FUTURE TALENT November - January 2019/2020 | Page 30

O ON TOPIC The use of data to improve business outcomes is certainly seductive. In marketing, for example, it’s been transformative: no more John Wanamaker-style “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”. Smart marketeers know better than ever how to maximise their advertising dollar for targeted results. And, even when it comes to managing people, being able to measure and see what works can make all the difference. Examples abound. Collecting gender or ethnicity pay-gap data is undoubtedly shining a light on pay inequality. Having accessible data to hand on staff turnover supports positive policy change. The good people at Facebook can now easily track the likelihood and timing of staff resignations to whether they engage or not with ‘pulse’ staff surveys. It’s clear that data analytics are here to stay. The question is how far can (and should) we take its use in HR? Unlike marketing, where the objectives are more identifiable, working with people is much less clear-cut. The first obstacle relates to practicality. In many firms, the data will undoubtedly be found in a variety of places. Data sets are unlikely to be compatible, clean or consistent. They are often not big enough to make the most of standard data-science analysis. And even if a suitable data set is collected, can we be sure that organisations have the skills they need to ask the right questions and understand and analyse the answers? Then there are crucial issues of permission, privacy and fairness. Employee distrust about the use of their personal data is understandable and, in some cases, justified. Most of us feel uneasy about Amazon-style metrics being used to track and squeeze every ounce of efficiency out of their warehouse workers. But perhaps the greatest obstacle to tech-based efficiency in HR is more conceptual. Peter Cappelli, director of the centre for human resources at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, is clear that “the speed with which the business rhetoric in management moved from big data to machine learning to AI is staggering”. 30 // Future Talent Strict policies are often excuses to not think, leading to clashes between common sense and bureaucracy This doesn’t mean, though, that there’s a match between “the rhetoric and reality”. Cappelli’s starting point is that HR outcomes are inherently complex; he questions whether we can really identify what constitutes ‘a good employee’, especially as performance so often depends on working with others. He is also sceptical about the ability of algorithm- based analyses to navigate the frameworks and practices we’ve developed over the years to ensure that HR outcomes are arrived at fairly. Being able to explain and justify decisions which impact individual and organisational wellbeing is much more important than in other areas of work. Algorithms might be able to “perform better than human judgement when used to predict repetitive outcomes, such as reading X-rays”, but, when it comes to the relationship building crucial to people’s experience and behaviour at work, we jettison human empathy and goodwill at our peril. As Nick Cowley puts it: “Tech can be a wonderful thing and has enormous potential for good if used properly. But it’s crucial to remember that we’re still the same people, wired in the way we’ve always been, with a need for affiliation, acceptance and recognition. There’s no substitute for trusting relationships.” This is an approach espoused by enterprise software experts Workday. Richard Doherty, senior director, product marketing, is clear that HR tech should not just be about cost reduction and efficiency; it’s more about freeing up HR to have those Nick Cowley-style conversations. He uses the example of Workday itself, a company that has grown significantly in recent years, with all the challenges to culture and performance that brings. One solution was to use its own weekly survey tool: “We ask employees two questions each week – on Feedback Friday; over time, we’ve built a body of data which has informed more strategic HR programmes that have helped to support our values and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction,” he explains. For Doherty, richer data provides insights that trigger the conversations needed for individual and organisational development and innovation. These