Category: Blog

The pandemic can be seen as having brought about a substantial mindset shift in terms of dealing with our people. There has never been a more obvious focus on the welfare of our people. Almost overnight, companies had to grapple with the need to ensure the welfare of their staff coupled with the survival of their business. The speed with which decisions had to be taken coupled with the uncertainty and fear in the first few weeks of the outbreak of Covid-19 has forced us to reassess not only our people policies but also the management of our data and how this can be used as a decision making tool, especially in times when decisions were required quickly and surely.
I can recall the difficulties with needing up to date and real time information on staff movements, numbers and statistics when looking at shifting priorities during the pandemic. How many vulnerable staff did the company have? Where were they located? What shift system was impacted? How can my company be split into teams? These questions and more were the bread and butter of decision making for an extended period of time.
I was assured of one fact. My payroll information was intact, updated and reliable. That is where I had to start from. This was a good start yet having to clean the data, work it on excel, find my way through v-look up and other complicated formulae became daunting. I couldn’t get over the missing comma or the extra bracket. I was acutely aware of the urgent need to up to date information which I can analyse.
I have always believed that you are as good at your job as when you face a crisis. It is at these times that one requires accurate data and effective analysis. This is when people analytics comes into the picture. With one click the full picture emerges. One click and the red flags stare you in the face. One click and you can decide with full confidence that your data is accurate.
No more decisions in the dark. Reliable, accurate and easy to use. Decisions have never been easier and safer to take.

Human resource professionals work on the front-line in any company. When connecting with people in this way it is difficult not to pick up the subtle signs. The side glance from an employee on a corner desk. The silence from staff members when you ask for their opinion. The tension when you walk into an office. It’s the subtlety and subconscious nature of the signs that makes them so powerful.

Ask any HR Manager doing the rounds and they will tell you. They feel it in the air. They recognise that something is wrong. Their gut can pick out the red flags. This is a common feeling in HR. One’s gut is often a litmus test. It’s an indication that something is not quite right. It raises the red flags. Yet one is often left with a dilemma. How can one base a discussion or, even more so, a decision on a gut feeling? How will this be received? Then again, how can one overlook this uneasy feeling that something is up? Isn’t that what HR is there for? Protecting the staff. Offering a safe space. Listening and working on ensuring a positive culture across any organisation.

Most HR front-liners will have felt the frustration this creates. How to prove what I am feeling? What do I have to do to be believed and when I am believed how to proceed?

HR is never easy. It poses difficult challenges and calls for tough decisions. Not everyone is comfortable taking tough decisions. In fact, most are not. Even when the red flag is flapping in our face we will find many doubters who will disagree with us. Each case has its own peculiarities yet each situation will have its own way of wearing you down. It challenges our credibility and tests our resilience. Many cases often result in a lose-lose situation which will lead to a clear erosion of trust in the organisation’s ability to create a safe culture for those that work within it.

I have struggled with this question often enough in my career and have understood that my word is often not enough to bring a point forward. After the tsunami of emotions that hits you when staff members come to you with a challenging issue have subsided, the next question is often what to do with the information. How to package it and how to take it up with one’s superiors.

Over time I have recognised that I needed something else to build my arguments. A tool that goes beyond wisdom and experience, although that helps. A tool that speaks the same language as to the finance people and CEOs. Numbers could be my solution. But where on earth should I begin? My relationship with numbers is abysmal – I am a people person. How can I use them to be credible?

After much thought and a sincere effort to drag myself out of my comfort zone, I decided to dabble with People analytics. Oh wow – the world of analytics. I was hooked. Daunted yet intrigued. No more drama, no more emotional conversations, just numbers and dashboards which told a story.

My gut was correct. The engagement scores made sense. The leave history and trends added up and the attrition rate and sick leave rate pointed me in the same direction. By cross-analysing I was able to build a case to start the process of investigating a particular department. This time, I was confronted by a very different reality. I didn’t feel like I was up on the stand defending my gut. I didn’t need to get emotional. The numbers and insights spoke for themselves. I was simply the messenger. Almost instantly I was able to bring an argument forward without fear of being ignored or challenged. Who would have thought that numbers would actually make all the difference? They not only gave me credibility but gave me the safety to bring my case forward. I was speaking the same language now and I was being listened to.

Human resources is about people. In reality, it’s a business we all understand. The formula is relatively simple – happy people leads to happy customers which leads to better profits. Simple to understand, yet as most HR leaders will tell you, very difficult to implement. The reason – well, we are dealing with people and people are complex and situations arising from people are often even more complex. Nothing is straight forward when dealing with people.

As an HR practitioner I often found myself in situations where my experience and dealings with the people I worked with raised a number of red flags. Most HR people are able to point out with relative accuracy who they feel is a flight risk or which teams are at risk from a bad manager or which members of staff are less engaged than others. The challenge in these situations is empirical proof and can often lead to a credibility crisis.

Credibility and trust are the cornerstones of any HR department. The role of HR is to ensure the wellbeing of their people and cultivate a safe working environment as only in such a work environment can people thrive. In most cases, practitioners are able to use their wisdom and experience to manage situations before they reach a crisis point. There are cases however, especially when the members of staff involved are perceived to be influential due to their position, earning potential or tenure within the company, when things can become quite complicated. As with any people situation, it’s never clear cut.

I have often wished I was working in finance where numbers would guide my arguments. Numbers never lie and are universally understood. There is a clear black and white with numbers and arguments based on them gain instant credibility. It’s very clear cut. With people one often inhabits the grey zone and questions such as credibility, objectivity and bias hang over every situation like a dark cloud. This often leads to anxiety inducing situations that even the most seasoned HR professionals find challenging. In many cases it can prejudice HR to take a hands-off approach to any situation that in any way challenges the status quo or presents a dilemma.

This is when analytics and statistics can help build a case – free from bias and prejudice. Numbers can offer a representation of what is going on in a clear and demonstrable way. Attrition rates on particular departments is a red flag and will strongly indicate that there is something not quite right with particular managers. Engagement surveys will clearly point out the red flags that need to be addressed. Vacation leave and sick leave analytics will immediately raise the red flags in terms of abuse, burn out and stress which directly impacts the engagement of staff and performance of the company.

Analytics can sometimes be quite daunting. HR professionals are used to dealing with words not numbers. Yet a good set of analytics can not only boost the credibility of HR but allow for an objective and unbiased assessment of challenging people situations. Used well, analytics in HR can be as powerful in terms of information as a P&L statement. Let us not forget that the highest cost to any business is their wage bill. People matter. Understanding your people matters more.