A data-driven approach to career development and employee retention

Data is a buzzword, but what does deploying it actually involve? Here are some tips from the practitioners at DXC Technology, who built their own in-house career development and mobility platform using graph technology learn, transfer skills, and adapt to these changing requirements.

According to the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, 63% of IT decision-makers view a shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business. Organisations who try to rehire former employees or seek new talent may need more time to re-skill and upskill these employees.

Leveraging the power of graph technology

Challenges around the skills crisis, or “war for talent”, have been made more prominent in today’s evolving workforce. Instead of narrowing the impossible talent gap, organisations are moving their focus towards maximising and retaining the skills employees already possess.

When it comes to the IT industry, there is an added complexity given the rapid pace at which technology is progressing. Tech organisations, large or small, need people who are willing to

Beyond training and redeploying people, it is becoming imperative to help employees reach their personal career goals. Employees are quite often confused by the complex ecosystem of platforms, systems and processes that have been deployed within their organisations. Whilst employees simply want to know what in-demand skills they should have for career development opportunities, managers may not always have the necessary data to provide this advice.

Organisations maintain large amounts of data about their employees and in most cases that data resides in siloed systems that are difficult to connect. Graph databases and graph data science allows organisations to connect siloed data and determine the complex relationships within this data which can then be applied to various use cases for workforce planning analytics and career development recommendations for employees.

To untangle this complex ecosystem of siloed data, DXC Technology is using a combination of the Neo4j Graph Database and the Neo4j Graph Data Science Library (GDS) for its Career Navigator platform. As explained in the recent Inter-

national Data Corporation (IDC) InfoBrief on The Power of Graph

Data Science, graph technology uses a more sophisticated way of structuring data as it contain nodes and relationships as its primary structure, compared to tables in a traditional relational database, which contains rows and columns. On the other hand, graph data science is a scientific approach to gain knowledge using the structures of connected data to power predictions, answer questions, and explain outcomes.

The first release of DXC’s Career Navigator is currently being piloted by 10,000 employees across the APAC and EMEA regions. Employees receive automated and personalised recommendations for career development and mobility, based on in-demand roles and skills. At the same time, they also receive recommendations based on the skills and learning of their peers and the role that they are currently in, their aspirational role, open roles and project assignments.

To be successful in developing employee career opportunities, organisations need a view of what is likely to occur in the next six to 12 months to allow enough time to upskill their employees. Using the graph database to determine external demand and supply patterns will enable organisations to look “beyond the horizon” for trends on where they should be upskilling employees.

By anticipating forward skill demand, organisations can ensure that their people are trained and ready for the next wave of technological change, without constantly having to go back to the market in search of new talent.

Using data to drive career development

With data, leaders also gain a better understanding of the complex relationships between their people, skills, learning gaps, and business resources. It also enables them to better guide employees towards career oppor tunities and pathways available within their organisation. If done right, graph technology can be a very powerful tool for organisations to benefit from a more diverse talent pool and be more effective in redeploying their workforce.

A forecast by Gartner shows that graph technology will be used in 80% of data and analytics innovations by 2025. Being able to analyse employee-related data can effectively bring more value to an organisation. It allows for more informed decision-making regarding employee development and career mobility, builds better employee experiences and fosters meaningful relationships. Employees become more empowered to drive their own career development as they have a clearer career plan and at the same time, connect with individuals within the organisation for mentorship and peer learning opportunities.

While traditional analytic approaches struggle to extract important relationships between entities, leaving useful datasets neglected and underleveraged, graph-based models can analyse large volumes of interconnected data and uncover hidden connections, hence providing organisations with a clear view of all the relationships and roles within the workforce.

Graph technology set to transform HR functions and management

With today’s remote workforce, leaders are faced with changing expectations in working environments, shifting mindsets, market demands and challenges when managing career pathways for employees. Organisations need better tools to help retain employees and upskill them to high-demand opportunities, while keeping their skill sets within the organisation. On all counts, graph technology is set to transform HR functions and management, offering real-time data to solve the rapidly changing skills demand.

Coming out of a year filled with disruption, many organisations are already bracing themselves for a 2023 that will be at least as challenging as its predecessor. Many of the macroeconomic difficulties that characterised 2022 persist into this year, from supply chain issues to inflation to geopolitics.

On the other hand, COVID-19 is no longer the threat that it was, lifting the fears and burdens of health risks from organisations and individuals alike. The talent shortage that characterised the last few years has partially eased. And the controversies over hybrid and remote work have for the most part settled into adaptation and acceptance, as organisations realise the benefits of the model and develop their own effective approaches to flexibility.

Forward-thinking organisations have already drawn up plans for weathering the coming recession. Some, especially those companies which experienced a business boom during the pandemic and overextended themselves as a result, have unfortunately done so by initiating large-scale layoffs as a cost control measure. Others, more strategically, have scaled back their growth and expansion plans. And of course, the most savvy business leaders have leveraged the lessons of the last few years to better manage their workforce and more effectively adjust their business model.

In the coming year, we are likely to see a continued focus on recession-proofing in one way or another. Organisations, having learned the lesson that people are key to business survival, will be looking for ways to more effectively upskill and transform their workforce, including the leadership and managers. Investments in technology will most likely shift toward measurable utility instead of digital acceleration. Employee engagement and wellbeing is likely to become very important, simply because morale is critical at a time when the outlook does not appear rosy.

So what are some things organisations can do as part of their preparations? In this month's cover story, we look at several predictions for the year ahead and consider a few interesting next steps that organisations can take to better place themselves for tackling the challenges and opportunities most likely to emerge.