The HR Analytics journey at ABN AMRO

People Analytics and data-driven HR is featured prominently on the agenda next week as the HR Tech World Congress lands in Paris. I’m delighted to be moderating the Smart Data track where leaders from the likes of Microsoft, Shell, ABN AMRO, Cisco and TIAA will be amongst those describing the successes their organisations have enjoyed thanks to their investments in people analytics.

I am interviewing some of these practitioners in the run-up to the conference – please see the interview with Dawn Klinghoffer of Microsoft here.

I also had the pleasure of catching up recently with Patrick Coolen, Head of HR Metrics and Analytics at ABN AMRO, widely recognised as one of the leading global practitioners of people analytics and a regular speaker at HR Tech World.

In our discussion, Patrick and I discussed the people analytics journey at ABN AMRO, tips for those looking to get started on or accelerate their own journeys and what the future may hold for people analytics. Patrick, a highly regarded blogger himself, also offers some tips to any practitioners with aspirations of sharing their work with the wider community.

Q1 ROLE & BACKGROUND

Hi Patrick, please can you describe your role at ABN AMRO, and also when and how you got into people analytics.

Sure, I am the Head of HR Metrics and Analytics at ABN AMRO. I have been doing this now for the last three years. My department is responsible for strategic workforce planning and analytics. I was always passionate about HR activities such as performance management, succession management and talent management. However, the longer I spent in HR, the more curious I became on investigating the actual impact, or return on investment if you will, of HR on our business. So what really happens when engagement increases to products sold? Or what is the actual effect of developing a specific leadership style on client satisfaction or net growth? Answering these types of questions demands a more fact-based or scientific approach. That’s why I started the HR Metrics and Analytics department within the bank.

Q2 WHAT DOES HR ANALYTICS MEAN TO YOU?

Patrick, let's get some consensus on what we are talking about. What does analytics in HR mean to you and why is it important?

For me HR Analytics is the application of statistical or data mining techniques on combined datasets from HR and the business in order to support decision making in the organisation. I think it is tremendously important because it is the vehicle that allows HR and the business to get a better grip on the impact of HR policies and activities on actual business goals. Using statistics or data mining techniques (having a smarter look at your data) also reduces human bias, something we are suffering from.

HR Analytics...supports decision making in the organisation

Q3 GETTING STARTED / PRIMARY FOCUS

What do you believe are the key factors to consider when getting started with analytics? What should the focus be on? 

I am tempted to direct you my article on ‘The 10 Golden Rules of HR Analytics’! Seriously though, I think the three most important factors when starting in my opinion are:

1. Make sure your research has business relevance,
2. Make sure your insights are actionable,
3. Make sure you bring in a balanced blend of skills on your project. Statistics and data mining are important, but also consultancy skills, storytelling, business and HR knowledge plus some knowledge of HR IT/ data and software.

David – Thanks Patrick and you are right to reference your article on ‘The 10 Golden Rules of HR Analytics’. Everyone interested in People Analytics should read this article, particularly the recently updated ‘Crowdsourced Version’ – please click here to read the article or view the image below from an earlier version.

Figure 1: Patrick Coolen's original 10 Golden Rules of HR Analytics

Q4 – THE TEAM: SKILLS & CAPABILITIES REQUIRED

What skills/capability do you need to do analytics? What are your views on build vs. buy?

The skills mentioned above (please also reference my article ‘A Practitioner’s View on HR Analytics') are all important. It depends on your own organisation if these skills are available in terms of quality and quantity. When we started at ABN AMRO, we did not have a data scientist in our organisation (that wanted to work in HR) so we aligned with an external partner (iNostix by Deloitte) to perform the advanced analytics for us. Or I should say ‘with’ us. But if your organisation has a mature advanced analytics team internally this team would of course be the logical partner for you. We also partnered with another partner (Bright & Company) to create a learning program for HR on advanced analytics as well as for strategic workforce planning. This helped enable the wider culture change required to make the HR Analytics initiative sustainable within the organisation.

Figure 2: Patrick Coolen and Auke IJsselstein's HR Analytics Capability Wheel - the premise being to achieve a balanced blend of skills - read more in 'A Practitioner's View on HR Analytics'

Q5 – DATA QUALITY

One of the key challenges many organisations face is around the quality of their people data. What advice would you give in this area? How clean does your data need to be?

The cliché is true - garbage in equals garbage out. But having said that, missing values or losing some records when connecting data does not always have to be a problem for analytics. Reporting is in that sense arguably much more dependent on high quality data. Reports must be accurate. For analytics it is okay to create models for a population of 10,000 using only a few thousand records. It is also true that within an analytical research project you might be able to solve some of the data problems like missing values as you go.  

Q6 – CASE STUDIES

Patrick, please can you walkthrough an example of an analytics project. What was the business problem? What data sources did you use? What insights did you discover? What were the outcomes for the business?

Nice try David. This is exactly what I will present at the HR Tech World Congress in Paris! We have many examples, but in Paris I will address cases in the areas of retail, private banking and one of our call centre departments. We focused on predicting actual business outcomes like net growth, client satisfaction and for instance average handling time. So I invite everyone to join my session to learn how we approached these projects and also to hear about some of the results :-)

David - Touché Patrick, let's wait for the great unveiling in Paris! For now, I'll just include an image below, which highlights a few of the analytics projects you have undertaken at ABN AMRO.

Figure 3: An example of some of the research projects undertaken by ABN AMRO's HR Analytics team

Q7 – CHANGE MANAGEMENT

What steps do you recommend to communicate the insights from your analyses to ensure buy-in, decision making and change?

There are two mandatory items for me here. First, always use subject matter experts from the business in your research. They know how the data is collected, what the data means, if there is any bias in the data and how to interpret the outcomes. This is vital in getting the right buy-in from the business. Secondly, do not present regression tables or technical stuff to your audience. Think of the story you want to tell and create the right visualisations to support your message. This is closely related to one of my earlier answers on the need for having good consultancy skills.

"Think of the story you want to tell and create the right visualisations to support your message"

Q8 – THE FUTURE

What next: What does the future hold for people analytics?

I believe that HR Analytics, or People Analytics if you prefer, will be a standard strategic component of HR in the future. Although a lot of organisations are lagging behind according to the recent Bersin by Deloitte report, People Analytics will not go away. But it will be one of the fundamental drivers in supporting the transformation of HR towards being more fact-based. I predict also the revival of strategic workforce planning in the near future. I also believe that there will be further investments in creating an analytical state of mind and capabilities across the rest of HR too.

"I believe that People Analytics will be a standard component of HR in the future"

Q9 - BLOCKERS

Why has growth in people analytics been steady rather than spectacular so far? What is holding some organisations back?

That is a great question. I also ask myself that question. I guess we should ask those organisations that did not start yet! I think most HR activities today are not executed in a fact-based matter. It is simply not where HR is historically coming from. Statistics is something new for HR. But my advice is don’t be afraid of statistics, you can get help with that. Just concentrate on the right business question, create a capable team and you should be fine. 

"Don't be afraid of statistics, you can get help with this. Just concentrate on the right business question, create a capable team and you should be fine"

Q10: GIVING BACK TO THE HR COMMUNITY

You've developed a pretty formidable (and deserved) reputation as one of the foremost people analytics practitioners when it comes to sharing your story through blogs and at conferences. A couple of questions here: Why do you think it is important for practitioners to share their experiences with the community? What blog are you most proud of? Why? What three tips would you offer to prospective bloggers/speakers in the practitioner community? 

Thanks for the compliment. For us conferences like the HR Tech World Congress and blogs like yours were vital in our analytical journey. In the beginning it was more about learning best practises from other practitioners and industry influencers. Later it was more to learn about specific topics like tools and techniques being used or simply to get inspired on research topics. It is going pretty fast in the world of analytics so speaking at and attending conferences is a way for us to keep up with the latest trends and developments.

I enjoy writing blogs myself, and I guess I am ‘most’ proud on my series on the ‘10 Golden Rules of HR Analytics’. It shows how we learn every year and it was fun to include opinions of others in the last ‘crowd’ version. 

And tips for other bloggers/ speakers? I have to think about that. I guess stay true to your own style, be yourself, and think about your audience. What do they want to hear or read? And what do you want them to remember after your presentation or blog? And focus on answering those questions with as much real examples as possible.

Patrick Coolen (right) with Luk Smeyers (centre), Co-founder at iNostix by Deloitte (who partner with ABN AMRO on their HR Analytics research) and me (left) photographed just after we'd been on a panel discussing People Analytics at the Beyond HR Leadership Forum

THANKS TO PATRICK

Thanks a lot to Patrick for recounting the ABN AMRO journey with HR Analytics and for sharing his insights on building capability in this exciting area of HR. For those going to Paris, Patrick’s presentation – People Analytics @ ABN AMRO: Real Cases & Actual Insights – will be at 14:30 on Tuesday 25th October in the Smart Data track (Room 241) – you can still buy tickets for the HR Tech World Congress here.

CONNECT WITH PATRICK

You can follow Patrick on LinkedIn and Twitter, read his brilliant blogs on LinkedIn and also follow his personally curated HR Analytics page on Flipboard.

FURTHER READING

You may also want to check out the following resources to learn more about Patrick and the HR Analytics journey at ABN AMRO - all are highly recommended:

• Read Patrick's published articles not already referenced in this post: The Human Factor in HR Analytics; The 10 Golden Rules of HR Analytics (Revisited); The Next Big Thing in HR Analytics; The 10 Golden Rules of HR Analytics (Original)
• Check out this Slideshare from Patrick's presentation at the 2015 HR Tech World in Paris - Predictive HR: Creating Actionable Insights

• Finally, read this recent interview with Patrick on the excellent Analytics in HR blog

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a respected influencer, writer and speaker on people analytics and the future of work. He was recognised as Best Writer at the 2015 HR Tech Writers’ Awards, and was awarded one of ten LinkedIn Power Profiles for HR in January 2016. David’s role as Global Director, People Analytics Solutions at IBM enables him to help clients apply an analytical, insight led and business outcome focused approach to their talent strategies and people decisions. 

David also speaks at and chairs industry events. He has been co-chair of Tucana’s People Analytics Global Conference in London for the last two years, was one of the judges of the 2016 Workforce Analytics Excellence Awards, is a keynote speaker at the Workforce Analytics Summits 2016 series in Amsterdam, Sydney, New York and Singapore, is a member of the HR Tech World Blog Squad, a #HROS Volunteer and moderated a session at Beyond - The Global HR Leadership Forum in Amsterdam in June.

David is chairing, speaking and/or attending the following conferences before the end of 2016. If you are going to one of these conferences and would like to meet up with David, please feel free to contact him via LinkedIn:

• HR Tech World Congress (Paris, 25-26 October) - Moderator, Smart Data track
• HRx (Helsinki, 27 October) - Moderator, Demystifying People Analytics Panel
• Workforce Analytics Summit (Singapore, 8-9 November) - Speaker / Co-Chair
• People Analytics Europe (Madrid, 17 November) - Co-Chair
• People Analytics Forum (London, 22 November) - Co-Chair
• Storytelling in HR: People Data to Actionable Insights (London, 24 November) - Speaker
• HR Analytics, Predictive Insights and Metrics Forum for Strategic Decision Making (San Francisco, 5-7 December)
• HR Analytics, Metrics & Measurement for Strategic Decision Making (London, 24-26 January 2017) - Chair

Connect with David on LinkedIn, follow him on Twitter and read his blogs here on LinkedIn and also on HR Tech World and ERE.

Keywords: HR, Human Resources, HR Analytics, People Analytics, Talent, Recruiting, Hiring, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, HR Metrics, Cost Per Hire, Workforce Analytics, Talent Analytics, Data Driven HR, Employee Engagement, Performance Management, Future of Work, Quality of Hire, Evidence based HR, HR Open Source, #HROS, Cognitive HR, Cognitive Computing, IBM, HR Technology