employee engagement seriously. This is illustrated by Group Head of
Marketing Peter Ankerstjerne’s sponsorship of a workforce analytics project
to explore the relationships among employee engagement, customer
experience, and profitability at ISS.
Simon Svegaard, Group Business Analytics Manager, gives this background
on the project: “While there is substantial evidence of a positive association
between engagement and performance in the scientific and business
literature, before making considerable investment in increasing engagement
at ISS, we wanted to see if we could identify that association in our own
organization.” In other words, ISS wanted to know whether it would see a
return on investment from interventions aimed at increasing employee
engagement.
The analytics team ensured that ISS had clarity on the business priority of
employee engagement to determine a return on the investment (Step 1).
To ensure collective agreement on the aims of the analytics work and strong
management, a project team was established. The team included
representatives from Group HR, Group Marketing, and an external
consultancy. Of particular note was the external partner selected to assist the
team: Morten Kamp Andersen is an experienced business consultant in the
field of analytics and had already worked with ISS and several of its senior
leaders on earlier projects. Simon explains, “It was critical that the right
people, including the main stakeholders, were involved in this project from
the outset. In many projects, collaboration across the business only begins
when the results are presented, but we wanted to establish that collaborative
approach from the start.” With such an approach the team could more easily
get buy-in, support, and the resources it needed to deliver.
One of the project team’s first tasks was to clarify its hypotheses. Two clearly
stated hypotheses captured the expectations about the project and guided
future data collection and analyses:
Hypothesis 1: Employee engagement is positively related to both
employee and customer experience.

Hypothesis 2: Customer experience is positively associated with contract
profitability.3
The organization took an exploratory approach regarding which aspects of

engagement determined loyalty and profitability to clarify the hypotheses
(Step 2).
From Analysis to Recommendations

Before data collection could begin, ISS had to identify the most appropriate
measures of the variables relevant to the hypotheses. Specifically, the team
needed to identify reliable and valid measures of employee engagement,
employee and customer experience, and profitability. The best measure of
employee engagement was the ISS global employee engagement survey.
Workers take part in this annual survey covering all of the organization’s
countries and operating units. The survey is administered in 52 languages
using a combination of paper, email, and web-based questionnaires. The
response rate in 2015, the year of this study, was 72 percent of the total
population.
Employee and customer experience variables were assessed using the
Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS) and Customer Net Promoter Scores
(cNPS), which ask employees and customers whether they would recommend
ISS to a friend or colleague.4 Contract profitability data also were available
for analysis. Given the sensitivity associated with this information, the
analytics team undertook careful communications regarding how results
would be used and provided guarantees of individual worker anonymity to
ensure that country managers were comfortable sharing the profitability data
for the project.
By building a clear picture of the data required before gathering it, the team
ensured that it was not distracted by other interesting but less relevant
analysis opportunities along the way. The team’s confidence in the potential
of this project was boosted by the global nature of the data it had. However,
the team was careful to retain its focus on the two outcomes that the
organization pays a lot of attention to: customer loyalty and contract

profitability.
The project team conducted its analyses using three primary analytical
strategies. First, team members used a data reduction technique (see Chapter
5) to limit the number of survey items in their final analyses. Next, they used
a number of exploratory graphical techniques to examine the association
between the variables identified in their hypotheses. They coupled these
graphical techniques with regression-based methods such as partial least
squares (this is an example of the prediction objective of quantitative analysis
that Chapter 5 describes) to examine how well engagement could predict
customer experience and profitability.
ISS identified data sources that were strong indicators of each variable
relevant for the hypotheses (Step 3) and used a variety of statistical
procedures to simplify the dataset and test these hypotheses (Step 4).
The analyses provided support for the first hypothesis at ISS: Employee
engagement was indeed positively related to customer satisfaction. However,
as Simon says: “While this finding reflected the existing external research
suggesting that engagement is associated with performance outcomes such as
customer satisfaction and profitability, the project team wanted to know
more.” The real insight was revealed when the analytics team considered
exactly what aspects of employee engagement were related to customer
satisfaction as measured by the cNPS.
Three aspects of engagement turned out to be particularly strongly linked
with customer satisfaction: motivation, capability, and purpose. In other
words, cNPS scores were higher for business units in which employees were
more motivated to do a good job, were well trained, and understood customer
expectations. Moreover, as the second hypothesis predicted, eNPS and cNPS
were positively related with contract profitability. Figure 6.2 illustrates the
contract profitability (shown as a percentage) as a function of eNPS and
cNPS. It shows that, as both eNPS and cNPS increase, so does contract
profitability.

Figure 6.2 Links between eNPS, cNPS, and contract profitability.
The analytics team identified motivation, capability, and purpose as the key
drivers of employee engagement, and these had the highest influence on the
cNPS. The next step was deciding what to do about it. The team concluded
that the findings about employee engagement had important implications for
HR processes and strategic initiatives. As a result, the team had the following
recommendations:
• Functional training programs to address the capability factor (for instance,
skills training for facilities cleaners).
• A behavioral training program called Service with a Human Touch, to
focus on understanding the emotional connection between workers and
clients and delivering superior user service. The training was implemented
for first-line managers responsible for contract delivery initially in
Denmark before it was implemented globally.
• A manager education program to address the purpose factor. This would
focus on ensuring that staff knew what both ISS and customers expected
of them.
• A motivation toolkit to address the motivation factor. This would be part
of an existing manager development program.
In addition, ISS was advised to conduct a managerial training needs
assessment to determine where additional training was needed before
delivering the training.
ISS analyses revealed the drivers of engagement, customer loyalty, and

contract profitability (Step 5). Actions based on these insights were
recommended (Step 6).
Not content to stop there, ISS wanted an even stronger research design to
increase confidence in its conclusions. As a result, ISS implemented the
recommendations intended to increase engagement among its staff at one of
its customer locations, a financial services firm. This would enable the team
to study the effects of the changes using a pre-/post-research design.
In the study, customer satisfaction was measured with a user survey both
before and after interventions intended to increase the three drivers of
engagement: motivation, capability, and purpose. The interventions included
extensive training for all ISS managers, supervisors, and front-liners on how
to manage and deliver a service against predefined behavioral standards. In
addition, customers were asked to clearly communicate with front-line staff
what they expected in terms of service quality and standards. Evaluation of
this follow-up study revealed a significant increase in employee engagement
following the training, as well as a significant increase in customer
satisfaction.
Turning Recommendations to Action

Communication to stakeholders was critical throughout this project, as Simon
stresses: “If you conduct analytics too far away from what the organization is
doing, then nothing will be adopted. You need to link what you are doing to
something that has relevance to the organization. Then when you present to
your sponsors, you need to have a plan for what should happen next: Look at
processes already in the company and build on and complement those. If you
just come with a new HR process, people will not do anything.”
Simon communicated with the stakeholders before having conversations with
C-suite executives, and he managed communications in the following way.
First, he identified an existing manager communications platform that he
could use for his communications. He then linked his communications to a
goal that was also the focus for managers—in this case, contract profitability.
Second, he communicated with the core stakeholders individually. These ten
people comprised the executive group management, including the ISS Group
chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and chief
operating officer (COO), plus the various regional CEOs. Simon had to make
sure they each saw the benefit of the project individually, and he tailored his
conversations to the different personalities and management styles of his
audiences.
Finally, Simon, along with the external consultant, Morten, presented to the
executive group management. Because each of the executives had already
been involved throughout the project, the C-suite conversations were well
received and the recommendations were readily accepted.
Stakeholder communications throughout the project were essential to gain

commitment (Step 7). ISS implemented actions to address the employee
engagement drivers that its analytics project had identified (Step 8).
Encouraged by the findings from this analytics project and their ability to link
engagement to business outcomes, ISS team members are now exploring
links between engagement and sickness rates, as well as customer churn. ISS
says that what made this project successful was the team’s ability to link HR
practices (notably, efforts to increase engagement) with business outcomes
outside of HR (customer satisfaction and, ultimately, contract profitability).

Case Study: Growing Sales Using Workforce Analytics at
Rentokil Initial
Founded in 1925 and listed on the London Stock Exchange, Rentokil Initial
provides pest control and hygiene services across 60 countries with more than
30,000 employees. The company has three global brands (Rentokil, Initial,
and Ambius) and several local brands, including Dexinfa in Lithuania,
Calmic in Asia, and JC Ehrlich in the United States. Rentokil has revenues of
approximately £1.8 billion, according to its 2015 annual report.
In the late 2000s, the company came under the leadership of Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) Alan Brown, who started a period of examining operations,
particularly sales expertise and performance. Workforce analytics came to the
fore amid this atmosphere of scrutiny.
Variability in Sales Performance

Sales results and turnover at Rentokil Initial were highly variable among the
700 global salespeople. Some regions were overachieving their targets easily,
whereas others were consistently underachieving. Alan was keen to explore
this using an analytical approach, in contrast to the anecdotal information he
was receiving from the various managers and directors in the business.
Alan had no assumptions regarding the reasons for the varying sales
performance. However, because everyone was highlighting people-related
topics, he focused on the sales workforce itself instead of territory alignment,
market opportunity, or competition. Because of his scientific background,
Alan wanted a more methodical approach to assessing and improving sales
performance, so he hired external business consultant Max Blumberg and his
team to undertake an analysis. Internally, Max worked closely with Steve
Langhorn, Director of Rentokil Global Academy.
As a first step in this project, Max interviewed sales leaders in different
regions around the world in a bid to isolate a hypothesis that might explain
the issue with sales performance. However, following these initial interviews,
it was clear that different potential hypotheses existed, depending on who
was interviewed:
• Effective sales training delivered at the right time will develop the
technical confidence needed for successful sales performance.
• Better recognition tools will increase seller motivation to deliver higher
performance.
• A globally consistent recruitment process for sales staff will deliver
higher-performing sales people.
This analytics project had strong sponsorship from the CEO and a clear
business problem (Step 1). Multiple hypotheses existed and needed to be
validated and verified (Step 2) as part of the analytical methodology.
An Iterative Approach to Solve the Problem

Max Blumberg set about gathering data relevant to his hypotheses in a
multipronged approach. First, he conducted a detailed literature review of all
the work that had been undertaken on sales performance in various industries.
The intent was to understand whether examples of similar sales challenges
existed elsewhere.
Second, Max undertook an analysis of the HR practices at Rentokil Initial.
Given the range of hypotheses and ideas presented to him, Max wanted to
clarify the various processes and policies that existed for each of the main HR
functions, including recruitment, compensation, management training, and
leadership development.
The final part of this initial phase was to collect new data from the workforce.
A survey investigated employees’ perspectives of the HR processes in the
company. People were asked to score the efficiency and importance of each
HR process to sales performance. When the survey results were analyzed, it
was clear that recruitment was viewed as the most inefficient yet most
important HR process (see Figure 6.3).

Figure 6.3 HR processes plotted by inefficiency and importance.
This analysis allowed Max to focus on a single hypothesis:

Hypothesis: A globally efficient and consistent recruitment process with
clear selection criteria will improve sales performance.
Max continued his investigations and next looked at whether the most
commonly used selection tests correlated with sales performance. The
analytics team found only small correlations between the two most frequently
used tests and sales performance. As such, the team recommended
discontinuing these tests. This recommendation was implemented.
Next, the team collected and analyzed another new set of data, gathered from
surveying the sales force, to identify the specific attributes that most highly
correlated with sales performance. These attributes were grouped into
categories such as conscientiousness, interests, interpersonal skills, and
cognitive ability.
The next step of the analysis involved looking for a selection test to
accurately assess these attributes. The team undertook a literature review to
source validated and relevant tests, and it also conducted an extensive review
of selection tests that were available in the marketplace. In the end, Max’s
team chose six externally sourced tests that appeared to meet the criteria
needed to improve sales performance.
Using these six tests, Max and his analysts undertook a study among 270
sales people in the United Kingdom and the United States. Each person took
all six tests, and their results were analyzed against their sales performance.
This became a complex and sensitive exercise, partly because of the need to
work with six vendors across the many global assessment platforms in
Rentokil at that time, but also because of a significant level of concern among
both the sales professionals taking the tests and their sales leaders about how
the company would use the results.
Using this seller assessment dataset, the team undertook various statistical
analyses to identify which traits could be linked to high sales performers.
These analyses included logistic regression, an example of the quantitative
analysis objective of classification (see Chapter 5). The analysis revealed that
one test in particular, a personality assessment, had a strong relationship to
sales performance. Max predicted that this assessment would identify an
above-average salesperson with a high degree of accuracy. Using the U.K.
sales population, Max then converted that into financial value. If the
assessment were adopted and implemented, he estimated that the United
Kingdom business alone would see a potential increase in sales of £1.5
million per year.
From these and further analyses, Max was able to make a very specific
recommendation to implement one external test for the selection of all future
salespeople worldwide. He also made detailed recommendations for the
redevelopment and global standardization of the recruitment process, as well
as the implementation of new induction programs and associated recruitment
and induction training for managers.
The iterative process of collecting data (Step 3), analyzing it (Step 4), and
discovering insights (Step 5) led to the recommendation to implement a
single selection test (Step 6). Strong statistical evidence backed up the
recommendation, and the financial impact was quantified.
From Recommendations to Business Impact

Max and Steve jointly set up strong governance throughout the project. As
part of that governance, regular checkpoints were established with three core
groups of stakeholders:
• Global executive team and sales directors. This group required ongoing
one-to-one meetings, as well as some team meetings at every stage of the
project to ensure that they not only understood the insights from the
analyses and associated recommendations, but also were clear about the
decisions required.
• Works councils, especially in Germany and France. This audience was
briefed and managed carefully. In particular, the works councils were
made aware of the benefits of the project to those countries’ businesses
and to the individual workers within them.
• The entire sales force. Communications with the entire sales force were
handled through regular newsletters and emails. When needed,
personalized communications were sent to salespeople asking for their
participation in the surveys outlined earlier. These emails were privately
addressed, to strengthen the message that the collection of personal data
would be treated with a high degree of confidentiality.
Communication was only part of the story for the analytics team;
implementing the recommendations required extensive planning within both
the recruitment function and the associated HR functions, such as induction
training and sales enablement. Specific elements of the plan included these
actions:
• Procuring the selected assessment
• Implementing the technology needed to manage one global assessment
test, which resulted in implementing a standard global recruitment process
• Training in interviewing techniques to align all hiring managers with the
new recruitment process and selection criteria
Furthermore, the plans needed to be implemented worldwide. To achieve
this, the team used a phased approach starting with the United States and the
United Kingdom, moving on to Europe, and concluding with the rest of the
world. The implementation plan took one year to roll out fully to all
countries.
The entire project took more than two years to complete. The first year
clarified the business problem and enabled data collection and analysis. The
second year focused on implementing the recommendations. With the CEO
sponsoring the project and effective stakeholder management and
involvement of sales professionals throughout, the project had a high chance
of adoption and success.
And it did succeed. In the year following the project, sales improved by more
than 40 percent and the return on investment from the project was more than
300 percent.
Messages were communicated extensively, with much thought given to each

stakeholder group (Step 7). The business objective to improve sales was
measured and achieved (Step 8).
Overall, this project demonstrated a clear and direct business impact in terms
of increased sales. It succeeded because of its high-level sponsorship,
effective stakeholder management, and strong methodical approach to
analytics. As Steve summarizes: “This project demonstrated how analytics
can shape the future through helping people secure the right jobs that will
make them successful and bring benefit to business leaders and owners
through increasing sales. It’s a win–win for everyone.”
Case Study: Increasing Value to the Taxpayer at the

Metropolitan Police
London’s Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) is the United Kingdom’s
largest police force, employing approximately 31,000 officers, 9,000 police
staff, 1,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), and 2,800
volunteer police officers.5 It covers an area of 620 square miles and a
population of approximately 7.2 million, and it is funded entirely from
taxpayers’ money.
Robin Wilkinson, a board member and Director of People & Change, and
Clare Davies, Director of Human Resources (HR), were responsible for
implementing strategic workforce planning as part of a large transformation
program. Although they had already set up a small project team, they
contracted specialist analytics practitioner Martin Oest in late 2013 to expand
their analytics and workforce planning expertise in HR. Collectively, they set
about helping to deliver on the promise of this strategic transformation to
reduce the overall cost of the organization while at the same time recruiting a
more diverse workforce.
Sometimes undertaking an analytics project is extremely complicated not
because the analysis is difficult or it lacks sponsors, but simply because there
is no infrastructure for such work. This case study is an example of such a
situation. It shows how to start from a low base and deliver successful
A Police Force to Reflect the Community

The HR team faced a significant list of challenges and defined several
priorities under the Met’s people strategy. The overall aim was to have a
police force representative of the diverse population of London. The Met
believed that a more diverse workforce would be better able to serve London
by speaking the languages and understanding the various cultures that make
up the city’s neighborhoods.
The team had to overcome other specific challenges, such as recruiting more
police officers and reducing the overall workforce cost. It had to deliver this
over a period of two years as part of the Met’s broader strategic
transformation.
After identifying the challenges, Martin and his team set about clarifying the
underpinning hypotheses to support this:
Hypothesis 1: By modeling scenarios for the future workforce, actions
will be identified to enable new approaches to recruitment.
Hypothesis 2: Providing accurate real-time information to hiring
managers will result in the hiring of more diverse candidates.
Martin and his team found that spending time framing the business question
(Step 1) and clarifying the hypotheses (Step 2) was important in providing
focus to the analytics team.
Analytical Insights for Action

Workforce analytics capability in the Met was at a fledgling level at the start
of this project. When Martin joined the project, he increased the focus on data
governance that had already started with the team: “In the first phase, we
delivered some simple quick wins, such as visualizing current headcount to
achieve control of the data and to create one version of the truth for
headcount.” In addition to data governance, Martin surveyed stakeholders
about their requirements for analytics across various HR processes to provide
the workforce analytics team with the right stakeholder input.
Also in the first phase of the analytics project, the HR analytics team
established a steering group. This consisted of major stakeholders, including
the finance department and a group called Portfolio and Planning. This latter
group was responsible to the board for change management and the overall
transformation program in the Met, so it had to ensure that any analytics
activities were aligned to the overall transformation agenda. Martin’s
participation added focus and clarity to the objectives of the steering group to
enable effective decision making, governance, and alignment with the Met’s
strategic direction. As Martin explains, “This steering group was needed to
ensure buy-in and commitment across the Met.”
With the steering group, basic headcount metrics, and governance in place,
Martin turned to the recruitment data in the second phase of the project. This
was a crucial dataset for understanding ethnic diversity at the hiring stage.
Lending visibility to the recruitment data was a critical step in increasing
awareness of the diversity challenge among HR leaders, as Martin explains:
“We delivered a recruitment dashboard that provided new insights to hiring
managers. For example, we provided metrics for each stage of the
recruitment process. This was the first time HR leaders had seen regular
information about recruitment, so this was very well received. For example, it
enabled them to spot the drop-out rate at each stage of the recruitment cycle
for different ethnicities.”
The third phase of Martin’s work was to create a full-scale HR dashboard. If
progress were to be made against the targets the Met had set, it was essential
for HR and departmental leaders to have access to consistent and accurate
information. This information included metrics beyond just headcount and
recruitment, such as diversity and succession. Martin consulted carefully on
the creation of the dashboard: “Scope and objectives were set and
stakeholders interviewed. They were then involved in an ‘objectives and

requirements’ workshop to ensure that the outcome met the business needs.”
The phased approach helped the HR team gain credibility, establish metrics,
and gather the data required to undertake more complicated analyses (Step 3).
With consistency and clarity around the Met’s current data established,
Martin and his team set out to visualize what the future workforce could look
like. They analyzed potential scenarios using “what if” models. Using Excel,
they built an analytical model embedded with forecasting calculations to
provide insights on minorities, gender, recruitment, and several more aspects
of the entire workforce. Martin confirms, “This visual model was greatly
appreciated and game changing for the Met. It was updated and distributed
monthly to all stakeholders.”
Focusing back on the core topic of diversity and workforce costs, Martin was
able to apply more analytical models to the work. For example, the team
forecast attrition for police officers using historical data, predicted
recruitment targets, and forecast year-end headcount.
The analytics methods gave the HR team at the Met significant credibility.
Clare Davies had previously described a “we can’t rely on HR data”
sentiment that had prevailed across the organization before this project. After
just a few months, and with the implementation of the analytical models and
methods, the mood changed. Clare explains: “We created a relentless focus
on accurate data and insight, regularly using it to improve aspects of the
operations. We worked hard to ensure that finance and HR data reconciled so
that we had one version of the truth. We involved stakeholders along the way
and gained credibility.”
Various models were used to manage diversity, hiring, and workforce costs
(Step 4). These allowed the workforce analytics team within HR to gain
credibility.
Conducting accurate analyses and sharing the resulting data and insights was

only part of the story. The analytics team had to reduce four recruitment
databases down to two, to simplify data management and reduce costs. In
addition, hiring had to be reengineered with input from many stakeholders to
simplify the process for both candidates and hiring managers.
These changes revealed yet more insights, Martin says: “We identified a 20
percentage point drop in ethnic minority candidates between being ‘interested
in applying to the Met’ and being ‘hired to the Met.’ This led to the creation
of a dashboard to allow hiring managers to have insights of the data at every
stage of the new hiring process.”
The continued focus on metrics, governance, and analytical improvement led
the wider HR team to highlight several recommendations for action. One of
these concerned the entry criteria for applicants to the Met. Martin explains:
“We introduced a London residency6 criterion to encourage applications from
London residents. That way, we would be more aligned to the London we
serve.” Another result of the analytical approach was to challenge the
selection tests administered by an external provider. These tests were
changed after the Met’s analysis showed different selection rates across
different ethnic groups for certain assessments. This finding was possible
only because of the Met’s deep and methodical approach to analytics, the
confidence team members had established in understanding the data, and
their relationship with the external provider. The provider made changes to
the selection tests as a result.
Many insights were uncovered (Step 5) and recommendations were defined

(Step 6) to allow for discrete change to happen in the Met.
Creating Business Impact

Successfully implementing these changes required strong messaging to both
the workforce and the population the Met serves. The Met marketing and
communications team were involved to provide expert advice on this.
Communications tactics included a press release to the London population
about a recruitment drive; the resulting media coverage brought about a sharp
increase in ethnic applications to the Met.

The result of two years of implementing analytically driven changes and
business recommendations was impressive. Diversity representation from
new hires improved by more than 10 percentage points, headcount targets
were achieved, and workforce costs for police officers in the fiscal year
2014–15 were under budget.
The legacy of this analytics project is noteworthy not just because it achieved
those objectives: The Met now has both a strong platform for workforce
analytics data governance and reporting and visualization technology that
offers a single version of the truth, giving stakeholders access to the
information they need to manage their operations.
A professional level of communications was implemented (Step 7) and the

business objective to increase ethnic diversity in the police force and reduce
overall cost of the workforce was achieved (Step 8).
Robin Wilkinson summarizes the achievement: “Our journey of workforce

analytics has totally changed how HR operates at the Met. It is more trusted,
delivers better-quality insights, and saves money. Its contribution to the Met
and to the taxpayer is significant.”
Case Study: Predictive Analytics Improves Employee Well-

Being at Westpac
Westpac Group is Australia's first bank, originally established in 1817 as the
Bank of New South Wales. The organization has a portfolio of financial
services brands and businesses, with a vision to become one of the world’s
great service companies, helping customers, communities, and people to
prosper and grow.
Damien Dellala, Westpac’s Head of People Data and Analytics Enablement,
came to the role from a digital strategy and analytics background. Damien
brought the perspective of treating employees similarly to the way customers
are treated, that is, segmenting, analyzing, and acting on insights to create
positive experiences at Westpac. With a love for data, an analytical mindset
and digital strategy experiences to guide him, Damien successfully delivered
new analytical capability to the HR function.
This example shows how Westpac laid the foundation for workforce
analytics to support employee well-being.
Societal Impact of Stress

Stress is a costly societal problem for individuals and the organizations that
employ them. The Australian Psychology Society found in its 2015 Annual
Stress and Wellbeing Survey that 45 percent of Australians experienced
work-related stress. Depression and anxiety symptoms also have been on the
rise since the organization began conducting the survey five years earlier.
According to a 2016 Australian Psychological Society article, stress takes a
notable toll on individuals’ physical and psychological health. Additionally,
U.S. companies spend about $300 billion per year on stress-related healthcare
and missed days of work as noted in a 2016 Business Insider article.
Concerned for their employees’ well-being, Westpac was ready to take on the
challenge of better understanding the impact of these trends on its workforce.
To start, the HR Analytics team worked in partnership with the Health,
Safety, and Wellbeing team to pose this question: Could we use the data we
have and apply advanced analytics techniques to better understand the
spectrum of well-being? Importantly, the intention was to support Westpac’s
credo of “people always helping people” by developing an environment that
equips people with skills to cope with stress or to maintain a positive balance.
The project team suspected that certain events were leading to employees
experiencing distress or, conversely, preventing them from thriving. With a
renewed analytical capability to quantify or predict, the team tested
hypotheses that challenged anecdotes, myths, and beliefs associated with the
well-being of employees:
Hypothesis 1: Work flexibility is associated with well-being.
Hypothesis 2: Employees with higher team volatility are more likely to
experience stress.
Understanding the nature and context of the problem allowed the HR

Analytics and Insights team, with the help of its sponsor, to frame the
business question (Step 1). Translating the business question into testable
statements yielded strong hypotheses (Step 2) to guide the selection of data
sources and analytical techniques.
Tackling Employee Stress with Analytics

More than 10 traditional and nontraditional data sources were combined
within an advanced analytics platform, which enabled sophisticated analysis
and modeling of the datasets. Types of data spanned platforms, and more
than 170 variables were assessed, including demographics, career history,
leave history, work location, work patterns, business performance,
collaboration patterns, technology usage, and employee opinion survey data.
The analysis assessed multiple predictors to identify both the propensity or
likelihood of distress for employees and the specific drivers of stress,
including reasons for leaving and team dynamics. This is an example of the
classification objective of quantitative analytics, which Chapter 5 covers.
This approach seeks to predict a discrete future event—in this case, a distress
incident—by calculating the probability of experiencing the event for each
employee, based on a variety of potential predictor variables.
The statistical models demonstrated that distress events were, in fact,
predictable based on observed behaviors. The analyses revealed the factors
associated with distress for specific groups of employees, setting the stage for
a range of possible active or passive interventions that could be taken to
reduce or prevent employee stress.
Given the variety of data and abundance of variables available, the data
discovery phase became crucial to perform segmentation and understand
early key drivers of the outcome variables. Damien explains, “This enabled
us to start enriching the relevant data elements so they speak well to the
outcome—in this case, did the employee raise a stress incident (yes or no)?”
Identifying the right data sources (Step 3) and their choice of analyses (Step
4) allowed the team to appropriately test the hypotheses, lending confidence
to the outcome. Interpreting the results of the statistical models allowed the
team to derive insights about the specific drivers of stress (Step 5).
Putting Recommendations to Work

Equipped with richer insights, the challenge was to translate the data into
specific actions and interventions. The opportunity presented was to be
targeted in intervention and to challenge traditional approaches within safety
and employment. For example, one idea was to use the model to curate
specific learning content for employees.
Tableau dashboards were prototyped to allow the specialist teams to filter the
model results by different segments of the workforce. Armed with this
information, the analytics team spent time communicating its
recommendations to its key stakeholder, the health and safety leader.
Together they communicated actions, including changes to policies, to the
wider business management team and to individual managers, where needed.
As a result, Westpac was able to rally support for these interventions and
reinforce leadership fundamentals for well-being.
The team made recommendations to put findings into action (Step 6), and got
its point across (Step 7) to key stakeholders, energizing and encouraging
them to act. Team members worked with the business to operationalize the
recommendations by delivering insights to managers where and when
needed; they also established a plan to follow through, to ensure that the
expected value would be delivered (Step 8).
This methodical approach allowed the HR Analytics team, together with the
Health, Safety, and Wellbeing team, to effectively address Westpac’s
challenge and create an environment that helps its people flourish and grow.
Damien says he and his team enjoyed being part of this feel-good project
because they “helped solve a business problem to help employees be their
best selves at work.”
Summary
The expert analytics professionals in these case studies undertook their
projects with focus and intent. The organizational challenges and the
techniques used to address them varied across the cases, but the following
factors were common to all:
• The problem to be addressed was clearly articulated and linked to the
overall strategy of the organization.
• Sponsorship of the project by an influential person positively impacted all
stages, from initiation through implementation.
• Hypotheses were clearly understood and testable (and, in some cases,
developed iteratively).
• Data gathered and analyses undertaken were appropriate for the project.
• Insights and recommendations were clear and precise.
• Communications to various stakeholders were well planned and
developed with the help of expert communications professionals, when
needed.
• Projects were designed to provide business impact and were evaluated for
success and learning.
• Internal or external partners contributed expertise to the team to ensure
success.
1 In a lateral move, an associate is given an opportunity to work in a

different business but does not change either job band or corporate title.
This typically occurs with associates who have been in the same role for
24 to 36 months with good or excellent performance ratings.
2 Retrieved at www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3S1bUhK3Fo.
3 The profitability of the aggregated contracts for each ISS customer was
used as the measure for contract profitability.
4 Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric developed by
(and a registered trademark of) Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company, and
Satmetrix Systems, Inc. Reichheld introduced NPS in his 2003 Harvard
Business Review article “One Number You Need to Grow.” At ISS, the
eNPS (employee NPS) question was “How likely would you be to
recommend ISS to others as a good place to work?” and the cNPS
(customer NPS) question was “How likely is it that you would
recommend ISS to a friend, colleague, or customer?”
5 As of January 2017 (https://beta.met.police.uk/about-the-met/structure/)
6 The London residency criterion was designed to promote applications
from residents of London.
II
Getting Started

9 Get a Quick Win

7
Set Your Direction
“Understand the sort of people who are successful in the company and what
sort of returns a business is getting from its workforce. These two points
translate into fertile ground for analytics work.”
—Salvador Malo
Head of Global Workforce Analytics, Ericsson
When you are given responsibility for establishing workforce

analytics in your organization, knowing where to begin can be
difficult. This chapter presents a structured approach for getting
started and covers the following:
• What to do in your first few weeks as the leader
• Understanding the demand your organization has for workforce
analytics
• Creating a vision and mission statement
You Have the Job! Now What?

You are the executive or manager who has the role to lead, build, and grow
the workforce analytics function in your company. Your objectives are to
build the team, take it to the next level, deliver more projects and improve
business performance. It may even be to build this function from scratch.
Anyone who has ever built, grown, and led successful analytics practices has
heard these expectations, as have executives who have recruited people to
undertake these missions.
Here’s what you should do next:
• Pause. Before you do anything else, stop and look at what you already
have. What data do you have, what technology do you have, and under
what processes are you operating? If you have a team, what are the team
members doing, what tools do they have, and what is their reputation?
And what are your goals? In particular, consider that last point. Ask
yourself, “Why have I been given this job?” If you don’t know explicitly,
talk to the most senior person who gave you the role. Establishing why
human resources (HR) needs an analytics function is your first objective.
Without this clarity, projects you undertake might solve immediate needs
but struggle to address longer-term needs in an integrated and systematic
way. In other words, without knowing why you exist, you are, at best,
trying to stumble onto success and, at worst, moving in entirely the wrong
direction.
• Listen. Don’t dive into the first project you encounter. Although getting
some projects under your belt early on is important to establish credibility,
don’t dive into the first project just because someone requests it. You need
to listen to the people who gave you the job, as well as to potential project
sponsors, to understand the demand for your work.
• Think. Take a few days or weeks to think through your long-term goal(s).
Try to look into the future—the next six months, one year, or three years
—and then discuss your proposed vision and mission for the function with
influential people. This doesn’t need to be perfect in the early days, but
knowing your ultimate destination helps you take the right steps today.
“You need to know why analytics is required in the first place, whether that’s
because there’s ‘smoke in the buildings’ or because the scale of the
enterprise means managing the workforce numerically is the only option.”
—Ian O’Keefe, Managing Director,
Head of Global Workforce Analytics, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
PREPARING FOR SUCCESS: THE FIRST FEW

MONTHS
John Callery joined BNY Mellon1 in 2015 as part of a broader
integrated Talent and Development organization. He was brought in
to set up a workforce strategy function overseeing the global
workforce analytics and planning groups as part of this team. John
had three main objectives in his first three months:
1. Creating a basic infrastructure: “Before I joined, there were
cottage industries in finance, technology, and business groups doing
workforce analytics and planning work, and we identified a better
approach to enable us to be successful. We focused on partnering
with these teams to consolidate the work and build appropriate
infrastructure, governance, and processes to drive a solid basis for
reliable, accurate, and timely data and analytics.”
2. Delivering “quick win” projects to gain credibility: “One project
was focused on our military veteran population. Our analysis helped
us understand where our military veteran employees had better long-
term outcomes when initially hired into certain roles. The executive
sponsor of BNY Mellon’s Veterans Network (VETNET) was
delighted, as we were able to better support our existing veteran
population, quantify the successful business and people outcomes,
and make a case for strategic hiring initiatives. This was important: a
high visibility project with a very senior sponsor showing business
benefits all delivered in a couple of weeks.”
3. Selecting long-term strategic projects: “We did a review of the
demand for workforce analytics and, following that, selected a couple
of big, strategically important projects. It was key to validate that
some workforce analytics projects solve complex issues with long-
term impact. We were also able to demonstrate that analytics is a
serious discipline and can often take months to undertake impactful
and scientifically valid analysis.”
Overall, John has built a solid foundation to support the continued
transformation of HR’s approach to analytics. He credits a supportive
and analytically driven CHRO. “I joined because of a shared vision
of aligning workforce strategy with business strategy, and a shared
belief that HR initiatives should be focused on and accountable to
these strategies in a data-driven way.”
Listening to Prospective Project Sponsors

In the first few days, and certainly before the end of the first month, you
should seek out prospective project sponsors. A project sponsor is a person or
group who provides support (through financial means or personal
endorsements) for a workforce analytics project or activity.
Try using a snowball strategy to identify the project sponsors: Ask people
what they think, listen carefully, and ask who else they recommend you talk
to. By interviewing a broad set of influential leaders, you will be able to
identify the source of your main base of support and possible projects for the
workforce analytics function. This entire information-gathering process is
also useful because it provides the “raw material” for a vision and mission,
which are covered later in this chapter.
Your first interviews should be with people who have the most influence over
your work and could sponsor your future analytics projects. Start with the
most influential people to whom you are accountable and work your way
back toward those with less influence over your work.
Recognizing that individuals have different levels of influence is important in
working out where to cultivate relationships. Wide canvassing of views is
important because a frequent question about analytics projects from
practitioners who have achieved success is “Who is asking for this?” (to put it
another way, “Who is the project sponsor?”). You need a well-developed and
immediate response to this question.
The more conversations you have with prospective project sponsors early on,
the more likely you will be able to separate good projects from really
exceptional projects. These conversations will help ensure that you have the
information needed to prioritize projects that have a clear line of sight from
the business question to the impact on the business.
“I choose my projects carefully and make sure I understand them. You have
to think it all the way through. Strong analysis is an accepted prerequisite,
but you need to know what are you going to do with the results and how you
will implement the recommendations. You need to think through the project
all the way to the individual workers who will be impacted. If you don't do
this, you will find it difficult to demonstrate why your project will make a
difference to the business and, therefore, it will be difficult to get funding.”
—Simon Svegaard
Business Analytics Manager, ISS Facilities Services
The Seven Forces of Demand

In interviewing people, including your prospective project sponsors, you will
identify the drivers of demand in your own organization. Although the details
will likely be unique, some common themes stand out. We refer to these
themes as the Seven Forces of Demand (see Figure 7.1).2
Figure 7.1 The Seven Forces of Demand.
As organizations grapple with the challenge of data proliferation within

dynamic and complex business environments, they are increasingly turning to
analytical approaches to help inform decisions. In solving these challenges,
organizations experience growing demand for and expectation from
workforce analytics, summarized as follows:
• Desire for a competitive edge. For some organizations, the demand for
workforce analytics comes from widespread acceptance that if workforce
decisions are made empirically (that is, based on data), better results will
follow. Antony Ebelle-ebanda, Global Director of HCM Insights,
Analytics & Planning at S&P Global (formerly McGraw Hill Financial),
says: “We see workforce analytics as a cutting-edge approach that enables
the firm to select the individuals with the best intellect and shape the
environments in which they work to maximize worker productivity.
Workforce analytics is viewed as one element of an overall analytical
mind-set characterizing the firm. Every other function is driven by

analytics, and the job of HR is to catch up to the sophistication of these
other areas.”
• Requests coming top down. Some demands for workforce analytics
projects come directly from the top of the organization. Both Thomas
Rasmussen, Vice President, HR Data & Analytics at Shell, and Peter
Allen, Managing Director of Agoda Outside, shared experiences of top-
down demand. Thomas explains: “I was asked by the CHRO to create an
end-to-end value chain, from data to reporting to analytics. I was asked to
build capability in the HR function (up-skill our HR leaders to work with
fact-based decision making), understand the pros and cons of letting this
‘animal’ loose in the organization.” Additionally, Peter says, “I have seen
the constant tension between HR and the business where the issues HR
focuses on and the linkages to business results are very difficult to
quantify, since often there are no quick, easy-to-prove cause-and-effect
relationships. Nevertheless, CEOs always want to see the impact of their
investment in money spent on talent and HR programs. This may not be in
standard ROI terms, but since every headcount represents a strategic
choice, CEOs need to see the benefits to their organization.”
• Regulatory requirements. Another trend observed is the increasing
interest that board members, especially those who work across multiple
organizations, have in understanding talent in organizations. This interest
is spurred by developments such as discussions with regulatory bodies
about the value of certain human capital metrics during a company’s
annual reporting (for example, attrition, employee engagement, and salary
ratios). This interest from the board creates a demand from a firm’s top
executives for robust analytics from the HR function. Other examples of
compliance-driven analytics include the need to conduct analytics on
diversity issues to adhere to affirmative action legislation and the need to
ensure adherence to business controls.
• Need for operational efficiency. The sheer size of the business
sometimes drives the need for analytics. Ian O’Keefe, Managing Director,
Head of Global Workforce Analytics at JPMorgan Chase & Co. says that
the nature of business leaders’ understanding of the scope of a workforce
analytics function is often based on the scale of an enterprise. He said of
some organizations in which he has worked, “There can be hundreds of
thousands of employees to keep track of, along with the added complexity

of seasonal swelling in employment numbers.” In these situations, a
workforce analytics function is necessary because understanding the
workforce numerically and influencing the business with analytics is the
only effective option for managing it.
• Pressure to reduce cost. For some companies the nature of the mandate
for a workforce analytics function can depend on whether or not there is
“smoke in the building.” That is to say, sometimes when companies are
not as profitable as they need to be there is a greater appetite for change.
Leaders of the business will then ask the CHRO how HR could contribute
to the profitability of the business or reduce the level of workforce cost.
When this happens, those in the HR function, as well as the wider
business environment, quickly see that analytical approaches to HR
decision-making need to be included alongside more traditional HR
practices.
• Concerns of a humanistic nature. Analytics in HR is not solely revenue
or profit driven. Indeed, the development of analytics in HR is sometimes
borne of the desire to create a better workplace for employees or a more
socially responsible organization. For instance, in a 2004 article entitled
“Beyond Money,” psychologists Ed Diener and Martin Seligman argued
that organizational over-reliance on economic productivity indicators
while excluding well-being indicators leads to a focus away from what
society values.
A leading practitioner in analytics who shares this perspective is Laurie
Bassi, an economist by training and CEO at McBassi & Company. Laurie
describes her role as steering firms into the sweet spot at the intersection
of profit and employee well-being. Laurie captured the spirit of this
perspective with the vision of her workforce analytics firm: to create
sustainably profitable, enlightened, and progressive workplaces. Bart
Voorn, Lead for HR Analytics at Ahold Delhaize, supports this idea: “In
some situations, we don’t want to quantify people in terms of euros.
Sometimes it’s just not the right thing to do; we are talking about people.
For example, the case on diversity is not a financial one. It’s morally a
human one.”
• HR analytics for the HR function. An organization might decide to
focus on improving the efficiency of HR as a function by implementing a
workforce analytics program. Analytics projects in this situation are likely
to be about the efficiency of HR processes or a need to change certain HR
policies to better align with the organization’s overall mission. Embryonic
workforce analytics teams are full of examples of this, especially those
teams that are just “dipping their toe in the water.” In this case, you are
trying to create demand for workforce analytics from inside HR and
selling the benefits to the broader organization.
Patrick Coolen, Manager of HR Metrics and Analytics at ABN AMRO,
describes his success in selling the benefits of HR analytics from the
inside out by asking internal customers whether they want to know how
HR is impacting their key performance metrics: “My internal customers
were very interested to understand in a more formal way how HR policies
and practices impacted people-related outcomes, which, in turn, related to
business outcomes.” In many cases, Patrick created the demand for
workforce analytics from inside HR and sold the benefits to the wider
business.
UNDERSTAND YOUR CULTURE, UNDERSTAND YOUR

DEMAND
Peter Allen has helped Agoda.com3 become one of the most valued
online firms in the travel industry. From 2012 to 2016, as Vice
President of People Organization and Development, he helped to
solidify the people culture and its focus on analytics in Agoda.
Agoda’s organizational culture highly values analytical approaches to
decision making, which Peter says supported this strong analytics
orientation: “Our management team has an engineering approach to
our work. They like data and information and take a methodical,
problem-solving approach to the way the business is operated.
“They want to run a company that focuses on continuous
improvement, and they want to see key performance indicators that
show how well we’re doing in achieving this objective.”
To ensure that management similarly embraced workforce analytics,
Peter used this existing strongly analytical organizational culture to
make his department more effective. “We already have a strong focus
on metrics from web traffic, for example, so it was not such a huge
leap to bring that sort of mind-set to HR problems.”
Working for an analytically appreciative CEO means Peter knows
what is expected of his team: “The CEO certainly wants to see that
he’s getting a good return; otherwise, why wouldn’t he just invest his
headcount in hiring more engineers?” Working within such a culture
gave Peter and his department the opportunity to bring analytics to
HR and deliver on the high expectations for his team.
Agreeing on the Scope of Analytics

Toward the end of the information-gathering process, evaluate whether the
perceived need for analytics matches the type of analytics function you
initially envisioned. It is important for the scope of your analytics function to
match the expectations of your sponsors. Otherwise, you might find that all
of your team’s time is devoted to tasks that are only tangentially related to
workforce analytics and that are completely unrelated to your specific
objectives. And in this situation, you will not have time to focus on the
strategic projects that can really affect the organization.
Negotiating this scope is vital if the focus of the workforce analytics
function’s original mandate is not considered wide enough. Arun
Chidambaram, Head of Global Talent Analytics at Pfizer, says, “Rather than
considering a function mature because it does a particular type of analytics, a
function is mature if it can serve the business in the way the business
requires. Make sure you know what your consumers of analytics need. Then
if you can meet their demand, prioritize effectively, build your team, and
select the right technologies, you are on the way to being mature.”
Understanding the match between your analytics objectives and your
capabilities to support those objectives is the key to understanding maturity.
Just as important, capability should be assessed against current as well as
expected future objectives.
Developing a Vision and Mission Statement

You’ll hear the same message from nearly all the experts: You need a vision
and you need a mission.
But in the early days of a project, the vision and mission statements don’t
have to be perfectly refined and polished. You can adapt the statements as
your understanding of the requirements crystallizes.
People who have established a workforce analytics function describe having
a general sense of their end state (vision) and how to get there (mission)
instead of having “perfect” vision and mission statements that can be
recounted word for word. Although many advanced analytics functions do
have precisely phrased vision and mission statements, this degree of
specificity tends to come later after agreeing on the direction and approach of
the workforce analytics function. For clarity, the following grounded and
practical definitions of vision and mission statements come from the
management consultancy Bain and Company (adapted to apply to an internal
workforce analytics function):
• A vision statement describes the desired future impact of your function on
the organization.
• A mission statement defines the function’s business, objectives, and
approach to reach those objectives.
If you experience any resistance to these foundational planning steps,
consider this: A view will certainly be formed within the wider business
about the core competencies of your function, how your function should look
in the future, and the work you should do. Define your own vision and
mission statements and offer them for discussion and debate; don’t settle for
having management hand them down to your team. Setting your team’s
future direction, in conjunction with sponsors, is important. Another reason to
undertake these preliminary steps is that you can use the vision and mission
statements to guide your team, project selection, and the way you interact
with people outside your function.
Following are some examples of vision and mission statements from
analytics experts. Remember, don’t get concerned with fine-tuning them yet;
that can come later. Also avoid using “corporate speak,” to ensure common
understanding.
• Vision examples:
• Better business through better people decisions
• HR makes evidence-based people decisions using data and analytics
• Market leadership through human capital management analytics and
planning
• Mission examples:
• Building a human capital analytics organization to enable deep and
innovative data mining to support business decisions and maximize
shareholder value
• Building the infrastructure to sustain and provide workforce analytics,
with the aim of creating a data-driven culture that allows our business
leaders to make superior decisions
• Working with the business as partners providing analytics solutions to
business problems, therefore making sure the company has the right
skills at the right time to bring competitive advantage
• Providing workforce intelligence to HR and business executives so
that, in turn, they know their people: who they are, what they do, how
they do it, and what they need to succeed
No magic formula covers writing the ideal vision and mission statements.
However, the statements should be well informed by the early views of your
key sponsors about why they believe a workforce analytics function is needed
and what the demand is for workforce analytics projects. If you have to dig
out documents every time you need to refer to them, your vision and mission
statements are not serving their purpose.
Summary
These key steps set the direction for workforce analytics in your organization:
• Pause, listen, and think before you dive into your first analytics project.
• Talk to the person who appointed you, or the most senior person in your
functional line (for example, the CHRO), to clarify the scope of your role.
• Identify prospective project sponsors for interviewing and ask them about
business challenges.
• Identify which of the Seven Forces of Demand are driving the primary
need for analytics in your organization.
• In a memorable vision statement, describe the desired future impact of
your function on the organization.
• In a memorable mission statement, describe your objectives and how you
will address them.
• Use the vision and mission statements to communicate your function’s
identity to your team and the wider organization, and to prioritize your

projects.
1 BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of the Bank of New York Mellon
Corporation. Its heritage dates back to 1784. As of December 31, 2016,
BNY Mellon had $29.9 trillion in assets under custody and/or
administration, and $1.6 trillion in assets under management
(www.bnymellon.com).
2 The Seven Forces of Demand is a copyright of the authors of this book:
Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar and Sheri Feinzig.
3 Agoda.com is one of the world’s fastest-growing online hotel platforms.
Established in 2005 as a start-up, Agoda.com expanded quickly in Asia
and was soon acquired in 2007 by the world’s largest seller of rooms
online, the Priceline Group. Agoda.com is now a truly global enterprise
offering accommodations around the world, with offices in 50 locations
in 31 countries and more than 3,000 employees of 65 nationalities
(www.agoda.com).

8
Engage with Stakeholders
“The analytics is relatively ‘easy’ (of course, we know it’s hard, but with the
right skills you can get it done). It’s the change management and positioning
that’s the tricky part. Spend time on that in the beginning; start with the
stakeholders.”
—Thomas Rasmussen
Vice President, HR Data & Analytics, Shell
The workforce analytics team cannot operate in a vacuum. When the

team has an initial vision and mission defined, it is essential to build
on the relationships you have already formed and identify additional
stakeholder relationships that you need. Stakeholders are people who
have a specific interest in a project or activity, and the workforce
analytics team should consider many potential stakeholders. The
analytics team is accountable to these stakeholders, so understanding
how various stakeholders perceive the work of your team is
important. You also need to monitor those perceptions over time.
This information allows you to tailor your communications and
address any reservations or concerns.
This chapter discusses the following:
• Types of workforce analytics stakeholders
• Conversation topics for each stakeholder type
• Tips for working successfully with stakeholders
Who Are Stakeholders?

In the simplest terms, stakeholders can be defined as people who have an
interest or concern in something. In the organizational context, this translates
to members of the organization who can affect, or are affected by, the topic of
interest. Workforce analytics stakeholders are people in the organization who
have a vested interest in the work of the workforce analytics function; they
may be leaders whose problems your projects are intended to solve, they
could be the keepers of the data needed for the analyses, or they might be
those affected by the actions that result. All these individuals need to be
explicitly acknowledged: Their perspectives must be taken into account and
your relationships with them managed so that you set the analytics team on a
path to success.
Stakeholders reside at various levels in the organization, even outside
organizational boundaries. Although there is a tendency to focus on those
higher up in the hierarchy, particularly those who control or influence
funding decisions, it is equally important to nurture relationships with
individuals and teams on whom you depend for data, expertise,
implementation of actions, and other needs, as well as those whose work
experiences will change as a result of your projects. We also caution against
the HIPPO principle, that the highest-paid person’s opinion is the most
important.
The different types of stakeholders you are likely to work with fall into three
broad categories (see Figure 8.1):
• Those you are serving: human resources (HR) leaders, business leaders,
and the board of directors
• Those you are dependent upon: data owners, technology owners, the legal
function, the finance function, subject matter experts, and unions and
works councils
• Those whose work experience will change as a result of your analytics
recommendations: workers, managers, and executives
Note that these groupings are not mutually exclusive; stakeholders can fall
into two or more of these broad categories. For example, subject matter
experts might provide the knowledge needed to interpret findings, which then
inform actions that impact the subject matter experts as members of the
organization. The three stakeholder groupings and each stakeholder type are
discussed next.

Figure 8.1 Summary of stakeholder types.
Stakeholders Served
Stakeholders served are typically leaders, often at the top of the organization.
The most successful workforce analytics teams have the support of these
leaders. For some organizations, such as financial services and technology
firms, the core business is often built on a foundation of analytics. In some
cases, the chief executive officer (CEO) or the chief human resources officer
(CHRO) has a proclivity toward analytics. For these organizations, support
for workforce analytics comes easily. For others, securing support could be
more of a challenge. An important stakeholder management task is
determining your leaders’ views on workforce analytics and planning your
communications accordingly.
“It was less that we did an analysis and showcased it; it was more
proactively answering questions with data from our senior leaders. The CEO
and CHRO are very data driven.”
—Mariëlle Sonnenberg
Global Director, HR Strategy & Analytics, Wolters Kluwer
Understanding the views of your CHRO is particularly important, and the
best way to do so is through direct conversations. Al Adamsen, Founder and
Executive Director of Talent Strategy Institute, describes an experience early
in his career: “I was three levels down from the CHRO and four levels down
from the CEO. It was like playing a game of telephone tag—very frustrating
from an analyst point of view. You never know what’s really needed when
you’re just relying on messages being passed down.”
An organization’s board of directors can also play a decisive role in bringing
an analytics focus to HR. As discussed in the later section, “Board of
Directors,” human capital is growing as an area worthy of board attention.
Of course, you need buy-in and commitment from your organization’s HR
leadership and HR business partners; in many cases, they will be the liaisons
to the business leaders. With the HR stakeholder group, strive to create and
nurture an analytical mind-set. This does not require a detailed tutorial on
statistical techniques; instead, it involves building an appreciation for the
value that analytics can bring to the HR function. And make it personal:
Convey how analytics can improve stakeholders’ own contributions and
effectiveness.
HR Leaders
Because workforce data reflect information about people, and the work of HR
focuses on people, HR leaders should be integrally involved in workforce
analytics efforts. They might be on the receiving end of workforce analytics
output, they might sponsor a project, or they might be the ones expected to
act on the results. Andre Obereigner, Senior Manager of Global Workforce
Analytics at Groupon, says the role of HR in his work included addressing a
retention problem analytically: “Once I had a valuable working solution, we
showed it to the regional HR directors and they were quite excited. The
people using it now are the worldwide, regional, and country HR managers.”
HR leaders need to be part of the analytics process, beginning with issue
identification and hypothesis formation, all the way through to data
collection, analysis, recommendations, and action planning. Buy-in and
commitment to act are best achieved by working together throughout the
project lifecycle.
“Most HR people didn’t join HR because of an interest in analytics. To help
them to think analytically, we get them involved in a project that shows the
value of analytics—first-hand involvement helping them solve a problem
that’s relevant for what they do.”
—Thomas Rasmussen
Vice President, HR Data & Analytics, Shell
Collaboration is key to successfully bringing analytics to HR, but you might

need to push or gently prod your HR professionals to move outside the
boundaries of their comfort zone and think differently about HR challenges
and why they matter to the organization. If they are not accustomed to
thinking this way, HR can learn how to work in a fact-based manner. That
doesn’t mean running a master course on analytical techniques, but it does
necessitate encouraging them to think about the organization’s success
metrics instead of focusing exclusively on familiar HR metrics. Some basic
education on analytics can be helpful as well. See Chapter 15, “Enable
Analytical Thinking,” for additional suggestions.
For many workforce analytics teams, the only connection to the
organization’s leadership is through HR leaders. Although the analytics team
should work with business leaders and HR to drive change through analytics,
in some organizations, the culture might not support this approach. Success is
more likely to be achieved when the HR leaders you are working with are
well connected to the organization’s leaders and have a keen understanding
and appreciation of how workforce issues influence organizational outcomes.
HR leaders can also be a good resource for identifying additional
stakeholders, facilitating introductions, and sharing insights on individuals’
perspectives and working styles.
Suggestions for Engaging HR Leaders

• Identify a broad set of analytics stakeholders, and agree on how best to
manage the relationships.
• Discuss the organizational leaders’ top priorities and concerns.
• Identify which HR practices and metrics are associated with
organizational issues and have a direct impact on performance.
• Share examples of successful analytics projects from within or outside the
organization.
• Gauge attitudes and perceptions toward evidence-based decision making.

Business Leaders
As explained in Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction,” HR for HR is one of the
Seven Forces of Demand for workforce analytics. However, HR analytics
serving only the HR function is not sufficient to effect meaningful change in
organizations. Insights and actions that result from workforce analytics
projects must move beyond the boundaries of HR.
“The reason analytics has stalled in HR in the past is because there weren’t
any business stakeholders. If there aren’t business stakeholders, HR analytics
is interesting but not essential.”
—Josh Bersin
Whether the analytics team works directly with organizational leadership or

indirectly through HR business partners and leaders, discussions are needed
to understand and prioritize the organization’s issues, determine how
workforce issues relate to organizational issues, share insights that the
analytics reveal, and agree on actions to both address and resolve the issues.
Leaders can then provide the influence needed to drive actions for
implementation. Andrew Marritt, Founder of OrganizationView, describes
this well: “You need to have a senior business stakeholder. Without this, it
becomes an HR problem. If you go to a general manager and talk about
revenue, they sit up and listen, but if you talk to them about HR, they won’t.
The projects that will change the business will have a senior business
stakeholder.”
Bear in mind that not all leaders have a favorable predisposition to analytics.
In addition to all the benefits of evidence-based decision making that
analytics can provide, Laurie Bassi, CEO of McBassi & Company, has
observed, “Analytics also brings transparency and accountability, which isn’t
always welcomed.” An important aspect of stakeholder management involves
understanding your stakeholders’ views, particularly when they are
inconsistent with an analytical approach. This understanding is a necessary
first step to managing concerns and differences of opinion, as well as
building a constructive working relationship.
Finally, prepare your leaders for the potential outcomes of the analytics
projects. In some cases, the analyses will merely confirm what was already
suspected (and there is definitely value in supporting beliefs with data). In
other cases, unexpected findings will emerge. In yet other instances, the
analyses will be inconclusive. Be sure to discuss all these potential outcomes
in advance and manage expectations appropriately. Thomas Rasmussen, Vice
President of HR Data & Analytics of Shell, offers this advice: “For senior
leaders, we tell them to be prepared to be surprised. Be prepared to accept the
findings that come back, to have your beliefs challenged.”
Suggestions for Engaging Business Leaders

• Discuss what keeps leaders up at night and which of these issues and
challenges are good candidates for workforce analytics projects.
• Discuss hypotheses and beliefs regarding causes of organizational issues,
including people-related causes.
• Agree on data needed to address top issues, identify data owners, and
request introductions to facilitate access.
• Establish realistic timelines, including the time needed to identify and
access data sources.
• Gauge attitudes toward analytics, both favorable and unfavorable, and
adjust your communications accordingly.
Board of Directors
Some organizations are experiencing an increased interest in workforce
analytics from their board of directors. Given the influence boards tend to
have on organizational leadership, understanding this perspective is critical.
Laurie Bassi of McBassi & Company says, “Boards are asking more piercing
questions about HR issues that go deeper into the organization, beyond the
executive layer that has previously been the focus. Generally, boards are
paying much greater attention to their fiduciary obligations, and they are
realizing that the people in their businesses represent an asset at risk that
needs to be actively managed. They see human capital as a topic worthy of
board attention.”
Proactively investigate the board’s views and gain an understanding of the
board’s responsibilities regarding people-related topics (for example,
succession planning, executive compensation, and employee engagement).
The CHRO (or other senior HR leaders) can be a good source of the board’s
views of workforce-related topics. Your organization’s annual report, as well
as the annual reports of other relevant companies, can also provide useful
information. This insight can help shape the workforce analytics agenda and
will certainly strengthen your understanding of your leadership’s perspective
and expectations. Also talk to your CHRO about his or her specific
accountability to the board and, if you have the opportunity, work with the
board directly.
Suggestions for Understanding the Board’s Perspective

• Understand board members’ views on compliance and risk management
as it relates to people.
• Understand the board’s obligations and perspectives on specific topics
such as leadership, succession planning, and executive compensation.
• Determine whether board members are interested in other workforce-
related topics, such as employee engagement.
THE CASE FOR WORKFORCE ANALYTICS: CEO

SUCCESSION
In answer to the question “What’s the biggest challenge CHROs face
today?” eminent academic Pat Wright1 responded without hesitation:
CEO succession. He went on to explain how a conversation with a
board director influenced his thinking:
“We were interviewing many board directors, and one of them said,
‘I can pretty well make my decision about a CEO within the first one
and a half minutes of a conversation.’ This didn’t seem right. Don’t
we need more evidence to select the right person for the role? After
all, the CEO is arguably the most important hiring decision for the
company. You are, in effect, betting the whole company on this
person.”
This is where evidence-based decision making comes into its own.
Instead of basing such appointments on gut feel, leaders can use
analytics to provide validated insights. Data sources can include the
performance history of the candidates, behavioral assessments, and
psychometric tests. The resulting insights give the board members the

opportunity for more informed, holistic decision making. Instead of
merely hoping they’ve made the right decision, they can answer a
simple question with evidence: How can we be sure that we are
hiring the right person—and then, after six months, know that we
made the right decision?
You’ll be hard pressed to find a stronger case for workforce analytics.
Stakeholders Depended Upon

Throughout your analytics work, you will depend on various groups that will
enable you to progress. These include people who will provide access to the
data you need and people who will help you understand and interpret the
data. You might also need to work (and negotiate) with technology owners,
finance people, unions, and works councils. Positive, productive, and
mutually beneficial working relationships are the goals with all of these
stakeholder groups.
Data Owners
Identifying the people who can grant you access to the different types of data
you need for your analyses can be challenging. You might be able to work
out with senior leaders the types of data available, but actually finding the
person who can get you the data and enable you to work with it can be
difficult. Nonetheless, this is a necessary step. When you identify the right
people, you will need their cooperation to get what you need, when you need
it.
“People who work with business data are key. They know how to interpret
data, find possible bias in the data, and explain the results together with HR.
It’s very tempting to think you know the data when you get the first data
dump, but you need to know it well to understand it. The subject matter
experts in the business can help you with this.”
—Patrick Coolen
Manager, HR Metrics and Analytics, ABN AMRO
Keep in mind that the people managing these data sources are probably
completely occupied with their full-time job responsibilities. You want to

build a trusting, collaborative working relationship with them and convey a
sense of your project’s importance to the organization. Don’t hold back on
expressing appreciation and gratitude for the assistance you receive, and be
sure to publicly recognize their contributions. You might need to seek
assistance from project sponsors or other influential stakeholders if you are
unable to get the access you need, but try to keep the relationships with data
owners as positive and constructive as possible.
Suggestions for Engaging Data Owners

• Convey the importance of the role their data will play in bringing value to
the business through workforce analytics; convey how visibility and
scrutiny of data will grow along with increased analytics expectations.
• Discuss the need for common data definitions (see Chapter 10, “Know
Your Data”) if these do not exist.
• Discuss the implications of analyzing outdated, incomplete, or otherwise
inaccurate data.
• Jointly determine how to best work together in a way that is least intrusive
and most efficient for the data owner.
• Jointly determine how the analytics team can positively contribute
something back to the data owner (for example, assistance with data
accuracy and currency).
• Understand the data governance process, including who has access and
how the datasets are maintained, and verify that you are working with the
single trusted source.
Technology Owners
The tools available to analytics teams are usually chosen, implemented, and
managed by a Human Resources Information Technology (HRIT) function or
an enterprise-wide technology function. When this is the case, you want to
form positive working relationships with the IT decision makers. This could
give you an opportunity to influence future technology purchases, as well as
alert you to any system-related scheduling and timing constraints. For
example, if a system that you need for extracting data is scheduled for a
maintenance window and will be unavailable for a period of time, work that
into your timeline so you don’t find yourself without a dataset at exactly the
time you need it.
Suggestions for Engaging Technology Owners

• Gain an understanding of technology owners’ existing commitments and
competing priorities.
• Discuss technology decisions that would best support the analytics
mission and the increased visibility these decisions will have as analytics
expectations continue to grow.
• Jointly search for ways to meet (seemingly) competing demands.
• Understand IT schedules and associated constraints, such as testing cycles
and maintenance windows when systems will be unavailable.
Subject Matter Experts

In addition to data owners, you will likely need help from people in other
parts of the business who understand the context behind the data; this will be
indispensable in guiding your use of the data and interpreting the analytics
results. Identify subject matter experts early and involve them as quickly as
possible in the analytics project. Patrick Coolen of ABN AMRO reflects,
“We learned quickly that subject matter experts are key, that we needed to
involve them in projects sooner.” Subject matter experts might reside in the
sales, marketing, or finance departments; other parts of HR; or elsewhere in
the organization, depending on the type of data.
Consider, for example, data on customer turnover rates, or “churn” rates (a
measure of the percentage of customers who leave a business or fail to renew
a license or service subscription within a specified period of time). Of course,
high churn rates are undesirable, and you might want to do an analysis to
determine what, if any, workforce factors are contributing to the churn rate
(positively or negatively). To begin your analysis, you gather data on
customer renewals and calculate the churn rate. But how do you know what
time period is appropriate before considering that a nonrenewal contributes to
the churn rate? It could be 1 year for certain offerings, or 18 months or 2
years for others. Furthermore, how do you know whether all customer
turnover is bad? Maybe some offerings were taken out of the market, so the
turnover was intentional. Subject matter experts can provide invaluable
insights such as these, to help avoid the wrong judgment call when working

with unfamiliar data.
Suggestions for Engaging Subject Matter Experts

• Share exploratory data analyses and get insights into patterns and
characteristics of the data.
• Discuss preliminary findings to ensure accurate interpretation.
• Brainstorm recommended actions and implications, and model scenarios
for different courses of action.
• Publicly acknowledge the invaluable assistance that the subject matter
experts provide.
Legal
HR datasets generally contain sensitive information, including personal
details about employees’ work history, performance evaluations,
compensation, and national identification codes such as Social Security or
National Insurance numbers. Some of these data elements are considered
sensitive personal information (SPI) in the United States and have similar
designations in other countries. This is information that, if compromised or
disclosed, could result in substantial harm such as identity theft.
“On every single project, we encounter legal issues—for example, getting the
right access to data. Engage your legal team as early as possible.”
—Andrew Marritt
Founder, OrganizationView
Given the personal nature and potential risk associated with handling HR
data, extra care and precautions are strongly advised. Work with your legal
department for guidance, advice, and counsel. Ensure that you understand
and are adhering to your organization’s policies and practices, and stay
mindful of country-specific regulations regarding employee data.
Also be sure to recognize that data sensitivities do not represent an
insurmountable obstacle. Understanding and adhering to guidelines will not
hold you back, but will instead help you to operate properly and securely. If
your organization has a chief privacy officer, this is an important person to
rely on for successfully navigating data security and privacy requirements.

Suggestions for Engaging Legal
• Discuss your analytics goals and the types of data you need to achieve
those goals.
• Understand your organization’s policies and practices in working with
employee data.
• Agree on procedures your team will adopt as safeguards in protecting
data.
• Gather advice on how best to handle data discussions with unions or
works councils, as necessary.
Finance
Aligning with the finance department on the value of workforce analytics is
an important success factor. If you are able to anchor your data definitions to
those of finance, you will increase your credibility and be able to provide
insights that finance and business leaders find valuable. For example, after
you’ve identified the metrics that the business and HR focus on, you can
work with finance leaders to ensure that these metrics and their definitions
are sound. Mariëlle Sonnenberg, Global Director of HR Strategy & Analytics
at Wolters Kluwer, did this and also obtained the actual data from the finance
group. This approach allowed Mariëlle to focus on a targeted set of key HR
metrics that were most valuable to the business.
“If finance is not on your side, the workforce analytics function is not going
anywhere.”
—Placid Jover
Vice President of HR, Organisation & Analytics, Unilever
Another reason to gain finance support is funding. Some level of funding is

necessary for any workforce analytics team, and the finance function needs to
sign off on that funding. Although the organizational leadership has ultimate
decision-making authority when it comes to budget allocation, the finance
team is responsible for managing budgets within overall spending guidelines
and regularly discusses tradeoffs with leaders. You certainly don’t want your
workforce analytics project (or, worse, your team) to be on the proverbial
chopping block in such tradeoff discussions.

Spend time with finance leaders to help them understand the value your
workforce analytics projects will bring. Share examples of workforce
analytics projects in other businesses that have yielded measurable benefits,
as well as your own business case projections. In most organizations, people-
related expenditures are among the largest, and managing that expenditure
analytically makes sense. The idea of using a fact-based approach to optimize
the organization’s investment in people should resonate with finance
professionals.
BRING FINANCE ALONG WITH YOU

Martin Oest2 has helped transform workforce analytics at different
organizations, including the Metropolitan Police3 in London. One of
his top tips is to bring your finance colleagues along with you. When
asked how he did this, he revealed: “At first, I lost them!” But he then
went on to explain how he won them over.
“I organized regular meetings with my finance colleagues,” Martin
says. “At first it’s just about making friends. Sometimes it feels really
hard because it’s so much about personalities and getting on with
someone. It is demonstrating to them that we have something in
common; that I understand the numbers.”
This might sound straightforward, but the reality can be very
different. According to Martin, the focus is on being persistent,
learning about the business, and understanding where the revenue
comes from and where money is spent. At the Metropolitan Police,
Martin spent a lot of time talking with his finance colleagues about
common goals: “At the time, we had big goals to reduce costs, yet
improve and increase the number of police officers. So I talked at
length about how it’s important to get down to the detail of costs
(workforce-related costs) per level of officer.
“I tried to bring process rigor to organize the data and perform the
analyses. At first when I asked for detailed costs, I got voted down.
But later on, as my analysis matured, the finance team came back to
me and said that I should really have this data. I tried to make it
easier for them by showing them that it will actually save them time
if they just let me have the data.”
The support of colleagues in finance gets easier, Martin says, when
you can demonstrate these five points:
1. You are an expert at analytics and understand numbers.
2. You have a process and methodology.
3. You will save people time if they give you the raw data.
4. You are working toward a common business goal.
5. You are friendly.
Martin says it’s impossible to overstate the importance of the
involvement and support of finance: “You need to bring finance in.
There was a lack of belief we could deliver; they had almost given
up. In the end, I delivered a lot of value and now we all work well
together.”
Suggestions for Engaging Finance

• Work with your finance team to share data and agree on data definitions,
especially those related to headcount and attrition.
• Learn how your organization views the workforce from a financial
perspective (for example, types of workforce-related costs).
• Share cost-benefit analyses of workforce analytics projects, conveyed in a
way that is consistent with the finance team’s method of working.
• Discuss the return on investment (ROI) that is expected from analytics
projects (referencing actual experiences, where possible).
• Be prepared to discuss the investment needed to execute workforce
analytics projects.
Unions and Works Councils

Unions and works councils advocate for workers and protect their rights and
interests. Naturally, they are protective of the people they represent, and they
may be concerned that their members are the subject of analytics projects.
Work in concert with these groups to find common ground and demonstrate
how analytics will improve employees’ work experiences. Andrew Marritt of
OrganizationView shares his experience and advice: “Works councils are a
constant challenge. Our recommendation is to highlight reasons the
employees will benefit from the project. Be open and transparent, and engage
the stakeholders early on.”
When involved early in a project, unions and works councils can bring a real
benefit to workforce analytics projects. They can help anticipate a range of
implications and ensure that projects are handled sensitively and effectively.
Sadat Shami, Director of the Center for Engagement & Social Analytics at
IBM, emphasizes this for projects that use social data and mini-polls: “We
began in those countries where regulations allowed so that we could get
started with the project, then spent a lot of time with works councils in those
countries where we needed their agreement. It took a long time. In one
country, it took almost two years, but it was worth it. The project is still
going strong, and the amount of insight we are getting is valuable to
executives and employees across the world.”
Suggestions for Engaging Unions and Works Councils

• Engage early and often, and listen to concerns and suggestions.
• Convey how the analytics project(s) will benefit the workforce, with
specific examples to make it real (such as better career development or
more equitable HR practices).
• Provide feedback on positive outcomes, including employee testimonials,
where possible.
Stakeholders Impacted
By their very nature, workforce analytics projects will have an impact on
people. The individuals most likely to be affected are the very people whose
data are being analyzed (the workforce), the people who will be asked to
administer those changes (their managers), and the people who will model
and support the changes (their executives). Always keep these stakeholders in
mind when analyzing data and formulating recommendations based on the
results.
The Workforce
Workers are arguably the most directly affected by workforce analytics
actions. The workforce analytics team should never lose sight that each and
every worker is a unique individual, not merely a collection of data points.

Workforce analytics deals with people, and when it comes to implementing
actions that result from the analytics, you need to remain aware of the impact
on people.
“I do this work not only because it can drive organizational performance, but
also because it can improve people’s lives.”
—Al Adamsen
Founder and Executive Director, Talent Strategy Institute
The analytics might point to a very clear finding and recommended action,
but implementing that action might not be so straightforward. For example,
singling out a group of critically important employees and treating them to
special benefits might stem a specific attrition problem, but can you afford to
potentially alienate the 90 percent of the workforce that doesn’t receive the
benefit and is needed to keep the business operating? Implementing actions
for some while managing the effect on others is certainly possible, but ample
time and careful planning are needed to get it right.
Openness with employees about workforce analytics is recommended.
Organizations should disclose that they are managing HR with a systematic,
fact-based, equitable approach. Communicating the benefits should help allay
any concerns employees might have, says Mihaly Nagy, CEO of The HR
Congress and Managing Director of Stamford Global: “Probably there are
questions among employees about what HR analytics can do for them, what
benefits it can provide. With the right communication and education, this
resistance can be managed.”
Suggestions for Engaging the Workforce

• Gather feedback from representative samples of workers to identify issues
(such as inhibitors to productivity) that can be addressed through
workforce analytics. In other words, listen to the voice of the employees.
• Encourage employees to maintain and share their data, and demonstrate
the benefits (as well as the downsides of using old or inaccurate data).
• Share actions with employees that result from analytics projects and
gather feedback on those actions; gather suggestions for additional areas
where workforce analytics can be beneficial.

Managers
The actions resulting from workforce analytics projects often fall to
managers. For example, if an analysis is undertaken to identify predictors of
turnover and the findings reveal that compensation is an issue, managers of
employees at risk of leaving might be asked to issue pay raises in a manner
that the analytical model indicates. If those managers were not informed of
the analytics project and simply received directives to distribute their
compensation budget in a prescribed way, they would likely dismiss the
directive and go about their management responsibilities as usual. It is
unreasonable to expect managers to follow such a prescribed path without
informing them of the rationale or viewing them as participating partners in
the analytics journey.
Statistical models can often achieve relatively high levels of predictive
accuracy, but they are still merely models. At the individual level, some
degree of error and unpredictability will always exist. Managers deal with
individuals. They should not be expected to relinquish their decision-making
responsibilities to a statistical model. Instead, the goal should be to educate
them on the value of the model and obtain their buy-in for using it to better
inform their decisions.
Peter Allen, Managing Director of Agoda Outside, shares his perspective on
how to get this right: “After the last compensation cycle, we discovered that
in some teams there was no correlation between performance and salary
increases. Sometimes the same raises were being given to high performers
and average performers, which was demotivating and an attrition catalyst.
Our director of operations and compensation, Jeff Lee, used our analyses of
the compensation figures to illustrate to managers how they should be
making their compensation decisions more effectively. The impact of this
intervention: Managers adjusted compensation in a number of cases, reducing
the risk of attrition for high performers on their teams.”
Suggestions for Engaging Managers

• Understand managers’ issues and pain points.
• Share examples of successful analytics projects and illustrate how
managers and their teams have benefited.
• Explain the rationale for actions you are asking them to take; demonstrate

the positive impact the actions are expected to yield and the negative
impact expected if no action is taken.
• Gather feedback post-implementation to determine the effectiveness of
the actions and any obstacles encountered in executing them.
Executives
Given their positional power and authority, executives play a particularly
important role in workforce analytics projects. In addition to being recipients
of workforce analytics outcomes, they are often relied upon to support the
recommendations in words and actions, to carry the message forward and
lead the way. Yet some executives might perceive an analytics project as
threatening to their authority. Laurie Bassi of McBassi & Company observes,
“Senior vice presidents sometimes have their own hypotheses and aren’t
always interested to have them debunked. After all, they’re doing pretty well
without analytics.”
Executives who have built successful careers with their current style of
managing and way of thinking might not be inclined to approach problems
from the same perspective as the analytics team, and understandably so. This
is an important possibility to be aware of because some executives might then
withhold needed support or block actions. If your team experiences this
situation, seek assistance from your project sponsors.
Suggestions for Engaging Executives

• Discuss current and past workforce analytics projects and how they have
helped the organization become more successful.
• Discuss how peer executives have benefited from workforce analytics
projects.
• Understand executives’ issues and pain points, and identify their views on
what’s causing the issues.
• Discuss how executives can help successfully implement projects.
• If the executive offers alternative hypotheses or recommendations, model
the expected outcomes of these alternatives and compare that with the
outcomes expected from the analytics recommendations.
• Gather feedback post-implementation and gauge the perspective at that
time.
GAINING CREDIBILITY WITH EXECUTIVES
Bringing evidence to business leaders is imperative to gain credibility
in today’s world. Without this, you will not succeed. Executives
expect it, and in the absence of good analytics (both the analysis and
the communication of it), the leaders will make their own decisions.
This almost happened once in Nordea.4 An executive intended to give
salary increases to a certain segment of employees after the
unexpected departure of some key individuals. Without any HR data
analysis, it was suggested that attrition could be stemmed by giving
the segmented group of people a pay increase. In stepped the head of
HR and his team to challenge the hypothesis. They recognized that
the executive in question was number oriented. Sofia Parveen,
Wealth Management Remuneration and Development Specialist at
Nordea Bank, was approached for the analytics task and started
working with the relevant HR data. The company also engaged an
external firm to do an analysis. “It was the executive’s first
experience with this type of HR data, and we presented a story using
facts, figures, and visuals,” Sofia recounts. “The data-based analysis
led him to revise his original decision. In the end, we isolated the
problem to a selected and smaller group of individuals.”
The executive supported the analytics-based recommendations and
helped implement the solutions through his leadership. The
recommendations were less costly for the business and resulted in a
reduced attrition rate when measured one year later. Adam Chini
Nielsen, a workforce planning expert in Nordea, worked with Sofia
on the salary benchmark analysis. He explains: “It’s important to
partner with someone in the executive’s management team and find
out about their particular business. We mapped the biggest
competitors and did the market analysis. We got to know the business
environment before we did the HR analysis.”
Nordea’s experience shows that engaging people with the right
analysis and the right story makes executives listen. And that builds
credibility for the future, too. In fact, Adam and Sofia’s experience
prompted the executive to come back for more. “Before doing the
salary benchmark study, there was a sense of reluctance to listen to
HR, but after this episode, the executive wanted to know what more
we could provide,” Adam explains. Nordea’s experience also
highlights the value of workforce analytics answering a business
question that really matters to both an executive and the wider
organization. Focusing on the executive’s area of interest secures
both the leader’s support and his or her appreciation for the value of
workforce analytics in solving a pressing problem.
Figure 8.2 summarizes the various stakeholder types. The figure shows
recommended topics of conversation for engaging each group and the topics
relevant to specific stakeholder types.

Figure 8.2 Summary of Stakeholder Messaging
Working Effectively with Stakeholders

As the previous sections showed, your team has many stakeholder groups
with which to collaborate. The next section provides guidance on how to
make the most of these relationships. Although the onus is on the analytics
team to identify stakeholders and nurture the relationships, all parties have a
role to play. Following is a summary of the roles and responsibilities of the
analytics team and stakeholders.
Analytics Team Responsibilities

The analytics team, particularly the analytics leader, must proactively identify
the various affected stakeholders in the course of executing the team’s
mission. The success of these relationships hinges on two-way
communication, demonstrating the connection between HR and business
outcomes, driving toward action, and helping stakeholders succeed.
Listening and Communicating

An important responsibility of the analytics team is to understand each
stakeholder’s perspective on specific projects and on analytics in general.
Knowing where they stand allows you to tailor your communications and
discussion points to the stakeholders’ needs and preferences. It also gives you
the opportunity to help shift mind-sets, if needed, by asking a progression of
thoughtful, logical questions that challenge conventional wisdom. The
analytics team is also responsible for all necessary stakeholder
communications.
A systematic approach is recommended: Develop a communications plan,
segmented by audience, and be proactive in executing the plan (and updating
it periodically, as needed). Keep track of where each stakeholder stands with
regard to analytics, and note any changes over time. Figure 8.3 shows a
sample portion of a communications plan.
An important component of communicating is listening, and the importance
of listening to your stakeholders and learning from them cannot be
overstated. Understand their challenges and concerns, their goals and
priorities, and the reasons for any hesitancy or doubt in what your project can
accomplish. Thomas Rasmussen at Shell recommends, “Put yourself in the
place of the decision maker. Make sure that the analysis informs the decisions
and that the input is relevant.” You certainly do not want to discover at the
end of your project that all your work is deemed irrelevant.
Figure 8.3 Sample portion of a communications plan.
Translating HR Matters to Business Matters

The analytics team needs to view the problems it can address through a
business lens. For example, if you are addressing an attrition problem, ask
why it’s a problem for the organization: How does it negatively impact the
business? What does it prevent the organization from achieving? Convey this
way of thinking to your HR stakeholders.
Similarly, the analytics team should help leaders understand how people
issues impact business challenges. HR partners can help identify which HR-
related actions influence key business metrics. Then translate the challenges
into analytics projects and ensure that your stakeholders see that connection.
Getting to Action
You can also influence the likelihood that actions recommended from your
analytics projects will be implemented. Reflecting on experiences early in his
career with previous employers, Ian O’Keefe, Managing Director and Head
of Global Workforce Analytics at JPMorgan Chase & Co. took certain steps
to encourage action. Ian computed statistical models to predict the outcomes
if actions were not taken and showed those scenarios to stakeholders: “We
showed trends, told them what would happen next week or next month if we
did nothing and what would happen over those time periods if we made some
changes. For example, we showed the overall cost of not managing poor
performance, in dollar terms. We showed them that this was pain that the
business didn’t need to live with.”
Helping Stakeholders Succeed

Finally, you can greatly increase the likelihood of a successful stakeholder
relationship by making it your goal to help your stakeholders succeed. Arm
them with insights to help them create value for the business.
Stakeholder Responsibilities
Healthy relationships are two-way, and stakeholder relationships are no
exception. Stakeholders have responsibilities, too. Ideally, they will share
their knowledge and expertise, challenge the analytics team’s thinking,
suggest hypotheses to test, and be prepared to be surprised. Most important,
stakeholders need to take ownership of conclusions and actions, and they
need to acknowledge the full set of findings, not just those that confirm their
beliefs.
“We wanted them to commit to take action on the insight—we are strict about
that at the beginning. We also say you cannot choose the insights you work
on, you have to do all of them. Otherwise, they take only what’s convenient or
what they like.”
—Patrick Coolen
Manager, HR Metrics and Analytics, ABN AMRO
Planning the End, from the Beginning

It’s always useful to think your analytics project through to the end before
you even begin the analysis. What if you don’t find any meaningful
relationships in the data? How will stakeholders react if you merely confirm
the obvious? What if you find counterintuitive results? What if the insights
support actions that aren’t feasible to implement? All these scenarios are
possible legitimate outcomes, and it is best to be prepared so you can prepare
your stakeholders, set expectations accordingly, and discuss implications of
such outcomes in advance.
You should also think about the possible actions that will result if you do find
meaningful results in the data analysis. Getting support for various potential
actions before you undertake an analysis is helpful. If the organization is
unwilling to implement actions that the analyses recommend, your team has
little reason to take on the project.
Finally, assuming that the analysis yields meaningful insights and actions that
can be implemented, you should also plan early for evaluating the
effectiveness of those actions. Sometimes actions yield precisely the results
needed; other times, projects do not work out as planned. A proper evaluation
of action effectiveness will let you know whether you achieved what was
expected or whether you need to course-correct. An evaluation study also
helps you quantify the benefits of the actions, which will prove instrumental
in securing support for additional analytics projects.
Summary
Working effectively with stakeholders is essential for workforce analytics
success. Relationships are needed with a wide variety of people throughout
your organization. Approach the task of stakeholder management
thoughtfully and systematically, with the following actions:
• Identify the various stakeholder groups, taking into account those served
by the analytics team, those you are dependent on, and those whose
working lives might be affected.
• Determine your stakeholders’ perspectives on analytics and adjust your
communications accordingly.
• Be cognizant of data privacy and security requirements, and seek legal
expertise to successfully navigate the requirements.
• Create, execute, and maintain a communications plan to structure your
interactions with stakeholders, including key messages and discussion
topics for each.
• Help stakeholders understand and fulfill their roles and responsibilities.
• Bring value to your stakeholders; make them more successful,
acknowledge their contributions, and listen to and address their concerns.
• Plan for the end from the beginning: Think through and discuss potential
analytics results and recommended actions, as well as how you will
evaluate actions that you implement.

1 Patrick Wright, Ph.D., is the Thomas C. Vandiver Bicentennial Chair in
Business and Director at the Center for Executive Succession, Darla
Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. He was
previously a professor of strategic HR at Cornell University.
2 Martin Oest is an award-winning workforce planning and people
analytics expert based in the United Kingdom. Educated at the University
of Gothenburg and Copenhagen Business School, he has helped
organizations such as the Metropolitan Police, Barclays, and Homeserve
improve their business through analytics. In April 2016, he was the
winner of the Individual Achievement—People Analytics Award
presented by Tucana.
3 The Metropolitan Police Service is the police force for London, covering
a population of 7.2 million. It employs approximately 31,000 officers,
together with about 9,000 police staff and 1,500 Police Community
Support Officers and 2,800 volunteer police officers as of January 2017
(www.met.police.uk).
4 Nordea Bank AB is the largest financial services group in the Nordic and
Baltic region. Nordea is headquartered in Stockholm and has more than
10 million customers. The bank’s roots run deep; its family tree includes
approximately 300 banks in the Nordic countries, founded from the
1820s onwards (www.nordea.com).

9
Get a Quick Win
“You need to calculate the financial impact of Human Resources practices on
workforce outcomes. That’s really what people are interested in, so pick your
first project carefully.”
—Patrick Coolen
Manager of HR Analytics and Metrics, ABN AMRO
Successfully executed analytics projects are always important,

particularly when establishing your credibility. The way your first
project is chosen, how it is completed, and the results it delivers all
send clear signals to your stakeholders about you and how the
workforce analytics function will fare in the future. Because your
first project should deliver business impact and be relatively easy to
complete, we refer to it as a Quick Win project.
This chapter covers the factors to consider when choosing your first
workforce analytics project, including the following topics:
Identifying Quick Win projects
Using a complexity-impact matrix to enable project assessment
Understanding what makes projects complex
Gauging the likely impact of a project
AN INSPIRED FIRST PROJECT

Eric van Duin leads the HR Information Systems and Analytics
function at PostNL N.V.1 He shared the details of the project that first
got him started:
“I was reading the newspaper one weekend and saw a story about
how a Ph.D. researcher had investigated the relationship between the
age of a manager and the engagement of the team. It got me thinking,
so I started doing a similar analysis at PostNL. While insights like
this would not be used for decision making on individual employees,2
they could be valuable for informing HR policies relating to training
and communication awareness programs.”
Eric found that, at PostNL, the tenure of a manager strongly
correlated to the engagement of the team. The shorter the tenure of
the manager, the higher the team’s engagement. The study presented
useful information that enabled Eric to help longer-tenured managers
better engage with and manage their teams. The data also allowed the
HR team to look at processes and policies for managers (for example,
revising the training for managers with longer tenure).
“In this first project, I opened the eyes of HR leaders and more senior
executives,” Eric says. “I shone a light on an important topic,
engagement, with some hard evidence. It was the project that helped
me get started and gave the function credibility.”
Since this project’s completion, Eric has had senior business leaders
coming directly to his team wanting to understand the human factors
that influence business outcomes, such as delivery quality. Clearly,
Eric established credibility for his team. When you show that you can
complete important projects and provide evidence, the business
leaders will come directly to you.
Identifying Potential Projects

Before you can prioritize projects, you need a list of projects to consider.
Adopting a consultancy approach to identifying your projects can be
effective. A consultancy approach includes interacting with prospective
sponsors about projects you could complete on their behalf. The point to
remember when talking to business leaders is that your projects should relate
to your organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and the way people
influence these indicators. While you’re doing this, to get inspired, you can
review the examples in Chapter 6, “Case Studies,” and talk to peers in other
organizations.
Then, using this chapter’s structured approach to thinking about complexity
and impact, you can prioritize your list of projects to decide where to start.
Importantly, closely following our prioritization process enables you to plan
for most events that you will experience in delivering projects. Forecasting
every eventuality is impossible, but careful planning helps you overcome
most of the challenges you will likely encounter.
Complexity-Impact Matrix
To help decide on your first project, a good approach is to plot the potential
project opportunities on a two-by-two matrix according to the level of
expected impact and the amount of complexity involved. Delivering a project
of moderate-to-high impact makes the most sense; a project that does not
have at least a moderate impact will likely go unnoticed. A project with low-
to-medium complexity is also a good candidate; high-complexity projects
take more time, and senior stakeholders might end up asking why your
project is taking so long.
Figure 9.1 shows the Complexity-Impact Matrix3 that results from this
exercise. Notice that it includes four types of projects: Quick Win, Big Bet,
Trivial Endeavor, and Pet Project.
Readers of this book are likely approaching workforce analytics tasks from
different perspectives. Some have a new role in a new function, others are
new to the role but are joining an existing function, and still other readers are
in the same role but with an expanded focus. Both experienced and
inexperienced practitioners can encounter each scenario. For these reasons, it
is important to consider these concepts relative to your level of personal
experience and your function’s history. For example, one team’s Big Bet
might be another team’s Quick Win. Similarly, a project that establishes an
analytics functions’ reputation in one organization might be a standard
project for a more experienced function.

Figure 9.1 The Complexity-Impact Matrix for workforce analytics
projects.
Quick Win
A Quick Win is a project of low-to-medium complexity with moderate-to-
high impact. In short, this project is one that you feel confident you will be
able to deliver in a reasonable period of time and with tangible results.
Projects that involve uncertainty about the team’s capability and projects that
rely on dependencies over which you have little or no control are not Quick
Wins; they generally involve too much complexity to ensure a successful
result so early in the function’s existence. Projects that involve only a small
or moderate impact (for example, to the efficiency of an HR metric) also do
not constitute Quick Wins because the results are unlikely to get noticed
beyond HR.

SIMPLE CHANGES, BIG IMPACT
Senior managers at a public sector agency were interested in
understanding the distribution and prevalence of sick leave across the
organization. Marcus Champ,4 an analytics professional on the
human resources team was tasked with reviewing the data and
helping to develop an action plan to address the issue.
A review of the initial data highlighted a distinct spike in sick leave
during a few weeks in the year. After some investigation, Marcus
noticed that the leave usage coincided with an annual festival that
attracted thousands of local and nonlocal visitors over a short time
period in a confined area. The festival brought obvious risks of
exposure to and spread of illnesses such as the common cold and flu.
The agency already had a flu vaccination program in place, but it did
not seem to be having much impact. Management could not identify a
reason why.
Marcus noticed that the annual vaccinations were administered
around the time of the festival. However, doctors indicated that the
vaccinations required four to six weeks to take effect. This prompted
a recommendation to reschedule the vaccination program to occur at
least six weeks earlier the following year. Not only was such a move
simple to administer, but it also came at no extra cost to the
organization.
The following year, the outcome was significant: Absenteeism was
reduced by 5 percent. Marcus explains, “Now, 5 percent might not
sound like a high reduction on the face of things, but when you cost
this out, it equates to over one million Australian dollars, and it cost
the company nothing to change.”
Sometimes the least complex projects can have the most profound
impact.
Big Bet
A Big Bet project is a high-complexity project that is expected to deliver high
impact. Numerous factors can make projects complex. For example, you

might still need to develop key internal or external relationships to execute
the project. You might not have the data you need for your intended analyses,
and even if you do, the data could be held in vendor systems or even
governed by privacy considerations that prevent analysis. You might
experience challenges from other functions that have overlapping
responsibility for the area you are focusing on, and you might need to work
with people in these areas at similar levels of seniority without having formal
authority over them.
Trivial Endeavor
A Trivial Endeavor project has low-to-medium complexity and low-to-
medium impact. If possible, avoid projects with lower expected impact in the
early phases of an analytics function’s development. The critical objective of
your first project is to deliver results that make a material difference to the
business and build confidence in your ability to undertake more projects.
Trivial Endeavors are unlikely to fulfill this requirement. Even though they
are not as desirable as other project types, it is useful to know what kinds of
projects fall into this category. For example, it can help to reframe your
project so that it resembles a more desirable project type, such as a Quick
Win.
The most common types of projects in the Trivial Endeavor quadrant are
those that lead to decisions that management can make just as effectively
without the use of advanced analytics. For instance, perhaps the company can
benefit from cost savings or additional features by switching providers of an
engagement survey or by shopping for a new supplier at the end of the term.
These problems are generally manageable using standard administrative
approaches.
Pet Project
A Pet Project is overly complex for the impact it delivers. These projects are
more aligned with personal interests than what the business requires. Avoid
Pet Projects: These projects (and Trivial Endeavors as well) won’t likely get
you the positive recognition you require to build the support you need for
your workforce analytics function. In fact, they could end up attracting
negative attention. To make matters worse, projects in this quadrant are
complex to execute because of factors such as the political environment, data

requirements, skill gaps, data complexity, or project scale. You might find it
difficult to imagine real-world workforce analytics projects that fall into this
space, but they do arise.
Consider one anecdote that perfectly describes the idea of a low-impact, high-
complexity Pet Project: A business analytics manager decided to crowd-
source machine learning capabilities to address an analytics problem for the
business. He offered a prize for its solution. A contractor who was crowd-
sourced solved the problem, but by that time the business could not
implement the solution because it had changed the way it operated. The
analytics manager was not concerned, though; he was happy that the
challenge had been won, even though it did not ultimately have any business
impact. Nothing is wrong with being passionate about analytics in HR, but it
should always be pursued with the goal of making an impact on business
effectiveness or worker well-being.
Assessing Complexity and Impact

The two important criteria discussed above when prioritizing projects are
complexity and impact. In terms of complexity, consider five broad factors
when rating potential projects as low or high:
• Politics
• Skills
• Data
• Technology
• Implementation
When it comes to impact, three broad factors play into rating projects as low
or high:
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Timing
• Opportunity cost
Assessing Complexity
Project complexity refers to the scope of the challenge you face in delivering
the project. Complexity is a relative concept. An advanced workforce
analytics function might consider a project low complexity, yet a nascent
workforce analytics function that lacks access to more advanced technologies
and resources might consider it high complexity. Therefore, your team must
always evaluate the project’s complexity in terms of its own capabilities and
the context in which you are operating. This section covers the five factors to
consider when assessing the complexity of a project for your team.
“Make sure to evaluate the complexity of the problem before embarking on

long and sophisticated approaches to solving problems.”
—Michael Bazigos
Managing Director, Global Head of Organizational
Analytics & Change Tracking, Accenture Strategy
• Political complexity. Gerald Ferris and Michele Kacmar developed an

influential model of political perception at work in their 1992 Journal of
Management paper. The model shows that the way workers perceive the
political landscape in organizations is affected by both personal factors
about themselves and organizational factors (such as how hierarchical and
formalized the organization’s structure is and how much interaction
colleagues have with each other). Perceptions of the political context then
impact productivity at work. To succeed with workforce analytics, you
need a finely tuned sense of political judgment to identify where you have
backing for your ideas and where you don’t, and which of your ideas are
worth pressing when you encounter resistance.
You will certainly encounter people who support your goals, and
reserving your energy for only these people is tempting. But be sure to
pay attention to areas of the business where you do not have support.
Ensure that you have accurate answers to the following questions: Do
senior executives agree that the project is worthwhile? And do they agree
that your team is the best one to tackle the project? The less consensus
you have, the more politically complex the project might be.
• Skill complexity. Analytics projects require a level of expertise in several
areas. In particular, projects that require any of the Six Skills for Success
(see Chapter 12, “Build the Analytics Team”) that your team lacks (or
lacks in depth) are more complex. Ask yourself whether the people
resources you have for the project are sufficient to deliver the services
required for the project. A lack of technical or statistical skills means a

higher degree of skill complexity. If you do not currently have the skills,
you will need to hire in, develop, or partner to fill the gaps.
• Data complexity. The process of data collection and integration rarely
proceeds uneventfully. Higher data complexity exists when creating the
dataset required for analysis is difficult or impossible because of data
access or characteristics. For instance, you might not be able to match
cases across datasets if they lack a common unique identifying variable.
For example, compensation data and turnover data will be difficult to link
if compensation data are stored against employee identification numbers
but turnover data are stored alphabetically according to surnames.
Another situation that leads to data complexity arises when privacy
concerns prevent reanalysis of data that were originally collected for a
different purpose. For example, linking selection data to individual
development records might not be possible if employees were told that
development data were to be used strictly for personal development.
Nearly all data challenges can be overcome (see Chapter 10, “Know Your
Data”), but often this requires specialist knowledge and expertise. When
choosing your first project, consider your present ability to address the
specific data challenges for the project.
• Technology complexity. Many straightforward projects do not require
substantial investment in resources. Some projects can be undertaken with
basic spreadsheet software. Still, it is good to remember that recent
developments in data management technology using cloud-based
computing make most of the technology and techniques available to
organizations of all sizes for a reasonable cost.
Regardless of the technology required to deliver your first project, you
need to clearly understand how well you are currently equipped to meet
the demands of the project. Does the project require the use of specialized
data management or data analysis technologies that are beyond the
technologies you currently possess? For example, a project that requires
integrating a data capture approach for streaming data or using special
technologies for handling very large datasets is more complex than a
project that requires analysis of a single snapshot of data.
• Implementation complexity. Organizational change theories make it
clear that the best way to get a group of people to behave differently is to

let the people who will be affected by any changes help you decide what
to do. You often hear this captured in the wise maxim that change should
be implemented “with people, not on people.” Change processes take hold
over time as people consider and, hopefully, become accustomed to new
ways of doing things. The more change that is required and the more
people that are affected by the change, the greater the implementation
complexity. Carefully consider how easy it would be to implement
recommendations that result from your analyses.
The lower the level of change and the fewer people being asked to do
things differently, the easier it will be to implement the recommendations.
This is because these recommendations will require less training,
communication, and stakeholder management to bring about change. If
analytics leads to recommendations that require many people to behave in
different ways, the project has a higher level of implementation
complexity. A balance must be struck, of course: If change affects too few
people, it will have lower impact.
You can use these five complexity factors to help classify your initial
project. In the early days, pick a project that is low-to-moderate
complexity so that you will be able to successfully complete it in a
reasonable time frame, clearly establishing your value to the organization.
Keep in mind that what a well-established, highly experienced analytics
function considers complex might not be the same for a recently
established function.
Assessing Impact
Impact is the level of benefit the business receives from undertaking the
analytics and implementing the follow-up recommendations. When
considering the expected impact of an analytics project, practitioners should
have three issues in mind: return on investment, the timing of the project
returns, and the opportunity costs of not undertaking other projects.
“Learn the logic of the business. What makes the business more successful?
How do people contribute to achieving this success? This is how you identify
projects that will make an impact.”
—Marcus Champ
Senior Manager, HR Analytics, Standard Chartered Bank
• Return on investment. The central aim of workforce analytics is to
realize business efficiencies and take advantage of opportunities.
Therefore, it is difficult to discuss the idea of impact in workforce
analytics without some discussion of cost. At its simplest, the issue comes
down to whether the expected cost of the project is less than the expected
return to the business from completing the project. This concept might
seem straightforward, but the cost decision is not quite so simple.
Managers must consider the cost of the project relative to the returns it
will deliver in relation to the next two factors (when precisely the benefits
will be realized and the opportunity cost of not investing elsewhere).
• Timing. The project’s timing issues can often be addressed by asking
yourself whether the project is focused on reducing costs or improving
productivity. For the most part, cost reductions are quicker to realize than
productivity gains. Therefore, focusing initial Quick Wins on cost
reduction might make sense. The impact of a project, like its complexity,
is relative to the business and the situation. In general, select a project that
will have a short-term impact; otherwise, it cannot really be considered a
Quick Win.
Although few people ever intentionally undertake an analytics project that
will not have an impact, this situation does happen. For this reason,
business executives must have clear insight into the project to make sure
that the improvements the workforce analytics team is predicting are
clearly tied to business expectations.
• Opportunity cost. When considering the impact of a project, it is
important to realize that the evaluation must occur in the context of other
possible workforce analytics projects—and also in the context of other
possible business projects. Even highly appealing projects that are
seemingly low complexity and high impact might be ranked behind other
projects when all options are considered. For this reason, it is important to
simultaneously consider several projects for impact, in case this process
reveals that another project is even more attractive than one you are ready
to initiate.
Summary
Selecting your first workforce analytics project can be a difficult challenge,
but taking a systematic approach to considering both complexity and impact
ensures that you make the most appropriate choices. In particular, remember
the following guidelines:
• Spend enough time planning your project to address all the hurdles you
expect to encounter, but be prepared for the unexpected hurdles that will
invariably arise.
• Identify potential projects that relate to the organization’s key
performance indicators.
• Classify your projects according to their complexity and their expected
impact, and go for a Quick Win that is low-to-moderate complexity and
moderate-to-high impact.
• When rating the complexity of the project, consider the following factors:
politics, skills, data, technology, and ease of implementation.
• When rating the expected impact of your first project, remember that the
project should deliver a sufficient return. The benefits should also be
realized in the short to medium term and should offer a greater net return
than investing in any other workforce analytics project.
1 PostNL is the premier provider of postal and parcel services in the

Netherlands. Each day, PostNL delivers more than 1.1 million items to
200 countries. In addition PostNL operates the largest mail and parcel
distribution network in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxembourg) region (www.postnl.com).
2 In some countries, including the Netherlands, using employee age in
employment-related decision making is considered discriminatory.
3 The Complexity-Impact Matrix is a copyright of the authors of this book:
Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar, and Sheri Feinzig.
4 At the time of discussion, Marcus Champ was a senior manager in HR
Analytics at Standard Chartered Bank, based in Singapore.

III
Building Your Capability
10 Know Your Data


10
Know Your Data
“There’s a tendency to think all the HR data need to be together in one place
to get started, but this is not the case. Don't fall into the trap of unnecessarily
postponing analytics."
—Peter O’Hanlon
Founder and Managing Director, Lever Analytics
Data are the very foundation of analytics. Without data, there are no
analytics. As we emphasized in Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction,” the
starting point for analytics should always reflect your vision and
include a clear articulation of what you are striving to accomplish.
However, achieving that vision and mission is not possible without
data.
This chapter covers the following:
• A practical approach to data
• Data challenges and solutions
• Types and sources of data
• Data governance
A Pragmatic View of Data

All analytics projects require data, but they do not require data perfection.
High data quality should always be a goal, but the pursuit of complete,
perfectly clean data shouldn’t be an impediment to progress or a reason not to
undertake an analytics project. In many cases, data are incomplete,
inconsistently defined, outdated, missing, “dirty” (containing errors of some
sort), or stored in multiple disconnected systems. The challenges are real and
numerous, but they are not insurmountable.
Techniques do exist for dealing with all these issues and more. Those who

have faced these problems successfully agree that the goal is to do your best
with the resources you have. You will make progress. You will bring
valuable insights. And you will improve as you go. Laurie Bassi, CEO of
McBassi & Company, emphasizes, “Do what you can with what you’ve got.
You can still move forward.”
The good news is that most organizations have plenty of data for workforce
analytics and ample opportunities to address business questions with existing
data. It’s important to note that many organizations have restrictions on who
can access certain data and for what purpose, and sound justification for data
requests is needed. Be sure to allot sufficient time to address data-related
issues, but by all means, forge ahead.
Solving Data Quality Challenges

Data analysts routinely take several steps to assess data quality and determine
the best path forward. This section discusses common approaches. In addition
to understanding these fundamentals, it can be helpful to remain current on
the latest views of data challenges and solutions by participating in relevant
online forums and user groups.
“The biggest challenge? Data. Not many organizations have a global data
warehouse. Data aggregation, data cleansing, having a single trusted source
—these are the things we spend most of our time on with clients, not analysis.
The latter turns out to be straightforward once the data are in shape.”
—Michael Bazigos
Managing Director and Global Head of Organizational
Analytics & Change Tracking, Accenture Strategy
What Is Good Enough?

The usefulness of analytics hinges on the quality of the data being analyzed
and the relevance of the data to the business problem. The well-worn phrase
“garbage in, garbage out” is wholly appropriate in the context of workforce
analytics. That said, all hope is not lost when faced with imperfect datasets—
expecting data nirvana is unrealistic. Don’t become so consumed with trying
to fill all data gaps and fix all problems that you lose sight of the overall
analytics objectives. Data issues will always arise. When you have confirmed
the relevance of the data, the question becomes, how do you know whether
the data quality is good enough for the project you are undertaking?
To answer this question, you must get familiar with the data. In many cases,
this means learning from others’ expertise. You need to know what to look
for when examining the data so that you can proceed with analysis. As a very
simple example, suppose you have a data element that represents people’s
ages, and you see negative values (for example, –11, –29, –4). You know
something is wrong. Most people can be considered subject matter experts in
such a common domain (that is, we all understand the age variable and what
values are associated with it; an age of –11 does not make sense).
Now suppose you have another data element representing sales. What if you
see negative values in this field (such as –$151,783 or –$22.99)? Does this
indicate an error, too? Perhaps, but if you check with experts in sales
operations, you might learn that negative sales values are, in fact, valid and
represent a cancelled order or a renegotiated price from a previous
transaction. Negative sales numbers might seem wrong at first (surely the
organization didn’t pay people to take their products), but investing time to
understand the data before analyzing it can clarify the situation and confirm
the validity of the data. Working with subject matter experts helps you
educate yourself about what to look for and how best to address any problems
or unusual values in the dataset (and also avoids rework and the need for
post-analysis troubleshooting).
Automated data profiling can also help in overcoming data challenges. Data
profiling refers to checking datasets for allowable values, logic, and
consistency. Data profiling tools (available as open source software or from
vendors) analyze data for consistency with business rules and provide
recommendations on areas to investigate further in a dataset.
After profiling your data, how do you determine whether the data are “good
enough” to proceed with analysis? Again, you turn to the data owners. They
are best positioned to know when the data quality is sufficient to produce
useful results. If you can expose people to their own data for validation, even
better. People will often spot errors in the information about them, and
providing this type of visibility can serve as a useful crosscheck of data
validity.
Common Data Challenges and Solutions

What if you determine that the data are not good enough to proceed with
analysis? The first step is to understand the challenges. Sometimes the data
element you want to analyze has missing values for some cases. Sometimes
the data haven’t been refreshed and, therefore, are not reflecting the most
recent values. In some cases, the data you want to analyze do not even exist.
Each of these scenarios might seem frustrating and even daunting, but there is
almost always a way forward. Following are some examples to illustrate both
the challenges and the corresponding solutions for addressing them.
Missing Data
Suppose you want to determine whether experiences at work differ for men
and women. You might choose to conduct a survey to answer this question.
Several participants in the survey might choose not to answer the question
asking them to indicate their gender, resulting in output like Figure 10.1.
With missing data such as this, you must determine how to proceed with the
analysis.
Figure 10.1 Example survey data with missing values.
The missing data challenge is common. Depending on the specifics (how

many data points are missing, the nature of what’s missing), you can apply
methods to account for the missing data. The first step is determining the
cause of missing values. Understanding the reasons data are missing is very
important and can serve as a guide to determining whether the dataset can be
used as is.
One consideration is whether the data are missing for random reasons or
reasons that actually relate to the topic of study. If some data fields are blank
because of intermittent data entry errors, for example, these are likely
random. In contrast, suppose that you are studying attitudes about privacy.
The people most concerned about data privacy are less likely to respond to
certain questions on a survey because they do not trust what will happen with
their data. In that case, the very topic being studied is directly related to the
cause of missing data—that is, respondents who are sensitive to privacy
issues intentionally skip questions they believe could be used to identify
them. Ignoring the missing data and proceeding with the analysis would
likely lead to incorrect conclusions in this case. In this type of scenario, the
best solution might be to use a proxy variable (that is, a different variable) for
the desired measure or to identify a different method to study the topic of
interest. For this specific example, observing people’s actual online behaviors
(what privacy settings they choose, for example) might be a better course
than asking for opinions via a survey. Although an observational study could
be more difficult to conduct, the increase in validity will yield far superior
insights.
If you have verified that you can proceed with the analysis, you must
determine the best approach to address the missing values. One option is
simply to eliminate cases with missing values from the analysis, although this
can reduce the representativeness of the sample (causing biased results) and
the overall sample size (which is undesirable—in general, the more data, the
better). Alternatively, missing values can be “filled in” by estimating them,
using appropriate assumptions or modeling techniques (such as regression
equations to estimate the missing values).
Dealing with missing data requires a degree of expertise, and data profiling
tools (discussed earlier) can help. If your team is inexperienced in dealing
with missing data, you might also want to seek guidance and counsel from
data experts elsewhere in your organization. Marketing and finance functions
often have people with these skills. Another option that has served many

practitioners well is to hire a data scientist directly onto the workforce
analytics team. If direct hiring is not feasible, working with an intern offers a
cost-effective way for some analytics functions to acquire the needed
expertise and keep projects on track. Interns bring the added benefit of
exposure to the latest analytical thinking and techniques. As another solution,
companies can contract external partners to help with data issues.
Outdated Data
You might have access to the data you need for your analysis, but some of
the values might not be up-to-date. As an example, suppose you want to
determine whether compensation is related to productivity (to find out
whether more highly paid people produce more). To do this analysis, you get
a data extract from the organization’s core Human Resources Information
System (HRIS). You learn that the dataset does not reflect recent off-cycle
salary increases because the compensation system (which records salaries)
has not yet synchronized with the core system. If you are able to source this
information only from the HRIS, the current salary will be incorrect for the
people who were part of this off-cycle salary program. You then need to
determine the implications for your analysis.
Judgment is needed to determine how much of an issue this is for your
analysis and conclusions. If the number of outdated values is large enough to
appreciably influence the outcome of the analysis, you will want to make
every effort to obtain updated information. A sensitivity analysis can be
helpful in determining whether updated values will significantly change the
findings. If updates are required, work with data owners to identify the best
option (some of which are described here).
If data refresh cycles are frequent (or imminent), your best course of action
might be simply to wait for the next refresh. For example, if the
compensation system feeds the core HRIS monthly and you need the very
latest compensation data, find the specific update schedules and determine
whether it makes sense to wait. If waiting for a refresh does not fit with your
timeline, you might be able to obtain access to the data from a different, more
updated source for specific variables (for example, the source compensation
system itself); then you can merge this data extraction with your master
dataset.
Another option is to manually update values, if necessary. If you opt for this

approach, make sure your updates match the subsequent source system
updates. You always want to be consistent with a single trusted source of
data. Technology known as change data capture (CDC) can automate the data
update process. The goal of CDC is to ensure that data are synchronized
across the organization; it achieves this by replicating data changes from a
source system to other systems. Updates can be scheduled for specific points
in time or even real time, and CDC mitigates risks associated with manual
updates.
If none of these options is feasible, you must collect new data for precisely
the information you need. Depending on the importance of the analysis and
the timing, this might be a worthwhile endeavor.
No Data Available
Sometimes no systems or databases have the data you need for an analysis.
Imagine that employees in a specific part of the business are quitting their
jobs at a high rate, and you need to determine the cause. You have several
factors to consider, but perhaps the sponsor of the project is particularly
interested in looking at promotion history (that is, when and how often people
have been promoted to the next job level). However, you learn that no system
has recorded promotion information. The data you need for the analysis
simply do not exist.
Does a lack of data mean that you cannot consider this variable in your
analysis? As with other data challenges, one solution is to initiate a new data
collection effort. However, you might be able find a better option with a bit
of creativity and ingenuity: You might be able to approximate the data you
need by using a combination of variables that do exist. For example, if you
need data on people’s promotion history, you could look for instances in
which people had a title change and a corresponding salary change. If
someone got a new job title and a raise at exactly the same time, this
combination of events is a strong indicator of a promotion and can be used to
create what you need without any incremental data collection. Another
creative approach is to consider external publicly available data as a proxy.
For example, this could be represented by job title changes posted on
LinkedIn.
Additional Data Challenges

Although missing, outdated, or unavailable data are obvious challenges to
overcome, it’s important to be aware of less obvious data challenges as well.
Specifically, characteristics of the data themselves can potentially lead an
analyst astray if they are overlooked. The following sections discuss these
types of challenges.
Non-normal Data Distributions

Many commonly used statistics (for example, mean-difference tests and
regression) are based on assumptions about the data being analyzed. One
important assumption is that the data are normally distributed: If you took
many samples, calculated the mean (average) score from each sample, and
plotted all the means in a frequency graph, they would look like a bell-shaped
curve. Not all variables are normally distributed, though. Consider net worth
as an example: Very few people have extremely high net worth values,
relative to the overall population.
Two common indicators of non-normal distributions are skewness and
kurtosis, which are measures of a distribution’s shape. Skewness measures
lack of symmetry in a data distribution (as in the net worth example); zero
skewness indicates perfect symmetry, as would be expected in a normal
distribution. Kurtosis reflects whether the lengths of the tails in a data
distribution are extreme; zero kurtosis indicates tails that are neither longer
nor shorter than would be expected in a normal distribution. See Figure 10.2
for examples of skewness and kurtosis.

Figure 10.2 Examples of skewness and kurtosis.
Why does this matter? If you use statistics that require normality, but this
assumption is not met, the statistical tests could yield misleading results. The
whole point of statistics is to build a fact base on which to inform decisions;
if the fact base is inaccurate because analysis tools were misused, it runs
counter to that goal. As described earlier, tests are available to determine
whether your data meet the normality assumption. If you suspect they do not
(see Figure 10.3 for another example of a non-normal distribution), you can
either apply corrections to approximate normality in the data or use
alternative statistical techniques for analysis. Experts such as data scientists,
analysts, and industrial-organizational psychologists (within your team, from
other functions in the organization, or outside partners) can offer guidance on
how best to proceed.

Figure 10.3 Example of a non-normal distribution of data.
Data Outliers
Outliers are values that are abnormally higher or lower than most other values
in a sample of data. Identifying outliers in your data is important because a
few extreme values can alter the results considerably. Sometimes outliers are
legitimate values; other times, they are the result of a data error. Either way,
they can lead to misleading conclusions. Tests are available to measure
outliers. At a minimum, always examine the distributions of your data as a
check before you run statistical tests (see the examples in Figure 10.4 to get a
sense of what to look for when plotting data graphically). If you identify
outliers, you need to make an informed decision on whether to include or
exclude them in the analysis. Including extreme values might mask an
important relationship or insight. Excluding them might hide a meaningful
variation. Consult the data owners to help with this decision.

Figure 10.4 Examples of data outliers: Single Variable Histogram (top)
and Bivariate Scatter-plot (bottom).
Inconsistent Data Definitions

Another frequently encountered challenge is inconsistent definitions of the
same data elements. As an example, you might want to join two or more
different datasets, linking them with a common identifier. In one dataset, the
identifier might be a six-digit, alphanumeric employee identification number.
In the second dataset, the identifier might be the same employee
identification number with a three-digit alphanumeric country indicator
appended, making it a nine-digit character. And in yet a third dataset, the
identifier might be a government-issued number such as a Social Security

number.
How can you connect these datasets in this scenario? The first and second
datasets are relatively straightforward but require a data calculation to create
a new field in the second dataset. Let’s assume you are analyzing data from
one country only, so the country indicator is unnecessary. Using computer
programming or data modeling software, you can automate the removal of
the three-digit country indicator from each case, resulting in an exact match
of employee identifier in the first two datasets. (Alternatively, if you need the
country indicator, you can automate the addition of that indicator to the first
dataset, although that requires a few more steps.) For the third dataset, you
can use a lookup function from data in the core HRIS that equates Social
Security number with employee identification number. Apply a matching
algorithm, and you then have three datasets with identical employee
identifiers, allowing you to focus on the analyses of interest.
Data inconsistency can also arise when information is not entered in a
standardized way across the organization. Andre Obereigner, Manager for
Workforce Analytics at Groupon, explains: “It’s very important to get high-
level agreement of HR metrics—which are most relevant for the organization
and how we define them. For example, consider headcount: It seems easy,
but does it include contingent workers? What about interns? Or are you only
considering regular fixed-term workers? What about people on leave—are
they headcount or not? Define the metrics you are using and write that
definition down. It can be very challenging if different parts of the
organization use different definitions.”
Andre managed these metric challenges by educating the local HR teams
through guidelines and videos showing how to record data in a standard way,
and he advised on steps to ensure data quality. Andre also noted the
importance of senior management support: When the head of HR is very
focused on data quality, this also becomes a priority for the HR community.
Ultimately, establishing robust data governance processes is good practice, as
discussed later in this chapter. This helps in improving data quality and
gaining efficiencies for the long term.
Data Types and Sources

To get the most benefit from workforce analytics, it’s important to think
broadly about the types of data to incorporate into analyses. Traditional
sources such as employee information stored in the core HRIS and other HR
systems should certainly be considered in scope, along with non-HR data
such as financial performance and customer satisfaction. Also think beyond
your organization’s walls—for example, relevant social media data. New
technologies such as sensors and “smart” devices are continually creating
additional data sources to consider as well.
DON’T LET THE LACK OF ONE INTEGRATED HRIS

STOP YOU
Mariëlle Sonnenberg has been leading the Global HR Strategy and
Analytics team at Wolters Kluwer1 since 2013. In the last few years,
she has achieved a strong reputation both internally and externally.
Although many workforce analytics practitioners begin their work
using the data in the core HRIS for their analyses, Mariëlle did not
have a single enterprise-wide source of HR data, and she was able to
use that to her advantage.
Instrumental to Mariëlle’s early success was the fact that she was not
beholden to the enormous amount of reporting, metrics, and data that
consume some analytics professionals when they have, or are
implementing, an integrated HRIS.
“When I started, we had many different systems that were not all
integrated. We got our headcount information from our finance
reporting systems. There were no specific analytical capabilities
within the HR function. I therefore started by looking at questions
asked of HR leaders, mostly customer-related questions—for
example, how much revenue-generating capabilities do we have? I
went to our finance system, which is accurate, and I started with their
definitions. I began reporting to the CHRO and the CEO based on
finance information.”
While Mariëlle brought together the data she needed, she didn’t
spend time implementing a single HRIS. Instead, she concentrated on
the most important metrics to the business and used the most
appropriate system for that metric when she needed it.
“I remember a question our CEO had around varying personnel costs
across countries and businesses,” Mariëlle says. “The analysis we
conducted had a great impact, and it prompted discussions about
which workforce-related metrics would enhance our operational
focus to drive cost and margin improvements.”
Mariëlle could answer the personnel costs question without the need
for an integrated HRIS. Instead of holding her back, the lack of such
a system enabled her to focus only on core metrics and business
questions like the one from the CEO. “This is where I got lucky,” she
says. “We had nothing in terms of systems (so no complexity), and
rather than consuming time with endless amounts of reports and data,
I focused on a few important topics.”
Data from Inside the HR Function

An organization’s core HRIS provides a ready source of relevant and
analyzable data, with information such as tenure, promotion history,
compensation information, job category, educational background, and
various demographic variables. Additional data typically available in HR
systems (often outside the HRIS) include learning history, performance
ratings, aptitude scores, personality scores, skills, competencies, and
employee engagement scores. As Chapter 11, “Know Your Technology,”
discusses, you can extract these data elements directly from the HRIS and
other systems, or you can access them through data feeds to reporting
systems or data warehouses. These elements will likely form the core of
many workforce analyses.
Data from Outside the HR Function

Workforce analytics should strive to show a link between HR data and key
business metrics. To do so, you need to bring together data that are often
housed in different systems within the organization, such as financial or
customer databases. This can be tricky because different systems have
different owners. Patrick Coolen, Head of People Analytics at ABN AMRO,
describes this challenge: “Sometimes we had trouble getting the data from the
business. They said that they wanted to do it and they had the data. But it can
be a struggle to get the right data in the right format on time. Management
can say it is okay, but you also need a specialist to deliver the data to your
team. And only then can you start connecting and cleaning the data.”

Advice from practitioners on accessing needed data is to build strong,
trusting relationships early on with the owners of the different data sources.
You will need to partner with the data owners throughout the analytics
process, so these relationships are essential. In addition to obtaining access to
the data, you will likely need help interpreting the data (as illustrated by the
negative sales numbers referred to earlier).
Expect this to be an iterative process. As you build positive relationships, set
expectations that you will likely have periodic questions about the data over
the course of the project, and secure permission for follow-up discussions and
queries. Ultimately, it is best to establish roles (such as a data steward) and
practices (such as building a business glossary or data dictionary, as
discussed in the data governance section later in this chapter) to achieve
efficiencies through repeatable data management processes.
Initial contact with data owners typically comes from senior sponsors of the
project. The sponsors identify the people in the organization who can provide
data access. They can also remove any roadblocks encountered along the
way. As Michael Bazigos, Managing Director and Global Head of
Organizational Analytics & Change Tracking at Accenture Strategy,
describes: “The stakeholders defined the problem and provided the political
juice to access the data, and when we had trouble, we were able to get help
from the sponsor. The road to change is lined with a thousand guardians of
the past.”
Nontraditional Data Sources

The early twenty-first century has been a time of data proliferation. It
stretches the imagination to think about the volume and types of data the
future will hold, especially with the emergence and growth of the Internet of
Things (such as wearables, sensors, and tracking devices) and social media.
This, of course, presents a tremendous opportunity for workforce analytics. In
addition to the types of data that might typically be considered for analysis
(employee engagement scores, years of service, performance ratings, revenue
and market share, to name a few), new insights can come from tapping into
less traditional sources of data.
Consider social network postings. Not only was this information virtually
nonexistent (or outside the mainstream) until the early 2000s, but the
technology to analyze such large amounts of unstructured data was also out
of reach for most organizations. Subsequently, entire businesses have been
built around the ability to capture and react to real-time insights (for example,
the job review website Glassdoor can reveal to potential employees what it’s
like to work for any one of thousands of companies). With this evolution,
new sources of insights have opened up to organizations from publicly
available external social media sites, internal intranets, and collaboration
software.
An example from IBM illustrates the potential power of this data source. In
2015, IBM had a policy of not reimbursing expenses associated with
rideshare services (due to employee safety concerns in this newly emerging
mode of transportation). Using an internal social media platform, an
employee expressed frustration with this policy. The posting quickly went
viral internally, with many employees responding and expressing support for
ridesharing. An online petition arose. Within hours the company’s leadership
became aware of this trending topic, thanks to the use of an analytics tool that
detects rare events. And within 24 hours, the issue was discussed and a
resolution agreed: The policy was changed to allow for rideshare service
expense reimbursement (for more details, see Business Insider, 3 June 2015).
This is an example of the need for evolving types of analytics for emerging
types of data. Organizations are advised to keep pace with developments such
as these so they can remain well informed and respond to the internal and
external environment in a timely manner.
Another nontraditional source is employee benefits call center data. Recorded
information can be analyzed to determine which aspects of their benefits
package employees find confusing or need assistance in navigating.
Information such as this represents a ready source of “employee voice” data
that has already been collected and stored.
Metadata of website activity (also known as click stream or click path data) is
another nontraditional data source to consider. This refers to tracking web
page viewing behavior (for example, where and when people click on a page,
time spent on a page, and viewing patterns). Companies can gain insight into
the type of online content that is more or less valuable to employees, and not
always in the ways expected. As an example, a company’s IT support
function might be happy to know that people are spending a great deal of
time on the information and support pages of the website. This could indicate
that the content on those pages is helpful and worth visiting. However, an

alternative explanation is that people are spending time there because they are
having difficulty finding the information they need on the main website
pages. A traditional data collection method (for example, focus groups) can
complement the valuable web tracking data in this situation and help explain
the online behavior being observed.
Recruiting is another area that can apply this technology to good effect.
Evaluating a candidate’s click path provides a view of the candidate’s
experience, shows where candidates drop out of the application process, and
sheds light on the technology’s effectiveness in attracting candidates to jobs.
Thanks to machine-learning technology, all this insight can be “learned” by
cognitive systems, resulting in work experiences customized to an individual
employee’s needs. Technology is potentially transforming the very nature of
work and the way it gets done.
Bringing Together Different Data Sources

To realize the potential impact of all these data sources, it is helpful to
connect them. The reality is, data are typically stored in multiple places in
any given organization, and systems are likely even more disparate if a
company has had one or more acquisitions in its past. Knitting together data
sources should not be the first order of business (as Chapter 9, “Get a Quick
Win,” underscores, you are better served demonstrating the value of
workforce analytics by first successfully executing a lower complexity
project), but tremendous benefit can come from creating a mechanism for
connecting data sources.
Cloud technology help address this challenge, as discussed in Chapter 11.
Data service providers can also be of great help, particularly in knowing what
questions to ask, advising on best practices, facilitating the process, and
defining reference architectures (descriptions of system structures) that
account for various data types. The goal is to develop a manageable, ongoing
approach that avoids having to re-create datasets time and again.
Data Governance
After the first successful analytics project has been implemented and
recognized, it’s important to take the time to invest in data governance. Data
governance refers to comprehensive strategies, policies, standards, and rules
for managing data in your organization. This includes decisions and
agreements on all things data—what data elements to measure and store, how
to define each element, who is responsible for integrity and maintenance,
who can access the data, and more.
“Data governance has become a hot topic in HR. Ten years ago, it wasn’t a
consideration. Data quality is recognized as important today, and it’s
essential in getting to a level of analytics maturity with defined and
repeatable systems.”
—Jeremy Shapiro
Head of Talent Analytics, Morgan Stanley
One important aspect of data governance is ensuring accountability for data

quality. Establishing roles such as data stewards can accomplish this. Another
recommended practice is to establish a data dictionary or business glossary
for each data source used. A data dictionary includes the business and
technical definitions of the elements within a dataset, reducing the need to
repeatedly define datasets. The data steward is typically responsible for
establishing the business glossary.
Data governance can be established incrementally, starting inside the HR
function. It helps build a deeper understanding of the data, guides decisions
on data management and access, and creates end-to-end data lifecycle
management across various systems. Data governance is part of the larger
workforce analytics governance discussed in Chapter 14, “Establish an
Operating Model.” Taking the time to get this right (and agreed upon) will
serve you well for subsequent data analytics projects.
Remember the Basics

The world of Big Data and nontraditional data sources opens up a new realm
of possibilities for workforce analytics, but it is important not to lose sight of
the basics. In some cases, collecting a “small” new dataset might be better
than analyzing a “big” existing dataset that does not contain the necessary
variables or cases to answer your question accurately. Max Blumberg,
Founder of Blumberg Partnership Limited, advocates: “Big Data is very
fashionable at the moment but sometimes not very practical. Fishing in Big
Data for relationships that may or may not exist is not the best use of time if
there are business problems to be solved. Instead, if the analytics resources
are put to work on specific problem solving, analytics teams are likely to see
a much better ROI.”
A DATA DICTIONARY BRINGS YOU CREDIBILITY

Giovanni Everduin, Head of Strategic HR, Communications, and
Change, used his management consulting experience to help bring
credibility to the HR function at Tanfeeth,2 a relatively new business
services company based in Dubai with approximately 2,300
employees.
“When I arrived in 2011, I noticed there was no discipline for
uploading HR data at the company. We couldn’t even answer a
simple question like, how many people do we have today?”
The company was growing incredibly quickly and needed to get a
good grip on its basic data to be able to forecast and predict
workforce costs. In addition, the CEO at Tanfeeth wanted to make
the company a data-driven organization. Giovanni explains that HR
couldn’t initially operate like that: “We were in a meeting and the
CEO asked what the attrition rate was. Three people came up with
three different answers. All were correct, but each used a different
definition; it was embarrassing. We went away and worked with the
finance function to get a clearly agreed definition. Getting that level
of clarity and agreement is so important. Without that, it is just
confusing.”
Instead of jumping straight into the analytics, Giovanni focused on
building a data dictionary. Giovanni advises using best-practice
definitions for every metric and data element: “There are best
practices I had from my work as a consultant, but you don’t need that
background. Just do a Google search and you’ll find good definitions.
Or go to SHRM3 or CIPD.4”
Having a clearly agreed-upon set of definitions for all data elements
and HR metrics allows the analytics function to build credibility and
avoid the sort of situation Giovanni found himself in.
The best approach might be to conduct an experiment to answer your specific

question. For example, suppose a company is no longer satisfied with its

performance management system, and the HR team designs what it believes
is a better approach. How will they know whether the new approach works
better than the old? The best way to answer this question is to conduct an
experiment (or a quasi-experiment, if a true experiment is not feasible). See
Chapter 5, “Basics of Data Analysis,” for more information on research
designs.
In the performance management example, the HR team can implement the
new approach in one business unit while other business units continue with
the old approach. The team needs to define the desired outcome (for example,
employees will be more motivated to improve their performance in the new
system versus the old system). Next, the team needs to measure employees’
motivation before and after experiencing the new approach, as well as
measure similar attitudes, at a similar time, for the control group of
employees experiencing the old approach. Finally, the team needs to compare
the measurements. If statistical analysis shows that employees in the new
approach are more motivated relative to both their baseline levels and the
control group, strong evidence exists to indicate that the new approach is
better (at least, in terms of employee motivation).
The term A/B testing, often used in marketing and web development, refers to
a randomized experiment with two groups: a control group that experiences
the current design and an experimental group that receives some variation of
the design (the A group and B group, thus the name A/B testing). In the
context of web design, the objective is to introduce a change to a web page
and determine whether that specific change results in corresponding changes
in an outcome (such as click-through rates for advertisements). By randomly
assigning users to the A and B groups, and ensuring that the only difference
in the web page is the one thing you are varying (for example, advertisement
placement), you can confidently attribute any differences observed in click-
through rates to the change.
Similar approaches can be applied in the workplace. As an example, during
benefits enrollment cycles, a company could randomly assign people to
enrollment activities using either a traditional approach (the A group) or a
digital assistant (the B group) and then track differences in benefit choices
between the groups. If employees in Group B are choosing best-fit plans at a
higher rate than employees in Group A, evidence shows that the digital
assistant is beneficial.

Deciding Between Big and Small Data
Previous sections discussed examples of Big Data (for example, social media
postings) and more traditional small data (such as survey responses), as well
as various data challenges that you will likely encounter along the way. How
do you decide the best way forward?
A pragmatic approach is recommended. Start with a clear idea of the
questions you are trying to answer and find the best available data sources at
your disposal to answer those questions. Then dive in with eyes wide open.
Apply analytics to the best of your ability, being aware of potential pitfalls
(highlighted in this chapter) and heeding the advice of experts as you go. But
don’t get paralyzed into inaction; have rigorous debates, challenge yourself,
and triangulate where you can (that is, use multiple data sources and
techniques to point to the same conclusion). Know your audience and over-
deliver on data quality, if necessary for stakeholder buy-in. But don’t lose
sight of the purpose of the project, and don’t let the data become the project.
In sum, strike the right balance. You will be much better off than if you rely
purely on intuition and assumptions.
Summary
Data are essential building blocks for workforce analytics, and relevant, high-
quality data are needed for quality results. The following guidance helps you
strike the right balance between ensuring data quality and progressing the
workforce analytics agenda:
• Build relationships with data owners to facilitate data access and learn the
details of the datasets (such as allowable data values, methods for
interpreting the data, and ways to spot errors); utilize data profiling
technology to assist with data checking.
• Check data for missing values, determine reasons for the missing data,
and take appropriate corrective action (drawing on expertise as needed).
• Verify that you have the most current and complete version of the data
needed for the analysis.
• Determine whether you can create the data you need from the data you
have, or find a proxy for the data you need.
• Consider a full spectrum of data sources and choose those that best
answer your questions.
• Take the time to establish data governance processes, including data
steward roles, to ensure ongoing data quality.
• Participate in online forums and user groups to stay current with the latest
views on data challenges and solutions.
• Hire or partner with a data scientist to assist with data decisions; an intern
can be a cost-effective approach.
• Recognize that data collection and analysis will be iterative and that you
will refine and improve as you go.
1 Wolter Kluwers is a global leader in information services and solutions

for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance,
finance, and legal sectors. The company serves customers in more than
180 countries, maintains operations in more than 40 countries, and
employs 19,000 employees worldwide. It is headquartered in the
Netherlands and is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam
(www.wolterskluwer.com).
2 Tanfeeth is a large-scale business service partner based in Dubai that
handles back-office operations for the Emirates NBD Group. Tanfeeth
was established on September 19, 2011 (www.emiratesnbd.com).
3 Society for Human Resource Management (headquartered in Virginia,
United States).
4 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (headquartered in
London, United Kingdom).

11
Know Your Technology
“When choosing technology, we suggest people start with, ‘What is it the
business is asking you to do?’ Then ask yourself ‘Where would you like to
go?’ This way, people can map out what role they want technology to play in
the business.”
—Jackie Ryan
Director, Watson Talent Analytics, IBM
Technology in workforce analytics refers to the combination of

hardware and software services (that is, tools, applications, platforms,
and so on) that facilitate the activities of the workforce analytics team
by increasing speed, accuracy, and the level of automation of work.
Technology helps workforce analytics scale because it makes tasks
more easily repeatable and also makes addressing compliance
requirements more straightforward.
On one hand, discussions about workforce analytics technology can
entail incredible complexity. This potential complexity is
compounded by the rate at which new technologies emerge and
existing technologies are rendered obsolete. On the other hand, the
core elements of workforce analytics technology are straightforward
because certain common requirements across organizations are
unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.
This chapter covers the following points:
• Vision and mission as the starting points for technology discussions
• Components of workforce analytics technology
• Decisions about sharing, subscribing, or owning technology
Starting with Vision and Mission

An overarching principle is to understand your starting point with respect to
technology and where you need to be to accomplish your workforce analytics
goals. This starts with your workforce analytics vision and mission, described
in Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction.” The potential range of technology options
is wide, from spreadsheet software delivered through desktop computing to
cognitive systems delivered in the cloud (see Figure 11.1).
Figure 11.1 Technology options to support workforce analytics.
For example, if your analytics mission is in its early stage and you have both
a limited team and limited technology, you might be working mostly with
spreadsheets to report workforce data. For relatively simple analyses, this
could be fine, but spreadsheets struggle to cope as the volume of data and the
demand for analytics across the business increase. Eventually, you should
switch from basic spreadsheet software and consider what other technology
you need to profile and interpret the data. Consider what tools and services
enable better understanding and aggregation of the data than standard desktop
spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.
Other organizations that have been working with analytics for a long time
have a very different starting point than those that rely mostly on Microsoft
Excel. They might have already built a data warehouse and could be asking
questions such as “How can we get more value from our data?”
Considerations for these organizations depend on the business problems
inspiring their analytics efforts. For example, they might be interested in
sharing their data with the rest of the HR function through some kind of self-
service provision. These organizations also need to understand their current
challenges and the technology that will help them meet those challenges.
Working with a partner on your technology strategy is worth considering; we
discuss this later in this chapter in the section, “Technology Vendor
Relationships.”
A MIND-SET FOR TECHNOLOGY
At ANZ Bank,1 Kanella Salapatas has had a great deal of success
winning over people to the possibilities of data and analytics
technology. Kanella is the HR Data Manager and Reporting Service
Owner, and her trick has been to get people involved with the
technology throughout the journey.
According to Kanella, the value in involving HR people with
technology comes from the confidence they gain when they know
what’s going on with the data and the analyses. “If a business leader
asks why a certain number is 18 and not 20, for example, the HR
Business Partner (HRPB) must have an answer and must be confident
about it.” Kanella has found that some HRBPs are reluctant to use
technology to really understand those answers.
To overcome such technological reluctance, Kanella has taken a two-
fold approach:
• First, she helps train people in basic skills of using technology such
as Microsoft Excel or business intelligence toolsets. Learning how to
query and explore information for themselves builds confidence in
the technology solution and people’s knowledge of where they can
get an answer when put on the spot by a business leader.
• Second, Kanella gets people involved in creating the reports they
receive. “Getting HRBPs involved in the construction of their reports
means that they will know the formula for the metrics and the
individual data elements used. In turn, this will allow them to more
confidently have conversations with their business leaders, and this
gives them additional credibility.”
Kanella’s advice is simple: Involve your HR leaders and HRBPs in
your technology and take away the mystery.
Components of Workforce Analytics Technology

In this section, we introduce the main elements of the technology required for
undertaking purposeful analytics (see Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics,” for
more detail on this area). Here we focus on the minimum level of detail
everyone in the workforce analytics team should be aware of when it comes
to technology. Data scientists with computer science skills will undoubtedly
have deeper knowledge on the topic, but the level of detail here will enable
all team members to have sensible conversations about technology with each
other and with people outside the workforce analytics team. If you want more
detail, Jackie Ryan and Hailey Herleman provide a comprehensive discussion
of the elements of a modern HR analytics platform, including data integration
and governance, in Chapter 2, “A Big Data Platform for Workforce
Analytics” of the edited book Big Data at Work: The Data Science
Revolution and Organizational Psychology (Routledge, 2015). The elements
discussed in the following sections are Human Resources Information
Systems, HR data warehouses, reporting, statistical analysis and machine
learning, visualization, and cognitive technologies.
Human Resources Information Systems

Human Resources Information System (HRIS) technology platforms store
information about employees. Operational versions for the different HR
subfunctions often exist (for example, payroll, recruitment, and learning), and
some providers offer an integrated HRIS with modules that cover multiple
HR subfunctions. These systems serve two main purposes. First, they
formalize many of the organization’s HR policies and practices into a
workflow that reflects the organization’s view of best practice in HR. Second,
they capture all data generated about employees (and, in some cases, by
employees) in the course of performing HR function responsibilities.
HR Data Warehouse
Most HRIS platforms from major providers are built around a vendor’s data
warehouse technology. However, in many cases, organizations using these
HRIS platforms find that they do not provide the flexibility to handle the
variety of analytics they want to undertake. Organizations with multiple
HRISs are also interested in linking their data across systems.
For these reasons, many organizations take regular data exports from
proprietary vendor systems and store the data in a specially constructed HR
data warehouse. These periodic data exports form the system of record used
to populate all other downstream systems that need accurate data for either
advanced analytics or HR reporting purposes. The data from the operational

systems (for example, payroll) are prepared in staging areas where the data
are cleansed and validated. Next, the data are transferred to an enterprise data
warehouse. The data warehouse then becomes the master record and provides
a longitudinal view of the workforce data of the organization.
Business intelligence tools can then be overlaid on top of this internal HR
data warehouse to enable data exploration and reporting. Data marts, or views
customized to specific business needs, can also be created. Figure 11.2
depicts the components in a standard data warehouse and associated systems.
Figure 11.2 Structure of typical data systems.
“On a monthly basis, we export selected parts of our HRIS data and store it
in our wider data warehouse. We can overlay the definitions that we require
for particular metrics and the specific hierarchies we need for data mapping
rather than having to rely on how the HRIS defines things. We combine these
data exports with such things as customer research data and can do all sorts
of useful analytics on it.”
—Sally Dillon
Head of Business Intelligence, UK Life, Aviva
Reporting Technology
Reporting technology in workforce analytics refers to business intelligence
(BI) software applications that sit over the top of the HRIS, the HR data
warehouses, or both. The HRIS provider can supply this functionality in an
integrated single system, but many third-party vendors also offer reporting
technology to complement the large HRIS provider systems. Reporting
applications allow users to undertake tasks such as querying the HRIS for
information about each of the HR subfunctions. Types of reporting that can
be carried out include generating payroll reports for tax reporting
requirements, examining the average length of time taken to fill open job
roles, and checking the level of engagement with online learning
management systems.
BI technology can also be used to regularly examine how well the HR
function is performing relative to a set of metrics or key performance
indicators (KPIs). These tasks often involve using reporting technology to
populate dashboards or generate scorecards with information on topics such
as HR compliance violations, turnover rates in different parts of the business,
and numerous other HR metrics.
DRILLABILITY IS KEY
Sally Dillon is Head of Business Intelligence at UK Life at Aviva,2 a
large insurance company based in the United Kingdom. She has been
the data lead on large systems implementation projects, such as
Workday, to help HR get the most from their people systems. One of
her key approaches is to make sure the technology allows for
drillability, or the ability for users to thoroughly explore their data at
increasingly fine levels of detail.
For most HR professionals who lack highly technical skills,
drillability is possible only with a strong user interface to the
technology. “We encourage people to understand their data, and that
means having a very usable technology,” explains Sally. “The
interface must be user friendly. The technology should also have
strong mobile capabilities, since many HR professionals rely on their
mobile device to access information. Finally, it must have connectors
into the enterprise people systems and the data warehouse.”
Keeping her user’s hat on at all times has helped Sally ensure that
Aviva’s technology choices are delivered for even the least
technologically minded: “It’s not only about the user interface,” Sally
reveals,“You also need to put the data in the language of the business,

and that means knowing the specific audience. I talk to our finance
team with numbers. With our business leaders, I start with a story
about customer impact.”
Sally realizes that the technology is an enabler for business. She
looks for great technology that helps people view their data and
reports in a mobile-friendly and visually compelling way so that they
want to drill down into their data. As she says, “Drillability is key.”
Statistical Analysis and Machine Learning Technology

Advanced analytics technology takes the form of standalone software for
carrying out many of the analytical techniques Chapter 5 describes. This is
the technology that many machine learning and statistical modeling experts
use to test hypotheses. It also includes advanced data management systems
such as distributed computing used in Big Data platforms to share the
computational burden of time-consuming data analysis across many different
computers.
For these types of analyses, your data scientists will rely on a range of
software programs. They are likely to take a best-of-breed approach, selecting
a software package for the type of analysis they want to perform or else
writing their own algorithms using open source or commercial software
packages. Be aware that many packages might appear comprehensive in their
functionality but do not incorporate the latest analytical techniques. Data
scientists are the best people to guide the team in adopting the best
technology.
Cognitive Technology
Cognitive computing is a new area of technology based on artificial
intelligence intended to help advise HR. This technology learns, reasons, and
advises the user based on models that the system builds and inferences that it
makes. The user can interact with the system through natural language and
apply the models that the system builds. Cognitive computing technology is
playing an increasing role in analytically enabling HR practitioners.
Visualization Technology
Visualization technology refers to software used to generate graphs and other
visual representations of data. Visualization in analytics serves several
purposes.
First, visualization can help analysts gain a clearer picture of the data they are
considering. By their very nature, summary statistics such as means and
standard deviations convey limited information about the data they
summarize. For example, the mean does not tell you how spread out the data
are for a particular variable. Even summary statistics developed to describe
variation, such as the variance, will not readily spot outliers. Graphs can
easily highlight the average and the variability in data. See Chapter 10,
“Know Your Data,” for a discussion of why issues such as data variability
and outliers matter in analytics.
Second, visualizations help those who have a hard time interpreting data
understand the results of analyses. People who are less familiar with
interpreting statistical information often find graphical representations more
intuitively understandable. For this reason, visualization is an important part
of the insight generation and communication processes in analytics.
Finally, visualization can reveal complex results. Important developments in
statistical modeling and machine learning allow complex statistical
relationships to be developed. These cannot easily be represented graphically
using basic presentation software. Visualization software can bring these
complex relationships to life.
On-Premise Versus Cloud

In the past, HRISs comprised technology purchased and installed on the
organization’s physical premises (this is known as on-premise). Occasionally,
an alternative was to purchase technology but have a technology provider
host it on its own premises (referred to as hosted). The expense involved in
installing, maintaining, and updating technology in both these instances
meant that only large organizations were able to invest the substantial
financial resources needed. Since the early 2000s, HRIS platforms started to
be developed “in the cloud” using a Software as a Service (SaaS) approach.
The cloud refers to the delivery of computing on demand over the Internet on
a pay-for-use basis (see Figure 11.3).
Cloud-based services enable widespread access to workforce analytics
information and insights for organizations of all sizes. These systems will
become even more prevalent except in areas where factors such as data
privacy legislation or requirements for local data storage restrict their use.
Hybrid cloud technologies are often used in such scenarios where data must
be managed within the business but interact with cloud-based applications.
Figure 11.3 Cloud computing technology.
Technology Vendor Relationships

Technology vendor relationships encompass all forms of supplier
relationships surrounding workforce analytics technology, whether your
analytics function uses shared technology systems, purchases its hardware
and software outright, or decides to lease it. The types of technology you
might purchase or lease span the entire spectrum of technology components
discussed earlier in this chapter—namely, the HRIS for essential HR
administrative functions and reporting on the performance of those functions,
an HR data warehouse that functions as the system of record for the
organization’s workforce data, and reporting, analysis, and visualization
technology. In general, the fundamental aspects of your workforce analytics
technology architecture, such as the HRIS and data warehouse, are likely to
be owned or accessed via subscription. Beyond these fundamental elements
of workforce analytics architecture, you must decide whether you will share,
subscribe to, or own your workforce analytics technology.
Share
Before you decide whether to lease or own technology for workforce
analytics, it is important to assess whether having exclusive access to the
technology is necessary for your workforce analytics goals. If you need
access to the technology on a more limited basis, you might be able to
leverage existing technology elsewhere within the organization. An example
might be access to high-powered computers for complex analyses or access
to technologies that distribute processing tasks across multiple idle computers
throughout the organization. If you do not need immediate access to such
technology, you might be able to share technology—that is, access existing
technology that other functions, such as marketing, use. However, if you
require access to technology on demand, you will likely want to lease or own
your own systems.
Subscribe
Many technology vendors now offer the option to subscribe to their software
through Software as a Service (SaaS) licenses. Other service subscriptions
include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
These cloud technologies have important implications for workforce
analytics. First, cloud technology removes the need for significant upfront
capital expenditure (CAPEX) by turning it into a monthly subscription
(which is appealing for cash flow reasons as well as reduction in CAPEX). In
addition, with cloud technology, HR typically does not need to involve the IT
department in either the purchase decision or ongoing support.
Subscription approaches have the advantage of distributing the cost of the
software over time. They also disperse some of the responsibility for
maintaining the capability and performance of the hardware and software to
the technology vendor. Technology vendors that lease technology often give
service agreements, which means that while the lease is current, your
organization has right of access to any updates to the technology that the

vendor develops. This can include both bug fixes and capability
enhancements. Typical technologies that it makes sense to lease include
HRIS and data warehouse technology systems.
Leasing offers two important benefits. First, as long as the lease is not overly
long, the organization has some freedom to exit a relationship if it is not
sufficiently productive or if the organization finds a vendor that can better
service its needs. Second, organizations are quickly developing their
technology to ensure that their offerings are perceived as market leading, so
the regular updates leasing arrangements provide can be highly
advantageous. If you decide to lease, it is important to understand the nature
of your lease—for instance, at the end of some leases, the leasing
organization owns the technology.
Own
If the function requires exclusive access and you are not concerned with the
rate of renewal and refreshing of service capabilities, buying the technology
outright might be a sound option. In general, buying technology makes sense
if important new functionality is unlikely to emerge and if the technology
will be needed longer than it takes the asset to depreciate financially.
Technology that typically falls into this category includes hardware for
analytics, such as powerful desktop computers and servers. Although new
and faster technology will certainly come out, the desktop machines and
servers you purchase for your function will remain capable of performing all
the tasks you require of them for the foreseeable future (albeit not as fast as
newer, more powerful machines). Of course, ownership entails upfront
capital expenditure, although the value depreciates over the life of the asset.
Vendor Selection
If your workforce analytics function determines that leasing or buying
equipment is the best approach, you need to select the best vendor. Most
organizations have technology policies dictating whether an open competitive
tender is required. The key point is that workforce analytics professionals
need to influence the direction of tender processes so that decisions support
the goals of workforce analytics.
Involvement in the tender process will include writing the tender brief,
answering requests for information, and selecting the vendor. At a minimum,
workforce analytics professionals need a good working relationship with
procurement teams because their expertise is needed to guide the tendering
process for workforce analytics.
Summary
Decisions about technology are among the most important ones you will
make in workforce analytics. To make the right decisions, you need good
advice from Information Technology (IT) and HR Information Technology
personnel and from your data scientists. To prepare for these discussions,
take the following steps:
• Decide on the appropriate mix of technology by understanding what you
have now and what you need to perform the required types of analyses in
support of your workforce analytics vision and mission.
• Get familiar at a high level with the basic components of workforce
analytics technology, including the benefits of cloud technology.
• Consider whether and when cloud-based services will work in your
organization.
• Understand the breadth of technology required for a workforce analytics
technology system: the HRIS, the HR data warehouse, reporting and
business intelligence technology, analysis and data integration software
for advanced analytics, cognitive solutions, and visualization software.
• Decide whether to share, subscribe to, or own your technology, based on
ease of access, financial cost, and your degree of concern over how the
technology ages.
1 ANZ Bank traces its origins to the Bank of Australasia in 1835. Today it
is one of the five largest companies listed in Australia and is the biggest
bank in New Zealand. As of April 3, 2017, it had over nine million
customers and more than 50,000 employees. ANZ Bank is headquartered
in Melbourne, Australia (www.anz.com).
2 Headquartered in London, U.K., Aviva is an insurance company with 33
million customers and approximately 28,000 employees in 16 markets in
the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, Asia, and Canada. It has a
rich heritage dating back to 1696; one of its most famous customers was
Winston Churchill, who took out a policy in 1896. In its 2015 annual
report, Aviva reported revenues in excess of £23 billion
(www.aviva.com).

12
Build the Analytics Team
“There are new skills that are fundamental. You must see the world from the
outside in, use storytelling, be numerate, and have a consulting mind-set. The
world of Human Resources is changing.”
—John Boudreau
Professor of Management and Organization, and Research Director of the
Center for Effective Organizations, University of Southern California
The human resources (HR) profession is undergoing a transition that

will shift HR’s approach from primarily intuition based to primarily
evidence based. To make this transition, HR professionals need new
skills.
These developments have partly spilled over from the benefits that
analytical approaches have delivered in other areas, such as finance
and marketing. The best way for HR to realize these same benefits is
to develop a properly skilled workforce analytics function or team.
This chapter covers the following topics:
• Leveraging the Six Skills for Success in workforce analytics
• Configuring team roles based on anticipated workload
• Hiring versus developing the workforce analytics team
• Remembering the fundamentals of personnel selection

Figure 12.1 illustrates the Six Skills for Success1 in workforce analytics, a
comprehensive and simple guide to help HR leaders earn credibility and
achieve success.

Figure 12.1 The Six Skills for Success.
“There are so many different skill sets needed, from data infrastructure
through to reading literature, forming hypotheses, collecting data, doing the
analysis, and implementing recommendations.”
—Mark Huselid
Distinguished Professor of Workforce Analytics, Northeastern University
Skill 1. Business Acumen

Business acumen refers to a keen and agile ability to understand, interpret,
and deal with business situations. It requires gaining expertise across multiple
disciplines, integrating lessons learned from diverse experiences, and then
applying that knowledge to make decisions that lead to better organizational
outcomes.
Business acumen is one of the Six Skills for Success because it ensures that
you understand the finances that drive your business and that you are
politically astute enough to complete projects in the face of complex internal
and external operating environments. Without business acumen, analytics
professionals might not fully tune their analytics projects to the specific

business problem being analyzed.
Business acumen involves the following components:
• Financial literacy. Financial literacy involves an understanding of key
accounting concepts such as profit, revenue, and sales, and an awareness
of the factors that impact important business metrics, such as seasonal
business cycles. It also includes the ability to read financial statements
and an awareness of the commercial operating environment. Financial
literacy is important in workforce analytics to give you credibility with
other business leaders, to help you build investment cases for analytics
projects, and to provide insight into how to align analytics with the
important metrics in your business. Although formal classes can help you
learn accountancy skills, much of this knowledge is acquired through
what you do at work, such as getting involved in projects with financially
literate people and working on tasks that require financial understanding.
• Political astuteness. Political astuteness means being able to understand
organizational relationships, influence others, and resist influence as
required. It also means being adept at navigating both the organization’s
formal decision making and its often important informal structures.
Political astuteness is critical in workforce analytics because the success
of your work not only depends on its quality, but also how it is perceived
in the organization. Gerald Ferris, a professor at Florida State University
and an expert on politics at work, shows in his book Politics in
Organizations (Routledge 2012), co-authored with Darren Treadway, that
the willingness and ability to successfully navigate political relationships
depend on your perceptions of the political environment and your ability
to control politics. Political astuteness requires abilities such as emotional
intelligence, self-awareness, and general courtesy. However, the most
important skill is to be able to identify which of your many relationships
and conversations are critical to success so that you can rigorously
prioritize work activities. The best way to develop political astuteness is to
work closely with people who seem to get things done despite challenges
they face in the organization and then learn how they do it.
• Internal awareness. Whereas political astuteness refers to an ability to
understand relationships and use this understanding to influence others,
internal awareness refers to an understanding of your organization’s work
environment. This means understanding the macro perspective on what
your organization is there to do, as well as how your team’s work
contributes to this overall objective. Even projects with substantial
promise for cost savings or revenue generation might face obstacles if
they conflict with or are not aligned with other organizational initiatives.
You can develop internal awareness in many ways. For example, you can
build relationships with people in your organization from a broad range of
backgrounds and with diverse responsibilities. You can also monitor both
media coverage of your organization and internal communications. The
best way is likely to be a blend of multiple approaches.
A BLEND OF SKILLS IS BEST

In analytics, business acumen and the ability to define the business
problem are key. “When we get a request, we think through what the
problem really is, what’s driving the request, and then we figure out
which skills on our team will best answer that question.” This is the
philosophy of Rebecca White, Senior Manager of People Analytics at
LinkedIn.2
Rebecca explains that building a team with complementary skills is
important. “We have diversity of skills, and it serves us well,” she
says. “I come from a consulting background, we have a couple of
people with a traditional industrial–organizational psychology
background, some people are more data science and analytics
focused, and some have data visualization skills.”
When Rebecca and her colleagues seek to drive change, they draw on
this breadth of skills to expertly channel the analytics projects in the
right direction. “This range of skills has really helped our team to
achieve success. Because we have so many skills on the team, it gives
us flexibility to answer the business questions.”
She continues: “We focus every project on the real business need and
what the impact will be. You can go very far in analytics down a
rabbit hole, so we figure out how to collaborate across the team,
using the right skills at the right time, to drive impact instead of
giving executives a bunch of data for their back pockets.”
That philosophy and approach have served her well.

• External awareness. Having external awareness means taking account of
external environments when running the workforce analytics function.
This requires awareness of factors such as economic conditions, industry
sustainability, competitors, and supply and demand. External awareness is
important in workforce analytics to enable you to forecast the effects of
decisions you make. You can learn much from the past, but given the
rapid pace of change in most industries, you need to be aware of the past
without being overly constrained by it. A strong external awareness means
knowing the historical context of your market and having an informed
perspective on the likely future conditions in which your business will
need to operate. You can acquire external awareness about your industry
by reading business news and industry magazines and by networking with
leaders in your field.
Skill 2. Consulting
Consulting skills include the ability to provide specialist expertise to
organizations to improve some aspect of their business. Core components of
consulting skills in the context of workforce analytics include the ability to
define business problems, generate hypotheses about the causes of business
problems, manage projects, develop solutions, manage stakeholders, and
manage change.
• Problem definition. Problem definition refers to accurately
understanding the nature of a problem. Doing this well requires skills with
language, such as listening, questioning, and paraphrasing, as well as the
ability to exercise good judgment. These skills are required in the first
step of the analytics model that Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics,”
outlines. Problem definition is an essential skill for workforce analytics
success because it allows you to not only clarify the business problems,
but also identify the most important ones. A good way to acquire skills in
defining problems is to consider case study materials about business
problems (for example, in business journals such as Harvard Business
Review). You can aim to apply the same approaches and thinking to your
own situations.
• Hypothesis building. Hypothesis building involves identifying plausible
causes of the problems you have defined and, more important, generating
potential courses of action that might solve the problem. Being able to

articulate a hypothesis about the causes of the business problem allows
analysts to determine whether the hypothesis itself is plausible.
Hypothesis building also involves identifying the different data sources
that allow you to test hypotheses. Hypothesis building is important in
workforce analytics because hypotheses that focus on the causes of
business problems and have data to support them represent potential
intervention points to affect change in the organization. Some people have
good intuition on formulating hypotheses. The most skilled people have
received formal training in a discipline that prioritizes logic and
rationality, such as economics or work psychology.
“When you are clarifying and building hypotheses, I have come to realize
that one of the most useful skills is to have what you could call a beginner’s
mind-set so that you can tackle every problem in an open-minded way.”
—Salvador Malo
Head of Global Workforce Analytics, Ericsson
• Project management. Project management skills enable the workforce

analytics team to hold people accountable for what they agree to deliver:
They agree on what is feasible, develop plans, list dependencies, identify
risks, allocate owners, and monitor milestone achievement. Project
management skills are required in workforce analytics to integrate and
align numerous different streams and types of work. Such skills help
ensure that projects are delivered to specification and on time. These skills
are often acquired through project management training courses, some of
which include an exam to ensure that participants understand the key
concepts. If you work in an organization with a strong project
management approach, you may be able to acquire these skills in the
course of your work.
• Solution development. In addition to being able to identify the problem,
successful management consultants can structure possible solutions to the
problem. They generally propose multiple solutions and examine the
feasibility of successful implementation of different solutions under
various conditions before they determine the most plausible and effective
solution. These experts, often known as organizational development
specialists, tend to focus on solutions to problems that address changing
the mind-sets of workers and/or the environment in which they work.
Many people learn skills for solution development on the job, but often
experts have some formal training in the field of organizational
development. Alternatively, to acquire solution development skills
without studying, you might consider taking a role in a consultancy that
focuses on organizational development. This can give you experience in
proposing solutions to business problems and evaluating their likely
effectiveness.
• Change management. These skills involve understanding the stages
workers go through as they experience change and, most important,
helping workers understand the reasons for change and become
comfortable in the new world. Essential skills involve communicating,
educating, influencing, and managing people affected by change. This is
important because analytics ultimately need to drive change. Terry
Lashyn, Director of People Intelligence at ATB, captures this point: “If
your insights or recommendations do not confirm or drive new strategies
or change something in your business, then you have failed.”
Implementing follow-up actions suggested by analyses provides the
greatest source of possible value. For successful follow-up interventions,
workers must be persuaded of the benefits that the new ways of working
will deliver.
• Stakeholder management. Workforce analytics involves linking
information about people to outcomes in nearly all areas of the business.
This means you will come into contact with a diverse range of
stakeholders who have different interests and perspectives (Chapter 8,
“Engage with Stakeholders,” discusses this further). Identifying who these
stakeholders are, understanding their perspectives, and managing their
expectations are critical tasks. Because many workforce analytics teams
are small, one potential strategy is to align the interests of as many
stakeholders as possible and address the common needs of stakeholders
simultaneously instead of trying to manage different needs on a
stakeholder-by-stakeholder basis. Recognize the different types of
stakeholders and take a systematic approach to managing your
relationships with each.
Skill 3. Human Resources

Workforce analytics is about executing strategy through people, so you want

to have human resources (HR) skills on your team to successfully implement
analytics projects. This is because interventions in workforce analytics often
require changes to HR policies and practices. The key areas are HR
subfunction skills, HR interdependencies, international HR, and an HR “sixth
sense”:
• HR subfunctions. These skills refer to knowledge of the HR
subfunctions, including compensation, recruitment, and learning.
Practices within HR subfunctions are often highly specialized. Specialist
awareness in each area is important to ensure that your interventions take
into account best practices and any company-specific policies. You might
also need legal expertise. If a team member wants to develop skills in this
area, some formal qualification will likely be needed. Work-shadowing an
expert while undertaking a project can also help team members learn
about HR subfunctions.
• HR interdependencies. This refers to knowledge of how the different
functions in HR relate to one another—specifically, how changes in one
function interact with others to impact the effectiveness of other functions
and the workplace overall. This is important so that analytics projects are
discussed alongside the impact they might have on other areas of HR and
the business.
• International HR. If any of your workforce analytics projects span
multiple countries, you might need people with a knowledge of the
international HR environment on your team. International HR experts
know the legal landscape and whether policies are likely to need tailoring
for different operating environments. For projects with implications in
numerous countries, it is wise to involve HR experts from the countries
your projects affect. Alternatively, you might consider contracting with an
HR consultancy firm that specializes in international HR or industrial
relations.
• Privacy and ethics. The use of and interpretation of workforce-related
data require sensitivity and, in some cases, legal involvement. Although
building effective relationships with the chief privacy officer or other
legal experts in your organization is important (see Chapter 8), having
team members with knowledge of privacy regulations and ethics is
helpful. Examples of particular relevance here are projects that involve
several countries, the potential use of sensitive personal information, and
algorithms from machine learning that might not be sensitive to the ethical
values of your organization (see Chapter 5, “Basics of Data Analysis”).
• HR “sixth sense.” Someone who has a sixth sense for HR has strong HR
knowledge, experience, and judgment. This skill involves an approach to
thinking about HR issues that identifies important variables for analyses
and follow-up actions. Not surprisingly, experienced HR professionals
often naturally adopt such an approach. Such experience is also useful in
ensuring that the team avoids pitfalls such as using data inappropriately or
unethically. Because a sixth sense for HR usually comes from years of
experience as an HR professional, the best way to bring this skill into a
project is to make sure someone with HR expertise is involved in
analytics from the outset. Christian Cormack, Head of HR Analytics at
AstraZeneca, emphasizes this: “Our CEO wanted details of all the
recently recruited senior leaders. A list had been extracted from our HR
system and was about to be sent before someone asked me to double-
check it. I knew instinctively that the list was too long, so I took a closer
look. The list also included people who had recently moved from one
country to another on assignment. Sometimes as an HR leader you have a
sixth sense, which is important to use in analytics. The first test is always
the common sense test: Does this look right?”
INVEST IN DATA PRIVACY SKILLS

Dawn Klinghoffer is the General Manager of HR Business Insights at
Microsoft.3 She has worked in analytics for much of her career and
has a unique perspective about one particular skill on her team:
“About 8 years ago, I made a case for having the employee data
privacy manager on my team. She is a lawyer by background and
understands the business very well.”
Dawn believes this skill is important for ensuring that the
fundamental building blocks of the analytics function are based on
the right principles and ethics:“I want someone on the team who
understands what we really do with data and who can advise us on
using them in the correct ways. This is not a one-off project, but on-
going advice to ensure our projects are always undertaken
respectfully.”

Dawn explains that although the privacy expert works closely with
the legal department as needed, often her role is to advise the
analytics team on ethical (instead of legal) matters. In a recent
analytics project, for example, Dawn describes how the data privacy
expert was intimately involved throughout to advise on the correct
use of the data. “We needed advice throughout the project, clear
guidelines on how to use the data, how it is stored, how it is
contained, what elements were allowable in the algorithms, and how
to ensure that the outcomes were used appropriately.
“It helps to have this person on my team to know exactly where our
guard rails are.”
Skill 4. Work Psychology

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)4 defines I-
O psychology as “the strategic decision science behind human resources” and
identifies I-O psychologists as “versatile behavioral scientists specializing in
human behavior in the workplace.” The skills of I-O psychologists can be
broadly grouped into industrial psychology skills and organizational
psychology skills, which SIOP describes as follows:
• Industrial psychology. Industrial psychology is generally concerned with
maximizing individual potential and related topics, including
psychometric testing, selection and promotion, training and development,
employee attitudes and motivation, and reduction of burnout, conflict, and
stress. Industrial psychology skills in these areas are important so that you
do not spend a lot of time trying to solve problems that scientists have
already explored in depth (for example, identifying the best predictors of
performance or attrition). Industrial psychology skills are best acquired
through formal postgraduate study.
• Organizational psychology. Organizational psychology is generally
concerned with maximizing organizational potential. It includes topics
such as change management, strategic planning, surveys, job design and
evaluation, organizational restructuring and workforce planning, and
cross-cultural understanding. Organizational psychology skills are
important for similar reasons as industrial psychology skills—that is,
organizational psychologists already know a lot about the determinants of
important outcomes such as work engagement. Study the existing
literature first before starting your own investigations. Formal post-
graduate study is the best way to acquire organizational psychology skills.
• Research design and analysis. In addition to having content expertise in
the areas of industrial and organizational psychology, work psychologists
often have technical experience in both designing studies to test
hypotheses and running analyses to reach conclusions. These skills
include experimental designs (for example, formal experiments) that
allow you to infer causal relationships between variables, and designs that
allow you to draw reasonably strong conclusions about causal
relationships even when you cannot run an actual experiment (see Chapter
5). These skills are best learned formally rather than on the job. However,
you can take data analysis courses to learn these skills; a number of
prestigious universities often offer them for free.
Skill 5. Data Science

Data scientists play a pivotal role in decisions regarding the causes of and
likely solutions to problems in the realm of workforce analytics. Data science
skills are often very specialized, and your team will benefit from including
members who possess three broad types of skills:
• Quantitative skills (mathematics and statistics). Quantitative skills in
workforce analytics refer to an ability to build statistical models. These
types of analyses often involve methods known as traditional statistical
modeling, which aims to understand causal relationships. On the other
hand, quantitative analysis sometimes focuses exclusively on prediction
without regard for causation, using machine learning methods that
maximize prediction accuracy. Without strong quantitative skills, you risk
applying the wrong methods and reaching unfounded conclusions. These
skills are best learned through formal study, either in a classroom or via
the increasing number of online courses available.
• Computer science (databases and programming). Computer science
skills are necessary to interrogate databases and data storage systems and
to integrate data from different sources in an auditable way. This skill is
important because it allows computer scientists to think through problems
in a logical way with associated implications for how different datasets
relate to one another. When datasets become very large and cannot be
managed with spreadsheets and personal computers, computer scientists
use techniques such as parallelization, which distributes computing tasks
across multiple computers and often involves cloud technology. To find
out more about the requirements for this skill area in your team, speak
with the people responsible for maintaining your HRIS and related
technology. Computer science can involve high levels of specialization, so
you need to know the precise technology used and the types of
programming languages most suitable for workforce analytics in your
organization. Then you can hire people with either the precise computer
science skills you require or strong formal qualifications in computer
science and a willingness to learn new technology and programing
languages.
• Data awareness. The rate at which data are being produced and captured
is increasing rapidly. A special skill set required for workforce analytics is
to ascertain what new forms of data are becoming available and, more
important, to assess their relevance to workforce analytics. One example
is social media data. Some forms of social media have relevance to the
workplace (for example, LinkedIn profiles), whereas the relevance of
others is less clear. Knowing what these new forms of data are, how they
can be captured, and their likely utility for workforce analytics is an
important skill.
Skill 6. Communication
As your team begins to build momentum, your team members will need to
develop or gain access to communication skills. These skills are critical to
effectively create and tailor messages, and they involve the following key
areas:
• Storytelling. Storytelling is a method of explaining a series of events
through narrative. Telling an effective story to capture the essence of the
problem, analysis, insights, recommendations, and change helps you gain
buy-in for your ideas and projects. As analytics have become more
important in the business environment, so have the skills required to
explain data and insights using a compelling narrative. Chapter 17,
“Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization,” covers this topic.
• Visualization. Skills in data visualization include the use of technology,
graphics, and artistry to clearly show insights. These skills often require a
combination of artistic creativity and technical ability with visualization
methods and tools. These skills are relatively new in the world of
workforce analytics; Chapter 17 discusses this topic, and Cole
Nussbaumer Knaflic’s book Storytelling with Data (Wiley, 2015) is a
comprehensive resource.
• Presenting. Creating and communicating your story through a structured
presentation is an important and much-needed skill. The presentation
might be informal and one-to-one, or it might be formal with many people
in attendance. It might be in person, or it might be delivered remotely.
Being able to adjust your presentation to the medium and audience is a
critical skill if you are to communicate your ideas in a compelling way.
For example, a slide deck should not be distributed without an
accompanying explanation. Presentation skills can be acquired though
experience and often via internal corporate training programs. All
analytics professionals should receive formal training in presentation
skills and basic presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Written communication. Clearly articulating written messages is
essential in workforce analytics. This is because you are often dealing
with complex ideas, diverse audiences, and different communication
media (for example, email versus extended documents). Succinct written
expression of ideas contributes to a clarity of understanding between your
team and others. For highly important documents, you might choose to
use writing and media specialists to improve the clarity of your messages.
• Marketing. Marketing is about communications that persuade an
audience that an organization’s brand, products, or services have value.
As you seek to persuade others of the benefits of your analytics team’s
work, either internally or externally, you will want to market your team
well. This includes managing your team’s brand and its reputation.
Effective marketing often requires the services of a marketing
professional, whether within your organization or from an outside
specialist.
ANTICIPATING BUSINESS NEEDS

Ian Bailie leads Global Talent Acquisition and People Planning
Operations at Cisco.5 It’s an important role that requires him to think

differently. He views recruitment as one of the most measurable parts
of HR. “Recruitment is a measurable process, basically a supply
chain; you can measure every step of the process, and that provides
good data.”
Ian uses the data to take a quantitative approach. He complements
that with his experience in the business to create a strong connection
with business executives. “During my nine years at Cisco, I have run
analytics teams and been an operations manager in recruitment,” he
says. “That enables me to really understand what the company is
trying to achieve and what recruiters are trying to do. I think about
the data, get to understand it, and use it to drive change.”
In his role, Ian has expanded his core mission to use analytics to look
at the external world and undertake market mapping for talent. He
started with the recruitment process and used his internal data to
quantify the “talent supply chain.” He then introduced external
market data (including LinkedIn data) into his analyses. The result
was a business-critical market-mapping insight tool that the entire
organization can use to understand talent. Essentially, Ian has used
new levels of analytics to tell stories about where the best people are
in the world and how to hire them.
Configuring Team Roles

The number of people you need on your team and how their skills should be
organized into specific roles depends on the amount of work your team has
and how long you have to complete the work. This, in turn, depends on the
scope of your analytics function. Answering the following questions helps
you structure the required skills into roles and determine how many and what
types of workers you need (whether on your team or available to your team).
What Projects Should Be Delivered?

Before you can accurately estimate the number of workers you need on your
team, carefully consider what you will commit to delivering in the
foreseeable future. Planning and budget periods are typically annual
processes, so a 12-month window is a good time horizon to use. In deciding
what projects you will work on, be sure to revisit the list of project
opportunities (see Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction”) in light of your
function’s vision and mission. How many of these opportunities do you need
to deliver so that you are seen to be meeting your mission? For example, you
might have three major new projects to be delivered in the coming months,
along with day-to-day requirements related to any ongoing projects from the
previous year.
How Many People Do You Need?

A common approach for large firms is to have workforce analytics teams
with just a handful of workers. However, this tends to be for workforce
analytics functions that keep reporting separate from analytics. Even then,
workforce analytics functions could well have dozens of team members. In
some cases, organizations of more than 100,000 employees have workforce
analytics teams of more than 50 people. Therefore, the best recommendation
is to match the size of the team with the scale of the work you need to
deliver.
A general rule of thumb is that an organization of 100,000 employees with an
approximate ratio of 1:100 HR practitioners to employees will have a team of
roughly 1,000 HR people (the Bloomberg BNA HR Department Benchmarks
recommends this ratio). In an HR team of this size, it is not uncommon to see
a ratio of 1 workforce analytics practitioner to every 100 HR professionals. In
fact we found organizations that had a ratio of almost 1:50, such that in
organizations of 300,000 employees, there were approximately 60 workforce
analytics practitioners (excluding reporting). This ratio is a guide, however
we do see and predict a trend toward larger teams. The exact number varies
depending on whether the organization is public, private, or voluntary, and
also depends on its geographical breadth, industry complexity and the scale
of workforce issues you encounter.
With a list of projects in mind, you can estimate the number of people who
have some combination of the Six Skills for Success that you need to deliver
the projects. As an illustration, a complex project that involves integrating
datasets held by both internal departments and external vendors might require
a full-time project manager and data scientist. On the other hand, a less
complex project with easily accessible data in a central data management
system might only need a shared project manager and a shared data scientist,
both working across several projects.

What Existing Skills Do You Have?
Now that you know what projects you are likely to deliver and the skills you
need to access if you are to successfully complete the projects, you should
conduct a gap analysis. This involves determining the resources you currently
have and then comparing those resources to what you discovered you need
from the previous two questions. Resources you currently have should
include your own personal skills, as well as the skills of any existing team
members who will be working with you in the coming year. The difference
between what you need and what you have represents the number of people
and combination of skills that you need to acquire, whether from within or
outside your organization, and whether on a temporary or permanent basis.
Of course, you also need to build the business case for acquiring these skills
(Chapter 14, “Establish an Operating Model,” covers this).
Hiring Skilled Workers

Hiring workers for your team signals commitment from the business that
your work is important. Whether you get people who already have the skills
you need or you hire people who can develop them depends on several
factors. Hiring a person who has the skills you need now is certainly
preferable to hiring someone you hope will develop the skills. First, having
more qualified people helps you accelerate the rate at which you can achieve
desired results. Second, your team will have enough challenges to focus on
without adding concern about whether members need to develop additional
skills to complete projects. However, hiring qualified people might not
always be possible, and the workforce analytics function itself also needs to
develop the ability to grow talent.
“I have an economics background and I was a management consultant in the

former Soviet Union with EY. I left to run a water business and then came to
workforce analytics. It was a great learning platform. You don’t necessarily
follow a linear track. There's not a formal education track needed to be
effective in workforce analytics.”
—Al Adamsen
Founder and Executive Director, Talent Strategy Institute
Tom Davenport, a professor at Babson College, wrote about the internal

versus external hiring point in the online article “What Data Scientist
Shortage? Get Serious and Get Talent.” He states: “I am convinced that many
companies—particularly those that already employ a lot of technical people
—could retrain substantial numbers of people to become data scientists. In
some instances, it may be possible for workers in a closely related field to
make a successful transition to workforce analytics, particularly if there is
strong support for retraining.” An example might be moving from a data
science role in marketing to taking on a similar role in workforce analytics.
Davenport points to Cisco as an example of a firm that developed a distance-
learning retraining program for staff. Learning how to develop workforce
analytics skills is also an important capability that can help establish an
analytics culture in your organization. However, if timely delivery of projects
is a concern and you have the choice between experienced and inexperienced
potential workers, hire people who have formally trained in the skill sets you
require and who can do the job from the outset.
Filling Crucial Roles

At a minimum, your function needs to have a team leader. (Chapter 3, “The
Workforce Analytics Leader,” covers this position in detail.) The next most
important role to fill is someone with a deep understanding of the systems
that store your HR data. This usually means a data scientist that has computer
science skills for programming and database management. In addition, your
team should include someone with enough HR expertise to be able to
translate workforce analytics projects into the business environment. Beyond
these requirements, you have enormous flexibility in how you configure the
team. You can have the skills permanently on your team (in-house),
elsewhere in the organization (in-source), or supplied through vendor
relationships (outsource). We discuss these three approaches in Chapter 13,
“Partner for Skills.”
Remember the Fundamentals!

So far, we have discussed the technical skills a workforce analytics function
requires. Also be sure to remember the fundamentals of personnel selection
that we know from I-O psychology. The basic building blocks of successful
performance are cognitive ability, personality, and work interests. Cognitive
ability and related concepts, such as intelligence quotient (IQ), predict task

performance (or the quality and quantity of work) across nearly all
occupations, and cognitive ability becomes more important as job complexity
increases. Workforce analytics is recognized as a complex discipline, so we
advocate cognitive ability testing for all roles within workforce analytics.
Personality tends to predict how people go about their work. Industrial
psychologists stress desirable factors such as an ability and willingness to
perform tasks that are not officially documented in job descriptions but are
required for effective organizational functioning. This includes continuing to
work hard when under pressure or stressed. The two personality factors most
relevant here are conscientiousness and emotional stability. Each can be well
assessed using standardized psychometric questionnaires.
Finally, whether a worker’s career interests are aligned with the skills
required for the role predicts whether the workers will stay in their role.
Candidates should express an interest in technical work, particularly for team
members in highly specialized roles. However, when it comes to the leader of
the workforce analytics function, assess the candidate’s interest in being a
general manager instead of his or her willingness to get involved in highly
technical work.
Summary
Building the analytics team or function is a critical task in the early phases of
workforce analytics because the capability of your team is an important
determinant of your success. This can seem like a challenging task, but taking
a structured approach and following the principles outlined in this chapter
sets you on the path to success. Be sure to cover these tasks:
• Ensure that you understand and have access to the Six Skills for Success,
whether they are on your team or are easily accessible elsewhere.
Configure the skills in your team and its size based on the expected
workload and nature of projects.
• When deciding whether to hire new staff or develop existing staff, be
aware of the pros and cons of each approach, such as whether skills
developed in another area transfer to a workforce analytics context.
• Remember the fundamentals of personnel selection. Cognitive ability and
certain personality traits, particularly conscientiousness, are important in
all roles and can be tested with standardized psychometric testing.

1 The Six Skills for Success is a copyright of the authors of this book:
Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar, and Sheri Feinzig.
2 LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service. Founded in
December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it reported 433 million users
in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide as of May 2016
(www.linkedin.com/about-us).
3 Microsoft, founded in 1975, is one of the world’s largest technology
companies and most recognized brands. Based in Redmond, Washington,
it employs more than 114,000 workers (www.microsoft.com).
4 The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology is the world’s
leading professional association for industrial and organizational
psychology practitioners.
5 Cisco, founded in 1984, is an American multinational technology
company headquartered in San Jose, California, that designs,
manufactures, and sells networking equipment. At the end of 2015, it had
annual revenues of $49.2 billion and more than 71,000 employees
globally (www.cisco.com).

13
Partner for Skills
“Synergy comes from knowing who you are, and finding the strength in
others to complement your strengths.”
—Jeremy Shapiro
Global Head of Talent Analytics, Morgan Stanley
Team up or go it alone? When setting up a workforce analytics

function, you have various options for bringing together the needed
skills, including partnering with experts from inside or outside your
organization. All workforce analytics functions need a core set of
foundational skills, but beyond that, team composition and use of
partners can vary depending on the circumstances. Although having
all the required skills within the function has benefits, partners can
provide a unique advantage in overcoming the challenges an
analytics team faces. It is also worth noting that the partner options
appropriate for your initial team formulation might not necessarily
match your ultimate operating model. As circumstances change, team
composition and partner relationships will likely evolve as well.
This chapter discusses the following topics:
• Deciding when to partner for skills
• Options for acquiring skills: in-house, in-source, and outsource
• Factors to consider when choosing among the options
Why Consider Partners?

Partnering involves some form of contracting or agreement, either formal or
informal, that defines the relationship and obligations between the workforce
analytics team and a third party. The third party can be internal (from another
business unit or function) or external (a vendor or consultancy). Partners can
assist with data, technology, and skills. Chapter 18, “The Road Ahead,”
discusses the emerging field of partnering for data, and Chapter 11, “Know
Your Technology,” covers partnering for technology. When contracting for
skills, the topic of this chapter, your partner can be an individual expert, a
large consultancy, or some variation in between. The relationship can range
from short-term assistance on a single project to long-term retained
relationships.
A workforce analytics team might choose to partner for skills for many
reasons, such as budget limitations, specific expertise gaps, or an accelerated
timeline for producing results. Partnering might also be needed when the
analysis is of a sensitive nature or there are potential conflicts of interest,
which require third-party objectivity or separation of duties. In all these
situations, partners can be an indispensable resource.
Partnering can offer a great deal of flexibility, with the nature of the
relationship varying depending on the team’s needs. Some teams might only
require an initial consultation for strategic guidance and advice before they
can proceed successfully on their own. Other teams opt for short-term
support for specific projects on an interim or as-needed basis. In other
situations, teams establish effective long-term relationships with a partner
that provides ongoing support. The partner might even serve as an extended
member of the workforce analytics team. The next section discusses partner
and non-partner options to consider when assembling the skills needed to
fulfill your workforce analytics vision and mission.
Options for Building the Team

Earlier chapters (Chapter 3, “The Workforce Analytics Leader,” and Chapter
12, “Build the Analytics Team”) describe the skills needed for success,
including the minimum skills needed internally within the workforce
analytics team. This includes a workforce analytics leader with a breadth of
knowledge who is well versed in the art of business acumen; a team member
with a deep understanding of human resources (HR) data systems and the
ability to extract and work with the data; and sufficient levels of HR expertise
among team members to translate workforce analytics projects into the
workings of the organization.
Beyond this recommended minimum, teams have flexibility in achieving the
full end-to-end skill set needed for workforce analytics success. Three broad
options exist:
• In-house (no partners). All required skills (the Six Skills for Success
that Chapter 12 describes) reside directly within the internal workforce
analytics team.
• In-source (internal partners). The analytics team supplements its skills
with experts elsewhere in the organization.
• Outsource (external partners). Third-party vendors or consultants are
formally contracted to support the workforce analytics team and
complement their skills.
The best approach might be a combination of options—for example, in-

sourcing specific skills that are readily available internally and then
contracting externally for others. The following sections discuss the options
in detail.
The In-house Option

Building a fully staffed in-house workforce analytics team means having
complete, end-to-end capability (the Six Skills for Success) contained within
the team, with all resources reporting to the workforce analytics leader. This
requires deep specialist skills that go beyond the minimum—for example,
advanced statistical skills such as structural equation modeling and
unstructured text analytics, or advanced communication skills such as
storytelling and data visualization. People with these specialized skills need
to be sourced, staffed, and continually developed into a high-performing
collaborative team capable of delivering the projects needed to fulfill the
workforce analytics vision and mission. Chapter 12 provides guidance on
determining the specific skills needed and deciding how many people to hire.
Advantages of In-house
The in-house approach for skills offers several advantages, such as control
over the nature and timing of projects. Having resources all contained within
a single team makes it relatively easy to reassign people to projects as
needed, adjust project timelines as business demands evolve, and facilitate
collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members. Another
advantage of the in-house approach is the opportunity to invest time (for
example, when in-between projects) to innovate and explore new statistical
methods and novel data sources.

Having HR domain expertise and statistical skills on the same team also
mitigates the risk of potentially misusing or misinterpreting HR data. This
can happen, for example, when someone is adept at finding statistical
relationships but is unfamiliar with the content and context of the data being
analyzed (and, therefore, is unaware of the meaning and implications of the
observed relationships).
In-house teams also have opportunities to expand their scope of
responsibilities beyond specific project work, to support the overall
workforce analytics mission. For example, they can engage in
transformational activities such as training and coaching to increase the
analytical acumen of the larger HR organization and help to advance an HR
analytical mind-set.
Disadvantages of In-house
Potential disadvantages of the in-house approach include needing to make an
upfront investment in people and the tools they need to do their jobs. This
requires in-depth planning for decisions with long-term implications; after
committing to a team of people and purchasing a set of tools, backtracking is
difficult. Staffing an in-house team also involves a lengthier initial startup
time as you source candidates, bring new hires on board, train them and get
them up to speed, and put tools and methodologies in place. The leader of a
fully staffed in-house team can expect to spend a large proportion of time
managing the team, with less time for managing projects and stakeholder
relationships.
Sizable investments are often accompanied by sizable (if not outsized)
expectations, and that can be the case when building an in-house analytics
team. Expectations of what the team can deliver according to certain
timelines could be unrealistic, leading to disappointment. Some practitioners
operate with a low profile early on to avoid this issue. Their preference is to
surprise stakeholders with valuable insights and results, as a way to garner
further support.
Another factor to consider is the political environment in the organization,
specifically in the context of challenging long-held assumptions and being
able to effect change. In some organizations, an internal team might lack the
credibility that comes from (perceived) third-party objectivity. Also relevant
is whether HR is seen as having analytical prowess instead of being thought

of primarily as a compliance-oriented and reporting function. Such
perceptions can be challenging to overcome (although not impossible, as
Chapter 16, “Overcome Resistance,” shows). Bringing in external expertise
can help allay these types of concerns.
START SMALL, KEEP IT FOCUSED

Thomas Rasmussen, Vice President of HR Data and Analytics, joined
Shell1 with the mission of setting up a workforce analytics function.
He quickly observed that Shell was already mature in two key areas:
data management (including data definitions and data quality) and
reporting. With Shell’s goal of building an end-to-end value chain,
Thomas was asked to “take it to the next level with a focus on
analytics.” Thomas achieved this by building an analytics capability
within the HR function, yet keeping it separate and distinct from data
and reporting, and by up-skilling HR leaders, enabling them to
facilitate fact-based decision making.
Thomas recommends maintaining a balance in the team between
technical expertise and business consulting skills: “It’s important to
have people who are technically proficient in working with data and
running statistics, as well as people who are adept at change
management, who can work with stakeholders and position the
results of analytics projects for action.”
Thomas also advises keeping the team relatively small (in his case,
about three to five people). This forces a focus on the most important
and impactful projects and keeps from overwhelming the
organization with more findings than it can reasonably act on in a
given period of time. With this model in place, Thomas’s team is able
to focus on the highest priorities for Shell, including projects related
to productivity, talent, and risk.
Given the breadth and depth of the work, the team is clearly in strong
demand and is serving the business well.
The In-source Option

The workforce analytics team can supplement its skills by bringing in people
from other parts of the organization to assist with specific workforce projects.
This can be a desirable option if building an end-to-end in-house workforce
analytics team does not seem feasible, yet the preference is to keep workforce
analytics within the organization. One variation of this option is to
temporarily assign an expert to a workforce analytics project. Alternatively, a
practitioner can formally transfer to the HR team from a function such as
marketing or finance and apply his or her analytics know-how to the domain
of HR.
“The risk modeling division inside the bank are very good partners. They
have made fraud calculation predictions to very advanced levels. We use
their data scientists when we need them. They are very good, they already
predict customer attrition, so we just ask them to apply their models to
different variables.”
—Kanella Salapatas
HR Data Manager and Reporting Service Owner, ANZ Bank
If a temporary, project-based assignment seems like a good option, it might

be a challenge to borrow the time and expertise of people focused on
fulfilling their own function’s mission. A possible solution is to arrange for
rotational assignments that formalize participation on a temporary basis. This
can be mutually beneficial for the functions and individuals involved. Cross-
pollination of skills and ideas is almost always healthy for an organization,
and the HR function is best positioned to structure and implement such a
program. Some practitioners have mentioned that the most valuable analytics
conversations happen when people from different functions meet informally
and share stories and perspectives, such as during occasional lunch meetings.
Rotational assignments can make such conversations more intentional and
less subject to chance encounters.
Teams might also be able to leverage expertise in centralized functions such
as communications on an as-needed basis. Peter Hartmann, Director of
Performance, Analytics and HRIS at Getinge Group, used this approach in a
previous role to in-source storytelling skills: “The ability to translate findings
into a nice story is not my core competence. I translate the numbers into a
conclusion and a recommendation, but when I have to take it into a nice
rounded story, frankly, I am not a very good storyteller. But I know it’s
important, so I’ve worked with the communications department, where they
write using a journalistic approach, and this was a match made in heaven.”
Advantages of In-sourcing
In-sourcing skills offer several advantages, such as the depth of knowledge
that internal experts have about the organization, in addition to their subject
matter expertise. Internal experts bring a level of understanding about goals,
challenges, operations, and systems that will be unmatched by an external
provider or a newly hired team member. And somewhat similar to an external
party, internal experts are less likely than an HR insider to have preconceived
notions about HR-related projects and can bring a fresh perspective (and
credibility) to the analysis.
In-sourcing is a cost-effective option that requires no substantial incremental
investment, as long as all parties involved are able to fulfill their collective
scope of responsibility. In-sourcing also extends the reach of workforce
analytics to a broader audience within the organization, helping to build a
coalition of supporters.
Disadvantages of In-sourcing
Among the disadvantages of relying on other people in the organization who
have their own commitments and responsibilities is the uncertainty associated
with team members’ availability, time, and focus to work on your projects.
Other projects might take priority for them at any given time, and resources
could be redirected, impacting your timelines and ability to fulfill your own
commitments (although this is not an issue when resources are formally
assigned to the HR team).
Another challenge is that, if the analysts are too far removed from the HR
function, a lack of domain expertise could potentially lead to inefficiencies
and rework. Without the HR “sixth sense” (see Chapter 12), the analysts
might identify relationships in the data and recommend actions, without
taking into account issues such as unfairness and discrimination.
Finally, borrowing expertise from elsewhere in the organization could give
the appearance that HR is not capable of delivering analytically based
insights. The in-sourcing option could potentially and inadvertently reinforce
this type of preconceived notion that exists in some organizations.
The Outsource Option

Outsourcing allows you to quickly and flexibly acquire skills needed beyond
the minimum capabilities. An external partner can be contracted on an as-
needed basis and, if used judiciously, can provide a cost-effective option.
External partners can be called upon to assist with a variety of tasks, such as
advanced data management (for example, normalizing data or using
predictive techniques to fill gaps in a dataset) or sophisticated analytical
techniques that are difficult or unaffordable to source internally. Partners
typically provide their own technology solutions to assist with these tasks,
minimizing the need to invest in technology.
“Businesses don’t have two years to wait for you to build sophisticated
analytical capability. By tapping into external partners, you get the skill you
need immediately.”
—Mark Berry
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, CGB Enterprises, Inc.
When chosen wisely, external providers will work with you as a true partner
in realizing your workforce analytics goals. As Andrew Marritt, founder of
OrganizationView, states, “The best consultants put themselves in the shoes
of their clients.”
Advantages of Outsourcing
In addition to providing a ready source of deep expertise, external partners
have the distinct advantage of providing a third-party perspective. Strong
partners are skilled at asking provocative, constructive questions that might
be difficult for an internal person in a politically complex environment to ask.
Laurie Bassi, CEO of McBassi & Company, expands: “Our job really is
shifting mind-sets by focusing on the power of asking good questions. As an
outsider, this can be easier to do because we are not lost in the daily grind.”
Partners can also offer experience in overcoming obstacles and points of
resistance. Peter O’Hanlon, Founder and Managing Director of Lever
Analytics, says, “Partners can say the hard things and make things happen
quickly because they’ve seen it before and they know how other
organizations work.” Partners often bring repeatable approaches that have
worked well in other organizations. As a result, you can benefit from their
learning and experiences and thus accelerate the time to realizing value from
analytics. Michael Bazigos, Managing Director and Global Head of
Organizational Analytics & Change Tracking at Accenture Strategy,
describes his approach at a previous organization: “We built a team with
domain expertise as well as quantitative expertise, and we developed
replicable solutions to take to clients to solve problems fast.”
Skilled external partners can customize their support to meet the evolving
needs of their clients. They might be able to assume all responsibilities for
statistical modeling, for example, or they might be able to coach their more
advanced clients to continually improve their analytical skills. For those in
between, partners can do as Andrew Marritt of OrganizationView has done
and coach them to be a consumer of analytics—for example, teaching clients
what to look for, what questions to ask, and how to interpret results.
In addition, not every organization has the need or desire to staff a complete
analytics function in HR. Mark Berry of CGB Enterprises, Inc., asks, “Why
build something internally when you can ‘buy’ deeper expertise on the
outside? As an organization, you don’t have to build internal capabilities for
every area of HR analytics. You can let expert service providers do it for
you.”
Disadvantages of Outsourcing
Although utilizing external providers allows a degree of flexibility in
spending, the cost can exceed that of having one or more full-time team
members if the team uses external providers extensively. Another potential
challenge is lack of continuity: Specific individuals at partner organizations
might not always be available for your projects if they are in high demand by
other clients.
External providers also need time to learn about your particular
organizational culture and environment, the specifics of your data, and the
details of your organization’s operations. Data security might also be a
consideration because you will need to release your sensitive people data for
analysis. In addition, you will likely have less flexibility to adjust your efforts
to accommodate changing priorities. Organizational demands can and do
shift, sometimes in the midst of a project. Keep in mind that you will still get
billed for time spent on paused or halted projects, with limited, if any, value
to show for it.
ACCELERATING TIME TO VALUE WITH AN

EXTERNAL PARTNER
For Patrick Coolen, Manager of HR Metrics and Analytics at ABN
AMRO Bank2, initially partnering with an external analytics firm was
the way to go. “We started with an external analytics company. We
didn’t want to worry about the quality of our models, so we did it to
scale up quickly.” They began as a small internal team of three and,
in the early days, spent their time serving as “translators” or liaisons
among the business, HR, and the analytics team. The focus was on
demonstrating to the business leaders how HR is impacting their key
performance indicators (KPIs), the main metrics used to monitor
business performance. This was time well spent.
Following early successes, the team doubled in size and increased its
analytical capability. In this more mature state, it functions as “more
of an internal consultancy with HR strategy-type people who have an
affinity for and knowledge about statistics and machine learning,”
Patrick says. Outsourcing served the team well in the beginning, and
as they built internal capability over time, they were able to bring
more of the data-related projects in-house. Although the analytics
provider continues to play an important role in the team and handles
the bigger projects, Patrick’s own team has been continually learning,
becoming better informed, asking the right questions, and ultimately
taking on the smaller projects themselves.
External expertise allowed Patrick’s team to quickly bring the value
of workforce analytics to the business while building their own
capability for the future. This proved a worthwhile investment: The
team established credibility quickly, resulting in more requests from
the business than the team can handle. Mission accomplished!
Table 13.1 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the three broad
options for building workforce analytics skills: in-house, in-source, and
outsource.
Table 13.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Partner Options

Choosing Among the Options
We have described the Six Skills for Success that are needed for a workforce
analytics team, and the options available for obtaining those skills. Now
consider the factors that are important when building the team. First, follow
the guidance in Chapter 12 to determine how many people with the required
skills are needed, relative to the skills you are starting with and the work that
needs to get done. Then consider the following factors in choosing among an
in-house, in-source, or outsource approach (or some combination): budgets,
skill availability, time, organizational expertise, organization size,
perceptions of HR, and need for third-party objectivity.
Budgets
Some organizations have the good fortune of generous budgets for building
workforce analytics capabilities, but most face budgetary constraints. The
amount of funding available defines the boundaries of what can initially be
built. If you are in the fortunate position of having sufficient funds available,
you might opt for fully staffing an internal team and supporting it with state-
of-the-art tools and technology. As noted in the following sections, however,
budget is not the only consideration. Teams with more limited budgets need
to estimate the cost of each best-fit option and choose the path that conforms
to their budget. As you execute your first few projects and demonstrate
success, you will likely have further opportunities to build a business case for
a larger investment.
Availability of Required Skills

Funding is necessary but not sufficient for staffing a team. You also need to
find skilled resources in the local labor market, and certain skills such as data
science might be in high demand but short supply (as a 2011 McKinsey &
Company report highlighted). If you are unable to find all the skills you need
locally, you might need to start with an external provider or find a way to
leverage skills elsewhere in the organization. Other strategies to consider
include recruiting outside your local labor market and hiring remote workers.
If you ultimately expect to build more capability in-house, you might want to
start building a pipeline of skilled people you can eventually call upon when
needed. For deep analytical skills, developing relationships with universities
and expanding your personal network of analytics experts can help with
sourcing skills in the future. Attending analytics conferences, for example,
provides exposure to both ideas and the experts themselves. Associating with
a network of analytics practitioners also gives you a source of potential
qualified candidates when you need it.
Time to Deliver Value

The ability to respond to requests within the timeframe needed is an
important consideration when deciding whether to hire or partner. If a great
deal of urgency surrounds a particular business problem, or if the team needs
to quickly demonstrate the benefits workforce analytics can bring, the fastest
path might involve partnering with an external provider. Even if your long-
term strategy is to build capability in-house, working with a partner initially

can be an effective way to get started and accelerate time to value.
Depth of Expertise in the Organization

Some organizations are more analytically oriented by nature, given the type
of business they are in; others might not have needed a strong analytics focus
in the past. Josh Bersin, founder and Principal of Bersin by Deloitte, explains:
“Insurance companies have actuaries—they understand statistics, it’s their
core business. Retail companies have sophisticated analytics in customer and
market segmentation. It’s starting to hit manufacturing, where there’s been a
lot of focus on quality. In these industries, analytics is already embedded in
the company, so it’s easier for them to get their arms around it.”
If your organization has strong analytics capabilities in functions such as
marketing, research and development, finance, or supply chain, you might
want to arrange access to these skills for your analytics function. This can
come in the form of bringing a workforce analytics mission to an existing
enterprise analytics function or bringing resources from other functions into
the HR team to build analytics skills within.
Organization Size
The size of an organization partly dictates the approach for building
analytical capability. Small organizations are likely to benefit most from
outsourcing anything beyond the minimum capabilities. This is because, for a
small organization, benefits are unlikely to scale to the same extent as in
larger organizations. In addition, partnering allows small companies to
connect with highly skilled experts when they need them, without the burden
of large salary expenditures and lengthy ramp-up times. Mark Berry explains,
“I don’t have to maintain those sunk costs, and I can manage the cyclical
nature of the business. The outsourcing model is the right model for us.”
Perception of HR
Another consideration is the internal perception of the HR function. In some
instances, lines of business develop their own HR analytics capabilities
separate from the HR function. This can occur because of a perception that
HR is not meeting their business demand. For example, a business needing to
hire a large number of staff in a short period of time might have prompted
those business areas to develop their own analytical techniques for
forecasting workforce requirements and filling vacancies.
If you encounter such a situation, a collaborative approach is recommended.
Listen carefully to your colleagues’ needs, and demonstrate your team’s
analytics know-how and willingness to experiment and take risks. If this
situation arises an in-source approach, partnering with the line of business, is
recommended. In most instances, the best outcomes result when the lines of
business and HR work together to address business challenges.
Third-Party Objectivity
Some organizations use external parties because of their impartiality and
perceived credibility. In addition, some projects are sensitive in nature and
preclude an internal team from working on them. For example, leadership
analytics for selecting potential CEO successors would require restricted
visibility, as would analytics related to a merger, acquisition, or divestiture.
In these instances, partnering with an external provider will likely be
necessary.
Partnering allows flexibility in acquiring the skills needed to fulfill the
workforce analytics vision and mission. As your team evolves and your
positive contributions to the business become clear, you will have
opportunities to secure additional budget, source more skills, and, ultimately,
build the function that best serves your needs. Mihaly Nagy, CEO of the HR
Congress and Managing Director of Stamford Global, observes, “When
organizations don’t have the resources in-house, they turn to consultants to
help them on the journey. Once they see early wins, more funds become
available. Then dedicated functions get built.”
Summary
Establishing a workforce analytics function does not necessarily mean
staffing a fully skilled end-to-end in-house team. Although that is certainly
one option, collaborating with partners (either internal to the organization or
external providers) could be the best path to success. Consider the following
when choosing among your options:
• Understand the options for bringing together the needed workforce
analytics skills (in-house, in-source, outsource) and the advantages and
disadvantages of each.

• Determine the availability of needed skills in the local labor market.
• Assess the time required for sourcing, hiring, and training new team
members relative to timing expectations for project delivery.
• Estimate the cost of hiring versus outsourcing, given the skills needed.
• Assess the organization’s perception of HR, to determine whether the
credibility typically associated with external experts will be advantageous.
• Determine whether the required skills reside elsewhere in the
organization, and assess the feasibility of partnering with those functions
to execute your initial projects.
• Investigate whether any people in other parts of your organization have
undertaken their own workforce analytics efforts; if so, seek opportunities
to collaborate.
• Consider all the factors (including budgets, skill availability, time,
organizational expertise, organization size, perceptions of HR, and the
need for third-party objectivity) to select the best option for your
circumstances.
1 Royal Dutch Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical

companies that, at the end of 2015, had an average of 93,000 employees
in more than 70 countries. It was formed in 1907 and is headquartered in
The Hague, the Netherlands. Shell is helping to meet the world’s growing
demand for energy in economically, environmentally, and socially
responsible ways (www.shell.com).
2 ABN AMRO serves retail, private, and corporate banking clients with a
primary focus on the Netherlands and with selective operations
internationally. In the Netherlands, clients are offered a comprehensive
and full range of products and services through omni-channel
distribution, including advanced mobile application and Internet banking
(www.abnamro.nl).

14
Establish an Operating Model
“We are being very proactive in defining the operating model and who
catches what—which person to go to for which types of questions.”
—Rebecca White
Talent Analytics Senior Manager, LinkedIn
The goal of workforce analytics is to inform decision making and

improve business performance. To fully realize this objective, the
organization must embrace the workforce analytics function and
integrate it into its strategy and operations. In this chapter, we outline
an operating model that will set you on the path to this desired state.
The intent of this guidance is to create efficiencies that help you
maximize the time you spend conducting analyses, communicating
insights, developing recommendations, and implementing and
assessing actions that solve your business challenges. Instead of
reacting in an ad hoc manner to issues and challenges, your operating
model should allow you to focus on high-priority work with minimal
unnecessary diversions.
• The components of a workforce analytics operating model
• Ways to link your operations to your strategy
• Governance to guide your operations
• Clarity and operational discipline for your team and projects
• How to hold yourself accountable
Defining Your Operating Model

An operating model describes how a group will conduct its business within
the larger organization and external environment in which it resides.
Operating models are useful for identifying important working relationships,
helping resolve issues and conflicts, and guiding decision making. When
designed carefully and thoughtfully, an operating model helps you achieve
your workforce analytics mission by aligning daily execution with what you
ultimately set out to achieve. Figure 14.1 illustrates the recommended
workforce analytics operating model elements.
Figure 14.1 The workforce analytics operating model.
As you can see at the top of Figure 14.1, an operating model keeps your day-
to-day operations consistent with your workforce analytics strategy, as
defined by your vision and mission. A governance framework helps you
balance the needs of various stakeholders, from specifying the proper
handling of data, to operating within the designated reporting structure, to
defining decision-making procedures. Within that framework, you need to
structure the implementation of your ongoing work through team structure,
clarity of roles and responsibilities, and a disciplined approach to project
management. And as with any business investment, accountability for results
is required, through articulating a business case and tracking metrics that
demonstrate your impact relative to those investments.
Strategy
To ensure ongoing relevance, it is important that the workforce analytics
team’s work aligns with and supports the organization’s overall strategy. As
business conditions change and the organization adapts, the workforce
analytics team’s focus should similarly evolve to meet new challenges and
requirements. Periodically verifying your team’s vision and mission will help
maintain the alignment needed.
Confirming Your Vision and Mission

As you read in Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction,” validating your vision and
mission early on is important. As you gain experience, business priorities
shift, and you demonstrate what is possible, your vision and mission should
continue to reflect these dynamics. Re-engage stakeholders and project
sponsors with a renewed perspective of what your team can accomplish.
Reformulate your team’s desired future (your revised vision statement) and
perhaps articulate a bolder statement of what your team can accomplish and
how (your revised mission statement). Validate these revised statements of
purpose with your key stakeholders and project sponsors, and communicate
methodically to reach all necessary audiences.
As you revisit your vision and mission, ensure that they reflect the right
guiding policies to overcome the challenges you strive to address with
Governance
Governance provides a framework for how a group operates within its larger
organization and environment. It is extremely useful for clarifying rules of
engagement when working with workforce data, as well as specifying
effective reporting relationships and guiding decision making.
Working with HR Data Ethically and Responsibly

Working with HR data requires special care because of the often personal and
sensitive nature of the information. HR datasets generally contain personal
information about employees. This is referred to in the United States as
sensitive personal information (SPI) and in the United Kingdom as sensitive
personal data; other countries have similar designations. This is information
that, if compromised or disclosed, could result in such damaging situations
and legislative violations as identity theft, discrimination, or unwanted
negative publicity. Proper data handling procedures must be established for
the long-term operations of the workforce analytics function.
Working with organizational data requires a clear understanding of and
adherence to all relevant data legislation, regulations, and guidelines. Some
policies come from the organization itself, and the team must also follow
country-specificlegislation and regulations. Additionally, requirements exist
for transferring data between nations. For example, the Privacy Shield
Frameworks1 were developed to help U.S. companies transfer personal data
from European Union countries and Switzerland. When working with people
data in organizations, the sensitivity is further heightened. Extraordinary care
must be taken to respect and adhere to all requirements regarding data
collection, storage, access, and use. Organizations often have functions such
as corporate information councils and roles such as the chief privacy officer
that are charged with overseeing data-related matters. The workforce
analytics team should work with such functions and people to ensure
appropriate use of the organization’s workforce data and avoid any misuse.
“There’s a risk of discrimination if the domain knowledge is not there. For

example, a statistical model could detect something about people who take
six to nine months off and then return to work. HR people would know this
was probably due to mothers on maternity leave, whereas a computer
scientist might not.”
—Andrew Marritt
Founder, OrganizationView
Data policies and regulations exist for good reason: to keep everyone safe
from data misuse, fraud, and unethical and illegal activity. The increasing
availability of data and the increasing ease of analysis should not be used to
justify unconstrained and ill-conceived analyses. For example, organizations
might have the ability to collect information on marital status or the number
of children in an employee’s family, but using that information to make
decisions about employees would be inappropriate in some jurisdictions or a
violation of employment law. Furthermore, no organization should take
action on the basis of the marital or family status of its workers. Eric
Mackaluso, Senior Director of People Analytics, Global HR Strategy &
Planning, ADP, further points out, “It’s an ethical question; just because you
can do it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”
HR domain expertise is extremely useful in ensuring proper use of data.
Having this expertise on your team makes you better prepared to avoid the
pitfalls and dead ends that result from spending time on statistical
relationships that are inappropriate, potentially unethical, and possibly
irrelevant for consideration. As a cautionary tale, consider the case of a
multinational organization we encountered. In this example, an entire
analytics project was derailed because it pointed to recommendations that
were potentially discriminatory. The analysis was sound and the business
question was highly relevant to the organization, however, the team failed to
spot the warning signs until the storytelling phase with the executive
sponsors. At this point the project was halted. Upon reflection, the analytics
professional realized this outcome could have been avoided with proper
knowledge of HR practices surrounding the use of people-related data.
You must also be mindful that data collected for some purposes cannot
always be analyzed for other purposes. Even if you have what appears to be
the perfect dataset, you must respect legislation, regulations, and policies that
indicate it is inappropriate for further analysis. In cases such as this,
alternative data might need to be identified or new data collected. When
collecting new data, do so with an eye to the future analyses you may wish to
conduct and obtain suitable permissions accordingly.
Note that often it is perfectly acceptable to analyze existing data in aggregate
at the group level. For example, a retail company might want to understand
differences in performance across its different store outlets. Analyzing
variables such as employee survey scores at the outlet level should be
perfectly acceptable. The sensitivity tends to arise when data are used for
making decisions about individuals—specifically, decisions that were not
intended when the data were collected. For example, employee survey scores
designed to measure department-level engagement should not be used to
isolate particular employees with low scores for some sort of action (such as
managing them out of the business).
Finally, when collecting new data, you must be open and transparent about
analytical intentions. Teams can take steps to increase employees’ comfort
level with sharing their data for analytics purposes. We recommend a four-
factor framework developed by Nigel Guenole and Jonathan Ferrar in 2015,
identified by the acronym FORT:
• Listen to feedback on the analytics goals from people who will be
affected.
• Where possible, make sharing of data optional.
• Give some recognition to those who agree to share their data for
• Be transparent about everything that is done.
To summarize, the following actions are essential to ensure responsible and
ethical handling of HR data:
• Understand and adhere to all legal and regulatory requirements regarding
collection, usage, storage, and sharing of data.
• Understand and adhere to all company-specific data guidelines.
• Keep your knowledge of guidelines and regulations up-to-date through
relationships with information councils in your organization.
• Understand the boundaries of the appropriate use of people data.
• Strive for broad approvals for future data usage when undertaking new
data collection efforts.
• Establish an environment (based on gathering feedback, opting in,
recognizing contributions, and ensuring transparency) that encourages
employees to share their data for workforce analytics purposes.
Optimizing Your Reporting Structure

An important structural consideration is where the workforce analytics
function reports organizationally. Two broad options exist: The workforce
analytics team either reports into HR or is part of an enterprise-wide analytics
function. Making it part of the HR function is the most common approach. In
some cases, teams report directly to the chief human resources officer
(CHRO). Others report into a subfunction of HR, such as organization
development, talent, HR planning and strategy, or HR information systems.
Still others are part of a shared services model within HR. Chapter 3, “The
Workforce Analytics Leader,” covers this.
Despite the prevalence of workforce analytics functions reporting into HR,
some practitioners favor the enterprise analytics approach to organizational
structure. Rebecca White, the Talent Analytics Senior Manager at LinkedIn,
is part of a team that reports into the head of business operations in the
finance function. The team has had great success addressing business issues
through workforce analytics within this reporting structure. For example, the
team has improved the efficiency of the recruiting process in support of
LinkedIn’s aggressive growth strategy, and it has increased the diversity of
hires, a business imperative. Although the team does not report into the HR
function, HR expertise resides directly in the team.
Some experts view this approach as a desirable progression as workforce
analytics becomes more established in the organization. For example,
Mariëlle Sonnenberg is the Global Director of HR Strategy and Analytics at
Wolters Kluwer, and her team currently reports into HR. She aspires,
however, to move her team into an enterprise-wide analytics function. She
would like to see workforce analytics ultimately integrated fully into the
business. “Workforce analytics does not need to be separate because the
analytical capabilities are an integrated part of our organization,” she says. “It
does not need to reside in HR.”
In our view, reporting directly to the CHRO (or at least having direct access
to the CHRO) yields the best outcomes for the analytics team and the
organization. This C-level reporting structure keeps the focus of the team
closely aligned with strategic business priorities and has the greatest chance
of informing decision making about important business topics. If the
analytics team reports further down in the HR function, it is important to
have a strong relationship with and direct access to the CHRO. If the
workforce analytics team is part of a broader enterprise-wide analytics
function, access to knowledgeable HR professionals, particularly the CHRO,
is even more important. This provides the guidance that HR expertise brings
in understanding people-related issues and working with people data. A
dotted-line reporting relationship to the CHRO can formalize this connection.
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

Damien Dellala leads the People Data and Analytics Enablement

team at Westpac.2 He comes from a digital banking background: “I
started in digital, doing business analysis. I always loved data and am
analytically minded. I wrote the digital strategy, operating model, and
governance. I delivered a new enterprise data warehouse, forced all
the data in there, created it from scratch.”
Damien’s experience in digital banking meant he understood the
importance of setting things up the right way in an analytics function.
He took on this challenge when he started leading the analytics team
in HR. “When I joined the HR team, I noticed the analytics team was
very immature compared to other organizations in the bank, and this
was an opportunity to take Westpac to the next level. The concept
was, we need to treat our employee data like we do our customer
data.”
Damien decided on some key principles:
• Make sure everyone understands what you are doing.
• Define your capability.
• Set clear goals for your team and measure supply and demand.
• Get a really good senior stakeholder, a sponsor for the team.
Damien focused on setting things up properly. Skills, capability, data
governance, mission, business governance, and even the name of the
group took time to decide. This is where his senior stakeholder
helped to supplement his earlier experience in digital banking and
build a strong team. Damien concludes, “All of this led us to
undertake some important projects with strong sponsorship to support
the business success.”
Establishing a Decision-Making Approach

Many decisions will need to be made in the course of your workforce
analytics activities. For example, you need to decide whether the data you
have obtained have adequate quality and completeness to proceed with
analysis. After you have analyzed the data, you need to decide whether the
results make sense and are actionable. You also need to decide on the right
set of recommendations and how best to communicate them to your various
audiences. And before all of this, you must decide which projects to select
and how to prioritize if the number of potential projects exceeds the team’s
capacity to manage them all.
To maximize your decision-making effectiveness, establish a decision-
making process that will work well for your team. Decision making can be
defined as selecting a course of action (or inaction) from a set of alternatives
to achieve the best possible outcome. In many ways, the decision-making
process mirrors the analytics process: defining a problem, gathering
information, identifying options and analyzing the pros and cons, choosing an
option based on evidence, implementing, and following up (see Figure 14.2
for our recommended workforce analytics decision-making process).
Approaching decisions in such a structured manner should result in better
outcomes than relying on intuition and “gut feel,” which is the very reason
for embracing workforce analytics in the first place.
Figure 14.2 Workforce analytics decision-making process.

Seeking a broad perspective on key decisions, including perspectives that
differ from your own, is also beneficial. In a 2014 Scientific American
article, Katherine Phillips of Columbia Business School cites research
showing that diverse groups challenge and process information more deeply,
resulting in better decisions. This means the decision-making process will
likely be less comfortable and more time consuming, but getting better
outcomes is worth navigating the additional challenges. Diversity of opinion
also provides useful checks and balances that help you avoid overlooking
important facts and considerations. Engaging a broad set of stakeholders in
key decisions helps secure commitment to the decisions as well, improving
the chances of follow-through.
Finally, determine what you will do in case of an impasse. At some point,
differing perspectives will likely impede getting to a decision. You will want
a defined and agreed approach for moving forward. This could take the form
of a designated final arbiter for different types of decisions or an advisory
panel that will weigh in. You might even insist on consensus among a
specific group of stakeholders for certain decisions. For particularly
challenging decisions, agreeing on a set of decision criteria might be a good
first step, followed by evaluating the alternatives relative to the criteria. For
example, in deciding which project to undertake, criteria could include the
following:
• Project complexity
• Business value (quantitative and qualitative)
• Cost of implementation
• Ease of implementation
• Willingness to implement
Agreeing on the criteria beforehand makes the actual decision-making
process easier and more objective.
Table 14.1 shows examples of typical workforce analytics decisions and
potential methods for resolving an impasse. Thinking through the options and
choosing the most effective one for your organization’s culture will improve
the time to resolution.
The best way to address the full spectrum of decisions you are likely to
encounter—both routine and unanticipated—is to establish an advisory panel

to provide guidance and assistance as needed. This can prove invaluable in
deciding which projects are strategic, what data will be needed, how to
handle privacy issues, and how to prioritize multiple project demands.
Advisory panel members will likely vary, depending on factors such as the
reporting structure for the analytics team; the panel might include
representatives from finance, legal, HR, and other functions. The additional
perspective the advisory panel provides will enable the team’s success,
ensure the right sponsorship, and hold the team accountable to the
organization and the workforce (in addition to HR).
Table 14.1 Examples of Typical Workforce Analytics Decisions and How

to Resolve an Impasse

Implementation
Well-defined structures and operating procedures help optimize your team’s
efficiency and effectiveness. A properly designed team structure, well-
defined roles and responsibilities, and a systematic approach to conducting
projects will ensure that your team focuses on high-value work.
Structuring Your Team

An important decision is how best to structure your team, given its mission
and scope. If your scope includes both HR metrics reporting and statistical
analyses, you need to decide whether to separate analytics and reporting
organizationally or to keep both responsibilities within a single team. Teams
can achieve success in both scenarios; the option you choose should be
consistent with and enable your team’s mission. Importantly, if reporting is
part of the mission, you should have clear and distinct definitions of reporting
versus analytics, to avoid the common situation of reporting tasks consuming
the time and capacity of the team’s analytics experts.
An example of separating reporting from analytics comes from Thomas
Rasmussen, Vice President of HR Data and Analytics at Shell Oil and
Energy. As you learned in Chapter 13, “Partner for Skills,” when tasked with
building an end-to-end value chain from data through reporting to analytics,
Thomas did so by separating the components into distinct teams. This
allowed each team to focus on its core competencies, with reporting expertise
residing within a shared-services center of excellence (CoE), and helped the
analytics team focus on applying advanced statistical techniques to solve
business problems.
Without this clear separation, you risk having business managers turn to
anyone on the analytics team to support their reporting needs. When highly
skilled analysts spend time on routine data requests, the team is not
optimizing its capabilities. Another dynamic that can consume the analytics
team’s time with reporting tasks is the differing skill levels—specifically, the
business knowledge and acumen common among analytics professionals.
Christian Cormack, Head of HR Analytics at AstraZeneca, describes this:
“Despite having a separate reporting team, we found that the analytics team
was being used as a high-quality reporting service. As the analytics team was
closer to the business, we were often able to provide a more relevant answer.
To be successful, whether in analytics or reporting, you need to really
understand in detail what people in the business do; otherwise, it’s very hard
to put the business questions into context.”
A different perspective comes from Damien Dellala at Westpac Group.
Damien found synergies in keeping reporting and analytics together in a
single team. Damien explains, “The data warehouse was the underlying
infrastructure, and it makes sense to have analytics off the same common
platform as reporting, therefore leveraging an aligned dataset. There’s a lot of
prototyping that needs to be done first with a nice synergy at this stage of
development. You hope your reporting generates the right questions to be
asked of the analytics, and the actions from the analytics should inform the
reporting.”
Placid Jover, Vice President of HR–Organisation & Analytics at Unilever,
goes even further, arguing that reporting versus analytics is a meaningless
distinction. “Not everyone needs reporting, just like not everyone needs some
of the flashy predictive modeling. The business just knows that it has a
problem that needs to be solved, and if you solve it, the business does not
care that you used a reporting solution or an advanced analytics solution.”
Clearly, differing perspectives result from varying experiences and
philosophies. Our view is that analytics goes beyond reporting. If reporting is
part of your function’s scope, be very clear about the distinction between
analytics and reporting and who is responsible for each. Ultimately, you will
choose the setup that best supports your mission, best matches your culture,
and is the most feasible to implement based on your organization’s existing
capabilities (within HR as well as across the broader enterprise).
Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities

To enable productivity and avoid confusion, clarity of roles and
responsibilities in organizations is essential. Tammy Erickson, in a 2012
Harvard Business Review article, wrote that teams perform and collaborate
best when each member’s roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. This
clarity allows team members to execute well even when the task at hand is
ambiguous; they stay focused on the work, as opposed to negotiating who
does what. The leader must ensure that roles are clearly defined and
understood.
A responsibility matrix can be a useful framework for defining and
communicating roles and responsibilities. One such matrix is commonly
known by the acronym RACI, for responsible, accountable, consulted, and
informed. The framework is used by creating a matrix of tasks and roles and
then, for each cell in the matrix, indicating the following:
• Responsible. People who perform the work needed to execute a task
• Accountable. The person who is ultimately looked to for task completion
(only one person should be designated accountable for any given task)
• Consulted. People whose opinions and input are solicited for their subject
matter expertise (typically, two-way communications)
• Informed. People who need to be aware of the task and are kept updated
on progress (typically, one-way communication)
This is one approach for achieving the clarity needed for success. Several
variations of this approach have been developed as well; you can find them
on publicly available sources (for example, www.racitraining.com). Select
the approach that works best for your team and ensures the following:
• The buck stops here. For each major task, agree on the one person
ultimately accountable for its successful completion.
• Nothing slips through the cracks. Agree on who will actually perform
each task.
• No work takes place in a vacuum. Identify who to consult for input and
who to update on progress, decisions, and outcomes.
Figure 14.3 illustrates how a partial RACI matrix might look for a workforce
analytics project; this is an example and not intended as guidance for all
projects. In this hypothetical example, a three-person workforce analytics
team consists of the leader, the data scientist, and the industrial-
organizational psychologist. The team must work with four stakeholders: a
project sponsor, a data owner, a subject matter expert, and the organization’s
data privacy officer. This example demonstrates that, for each task, a single
person is accountable to ensure completion and specific individuals are
designated as responsible for carrying out the work. In other words, the
framework creates clarity about who is doing what.

Figure 14.3 Sample RACI matrix.
A Consulting Approach to Project Management

Another operating procedure to consider is how the team will conduct its
work. When that work involves advanced analytics, it’s best to think in terms
of projects with a defined beginning (project initiation), middle (project
execution), and end (project conclusion). Our recommended approach to
managing projects is to adopt a consulting model, with the attendant
discipline that ensures clarity of objectives and deliverables, well-planned
execution, and proper completion. See Figure 14.4 for an illustration.

Figure 14.4 Example consulting approach to project management.
Project Initiation
Well-managed projects are initiated with clearly defined objectives,
designated project teams with specified roles and responsibilities, defined
deliverables, and an initial high-level timeline. One of the most important
roles is the project manager, who has accountability for fulfilling
commitments, managing the team, communicating with stakeholders,
negotiating changes when needed (for example, extending timelines and
responding to changing priorities), and ensuring high-quality work. During
the initiation phase, the project manager assembles the team, identifies
stakeholders and sponsors, gathers preliminary input and perspectives,
creates a high-level project plan with overall timelines and milestones (see
Figure 14.5), and conducts a project kickoff meeting to discuss and establish
the plans with the project sponsor and team.

Figure 14.5 Sample high-level project plan.
At this planning stage, it is helpful to build in work activities for potential

actions to be implemented, along with methods for assessing the impact of
actions. Although you cannot know at this early stage what the results will
indicate or what actions will be recommended (or who will be responsible for
implementing them), it is important to make explicit in your planning that
implementation and follow-up evaluations are expected. In other words, the
project does not end when results are presented. Implementation and
assessment activities should be part of the project plan.
Project Execution
When the project is formally kicked off, a detailed project plan might be
necessary. The rigor needed depends on the size and scale of the project. For
more extensive projects (for example, 6 to 12 months or longer in duration),
more detailed project management is needed. This includes specifying tasks,
due dates, owners, dependencies, key meetings, and milestones. The project
manager will track task status on a regular basis, highlight risks, identify and
implement mitigating actions, and escalate issues to senior project leadership
when needed. For shorter projects, a simpler high-level project plan will
suffice. See Figure 14.6 for a sample portion of a detailed project plan.

Figure 14.6 Sample portion of detailed project plan.
With project management processes firmly in place, the team can proceed
with the analytics work. This includes further defining the key issues and
hypotheses, identifying data and analysis requirements, collecting and
analyzing data, developing insights and recommended actions, and
developing the story to be communicated.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL ANALYTICS OPERATIONS

In establishing his analytics operating model, Placid Jover, Vice
President of HR–Organisation & Analytics at Unilever,3 has some
clear advice. He believes that the following three points are essential
in delivering successful analytics projects:
• Make better decisions about which projects to undertake:
“Understand the way you are making money and losing money,
where you are competing well and not competing well, and so on,”
Placid says. He further explains that if you focus on the business,
deciding which analytics projects to choose becomes much easier.
• Get the right skills for the right analytics: “Once you know the
problems and hypotheses, make sure you then bring in the right
people. Don’t just use Excel; this will not make you a good analytics
person.” Placid strongly believes that you need to match the skills to

the desired level of analytics. This can include bringing in a third
party or other experts from elsewhere in the company. Whatever you
do, bring in credible people and be clear about everyone’s roles and
responsibilities.
• Be accountable with numeric targets: “If you can’t marry your
agenda with the numbers agenda, then you will not succeed,” Placid
says. He is clear that you need to be numerate not just in your
analysis, but also in the way you tell your story and take
accountability. Demonstrating success in a numerical way is
important for a team’s credibility in the company.
When creating an analytics team, Placid advises taking on the right
projects with the right skills to maximize your chances for success.
Project Conclusion
When the project execution phase is complete, closeout actions begin. Design
an implementation plan for the recommended actions. Include key
milestones, implementation responsibilities, change management actions, and
success metrics.
Formal feedback should be given to team members (in addition to ongoing
informal feedback throughout the project duration). Feedback should be
gathered from project sponsors and stakeholders, to get their perspective on
what went well and what future projects can improve.
Finally, the team should discuss and document the lessons learned and the
insights gained from this project. For example, if you learned that you
underestimated the amount of time it would take to obtain data access, build
additional time into your next project plan for that activity.
Accountability
If an organization makes an investment in workforce analytics, it is only
reasonable to expect a positive return on that investment. The analytics team
must demonstrate the value of workforce analytics through a well-structured
business case and the capability to track the team’s performance through a set
of relevant metrics.
Building the Business Case

A business case is a formal, structured, and logical justification used to obtain
approval for an investment. It might be needed to justify setting up a team or
function, or for obtaining initial funding for exploratory projects that will
pave the way for more substantial projects in the future. As Mariëlle
Sonnenberg of Wolters Kluwer puts it,“It takes investment to show what you
can do. Because it is behavioral science, you always need a bit of
experimenting with the data. This requires time, resources, and an
investment.”
In addition, a business case can be used to justify investment in specific
technologies to support the team, or for changing the skills or direction of the
team to “take it to the next level.” This was the approach for Arun
Chidambaram, Head of Global Talent Analytics at Pfizer: “It is a good idea to
plan for growth and get investment early on. Why would you plan to keep
trying to compete with the same people in your team if you could do better
with different people?” Arun also regularly revises his plan against the
demand from the business:“Once you have a solid analytics base, then be
flexible and grow where your demand is, including growing skills in new
countries and experimenting with new technologies when needed.”
Finally, a business case should include a clear statement of the problem, the
impact of the problem (such as unnecessary costs, inefficiencies, or negative
effect on a company’s brand), the recommended solution, the investment
required for the solution, and benefits expected from the solution. Impact and
benefits should be comprehensive and can include quantifiable as well as
qualitative information. The business case should compare the benefits of the
recommended action with the cost of doing nothing about the problem.
For workforce analytics, your focus should stay on linking people-related
issues to organizational outcomes. The benefits of workforce analytics
typically far exceed the investment needed. If you consider that people-
related costs are among the largest expenditures for an organization, you have
ample opportunity to bring value to your organization by improving the
effectiveness of people-related processes and practices.
“HR has opportunities to think of their employees more like customers and
leverage data that is generated from user interactions. Between 50 percent
and 60 percent of operating expenses are people related. By looking at
employees as customers, there are many business case examples for analytics

across the employee lifecycle, from talent acquisition, to engagement,
productivity to retention.”
—Damien Dellala
Head of People Data & Analytics Enablement, Westpac Group
In building the business case, you should work with stakeholders and
prospective project sponsors. When consulting with them about what is
possible, you might find it helpful to present case studies of similar work that
has been well executed and clearly shows the return on investment (for
example, quantified value of improved performance, faster time to
productivity, or reduced cost). This helps set expectations and, if necessary,
stimulates conversation about the expected deliverables of the analytics work.
In addition to comprehensively quantifying the benefits of workforce
analytics, you must fully understand the cost of the investment. Specify what
is needed in terms of people (internal staff and external partners), workspace,
tools and technology, and any other expenditure needed. Be sure to obtain the
organization’s commitment to the resources and funding required in
exchange for your commitment to deliver value.
Defining Your Success Metrics

You’ve made projections and commitments in the business case about
benefits that will result from your analytics work. To build momentum and
keep the team funded and functioning, you need to demonstrate those
benefits as they are realized. To do this, it is important to agree on a set of
metrics for your team. Two broad categories of metrics exist: outcome
metrics and proximal metrics.
• Outcome metrics. These metrics are your ultimate indicators of success.
For example, what cost savings did you achieve? By how much did you
improve productivity? How did customer satisfaction ratings change as a
result of better enabling the customer support staff? How much did
contract extensions and renewals increase by keeping customer facing
staff in their roles for a longer period of time? Of course, you do not want
to wait until the end of a project to learn that you did not get the result you
were intending. This is why proximal metrics are so important.
• Proximal metrics. These metrics serve as interim measures of how you
are doing relative to your ultimate outcome, and they allow for timely
course correction as needed. Suppose your organization has a problem
with contract extensions and renewals—specifically, compared to the
competition, your company’s rates are subpar. Suppose, then, that your
analyses reveal, as hypothesized, that customers are dissatisfied when the
people working on their account change frequently. You recommend
extending client assignment length from an average of four months to
eight months, thus providing more continuity for clients. The
recommendation is agreed upon, and after 12 months, you measure year-
over-year renewals and extensions. Unfortunately, the rates are the same
as last year at this time, before the intervention. Was the recommendation
ineffective? Perhaps, but what if staff members weren’t actually staying
the full eight months as recommended? Measuring the staff assignment
duration would be a proximal metric that could shed light on an
unexpected outcome—better yet, it could indicate an implementation
issue that the company could fix before measuring the outcome metric and
drawing a conclusion.
For each project your team undertakes, agree on a concise set of outcome and
proximal metrics with the sponsors. Ensure that you are actually able to
measure all your planned metrics, and be prepared to act on the results.
Finally, keep in mind that not every outcome metric will have a monetary
value associated with it. Some people-related objectives have a nonfinancial
goal for individuals, the organization, and society. You will still want to
measure your outcomes relative to that purpose, but you will do so in a
nonfinancial way.
Summary
A well-planned operating model drives efficiencies and allows the workforce
analytics team to focus on the work at hand: successfully implementing
analytics projects that improve business results. Following are the key actions
for establishing your operating model:
• Confirm your vision and mission, incorporating the renewed perspective
that comes with experience.
• Understand data privacy legislation, regulations, and policies for all
countries in which your organization operates, and adhere to them at all
times.
• Understand the sensitivities of HR data; rely on local HR expertise to
guide your analysis and ensure that you operate within policies and
guidelines.
• Request broad permissions for data use when embarking on a new data
collection effort, and encourage employee participation by applying the
FORT framework (gathering feedback, opting in, recognizing
contributions, and ensuring transparency).
• Ensure that the reporting structure provides access to the CHRO.
• Manage your team’s scope and configuration to ensure that analytics does
not get displaced with metrics reporting activities.
• Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of your team and the people
you interact with to execute your mission.
• Agree on a decision-making process that will serve your team well, and
use an advisory panel as part of your process.
• Adopt a consultancy approach to project management, with clearly
defined activities and checkpoints during project initiation, execution, and
conclusion.
• Build a business case at least annually that contains a comprehensive view
of investments and benefits, to demonstrate return on investment and
obtain commitment for funding.
• Agree on and implement your own outcome and proximal metrics to hold
your team accountable for delivering value to the organization.
1 Implemented in 2016 and 2017, the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy

Shield Frameworks are mechanisms to comply with EU and Swiss data
protection requirements when transferring personal data from the
European Union and Switzerland to the United States in support of
transatlantic commerce (www.privacyshield.gov).
2 Westpac was Australia’s first bank, established in 1817 as the Bank of
New South Wales; it became Westpac Banking Corporation in 1982. It
has operations mainly across the Asia Pacific region, with nearly 13
million customers (www.westpac.com.au).
3 Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company
coheadquartered in Rotterdam and London. Its products include food,
beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. It had a turnover
of almost €53 billion in 2016, and its products are sold in approximately
190 countries globally (www.unilever.com).

IV
Establishing an Analytics Culture

18 The Road Ahead

15
Enable Analytical Thinking
“For most HR professionals, this is not how they were trained, it’s not why
they went into HR. We need HR people to accept that it’s a good thing to use
workforce analytics to make decisions.”
—Tracy Layney
Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Shutterfly Inc.
A common refrain among analytics practitioners is that human

resources (HR) professionals like to work with people, not data. One
goal of workforce analytics teams therefore should be to enable the
wider HR community within their organizations to embrace an
analytical mind-set and approach. Broad acceptance of an analytical
approach to HR will maximize the reach and level of impact of the
analytics teams’ work.
he best approach for helping HR professionals embrace analytics is to
understand their starting point and build from there. In other words,
determine their comfort and skill levels for an analytical approach to
HR, and plan your enablement activities accordingly.
Types of analytics perspectives in HR
• How to enable an HR analytics mind-set
• The analytics “translator” role
• The role of leadership in creating a culture of analytics
Perspectives of Analytics in HR
HR professionals have varying degrees of analytics comfort and expertise. A
logical first step in enabling a broad analytics mind-set in HR, therefore, is to
identify where HR professionals fall along the spectrum of analytical

perspectives. Segmenting the HR community within your organization into
categories allows you to customize your approach to analytics enablement.
“There are data-savvy individuals and then those who are less numerically
literate. I think that is normal in HR.”
—Andre Obereigner
Senior Manager, Global Workforce Analytics, Groupon
Most HR functions encompass three types of analytics perspectives:

analytically savvy, analytically willing, and analytically resistant (see Figure
15.1). After you have identified where people stand regarding analytics, you
can take the appropriate actions to encourage, educate, and nurture an
analytical approach to HR.
Figure 15.1 Perspectives of analytics in HR.
Analytically Savvy
Examples of quantitatively experienced HR professionals abound. These are
often people who joined HR from other functions or were trained in
analytical techniques as part of their formal education. HR professionals in
the analytically savvy category view HR through a business lens, one that
uses analytics to inform decision making and improve performance. They can
be helpful in embedding that mind-set into the culture of HR.
Some HR specialties are more likely than others to have analytically oriented
practitioners; examples include compensation and benefits, employee
engagement, and health and wellness, where numerical literacy is needed for
performing the job. This quantitative focus has helped move the HR function
toward increased financial literacy and has potentially set the stage for
improving analytical literacy.
Finding people in HR who already have analytics capability gives you an
opportunity to leverage the hidden analysts in your organization. These
people, particularly if they are well-respected and influential members of the
HR community, can help their less analytically oriented colleagues
understand and appreciate the value an analytics lens brings to HR. Salvador
Malo, Head of Global Workforce Analytics at Ericsson, says, “Some people
are self-starters and primed for workforce analytics; you should find that
latent skill that exists in organizations. Once you have a few people here and
there, they serve as examples. There are a lot of internal champions.”
Enabling the Analytically Savvy

Your enablement approach for this group should begin with determining
current baseline knowledge. You want to ensure that your specific philosophy
and approach to workforce analytics is well understood, and you can
determine where additional education would be helpful. For example, you
might want to supplement any gaps in knowledge with education on
advanced analytical techniques. Your team can directly offer enablement or
you can point to online courses and discussion groups for the latest thinking.
Thomas Rasmussen, Vice President of HR Data & Analytics at Shell, says of
the analytically savvy workers in HR, “For the university people already
trained in analytics, we just need to keep it up for them.”
If you can’t identify analytically savvy people within your organization’s HR
function, you need to bring in people with those skills. Mark Berry, Vice
President and Chief Human Resources Officer at CGB Enterprises, Inc.,
asserts, “HR has to begin at the source, hiring people who have the
orientation and acumen to drive fact-based decision making in the
organizations they serve. Development programs need to be focused on
honing these skills.”
Keeping skills current is particularly important for the analytically savvy. In
addition to pointing employees to internal and external courses, encourage
participation in online user groups and discussion forums. Professional
affiliations with analytics societies can be advantageous, and conference
attendance should be encouraged and supported. Presenting at professional
conferences helps maintain a presence in the larger analytics community, and
attendance provides exposure to new thinking and techniques. Providing
access to new technologies can also keep skills fresh and stoke interest levels,
and early involvement in projects can build skills and provide specific
opportunities to champion the cause.
In summary, the following actions are recommended for enabling the
analytically savvy:
• Identify current analytics strengths and any gaps related to your team’s
methods and approach.
• Identify specific development needs to close any gaps, and offer learning
opportunities (internally developed and administered, or externally
sourced) to address the needs.
• Recommend online resources (such as discussion groups) and reference
books for ongoing skill enhancement.
• Support membership in professional societies and attendance at analytics
conferences for visibility in the larger community and opportunities to
learn new approaches.
• Provide access to new technologies to explore and expand areas of
interest.
• Involve the analytically savvy in projects early on so they can help preach
the benefits of analytics to others.
Analytically Willing
The analytically willing are open-minded about analytics and prepared to
learn, but they have not had the formal training or exposure needed to
develop analytical skills. Mark Berry says most HR professionals fall within
this category, which he describes as those who “don’t necessarily get it, but
want to understand and use it.” HR training programs and educational
curricula have not traditionally focused on building analytics capability, and
many people who have been attracted to the profession in the past would be
unlikely to name statistical analysis as a particular interest or strength. That
said, members of this group are not opposed to applying analytics to HR;
they simply lack the know-how to do so. This willingness and open-
mindedness presents an encouraging opportunity to build the desired
analytical culture and way of thinking.
Enabling the Analytically Willing

The goal in enabling this group is to identify any areas of concern or
confusion, and work together to address them. An important starting point is
clarifying what analytics is and what it is not. As defined in the Preface,
workforce analytics is the discovery, interpretation, and communication of
meaningful patterns in workforce-related data to inform decision making and
improve performance. This is not the same as reporting, nor is it solely about
the data itself, the management of data, or data analysis tools. Analytics is the
application of analytical approaches to data that allows professionals to
discern, share, and act upon meaningful patterns and insights.
With this clarity in place, a good next step is to adopt a hands-on approach.
Work with actual datasets to educate this group on fact-based approaches.
Thomas Rasmussen describes, “We get them involved in a project that shows
the value of analytics—first-hand involvement helping them solve a problem
that’s relevant for what they do.” Ian O’Keefe, Managing Director and Head
of Global Workforce Analytics at JPMorgan Chase & Co. has taken this
approach further by modeling scenarios to demonstrate the likely outcomes
associated with inaction versus action: “When someone got hesitant, we
showed them data. We showed trends, we told them what would happen next
week or next month if we did nothing, and contrasted that with what would
happen over those same time periods if we made some changes.”
Analytics workshops or learning modules can help this group build expertise
in analytical techniques and basic statistics. Andre Obereigner of Groupon
finds value in enhancing HR’s knowledge of data they are already familiar
with and tools they are already using. “A big focus for us is to further educate
the HR community on the value that workforce data holds and to show them
how to read the information and what actions they could take,” says
Obereigner. “One of the first things I did was organize Excel workshops. If
they are using Excel as a main tool, they should know how to use it. I guided
the local HR team on the different features, and this made a big difference.”
Through conversations and observations, you can ascertain people’s current
skill levels and determine their further learning needs.
“Capability is growing. We’ve had some training efforts to build that, but it’s
really about changing behavior, helping people realize that using data will
empower them and build credibility.”
—Ian Bailie
Global Head of Talent Acquisition and People Planning Operations, Cisco

analytically willing:
• Identify baseline analytics knowledge, concerns, and sources of
confusion.
• Provide clarity on what analytics is and what it is not.
• Address concerns and confusion through examples with actual data
relevant to their jobs.
• Offer analytics-focused training on tools they already use (such as
spreadsheet software).
• Develop and deliver analytics workshops or learning modules to help
them build expertise in analytics techniques and basic statistics.
CLARIFYING WHAT ANALYTICS IS AND WHAT IT IS

NOT
Salvador Malo is the Head of Global Workforce Analytics at
Ericsson.1 He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and consulting skills honed
from half a dozen years at McKinsey & Company and almost twice
that time at Egon Zehnder. Salvador takes a sophisticated view of
three fundamental aspects of workforce analytics: analysis,
consulting, and people.
For Salvador, analytics is a way of thinking: “You have to have a
mind-set for analytics. It is important not to get confused about what
it is. It is not the data. It is not the business questions. It is the activity
that people do with the data to answer the questions.”
According to Salvador, such clarity about workforce analytics is
essential to avoid confusion, particularly when working with leaders
and HR business partners all over the world: “For example, it is not
just about headcount reports. This is not analytics.”
That’s not to say that technology and systems are unimportant. “It
pays to have a good IT plan,” explains Salvador. “But analytics is
time consuming, so you don’t want to get distracted by other HR
operations and systems integration projects. Yes, it’s important to
have good process, systems, and data, but what’s important is what
you do with these things to answer the business questions. Make sure
people understand this. Always.”
This point of view serves Salvador well as he leads the analytics
function in a company that operates across 120 countries in an
organization with more than 116,000 people. Mathematics Ph.D. or
not, it’s the mind-set that counts.
Analytically Resistant
The analytically resistant group represents the biggest challenge. For a
variety of reasons, some people simply reject the notion that applying an
analytical approach to HR is a valuable and worthwhile endeavor. And if the
analytically resistant are particularly influential members of the organization,
their mind-set, as conveyed through words and actions, can create obstacles
and limit the potential impact of workforce analytics.
The goal in changing this mind-set is not to transform the resistant into
analytics experts, but rather to have them accept and even embrace the
concept that an analytical approach can enhance the value of their business.
Peter Allen, Managing Director, Agoda Outside, stresses the importance of
analytics to HR’s credibility: “HR should be an advisory service that helps
managers to do their jobs well, and to be a credible adviser, you need to be
seen to know what you’re talking about. One of the best ways to do this, of
course, is with good data and meaningful analytics.”
Enabling the Analytically Resistant

After you have identified the analytically resistant, understanding the reasons
for their resistance is helpful. Is it a lack of confidence in their own analytical
and numerical abilities? Is it a true disbelief that a data-based approach is
superior to gut feel, instinct, and intuition? Or is it something else?
Understanding the sources of resistance best positions you to address it.
Consulting skills are helpful in uncovering the sources, and change
management skills are invaluable in overcoming the resistance.
Given the power of resistance to limit the impact of workforce analytics and
the breadth of potential reasons underlying resistance, we dedicate the next
chapter to this topic. In it, we discuss the various types of resistance,
including everything from “It’s too difficult,” to “We’ve tried it before and it
didn’t work,” to “The data challenges are insurmountable.” And for each of
these objections, the chapter offers guidance for moving past them.

The key to winning over the skeptics is demonstrating how analytics can
enhance their own personal effectiveness and success. As Ian Bailie notes,
“You will always find the least resistance in helping someone solve a
problem that they have. And if you succeed in winning them over, they may
become your biggest advocates.”
analytically resistant:
• Determine the reasons for their resistance.
• Use analytics to help them solve a problem they are facing.
• Help make them successful through analytics.
It should be noted that some practitioners avoid the problem of analytical
resistance by screening for an analytical mindset when hiring HR
professionals. Over time, and depending on the size of your HR function, this
can be a feasible strategy for establishing an analytical mindset in your HR
function. Mark Berry endorses this approach: “What we need to be doing is
minimizing this issue by ensuring that our selection and promotion processes,
including querying candidates about analytics experience. We need to drive
the culture within our HR organizations that elevate evidence-based HR
leadership as foundational to what we do.” Ultimately, as analytical skills are
incorporated into professional HR qualification programs, we should see
fewer analytically resistant practitioners entering the profession.
Figure 15.2 summarizes the key actions for enabling each type of analytical
perspective in the HR function.
Figure 15.2 Key actions for enablement.

The Translator Role
With the right training and focus, HR professionals with an analytical mind-
set are candidates for an essential role: the analytics translator. This is a role
that McKinsey & Company described in 2014 as “crucial for unlocking the
full value of advanced analytics.”Luk Smeyers, cofounder of iNostix by
Deloitte, says the analytics translator serves as the “coordinator in an
analytics project.” In a 2015 article, Tom Davenport, Professor of
Information Technology and Management at Babson College, described
translators as “extremely skilled at communicating the results of quantitative
analyses.”He argues, “Almost every organization would be more successful
with analytics and Big Data if it employed some of these folks.”
Translators perform the important work of bridging different functions in an
organization and enabling effective communications between them.
McKinsey & Company says, “Translators form the links that bind the chain
of an effective advanced-analytics capability.” Put simply, translators turn the
technical outcomes from analytics projects into insights that business leaders
can understand and act upon.
To perform this role effectively, translators must know the business,
understand analytics, and have strong communication and relationship
management skills. Good candidates for this role are HR business partners,
with their understanding of the HR domain and the business they are
supporting, combined with a working knowledge and appreciation of
analytics. The best candidates are likely to be both analytically savvy and
analytically willing.
BUILDING A CULTURE OF ANALYTICS THROUGH

TRAINING
Bart Voorn has led the HR Analytics team at Ahold Delhaize2 since
2014. During that time, he has built a culture of analytics across the
company’s HR function through a deep and extensive training
program.
“The field of analytics is so new to HR that people have difficulty in
formulating their questions and demands,” Bart says. “It’s like the
iPad question: Do you need something between a computer and smart
phone? No, but Apple introduced it and now it’s everywhere.”
Bart goes on to explain what this meant in Ahold Delhaize with
respect to analytics and the HR function.“HR analytics does not end
with an HR analytics team—it only starts there. We have created a
capability-building program for HR. We trained in total a few
hundred people worldwide—vice presidents, directors, but mostly
HR business partners.”
Bart says that some of the very senior HR leaders had more trouble
grasping these ideas than newer people to the function. In the
program, he first conducted a capability scan to explore the maturity
level of data-driven decision making both for HR and individually.
Next, he delivered e-learning courses and master classes on statistics,
and the leaders practiced analytics cases.
“We essentially trained HR business partners how to see and
formulate research questions. The population now acts as ‘spotters of
opportunities’ for us. If they come to us with the questions, then they
should also actually act upon the insights. Without them, we, in
workforce analytics, are useless. They are key in driving action. We
continue to run regular training for the HR community.”
The training program at Ahold Delhaize helped to improve the
overall level of analytical competency in HR. As Bart delivered the
training, he found that the demand for analytics projects increased,
project selection became more effective, and the resulting
recommendations became easier to implement. The HR business
partners became both the spotters and the translators of the business
analytics topics.
“When you do this, it gives the feeling that HR is right on track at the
decision-making table and is business relevant.”
The Importance of Leadership

Leadership values, beliefs, and actions are highly influential in establishing
and maintaining an analytics mind-set. When the top leaders in an
organization are analytically oriented, it creates a data-centric culture that
permeates throughout. This was the experience of Mariëlle Sonnenberg,
Global Director of HR Strategy & Analytics at Wolters Kluwer: “Although
other companies report difficulties in getting the sponsorship needed, our
CEO and CHRO are very data-driven people, so that was easy.”
The same is true for HR leadership: When the leader is a “true believer,” not
just someone with a more traditional HR mind-set, that person will want to
understand and manage the workforce analytically. This leadership
messaging—that an analytical approach is important and it is the way things
get done in HR—is a catalyst for gaining traction in an organization.
Empathy and relationships have traditionally been important in HR and will
likely remain so, but data-driven, fact-based insights are needed as well.
Andre Obereigner has experienced this leadership impact: “You need to have
senior management support. In one organization I worked in, I noticed that
when we had a new global head of HR who was very focused on data,
suddenly people were talking about analytics.”
For some organizations, the impetus for establishing a workforce analytics
function comes from the organization’s leadership. When this is the case, the
leadership support should be ample. In other organizations, a savvy
practitioner successfully makes the case for bringing an analytical approach
to HR. Under those circumstances, senior leaders might or might not be fully
committed to workforce analytics.
When the leadership support for analytics exists, take full advantage of it.
Incorporate the leaders’ words into your communications and stories, align
your projects with the leadership priorities, and secure direct sponsorship for
projects and the analytics function overall. Without that leadership, you must
build a coalition of supporters among the most influential analytically
oriented members of the organization: leaders of other functions, lines of
business leaders, and even the board of directors. You will likely encounter
more resistance to workforce analytics if your organization lacks key
leadership support. To encourage an analytics mind-set in leaders, offer one-
on-one coaching on analytics fundamentals, involve them directly in
analytics projects, and perhaps conduct a project that will likely be personally
and directly beneficial to them.
Summary
To reap the most benefit from workforce analytics and achieve the widest
impact, the broader HR function within an organization must embrace and
demonstrate an analytics mind-set through their words and actions. The
following recommendations will help you enable an analytics mind-set in
your HR function:
• Understand the variations of analytics literacy among your organization’s
HR professionals and categorize them accordingly: analytically savvy,
analytically willing, or analytically resistant.
• Customize communications and enablement based on the analytics
literacy categorizations:
• For the analytically savvy, provide training on the latest analytical
techniques, tools, and methods; encourage them to connect with
community forums.
• For the analytically willing, demonstrate and coach them on familiar
data and tools, and have them attend basic statistics courses.
• For the analytically resistant, win them over by using analytics to
provide insights that will make them more successful.
• Identify HR business partners with the right analytical mind-set and skills
to perform the important translator role in workforce analytics.
• Understand your leaders’ views of analytics, leverage their support fully,
and form a coalition of additional supporters as needed.
• Encourage an analytical mind-set in leaders through one-on-one coaching
and involvement in projects that are directly beneficial to them.
1 Ericsson is a world leader in communications technology that is publicly

listed on both NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ New York. It
is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden (www.ericsson.com).
2 Ahold Delhaize is an international retailing group based in the
Netherlands that serves customers in the United States, Indonesia, and
Europe. It operates 21 local brands and serves more than 50 million
shoppers each week in 11 countries. It has been retailing for more than
125 years and has more than 370,000 associates. Its brands include Stop
& Shop (United States), Foodlion (United States), Albert Heijn (Western
Europe), Delhaize (Western Europe), Alfa-Beta (Greece), and Albert
(Czech Republic) (www.aholddelhaize.com).

16
Overcome Resistance
“Some people will say it will never work. That’s when the risk–reward
analysis would be helpful: Determine the investment needed to get an early
win, take on a smaller problem, demonstrate a win, then move on to more
projects.”
—Mats Beskow
Director of Human Resources, Landstinget Västmanland
In their quest to bring analytics to the HR function, practitioners have

faced many forms of resistance. These range from stakeholder
concerns, to unwillingness to invest financially, to doubts from the
HR function itself. All of these forms of resistance can be overcome.
• Types of resistance to workforce analytics: Stakeholder skepticism,
financial frugality, HR hesitancy.
• Suggestions for overcoming each type of resistance.
Resistance to Workforce Analytics

In their quest to bring analytics to the HR function, practitioners have faced
many counterarguments. Types of resistance can be grouped into three
general categories (see Figure 16.1):
• Stakeholder skepticism
• Financial frugality
• HR hesitancy
The first step when faced with resistance is understanding the underlying
causes. Armed with that knowledge, you will be able to address the resistance
and succeed in bringing analytics to HR.

Figure 16.1 Categories of resistance to workforce analytics.
Stakeholder Skepticism
Stakeholder skepticism can range from doubts about the value of analytics to
doubts about the value of HR. Following are frequently heard expressions of
doubt and suggestions for addressing them.
I Don’t Need Analytics to Tell Me What to Do

A stakeholder might resist analytics with a declaration of “I already know the
answer” or “I know what the problem is and I know how to fix it.” This can
be a particularly pervasive mind-set: All business leaders have had
responsibility for managing people, and many consider themselves experts in
people issues, given their achievements as a manager or executive. Therefore,
the notion of people-related analytics might seem entirely unnecessary.
However, if they think they already know the answers to their challenges, it is
fair to ask, why haven’t they addressed them already?
You might think it’s clear that foregoing an analytical approach can lead to
misguided and costly actions (or inaction), but your stakeholders might be
less convinced. Our guidance is to first determine the underlying cause of the
skepticism. Do you suspect that your stakeholder is worried about being
proven wrong? If yes, the best course of action might be to enlist the services
of a third-party partner who is better positioned to ask challenging questions
and deflect any negative ramifications if the findings don’t confirm what the
stakeholder expected.
In other cases, the underlying issue might be a reluctance to address a
particular problem, a failure to acknowledge the problem, or an unwillingness
to change the way things have always been done. In these circumstances, the
solution might be to find a different, influential sponsor in the organization.
Antony Ebelle-ebanda, Global Director of HCM Insights, Analytics &
Planning at S&P Global (formerly McGraw-Hill Financial) advises: “Ensure
you have a strong senior champion to move things forward. It is not enough
to be doing great work. This doesn’t need to be a specific person or role, but
it does need to be someone from the business who has influence.”
Our Organization Is Unique, That Won’t Work Here

When leadership’s objection is that the company is unique and analytics
won’t work, the response should be: That’s all the more reason to invest in
workforce analytics (or, for that matter, any analytics). If the environment is
truly unique, you need to understand what works and what doesn’t for the
organization’s specific context. Being unique is not at odds with being
analytical. Furthermore, analytics customized for your organization will
enable the specificity needed for market differentiation and increased
competitiveness.
Although local customizing is important, so is taking advantage of any
existing relevant knowledge base before undertaking your project. Decades
of scientific research have produced valuable insights on a wide range of
work-related topics, and overlooking that knowledge would be
counterproductive. Mark Huselid, Distinguished Professor of Workforce
Analytics and Director of the Center for Workforce Analytics at Northeastern
University, reflects: “We’ve been playing at workforce analytics, at various
levels, for a long time. I hope to see greater integration of what we already
know—domain-specific knowledge—into the questions and answers we’re
looking at. I see a lot of analytics work that could be much better if the folks

involved only knew there’s a body of literature on it.”
I Don’t Trust Your Analysis

Avoid getting defensive if someone doesn’t view your work as credible. A
lack of trust in the analysis, or a failure to appreciate the impact of people
factors on the business, is best addressed by building positive relationships
with the skeptics over time. Listen carefully to try to determine what
specifically they don’t trust (for example, concerns about the data or
unexpected findings that they don’t view as credible), but don’t feel that you
always have to convince people you are correct. Make sure to listen and
determine how you can be helpful in subsequent opportunities to address
their business challenges.
“Start by understanding where you can be helpful. Delivering something

useful for decision making, regardless of how simple or fancy it is, may help
relationship building.”
—Jeremy Shapiro
Global Head of Talent Analytics, Morgan Stanley
HR Doesn’t Have the Skills

In some organizations, the HR function has a reputation for focusing on the
“soft” people side of things or lacking an analytical mind-set and quantitative
skills. HR practitioners might even see themselves this way. If you face this
type of reputational resistance, the best way to overcome it is with evidence
to the contrary: Demonstrate your analytics prowess with your first project
(see Chapter 9, “Get a Quick Win”).
If other functions in your organization, such as marketing or finance, are
known to have strong analytical skills, you can benefit from their reputation
by aligning your work with theirs and borrowing some skilled resources or
ideas to get you started. Make those resources highly visible to fully benefit
from their reputation. If this is not feasible, you need to hire or contract
analytical people for your team. Ideally, they should be reputable analytics
powerhouses (based on their previous experience or qualifications). With
these resources, demonstrate your team’s own analytical contributions, and
enable others in the HR function to think analytically and embrace an
analytical approach. You will then be well on your way to altering the
nonanalytical reputation of HR.
HR Is Not Strategic to the Business

Some organizational leaders do not view HR as a strategic business partner
and instead see the function as mainly administrative in nature. When faced
with this perspective, your credibility might be in doubt simply through
association with the HR function. The way to remedy this situation is to
prove the skeptics wrong: Forge ahead with an analytics project and return
with a solid story demonstrating the value to the business. Ian Bailie, Global
Head of Talent Acquisition and People Planning Operations at Cisco,
illustrates this point: “You find the least resistance in helping someone solve
a problem they have. As a function, HR can sometimes be seen to be doing
something because HR wants to do it rather than thinking of the business and
what is of value to it.”
Focusing on what is of value to the business often leads to incorporating
financial data into workforce-related analyses. This has the added benefit of
boosting HR’s credibility by working with finance colleagues to demonstrate
the quantitative nature of workforce analytics projects.
Another way to help business leaders appreciate the strategic value of
workforce analytics is to raise awareness that leading organizations are
increasingly embracing an analytical approach to HR. Your competitors are
likely already applying analytics to the HR function and gaining an advantage
as a result. Furthermore, the amount of data available for such analyses will
only continue to grow. Ignore it at your peril; you will fall further behind if
you do.
Finally, pay attention to how you communicate your analytical findings.
Demonstrate your understanding of the business in the language you use, and
draw a clear link between business challenges and your work. Make good use
of storytelling and data visualization, to have the greatest influence. Eric
Mackaluso, Senior Director of People Analytics, Global HR Strategy &
Planning, ADP, shares: “We started focusing on storytelling, laying out a
storyboard. The data tell you what’s happening; stories tell you why it
matters. You have to frame it in a way people understand.” For more on this,
see Chapter 17, “Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization.”
We Have Other Priorities Besides People

Some leaders might not see the links among people-related decisions, actions,
and business outcomes. If people are viewed as easily replaceable and
interchangeable, the logic of investing time and resources into workforce
analytics might not be immediately apparent. Although the wisdom of
viewing the workforce in that manner can be debated, the role that analytics
can play should be clear.
THE ACCOUNTABILITY HAZARD

Luk Smeyers is Cofounder and Principal of iNostix by Deloitte.1 He
describes a frequent challenge that he calls the accountability hazard:
“As soon as managers from highly political, nontransparent, or even
negative organizational cultures learn what HR analytics could mean
for their organization, the business benefits become overshadowed by
the risk of having areas of weakness, dysfunction, and incompetence
exposed.”
This hazard recently affected Luk’s team: “Not long ago, we had to
call a halt to a new HR analytics project after very animated internal
discussions about who was responsible for the less pleasant potential
analytical outcomes.” This presents a challenge for the workforce
analytics leader who is investing time and resource into analytics
projects, only to have them derailed at the action stage.
Based on his experiences, Luk offers some tips to help the workforce
analytics leader and other HR professionals overcome this
accountability hazard:
• Work in close collaboration with other departments to establish a co-
creation atmosphere, with early engagement and buy-in from other
functions.
• Develop strong support from business leaders early on specific
analytics projects.
• Ensure that the privacy of employees is never violated, and stay away
from “the hunt for the bad performer.”
• Strive for new insights so that managers willingly take accountability
for actions because they support new ways of improving their
businesses.
With these approaches, Luk has found that workforce analytics
leaders can avoid the problems of accountability and ensure that
actions can be implemented successfully. At the end of the day,
analytics is impactful only if action is taken.
Even if people are viewed narrowly as merely a cost of doing business,

people acquisition and lifecycle management processes can certainly be
optimized using an analytical approach. And people costs, for which HR is
usually responsible, are often the greatest operational costs in an organization
(capital-intensive industries are an exception). Does any other expenditure of
this magnitude escape analysis, tracking, and management with scrutiny and
an eye toward optimization?
Perhaps more important is the recognition that, in most cases, without people,
there is no organization. The viability and effectiveness of public and
commercial institutions alike depend on the attributes of the workforce.
Understanding the relationships of those attributes to outcomes requires an
analytical approach.
Financial Frugality
A strong emphasis on managing costs can sometimes result in missed
opportunities to create future value. This is true for many organizational
decisions, including whether to invest in workforce analytics. Following are
typical financial reasons for holding back and suggestions for addressing
them.
We Can’t Afford to Do This

When faced with this situation, we recommend asking this question: Can you
afford not to do it? This is where the business case becomes crucial. The
message you need to convey is how costly it can be, and how growth
opportunities can go unrealized, when the people side of the business is run
solely on intuition or the way things have always been done. Workforce
analytics projects often result in substantial savings or improved productivity
and effectiveness (see Chapter 6, “Case Studies”).
Considering that people costs are often among the highest in an organization,
how can organizational leaders even think about not managing their biggest

expenditure analytically? Patrick Coolen, Manager of HR Metrics and
Analytics at ABN AMRO, agrees: “If you ask a business leader ‘Do you
want to know how you make money on insights from people data?’ no one
will say no.” And remember, the initial investment does not need to be big
(especially when considered in proportion to total people costs). You can
certainly start small and build as you go.
The Budget Is Already Decided

Perhaps leadership is interested in workforce analytics, but HR expenditures
have already been allocated for the budgeting cycle. Under these
circumstances, a little creativity might be in order. Identify where money is
being spent and determine whether the workforce analytics team can take on
some of the work and the associated budget. If you can do the work for the
same cost (or less) while delivering incremental insights and value, you will
garner support for investment in your team.
Ian Bailie of Cisco was able to do just this: “I’ve gone after money that was
being spent on external work and used it to fund our analysts instead. We
were able to deliver what external research was providing plus so much more.
And that supports continued investment.”
We Can’t Afford to Implement the Recommended Changes

Analytics projects should result in actions. Depending on the nature of the
recommended actions, funding might be required to implement them.
Planning for large-scale or costly changes should be anticipated in advance
and built into your analytics project plan; where possible, choose less costly
actions for your initial projects. When funding is, in fact, needed for the
recommended actions, the business case again becomes an important tool.
In addition to estimating the short- and long-term anticipated benefits of the
recommended actions, opportunity costs associated with inaction should be
also modeled. These ideas can be conveyed with great effect by skillfully
weaving scenarios and projections into a story linking the business problem
to the analyses and to the recommended actions.
HR Hesitancy
Sometimes the reluctance to embrace workforce analytics comes from the HR
function itself. Potential causes of resistance are many, from not knowing
where to begin, to having concerns about data, tooling, and the ability to
follow through with actions. Following are common concerns from HR and
suggestions for addressing them.
We Don’t Know Where to Start

The thought of applying analytics to a workforce challenge can be
overwhelming for someone who has never done it. If that describes you, the
fact that you are reading this book is a good start! You might also want to
bring in someone who has relevant experience to help you. Hire someone
with data analytical skills (such as a data scientist or an industrial-
organizational psychologist). Identify your business leaders’ key performance
indicators (as an HR leader, you should be well positioned to do this—a
useful line of questioning is “What keeps you up at night?” and “Which of
your business metrics are you most concerned about?”) and think through
how people-related issues influence those metrics. A skilled analyst can then
help design and implement appropriate analytical approaches to address the
business questions with people data.
We’ve Tried Analytics in HR Before and It Didn’t Work

Recent advances in technology and data management, along with analytics
maturity and sophistication achieved by other functions such as marketing
and finance, have opened up opportunities for HR that were not as readily
available to practitioners in the past. Times have changed. The advent of
cloud technology has brought tremendous computing power to people’s
fingertips, and new data sources have become available along with methods
and tools for analyzing them. Approaches used in other functions can be
applied successfully to HR data (for example, customer churn analytics can
serve as a model for analyzing employee attrition). If you’ve tried before, it’s
time to try again. Yesterday’s challenges and roadblocks are likely a thing of
the past.
“The advent of cloud technology has brought all this computing power to the
fingertips of people in HR. Now everyone on the planet has access, when
nobody had access before.”
—Josh Bersin

It’s Too Difficult to Work with Our Data
Nobody’s data are perfect, but that should not prevent you from moving
forward. If your data are particularly difficult to work with (incomplete,
outdated, scattered across systems, and even buried in spreadsheets), scale
down and start small. Begin your work with a business question that uses a
well-contained, well-defined dataset. The key is to get started and build as
you go.
Starting anew with workforce data can actually be a liberating experience.
When Mariëlle Sonnenberg started as Global Director of HR Strategy &
Analytics at Wolters Kluwer, no enterprise-wide HR information systems
were in place. Although this might have been concerning for some team
leaders, Mariëlle saw it as an opportunity: “Because of this, I was able to
define a small number of metrics, and the HR teams became actively focused
on collecting good-quality data and maintaining it. It is more difficult to go
the other way, to start with one big system of data.”
DON’T TAKE “WE CAN’T” FOR AN ANSWER

Andre Obereigner, the Senior Manager of Global Workforce
Analytics at Groupon,2 heard many reasons for procrastination as he
was starting out: “We don’t know where to start. We don’t have the
data we need. We don’t have the right tools. We don’t have the right
skills.” However, when it comes to starting, he has a few tricks up his
sleeve.
Andre started a project by himself to prove the value of analytics.
The business problem concerned retention, but no one had data or
skills or the right systems to quickly find out why retention was a
problem. So Andre went out and gathered the data himself: “In 2013,
I started by doing an EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) exit
survey in which we asked those who had resigned from Groupon to
provide general feedback and recommendations for the organization.”
Andre’s skills alone were not enough. He needed tools, but he didn’t
buy complex technology at that stage: “I used Tableau and imported
the English-language data into it. I then cleaned and prepared it for
the text prediction model. Initially, I had 100 to 150 responders and I
went through each manually to come up with six different topics of
feedback. I found features in the feedback that predicted the topics;
then I could apply that to new feedback from more exit surveys.”
Andre’s success was mostly due to starting small, being persistent,
and ensuring that he adapted as he went along. “The stakeholder was
me at the beginning. I started this project on my own—I spoke with
my manager to see if she would support me. It was part of my
studies, but no one else really knew about this. I also worked on it
outside of my regular work hours.”
In the end, the project was a success: “At the beginning of 2015, our
new global head of HR wanted to have a global exit survey. So we
made adjustments to the EMEA one and got going.” If Andre had
been put off back in 2013 by all the reasons why not, it would have
been almost impossible to do the global project two years later.
Andre’s motto? Don’t take “We can’t” for an answer.
We Don’t Have the Data We Need

All hope might seem lost when you really need a particular piece of data and
it’s nowhere to be found in the organization. But chances are, there’s a way
forward. Get creative. Look at what you do have available, and try to think of
ways to approximate the data you need by combing existing data elements or
tapping into less traditional data sources. You always have the option of
initiating new data collection. As Mariëlle Sonnenberg’s experience shows,
not having to deal with legacy systems can be beneficial in its own right.
Also keep in mind that many more sources of readily available data exist
today than in the past, along with tools to analyze different data types. For
example, internal and external social media data might provide useful
information for testing some of your hypotheses, and modern tools provide
the means of analyzing topics, trends, and sentiment.
We Don’t Have the Right Skills

A base level of knowledge is needed to successfully bring analytics to the HR
function. However, you might be able to acquire those skills in a cost-
effective way. Explore opportunities to borrow skilled people from another
function in the organization, or consider hiring an intern: Interns are often
exposed to the latest and greatest in data analytic techniques, and many
highly skilled students are eager to gain some real-world experience.
Contacting local colleges and universities can be a good starting point for
connecting with talented analytics students.
We Don’t Have the Right Tools

Sophisticated software can be extraordinarily powerful and valuable, but it’s
perfectly fine to start simple. Many practitioners will tell you that their most
impactful projects started with rather simple, rudimentary analyses. In fact,
some highly skilled practitioners even lament the dearth of opportunities to
apply sophisticated analytics techniques to their organization’s most pressing
challenges. Complexity is not a requirement for analytics success. Ubiquitous
spreadsheet software might even suffice in providing the basics you need for
an initial analysis—for example, plotting distributions of your data,
calculating average differences across groups, and computing correlations.
We Won’t Be Able to Implement the Actions

Although it’s true that analytics are of limited value if follow-up actions
aren’t implemented, concerns about the ability to implement actions should
not prevent you from bringing this potential source of value to your
organization. Instead, think through the possible outcomes of the analytics, as
well as the associated actions. For example, if you are analyzing which
recruiting sources yield the best-fit candidates, you might prepare to abandon
some recruiting sources and further invest in others. Discussing these
potential actions with your stakeholders before you begin the analyses might
be helpful so that you prepare them for the possible outcomes and actions (for
example, their favorite recruiting source, their alma mater, might be
deprioritized).
Having these conversations up front helps you substantially mitigate the
implementation risks. Ian O’Keefe, Managing Director and Head of Global
Workforce Analytics at JPMorgan Chase & Co. offers this advice: “Always
ask the question ‘What would you do if you knew the answer to this?’ Ask it
at the start of the analyses and again when you finish, and then you still won’t
have asked it enough.” In addition to preparing for potential outcomes in
advance, we recommend focusing on Quick Win projects to get started
because these projects are characterized by less implementation complexity.
In summary, you might encounter several types of resistance in your efforts
to bring an analytical approach to HR. Each is best addressed with logic and
assistance from experienced colleagues and practitioners (see Table 16.1).
Table 16.1 Reasons for Analytics Resistance and Tips for Addressing
Them

Summary
Efforts to bring workforce analytics to an organization are sometimes met
with resistance. For almost any reason offered for why workforce analytics
“won’t work here,” an appropriate counterargument can be made. The
following tips can help successfully overcome resistance:
• Understand how your organization views the value of analytics.
• Identify the sources and the nature of resistance by spending time
listening to others’ perspectives.
• Determine the underlying cause of resistance, such as skepticism,
perceived threat, lack of trust, lack of understanding, perception of
insufficient skills, or unwillingness to invest.
• Choose how to overcome the resistance; possible actions include
educating, demonstrating value, partnering for skills, starting small,
keeping it simple, making your case, and helping the resistor succeed.
1 iNostix by Deloitte is a team of market-leading predictive HR analytics

experts based in Belgium. It offers clients a unique combination of senior
expertise in HR management and data science. iNostix was founded by
Luk Smeyers and Dr. Jeroen Delmotte in 2008 and was acquired by
Deloitte in 2016 (www.inostix.com).
2 Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is a global e-commerce marketplace that
connects millions of subscribers with local merchants by offering
activities, travel, goods, and services in more than 28 countries.
According to its website, it is building the daily habit in local commerce,
offering a vast mobile and online marketplace where people discover and
save on amazing things to do, see, eat, and buy. It was founded in 2008
and is headquartered in Chicago (www.groupon.com).

17
Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization
“The most important thing about communicating with data is the
communication, not the data. And storytelling is the way to do it.”
—Andrew Marritt
Founder, Organization View
Warming his hands on a hot drink in a noisy cafe just off 42nd Street
in Manhattan, Jeremy Shapiro, Global Head of Talent Analytics at
Morgan Stanley, talked about what’s new in analytics. The
conversation was not about new methodologies, new technologies, or
even statistical skills. The topic was a critical aspect of analytics,
which also happens to be one of the oldest traditions in human
history: storytelling. Here’s what Jeremy said during that
conversation: “It’s a great feeling when, after your team has worked
so hard to develop strong insights, the story comes through loud and
clear to someone else, particularly to a leader. People can’t make
decisions based on data they don’t understand.”
Given the importance of storytelling in workforce analytics, this
chapter discusses the following:
• Principles and techniques for constructing fact-based stories
• A three-step model and other essentials to build effective
visualizations
• Understanding your audience and tailoring communications
• The need to keep things simple
What Is Storytelling?
People have been telling stories for millennia. The U.S. National Storytelling
Network (www.storynet.org) defines storytelling as “an ancient art form and
a valuable form of human expression.” In her 2002 Harvard Graduate School
of Education article, Deborah Sole describes storytelling as “an ancient and
traditional way of passing on complex, multi-dimensional information and
ideas through narrative.” Nancy Duarte, a TED Talk storyteller and author of
award-winning books on presentation skills, explains that an idea is
powerless if it stays inside you: “Maybe some of you have tried to convey
your idea and it wasn’t adopted; it was rejected and some other mediocre or
average idea was adopted. And the only difference between those two [ideas]
is in the way it was communicated.”
Storytelling is not only about passing on wisdom or sharing ideas; in the
business environment, it is an agent for change. David Boje, a professor at
New Mexico State University, stated in his 2006 Academy of Management
Review article, “Storytelling is widely acknowledged as instrumental to
organization change, training, strategy, and leadership.” Paul Yost, associate
professor at Seattle Pacific University, supported this view in a 2015 paper
when he and his co-authors wrote, “storytelling is becoming an increasingly
utilized art for leading and managing change.”
Storytelling in Workforce Analytics

Data and insights from workforce analytics can be complex and plentiful.
Storytelling, with emotional content and characters, is a great technique for
ensuring that the data and insights from workforce analytics projects are
memorable. In fact, studies have shown that listeners have better
understanding and recall of a speaker’s key points when emotional content
and character-driven stories are used. Paul Zak’s 2014 Harvard Business
Review article “Why Your Brain Loves Storytelling” is a good first article to
read on this topic.
With better understanding, we increase the chances of action—and that is,
after all, why we undertake workforce analytics projects. That action could be
to change something or to actively decide to continue doing things as they
are. Either way, storytelling can ensure that recommendations are discussed,
understood, endorsed, and implemented. Christian Cormack, Head of HR
Analytics at AstraZeneca, illustrated this point when he summarized one of
his analytics projects: “We looked historically at the turnover in one business.
It was very low and the management thought that was a good thing, until we
showed them what the potential impact was, such as an inability to refresh
talent and bring in new ideas. If we had just shown the turnover numbers, it

would have looked like there was no problem. But we didn’t—we told a
story, and that meant we created impact.”
Furthermore, the very process of developing the story for workforce analytics
communication can clarify the business problem. Josh Bersin, Principal and
Founder of Bersin by Deloitte, goes even further: “If you are an analyst and
can’t turn your project into a story, then you really don’t know the problem
yet.”
Guiding Principles for Fact-Based Storytelling

People often associate stories with fiction, whether a book, a film or some
other media. However, storytelling with data must not be fictitious; it is, and
should be, fact based. The following principles (see Figure 17.1 for
illustration) are designed to guide how the analytics practitioner
communicates with data through storytelling.
Figure 17.1 Principles for fact-based storytelling.
• Principle 1: Educate, don’t fabricate. Storytelling with data in

workforce analytics is about presenting facts using words and images that
convey a message to the audience. It is not about embellishing the facts,
concocting information that does not exist, or selectively omitting
information. In summary, don’t make things up and don’t leave out
relevant information.
• Principle 2: Enlighten, don’t overwhelm. Storytelling in workforce
analytics should highlight key insights and associated recommendations.
Your audience does not need to know about all the excruciating details
and multiple iterations of your analysis; present just the most relevant. In
summary, don’t show up with a 40-page presentation when 3 pages will
suffice.
• Principle 3: Convince, don’t confuse. Storytelling in workforce
analytics is about informing decision making and guiding your audience
convincingly by clearly stating the actions needed. It is not about
confusing the audience by leaving them overwhelmed and directionless.
In summary, don’t leave your audience wondering what to do.
These principles are a guide to help ensure that professionalism is maintained
and the story stays true to the data.
Constructing a Workforce Analytics Story

Good stories told well leave the audience with the impression that storytelling
is easy. It is not. A well-told story is based on logical, sound construction,
which takes time and good planning. Table 17.1 summarizes four techniques
for constructing a story. These are not necessarily sequential. They provide
simple and effective guidance for the fact-based analytics storyteller. For
more ideas, Akash Karia’s book TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling
Techniques from the Best TED Talks (CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Platform, 2015) is a helpful reference.
Table 17.1 Techniques for Storytelling with Data

Set the Scene
Workforce analytics projects are conducted for a reason, so an essential
element of a story is to convey that rationale. This does not necessarily need
to be done at the start of the story, but outlining the business situation at some
point helps the audience understand why the project was needed. In addition,
providing context prevents the audience from being distracted while trying to
discern what the project is about.
Context can include elements such as the geographical scope of the project,
the business situation, the marketplace, the number of employees affected,
the sponsor, or the business units impacted. This is not an exhaustive list, but
these examples all help to frame the business situation and set the scene.
Figure 17.2 provides an example of this technique in the context of a
workforce analytics project on leadership retention.

Figure 17.2 An example of setting the scene.
Create an Emotional Attachment

Andrew Stanton, the scriptwriter for Pixar films such as Toy Story, said in his
2012 TED Talk, “Make me care—aesthetically, emotionally, intellectually.”
Effective storytellers of analytics projects create an emotional connection
between their audience and the project. Two factors are key to achieving this-
making it relatable and revealing detail and intrigue:
• Make it relatable. By describing a worker as the character of your story,
you personalize it to your business. This makes the story relevant and real
to the audience. Where possible, tell the story from the perspective of a
specific (but, ideally, fictitious) worker, whether that is a manager, an
employee, a scientist, an administrator, or a call center operator. One way
to do this is to create a persona, a technique that marketing and design
professionals use to great effect. Give the person a fictitious name and
characteristics that bring them to life without revealing the name and
details of a real person. A persona could also be an amalgamation of
several people in the organization. Figure 17.3 demonstrates this approach
in the description of an executive in an analytics project focused on
leadership retention.

Figure 17.3 An example of making a story relatable by using a persona.
• Reveal detail and intrigue. Effective stories provide detail that is both
interesting and striking. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen
Eighty-Four, the opening paragraph helps draw the reader in with detail
and intrigue: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were
striking thirteen.” Scriptwriter Andrew Stanton also suggests, in his
“Clues to a Great Story” TED Talk, revealing information progressively.
He describes it as his Unifying Theory of 2 + 2: “Don’t give the audience
four, give them 2 + 2.” The theory is that the story needs to be told
sequentially with emotional elements that unfold to lead the audience
along a journey. In other words, don’t just give your audience the
destination; take them on the journey, too.
Figure 17.4 shows how to add detail to a personalized story.

Figure 17.4 An example of adding detail and intrigue.
Although personalization, intrigue, and detail make a story come alive, too
much technical detail can reduce the impact of your story, especially if you
are communicating with nontechnical people. Michael Bazigos, Managing
Director and Global Head of Organizational Analytics & Change Tracking,
Accenture Strategy, explains: “Avoid using the language of statistics, even
though that’s what underlies the analysis.” Patrick Coolen, Manager of HR
Metrics and Analytics at ABN AMRO, agrees: “We always think about how
we’re going to present our insights to each different audience. We leave out
all of the technical information. We work with strong visuals and add
personal details to create the emotional bond.”
Reveal the Conflict

All great stories have conflict, whether that is the hero fighting against a
villain to save the world, someone overcoming an evil force or natural
disaster, or just an individual overcoming hardship with a view to a better
life.
In workforce analytics, describing a conflict in the business can similarly
enhance your story. Use these kinds of questions to identify your own
business conflicts:
• What created the situation that compelled you, as the analytics
professional, to undertake the project?
• What is contributing to a substandard business scenario?
• What people factors are holding back the business from growth or
increased profitability?
• What is negatively impacting customer satisfaction? And what are people
doing to improve the customer experience?
• Why is market share declining? Why are competitors seemingly doing
better?
Christian Cormack from AstraZeneca provided a good example of conflict
earlier in this chapter when he talked about challenging the long-held notion
that low attrition is always desirable. In contrast, he proposed that insufficient
turnover could actually suppress innovation.
Figure 17.5 shows another example of conflict in the ongoing example of the
leadership retention project. This example highlights conflicting business
objectives.
Figure 17.5 An example of creating conflict in storytelling while still

retaining emotional attachment.
Paul Yost, an associate professor at Seattle Pacific University, summarizes

the purpose of conflict well: “You need context, your character, a villain, and
a main message. Create emotion in how you are going to defeat the villain.
Present an inflection point for a compelling argument—for example, if we
don’t do it now, the industry will pass us by.”
Call to Action with a Memorable Message

All good stories have a clear point: a short and memorable message for the
audience to retain. In the TED Talks Storytelling book mentioned earlier, this
is called the “takeaway,” and it is preceded by the “spark” and the “change.”
The spark is what happens when characters realize they can overcome the
conflict. The change is what the characters must do to resolve the conflict—
they must change their circumstance or their actions. And the takeaway is the
point of the story.
Thinking about the spark, change, and takeaway for workforce analytics
stories can help you construct your message. Consider the spark as the main
insight and the change as the recommendation. Then leave the audience with
your main message, the takeaway—and the compelling reason to act on the
outcomes of your project. In Figure 17.6, our leadership retention example
shows how to outline a call to action using a memorable message.
Figure 17.6 An example of creating a call to action with a memorable

message.
When creating your call to action, consider the following questions to help
clarify your takeaway message:
• What was the most illuminating insight from the analysis?
• What is the business question, and was it answered?
• Were your hypotheses proven or disproven?
• Overall, if you had to summarize your findings in 20–30 words, what
would those words be?
• What one recommendation overall would you make to your chief
executive officer if she or he asked you about this project?
Finally, if you need to, get help defining your key message from other people
inside or outside the analytics organization, such as internal communications
professionals or marketing experts, or from external consultants. Peter
Hartmann, Director of Performance, Analytics and HRIS at Getinge Group,
takes exactly this approach: “When I need to prepare analytics stories and
presentations, I work closely with the corporate communications team, who
have the expertise to shape the messages effectively.” You might also want to
follow the advice of Simon Svegaard, Business Analytics Manager at ISS: “I
connect with people uninvolved with the project, often over lunch, to test out
the story and to see whether the messages are clearly understood.”
AN ANALYTICS PROJECT SUMMARIZED IN ONE

SENTENCE
“As a company, we have distinguished ourselves as the most
effective organization at developing technical talent for our
competitors.”
A gasp filled the room. Mark Berry, Chief Human Resources Officer
at CGB Enterprises,1 paused. He had opened his discussion on
retention to the executive committee with this statement. He went on
to explain, “We are a training ground—we are the best at bringing
people in, training them … and then they go to competitors. We are
an exporter of talent to our competitors.”
About three months earlier, Mark had commissioned a project to look
at why talent was leaving the company. When he arrived at CGB

Enterprises, Inc., he had asked why people were leaving, who was
leaving, and how many people were leaving. The executive
committee knew that there was a problem, but nobody had any facts
or insights from which to make decisions. Mark’s project focused on
a well-defined business problem, had a clear hypothesis, and was
completed with effective analysis using both existing and new data
gathered from employees leaving the business. When he was ready,
Mark took a steady and thoughtful approach to telling the story. And
he effectively articulated his entire project into that one sentence.
The insights were clear: “Technical talent was leaving the company
to go to competitors.” The recommendations were also clear, and
although the details of the recommendations were articulated later in
his presentation, the implication was well communicated: “We need
to invest in technical talent.” Finally, Mark’s communication
approach of using storytelling emotionally captured the attention of
the executive committee.
Mark explained why he chose this approach: “Taking provocative
positions when I know I’m right (based on the data) gets the audience
emotionally connected and engaged with what I’m talking about. It
gets them thinking about the issues the way I want them to think
about them.”
One sentence was all it took, Mark says. “After I said that statement
and people gasped, I knew the project had been a success.”
Effective Visualization
Having pictures, or visualization, as part of a workforce analytics story is
fundamental to effective communication. Our brains are hardwired to
interpret visual information. As James Zull says in his book, The Art of
Changing The Brain (Stylus Publishing, 2002), we can cognitively process
graphs and images faster than text, which is why visualization is such an
efficient means of communication. However, visualization should not replace
the story; it should be used to enhance the story, draw attention to data, and
more deeply influence some kind of behavior.
Many books and articles delve into visualization with data. Recommended
are any of Edward Tufte’s books, although his first book, The Visual Display
of Quantitative Information (Graphics Press, 1984), is an excellent and often-
quoted text. In addition, the outstanding book Storytelling with Data, by Cole
Nussbaumer Knaflic (Wiley, 2015), is a helpful contemporary reference with
dozens of tips for effective visual aids. This section does not repeat what
those books articulate. Instead, we summarize Edward Tufte’s main elements
for graphical excellence and provide a three-step model to help you create
visual aids in the context of workforce analytics.
Graphical Excellence
Edward Tufte is known for his pioneering thinking and writing on visual
communication of information. His guiding focus is that all visual
communication of quantitative information should be characterized by three
elements: restraint, simplicity, and impartiality.
• Restraint. Data visualization design should not be dictated by how the
visualization can be produced. The design should be conceptualized first,
before creating it with technology. This is especially important today, as
visualization technology claims to automatically present data in new and
exciting ways without the need for any input from analytics practitioners.
Be careful not to rely on visualization technology alone. Take time to
conceptualize and design the visual on paper first, to keep your message
honest.
• Simplicity. Avoid unnecessary visual elements in graphics—what
Edward Tufte calls “chartjunk.” An example of chartjunk is gimmicky
icons or ornate backgrounds on presentation or report pages. The point is
that clean design reflects clear thinking. Do away with unnecessary
aspects that distract the audience.
• Impartiality. In addition to simplicity, visual aids should accurately
represent the data. Avoid distorting the visual chart or graphic with
elements that fail to represent the data properly (for example,
misrepresenting data by skewing the axis of a chart unnecessarily). Such
elements are not only distracting, but they also misguide the viewer.
Eric Mackaluso, Senior Director of People Analytics, Global HR Strategy &
Planning at ADP, provides additional simplicity to Edward Tufte’s advice
with his Four C’s technique for preparing communications materials
(including graphics) for workforce analytics:
• Make it concise.
• Ensure that it looks clean.
• Be sure it is clear.
• Produce it in a captivating way.
As a final point on graphical excellence, Edward Tufte warned in a 2003
article in Wired that PowerPoint is overused as a tool to represent data:
“PowerPoint is a competent slide manager and projector. But rather than
supplementing a presentation, it has become a substitute for it. Such misuse
ignores the most important rule of speaking: Respect your audience.”
Three-Step Model for Creating Visualization

Effective visualizations can bring your story to life. Ineffective visualizations
can be distracting and get in the way of clear communication of your
message. Producing effective visualizations takes time and effort. The simple
three-step model in Figure 17.7 enables a more considered and effective route
to building relevant and impactful visual aids.
Figure 17.7 Three-step model for constructing visualizations.
Step 1: Clarify Your Visualization Message

The first step in constructing effective visual aids is to decide on your key
message. What key point do you want your audience to take away from this
visualization? Make sure the message is clearly reflected in your visualization
for the intended audience. The visual aid should accelerate the understanding
of your intended message.
Step 2: Design Your Visualization

The second step focuses on constructing the best visual chart, graph, or
diagram for communicating your message. Consider three elements in this
design step: selecting the presentation medium, selecting the visualization
style, and emphasizing contrasts and similarities.
Select the Presentation Medium
You need to decide what medium to use to display the visualization and what
form the visualization will take. By medium, we are referring to whether the
visualization will be viewed on paper or presented on a screen. Furthermore,
if it is screen based, consider whether it will allow a viewer to actively
explore by scrolling, zooming in and zooming out, or drilling in and drilling
out to give greater numerical detail at different levels of analysis (for
example, from organizational-level insights down to divisions and teams).
You might even have multiple visualizations presented in a dashboard, as in
Figure 17.8, which shows levels of employee sentiments and trending topics
amalgamated from social sentiment analysis (adapted from Shami, N.S. et al,
2014).

Figure 17.8 Multiple visualizations presented as a dashboard.
The data on which the visualization is based might not be static, but instead
gathered from a live data feed. In this situation, you have less opportunity to
control the message you want to convey. If exploration of the data is the top
priority, then dynamic visualizations make sense. However, if the idea is to
convey a specific point, you might prefer static visualizations.
Even with the prevalence of screen-based visualizations, do not discount the
paper option. Admittedly, you have fewer opportunities to explore the data,
and you might even be limited to a black-and-white presentation (as we are in
the print version of this book), but sometimes a simple black-and-white chart
is all you need to make your point.
Select an Appropriate Visualization Style

The visual style you select should be informed by your variables. If you have
geographical data, some form of map visualization might be appropriate,
such as the one in Figure 17.9. This particular figure shows the geographical
representation of employee privacy preferences in 24 surveyed countries
(light = low privacy preference, medium = moderate privacy preference, dark
= high privacy preference).
Figure 17.9 Visualization using a geographical map.
On the other hand, if you have time series data, you might show changes in
sales performance, for example, plotted as a function of time. Such a
representation would see the time points plotted on the horizontal (x) axis of
a graph and sales performance plotted on the vertical (y) axis of the graph.
Figure 17.10 provides an example of a visualization showing a time series
model of sales performance for five teams. This reveals variability in
performance across the teams but an overall increase in average sales
performance over time.

Figure 17.10 Example of a time series visualization.
Note that, with two variables, such as in Figure 17.10, relationships are
relatively easy to visualize. The relationships among three variables can be
visualized with 3D representations, but more than three variables can be
difficult to represent. Analysts often revert to summarizing multiple variables
into just two or three variables using the techniques in Chapter 5, “Basics of
Data Analysis,” or alternatively, presenting the relationships in tables or
correlation matrices.
Emphasize Contrasts and Similarities
Many of the most striking visualizations emphasize contrasts or similarities.

Continuing with the example of employee privacy preferences, one
observation from the original data was that considerable variation existed
among countries, in addition to considerable variation within countries.
Figure 17.11 shows a visualization that illustrates this, highlighting the
difference in worker privacy preferences between India, where workers report
being willing to share their personal data for workforce analytics, and
Germany, where workers report being less open to sharing their personal data
for workforce analytics. This visualization shows the contrast between the
typical levels of willingness to share information between people in India and
Germany. The graph also clearly highlights the different levels of variation
within each country and the area of commonality. Germany has considerably
greater variation in willingness to share personal information than India.
Graphing the extremes to show ranges in this manner often highlights the
point you want to convey in an impactful way.
Figure 17.11 Visualization emphasizing contrasts and the area of

commonality.
Step 3: Test Your Visualizations

Finally, after you’ve created your visualization, you need to test it to see
whether your intended message is being received accurately. The best way to
do this is to solicit feedback about the visualization from people with similar
backgrounds to your ultimate audience. At this stage, open questions such as
“What message do you take away from this visual?” are a good way to
proceed. Answers that match your desired key messages will confirm that
you have achieved your objective.
Developing a visualization that successfully conveys your intended message
is often an iterative process. If you receive feedback that the visualization is
not conveying the message you intended, you need to make amendments and
seek feedback again.
Knowing Your Audience

Fundamental to the success of your workforce analytics story and the
effective use of visualization is understanding your audience. All good
communications should be tailored to the audience, and workforce analytics
is certainly no exception. Your communications, whether delivered as a story,
as a presentation, or in written format, need to be aligned with the
motivations and preferences of the audience receiving it.
To align your message to your audience, you need to understand their
perspectives and expectations. To do this, think about your audiences in two
dimensions: people who have experience with analytical methods and
techniques, and people who have experience with the specific project or
business issue being analyzed (see Figure 17.12).

Figure 17.12 Types of audience for workforce analytics communications.
• Master. This type of audience has knowledge of both analytics

methodologies and techniques, plus a good understanding of the specific
analytics project in question. With this group, it is worth sharing more
details of the project, as well as insights and recommendations.
Furthermore, you can arm them with visuals and stories so they can
advocate for the project.
• Enthusiast. This type of audience is knowledgeable about the project but
has limited experience with analytics. In communicating with these
people, limit the details and use storytelling to create impact. Give an
overview of the insights, recommendations, and actions.
• Scientist. This type of audience involves you in a deeper discussion of the
analytics methods and techniques used. Limit storytelling and expect
statistical discussion on techniques and methods instead of the outcomes.
Focus on visuals instead of the story.
• Newcomer. This type of audience knows little about the specific project
or about analytical methodologies. Use storytelling to provide emotional
attachment. Focus on actions and the business impact by providing
context and highlights.
Customizing Content to Your Audience

When you have identified the different types of audiences, you can customize
the story accordingly. Eric van Duin, Manager of HRIS & Analytics at
PostNL N.V., explains: “Look for the insights that will help business or HR
executives themselves. It’s really important to keep in mind who you are
doing it for and why you are doing it.” Giovani Everduin, Head of Strategic
HR, Communications & Change at Tanfeeth, is one of many others to
support this point of view and recommends the following approach: “You
should pitch the same analytics case differently to different people. It is about
tailoring the message effectively.”
Not only the content of the story should be tailored to the interests and
motivations of different audiences; the communication style can also be
adapted. Consider visual, auditory, and kinesthetic communication
preferences and adjust your presentation accordingly. Auditory
communication includes the tone and volume of your voice, plus the use of
video and music to demonstrate messages. Kinesthetic communications can
include using 3D objects created as visualizations for the audience to
physically handle something.
You can even ask your audience members for their preferred communication
style. Kanella Salapatas, HR Data Manager and Reporting Service Owner at
ANZ Bank, offers her audience a choice: “At one point, the CEO asked for
some monthly workforce information. Rather than just supplying a report, we
gave him three reports of the same information: a traditional PowerPoint
presentation, screenshots of data and metrics, and an infographic.” The CEO
chose the latter and has since become more engaged on content.
Being Effective with Your Time

Many workforce analytics practitioners have stressed the importance of
tailoring content to the time available. For example, if you only have a few
moments in the metaphorical elevator, you had better give your audience the
main message quickly.
Antony Ebelle-ebanda has been an analytics professional at several
organizations. His mantra for presenting to executives and leaders is, “Make
it minimal, make it meaningful.” Regardless of the time allocated, getting
your audience interested very early in the allotted time is always a good idea:
“The person has maybe 2 minutes to get interested—if you don’t have them
hooked in those 2 minutes, you’ll lose them.”
Choosing Your Presenters

Tailoring your communication to your audience also includes considering
who can best present and tell the story. Ralf Buechsenschuss, Global HR
Manager of People Analytics & Transformation at Nestlé, says that, in certain
meetings with executive stakeholders, he prefers not to have presenters who
focus on too much detail. In Ralf’s experience, if those individuals join those
meetings, the conversation tends to move away from the insights,
recommendations, and actions, and instead stalls on the statistics and
analysis. This can disrupt meetings and draw attention to the input instead of
the output.
Conversely, in some meetings with certain audiences (for example, the
master audience in Figure 17.12), having a statistician join is highly
recommended. The skill that these experts can bring adds credibility to the
depth of analysis that leads to the conclusions.
Fundamentally, it is important to get the right presenters for your audience.
Al Adamsen, Founder and Executive Director of the Talent Strategy Institute,
advises: “Understand the needs of your customer, how they consume
information, and when they consume it.”
Thinking Like an Executive

One way to ensure that an executive presentation goes well is to “think like
an executive.” Considering what keeps executives awake at night, what
business pressures they face, and why this project is relevant to them can
build the interest needed for success. Thinking about your executive in the
following ways should help:
• Treat your executives like your best customers—understand what they
need from you.
• Understand the business from their perspective; workforce issues might
not be at the forefront of their minds.
• Try to find out the most important item on their agenda this week, this
month, and so on.
• Check their schedule to see what meetings they will have both before and
after yours; this can tell you a lot about what might be on their minds.
• Find out about them—learn what makes them tick so that you can
personalize your story.
Jonathon Frampton, Director of People Analytics at Baylor Scott & White
Health, knows his executives are big Harvard Business Review (HBR)
readers, so he developed his HBR theory of communication. He emulates the
clear, well-structured, and highly professional content of that journal:
“Executives read HBR—they like the style. Good communication is not only
about the ability to make it clear; it is also about the listener’s ability to
understand. So if we make it HBR-like for executives, then they will
understand it.”
Keeping It Simple
This chapter has covered a great deal of material about crafting stories,
providing effective visualization, and tailoring your communication to
different audiences, but the final word has to be about the importance of
keeping things simple.
When you have dedicated weeks or even months to detailed data gathering
and analyses, it is tempting to share all that effort with your audience. Don’t.
Laurie Bassi, CEO of McBassi & Company, says: “Do not share everything
you’ve learned—executives don’t care. Less is more.” She always tries to
condense her analytics work to one slide: “No matter how complex the study,
I condense insights down to one slide, with one graph that people can
immediately understand.”
Thomas Rasmussen, Vice President of HR Data & Analytics at Shell, has had
a lot of experience presenting to a variety of audiences. His method for
simplification is based on the practice of writing abstracts: “Think of an
abstract in a journal. Condense your analytics work down to an abstract.
When my team does this, I say, ‘Great, now give me the abstract of the
abstract,’ and keep doing that until the message is succinct and clear.”
Making your presentation simple and getting to the point might take some
time. Many analytics practitioners say that communicating and preparing for
presentations often takes much more time than expected. Whatever time you
allow, it is worth doubling the time you think it will take. As the French
philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, wrote in the 17th century, “I
have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it
short.”
Salvador Malo, Head of Global Workforce Analytics at Ericsson, appreciates
the time it can take to create great communications: “I tell my own team
members to spend as much time on the communication as on the analysis
itself. I can spend time making ten versions or more of the communication
before I deliver it.”
SIMPLIFY YOUR STORY

Practitioners and scholars have been researching the art and science
of storytelling for many years. One such scholar is Paul Yost,
Associate Professor at Seattle Pacific University. However, he came
to understand the value of storytelling not just from his research, but
from his own practical experience.
Before his days in academia, Paul was the manager of research and
was responsible for, among other things, the employee engagement
survey at The Boeing Company.2 There he had two very different
experiences with the chief executive officer (CEO) that strongly
influenced his approach to storytelling. “One year I went to see the
CEO to discuss the employee engagement results. I took a
presentation with 35 pages full of charts.” Paul remembers the CEO
selecting two charts. He looked at only those two and omitted the rest
of the information. “He saw the data and selected those pages that
supported his opinion. The rest of the story was lost. I had failed to
communicate the results clearly enough for him to pick up the story I
was trying to tell.”
The following year, Paul did not want to repeat the same mistake:
“The next time, I took just one slide up front.” He said to the same
CEO, “I have a limited perspective on the organization; I do not
know all about the operations, the finances, etc. But I do know about
employee engagement. I am going to show you three things from the

data that are important for Boeing.”
Paul learned how to tell the story that he wanted to communicate
clearly and simply. The key messages from his presentation had no
ambiguity because he signposted them clearly at the beginning: “I am
going to show you three things… .” He did not rely on his audience
to work out the story behind the 35 slides he was presenting. Paul
presented the story, not just the data.
Summary
The art of storytelling and visualization with data requires technique and
practice. Effective storytelling increases the retention rate of the messages
and the likelihood that action will be taken as a result. Visualization helps to
create an understanding of the insights and recommendations, and a good
understanding of your audience helps you tailor communications to maximize
impact. For these reasons, storytelling and visualization are skills that
workforce analytics practitioners should practice. Following are the main
points this chapter emphasizes:
• Ensure that your stories follow these principles: Educate, don’t fabricate;
enlighten, don’t overwhelm; and convince, don’t confuse.
• Create effective workforce analytics stories by providing context, creating
emotional impact, revealing the conflict, and conveying a memorable
message.
• Construct visualizations that show the intent of your analytics by
clarifying the message of your visualization, designing it appropriately,
and testing it before you use it with your selected audience.
• Understand the different types of audiences (newcomer, enthusiast,
scientist, or master) and tailor your communications accordingly.
• Get help from others in preparing your communication materials if you
need it, and strive to keep things simple.
1 CGB Enterprises, Inc., is headquartered in Louisiana and is a privately

owned company. It provides an array of services for grain farmers, from
buying, storing, selling, and shipping of the crop, to financing and risk
management. It has global operations and more than 2,000 employees,
and was founded in the 1970s (www.cgb.com).
2 The Boeing Company, headquartered in Chicago, is the world’s largest
aerospace company and the leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners
and defense, space, and security systems. A top U.S. exporter, the
company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in
150 countries (www.boeing.com).

18
The Road Ahead
“With all the technology like wearables, it would be nice to get these ideas
into our company. We thought about using wearable analytics on our factory
staff, with the goal of preventing health issues. That would be a long-term
aspiration.”
—Ralf Buechsenschuss
Global HR Manager, People Analytics & Transformation, Nestlé
Throughout this book, we have presented the recommendations and

experiences of practitioners, academics, and thought leaders as advice
for organizations to develop their workforce analytics capability.
With the input of analytics experts, we have painted a picture of the
discipline of workforce analytics as it is today and how it can be used
to create business value. In doing so, we have explained, to a large
degree, why it is important to human resources (HR) and to
businesses and organizations as a whole. Although notable
exceptions exist, the overall discipline is in its infancy, and
practitioners are focused on building their organizations’ foundations.
This chapter forecasts what we believe will happen next in workforce
analytics. Predictions about the future are not likely to be 100 percent
accurate; however, the trajectories of existing trends should continue,
unless unimaginable events disrupt those trends.
In this chapter, we cover the following:
• Ways to meet business challenges analytically
• Emerging data sources
• Evolving technology
• The evolution of the workforce analytics function
Analytics Provides New Opportunities for HR

Chapter 1, “Why Workforce Analytics?”, describes a pervasive demand for
competitive advantage that transcends industries and geographies. The
demand is driven by global competition for business in a labor market that is
internationally mobile and globally connected. Faced with these pressures,
organizations have a stronger need than ever to acquire, develop, and retain
the best talent. Employees also have much more choice about who they will
work for, when they will do the work, and where they will work.
“HR can no longer rely on an old road map to meet the ever-changing
demands it faces. The world of analytics opens up new opportunities that will
enable HR to have different conversations and implement new solutions that
drive better results for the business.”
—Dave Millner
Executive Consulting Partner, IBM
Resolving these challenges satisfactorily requires addressing a variety of

complex psychological and logistical issues. This is because the factors that
make a worker a good fit for a role (a strong performer, someone who is
unlikely to leave, and so on) include a mix of psychological attributes and
technical capabilities. These features of workers need to be aligned with the
demands of job roles in international markets that span geographies and
cultures as well as time zones.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that highly capable professionals who were
once attracted to roles in disciplines such as finance and economics are now
being drawn to HR because of its turn toward analytics. Until this point,
workforce analytics projects have commonly been ad hoc efforts and have
been deployed on a case-by-case basis to solve localized problems. Increased
levels of capability, coupled with the ability to leverage technology, mean
that in the future we should see more integrated solutions to solve problems
for greater business impact. These solutions will be able to match workers to
opportunities, develop worker capabilities, and optimize work environments
more quickly and effectively than ever. Taken together, these factors make it
an exciting time to be working in the area of workforce analytics and in the
profession of HR.
Emerging Data Sources

Data sources that we could not have imagined five years ago are becoming
common (for instance, text-based analysis of a worker’s digital footprint).
New data sources will continue to emerge in the future, and those that
scientists successfully demonstrate utility for are likely to make their way
into applications of workforce analytics. Sources of emerging data include
sensors, wearables, disappearables, and the Internet of Things.
Whereas much traditional data in workforce analytics is structured (easy to
store and analyze using traditional databases and spreadsheet software), data
from emerging sources are often unstructured. Examples of unstructured data
include data used to create reputational assessments from digital footprints
(such as text, images, and video). Data-management technology for large-
scale storage and analysis of unstructured data has only recently evolved to
the point that analysis of such data is feasible in workforce analytics.
Connected Devices
One major anticipated development is that the data sources that once told us
something about workers at a single point in time (for example, via an
employment survey) will increasingly be replaced by systems that stream
data in real time from technology that is perceptive (sensors), mobile
(wearables), and small (disappearables). Many of these devices are relevant
to workforce analytics and are part of the Internet of Things, an
interconnected world linking electronic devices to others—clocks,
refrigerators, cameras and so on. This means that devices useful for
workforce analytics will be linked to devices used in other areas of the
business, providing greater opportunity for workforce analytics practitioners.
Recent developments in sensor technology will begin to be deployed live in

organizations. These sensors will permit digital badges to monitor all social
interactions (virtual and in person), including how, where, and when the
interactions occur. The effectiveness of worker interactions can even be
assessed with facial monitoring while people are having conversations. The
information from these devices will see physical office architectures
optimized for collaboration and productivity. The communication patterns of
workers via electronic mobile devices will be examined for ways in which the
digital work environments of employees can be altered to facilitate
productivity, in the same way that sensor data can be used to optimize the
physical environment. For example, the heart rates of workers in highly
stressful occupations can be monitored to identify when work becomes too
stressful, and the delivery routes of couriers can be optimized with global
positioning data.
Digital Footprints
Standardized testing of ability or personality scores is common. Our ability to
measure these attributes on job candidates was previously limited to the
people we could encourage to complete a test, either in person or remotely.
Now, however, nontraditional data sources on candidates abound that do not
require the applicants to expend any effort or even know they are being
assessed. Biographical data, or a candidate’s personal history (for example,
educational attainment), can be found, and psychological profiles of
candidates can be derived from digital footprints they leave via their use of
the World Wide Web. Based on this information, businesses can proactively
approach candidates instead of having to wait for the candidates to seek out
opportunities. Digital footprints can be analyzed to help identify change
management influencers. The data can come from sources such as emails,
instant messaging, or social networks.
Text-based analysis of candidates, using information from online digital

footprints, will become an established approach to assessing worker
suitability for jobs in the context of high-volume candidate screening. This
will require overcoming numerous barriers related to employee privacy.
Whether workers have a right to privacy when on the Internet depends on
setting and circumstance; the question is not easily answered with a clear yes
or no. Text-based analysis of digital footprints also presents challenges
related to inclusivity.
Although digital information likely exists for most individuals living in
developed countries, those without Internet access will not have as complete
a digital profile, nor will they be able to influence it. For these reasons (and
others we turn to later in this chapter, such as validity), standardized testing
should remain the primary approach in high-stakes testing until we
understand more about the appropriate use of text mining for personnel
selection. In other words, if today you have the chance to assess a candidate
with a good personality questionnaire or a text profile, go for the standardized
personality test.
Genetic Testing
Another new development involves molecular genetic analysis of suitability
for jobs. Recent developments have seen researchers establish links between
genetic profiles and work outcomes. For instance, a Journal of Applied
Psychology article by Chi Wei and colleagues from the National University
of Singapore showed a link between genes associated with extraversion and
job-hopping tendencies.
Importantly, the practical significance of these relationships has not yet been
determined, and the sizes of the relationships so far appear small. Many other
aspects of work behavior are caused by one’s environment, not one’s genetic
profile. Moreover, genetic influences can be switched on or off by one’s
environment. The implications of using these methods need to be better
understood before they are adopted in workforce analytics.
Considering New Data Sources

The availability of new data sources does not mean that their use is
scientifically justified, legally defensible, or socially appropriate. As this
section emphasizes, careful consideration of each of these issues is
recommended before using new data sources in workforce analytics.
Validity
New data sources come with as many questions as answers about people at
work. The biggest question of all relates to exactly what constitutes
appropriate use. An important factor to consider is whether the methods can
be scientifically demonstrated as effective. For example, although scientific
journals have related social media and text profiling of personality to
standardized personality questionnaires, these relationships are typically
modest: Social media and text-based profiles of personality measure
something similar to standardized questionnaires, but they do not measure the
same concepts. Scientifically speaking, these approaches are likely adequate
for high-volume pre-employment screening, but right now there are better
approaches to use when selecting among the final few candidates.
Legal Appropriateness
Along with considering the scientific merit of utilizing new data sources,
organizations must closely consider the legal appropriateness of doing so.
Legislation generally reacts and follows developments in technology. This is
because the technology that yields the data workforce analytics professionals
might use is evolving quickly and in ways that legislators cannot predict or
imagine. New applications of emerging data sources can be scientifically
validated before they are even considered legal. In other words, science and
technology are often ahead of the law. Deloitte’s 2017 Human Capital Trends
Report explores the rate of change of technology and public policy, including
legislation, in more detail. Different countries also have different laws
regarding the use of technology in workforce analytics. Employment lawyers
should be consulted before new data sources are used in workforce analytics
for employee-related decision making.
Social Impact
Industrial psychologists have developed a thorough understanding of the
social consequences of using different forms of employee-related
information. Using some characteristics in personnel-related decision making
will lead to adverse impact (across socially, legally, or politically salient
groups). However, this understanding is either nonexistent or in its infancy
when it comes to many of the new data sources we have discussed.
Organizations therefore need to carefully consider the social consequences of
the workforce analytics decisions they make based on new data sources. Just
because the science says an application of a new data source is effective and
the law doesn’t say it is inappropriate does not mean that it won’t have
undesirable social consequences.
Evolving Technology
Chapter 11, “Know Your Technology,” outlines the requirements for
establishing an analytics function today. But what technological
developments are on the horizon? This section discusses open standards,
cognitive technology, real-time analytics, and self-service technologies.
Open Standards
The approach of completing time-consuming large technology
implementations before undertaking analytics will fall out of favor as
technology based on open standards becomes the norm. Open standards mean
that HR analytics can begin with the technology on hand today, together with
skilled computer scientists who can integrate the data. We will continue to
see the adoption of cloud technology except where legislation restricts its use.
Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Technology

Recent developments in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing,
which have incorporated sophisticated analytical techniques that were once
available only to highly trained data scientists, will continue. Because the
technology permits it, HR practitioners will be expected to have a stronger
analytical perspective. Insights will be at the fingertips of those who know
how to access them.
The acceleration toward evidence-based HR is most likely to happen with

ready access to cognitive computing—that is, systems that understand, learn,
and reason as they interact with humans using natural language. Cognitive
technology does this by taking advantage of some of the machine learning
technologies referenced in Chapter 5, “Basics of Data Analysis,” and
combining these with other technologies such as natural language processing.
Cognitive technology promises large benefits for business because it puts all
forms of data (structured and unstructured) to work in analytics, whether
numerical, text based, or rich media such as audio and video files.
Artificial intelligence also holds great promise for business and workforce
analytics. Its applications are numerous, for example with bots and digital
agents, where their introduction will change the nature of the workforce, and
hence workforce analytics. This and other emerging technologies bring great
opportunity as discussed in PwC’s 2017 Global Digital IQ® Survey.
Self-service Technology
Expect to see a much wider distribution of analytics capability to workers,
managers, and executives through the use of self-service technology in HR.
This analytical empowerment of workers will become increasingly app
driven and enabled via mobile devices. Numerous benefits follow a shift to
self-service HR environments. First, workers can obtain the information they
need immediately instead of having to wait for a response from HR business
partners. Second, managers will have access to information that allows them
to make insight-driven decisions in real time. Finally, advances in self-service
technology will put information at the fingertips of HR business partners,
enabling them to become more insight driven and strategically influential.
Real-Time Model Updating and Reporting
Practitioners can expect to see much wider adoption in the future of real-time
reporting and model updating. This technology means that when recurring
events happen (for example, employees resign and exit the business at the
end of any particular day), predictive models and reports are updated
automatically and immediately. The latest information can then be passed to
managers using intranet technology, a mobile app, or a text alert. Managers
will be able to take advantage of the outcomes of real-time analytics
immediately instead of having to wait for the results of new models to be
disseminated. These real-time analytics will deliver the information leaders in
organizations need to manage change in increasingly dynamic operating
environments.
The Workforce Analytics Function

The continued pressure for workforce efficiency, coupled with new data
sources and the technology to manage them, will require workforce analytics
functions to look different in the future. This difference will be evident in
terms of the function’s structure and reporting, the types of skills required,
and an enhanced need for collaboration.
Functional Reporting Line

Today the most common structural approach for the workforce analytics
function is to locate the team within HR, often several levels down from the
chief human resources officer (CHRO). More team leaders are beginning to
report either directly to the CHRO (see Chapter 3, “The Workforce Analytics
Leader,” and Chapter 14, “Establish an Operating Model”) or to a direct
report of that person, such as the head of organizational development or
talent. This provides the advantage of a sponsor who is hierarchically close to
the CEO and is focused on workforce-related business issues.
Nevertheless, for many organizations, reporting to the CHRO might be an
interim structure before workforce analytics is integrated into an enterprise-
wide analytics function. The benefit of this approach is that the business
develops a quantitative understanding of how all functions interact with one
another to impact business performance. A centralized model could have a
chief analytics officer or chief insights officer, with the function of workforce
analytics becoming part of that team. Such a structure makes access to the
information required to accurately link workforce measurements to business
performance more readily available, and projects will likely become more
complex to tackle much larger business issues.
For other organizations, such as those that are highly federated, a better
workforce analytics model might be one in which responsibility for
workforce analytics is dispersed into the lines of business, with an HR
analytics partner role established to complement the now common HR
business partner role. Either way, having the workforce analytics function
remain solely within HR will become less common in the future.
Skills of the Future

Chapter 12, “Build the Analytics Team,” detailed the Six Skills for Success,
the knowledge, skills, and abilities that a workforce analytics function should
have access to in order to succeed. The demand for these skills will increase
and the mix and importance of each skill will evolve.
First, the workforce analytics leader will be required to manage greater
complexity and prioritize the ever-growing volume of information. This
ability will become critical as projects become more integrated into the
broader analytics work of businesses. Analytics leaders will also need to
become adept at leading highly complex projects in unfamiliar areas and for a
broader range of stakeholders.
Second, availability of new and increasingly personalized data sources,
together with machine learning technology and the algorithms it generates,
will make managing privacy more complicated. Workforce analytics projects
and activities will require more sophisticated privacy and ethical skills to
manage multiple considerations: behavioral (what people like and how they
will behave), legal (what is permitted), and ethical (what is the right thing to
do with people’s data). Dawn Klinghoffer, General Manager of HR Business
Insights at Microsoft, already has someone on her team fulfilling this
behavioral, compliance, and ethical role. Dawn believes such a role will
become more common in the world of workforce analytics: “With all the new
data emerging, such as metadata, network behavior, and email traffic data, we
have to get a handle on what this means and how we will use this for decision
making.”
Third, as workforce analytics technology evolves and new data formats
become available, data scientists will need to keep up with the latest
techniques and technologies. Workforce analytics team members will need to
continuously learn about new data sources and analytical techniques to
ensure that they can contribute effectively to solving business challenges.
Finally, as people data sources become more varied, larger, and more
complex, there will be greater demand for people trained in the nuances of
workforce-related data, such as data scientists and industrial-organizational
psychologists.
Extreme Collaboration
In the future, managing workers will require applying analytics to see the
way HR policies and practices interact with the approaches being applied in
other functions, such as finance, marketing, and legal departments. The new
approach will view HR practices and processes as just one factor that impacts
the way organizations turn inputs (for example, materials and labor) into
outputs (that is, products and services) for customers.
The workforce analytics function therefore needs to embrace the approaches
and language of other functions to fully understand the likely complex ways
that HR policies and practices impact business performance. These demands
will see the workforce analytics function work more collaboratively, and with
a broader range of colleagues and stakeholders, than it has to date. Expect to
see a greater number of partnerships as projects become more complex and
require abilities beyond the immediate capabilities of the team. This
integration will also see the data that once flowed only within silos in
businesses become available in real time for authorized users across the
organization.
Maturity Models
Perhaps notable due to its absence in this book is the notion of analytics
maturity models. Maturity models in analytics essentially specify a roadmap
that organizations can choose to follow to develop their workforce analytics
capability. In the early days of workforce analytics, maturity models were
useful because they highlighted the possibilities for workforce analytics at a
time when the discipline was finding its feet. They spotlighted the usefulness
of data warehouses (the reporting level in many frameworks) and the
potential to predict employee events with a useful degree of accuracy (the
predictive level in many maturity frameworks).
In the future, the implied need to follow a linear progression through
seemingly more sophisticated levels of analytics capability is a
misrepresentation of what is needed and what is possible for most
organizations. In fact, all forms of workforce analytics are likely to be needed
concurrently. Organizations do not need to surmount the hurdles associated
with earlier levels of an analytics maturity framework before reaching the
desired stage of workforce analytics capability. Instead, organizations should
simply focus on the analytics capability they require to solve their most
pressing business challenges. In other words, don’t focus on the maturity
model which is an inside-out view of workforce analytics. Instead focus on
the business issues and the stakeholders that are served, which gives an
outside-in emphasis.
Summary
Workforce analytics is an essential organizational capability and experts
believe its impact on business performance will only increase. By taking the
following steps, you can position your function well to capitalize on the
opportunities:
• Familiarize yourself with emerging data sources in workforce analytics,
such as worker digital footprints, sensors, and wearable data.
• Ensure that your function is ready to utilize new and emerging technology
that blends reporting and predictive analytics using open source
technology, all deployed with artificial intelligence and cognitive
technology.
• Decide on the appropriateness of data sources for particular purposes
based on the scientific evidence, legal context, and social implications of
using the data.
• Prepare your team to evolve its skills, particularly the ability to lead in a
complex environment, with privacy as a specialty and using data scientists
who can learn new methods and techniques quickly.
• Learn why workforce analytics is important for tomorrow’s business and
prepare to embrace the road ahead.

Glossary
A/B testing. A randomized experiment with two groups: a control group
that experiences the current or standard treatment, and an experimental
group that receives some variation of the standard treatment. Any
observed differences between the groups can be attributed to the
treatment.
Algorithm. A step-by-step set of rules to follow in calculations to meet
analytical objectives such as prediction or classification.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA). A statistical method for examining
quantitative differences between two or more groups.
Analytics. The discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful
patterns in data to inform decision making and improve performance.
Application programming interface (API). A set of definitions, protocols,
and tools for building software applications, and for allowing software
components from different sources to communicate with each other.
Bias. Statistical differences in scores for majority and minority groups that
are unrelated to the underlying concept you are trying to measure. This
occurs either in measuring a variable (measurement bias) or applying the
measure to predict outcomes (predictive bias).
Big Data. Datasets of structured and unstructured information that are so
large and complex that they cannot be adequately processed and analyzed
with traditional data tools and applications.
Business acumen. A keenness and agility in understanding, interpreting,
and dealing with business situations.
Business glossary. See data dictionary.
Business intelligence tools. Software for generating insights and reports
from data stored in a data warehouse.
Causality. The effect of one variable on another (cause and effect). Two
variables have a causal relationship if changes in one variable produces
changes in the other.
Center of Excellence (CoE) or Center of Competence (CoC). A team or
entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support, and

training for a focus area.
Change data capture (CDC). An automated approach for ensuring that
data changes are synchronized across an enterprise by replicating data
changes from a source system to other systems.
Change management. The process, tools, and techniques to manage the
people side of change to achieve a required business outcome.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). A
professional body for human resources and people development that has a
worldwide community of members committed to championing better
work and working lives. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
Chief human resources officer (CHRO). The most senior person in an
organization responsible for overseeing all aspects of the strategies,
policies, practices, and operations of human resource management.
Classification tree. A machine learning approach that uses training data to
create a model that can then be used for assigning cases (for example,
workers) in a dataset to different possible groupings (for example, leavers
or stayers).
Click-path data. The tracking of web page viewing behavior, such as
where and when people click on a web page, the time they spend on a web
page, and their viewing patterns. Also known as click-stream data.
Cloud computing. A type of Internet-based technology in which different
services (such as servers, storage, and applications) are delivered to an
organization’s or an individual’s computers and devices through the
Internet.
Cluster analysis. A statistical technique for finding natural groupings in
data; it can also be used to assign new cases to groupings or categories.
Cognitive assistant. A technology application that interacts with users
through natural language, providing levels of confidence in its answers. A
cognitive assistant continuously learns and improves.
Cognitive computing. Systems that understand, learn, and reason as they
interact with humans using natural language to mimic the way the human
brain works and enhance human performance.
Confounding factor. A variable other than the one you’re interested in that
might affect the outcome variable and lead to incorrect conclusions.

Consumerization of HR. A term referring to employees’ expectations that
technology experiences at work will be similar to technology experiences
as consumers.
Continuous variable. A variable that can take on any value between a
minimum and maximum (for example, age or tenure), where a higher
score indicates more of the variable.
Control group. A group in a research study that does not experience
treatment, but instead acts as a baseline against which change in the
experimental group is compared.
Correlation (Pearson product–moment correlation). A statistical measure
that indicates the extent to which two variables are related. A positive
correlation indicates that, as one variable increases, the other increases as
well. For a negative correlation, as one variable increases, the other
decreases.
Correlational design. A research design that does not involve
randomization or manipulation of who receives treatments.
Dashboard. A data display tool that provides at-a-glance views of key
performance indicators relevant to a particular objective or business
process.
Data (plural); datum (singular). Facts, information, and statistics collected
together for reference or analysis.
Data analysis. A process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and
modeling data with the goal of discovering useful insights, suggesting
conclusions, and supporting decision making.
Data analyst. A person whose job is to collect and study data to reveal
meaningful patterns and insights.
Data architecture. Models, policies, and guidelines that structure how data
are collected, stored, used, managed, and integrated within an
organization.
Data dictionary. A comprehensive record of business and technical
definitions of the elements within a dataset. Also referred to as a business
glossary.
Data ethics. The fundamental legal and moral principles of right and wrong
that govern the collection, storage, use, and dissemination of data in
analytics.
Data governance. The overall management of the availability, usability,
integrity, and security of the data employed in an organization.
Data mart. A subset of a data warehouse that allows data to be accessed
and customized by specific business functions.
Data mining. The process of collecting, searching through, and analyzing a
large amount of data in a database to discover patterns or relationships.
Data privacy. The legal, political, and ethical issues surrounding the
collection and dissemination of data, the technology used, and the
expectations of what information is shared with whom.
Data profiling. Checking datasets for allowable values, logic, and
consistency.
Data scientist. A person whose job is to perform statistical analysis, data
mining, and retrieval processes on a large amount of data to identify
trends and other relevant information.
Data steward. A person responsible for managing data content, quality,
standards, and controls within an organization or function.
Data visualization. The representation of quantitative information in a
pictorial or graphic format so that an audience can easily grasp difficult
concepts or patterns.
Data warehouse. A repository for storing business-relevant data.
Database. A collection of information that is organized so that it can be
easily accessed, managed, and updated.
Dataset. A collection of variables or information that is composed of
separate elements but can be managed as a single entity for analysis.
Democratization of HR. A term given to HR so that the information
known about employees or policies and programs is more readily
available; for example, information about a manager’s team is provided
by HR applications without the need to request it.
Digital footprint. The personal electronic trace or trail left from the use of
Internet-connected devices.
Disappearables. Wearable devices that will become so small due to
technological advances that they will almost disappear from view.
Discrete variable. A variable with a limited number of possible categories
and no intrinsic ordering.
Dynamic visualization. A display of an analytics message that is animated,
interactive, and contains live data so that the image changes as the
information refreshes.
Ethnographic study. A qualitative, small-group research design that
attempts to understand organizational events from the perspective of those
experiencing the events.
Experiment. A scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a
hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact, with participants randomly
assigned to groups so that every participant has an equal chance of being
in the experimental group or the control group.
Experimental group. A group in a research design that experiences a new
treatment or intervention intended to improve an individual or
organizational outcome. The effects on this group are often contrasted
with a control group that does not receive treatment.
Factor analysis. A statistical technique for summarizing many variables
with fewer variables, with particular applications to measuring
psychological attributes.
Fairness. The social evaluation of whether decisions are free from
discrimination.
Fairness-aware data mining. The science of applying statistical
techniques while managing the social consequences of analytics.
Future of work. A term referring to how work will develop and be
delivered in a globally interconnected world in which almost all work can
be done anywhere and the processing power of computers will enable
machines to outperform humans for an ever-increasing scope of work.
Gig economy. The freelance economy, in which workers support
themselves with a variety of part-time jobs, or gigs, that do not provide
traditional employment-style benefits such as healthcare.
Governance. A broad term referring to the establishment of policies and
guidelines, along with continuous monitoring of their proper
implementation, by the members of the governing body of an
organization.
Human resources business partner (HRBP). HR professionals who work
closely with an organization’s senior leaders to develop an agenda for
managing people that supports the overall aims of the organization. These
are generalists and do not normally specialize in any subfunction of HR.
Human resources information system (HRIS). Software that provides a
single, centralized view of data that a human resources management group
requires for executing HR processes.
Human resources information technology (HRIT). A subfunction within
the human resources function that is responsible for selecting,
implementing, and maintaining the HR technology systems for an
organization.
Hypothesis. A proposed explanation, in the form of a testable and
falsifiable statement, often informed by observations and previous
research.
Impact. Differences in the rates of job selection, promotion, or other
employment decisions that disadvantage members of a particular group,
such as women or ethnic minorities.
Infographic. A short-form, visual representation of information, data, or
knowledge presented through simple images that highlight patterns,
trends, or insights. Simplified from the term information graphic.
Insight. A deep and clear understanding derived from analysis.
Instrumental variable approach. A statistical technique common in
economics that attempts to assess causal effects from correlational data
when randomized experiments are not possible.
Internet of Things (IoT). An interconnected network of physical devices,
vehicles, buildings, and other items embedded with sensors that gather
and share data.
Intervention. An action taken with the intent of producing a specific
outcome or result.
Key performance indicator (KPI). A variable or metric against which the
success of a function or business is judged.
Kurtosis. A numerical indicator of whether the heights of the tails (the low
and high values of a variable) in a data distribution are extreme; zero
kurtosis indicates tails that are neither heavier nor lighter than would be
expected in a normal distribution.
Machine learning. A subdiscipline of computer science that addresses
similar challenges to traditional statistical modeling, but with different

techniques and a stronger focus on predictive accuracy.
Metrics. Facts and figures representing the effectiveness of business
processes that organizations track and monitor to assess the state of the
company.
Mission statement. A description of an organization or function’s business,
its objectives, and its approach to reach those objectives.
Nanotechnology. The application of technology at such a small scale that
devices and sensors can be implanted into articles such as clothing.
Neural net model. A machine learning technique for making forecasts and
classifications from many predictors, suitable when the relationships
between predictors and outcomes are too complex to be modeled with
traditional statistical methods such as regression.
Normal distribution. Also known as a bell-shaped curve or Gaussian
curve, this is a distribution of data that is symmetrical around the mean:
The mean, median, and mode are all equal, with more density in the center
and less in the tails.
Observational study. A study that examines how variables relate to one
another in their natural environment, without randomizing subjects to
conditions and manipulating who receives an intervention.
On-premise technology. Software installed and run on computers
physically located on-site (on the premises) at an organization.
Open standard. A public technology standard that allows interoperability
and communication between technology systems.
Operating model. Describes how a group will conduct its business within
the larger organization and external environment in which it resides. It is
useful for defining working relationships, resolving issues and conflicts,
and guiding decision making.
Outcome metric. The measurable result (financial or nonfinancial) of an
action, program, or project—an indicator of the extent to which objectives
have been met.
Outlier. An observed value that falls outside the overall pattern of an
expected data distribution.
Predictive analytics. A branch of advanced analytics that is used to make
forecasts about future events.

Principal component analysis. A statistical technique used to reduce the
number of variables in a dataset to a smaller number while preserving the
information in the larger dataset. It is a type of factor analysis and is often
used as a first step to make further analyses more manageable.
Proximal metric. An indicator of progress toward a desired outcome,
reflecting observable results closer in time to when an action is taken.
Proxy variable. An alternative measure of a variable of interest, when the
desired variable is unavailable or of insufficient quality for analysis.
Qualitative analysis. An approach to studying phenomena when the data
collection, analysis, and interpretation do not involve statistics.
Quantitative analysis. An approach to studying phenomena when the data
collection, analysis, and interpretation are based on statistics.
Quasi-experiment. A research design in which the effects of an
experimental intervention are compared to the effects of no intervention
on a control group, without the benefit of randomizing participants to
conditions.
Randomization. The process of allocating research participants across
conditions of an experiment in a way that ensures no differences between
the groups.
Regression analysis. A statistical process for estimating the relationships
between variables, often used to forecast the change in a variable based on
changes in other variables. Linear regression is used to analyze continuous
variables, and logistic regression is used for discrete variables.
Regression tree. A machine learning method for making predictions about
a continuous outcome variable (such as job performance) from one
predictor or a series of predictors.
Reporting. The function or activity for generating documents that contain
information organized in a narrative, graphic, or tabular form, often in a
repeatable and regular fashion.
Research design. A research plan regarding what data will be collected,
when it will be collected, how it will be collected, and from what or
whom it will be collected.
Return on investment (ROI). The measure of benefit of an investment
divided by the cost of the investment, usually expressed as a percentage
and often converted to a monetary value.
Sensitivity analysis. A technique used to determine how different values of
an independent variable will impact a particular dependent variable under
a given set of assumptions. It allows an analyst to determine whether a
statistical finding will remain consistent under a variety of conditions.
Sensor. An object designed to detect and record data, and provide the
information back to a central database.
Skewness. A numerical indicator of lack of symmetry in a data distribution.
Zero skewness indicates perfect symmetry, as would be expected in a
normal distribution.
Snowball strategy. An approach for identifying potential stakeholders by
interviewing select individuals and requesting recommendations of
additional people to interview.
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The world’s largest
HR professional society and leading provider of resources serving the
needs of HR professionals and advancing the practice of human resource
management. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, United States.
Software as a Service (SaaS). An approach to software licensing and
delivery in which software is hosted remotely in the cloud and accessed
via an Internet browser.
Sponsor. A person or group providing support for a project or activity
through financial means or personal endorsements.
Stakeholder. A person in the organization who has a vested interest in a
project or activity and the outcomes.
Static visualization. An image to communicate an analytics message that is
based on a snapshot of data at a point in time (that is, the image is still).
Statistical modeling. The use of mathematical equations, based on a set of
assumptions, intended to predict or explain relationships among variables.
Statistics. The organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of
quantifiable data.
Storytelling. A method of explaining a series of events through narrative.
Strategic workforce planning. A process used to align the needs and
priorities of the organization with those of its workforce, through
understanding labor supply and demand and the long-term objectives of
both the organization and its competitive environment.

Support vector machine. Machine learning techniques that are used to
make predictions of continuous variables and classifications of categorical
variables based on patterns and relationships in a set of training data for
which the values of predictors and outcomes for all cases are known.
t-test. A statistical method for estimating the magnitude of quantitative
differences between two groups.
Text analytics. The process of deriving insights from large volumes of text,
typically through the use of specialized software to identify patterns,
trends, and sentiment.
Time series analysis. A class of statistical methods used for studying how
values of a variable or a group of variables change over time.
Triangulation. A method for establishing the validity of research findings
by using multiple approaches and techniques and looking for
convergence.
Variance. A statistical measure of how spread (or varying) the values of a
variable are around a central value such as the mean.
Vision statement. A description of the desired future impact of your
function on the organization.
Wearables. Devices worn on the body to gather and provide information to
the user through advanced technology, such as smart watches, activity
trackers, and smart glasses.
Workforce analytics. The discovery, interpretation, and communication of
meaningful patterns in workforce-related data to inform decision making
and improve performance.

References
Preface
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Chapter 3, “The Workforce Analytics Leader”

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Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics”

Levenson, Alec. Strategic Analytics: Advancing Strategy Execution and
Organizational Effectiveness. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers,
2015.
Chapter 5, “Basics of Data Analysis”

Edwards, Martin, and Kirsten Edwards. Predictive HR Analytics: Mastering
the HR Metric. London: Kogan Page, 2016.
Hastie, Trevor, Robert Tibshirani, and Jerome Friedman. The Elements of
Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference and Prediction. New York,
NY: Springer,2009.
Kelly III, John, and Steve Hamm. Smart Machines: IBM’s Watson and the
Era of Cognitive Computing. New York, NY: Columbia University Press,
2013.
Lee, Thomas W., Terence R. Mitchell, and Wendy Harman. “Qualitative
Research Strategies in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.” In
APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, edited by
Sheldon Zedeck. Vol. 1, 73–83. Washington, DC: American
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O’Neill, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases
Inequality and Threatens Democracy. New York, NY: Crown Publishing
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Pratt, Michael, and Sylvia Bonaccio. “Qualitative Research in I-O
Psychology: Maps, Myths, and Moving Forward.” Industrial and
Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice. Vol. 9,
Issue 4, (December 2016): 693–715.
Chapter 6, “Case Studies”

Australian Psychological Society. “Stress and Wellbeing in Australia
Survey.” 2016. Retrieved at:
https://www.psychology.org.au/psychologyweek/survey/.
Nielsen Workforce Analytics Excellence Awards, June 2016. Retrieved at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3S1bUhK3Fo.
Reichheld, Fred, “One Number You Need to Grow.” Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 81, Issue 12, (2003): 46–54.
Smith, Jacquelyn. Stress at work is costing employers $300 billion a year—
here's why. Business Insider, June 2016. Retrieved at:
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-stress-at-work-is-costing-
employers-300-billion-a-year-2016-6.
Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction”

Bain and Company. “Mission and Vision Statements.” 2016. Retrieved at
http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/management-tools-mission-
and-vision-statements.aspx.
Diener, Ed, and Martin E. P. Seligman. “Beyond Money: Toward an
Economy of Well-being.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Vol. 5, Issue 1, (2004): 1–31.
Chapter 9, “Get a Quick Win”

Ferris, Gerald R., and K. Michele Kacmar. “Perceptions of Organizational
Politics.” Journal of Management, Vol. 18 (1992): 93–116.
Chapter 10, “Know Your Data”

Bort, Julie. “How a 26-year-old caused IBM to abolish its ban on Uber.”
Business Insider, June 2015. Retrieved at:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-ibm-abolished-its-ban-on-uber-2015-6.
Chapter 11, “Know Your Technology”

Ryan, Jacqueline, and Hailey Herleman. “A Big Data Platform for
Workforce Analytics.” In Big Data at Work: The Data Science Revolution
and Organizational Psychology, edited by Scott Tonidandel, Eden B.
King, and Jose M. Cortina, New York, NY: Routledge, 2015.
Chapter 12, “Build the Analytics Team”

Bloomberg BNA. “HR Department Benchmarks and Analysis.” The
Bureau of National Affairs. 2015–2016.
Knaflic, Cole N. Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for
Business Professionals. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2015.
Davenport, Tom. “What Data Scientist Shortage? Get Serious and Get
Talent.” Data Informed: Big Data and Analytics in the Enterprise. 28 July
2016. Retrieved at http://data-informed.com/what-data-scientist-shortage-
get-serious-and-get-talent/.
Ferris, Gerald. R., and Darren C. Treadway. Politics in Organizations:
Theory and Research Considerations. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012.
Chapter 13, “Partner for Skills”

McKinsey Global Institute. “Big Data: The Next Frontier for Innovation,
Competition and Productivity.” McKinsey & Company, May 2011.
Retrieved at: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-
mckinsey/our-insights/big-data-the-next-frontier-for-innovation.
Chapter 14, “Establish an Operating Model”

Erickson, Tammy. “The Biggest Mistake You (Probably) Make with
Teams.” Harvard Business Review. 5 April 2012. Retrieved at:
https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-biggest-mistake-you-probab.
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Phillips, Katherine W. “How Diversity Makes Us Work Smarter.” Scientific
American, October 2014. Retreived at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-
smarter/
Chapter 15, “Enable Analytical Thinking”

Ariker, Matt, Peter Breuer, and Tim McGuire. “How to Get the Most from
Big Data.” December 2014. Retrieved at:
http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/business-technology/our-
insights/how-to-get-the-most-from-big-data.
Davenport, Tom. “In Praise of ‘Light Quants’ and ‘Analytical
Translators.’ ” Deloitte University Press, May 2015. Retrieved at
http://dupress.com/articles/new-big-data-analytics-skills/.
Chapter 17, “Communicate with Storytelling and

Visualization”
Boje, David M. “Book Review Essay: Pitfalls in Storytelling, Advice and
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230.
Duarte, Nancy. “The Secret Structure of Great Talks.” Filmed November
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Karia, Akash. 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks.
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Shami, N. Sadat, Jiang Yang, Laura Panc, Casey Dugan, Tristan Ratchford,
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Stanton, Andrew. “The Clues to a Great Story.” Filmed Feb 2012.
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Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire,
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Tufte, Edward R. “PowerPoint is Evil.” Wired, September 2003. Retrieved
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Yost, Paul R., Michael P. Yoder, Helen H. Chung, and Kristen R.
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brain-loves-good-storytelling
Zull, James E. The Art of Changing the Brain. Sterling, VA: Stylus
Publishing, 2002.
Chapter 18, “The Road Ahead”

Chi, Wei., Wen-Dong Li, Nan Wang, and Zhaoli Song. “Can Genes Play a
Role in Explaining Frequent Job Changes? An Examination of Gene–
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Deloitte. “2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends.” Deloitte
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PwC. “2017 Global Digital IQ® Survey: 10th anniversary edition.”
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iq/assets/pwc-digital-iq-report.pdf

Index
A
ABN AMRO, 94, 107, 108, 120, 123, 149, 195, 245, 259
Accenture Strategy, 129, 138, 149, 194, 259
accountability
accountability hazard, 244
business cases, 221–222
success metrics, 222–223
Adamsen, Al, 102, 113, 183, 272
adoption of analytics, motivations for, 3
consumerization of HR, 9
contribution to business value, 4–6
democratization of HR, 7–9
future of work, 11–12
ADP, 206, 243, 264
Agoda.com, 92, 94–95, 114
Ahold Delhaize, 32–33, 93, 235
algorithms, social consequences of, 54–56
Allen, Peter, 92, 94, 114
analysis, conducting, 32
analytically resistant professionals, 232–234
analytically savvy professionals, 228–230
analytically willing professionals, 230–232
analytics, workforce. See workforce analytics
analytics perspectives
analytics teams
business acumen, 170–172
communication, 179–181
consulting, 173–175
data science, 178–179
human resources, 175–177
overview of, 170
work psychology, 177–178
size of, 182
skilled workers, 183–184
team roles, 181–185
Andersen, Morten Kamp, 40, 65
anticipating business needs, 181
ANZ Bank, 159, 192, 271
assessment
complexity, 129–131
impact, 132–133
association analysis, 49
AstraZeneca, 29, 176, 213, 254
Atamian, Rebecca, 16
ATB Financial, 22, 36, 174–175
attributes of workforce analytics leaders, 23–26
attrition
impact of, 59–60
implementation of recommendations and, 60–63
audience, targeting, 269–271
Aviva, 22, 161, 162
awareness
data awareness, 179
internal/external, 171–172
B
A/B testing, 154
Bailie, Ian, 9, 12, 181, 231, 233, 243, 246
Bassi, Laurie, 93, 104, 105, 115, 138, 194, 273

Baylor Scott & White Health, 37, 273
Bazigos, Michael, 129, 138, 149, 194, 259
Berry, Mark, 19, 21, 193, 194, 199, 229, 230, 262
Bersin, Josh, 16, 20, 27, 104, 199, 247, 255
Bersin by Deloitte, 20, 27, 104, 199, 247, 255
Beskow, Mats, 239
bias, 55
Big Bet projects, 127
Big Data, 152–155
Blumberg, Max, 12, 71–72
Blumberg Partnerships, Ltd., 12
BNY Mellon, 89
board of directors, engaging, 105
The Boeing Company, 274
Boje, David, 254
Boudreau, John, 5, 11, 169
Brown, Alan, 71
budgets
financial frugality, 245–246
partners and, 198
Buechsenschuss, Ralf, 35, 272, 277
business leaders, engaging, 103–105
business needs, anticipating, 181
business question framing, 29–30
business value, HR (human resources) contribution to, 4–6
C
Callery, John, 89–90
capability, as driver of employee engagement, 65–66
CAPEX (capital expenditure), 165
case studies

ISS Group, 65–70
Metropolitan Police, 76–79, 111
Nielsen Holdings PLC, 59–63
overview of, 57
Rentokil Initial, 71–75
Westpac Group, 80–82
causal inference, research design for, 44
CEO succession, 106
CGB Enterprises, Inc., 19, 21, 193–194, 229, 262
chain of command, 20
Champ, Marcus, 127, 132
change data capture (CDC), 142
change management, 174–175
Chi Wei, 280
Chidambaram, Arun, 95
chief human resources officers. See CHROs (chief human resources officers)
CHREATE (Global Consortium to Reimagine HR, Employment Alternatives,
Talent, and the Enterprise), 11, 18
CHROs (chief human resources officers), 283
roles reporting to, 20–21, 208–209
understanding views of, 102
Cisco, 9–12, 181, 231, 243, 246
clarifying
roles/responsibilities, 214–216
visualization message, 265
classification analysis, 50
click stream data, 151
cloud technology, 151, 164
cluster analysis, 51
cNPS (Customer Net Promoter Scores), 65
cognitive technology, 163, 282
collaboration, 285

analytics team responsibilities, 118–120, 179–181
Rentokil Initial case study, 71
competitive edge, desire for, 91
complexity assessment, 129–131
complexity–impact matrix
Big Bet projects, 127
Pet Projects, 128
Quick Win projects, 126–127
Trivial Endeavor projects, 128
computer science skills, 179
concluding projects, 221
conducting analysis, 32
conflict, revealing, 259–260
consulting, 173–175, 217–221
consumerization of HR (human resources), 9
content, customizing to audience, 271
contextualization, 52
contrast, emphasizing, 268–269
Coolen, Patrick, 16, 94, 107, 108, 120, 123, 149, 195, 245, 259
Cormack, Christian, 29, 176, 213, 254
correlation analysis, 49
correlational designs, 46
costs
cost reduction, pressure for, 93
financial frugality, overcoming, 245–246
opportunity cost, 133
credibility, gaining with executives, 116
culture, changing
leadership, 236
overview of, 227–228

training, 235
translator role, 234
Customer Net Promoter Scores (cNPS), 66
customizing content to audience, 271
D
data analysis. See also data quality
data governance, 152–153
experimental design, 45
experimental designs, 45
longitudinal designs, 47
objectives of, 47–48
qualitative analysis, 51–52
qualitative studies, 47
quantitative analysis, 48–51
quasi-experimental designs, 45–46
research design, 44
social consequences of, 54–56
traditional statistics versus machine learning, 53–54
unstructured data, 52–53
data awareness, 179
data complexity, 130
data dictionaries, 153
data gathering, 31–32
data governance, 152–153
data outliers, 145–146
data owners, 107
data privacy, 176–177
data quality
A/B testing, 154
Big Data, 152–155

challenges
data outliers, 145–146
inconsistent data definitions, 146–147
lack of data, 142–143
missing data, 140–141
non–normal data distributions, 143–145
outdated data, 141–142
data dictionaries, 153
data types and sources
data from inside HR, 148–149
data from outside HR, 149
nontraditional data sources, 150–151
emerging data sources, 277–280
evolving technology, 282–284
issues surrounding, 280–281
lack of data, 249
pragmatic view of, 138
sufficient data quality, determining, 138–139
data types and sources
bringing together, 151
data from inside HR, 148–149
data from outside HR, 149
emerging data sources, 277–280
data warehouses, 160–161
Davenport, Tom, xxviii, 183, 234
Davies, Clare, 76–78
decision-making approach, 210–212
defining operating model, 204
Dellala, Damien, 38, 80, 209, 213, 222
demand, seven forces of, 91–95
democratization of HR (human resources), 7–9

design
quasi-experimental designs, 45–46
research design, 44
visualization, 265–269
development
mission statements, 95–97
requests from managers, 8
team development, 23
devices, connected, 279
digital footprints, 279–280
Dillon, Sally, 22, 162
directors, board of, 105
distributions, non-normal, 143–145
diversity of opinion, 211
drive to achieve, 34
Duin, Eric van, 124, 271
E
Ebelle-ebanda, Antony, 91, 241, 271
Edwards, Martin, 56
effective visualization, 263
efficiency, operational, 93
Eight Step Model for Purposeful Analytics, 28, 58
emotional attachment, creating, 257–259
employee engagement. See engagement
Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS), 66
enabling analytical thinking. See analytical thinking, enabling
engagement
business impact of, 65
ISS Group case study

analysis, conducting, 66–68
business impact of engagement, 65
implementation of recommendations, 69–70
overview of, 65
stakeholders
analytics team responsibilities, 118–120
board of directors, 105
business leaders, 103–105
data owners, 107
executives, 115–116
finance department, 110–111
HR leaders, 102–103
legal department, 109–110
managers, 114–115
overview of, 100
planning, 120
securing support from, 101–102
SMEs (subject matter experts), 108–109
stakeholder messaging, 117
stakeholder responsibilities, 120
technology owners, 108
unions and works councils, 112
workers, 113–114
eNPC (Employee Net Promoter Scores), 66
enthusiast audiences, 270
Erickson, Tammy, 214
Ericsson, 5, 21, 87, 229, 232, 273
ethics, 176
evaluation, 36–38
Everduin, Giovanni, 153, 271
execution of projects, 218–220
executives

engaging, 115–116
executive presentations, 272–273
exploratory analysis, 48
external awareness, 171–172
extreme collaboration, 285
F
FA (factor analysis), 50
failure of analytics, reasons for, 40–42
fairness–aware data mining, 54–55
feedback, 207
Feffer, Mark, 9
Ferris, Gerald, 129–130, 171
finance department, engaging, 110–111
financial frugality, overcoming, 245–246, 251
financial literacy, 171
Fink, Alexis, 22, 25, 37
focus of workforce analytics, 16–17
FORT framework, 207
framing business questions, 29–30
Frampton, Jonathon, 37, 273
Friedman, Jerome, 56
frugality, overcoming, 245–246, 251
funding, 110
G
gathering data, 31–32
genetic testing, 280
Getinge Group, 43, 192, 261
gig economy, 12, 18
GlaxoSmithKline, 36
Global Consortium to Reimagine HR, Employment Alternatives, Talent, and
the Enterprise (CHREATE), 11, 18
“good enough” data, 138–139
governance, 152–153
operating model
HR data, working with, 205–208
reporting structure optimization, 208–209
Rentokil Initial case study, 71
graphics, 263–264
Green, David, 57
Groupon, 102, 147, 228, 231, 248
H
Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Lee), 52
Hartmann, Peter, 43, 192, 261
Hastie, Trevor, 56
health and wellness, requests from managers, 8
Herleman, Hailey, 160
hesitancy, overcoming, 246–251
HIPPO principle, 100
in–house teams, 189–191, 196
HR (human resources)
changing nature of, 7
consumerization of, 9
contribution to business value, 4–6
data warehouses, 160–161
democratization of, 7–9
future of, 10
hesitancy, overcoming, 246–251
HR leaders, engaging, 102–103
lack of skills in, 242
perception of, 199–200
requests from managers, 8–9
skills of, 175–177

as strategic business partner, 243
HR analytics. See workforce analytics
HR business partners (HRBPs), 37
HRBPs (HR business partners), 37
HRIS (Human Resources Information System), 141–142, 160
HRIT (Human Resources Information Technology), 108
human capital, 16
human capital analytics. See workforce analytics
Human Resources Information System (HRIS), 141–142, 160
Human Resources Information Technology (HRIT), 108
humanistic concerns, 93
Huselid, Mark, 3, 10, 170, 241–242
hypothesis building, 30–31, 52, 173
I
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), 165
IBM, 11, 52, 57, 112, 150, 157, 278
impact, 55
impact assessment, 132–133
impartiality, 264
impasse, resolving, 211
implementation, 36–38
implementation complexity, 131
operating model
consulting approach to project management, 217–221
role/responsibility clarification, 214–216
team structure, 213–214
of recommendations, 119
risks, 249–250
inconsistent data definitions, 146–147
industrial psychology, 177–178
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), 165

initiating projects, 217–218
iNostix by Deloitte, 20, 234, 244–245
insights, 17, 32–33
inspiration, 24
integration, responsibility for, 21
Intel, 22, 25, 37
internal awareness, 171–172
international HR, 176
Internet of Things, 18, 150
interpretation of results, 52
interviewing project sponsors, 90–91
ISS Group case study, 65–70
analysis, conducting, 66–68
business impact of engagement, 65
implementation of recommendations, 69
overview of, 65
iterative approach, 72–74
J
Jover, Placid, 110, 214, 220
JPMorgan Chase & Co. 89, 92, 119, 231, 250
K
Karia, Akash, 256
key performance indicators (KPIs), 6, 125
Klavohn, Travis, 16
Klinghoffer, Dawn, 177, 284
Knaflic, Cole Nussbaumer, 263
KPIs (key performance indicators), 6, 125
kurtosis, 143–145
L
lack of data, 142–143, 249
Landstinget Västmanland, 239
Lashyn, Terry, 22, 36, 42, 175
Lawler, Ed, 16
Layney, Tracy, 6, 227
leadership
attributes of, 23–26
building analytics culture with, 236
business acumen of, 22–23
data owners, 107
requests from managers, 8
responsibilities of, 20–21
leasing technology, 165–166
Lee, Tomas, 52
legal appropriateness of data sources, 281
legal department, engaging, 109–110
Levenson, Alec, 5, 28–29
Lever Analytics, 137, 194
linguistic analysis, 280
LinkedIn, 172, 203, 208
listening
to project sponsors, 90–91
London Metropolitan Police. See Metropolitan Police case study
M
machine learning, 53–54, 162–163
Mackaluso, Eric, 206, 243, 264

Malo, Salvador, 5, 21, 87, 174, 229, 232, 273
management, responsibility for, 21
managers
engaging, 114–115
manager requests, 8–9
marketing, 180
Marritt, Andrew, 104, 109, 112, 194, 206, 253
master audiences, 270
Mathur, Piyush, 59–63
maturity models, 285–286
McBassi & Company, 93, 104, 105, 115, 138, 194, 273
McCall, Morgan, 26
McGraw Hill Financial, 91
messages
call to action, 260–262
metadata of website activity, 151
methodology, 28. See also case studies
hypothesis building, 30–31
implementation/evaluation, 36–38
insights, revealing, 33–34
recommendations, 33–34
metrics, 222–223
Metropolitan Police case study, 76–79, 111
analytical insights, 77–79
challenges, 76
overview of, 76
Microsoft, 177, 284

Millner, Dave, 278
missing data, 140–141
mission statement
developing, 95–97
operational model and, 205
technology and, 158–159
model (analytics), 28
failure and, 40–42
methodology
Morgan Stanley, 152, 187, 242, 253
motivation, as driver of employee engagement, 65–66
N
Nagy, Mihaly, 113, 200
National Storytelling Network, 254
negotiating scope of analytics, 95
Nestlé, 35, 272, 277
new data sources, 277–280
issues surrounding, 280–281
newcomer audiences, 271
Nicholas, Ben, 36
Nielsen, Adam Chini, 116
Nielsen Holdings PLC case study, 59–63
analysis of attrition, 60–62

impact of increasing attrition, 59–60
overview of, 59
non–normal data distributions, 143–145
Nordea Bank, 116
O
Obereigner, Andre, 102, 147, 228, 231, 236, 248
Oest, Martin, 76, 111
O’Hanlon, Peter, 137, 194
O’Keefe, Ian, 88, 92, 119, 231, 250
O’Neill, Cathy, 54
on–premise technology, 164
open standards, 282
operating model
accountability
defining, 204
governance
reporting structure optimization, 208–209
implementation
consulting approach to project management, 217–221
team structure, 213–214
linking to strategy, 205
operational efficiency, 92
opportunity cost, 133
optimizing reporting structure, 208–209

organizational psychology, 178
OrganizationView, 104, 109, 112, 206, 253
Orwell, George, 258
outcome metrics, 223
outdated data, 141–142
outliers, 145–146
outsourcing, 193–197
overcoming resistance. See resistance, overcoming
owners
data owners, 107
owning technology, 166
P
PaaS (Platform as a Service), 165
partners
advantages of, 188
budget considerations, 198
factors in selecting, 197–200
in–sourcing, 191–193, 196
Parveen, Sofia, 116
Pascal, Blaise, 273
PCA (principal components analysis), 50
Pearson’s product–moment correlation, 49
people analytics. See workforce analytics
perception of HR, 199–200
personalization, workforce, 9–10
perspectives
Pet Projects, 128

Pfizer, 95
Phillips, Katherine, 211
Pixar, 257
planning, 17, 120
Platform as a Service (PaaS), 165
politics
political astuteness, 171
political complexity, 129–130
Politics in Organizations (Ferris), 171
PostNL, 124, 271
Pratt, Michael, 52
prediction, 49
Predictive HR Analytics (Edwards), 56
preparation
BNY Mellon case study, 89–90
project sponsors, interviewing, 90–91
scope of analytics, 95
Seven Forces of Demand, 91–95
vision and mission statement, 95–97
presentations, 180
presentation medium, 265–266
presenters, selecting, 272
simplicity, 273–274
principal components analysis (PCA), 50
priorities, 243–245
privacy, 176–177
Privacy Shield Frameworks, 206
problem definition, 173
project management, 174
consulting approach to p, 217–221

project conclusion, 221
project execution, 218–220
project initiation, 217–218
project sponsors, 38–40
complexity–impact matrix, 129–131
interviewing, 90–91
projects
complexity–impact matrix
impact assessment, 132–133
project management, 174
consulting approach to p, 217–221
project conclusion, 221
project execution, 218–220
project initiation, 217–218
complexity-impact matrix, 129–131
interviewing, 90–91
Quick Win projects
definition of, 123–124, 126–127
identifying, 124–125
timing, 132
proximal metrics, 223
psychology, 177–178
purpose, as driver of employee engagement, 65–66
purposeful analytics
case studies
ISS Group, 65–70
Metropolitan Police, 76–79
Nielsen Holdings PLC, 59–63
overview of, 59
Rentokil Initial, 71–75
Westpac Group, 80–82
failure of, 40–42

methodology for, 28, 58
Q
qualitative analysis, 51–52
qualitative studies, 46–47
quality. See data quality
quantitative analysis, 48–51
quantitative skills, 178–179
quasi–experimental designs, 45–46
Quick Win projects
complexity–impact matrix, 125–126
definition of, 123–124, 126–127
identifying, 124–125
R
RACI responsibility matrix, 214–216
Rasmussen, Thomas, 92, 99, 102, 104, 118, 191, 213, 229, 231, 273
real-time model updating, 283
recognition, 207
recommendations
determining, 33–34
implementation of, 119
recruitment, 8
reduction analysis, 50
reduction of costs, pressure for, 93
regression analysis, 62
regulatory requirements, 92
relationship power, 40
Rentokil Initial case study, 71–75
overview of, 71
variability in sales performance, 71
reporting, 17
real–time reporting, 283
reporting structure, optimizing, 208–209
technology, 161–162
representation, responsibility for, 21
requests from managers, 8–9, 92–93
research design, 44, 178
resistance, overcoming, 239–240
financial frugality, 245–246, 251
HR hesitancy, 246–251
stakeholder skepticism, 240–245, 250–251
responsibility matrix, 214–216
responsibility/role clarification, 214–216
restraint, 263
retention analysis, Nielsen Holdings PLC case study
analysis of attrition, 60–62
impact of increasing attrition, 59–60
overview of, 59
return on investment (ROI), 37, 132
revealing conflict, 259–260
revealing insights, 33–34
robotics, 18
ROI (return on investment), 37, 132
roles (team), 181–185

leadership, 236
training, 235
translator, 234
Ryan, Jackie, 157, 160
S
S&P Global, 91, 241
SaaS (Software as a Service), 164–165
Salapatas, Kanella, 159, 192, 271
sales growth, Rentokil Initial case study
overview of, 71
variability in sales performance, 71
scene, setting, 256–257
scientist audiences, 270
scope, agreeing on, 95
segmentation analysis, 50
self-service technology, 282–283
Seligman, Martin, 93
sensitive personal information (SPI), 205
setting the scene, 256–257
Seven Forces of Demand, 91–95
Shami, Sadat, 52, 112
Shapiro, Jeremy, 152, 187, 242, 253
sharing technology, 165
Shell, 92, 99, 102, 104, 118, 191, 213, 229, 273
Shutterfly, Inc., 6, 227
similarities, emphasizing, 268–269
simplicity, 263, 273–274
business acumen, 22–23, 170–172

future of, 284–285
overview of, 170
“sixth sense”, 176
size of teams, 182
skepticism, overcoming, 240–245, 250–251
skewness, 143–145
skills
business acumen, 22–23, 170–172
future of, 284–285
overview of, 170
skill complexity, 130
skilled workers, 183–184, 249
SMEs (subject matter experts), engaging, 108–109
Smeyers, Luk, 20, 234, 244
social consequences of algorithms, 54–56
social impact of data sources, 281
social network data, 150
societal impact of stress, 80–81
Software as a Service (SaaS), 164–165
Sole, Deborah, 254
solution development, 174
Sonnenberg, Mariëlle, 101, 110, 148, 208, 221, 236, 247

SPI (sensitive personal information), 205
sponsors, 38–40
stakeholder engagement
data owners, 107
executives, 115–116
finance department, 110–111
legal department, 109–110
managers, 114–115
overview of, 100
planning, 120
securing support from, 101–102
stakeholder management, 175
stakeholder responsibilities, 120
unions and works councils, 112
workers, 113–114
stakeholder management
stakeholder skepticism, overcoming, 240–245, 250–251
Stamford Global, 113, 200
Standard Chartered Bank, 132

standards, open, 282
Stanton, Andrew, 257–258
storytelling, 179–180
as agent for change, 254
audience, targeting, 269–271
definition of, 254
overview of, 253
principles for, 255
role in workforce analytics, 254–255
simplicity, 273–274
techniques, 256
call to action, 260–262
conflict, revealing, 259–260
emotional attachment, creating, 257–259
scene, setting, 256–257
time management, 271
visualization
creating, 264–269
graphics, 263–264
testing, 269
Storytelling with Data (Knaflic), 263
Strategic Analytics (Levenson), 29
strategic business partner, HR (human resources) as, 243
strategy, linking operating model to, 205
stress, societal impact of, 80–81
style (visualization), 267
subject matter experts (SMEs), engaging, 108–109
subscribing to technology, 165–166
success, skills for, 284–285

overview of, 170
Westpac Group case study, 209
tips for, 220–221
succession (CEO), 106
sufficient data quality, determining, 138–139
Svegaard, Simon, 65–66, 90, 261
T
talent, definition of, 16
talent analytics. See workforce analytics
Talent Strategy Institute, 102, 113, 183, 272
talent supply chain, 181
Tanfeeth, 153, 271
teams, 188–189
development, 24
in-house, 189–191, 196
partners
advantages of, 188
budget considerations, 198
factors in selecting, 197–200

overview of, 170
size of, 182
skilled workers, 183–184, 249
in-sourcing, 191–193, 196
stakeholder engagement responsibilities, 118–120
structure of, 213–221
team roles, 181–185
technology
cognitive technology, 163
complexity, 131
HR data warehouses, 160–161
HRIS (Human Resources Information System), 160
machine learning, 162–163
overview of, 157
owners, 108
owning, 166
on-premise versus cloud, 164
reporting technology, 161–162
sharing, 165
subscribing to, 165–166
vendor relationships, 165–167
vision and mission, 158–159
visualization technology, 163
TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks
(Karia), 256
testing
A/B testing, 154
visualizations, 269

thinking. See analytical thinking, enabling
third-party objectivity, 200
thought, capacity for, 23
Tibshirani, Robert, 56
time management, 271
time to value, 195
timing, 132
tools, 249
top-down requests, 92–93
traditional statistics, 53–54
training, building analytics culture with, 235
translator role, 234
transparency, 207
Trivial Endeavor projects, 128
Tufte, Edward, 263–264
U
Unilever, 110, 214, 220
unions, engaging, 112
unstructured data, 52–53
U.S. National Storytelling Network, 254
V
validity of data sources, 280–281
vendor relationships, 165–167
vignettes
Allen, Peter, Agoda.com, 94
Andersen, Morten Kamp, proacteur, 40
Bailie, Ian, Cisco, 181
Berry, Mark, CGB Enterprises, 262
Callery, John, BNY Mellon, 89
Champ, Marcus, Standard Chartered Bank, 127
Coolen, Patrick, ABN AMRO, 195
Dellala, Damien, Westpac Group, 209
Dillon, Sally, ANZ Bank, 162
Duin, Eric van, PostNL, 124
Everduin, Giovanni, Tanfeeth, 153
Fink, Alexis, Intel, 25
Huselid, Mark, Northeastern University, 10
Jover, Placid, Unilever, 220
Klinghoffer, Dawn, Microsoft, 177
Layney, Tracy, Shutterfly, Inc., 6
Malo, Salvador, Ericsson, 232
Nielsen, Adam Chini, Nordea, 116
Obereigner, Andre, Groupon, 248
Oest, Martin, True Picture Europe Ltd., 111
Parveen, Sofia, Nordea, 116
Rasmussen, Thomas, Royal Dutch Shell, 191
Salapatas, Kanella, ANZ Bank, 159
Smeyers, Luk, iNostix by Deloitte, 244
Sonnenberg, Mariëlle, Wolters Kluwer, 148
Voorn, Bart, Ahold Delhaize, 235
White, Rebecca, LinkedIn, 172
Wright, Patrick, University of South Carolina, 106
Yost, Paul, Seattle Pacific University, 274
vision
developing, 95–97
operational model and, 205
technology and, 158–159
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Tufte), 263
visualization
creating, 264–269
graphics, 263–264
technology, 163, 180
testing, 269
Voorn, Bart, 32–33, 93, 235

W
Westpac Group case study, 80–82
overview of, 80
societal impact of stress, 80
success, principles of, 209
White, Rebecca, 172, 203, 208
willingness to develop others, 24
Wolters Kluwer, 101, 110, 148, 208, 221, 236, 247
work
future of, 11–12
workers engagement, 113–114
workforce analytics leaders
attributes of, 23–26
business acumen of, 22–23
responsibilities of, 20–21
“workforce of one”, 9
workforce personalization, 9–10
workforce planning, 5
works councils, engaging, 112
Wright, Patrick, 4, 106
writing mission statement, 30–31, 95–97
written communication, 180
X-Y-Z
Yost, Paul, 254, 260, 274
Zak, Paul, 254
Zull, James, 263


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******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******

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“The Power of People provides an exceptional primer for doing workforce

“Data analytics is a crucial and fast evolving organisational capability. This

“This is quite an exceptional book. Extremely well-researched, it constitutes

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“Today’s business executives are applying pressure to all aspects of their

“Finally! An authoritative, thoroughly researched, clearly written book to

“Today Workforce Analytics is an emerging discipline which, in a few years

“Listening to what employees tell us and acting on it distinguishes ‘average

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For government sales inquiries, please contact

For questions about sales outside the U.S., please contact

Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or

The following terminology is a copyright of the authors of this book:

Eight Step Model for Purposeful Analytics (Chapter 4)

Pearson Education LTD.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933825

Senior Marketing Manager

Senior Project Editor

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1 Why Workforce Analytics?

3 The Workforce Analytics Leader

5 Basics of Data Analysis

7 Set Your Direction

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8 Engage with Stakeholders

9 Get a Quick Win

10 Know Your Data

11 Know Your Technology

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12 Build the Analytics Team

13 Partner for Skills

14 Establish an Operating Model

15 Enable Analytical Thinking

17 Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization

18 The Road Ahead

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A few people deserve special recognition. The first is Louise Raisbeck,

I would like to thank my mother, Marilyn, my lifelong source of inspiration,

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Nigel Guenole is an executive consultant with IBM, where he consults with

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Chapter 1, “Why Workforce Analytics?”

Chapter 3, “The Workforce Analytics Leader”

Chapter 4, “Purposeful Analytics”

Chapter 7, “Set Your Direction”

Chapter 8, “Engage with Stakeholders”

Chapter 9, “Get a Quick Win”

Chapter 10, “Know Your Data”

Chapter 11, “Know Your Technology”

Chapter 12, “Build the Analytics Team”

Chapter 13, “Partner for Skills”

Chapter 14, “Establish an Operating Model”

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