production. In retail, this involves
using people analytics to improve
conversion rates, while in production
it’s about informing product quality
and production efficiencies.
“These are key business challenges
that we’re supporting behind the
scenes,” says Kasper. “We’re not there
to solve pure HR topics.”
Reporting line
With teams expected to take a broader
business perspective, where they
should sit within the organisation is
also up for debate. According to
Fineman, the most common approach
is for people analytics to be run by a
dedicated team within HR, reporting
to the HR leader: “Typically it’s
separate and distinct from a reporting
group and not necessarily part of HR
operations, but reports directly into
the CHRO.”
Just because it’s there to solve
business challenges doesn’t mean the
business should take ownership of
the team, agrees Levenson: “HR
analytics should be a centre of
excellence, and it could report into
HR or into a larger analytics group.”
Although noting it is a far less
common approach, Alburey says he
has seen some create a team
combining business operations and
HR, which is co-owned by HR and
the business. While “neither model is
better than the other”, he feels a coownership
approach can help the
team get closer to the business.
“The risk with creating the team
within HR is that they end up
producing lots of reports just for HR
– they take a more HR-centric view
on what they want to see, so things
like talent data and salary insights,
and they aren’t necessarily clear what
business outcomes they’ll deliver
because they’re a bit further back
from the business,” he says. “If the
business and HR are combined, it’s
easier to find the business problems
that need solving and to direct efforts
towards business outcomes.”
Structure
The reporting line is just one part of
the picture though, with the make-up
of the team also important. “Most
people analytics teams are very small
– just a few people – therefore their
structures are pretty fluid and there
tends to be a lot of variety,” says Fink.
In larger teams, however, there
should be more structure, says
Fineman, who breaks the function
down into four distinct sub-teams:
reporting; data science, insights and
analysis; data governance; and
platform management.
Which calls for a diverse range of
job roles. Alburey cites need for a
data manager, report writer and
business analytics lead. Yet one role
he is quick to dismiss is the data
scientist. “There’s very few people
analytics teams that need a true data
scientist – you can get that expertise
from other parts of the business,” he
says. “If you’re a true data scientist
you need volumes of data to work on,
and there isn’t enough people data –
so you need a data manager, yes, but a
data scientist? I don’t think so.”
It’s a sentiment shared by
Levenson, who agrees that “a pure
data scientist is one of the last people
I’d hire into a people analytics group”.
“There’s an image out there that if
you just hire a data scientist they can
solve all your problems, but they
won’t,” he says. “Would you put a data
scientist in a client-facing role talking
to people in the business or the
CHRO? That’s the litmus test
question to ask. And strategic people
will say ‘absolutely not, because they
won’t know the right things to say’.”
Skillsets
For Levenson, it’s less about technical,
analytical roles and skills, and more
about qualitative, soft skills such as
occupational psychology.
“A data scientist typically has no
understanding of organisational
science and how the business runs
and actually you need good
occupational psychology,” he says.
“Then you need business consulting
skills in the team – people who know
how to roll their sleeves up and
problem solve.
“It’s that old adage about the need
to focus on causation not correlation.
You won’t know the right questions
to ask to crunch the right numbers
unless there’s organisation science
and business consulting.”
In Fink’s eyes, it’s this all-important
consulting expertise that’s in short
supply in most teams today. “Often
people analytics teams really function
as service providers, and many of the
requests they get are just fishing
expeditions. They might be providing
great services, but they are answering
questions that aren’t particularly
powerful, and don’t lead to action.
Influencing and consulting
expertise can help a lot with
overcoming that barrier to overall
team effectiveness,” she says.
Kasper outlines six “building
blocks” a team needs: human skills
(“like financial literacy”);
communication skills; consulting
skills; data science knowledge; HR
knowledge in privacy, ethics and
process; and, lastly, work psychology
and behavioural science knowledge.
“The ideal person will have all six
skills, but many will just have some,”
he says. “That’s fine, but you do need
all six skills within the team.”
Sourcing talent
But can this diverse skillset be found
among existing HR professionals?
Not necessarily, says Fineman. “It’s
important people in the team learn
the domain knowledge, but often
people in the data governance roles
will come from more of an IT and IT
strategy background,” he says.
Where an HR background can be
helpful is for the insights and
analytics roles within the team,
Fineman feels. Given the job involves
acting as an interface between the
analytics team and the business, good
HRBPs should thrive here. “That’s
where it’s interesting as the insights
and analytics group of the team could
be very much a step along on the
HRBP career path,” he says.
“They work to both bring in
information about the business
challenge to solve and on the
other side explain the outcome of
the analytics.”
“These colleagues are the eyes and
ears for a workforce analytics team;
they can use their business knowledge
to identify business challenges and
A pure data
scientist is
one of the last
people I’d
hire into a
people
analytics
group
HR Technology Supplement People analytics teams
16 HR October 2019 hrmagazine.co.uk
/hrmagazine.co.uk