People usually equate high performance with employee engagement. Yet engagement is not the same as productivity and performance. How engaged people are depends on the work design, and the work design itself can promote productivity separately from employee engagement. Individual ability also is a critical contributor. Together they are the three main contributors to job performance: state of mind, ability, and job design. Engagement refers only to the first, yet the other two are arguably more important, especially for sustained performance over an extended time.
Winning the HR Analytics Arms Race
People usually equate high performance with employee engagement. Yet engagement is not the same as productivity and performance. How engaged people are depends on the work design, and the work design itself can promote productivity separately from employee engagement. Individual ability also is a critical contributor. Together they are the three main contributors to job performance: state of mind, ability, and job design. Engagement refers only to the first, yet the other two are arguably more important, especially for sustained performance over an extended time.
I solemnly swear … an HR data and analytics manifesto
In the spirit of the election season, I would like to propose a type of nonpartisan party platform for candidates for analytical leader or officer positions within organizations. And even if you aren’t in charge of analytics, these are good principles to live by as someone who has to wrestle with what the analyses in your organization really mean and how best to use them – or ignore them.
Show me the money: How and why compensation matters
Every leader wants the best people possible working for them. Compensation is the most prominent and costly part of job design that directly impacts the bottom line in multiple ways. So not surprisingly line leaders pay inordinate attention to compensation when trying to maximize margins and performance. Yet there are many aspects of compensation that get lost or glossed over in the search for the perfect pay rate. Before your next heated conversation about how much to pay your people consider the following points.
Let ‘em eat Pi: Making sense of the HR analytics revolution
In honor of Pi Day (March 14), I decided this is a good time to channel Marie Antoinette and take stock of the current state of the HR analytics revolution. Just like with any revolution, the current state of HR analytics appears to have its share of zealous converts, soldiers and civilians, active resisters, and PR that obscures what’s really happening on the front lines. And perhaps the biggest question is whether it’s a genuine revolution that’s truly advancing the “national interests” of the business or a distraction that’s drawing attention away from where the real battles should be waged. As the risk of the analytics hoards storming the castle in protest, here are some personal reflections. (more…)
Benchmarking engagement and spans only is not strategic
Key insights:
- Benchmarking employee engagement, survey data, and spans of control is not strategic
- You have to embed that data in the larger context of work design and what drives organizational performance to truly understand what’s actionable and where you need more info to drive change in the right direction
Leaders love to benchmark, which is how they evaluate operational performance. So benchmark data play a central role in a lot of analytics carried out both in the business and by HR. (more…)
Those contradictory Millennials!
Who are Millennials and what do they really want? There are so many stereotypes and caricatures of Millennials, it’s hard to know what’s fact versus fiction.
In Jennifer Deal’s and my new book What Millennials Want From Work we take a look at the complete picture of what defines Millennials and their desires. The book is based on survey data from more than 25,000 Millennials and 29,000 people from other generations in 22 countries.
We find that some of what you’ve heard about Millennials is true – to a certain extent – but that most of the hype is just that: hype. What’s most interesting is the complex and seemingly contradictory picture of Millennials that emerges. This truly is a “both/and” generation that is both complex and much more dynamic than much of what you’ve heard. (more…)
Big data’s problems and potential: Beware statistical sirens
Businesses worldwide are in the midst of a data feast and statistical Renaissance. Data scientists are being hired at a rapid clip, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the launch of the Internet and the frenzied search to hire anyone who could do HTML programming and build web sites. Based on reports from the front lines of business analysis, it would appear safe to conclude that the promise of Big Data is being realized daily. But is it? (more…)
Strategic Analytics is a team sport
Right now senior leadership in both the business and in HR are leaving value on the table. We have to end the “business as usual,” nonintegrated way enterprise analytics and human capital analytics are conducted.
The lack of coordination is understandable at first glance. People are very busy: dividing business and HR process management and the accompanying analytics up into separate domains makes it easier to tackle the tasks. That way the leadership of the business and the leadership of HR stick to what they know best, including the analytics needed to monitor and assess progress. But the divide-and-conquer approach is precisely where things go wrong. (more…)
The Dangers of HR Data Mining
HR is becoming more and more data based and analytical. Yet the insights that we’re getting from the data are not increasing as quickly as the rapid proliferation of software tools, seminars, and people with “data scientist” titles. Why is that? A big part of the problem lies in the kinds of analysis we’re doing, with too much emphasis focused on techniques that appear to provide new insights, but which more often than not are a distraction: data mining and linkage analysis. (more…)