Evolution of HR
analytics: A Middle East
perspective
27 April 2015
Edward Houghton
Framework for the Future of HR
2014-2015 research highlights
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Smart/agile working and links to productivity
Conflict management
• Impact of legislative changes
• Manager skills
Megatrends series
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Valuing Your Talent: phase 2
Metrics: Asia and Middle East
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Trustworthy leadership
Behavioural science
• Context
• Neuroscience and L&D
• Behavioural science & reward
• Behavioural science & recruitment
Transformational change
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Changing HR operating Models
Impact of technology and other changes on L&D capability
Beyond the boundary (new HR partnering models)
Business commercial insight &
analytics
• HR analytics is a growing discipline globally.
• UK research:
1. Valuing your Talent: A new framework for the
measurement of human capital [2014]
• Valuing your talent Framework
• Case studies of organisations in the UK developing HR
analytics
• Insights about the reporting of human capital
2. Talent analytics and big data: the challenge for HR
[2013]
• Partnership with Oracle to understand the barriers to
better HR analytics in the UK
• Report looked at the application of HR analytics
processes to understand specific business issues, and
explore talent analytics as a focus
Evolution of HR
analytics: A Middle East
perspective
Methodology
Case study interviews
• Semi-structured interviews of
HR directors and managers
from across the region
• Explored:
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Context
Approach to HR analytics
Barriers and opportunities
Future aspirations for HR
analytics
• 9 participants, including:
• Petrofac
• DP World
• Federal Authority for
Government Human
Resources
• Serco
Region-wide survey
• Online survey of 35 questions
exploring major themes:
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Technology
Capability
Aspirations
Experience
• 106 respondents
Findings
• Findings clustered in to six broad themes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Establishing strategy and process
Organisational maturity
Linking HR analytics to business outcomes
Technology: from barrier to enabler
HR analytics skills & capability
Future of HR analytics in the Middle East
1. Establishing strategy and
process
• HR managers are using HR
analytics to inform both the HR
and the business strategy
• Younger organisations are
building HR analytics as a
core HR process, central to
organisational development
• Aspirations focused on the
application of HR analytics for
the improvement of HR
practice; then business
practice
• Senior business leaders are
challenging HR for HR insights
in to business culture and
decision making.
HR analytics is helping the
organisation to
understand/explore… (%)
Our business culture…
Business decision making…
Case study: Federal Authority for
Government Human Resources
“Developing policies and guidance from HR data”
• Context: FAHR is the overarching public sector
service which oversees the management of HR for the
ministries and federal authorities in the UAE. FAHR
supports 91,000 employees.
• How analytics is being applied: Measuring the
effectiveness of its policies and process across
federal government and ministries. 17 core indicators
are now being standardised across departments.
• Impact of analytics - looking into the future: With standard
measures in place FAHR will explore workforce planning and
engagement,. The organisation hopes to focus on productivity, by
driving employee well-being, a priority for the UAE
‘We don’t have any indicators about workforce planning, which we should
have. We also want to understand happiness…a priority in the UAE. We are
trying to move from satisfaction to engagement.’
HR Analytics Consultant, FAHR
2. Organisational maturity
• Younger organisations are
focusing on building general
HR capability; but HR
analytics is one of many areas
to be developed.
• Investment in analytics is
expected to continue at the
same level or increase; 16.0%
believe that it will increase by
5% or more.
• Multinational context is
challenging: a need for data
management protocols at unit
and group level.
• All case studies recognised
that they are at the start of
their analytics journey
Planned investment in HR analytics
over the next 12 months (%)
‘
‘Analytics
is in its infancy stage… we track
a lot of data but using analytics to predict
the future is not there at the moment. It is
a question of drive and appetite to use
information in a growing organisation.’
VP of HR business Support, FGB
Case study: Jumeirah
“Driving cost efficiencies using multidimensional
data”
• Context: Luxury hotel with a split of 20:80 leadership:
operational roles for 14,500 employees. The group is
looking to almost double the number of hotels it
manages and operates
• How analytics is being applied: Help business planning e.g. cost
implications of significant business growth. Driving strategy regarding
talent for new growth markets. Financial and HR data is being
combined to develop insights.
• Impact of analytics - looking into the future: Balance between
short term and long term investments - a single platform to analyse
and share across the business is required.
‘Ideally we want to be on a single global platform…we recently launched a
programme to have consistent grades fort he executive population….consistent
framework of job families, job codes, will make it a lot easier to manage and
strategise that data’
Vice President HR, Jumeirah Group
3. Linking HR analytics to business
outcomes
• The use of different data sets
across the sample of
organisations was mixed;
showing that embedded
systems are an exception.
Do you use multi-dimensional HR
analytics data in your HR analytics? (%)
• Multi-dimensional data is used
by few organisations who
participated –HR data is in
isolation.
• Engagement is the main HR
metrics the business uses.
• Nationalisation measures are
not standardised – various
measures are in use.
‘The board concentrates on engagement. At
the moment we do everything using
engagement data, although we do have
many initiatives – but the engagement
survey tends to be relevant to everyone.’
HR Manager, Telecomms Company
Case study: First Gulf Bank (FGB)
“Developing the emerging HR analytics function
following rapid growth”
• Context: Based in the Middle East, employing around
1,700 people, FGB has grown rapidly, which has
driven the business to look to the HR function to
understand implications for the workforce.
• How analytics is being applied: At FGB HR data = business data.
Skilled individuals are being appointed to use HR data and business
data together.
• Impact of analytics - looking into the future: The next steps is to
link HR measures to business performance and embed clear reporting
processes for HR data into line managers. Explore predictive analytics
for customer service data and overall business performance.
‘…it is about looking at the resources you have and how motivated they are, as
well as looking at some predictive analysis, to see what is going to happen in the
future for your business and for your people. That’s our vision.’
Vice President of HR Business Support, FGB
4. Technology: from barrier to
enabler
• A key theme in all interviews, from
developing capability through to
realising value
We have standardised definitions
for all the measures/metrics used
in our business: (%)
• Retrofitting HR systems in to
existing IT infrastructure is a
challenge for some organisations
• Standardised measures are in
place for some organisation – but
are not shared widely.
• Tension between use of technology
to interpret data and steer, and the
power of the leadership team to
make critical decisions – don’t want
to hand over the controls to
algorithms.
‘There is no single repository… we
don’t maximise the value of being a
global company without that
consistent [global] platform.’
SVP Human Capital, DP World
Case study: Serco
“Building new capability to drive performance”
• Context: Serco employs over 120,000 people in 30
countries and is a supplier of public services in the
Middle East. Current capability is based around
manual data entry and centralised analysis.
• How analytics is being applied: HR is training line managers to
understand HR data, and is building capability in the form of a new
technology road-map. This includes combined systems and updates
HR technology.
• Impact of analytics - looking into the future: A fully integrated
system where line managers are able to develop their own insights,
e.g. Managers will have access to management information relevant to
commercial contracts – all related to performance against targets.
‘The vision, from a Serco manager’s perspective is that they should have access
to a user friendly system, and have all the basic HR data and analytics they
require in one place… this will enable them to manage all people aspects of
running their teams.’
HR Director, Serco
5. HR analytics skills and capability
• Organisations are yet to build
dedicated capability.
Does your organisation have a
dedicated HR analytics team/function?
(%)
• Various approaches to building
HR analytics capability: “buy
or build” debate continues.
• Major new skills needed are
data mining, data analytics
and reporting, and
communication of insights.
• Internal capability levels are
hampering impact of analytics
as capability differs in multisite
contexts.
‘There can be such inconsistency in terms
of competence: you can be in one
business unit and it is purely a transaction
environment, and you go to another and
its very strategic…’
SVP Human Capital, DP World
Case study: FRHI Hotels & Resorts
“Building the talent analytics capability”
• Context: FRHI Hotels & Resorts employs 42,000
employees in service based roles across the Middle
East, Africa and India. Organisation operates in a high
turnover sector and is beginning to develop a talent
analytics capability
• How analytics is being applied: HR analytics is used to understand
the relationship between talent and performance. Individual hotel HR
managers analyse their own data and are able to manage their sites
accordingly. They receive training around the capture and reporting of
data, and basic analytics techniques.
• Impact of analytics - looking into the future: HR data is to become
further available to the business to inform the growth strategy. HR
analytics will become more about adding value to the value of hotels it
operates with its clients e.g. by illustrating the value of good leadership.
‘The company will grow by 60% in the next four years and in this region 100% in
the next four years. We have a lot of talent to retain and find.’
HR VP, FRHI Hotels & resorts
6. Future of HR analytics in the
Middle East
• HR analytics will continue to
grow as an interest area for
organizations in the Middle
East.
• Investment in capability is
required by organisations to
ensure growth meets
aspirations.
• Organisations aspire to
become HR analytically
literate, and see predictive
capability as the gold
standard.
• Transparency and accessibility
to data by the business is high
on the agenda for HR
managers.
Does your organisation apply any
statistical modelling tools to predict
future trends across your workforce?
(%)
‘Ultimately what I would like to see is that
it would justify the existence of the
function…the kind of data it should
generate should prove why you are
actually there.”
SVP Human Capital, DP World
Case study: Petrofac
“Using HR analytics to mitigate against the
challenges of a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex
and ambiguous environment)”
• Context: Petrofac employs over 20,000 individuals in
31 offices worldwide in highly technical roles.
Economy pressuring organisation to predict future
talent requirements to inform business strategy.
• How analytics is being applied: Talent pipeline development – having
recognised through analytics that its workforce is susceptible to
pressures from changing demographics, in particular aging workforce.
• Impact of analytics - looking into the future: The business is now
looking to integrate talent management data in to investment in
capabilities across the workforce. Recruitment and retention are focus
areas.
‘In two years I believe we will have a track record demonstrating where we’ve
identified key data, taken action, and had a positive impact on the business. We’re
in the early stages but this is where we’re starting to build capability.’
Director of OD & Capability, Petrofac
Recommendations
Key recommendation
Focus on creating value for the
business: apply analytics to current
and potential future issues
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Integrate current capability to tackle issues today.
Demonstrate how analytics is adding value for business, not
just HR.
Focus on business needs.
Establish organisation wide standards
and protocols
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Define internal standards and policies.
Train HR and managers to apply standard measures.
Partner with IT to develop systems
which are fit for purpose
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Build capability in a modular way, relevant to current needs.
Ensure IT investments cater for HR analytics.
Combine technical capability with HR
specialist knowledge: manage the
build/buy ratio
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Recruit or train individuals with expert knowledge and ensure
they are in teams with HR experts.
Develop a capability plan for sourcing a HR analytics talent
and share it
Concentrate on foundation analytics
before reaching aspirational predictive
capability
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Complex predictive analytics require significant investment
and expertise, organisations should develop foundation
capability in the first instance.
Data quality, data housing, and analytical capability should be
developed up front.
Share insights and build internal backing by answering
“business fundamental questions” first.
Future research
CIPD
• Further HR Analytics
research in Asia and the
UK.
• Valuing your Talent:
development of HR and
business measures that
drive business
performance.
• Global survey of HR
analytics.
Research community
• Sector and size effects
on analytical capability.
• Development of an
analytical maturity
model for the Middle
East.
• Skills/capability gap
analysis.
• Innovative approaches
to HR analytics
Summary
• Youth of organisations provides wealth of opportunity
for organisations to lead HR analytics practice.
• Skills and capabilities are a barrier but investment in
analytics capability is expected to continue or remain
level.
• HR managers interviewed recognised that HR
analytics is a critical aspect of the “HR adding value”
debate – and expect use of HR analytics to grow.
Thank you for your
listening
Q&A