Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation

We started small, we started like a start-up...

People Analytics is the fastest growing part of HR and prior to the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic was named by HR practitioners themselves as one of four trends most likely to impact on how organisations hire, develop and retain their workforces in 2020.

During the crisis, People Analytics has been further elevated as companies strive for insights and data to drive employee safety and wellbeing, understand the impact of remote work and create their return to workplace plans.

Many practitioners and leaders in the People Analytics space have no previous experience of working in HR.

My guest on this week’s episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast is Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui, and when she took on the challenge of setting up the People Analytics function at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2017, Sophie had a background in Finance and Operations but not HR.

Sophie quickly established that in a humanitarian organisation, the key people-related requirement is to ensure the right people are on the ground at the right time to support the ICRC’s critical humanitarian work in conflict zones.

The three-year journey of building People Analytics at ICRC that Sophie relays in our discussion is fascinating, and as well as providing a perspective on the unique nature of conducting this work in a humanitarian organisation, Sophie provides some good tips for organisations with small people analytics teams in areas such as focus, partnership and communication.

You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.

In our conversation, Sophie and I discuss:

• How she set up the people analytics function, identified priorities and delivered the first use cases ("The first step was to democratise the data, so data was available for HR teams to make people decisions"
• How the team evolved and developed its skills over the three years Sophie was at the helm ("When you have a small team, you need to have someone who can build dashboards and do some statistical analysis. You also need someone to be the salesperson: to promote, to communicate, to influence and manage the stakeholders, to have the vision"
• How delivering value to the organisation supported the growth of the People Analytics team at ICRC ("You are not going to get additional headcount or budget for People Analytics, unless you have demonstrated value")
• The People Analytics Portal, Sophie and her team developed at ICRC "for all Employees, Managers, HR Practitioners that really shows and describes what is People Analytics and why it is really important."
• Tips for other people analytics leaders who run small teams ("When you are a small team it is not always easy (to manage the number of requests), so you need to learn how to prioritise."
• The steps Sophie took to help upskill the wider HR community at ICRC ("Focus on the early adopters, focus on the champions and people were eager to use data to take informed decisions. So we started with them and actually they became very good promoters.")
• Why analysts and data scientists should work in People Analytics ("My mission is to improve the employee experience through data and I think it really makes a difference as a People Analytics practitioner because you are having an impact on people's lives in the workplace")
• How her experience in people analytics is supporting her in her new role as HR Partner for the Near and Middle East region at ICRC

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in how to set up and develop a people analytics team and the unique challenges involved in leading a small analytics team in a humanitarian organisation – so CHROs, senior HR leaders, and anyone in a People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

For us in the humanitarian sector, what matters most is to make sure that we have the right people in the right place and you can't do that without proper Workforce Planning in place, and you can't do it without a proper People Analytics function in place.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my discussion with Sophie, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation.

WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics Sophie and I covered in our conversation.

GET INVOLVED

If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

1. Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
2. Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU

A huge thank you to Sophie for such an insightful and rewarding conversation and for sharing her time and knowledge. You can connect with Sophie on LinkedIn, and also check out the preview of Sophie's course on myHRfuture by watching her explain the key advantages of building an agile workforce planning process.

Thanks also to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa, Caroline Styr and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.

CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

• Summer Special #4: Dan Cable - How to help people love what they do at work
• Summer Special #3: Torin Ellis - What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations?
• Summer Special #2: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic - What is the role of leadership in times of crisis?
• Summer Special #1: Amy Edmondson - How to create Psychological Safety at work
• EP 40: David Green - How can People Analytics drive business value?
• EP 39: Jeremy Shapiro - How People Analytics has progressed in the last ten years
• EP 38: Heather McGowan - How Covid-19 is accelerating the Future of Work
• EP 37: Thomas Rasmussen - How National Australia Bank has scaled People Analytics
• EP 36: Ravin Jesuthasan - Six imperatives for HR in the Future of Work
• BONUS EPISODE: Amit Mohindra & Dawn Klinghoffer - What is the future of People Analytics?
• EP 35: Peter Hinssen - What is the role of HR in driving and enabling innovation?
• EP 34: Bruce Daisley - What do business leaders want from HR?
• EP 33: Dirk Jonker - Why People Analytics needs to behave like a start-up
• EP 32: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic - The role of storytelling in People Analytics and Data Visualisation
• EP 31: Piyush Mathur - How Johnson & Johnson uses People Analytics to drive business outcomes
• BONUS EPISODE - Heather Whiteman, RJ Milnor & Ian Bailie (Live at PAFOW) - How to develop the HR skills of the future
• EP 30: Katy Gray - How Arup uses reward data to drive behavioural change
• EP 29: Uri Ort - What is the future of talent assessment?
• EP 28: Zara Nanu - The role of People Analytics in Gender Pay Analysis
• EP 27: Julia Shaw - How can technology reduce bias in the workplace
• EP 26: Stela Lupushor - How HR can be a Catalyst for Change
• BONUS EPISODE: Volker Jacobs - How to scale Employee Experience
• EP 25: Julie Digby - How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
• EP 24: RJ Milnor - How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
• EP 23: Rupert Morrison - Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
• EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer - The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
• EP 21: John Boudreau - Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
• EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami - How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
• EP 19: Anna Tavis: What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
• EP 18: Sarah Johnson: How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
• EP 17: Leena Nair - How HR drives business value at Unilever
• EP 16: Keith McNulty - HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
• EP 15: Jason Corsello - The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
• EP 14: Jill Larsen - How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
• EP 13: Frida Polli - How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
• EP 12: Ian O'Keefe - The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
• EP 11: Dave Ulrich - The role of HR in the Digital Age
• EP 10: Jordan Pettman - How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
• EP 9: Catalina Schveninger - The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
• EP 8: Richard Collins - How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
• EP 7: Katarina Berg - Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
• EP 6: Nick Holley - How HR can become more business relevant 
• EP 5: Eden Britt - How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC 
• EP 4: Yvette Cameron - How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology 
• EP 3: Didier Elzinga - How to Create a Culture First Company 
• EP 2: Edward Houghton - The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data 
• EP 1: Sharon Doherty - How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast on myHRfuture.