Power of People, The

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).

“ 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

• Foreword by John Boudreau     xv About the Authors     xix Interviewees     xxi Vignettes     xxv Preface     xxvii PART I:  UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTALS     1 Chapter 1  Why Workforce Analytics?     3 Adoption of Analytics     4 HR’s Contribution to Business Value     4 The Changing Nature of HR     7 The Future of Work     11 Summary     13 Chapter 2  What’s in a Name?     15 Focus of the Function     16 Activities of the Function     17 A Name Fit for the Future     18 Summary     18 Chapter 3  The Workforce Analytics Leader     19 Reporting to the Chief Human Resources Officer     20 Responsibilities of the Workforce Analytics Leader     20 Business Acumen     22 Leadership Attributes     23 Summary     26 Chapter 4  Purposeful Analytics     27 A Model for Purposeful Analytics     28 Project Sponsors     38 Why Do Analytics Projects Fail?     40 Summary     42 Chapter 5  Basics of Data Analysis     43 Research Design     44 Objectives of Analysis     47 Unstructured Data     52 Traditional Statistics versus Machine Learning     53 Social Consequences of Algorithms     54 More on Design and Analysis     56 Summary     56 Chapter 6  Case Studies     57 Eight-Step Methodology     58 Case Study: Improving Careers Through Retention Analytics at Nielsen     59 Case Study: From Employee Engagement to Profitability at ISS Group     65 Case Study: Growing Sales Using Workforce Analytics at Rentokil Initial     71 Case Study: Increasing Value to the Taxpayer at the Metropolitan Police     76 Case Study: Predictive Analytics Improves Employee Well-Being at Westpac     80 Summary     83 PART II:  GETTING STARTED 85Chapter 7  Set Your Direction 87 You Have the Job! Now What?     88 Listening to Prospective Project Sponsors     90 The Seven Forces of Demand     91 Agreeing on the Scope of Analytics     95 Developing a Vision and Mission Statement     95 Summary     97 Chapter 8  Engage with Stakeholders     99 Who Are Stakeholders?     100 Stakeholders Served     101 Stakeholders Depended Upon     106 Stakeholders Impacted     113 Working Effectively with Stakeholders     118 Summary     121 Chapter 9  Get a Quick Win     123 Identifying Potential Projects     125 Complexity-Impact Matrix     125 Assessing Complexity and Impact     129 Summary     133 PART III:  BUILDING YOUR CAPABILITY     135Chapter 10  Know Your Data     137 A Pragmatic View of Data     138 Solving Data Quality Challenges     138 Data Types and Sources     147 Data Governance     152 Remember the Basics     152 Summary     155 Chapter 11  Know Your Technology     157 Starting with Vision and Mission     158 Components of Workforce Analytics Technology     159 On-Premise Versus Cloud     164 Technology Vendor Relationships     165 Summary     167 Chapter 12  Build the Analytics Team     169 Six Skills for Success     170 Configuring Team Roles     181 Remember the Fundamentals!     184 Summary     185 Chapter 13  Partner for Skills     187 Why Consider Partners?     188 Options for Building the Team     188 Choosing Among the Options     197 Summary     200 Chapter 14  Establish an Operating Model     203 Defining Your Operating Model     204 Strategy     205 Governance     205 Implementation     212 Accountability     221 Summary     224 PART IV:  ESTABLISHING AN ANALYTICS CULTURE     225Chapter 15  Enable Analytical Thinking     227 Perspectives of Analytics in HR     228 The Translator Role     234 The Importance of Leadership     236 Summary     237 Chapter 16  Overcome Resistance     239 Resistance to Workforce Analytics     240 Stakeholder Skepticism     240 Financial Frugality     245 HR Hesitancy     246 Summary     252 Chapter 17  Communicate with Storytelling and Visualization     253 What Is Storytelling?     254 Effective Visualization     263 Knowing Your Audience     269 Keeping It Simple     273 Summary     275 Chapter 18  The Road Ahead     277 Analytics Provides New Opportunities for HR     278 Emerging Data Sources     278 Considering New Data Sources     280 Evolving Technology     282 The Workforce Analytics Function     283 Summary     286 Glossary     287References     295Index     301