Can People Analytics Truly Empower Talent? Wednesday Wisdom With HubSpot’s Vincent Greco

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

I’ve seen several people analytics teams move to a product design approach where analytics are done in two-week sprint cycles, with business stakeholders providing feedback throughout the process. This allows teams to generate insights quickly and can pivot based on stakeholder feedback.

Vincent Greco, head of people analytics at HubSpot talks about his experience as a people data strategistOpens a new window . He is responsible for designing and scaling design thinking, machine learning, and survey design at HubSpot.   

In this week’s #WednesdayWisdom, Vincent shares how HubSpot’s “evidence-based decision-making” model inspires talent leaders across the company to be innovative. He throws light on why gaining a deep understanding of people data is more essential than ever. Find out which people leader inspires him the most and get amazing book recommendations on people analyticsOpens a new window .

The highlights of Vincent’s Wednesday Wisdom message are:

  • New people analytics teams sometimes fail to see the business value.
  • Connect people data and insights to business metrics.
  • Emphasize evidence-based decision-making across all of HR.

Here’s the edited transcript from our exclusive Wednesday Wisdom chat with HubSpot’s Vincent Greco: 

Vincent, tell us, what are the 3 most common challenges organizations face when it comes to choosing, deploying or adopting workforce analytics?

First, many organizations struggle with where to start. I’ve seen some companies spend too much time at the onset optimizing their data systems. Data integrity is important, but there needs to be a healthy balance between improving data systems and finding ways to drive immediate value and insights for the broader business.

My advice for those new to this space is to focus first on gaining a deep understanding of the people data that you currently have and use this as a jumping-off point to ask good research questions. Over time you can iteratively improve on data quality and bring in new data sources, but don’t rush to do this immediately.

Secondly, I think many organizations struggle to ask “good” questions when it comes to workforce analytics. By “good” I mean posing research questions that have strong business relevance and can be rigorously tested by formulating hypotheses and assessing with data. Newer people analytics teams often struggle with effectively tying their research directly to business value. I always tell my team that the business question should drive our research projects, not the other way around.

Third, I’ve seen companies struggle to use workforce analytics in a way that keeps pace with the broader business. Long-tailed workforce analytics projects often do not generate insights fast enough for the business. I’ve seen several people analytics teams move to a product design approach where analytics are done in two-week sprint cycles, with business stakeholders providing feedback throughout the process. This allows teams to generate insights quickly and can pivot based on stakeholder feedback.

Learn More: 3 People Analytics Trends to Watch Out for in 2019Opens a new window

Which are the top three people analytics best practices you wish was more widely followed?

One thing that I would like to see adopted more broadly is an emphasis on evidence-based decision-making across all of HR. In people analytics, we think carefully about measurement and attribution for every program, policy, or process we evaluate. To that end, I’d like to see to all teams within HR focus more on:

  • Proactively designing a measurement strategy prior to rolling out a new program or initiative and
  • When possible, lean into the smaller-scale test and learn pilots to more effectively assess ROI (and possible improvements) prior to making company-wide changes.

Secondly, folks in people analytics tend to do a great job building empathy for stakeholders and working cross-functionally to design and implement solutions. This often requires a deep understanding of how the business works and how to connect people data and insights to business metrics. To help build these skills, our team uses an embedded model where each of our analysts does a rotation in each of our main business functions. This helps ensure that they have the right context to understand and help the business function achieve their goals/objectives.

Finally, I think the most successful people analytics teams have made experimentation a core feature of their workflow. Designing test and learn studies and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) allows teams to move quickly and optimize on the things that work and abandon things that don’t. In my experience, people analytics teams have been at the forefront in driving these methodologies within HR, helping HR become nimbler and more strategic with where to invest resources.

Learn More: Is People Analytics the Future of HR Analytics? Q&A with Ankur Modi of StatusTodayOpens a new window

Who is one people leader you follow closely? What’s one of their qualities that inspires you the most?

There are a ton of smart folks in this space. My former colleague, Ray Yang, VP of Talent Analytics at Liberty Mutual, has had a profound impact on my professional life.

For an analytics leader, Ray never got caught up in fanciness of analytics and instead always pushed us to think about the implementation of analytical insights. To this day, his perspective continues to resonate with me and has helped guide our own people analytics team at HubSpot as we scale, and we start to make hard decisions on where to focus our energy.

Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far on people analytics.

Work Rules!Opens a new window by Laszlo Bock is foundational for anyone interested in people analytics but I’ll mention two others that are maybe a bit less familiar. For those interested in learning more about a test and learn mindset, prototyping, and MVPs, I highly recommend The Innovator’s HypothesisOpens a new window by Michal Schrage. This book will give you and your team several helpful tools and frameworks for how to leverage analytics in an agile way.

Secondly, if you want a better understanding of the economics of HR, Edward Lazear’s Personnel Economics is a fantastic resource. This book is a bit more academic in nature but is immensely helpful in providing formal economic logic to many of the core responsibilities of HR (hiring, learning and development, promotions, retention, and more).

About HubSpotOpens a new window :

HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) is a leading growth platform. Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 68,800 total customers in more than 100 countries use HubSpot’s award-winning software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. Comprised of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, and a powerful free CRM, HubSpot gives companies the tools they need to Grow Better.

It’s the middle of the week! This means, motivation is about to hit rock bottom and inspiration needs to be summoned. That’s why, ‘Wednesday Wisdom’Opens a new window is a candid Q&A weekly series. It offers insights to talent and people managers on the most effective tactics to get through the week.

Do you have any Wednesday Wisdom on the future of people analytics? Let us know on TwitterOpens a new window Facebook Opens a new window and LinkedInOpens a new window , using the tag #WednesdayWisdom.

Neha Pradhan
Neha Pradhan

Editor (Interviews), Ziff Davis B2B

Neha Pradhan is the Interviews Editor for HR Technologist. She manages the HRTalk Interviews Series, where she discusses HRTech trends with industry leaders and writes in-depth HRTech features. Neha has over 6 years of work experience in digital advertising, journalism, and communications. When she is not reading or writing, Neha finds solace in traveling to new places, interacting with new people and engaging in debates.    
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