Leveraging people analytics
strategically to inform decisions during Covid-19 times
June 5, 2020
In 2019, the corporate industry’s spend in the digital and data space was in the range of one to two trillion dollars. 75-80% of these initiatives either fail or don’t efficiently meet their objective. Leaders should feel comfortable accepting that is a complex and difficult space.
A 15% increase in ROI of your human capital can increase firm performance by 40%.
When partnering with business leaders, understand their incentives (which could be monetary, branding, team positioning-related, etc.) and build your analytics story with these in mind. HR should treat the firm’s customers as internal clients. Study customer patterns and serve as an alerting mechanism to the business.
Ensure that the data analysts in your team understand not just how to assimilate data but also how to make it attractive, simple, and less time consuming for your client. Succinctness is key.
The shelf life of skills is dramatically reducing and shrinking. The availability of specialized and niche skills is increasing. The result is a reality distortion and a flourishing gig economy.
The “ROI” question from business leaders has become far more pointed post Covid-19 and Recruitment gets a lot of scrutiny. Microsoft study the trend of college hires over their first three years and based on data, have created a profile of the type of candidate who would be successful.
The revolution that happened in the consumer world (tools that know our preferences and interests) is coming to the workplace. With the economic, health, and social justice crises going on in the world, organizations now have the opportunity to create transparent, empathetic and human-centric designs focused on employee experience.
Covid-19 has painted a mixed picture of employee experience and engagement measurements. Some organizations have found employees to be more productive while others are worn down by “Zoom fatigue”. Emails sent outside of work hours have gone up by 25-30%.
Historical outbreaks have brought different stigmas to light (LGBT were blamed for AIDs, African Americans for Ebola, etc.). From Covid-19, there has been observed aggression towards Asian communities and older workforces are more likely to face layoffs.
Key Insights.
Shaping workplace learning strategies to regain business momentum
May 15, 2020
If you were to map companies on a bell curve, the ones in the middle (70% of firms) are likely to face tougher challenges. Large conglomerates (on one end of the curve) who have the ability to go digital, and start-ups (on the other end of the curve) who have the ability to be nimble, are forecasted to be successful post Covid-19 to 2035.
Organizations that can dig deep and identify the micro-skills for the channels that are revenue-generating will survive and thrive. Learning teams will have to get to the bottom of each business vertical and understand critical roles and their associated skills across the value chain of their companies.
Individual reskilling and business transformation are not two sides of the same coin but rather the same side. Upskilling and reskilling the front line of business should be top priority.
LinkedIn has adopted a three stage model: Survive -> Adapt -> Thrive.
There has been a 176% surge in hours spent on Linkedin Learning platforms post Covid-19. The most active demographic are CXO’s and senior leaders who have increased their usage by 226% from March to May.
As hiring has been put on pause, many companies are leveraging internal mobility. To make internal mobility a success, TA and L&D are working hand in hand.
Executive appetite to invest in digital learning has increased across the board.
We use banking but don’t necessarily go to banks in person. In the same vein, we need learning but do we need large L&D teams? As learning has become more social, pervasive and digital, the identity crisis of L&D in some aspects has been brought into sharper focus. It is a hard question to ask, but worthwhile to ask it while we have the time.
Identify your short term response and long term response. The short term response should be to pivot and address needs with speed. Keep communication lines with your critical clients open.
Google leverages AI to observe and study employee’s calendar meetings to produce data on what type of learning should they focus on.
Learning from peers is a strategy that’s gaining momentum. Axis bank has found it to be applicable, not preachy, and cost-effective with a multiplier effect. Google has launched G2G (Googler-to-Googler) to promote high-quality learning amongst peers.
Key Insights.
Getting the pick of the crop
– Recruitment post Covid-19
April 24, 2020
“The new narrative” is a popular new term but it is impossible to model what that narrative will be. The key is to be nimble. Recruiters should work with management to identify the different potential scenarios for their company and have a plan in mind for each scenario.
Policymakers may have advised organizations to continue to pay salaries and keep their employees on the roster but this has posed a challenge to employers. Shareholders and banks don’t pay salaries, customers of companies do and customers across the world have come to a standstill.
The typical employers in India are not large companies but rather 63 million other small enterprises, 98% of whom have less than ten employees. In fact, there are only 19,500 companies in India with a paid-up capital of more than 10 crores. We need policymakers to address both types of employers.
1 month of lockdown is a liquidity issue. 3 months of lockdown is a solvency issue.
Approx. 44% of organizations in India have slowed down hiring. 28% are hiring and keeping a pipeline of candidates ready but not necessarily releasing offers.
Just like the coronavirus attacks patients with pre-existing conditions, India has its own set up pre-existing conditions with regards to the formalization of processes, urbanization, financial planning, industrialization and skill development. A state with a 2,000$ per capita income cannot react the same way as a 50,000$ per capita income country. A policy window may open up to address labour, education, civil service and financial reform.
Resilience is as important as performance.
Diversity hiring is expected to increase. Focus on Employee Value Proposition for top talent will get more focus.
Digitization of the workforce has been inexorable. However, 84% of digital transformation projects haven’t been as effective. The challenges have been in getting the process and culture fit right.
WEF predicts that by 2025, 75 million jobs will be ‘displaced’ by automation and Industry 4.0. Added to that has come Covid-19, due to which the 190 million jobs will be displaced or lost (as per the ILO). This gives us 200 million+ jobs affected. Communication skills, adaptability, and ability to learn are key skills of the future.
Key Insights.
Business Strategies that will define People Strategies in H2, 2020
June 19, 2020
Government responses to the pandemic across the globe have been dramatically different. The “when” and “how” of their reactions has largely determined where their GDP will end up. The consensus right now is that FY 2021, India’s GDP will contract by ~5-7%.
Most analysts expect a U shaped recovery in 2022 with a bounce-back of 6-7% GDP growth. India’s long term growth story therefore, is still projected to be strong.
Banks and Non-Banking Financial Institutions were already under strain before the crisis and are constrained to offer customers credit due to NPA risk being high.
India’s advantage is that its consumption is spread out across the country. Rural consumption is roughly 50% of the overall economy. These areas have been largely insulated from the Covid-19 impact as compared to the more densely populated urban areas. India’s biggest traditional industry, agriculture, is doing fairly well.
Roughly 10% of the US land area contributes to more than 60% of the country’s consumption (concentration being on the East Coast and West Coast). The same phenomenon is true for China where ~30% of the land area contributes to close to 80% of consumption. In India however, the economic activity is more homogeneously distributed where the top 50 cities account for only 20% of consumption.
The younger demographic, Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers will play a key role in determining our future strategy. By identifying trends in these segments, HR can influence overall business strategy.
As HR professionals advising the business we need to understand the amount of cash reserves our companies have, how our sectors are performing, possible growth areas and our short and long term spending ability. Leverage this understanding to define H2 2020 HR strategies.
HCL follow an EFCS policy i.e. Employees First Customers Second with a belief that if you take care of your employees, they will take care of their customers.
The days of ‘Shareholder Capitalism’ are fading and being replaced with “Stakeholder Capitalism’, with employees being one of the key stakeholders. Employees will remember how they were taken care of during tough times.
Key Insights.
How is HR leading the business
transformation for COVID-19?
April 10, 2020
While ‘Social Distancing’ is the term of the hour, ‘Social Isolation’ can be terrible. HR needs to ensure employees’ emotional well-being. While working virtually, let’s focus more on the “connect” and less on the “correct”.
HR needs to inspire business leaders to be caring, calm, and to focus on the big picture. Lack of information creates anxiety. Maintain consistency in communication to the firm.
One of the biggest challenges right now is that many decisions are being taken on the fly. Encourage Leadership to maintain a ‘people first’ strategy. Think about how other extra costs can be optimized.
Work hours for most of us have increased as we are always connected from home. It is really easy to have blurred boundaries between work and home.
HR Analytics should continue to focus on capturing productivity stats.
A range of new skill requirements will emerge with regards to people, audit, and cyber-security.
An increase in Employee Engagement will be global. The delivery of it will be local i.e. customized.
