Delivering business value through people

A business of Marsh McLennan

Breakout Session

Deliveringbusiness valuethrough people analytics

Junichi Akutsu

People Analytics Team Lead, Career Business Japan, Mercer

Copyright © 2021 Mercer Japan Ltd. All rights reserved. 2

1. What is People Analytics? (PA)

2. Keys to connecting PA to business value

3. Case studies

Agenda

Copyright © 2021 Mercer Japan Ltd. All rights reserved.

Junichi AkutsuPeople Analytics

Team Lead, Career

Business Japan,

Mercer

People Analytics Team Lead,

Senior Manager, Career Consulting Group, Mercer Japan

• People Analytics: HR data analysis, Employee Engagement / Listening,

Culture Survey, Workforce Planning etc.

• Talent & Org Strategy: HRM Strategy, Executive / Workforce Rewards,

Job Architecture, Organizational Development etc.

• Mergers & Acquisitions: HR due diligence, Post-Merger Integration,

Do-by-close support etc.

Prior to joining Mercer, he served as a people & change consultant at a big 4 firm

and as a member of a non-profit organization.

BA in Education from the University of Tokyo

MSc in HR & Organization from the London School of Economics (LSE)

Associate member of CIPD (UK)

Speaker

3


Key Messages

• Don’t start with “How” to do People Analytics.

• Start with asking “Why” and “What” does your

organization need to analyze for a better HRM

strategy.


What is People Analytics?


Growing attention to People Analytics (PA)

0

20

40

60

80

100

05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

HR Analytics

People Analytics

Google Search Trend*Worldwide, 6-months moving average

HR’s use of Predictive Analytics*Mercer Global HR Trends (2020-2021)

2016 2020

10%

39%4x


Problem Solving

Data Analytics

People Analytics

What is People Analytics?

the use of data analytics for solving

HR problems and making better

people-related decisions

7


Major topics for People Analytics (illustrative)

TurnoverAppraisal/

RewardDevelopment

Assignment/

PromotionHiring

Performance/

Engagement

• P-O fit prediction

• Hiring Process

Optimization

• Impact evaluation

of new initiatives

(like referral,

onboarding

programs etc.)

• Impact Evaluation

of L&D programs

• Org. Culture

Assessment

• Org. Network /

Communication

• P-J Fit

optimization

(or matching)

• Org. Design

(span of control)


of transfer/lateral

movement

• DEI analysis /

review

• High Performer

prediction

• Engagement

Driver analysis

• WLB / Flexible

working

• Pay Equity


of new reward/

benefit programs

• Turnover/

Retention

...etc


Keys to connecting People Analytics

to business value


Why is People Analytics so important for Strategic HRM?

Business Context

PDS cycle of

Strategic HRM

MVV,

Business strategy

Market, Society,

Technology etc.

1. Workforce Planning(defining necessary talent/workforce)

2. HRM Policies/Practices(Reward, Appraisal, Grading + Talent Mgmt.)

3. HR Operations(HR-IT)

4. Evaluate & Improve

the HRM strategy(People Analytics)

• What changes are expected in key

talent/workforce needs?

• How to allocate talent/resources to

better align with business strategy?

• What actions/policies are required

to close the GAP between “As-is”

and “To-be” in talent/workforce

Plan

Do

Do

See

• To what extent do HRM Policies /

Practices and HR operations go

along with the intended strategy?

• If not, what actions/interventions

will be expected?

• To enable intended HRM and

better EX, what HRIS/HR

operations would be needed?


However, only a few HR/PA practitioners have experienced it…

We’ve been running some employee surveys,

but no tangible actions have been taken at the moment.

I’ve heard many interesting analytical examples,

but I have no idea which one fits my organization best.

We’ve introduced HRIS / HR Tech. HR data is ready.

How should we use them and for what?


Three key questions to deliver business value through PA

Why? What? How?

• Why should we analyze this?

• Why does it matter to our

business/HRM strategy?

• What topics do we analyze?

• What story do we want to

prove/ evaluate/ justify?

• How do we analyze?

(with which data? tools?

statistical methods? etc.)

Start with clarifying these key points Not here (though this also matters, for sure)


Why? Identifying key HR/Org issues in your contextWhy? What? How?

External

Environment

Business Strategy

Talent/Workforce

HRM policies/

practices

Past

• Competitive environment

• Society/Labour Market Trend

• Maturity of main business

• Investment strategy

• Expected capabilities * volume

• Conditions (Health, Engagement etc.)

• Hiring/ Talent management

• Performance mgmt./ Reward

• Othe HRM policies/actions

• ???

• ???

• ???

• ???

Business ContextNew

Business Context

HRM HR outcome HRM HR outcome?

Future

Isn’t it obsolete? Myth?During the ongoing change of context,

is this “Action Outcome” still working?13


Why? (Ref) Changes of business context (illustrative)Why? What? How?

14

Long-term Mega-Trends

Globalization

Digitalization

Aging Society

Recent/Ongoing Changes

COVID-19/

New Workstyle

Attention to

ESG / DEI

Change in

Labor Market/

Generation

Strategic Changes

Diverse

Growth Strategy

Mergers &

Acquisitions

...etc

Cross-Industry

Competition

...etc...etc


What? Select and focus on valuable topicsWhy? What? How?

L

H

2. Complexity

1. Impact

3 2

4 1

HL

Trivia Hobby

Quick

Win

Big

Challenge

*Cited from Guenole et al., (2017) The Power of People, p129 “Fig 9.1 The Complexity-Impact Matrix for workforce analytics projects”

Depends on “Why” story• Does it lead to solving

HR/Organizational problems?

resulting in business value?

• How much is the opportunity cost?

Depends on “How” situation/tactics• Is data available? Is it accurate/credible?

• What analytical methods are needed?

Are these methods manageable for us?

• Is it actionable? Resolvable?

x 3. Data Ethics

• Be aware of the sensitivity that HR data

and its analysis can have

• Familiarize with local guidelines (Transparency, Equity, Accountability etc.)

• “Newspaper test” is also recommended


What? (Ref) Top 10 analytics requests from CXOsWhy? What? How?

# Top 10 analytics requests from the C-suite Fast Growing

1 Team Performance Driver: Why is one team high-performing and another struggling?

2 Key Engagement Driver: What are the key drivers of engagement in our organization?

3 Pay Equity: To what extent are there pay inequities by gender and race/ethnicity?

4 Aging Workforce: How do different retirement options impact older workers’ behaviour?

5 Total Rewards: How are our total rewards programs being utilized by our employees?

6 Turnover Prediction: Who is likely to leave in the next 6-12 months?

7 Healthcare cost: How can data-driven insights help us understand and better manage healthcare spend globally?

8 Turnover Prediction (Critical Talent): When is our critical talent likely to retire?

9 Retention Analysis: Which profile of candidates tends to stay longer?

10 Promotion Equity: Which populations (e.g., women, minorities) are failing to progress within the organization?

*Source: Mercer’s 2020 – 2021 Global Talent Trends Study

16


Case Studies


Case study 1: Identifying key drivers of employee engagement

Context

• Retention issues were arising among young ~

middle aged “high potentials”

• The organization decided to listen to

employees’ voice to improve their next HRM

reformation plan

Actions & Analysis

• Introduce custom engagement survey

• Regression analysis (+ text analysis from free

answer items) to better understand key issues

Results and Implications

• Identified key engagement drivers

• Critical issues were further examined in 50+

individual interviews (this is also for engaging

key talents in the change process)

• Designed new HRM that focused on perf.

appraisal and broader career opportunities.

Impact on

Engagement

Satisfaction

Career

Opportunity

Performance

Appraisal

Senior Leadership

Relationship with

mine Managers

Job/Assignment

“Higher Impact” on Employee Engagement

and “less satisfaction” among employees

Priorities for HR interventions?

Work-life Balance

Strategic Focus

* Source: Mercer’s experience (simplified and modified to keep confidentiality)


Case Study 2: Evaluate performance management system

Context

• While the organization intended to build high-

performance culture, executive interviews and

Focus Group interviews found prevailing

perceptions that performance management

system (PMS) was biased and not aligned with

their HR strategy.

Actions & Analysis

• Regression analysis to identify the promotion

drivers by org units.

Results and Implications

• Individual Perf. rating was the most prominent

promotion driver. However, “Tenure” and “Team

rating” were also significantly linked to promotion

decisions in some units.

• New PMS system and its operation guidelines

clarified more focus on individual performance.

Corporate

Unit

Product

Dev & Mgmt

Unit

Services

Unit

Corp Gov. &

Cyber Security

Unit

Perf. Rating

Grade Tenure

Team Rating

Manager Tenure

Perf. Rating

Grade Tenure

Team Rating

Manager Tenure

Perf. Rating

Grade Tenure

Team Rating

Manager Tenure

Perf. Rating

Grade Tenure

Team Rating

Manager Tenure

(n.s.)

(n.s.)

(n.s.)

(n.s.)

(n.s.)

Unit Drivers Estimated Effect on Promotion

Seniority-based

promotion, rather

than merit-based?

* Source: Mercer’s experience (simplified and modified to keep confidentiality)


Recap – Key Messages

• Don’t start with “How” to do People Analytics.

• Start with asking “Why” and “What” does your

organization need to analyze, for a better HRM

strategy.


Questions / Comments?

Questions? Comments? Share your

Experience!


Thank your for your

participation!

Delivering business value through people

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