Right after the OPEN Conference happened last week I checked out a new event put on by Hunt Scanlon, the media company behind Ezayo.com the new HR job site. It was a one day event focused on workforce analytics.

The Data Driven Company: how big data and talent analytics are revolutionizing the HR sector. A second event focusing on Sourcing and AI will be held in October, register here.

Held at the exclusive Harvard Club in Midtown NYC, it brought together nearly 250 high level HR execs and executive recruiters. My notes from the sessions are below.

It was a ‘numbers heavy’ conference so the audience got a myriad of stats thrown at them throughout the day. But since most of them were people analytics fans, they ate it up.

THE RISING INFLUENCE OF PEOPLE ANALYTICS

Mark Arian  CEO – Korn Ferry Hay Group—–lots of different ways to look at data in HR, various aspects of HR data….bottom line read more data to improve your recruiting….link business performance through data analytics…

• AI app which analyzes facial expressions from video interviews…Korn Ferry using it.
• Agile/digital leaders are the #1 request from Korn Ferry clients….employers struggling to find them and keep them.
• Avg pay gap 17.6% —-for people at same level and same function it is only 1.6%.
• 4th industrial revolution underway—digital workforce.
• The more you use data analytic in HR the better your pipeline is.
• There is data bias…..often can be distorted by those reading it.
• Data ethics…GDPR…will we hit a point of knowing too much about employees?
• 60% of employees at a large engineering firm are millennials, they valued learning and training 8X vs the 401k match was the least attractive.

NARROWING THE DATA CAPABILITY GAP

Beverly Tarulli Ph.D.Vice President, Human Capital Strategy & Workforce Analytics – PepsiCo

What to think about on your workforce analytics journey in HR—how they make them actionable

• Campus forecast tool projects vacant positions at a specific point in the future…based on hire rates and turnover rates.—how many campus hires should be made this year.
• Ipas gov database about colleges..7600 schools in db
• On avg companies that excell at ppl analytics perform 3.1x better than their peers
• Quality of hire metric; how long they stayed plus if they got promoted

HOW TOP CORPORATE BRANDS ARE APPROACHING PEOPLE ANALYTICS

Marlin Hawk (panel)

• Goldman Sachs experimenting on their job descriptions…how to attract best candidates…
• IBM focuses on ROI an NPS scores…next wave of innovation…personalization at scale….how to use analytics for employee experience.
• Biggest lessons on working with HR analytics…1) marketing and socialization — ppl need to understand the value of it…get stakeholder buy in
• If its a complex analysis you must tell a simple story.
• Its ok if your data isn’t perfect, find what’s usable.
• Best quote: HR is best friend/worst enemy.

USING PEOPLE ANALYTICS TO DRIVE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Carla Arellano Vice President / Global Leader of People Analytics – McKinsey & Company

• Restaurant chain hired more outgoing/chatty people…turned out the more quiet, task focused workers performed better
• It reduced turnover by 50%

THE ANALYTIC REVOLUTION IN TALENT ACQUISITION

Clark Beeche, Managing Partner, Beecher Reagan

• Most AI recruiting tools are being made for lower and mid level jobs.
• Market data will becomes active… resumes etc.
• High level assessment tools will integrate into talent identification.
• The future is one solution ATS, Analytics and community.
• Building agile intelligent teams in executive leadership will be key.
• Good talent is going to become more scarce because of freelance economy.

PEOPLE ANALYTICS – THE WHAT, WHY, HOW

Guru Sethupathy Ph.D.Vice President / Head of People Analytics – Capital One

• People are the most important aspect… he pegs their value at $150-$200 Trillion globally.
• Automation is not about replacing jobs its about replacing activity.
• Alternate work arrangements have rise 50% in past decade (freelancing, etc)
• Not everything can be measured.

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: THE POWER OF PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS

Peter Fasolo Ph.D.Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) – Johnson & Johnson

• How their credo comes to life over a vast org.
• “Take care of employees” – written 75 years ago.
• Execs are compensated based on how they engage with employees.
• Employees seen as long term investments.
• Encourages employees to live healthy lives – digital health tools that track movements of workers—encourages healthy eating.
• Workforce DNA tool – data dashboard…turnover rates, avg tenure of higher etc.
• Average tenure of J&J employees: 7.3 years.
• They have a flight risk score to help predict turnover.
• 28,000 hires per year.
• 1 million interactions per year with candidates.
• Noticed 5 year trend of lower campus hiring.
• Experienced hires performed at higher level for the first year only…”sugar high”.
• Campus hires were better long term though.

The Elephant in the room.