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riCHArd HAnSon, Global Head of Data
More organizations will use people analytics for data-driven decision making: WTW’s Richard Hanson
For most organizations, the important thing is to build on a solid foundation and start applying people analytics for decision making in areas beyond talent acquisition and retention says richard Hanson, Global Head of Data Science, Talent & Rewards, Willis Towers Watson, in an interaction with People Matters by Mastufa Ahmed
Richard Hanson is the Global Head of Data Science in the Talent & Rewards business at Willis Towers Watson. He is responsible for data science and solutions, and oversees delivery of data-driven insights for WTW’s clients, and explores opportunities for innovative software design and development to bring these insights to life. With more than 15 years of experience in Human Capital consultancy across Europe and Asia, Richard has acted as a trusted advisor to MNCs, progressive SMEs, and government agencies, covering a breadth of subject matters with a focus on Talent Analytics, Skills Development, and the Future of Work and Rewards. He is currently based in Hong Kong.
Here are the excerpts of the interview.
What do you see in the world of work in 2021? What do you expect to change this year?
So much is going on in the world of work in 2021. To a certain extent, the magnitude of change this year will depend on how quickly the world can emerge from the pandemic. Certain changes over the past year have undoubtedly been driven by the pandemic. For example, we are all now experts at virtual meetings and less familiar with business travel. It will be interesting to see whether these changes will continue or revert to normal as the crisis subsides. The outcomes may be mixed and changes in the workplace are likely to stay, adapting to the needs of the organizations.
Some of these changes have been underway for some time, but the pandemic has been an accelerator. Well-being would be one area that will likely see contin-
ued investment after the pandemic and throughout 2021, with a specific focus on personalization of wellbeing to better address individual needs where possible.
Many key strategic priorities have been part of the HR agenda long before the pandemic. These will need to be re-evaluated in the light of any learnings from the past year but will almost certainly be back at the forefront of HR thinking. Inclusion and diversity, as well as employee experience, are also two priorities that will progress further throughout 2021 and beyond.
Digital agendas of several organizations now reflect ''purpose'' which connects with quantifiable goals and objectives that can be measured. How can business leaders embed purpose into their business strategy?
The digital agenda of an organization forms a crucial aspect of the business strategy, both as an individual business objective, but also as an enabler for achieving other objectives. In addition, organizations are looking for a level of stability at a time of continuous change - a ‘North Star’ so to speak.
This can be provided by an organization’s purpose stating why an organization exists and what it aims to deliver to stakeholders and society as a whole. Obviously, ‘purpose’ is something aspirational - it should, by its very nature, provide perspective and generate energy. This is why companies are focusing on ‘purpose’, to provide a sense of direction, cohesion, and alignment of all talent within their organizations.
Today, it is more possible than ever before, to measure how an organization is performing in achieving its purpose. This can be done by actively measuring against the organization’s values and assessing its current and aspired culture. Providing insights on progress towards achieving its purpose, allows a company to take targeted actions to improve and accelerate towards its goals. This is where digital can play a decisive role, and we can see this happening with the vast array of new digital solutions used for collaboration, customer engagement and to promote better employee experience.
Nevertheless, organizations need to be cautious not to try and reverse ‘purpose’ into the organization in a disjointed manner. The ideal scenario would be to have your ‘purpose’ in place and articulate this clearly, which in turn drives the business strategy and objectives. It should answer the questions of – Why do we exist? What do we want to achieve and in what way? How do we do this? ‘Purpose’, therefore, should be at the root of an organization’s existence and
starting point in its strategic thinking. Digital and technology can be key enablers in achieving that ‘purpose’, which is why they must go hand-in-hand.
What's fueling hybrid-work strategies in 2021? How will work culture evolve in line with hybrid working this year?
COVID-19 is absolutely an accelerator towards hybrid-work strategies in 2021. However, the desire for hybrid working already existed pre-pandemic for some organizations.
From an employee point of view, the main drivers behind hybrid working remain relatively consistent. These include the need for flexibility and improved work-life balance. The movement that we will be seeing in the post-Covid world will be the number of organizations being comfortable with the concept of hybrid work given the potential to use technology in optimizing communication and tracking productivity. They are also increasingly cognizant of the benefits which hybrid work can have on inclusion and diversity. This, in turn, can generate workplace benefits to organizations, and shape the company culture to be more inclusive. A hybrid-work strategy also tends to lend itself well to project-based collaboration, so we may start to see this impact culture in the future - possibly around the different cultural considerations regarding small team or project work.
According to Mckinsey, companies that invest in innovation through a crisis outperform peers during the recovery. Do you see the focus on innovation is accelerating?
In general, innovation has always been among the major priorities for most large organizations. The COVID-19 crisis is different from past crises, in the sense that the impact has been first and foremost on human health and safety. Although there have been financial effects, this pandemic wasn’t directly a financial crisis. I see ''investment in innovation'' through the pandemic being more around enabling the continued operation of existing innovation structures and initiatives, rather than about the choice to continue financial investment. So, organizations that had Centers of Excellence, R&D Hubs, Innovation Labs, and so on, have been challenged to keep those productive during the crisis given the operational difficulties presented. Those that succeed, will thrive.
On a related topic, last week, a colleague shared an interesting quote with me, from Klaus Schwab, the Founder of the World Economic Forum. Schwab said that “Capital is being superseded by creativity and the ability to innovate — and therefore by human talents — as the most important factors of production. If talent is becoming the decisive competitive factor, we can be confident that capitalism is being replaced by ''talentism''. In my view
that is a very insightful perspective and tends to agree. Whilst I think it is a fair statement to say that a focus on innovation is accelerating, what that really means is that competition for talent is accelerating too.
The pandemic offered an opportunity for organizations to revisit policies and practices to get work done more efficiently. This makes the role of HR even more strategic in today’s time. What’s your take on this?
I do not think that the pandemic has automatically made the role of HR to be more strategic, but it certainly has provided the opportunity for them to be.
With the pandemic affecting business operations and profitability, more organizations are beginning to adopt technology to reinvent jobs and tasks, as well as use a wider talent ecosystem to deliver work cost-effectively. Jobs are being redesigned to deliver higher value-add to manage economic pressures, demographic shifts, and workforce expectation for purposeful work. To deliver on these expectations, the HR function in an organization plays an important role and will need to embrace technology on a large scale to enable businesses to transform.
In a study that Willis Towers Watson has conducted last year on the impact of technology on HR jobs and skills, we found that as technology trends become more prevalent, the HR function across industries and organizations of different sizes and stages of growth will be impacted. However, the magnitude and pace of change depending on the complexity of each organization’s operations including, the size, the number of countries that the organization operates in, and so on, as well as the maturity of its HR function. At the same time, the adoption of HR technology will also enable the HR function to deliver more seamless zations are now using people analytics with the benefits of mining data to yield insights that can support decision-making. I still see the main application of people analytics to be within talent acquisition and retention. For most organizations then, the important thing is to build on a solid foundation and start applying people analytics for decision making in other areas.
For the early adopters, who are already applying analytics to a broader range of people aspects such as performance management, learning and develop-
and cutting-edge employeecentric services and experiences, as well as provide high strategic value to businesses.
What do you expect this year in people analytics? Is it more important than ever?
As Head of Data Science, people analytics is definitely more important than ever. Depending on where the organizations are positioned along their analytics journey, there will be a difference in the various aspects of people analytics.
For instance, most organiment, and employee experience, there is an increased opportunity to leverage new analytics capabilities such as predictive analytics. The important thing for them is to continue investing in technology and capability.
Lastly, for those organizations where people analytics has not yet made the agenda, the important thing would be for them to start their journey. That might simply mean – thinking about the types of data within the organization that could be leveraged or the questions that can be answered with
data insights. I’m confident we will see even more organizations use people analytics and that data-driven decision-making within HR will become standard. 2021 will be another milestone on the way to that outcome.
Is workforce learning and skilling undergoing a reset? How are organizations improvising their workplace learning strategies this year?
I see developments within workforce learning and skilling as something opposite to ‘reset’ - more like there will be greater reliance on technology as an enabler for learning and skilling going forward. This trend dovetails nicely with an increase in remote working. Since many organizations are not planning to return to their office until 2021 or later, having the ability to participate in eLearning will be crucial in meeting development goals. So, this is an area that is sure to see continued investment.
Any cogent discussion around the ‘Future of Work’ should also include consid-
What are the keys to reinventing your organization and building a sustainable future? How ready is your organization to reinvent? Can you share the top three priorities for the company?
Some of the areas we are advising clients to consider are also essential elements for our own advancement at Willis Towers Watson. To my mind, three pertinent ones which build towards a ‘sustainable future’ would be Inclusion and Diversity, Innovation, and Employee Experience.
Aside from strategic priorities, it will be difficult for any organization to build a sustainable future without some form of stable foundation in the first place. At WTW, we actively consider our core values such as client focus, teamwork, integrity, respect, and excellence as our foundation. When faced with such a fast-changing and increasingly complex world of work, these values provide essential anchors around which we can create and deliver our solutions and services. They also aid internal stability and alignment, which in turn leaves our organization to be battle-ready to help our clients meet their own challenges head-on. This is something I know my colleagues and I are excited to be doing as we progress through 2021 and beyond.
rapid evolution and acceleration. Although COVID19 has forced the cancellation of many learning and development initiatives due to a combination of financial and logistical reasons, the desire for advancement within learning and skilling will not fade away. Organizations have both the duty and desire to adapt their approaches to workforce learning and skilling, and we can already see clear evidence of this.
Virtual learning has been adopted and this may indeed become the norm. Certainly, erations of upskilling and reskilling. It is well recognized that as technology increasingly enables the automation or augmentation of human work, the traditional designs and structures of work may need to undergo a reinvention of sorts. Ultimately, no matter which organizations choose to approach this challenge, a greater reliance on technologies means that employees must be trained to work with them effectively and efficiently. Then optimal human-machine interaction is a goal worth aiming for.
The new ways of doing business are here to stay: P&G’s Sarah Davies
Sarah davies, Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Procter & Gamble (P&G) talks about the role of digital innovation, the new mode of working, the virtual work culture, and more in an interaction with us by Mastufa Ahmed
Sarah Davies is the Senior Vice President and Chief HR Officer for P&G Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Her career with P&G has spanned 17 years and multiple countries including Canada, the U.S., and Singapore. Sarah is passionate about leadership development and coaching and is responsible for leading P&G’s Human Resources Function for over 17,000 employees. She is a vocal and active advocate for workplace policies that enable Equality and Inclusion, including parental leave, flexible work hours, mentoring, and career development programs.
The year 2020 is over but we still have uncertainty. How do you see the current business landscape and organizations’ strategies to adapt to the new normal?
While the pandemic is not yet behind us, we are optimistic for the future. Our strategies have served us well before and during the pandemic, and we expect them to serve us well after WHEN TIMES ARE TOuGH, IT’S EvEN MORE IMPORTANT TO dOuBLE-dOWN ON OuR fuNdAMENTAL BuSINESS STRATEGIES, fOR ExAMPLE, SERvING OuR CONSuMERS WITH SuPERIOR BRANdS ANd PROduCTS
the pandemic. When times are tough, it’s even more important to double-down on our fundamental business strategies, for example, serving our consumers with superior brands and products. We expect some of our new ways of doing business, for example, with greater use of virtual collaboration tools, to remain for the longterm.
At the beginning of the pandemic, P&G declared three critical priorities that have helped us navigate the dynamic situation and are still important today. First, we will prioritize
the safety, health, and wellbeing of our people. Second, we will continue serving our consumers when they need us most, especially given the importance of our health and hygiene products in today’s environment. Finally, we will step up to support our communities as a force for good. Having these three clear priorities as an organization was critical in ensuring we could respond to the pandemic with resilience and agility.
How will new digital innovation unlock new ways of working in a post-COVID-19 world? How will work culture evolve in line with hybrid working this year?
There is no doubt that digital technology and innovation has accelerated throughout the COVID19 pandemic. Our technology strategy is designed to support our core organization priorities, and at P&G our people’s safety and wellbeing continue to be the top priority. Our employees need to be able to work confidently knowing that the company is here to protect them at all times.
As an organization that already offered Work from Home (WFH) arrangements for our employees preCOVID-19, P&G has been well prepared in transitioning to a full WFH arrangement. We had the right infrastructure and tools to help our employees seamlessly transition to remote working and could equip them with the necessary technical support to continue working collaboratively from home.
We have leveraged the full strength of our digital technology to ensure our priority activities can continue in any circumstance while maintaining the safety of our people. to online learning platforms throughout the last 12 months, to ensure there has been no impact on our talent pipeline and leadership development. We have hosted online careers fairs, virtual internship onboarding programs, and we even created an app for our newly hired managers so they could stay up to date with P&G policies and training online.
We recently announced a new digital capability program called ''iFuture'' to further accelerate digital innovation in Singapore which is also supported by Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB). As part of our iFuture program, we will accelerate P&G’s digital transformation across marketing, sales, and operations and further enhance the digital capability of our colleagues.
How do you see the current digital transformation of learning? Is it actually accelerating in 2021?
We are finding that our consumers and our employees are embracing digital solutions with far more ease than before. In response, we have been continuously strengthening our investment in technology and upskilling our people to drive business growth.
Our recruitment and development programs have all seamlessly transitioned
With employees now having the autonomy to decide where they want to work, what kind of policies and practices should organizations revisit in 2021?
Our colleagues are empowered to lead with a growth mindset. This means continually testing, learning, and adapting to new styles of working that best meet the needs of their teams, within the regulations and rules of their country or home jurisdiction. We always create digi-
tal solutions with employees at the center and ensure they are part of the development process. For example, as employees are gradually returning to the office in some markets, while others remain working from home, there has been a need for more video facilities in our offices.
Another top priority is evolving employee engagement programs and work culture, to continue meeting the needs of our employees and developing them. This is especially important for us at P&G because we are committed to developing our people and growing the next generation of P&G leaders so that we win today and in the future. We continue to host virtual events, training colleges, town halls, and award ceremonies because we believe in the importance of our people and their value as our greatest assets. These will continue in a hybrid workplace so that we deliver on this important commitment to our people.
At P&G, we believe in “constructive disruption” – innovating to drive growth and create value for the people we serve and for our organization. We keep our people and our consumers at the heart of everything we do and aim to continually innovate to meet the evolving needs of the marketplace.
We greatly value our employee feedback and perspectives. This means that while we are daring and decisive in trying out new ideas and processes, we also make use of available tools and resources to garner our employees’ feedback and sentiments, evaluate them, and put into action what we think will bring the most value to our employees and eventually our business. We encourage a spirit of resilience, to learn from mistakes quickly, and try again.
How is P&G preparing for a post-pandemic world? Can you name the top three priorities for the company?
Our priority will remain protecting the health, safety, and well-being of our people. We are proud of how well our people have adapted to new ways of working and increased safety protocols – yet we cannot afford to be complacent. We will also continue investing in creating a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive workplace culture, and an agile and empowered organization.
Secondly, we will continue serving our consumers and customers to ensure our critical health and hygiene products can remain available where they are needed most. This means having a robust and agile supply chain, with superior brands and products that delight our consumers and meet their evolving needs. We are also responding to new trends in e-commerce that define how our consumers are discovering and purchasing our brands.
Last but not least – we will continue actively supporting communities and consumers as a force for good.
