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Organisational design is a core element of success, so HR must be thinking, not only about what’s valuable today, but what will add value over the long term. Change in business is a constant for every organisation - and if it isn’t, it needs to be. Any business that isn’t constantly evolving is, without doubt, falling behind. HR is central to business change and transformation, not just managing the difficult conversations at the end of the process, but being involved from the start, shaping and guiding for the best outcomes and ensuring change is embedded successfully. With this mindset, the scope for impact is vast and HR has largely tackled its reputation as ‘vanilla’, proving its true enterprise value and influence with the ability to really drive business impact and growth. Like everyone else in business, HR teams will be judged by the value they bring.
different to the top line view already sensed and known, though it certainly develops a richer picture of the employee experience. Like most HR leaders, I’m finding data and analytics are an indispensable tool in the HR leader’s toolbox, but it’s by no means the only one and never a substitute for being visible out there in the business and listening. The value in data comes from deeper analysis, that looks beyond the top line results and interrogates breakdowns across; gender, ethnicity and other subgroups to get a richer picture of the employee experience. Having these deep quantitative analytical skills on HR teams is growing in importance, especially as the sophistication of data collection grows. Turning to our diversity and inclusion agenda, qualitative data received through working groups allowing the business to look more
AT THE END OF THE DAY WE ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE AND SO GROWING A BALANCED BLEND OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, COMMERCIAL ACUMEN, STRONG PARTNERSHIPS AND DATA INSIGHT ARE WHAT’S NEEDED FOR HR TEAMS, TO TRULY INFORM AND INFLUENCE BUSINESS GROWTH
Data has revolutionised all sectors and allowed us to better understand the environment we live in. The availability of HR data has, as most readers will attest, constantly improved with increasing employee and manager self- service. But HR leaders don’t, and shouldn’t, have to wait for data analytics to tell them what the issues are. Data and analytics more often serve to confirm the concerns or ideas the team are already sensing, by having a good understanding of what is going on for employees and customers across the organisation. Data analysis on remuneration enables teams to look at where the organisation sits within the broader picture of salary benchmarks for the sector and geography, and where it sits amongst a holistic employee offering. Equally, as businesses are becoming increasingly more global, data analysis helps centralised HR teams to monitor employee experience and satisfaction.
When we run our annual employee survey, it’s rare that the data shows anything widely
closely at whether the same message is reaching all internal audiences and cultivating an environment where everyone, is working towards the same corporate objectives. These observations, combined with quantitative data analysis, allow us to become more pre-emptive and less reactive to employee needs, so growing these skills in HR teams is also key to supporting any ‘call for action’. The bald fact is, data analytics cannot operate in silo. Ultimately, HR Directors must understand the employee experience.
As AI develops, emotional intelligence will matter more. Whilst AI tools can run some of the basic tasks, such as monitoring annual leave and sick days, people across all levels within a company still want real people that can understand, support, and challenge them. And leaders need partners who can objectively support them in making best use of the organisations most valuable, and costly resource. The PPF is a data-heavy organisation, so complex data handling comes
naturally to most employees. Translating these skills into how people work with and understand each other is the crucial value add. To deliver on growing demands for multiple skills, HR teams need to recruit from a range of disciplines. The combination of traditional recruitment, operational, and data-driven roles is proving important to form well balanced teams. Equally, business knowledge and skills are vital to successful delivery of HR’s objectives. Business and data-driven people may not typically look to a career in HR and so to attract people with these skills, HR teams must make their range of work better known, and that includes a firm foot in commerce and enterprise to widen that appeal. Remuneration is often another challenge. Given the current drive on data gathering across all sectors, data-driven disciplines are in demand and can attract high salaries as a consequence. A fair assessment of remuneration against this benchmark and the benefits that are required to attract these people should be a priority for teams looking to attract people from other professions, while also developing the skills in your own team.
The reputation of HR as a siloed department with limited scope and range is undergoing a transformation against the backdrop of some of the biggest technological and employment changes in decades. In any department, there is a risk of the day-to-day activity distracting employees from their greater purpose of driving value to the business, but managing human resource has a fundamental influence on the bottom line. Data analytics absolutely provides the opportunity for HR teams to maintain an evidence-base of long-term structural patterns in employee behaviour, but it is important that it stays in context, with the other vital skills, to build a credible HR team. At the end of the day we are dealing with people and so growing, a balanced blend of emotional intelligence, commercial acumen, strong partnerships and data insight are what’s needed for HR teams, to truly inform and influence business growth.
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FOR FURTHER INFO
www.ppf.co.uk
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