Should the People Analytics Function Report into HR or Enterprise Analytics?
People Analytics need to move outside of core HR teams and join the wider strategic/operations functions of a firm
Throughout our course, we have analyzed and debated the relative merits of all sorts of data gathering, analyses, and use cases, but we haven’t thought about where such people analytics people sit. This article raises the interesting tension, one at the heart of many organizational transformations, between whether to have a focused team near the problem (internal HR strategy/change) or have functional experts that are part of a larger team above the problem (general strategy/change). While the article lays out compelling reasons why a CHRO would want to keep their People Analytics leads close, I believe strongly that such People Analytics leaders need to be part of the broad decision-making machinations inside a large organization. People Analytics, if an appendage of the existing HR function, can become a novelty that produces some fun data and cool charts to tack onto HR presentations that other departments and leaders breeze through. People Analytics, if a part of the broader strategic thinking and analysis within a company, can drive systemic decisions, harnessing the power of people to improve efficiencies, drive growth, and bolster the bottom line. Through formal and informal means, these People Analytics leads can remain connected to the HR org, they mustn’t be marooned by their HR compatriots, which can further help inject HR thinking and feedback into the wider strategic planning and operations of the organization. I think where such situations can falter is when one side feels unheard and unaligned, so keeping such feedback loops and amical professional connections between the HR People Analytics leads on the general strategy team and the actual people in HR are essential.
We have seen time and time again when HR has been sidelined in strategic decision-making because of ingrained biases against its “softness” or “subjectiveness.” Such biases are best overcome by the integration of people analytics with core business operations rather than dueling PowerPoints from the Ops folks and the HR folks. By integrating, we share thinking, we co-create, and we arrive at, from the beginning, a shared vision that allows for a more holistic kind of business thinking. As this more advanced, complex thinking develops through the cross-pollination of HR and Strategy/Ops/Finance co-conspirators, so too does the respect one group has for the other and vice versa. People Analytics is a new chapter in the book of HR, one that allows for more objective and meaningful discussions about the efficacy and uses of employees inside a company. However, for that chapter to really mean something, it has to be read, to be shared. And that will best happen by taking People Analytics to the broader teams of the org and integrating all of these disparate thinkers and disciplines together into the cross-functional and adaptive teams that make the best organizations thrive.
