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HR Brew

People Analytics

Mikaela Cohen

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An organization’s success can likely be measured by whether or not the CHRO is a strategic business partner to the CEO.

That’s according to Jenny Dearborn, chief people strategy officer at the Stockholm-based global consulting firm BTS and co-author of 

The Insight-Driven Leader: How High-Performing Companies are Using Analytics to Unlock Business Value

In her new book, which she wrote with talent development leader Kelly Rider, Dearborn highlights how companies can use talent analytics to navigate the future of work and why the partnership between a CHRO and CEO is crucial to business success.

Dearborn shared takeaways from the book with HR Brew.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s the story behind writing this book?

This book is very much a journey from the other books that I’ve written. So, in 2015, I wrote a book called 

, which is about how to apply data, and analytics, and algorithms, looking at the different performance variables in a workplace to predict performance and productivity for sales reps…Then, in 2018, took the same approach and went broader in an organization and said, “Can you apply these same algorithms and models for leadership?”

Also I wanted to answer very specific questions…“Given the volatility in the world and all of the forces that are impacting the future of work, and the future of jobs, and AI…What really makes the best HR leaders different than the rest? And what really are the differentiators between how great HR executives lead?” And, it’s my belief that, given all the volatility, that HR is the most important organization in the company.

What are some of the answers to those questions?

The CEO sets the tone for the executive staff. The CEO basically decides in their operating model for a company, “Is HR going to be a strategic business partner, or is the role that I want HR to play [more] administrative?”

If that CEO says, whether deliberately or unconsciously, “I want to have a strategic HR business partner who is business first and HR second”...then HR has a seat at the table. HR is in every conversation. HR is consulted before major decisions get made…It’s really the point of view of that CEO.

We asked CHROs, “What could a CEO do differently to make you more successful in your role?” It was very clear in the feedback, that what’s holding the CHRO back, if they’re feeling held back, is the CEO. And the same thing to the CEOs, “What do you wish that you could have different from your CHRO?” And they said, “I’d love it if they’d be more strategic, and more impactful, and more of a business leader.”

How can a CHRO have more influence and impact if the CEO doesn’t already set that tone?

The challenge happens when one person has one set of expectations and a different person has a different set of expectations. It’s the misalignment, where the problems happen, and that’s where you get a CHRO saying, “Why don’t I have a seat at the table?” We’ve been hearing people say for 30 years of my whole career…and that really comes when one person wants something different, or has a different set of expectations or understanding what the role is.

The best thing to do upfront is to just have those conversations around clarity of what is the role? Where do you expect me to play? And, if the CEO says, “I want it all. I want you to be a strategic business partner and make sure that no balls are dropped”...then that CEO needs to recognize that they need to support the size of team, or the technology in place, or often it’s both, to manage all those details.

Two hands holding on opened book with text highlighted

An interview with Jenny Dearborn, co-author of ‘The Insight-Driven Leader’

“If that CEO says, whether deliberately or unconsciously, ‘I want to have a strategic HR business partner who is business first and HR second’...then HR has a seat at the table.”

CEO and CHRO partnerships are key to success in the future of work

Adam DeRose

We regularly check in with people pros to see what HR tech and tools they’re using to stay ahead of the curve and be great at their jobs.

Good people analytics software can drive smart business decisions. HR pros we spoke to reported that it’s a must to have platforms and resources that provide data that’s crucial to good people management. Some folks reported being keen on training platforms that take L&D to the next level.

As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. An invaluable new tech platform that we recently implemented is Orgnostic. This people analytics solution takes raw data from multiple sources and turns it into a story-like report with insights, recommendations, [and] visuals instantly. This saves us hours of time doing manual reporting; it’s like having a data scientist on demand. The HR team is then equipped to partner with the business to make strategic decisions. In this rapidly changing macro environment, having access to real-time and reliable data for scenario planning is a game-changer in visualizing impacts of various metrics on future headcount, cost, etcetera.

We implemented Docebo last year and it has completely transformed our delivery of training. We’re thrilled!

Economic [Research] Institute’s (ERI) compensation assessor. Although the platform could look better, they provide amazing customer service, [at a] reasonable cost, and it’s very easy to use! Conducting salary surveys has been a breeze with this system!

, managing director of HR, Pew Research Center

A great performance management platform is worth its weight in gold.

LinkedIn Recruiter has been a great product for me. It has made my recruiting tasks a lot easier and helps me connect with the candidate a bit more than just a normal job board. By seeing if we have mutual connections or we follow the same pages, it can assist me in bringing up common interest[s] if I begin to sense the candidate starting to become nervous.

, senior learning and development specialist, Wellabe

Articulate’s Rise 360. While…training is a narrow slice of the talent development pie, the ability to spin-up high quality, engaging content quickly has been instrumental in helping leaders reimagine what engaging employees and sharing information can look like.

HR pros drawn to good data analytics and training platforms

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” says one SVP.

Some 44% of companies surveyed by the HR Research Institute for its 

 report said they were “good or very good at gathering people analytics.” But just 22% of respondents to the firm’s 

 report said they were “very or extremely effective” at creating processes from this data.

When it comes to using people analytics, HR pros need to think about how it correlates with business strategies and visions, said Meisha-ann Martin, senior director of people analytics and research at employee recognition software company Workhuman.

“Ideally, you have the business strategy that feeds into the people strategy…That’s going to differ for each organization,” Martin told HR Brew at the Workhuman Live conference on April 17.

She shared what data every HR pro should (and should not) consider measuring and why.

While each company is different, Martin said there are some standard people metrics that all can benefit from tracking.

Recruiters and talent pros, she said, will likely find two data points useful: “Time to fill,” or the time between listing a job listing and a candidate accepting an offer, and “quality of hire,” or an employee’s performance in their first year of employment.

And engagement metrics are key to retaining talent, Martin said, recommending tracking, in employee engagement surveys, how many employees recommend the organization to friends and family, and how many report having a best friend at work.

“Those items are more getting to the idea of being connected to the people around you, because we realize that matters in terms of how people feel about their organization [and if] they feel like they’re connected to their colleagues, to the culture, and to the work,” she said.

One metric that’s gotten a lot of buzz recently is 

 with RTO policies are even factoring it into employees’ performance reviews. Martin said she doesn’t recommend any HR pro track this metric.

“You are eroding trust, and making people feel like they’re watched, and it does not end well,” she said. “We have done research on the different ways of working between remote, fully on-site, and hybrid, and we’ve found advantages and disadvantages…there is an importance in doing research…so that you can take advantage of the positives and mitigate the negatives.”

Martin said she’s analyzing data to quantify, based on skills, job requirements.

“Traditionally, we’ve relied on things, like degrees, when considering if somebody is qualified for a job. Well, in our society, not everybody has equal access to get a degree,” Martin said. “Instead, what skills does a particular job require and how do we measure that in people?”

Martin said she’s using Workhuman’s recognition software to gather data on skills and then match those skills with employees’ titles and industries.

She and her team shared their findings in 

 titled Recognition Playback. Biotech roles, for instance, were often held by workers with inspection and preparation skills, while consumer goods and services positions were often performed by those with innovation and preparation skills.

“If you have a recognition program, like ours, then you can take that crowdsourced, positive feedback, and draw some conclusions about the skills people have,” she said, adding that she sees potential for HR pros to use such data to get creative when recruiting and retaining talent.

“Maybe this part of [a] job requires this skill, and this part of the job requires that skill, do they need to be done by the same people?” Martin said. “How about people who don’t want to participate in the workforce full time, like mothers returning from maternity leave? Can they take on a piece of the job as a way to get back into the workforce?”

Stacked charts, piechart, and bar graph forming the silhouette of a person. Illustration

The people analytics every HR pro should (and shouldn’t) measure

Some people metrics are universal to every organization, Meisha-ann Martin, senior director of people analytics and research at Workhuman, tells HR Brew.

To a non-French speaker, Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport is a challenge; the French rather prefer their language to, say, English, and understanding the signage and navigating the EU’s largest airport is best attempted with a connection that’s longer than 45 minutes. But we all manage.

HR pros spend time managing data that doesn’t always speak the same language, from a number of sources and on many different platforms. But the people analytics field is growing quickly, and execs are relying on teams to draw insights, and data that talks 

 each other can best inform those insights.

Employee engagement platform Culture Amp announced this month it plans to acquire Serbian people-analytics company Orgnostic. The acquisition will bring more people data into the Culture Amp platform and help people leaders make better decisions based on insights.

Culture Amp’s acquisition would improve existing tools by “collecting, cleansing, and synthesizing people data from disparate sources across the employee lifecycle” such as attrition, engagement, productivity, and salary.

“Leaders are increasingly challenged by their people data coming from a myriad of sources. Through this acquisition, Culture Amp will not only ingest the many information sources, but unlock the ability to analyze it against the predictive indicators we already have,” Culture Amp CEO Didier Elzinga said 

The company plans to release its people analytics product later this year. The terms of the deal have not been made public.

Leaders rely on a multitude of sources for information about the workforce. Data can be predictive, or come from sources like responses from surveys, info on performance, attendance, compensation, and more. The data is only as valuable as its use case in the company.

Data is informing how to make strategic decisions about how employees get the job done, and how the business accomplishes its goals. Microsoft, for example, relied on its people analytics to identify the “

” in the office, and inform a flexible work policy.

“We founded Orgnostic because we believe that people analytics is the key to unlocking meaningful changes in organizations, and we see an opportunity to rapidly accelerate what we set out to do by being part of Culture Amp,” said Luka Babic, an Orgonstic co-founder.

As for the monolingual traveler racing to make that connection, at least Google translate, a patient gate attendant, and a good pair of gym shoes can facilitate success.

Technically HR recurring feature illustration

Culture Amp set to acquire people analytics company Orgnostic

Culture Amp looks to equip HR leaders with actionable insights from different data sources. 

Technically HR: Culture Amp set to acquire people analytics company Orgnostic to improve platform’s recommendations to leaders 

An illustration of reporter Courtney Vinopal's headshot.

Courtney Vinopal

Private employers with 100 or more workers must submit an annual report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on their workforce’s demographic data within the next month, 

Separately, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raised 401(k) contribution limits for next year.

Here’s what HR should know about these policy updates.

The EEOC has required private companies with 100 or more workers to submit demographic data on their workforces each year since 1966. This year, the “Component 1” or “EEO-1” report—which includes breakdowns by job category, sex, and race or ethnicity—is due Dec. 5.

 dedicated to the EEO-1, the EEOC published a number of resources for employers, including guidance for including nonbinary employees in the report. There is currently no option on the EEO-1 form to designate employees as nonbinary, which has previously 

 about the potential for employers to misgender workers.

Should employers wish to voluntarily report they have employees that are nonbinary—defined by the EEOC as those “who do not identify as exclusively male or female”—they may do so in the comments section of their report, the EEOC said in a 

. Employers should refrain from assigning these nonbinary employees to a male or female category in any other section of the report.

The EEOC also published resources on reporting a merger, acquisition, or spinoff, accounting for remote or telework employees, and how third-party HR organizations should file on behalf of their clients.

Should an employer fail to file their EEO-1 by the Dec. 5 deadline, they will receive one more chance to do so by Jan. 9, 2024. After that, a US District Court may compel a noncompliant employer to submit the data.

In 2024, employees will be able to contribute as much as $23,000 to their retirement savings accounts, up from $22,500 this year, the 

 on Nov. 1. The change applies to employees who are enrolled in 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans, as well as a 

Employees enrolled in these plans who are 50 or older may contribute up to $30,500 as of 2024, a so-called “catchup contribution limit.”.

In addition to communicating these changes to workers, HR should also take note that the limit on combined employee and employer contributions will also go up in 2024, from $66,000 to $69,000.

Legislative Lowdown recurring feature illustration

HR updates on EEO-1 deadline, 401(k) contribution limit

The EEOC included guidance for including nonbinary workers in this year’s EEO-1 report, due Dec. 5. 

Legislative lowdown: EEO-1 data due Dec. 5, IRS raises 401(k) limits

Skillsoft, a digital learning company, has undergone a series of changes in the last few years that would pose a challenge for most HR departments. The company 

 in June 2020 following two years of declining earnings and a drop-off in demand for its services during the Covid-19 pandemic. In October 2020, Skillsoft 

 to go public via an acquisition by Churchill Capital Corp II, a special-purpose acquisition company.

Since this deal was completed in June 2021, Skillsoft has sold off a business and bought others. Among the companies it has acquired over the past two years are 

, a platform offering coding classes, and 

As Skillsoft’s chief people officer, Ciara Harrington has been focused on getting the company’s 2,000+ employees “harmonized and aligned.”

“When we came together, it was quickly. It was a lot of companies bolted together,” said Harrington, who has been serving in the role for about a year. “And we are really, really trying to drive home a set of core values and principles.” She told HR Brew her team has been using analytics and AI to understand the biggest challenges Skillsoft faces in guiding employees through this transition.

Harrington said her team used an internal generative AI tool available across Skillsoft departments to help analyze the results of its most recent culture survey.

“We have been getting a lot of feedback, as any acquisition company would, that there’s friction in the system,” she said. “When you bring three or four companies together that do things a multitude of ways, it’s difficult to get people on the same page.” To help, Harrington’s team used Skillsoft’s generative AI to identify in the culture survey 10 areas of friction.

From there, they organized focus groups to validate the top employee concerns.

Some of the challenges the survey revealed were typical of acquisition companies coming together, Harrington said. Employees might struggle to find information if they need to raise a requisition, for example, or understand the new process for onboarding. Her team is working on making sure all employees know who to consult for answers to these questions. While generative AI can’t replace the role humans play in addressing such concerns, Harrington said it has helped speed up the process and identify which challenges to tackle first.

Advice for HR pros using data to inform decision-making. 

Having previously served as the SVP of total rewards for Skillsoft, Harrington is comfortable using data and analytics in her everyday work. Her team is currently analyzing roles and compensation across the company in order to build a job architecture that reflects the roles, levels, pay, and responsibilities of each job title within the company. The ultimate goal of this process is to introduce pay transparency in the next year or so, Harrington said.

HR can add strategic value by using data, so long as executives understand how these insights are helping drive the business forward, Harrington said. If HR pros can tell a story using data and explain why such analytical tools can help their organizations make important strategic decisions, executives will see value investing in such tools.

“The more we can do that, the more we elevate the function of HR to really be that true strategic business partner,” she said.

PwC_NativeAd2_Sep23

Skillsoft’s CPO on guiding employees post-acquisition

Ciara Harrington is focusing on getting the company’s 2,000+ employees “harmonized and aligned” following a series of acquisitions. 

How Skillsoft’s CPO is using data and AI to guide employees post-acquisition

Amanda Schiavo

Creating a culture of trust where employees feel empowered to share their honest thoughts about the workplace is something insurance giant Aflac prides itself on.


“Every 18 months, we do an enterprise-wide engagement study,” Matthew Owenby, SVP and CHRO at Aflac, said. “From the feedback from that study, we will create…action teams for people who are gonna focus on the themes from the engagement survey.”


These themes include managerial effectiveness, benefits, learning and development, career trajectory, and more, and have resulted in the creation of internal programs that have helped its workers progress in their careers, improve their well-being, and create a positive work environment—a key part of Aflac’s retention strategy.


“We take the time that people utilize to complete our survey very seriously, and we take that feedback we get…extremely seriously,” Owenby said. “Aflac appreciates enormously positive engagement scores defined by a benchmark that we have from our peer group. It is not uncommon for Aflac to have in the high 80s low 90s engagement survey feedback consistently year over year.”

 Aflac recognized that employees may feel uneasy about providing honest feedback, Owenby said, especially if it’s negative. So, the company hired a third-party vendor to conduct the surveys and ensure employees remained anonymous.

“There is no hesitation in providing transparent feedback regarding areas of improvement that may exist in the organization,” Aimee Houston, HR business partner at Aflac, told HR Brew in an email via PR rep Darcy Brito.

. Once the feedback is collected, Owenby digs into what the organization can do better for its employees and puts a plan in place.


“I’ve seen Aflac implement employee recommendations consistently over my 25 years with the company,” Houston added. “One important implementation that stands out is the creation of the Aflac Career Success Center.”


The center was created in 2014 after survey data highlighted a perception among Aflac employees that the company was only hiring external candidates for open roles, leading many to believe they had no career advancement opportunities within the organization. Since then, it has connected employees with resources and professional coaching that will help them perfect their résumés, improve their interviewing skills, and explore open positions within the company. 

 Using data and analytics to measure employee engagement and feedback can be an effective tool to retain employees.


“Feedback from the surveys materially impacts future offerings like benefits, onsite activities, and the type and frequency of communications,” Owenby said in a follow-up email via Brito. “Survey feedback doesn’t only impact retention-related efforts, the feedback becomes the basis for evolving our programs and for being connected with our employees’ needs and wants.”


Increasingly, employees expect to have a voice within their organizations, Owenby said. They want to know that their concerns and suggestions are being heard and taken seriously, and employers who aren’t doing this, he said, are missing the mark.


“I recognize that most organizations don’t have perhaps the most broad HR capabilities that we have at Aflac, but every people leader could have a discussion around engagement,” Owenby said. “Get the voice of the employee so you know where they are, you know what they’re struggling with, [and] you know how to make things better.”