Analytics

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 1

Editorial

This issue of Strategic HR Review is focusing on the theme of analytics. An important element in all HR strategies and programs, analytics assist with everything from development through to ROI feedback. In line with this, the authors in this issue approach analytics from a wide range of perspectives and in varying contexts, from management of health related costs to contributing to successful change programs.

The case study, “Going global with health and wellbeing analytics”,by Gen Barron, explores how global organization Medtronic is using analytics to understand employee health and wellness and provide prevention and early detection tools. The aim is to help the healthy stay healthy and provide assistance to those that need it, meeting unique needs of employees, cultures and countries. The challenge is providing a single wellness program across a global workforce with diverse health needs and, with 45,000 employees, being able to address people personally about health and wellbeing issues. With employee health a critical factor at the organization, it was important to be able to monitor wellbeing across the organization and to understand the link between employee health and business costs. The solution came in the form of the Total Health program, which included a range of initiatives such as a health risk questionnaire, health coaching services, wellness screenings, healthy eating options, on-site fitness centers and wellness challenges, which were initially incentivized to ensure post-launch take up. This central program was expanded globally through a partnership with an online health and wellbeing platform that included localized consultants and online tools to achieve personal and local engagement. Analysis is highlighting risk and allowing for customized interventions that reduce the health costs to the business.

In “Ways to embed the strengths approach into the DNA of the organization”, James Brook takes a practical approach to integrating strengths-based HR principles, practices and tools. Analysis of strengths is key to discovering what energizes people and this information can be used to match strengths to roles in such a way that will increase effort, engagement and productivity. The author acknowledges the start of the transformation away from the emphasis on weaknesses and how to fix them, towards finding ways of encouraging natural energies and inclinations. However, there is some way to go before this new approach is embedded in the HR life cycle in a way that creates enduring and measurable value for the organization. This is the challenge he addresses by looking at practical ways of embedding the strengths-approach at all levels of interaction with the employee – from hiring and selection through to development.

Jane Chesters’ case study feature, “Thames Valley Police: using metrics to assess the effectiveness of strategic change”, examines transformation of the UK police force from two perspectives – the transformation of the organization, plus the restructure of the HR function itself. The dual focus of the change was supported by a strong focus on measurement and analytics, with a reduction in measurement for measurement’s sake and a more targeted approach to analytics. On an organization wide scale the aim was to streamline the operation and release more resources to frontline policing, while reducing the bureaucratic glare of public scrutiny to allow more freedom of operation. HR led by example, streamlining and restructuring its own function, as well as the measurements used to give a real insight into people performance. Clear and explicit plans were produced that covered all activities within the organization and were broken down into department level objectives against which performance was measured, with help from HR, initially from a transactional point of view and, following its restructure, increasingly from a strategic point of view also.

In “What do engagement measures really mean?”, Angela Baron suggests that we need to go beyond measurement if we are to truly understand workforce engagement. Drawing on CIPD research, she explains that there are different types and levels of engagement, it varies over time and in intensity,and is triggered by a variety of work aspects. The strongest engagement is triggered by the work or job being carried out by an individual and, as individuals have varying motivations and experience different levels of engagement, this has practical implications for job design and matching individuals to jobs, and challenges the way engagement data is measured and used. For some, engagement is transactional and seen as an exchange of work for reward, while for others it is a deeper emotional tie. Traditional analytics can be applied well to transactional engagement, while emotional engagement may be harder to quantify. Baron puts forward alternative measurement strategies to get to grips with emotional engagement and make analytics more meaningful to HR processes in the long term.

Dr Stephen Guinn focuses in on analytics relating to the selection process in his paper, “Predicting successful people”. Drawing on his company’s experience in industrial psychology he identifies the factors that are least likely to indicate a successful candidate, pointing to commonly used areas such as experience, education and contacts. Instead he says that the selection process should be recognized as a highly complex process that requires more time, thoroughness and patience. Pre-selection work needs to be comprehensive and look beyond competencies to elements such as the personality types of the people with which the candidates may work and fit with company culture. The actual selection process needs to encompass a wide angle view of the candidate,with observations made across different settings and scenarios to get a true picture of the candidate’s personality.

Sara Nolansaranolanshr@emeraldinsight.com