Given that people costs make up the largest chunk of the operating expenses for a typical organization, getting the workforce plan right is fundamental to good corporate fiscal health. Yet most finance departments still develop budgets for people the same…
Ian Cook
Ian Cook
Turnover is Contagious. Here’s How to Spot It and Stop It
The deadly 2002-2003 SARS outbreak remained an epidemiological mystery for over a decade. The source of the disease — which killed 774 people worldwide — was unknown, and there was no vaccine. Finally, in late 2017, a team of Chinese scientists traced…
Need C-Suite Buy In? Here’s How to Get It
Imagine a world where every great HR initiative gets properly funded: Retention programs are fully backed by the C-suite, recruitment snafus are nipped in the bud before they become big problems, and even the CFO meets employee engagement initiatives with near-giddy enthusiasm. Sound like…
6 Steps for Making Smart Decisions With Wearables Data
Several years ago, data gathered from sociometric badges (wearable devices equipped with sensors) revealed something interesting about the Bank of America’s call center employees: Those with the fastest “average call handling time” were also the most social. The company then…
5 Steps for Linking Employee Engagement to Business Outcomes
When it comes to employee engagement surveys, you don’t always get what you pay for. Consider this: Many years ago, a municipal organization I worked with in a previous role spent $150,000 on an employee engagement survey. The results were…
You Need Analytics to Know If Your L&D Program Is Making A Difference
Learning is a key part of work, and there’s strong evidence to believe it will continue to be vital in the workplace of the future. Without strong learning and development (L&D) programs employees may have a harder time being productive, moving…
Here’s How to Evaluate Manager Effectiveness
As global markets push businesses to become more agile and responsive, it’s tempting to predict that management roles will virtually disappear from progressive companies. But even Holacracy (a self-management structure made famous by online shoe retailer Zappos) has some hierarchy: Instead of “managers,”…
How To Use Cohort Analysis for Better Workforce Decisions
Talking compensation and promotions with your employees can be a tricky business, yet many managers make these costly (and sometimes time-sensitive) people decisions based on hallway conversations and gut feel. Intuition — a mental “shortcut” — is the result of…
Improve Your Recruiting By Knowing What Your ATS Knows
According to a Boston Consulting Group study, the ability to deliver on recruiting has a larger impact on revenue growth than all other HR areas, including onboarding and retaining new hires, managing talent, and developing leadership. Yet despite the importance…
5 Challenges to Getting Your HRMS Do Real Analytics
Leaders across the organization recognize that making workforce decisions based on facts and data — instead of intuition alone — is a key route to increasing their impact on the business. Now, more than ever, business leaders need strategic insight and…