Four reasons to ‘diet’ your internet consumption

My family and I have been taking a day off a week from gadgets and the internet for over three years now – that means no smartphones, no internet, no computers and (mostly) no streaming or gaming. There are six of us (seven if you count the dog): me, my wife, Caroline, and our four […]

The Journey to Digitization: The Executive View

The Plainspeak Analyst is Katherine Jones, Partner and Director of Talent Research at Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm. Her job is to design and deliver insight research and services to Mercer’s global clients. She was previously VP, Human Capital Management Technology Research at Bersin by Deloitte. She has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Cornell University. […]

Six HR archetypes driving digital change

Virtually every conversation today about business growth and change points to technology, with few jobs left untouched by it. From General Electric to Lego, entire systems have been overhauled to make way for faster services. But where does this leave workers? Over the next five years, global banking giant ING predicts it will lay off […]

HR analytics: how London boroughs shared data and saved money

Mark Porter is Head of HR Operations at oneSource. What do you do when you have to save lots of money quickly but have limited resources to do that? How do you find out how well you are doing against others so that you see how efficient you are? That was the problem London boroughs […]

7 things you need to know about project governance in HR

Project governance is essential if HR technology projects are to succeed. We’ve got an in-depth guide to project governance for HR so download it if you’re involved in any HR technology project, or any big HR change initiative. Here are seven lessons from the guide to whet your appetitite. 1. The elusive nature of the […]

7 things we’ve learnt from our analytics and data month

Our data, analytics and automation hub includes over 20 articles from experts, researchers and commentators on how HR can better use people data to achieve results. We’ve rounded up seven key learnings from the hub but we urge you to read the full articles to deepen your understanding of this crucial area. 1. “When you automate […]

System selection: how to make the right choice

In our 12-part series, Kate Wadia – Managing Director at Phase 3 Consulting – guides the HR professional through how to navigate, succeed and lead with HR tech project-work. From the inception of the business case to the handover into BAU, we’ll follow an indicative project timeframe to explain the way and the why of a project step-by- […]

Investing in people: what comes first – the chicken or the egg?

If leaders truly believe that people, and more precisely their knowledge and skills, are the most important asset available to our organisations, we need to develop a clear way to articulate the value of those knowledge and skills to help investors, owner-managers and regulators understand critical people concepts in our organisations. However, this is often […]

Taking action on diversity: the role of data

The evidence for the importance of diversity in the workforce is abundant and often cited – and yet progress towards more inclusive and diverse workplaces remains stubbornly slow. All too often, gender, ethnicity and sexuality continue to count against opportunity for individuals who do not fit the middle aged, white, heterosexual male archetype. We also […]

Brexit and business planning: do you know who your workers are?

As the impact of Brexit and the recent UK general election slowly become clear, now is the perfect time for organisations to take stock of their strategies and business models, and embrace people data to its full potential. The UK’s decision to leave the European Union has highlighted just how few organisations consider the long-term […]

The need for people – vs just business – analytics

Jon Ingham is Executive Consultant, Strategic Dynamics, and author, The Social Organization. There has been some useful development in HR’s use of analytics over the last few years. One of the positive aspects of this has been the increased use of the term workforce analytics, rather than ‘HR analytics’, to signal that we are interested in […]

Workplace engagement and performance – how do you unpack its mysteries?

This article was co-authored by Martin Reddington and Elmira Bakhshalian, Founder and Research and Development Manager respectively at Martin Reddington Associates. There is a burgeoning interest in the measurement of workforce engagement and performance – both from academic and practitioner perspectives.  The old ways of doing an engagement survey every year or two to extract data to produce […]

HR analytics: what does the landscape look like?

Analytics is the business function that has developed to extract meaning and value from the large and growing amounts of data that are routinely generated and stored by the IT infrastructure that organisations use in their day to day operations. There is a widespread consensus that the HR function has made less progress in using […]

Is HR really ready for automation?

The HR tech marketing is increasingly shifting its focus from talk of big data and cloud-based solutions to bolder claims of automation of tasks and roles, primarily through the use of machine learning/AI. HR has a responsibility to understand the changing landscape of work and how it will impact organisations, but it also needs to […]

What are the opportunities for automation in HR?

Anyone remember printing CVs and putting them into a dusty manila file for interview? Nowadays people apply for jobs on their smartphones whilst getting the bus to work. This automation journey in HR has varied between organisations as we moved to the cloud and adopted mobile services. Key HR activities, such as hiring, on-boarding and […]

“When you automate a process, don’t lose the process’s purpose and essence,” says Metro Bank’s Chief People Officer

Danielle Harmer is Chief People Officer at Metro Bank. When Metro Bank launched in 2010, it was the first high street bank in 100 years. They were voted Moneywise’s Most Trusted Financial Provider for the second consecutive year and, by 2020, aim to have 110 stores across the UK. Danielle has worked in retail banking […]

Data mastery: a key global mobility challenge

This article has been written on behalf of the RES Forum by Professor Michael Dickmann, Professor of International Human Resource Management at Cranfield University School of Management and Vicki Marsh, Head of UK Operations at Equus Software. How companies are exploiting – or not – the benefits from the identification and visualisation of global mobility […]

Talent acquisition, technology and where this leaves you

Talent acquisition is merely nearly new; by comparison the capability of HR technology is really new. Talent acquisition is recruitment turned retro. Does it differ? Yes, and we have fashioned today’s HR thinking on talent into longer-term, strategic and cyclical practices that extend beyond just filling the job. Here I’m going to take a brief […]

Don’t get overwhelmed into inaction – analytics success can come to every company

In a recent Deloitte survey on HR Analytics, a shockingly realistic number was presented. The results showed that 8% of respondents report that they have usable data at their disposal. It’s a shocking statistic given that other surveys claim that anywhere from 75-86% of executives think HR Analytics is an important topic. Together, these results […]

What there is to fear with HR Data Analytics

Making the case for HR data analytics needs to go beyond just providing insight into the key business challenges an organisation has. The case needs to also help people navigate the change that the insights could lead to as well as manage one of the strongest emotions we all experience: fear. Fear: analysing a trait […]