Simple and effective workforce analytics

The amount of commentary around HR analytics continues to grow, but in my view, a lot of it is misleading.  There's also a real lack of good case studies.  I've written about this in a post on Workstars's blog where I've also suggested that social recognition systems provide a great way into HR analytics too.

Workstars is a sponsor of my Strategic HCM blog and so you've hopefully been reading about them here already.  But in brief:

Workstars' mission is to make your business a better place to work, and crucially, get your business working better.  

Workstars are innovating beyond the very tired, self serving $47 billion reward industry. We are focussed on the future, and the future of employee recognition is social. 

A true cloud based business that wraps people services around the market leading employee recognition application, where every line of code is shared by every client, very large or very small. 

The first global SME and Enterprise provider to master a free to launch model. Our significant application investment continues to expand our business. We work with HR and when it comes to employee recognition, we are a plug and play innovator. 

Workstars bring enterprise level infrastructure and thinking, designed to make managers great and boost engagement across any business.

Also see:

• The benefits of employee voice at work

• The art and science of workplace communication

• Humanising HR using digital technology

• Core values - moving from laminated to lived

• Moving from reward to recognition

BBC World interview on Equal Pay

I've been back on BBC World talking about the gender pay gap and equal pay.

The context was Equal Pay Day, set up 20 years ago by Bill Clinton, and Hillary's support for its continuation in Glassdoor's panel event.

I talked about Glassdoor's economic research confirming that there is a real gender pay gap, but that most of this is explained (or as Hillary suggested, explainable but not justificable) ie that we need to find a way to ensure that society doesn't divert women away from high paid to low paid jobs and get in the way of their progression.  I think it might even be deeper than this ie that some of the high paying jobs are only high paying because they relate to the sort of activities which men tend to value.  In a fairer world, jobs based on caring, service and education might be better paid, and those in casino banking a bit less.  That's not to say more women wouldn't benefit and be engaged from finding jobs in STEM, technology and other areas, but I do think the jobs that women currently tend to take deserve being more highly valued too.

However about a third of the gap can't be explained like this, is a result of real unequal pay, and more direct bias, conscious or unconscious, within the workplace.  The results matter because Glassdoor has used the actual salaries entered by people in its site, so this is a much more granular and therefore accurate analysis than we've ever had before.

I enjoyed the interview though I was a bit disappointed in not finding an opportunity to talk about pay transparency particularly as I followed on from discussion around Bob Dudley's rather obscene pay levels, tax avoidance, corporate greed and an interview with Dr Kim at the World Bank noting that transparency isn't going to go away.  Glassdoor's findings show that employees believe this will be an important means to move towards equality.

I also regretted not being able to get to see Iris Bohnet speak at the LSE as she also covers a lot of great research around gender equality.  Did you know for instance that politically correct language helps both men and women in a team to perform.  That's one reason why Isabel Hardman was right to call out the UK MP who called her the totty.

I also think Bohnet's ideas about nudging organisations to reduce the impact of bias are very sound eg women are more likely to give a good speech if they see a picture of Hillary rather than Bill Clinton, and are less likely to go into computing if this is promoted through pictures of Luke Skywalker.  I'm not sure how Princess Leia relates.

You may also be interested in some of my other BBC interviews for Glassdoor, eg:

• Best country in Europe to get a job
  

• Zero hour contracts (interview on BBC Breakfast)

• The gender pay gap (interview on BBC Radio 4 Today programme) and Gender pay gap in bonuses (interview on BBC News Channel)

• Pay transparency - on Glassdoor and in your organisation too

• Why men won't ask for Shared Parental Leave (interview on Sky Breakfast)

For further details or support, get in touch:

• Consulting   Research  Speaking  Training  Writing 
• Strategy  - Talent - Engagement  - Change and OD   
• Contact me to create more value for your business  
• jon [dot] ingham [at] strategic [dash] hcm [dot] com

#EqualPayDay - David Cameron's tax returns and broader pay transparency

I'm booked on BBC World on Thursday evening (their Behind the Headlines feature at around 8.00pm BST) to talk about pay transparency.

When the interview was booked I wasn't sure how topical the agenda would be - and then wham! - Panama happened, David Cameron fudged and then published his tax returns, and suddenly it's a top of the headlines news item with many commentators asking how far the new expectation for transparency will go.

This is in the UK at least so of course it's a shame that BBC World isn't available here, but I'm sure the same type of pressures are building outside of the UK as well.  Because it's not just about Panama, it's just a signal of the new digital age.  In today's world why shouldn't we expect tax, pay etc to be shared openly and transparently when so much else is.

Plus this would be a huge enabler for better practice.  For example Glassdoor Economic Research's new survey has found that both men and women believe greater pay transparency would be one important factor in reducing the gender pay gap.

It's why it's also interesting to see Glassdoor running the equal pay roundtable with Hillary Clinton and others today.  If you're free do join in for this at 2.30pm BST today - it should be a great conversation.

Press Release

Fact Sheet: Glassdoor Gender Pay Gap Research + Salary Surveys

Event Landing Page

Reward Transformation or Timid Tinkering?

I've previously shared some of my ideas on the opportunities for innovating reward, pulled from the ATD Handbook on Talent Management.  Here's why we need this innovation: 

The emergence of talent development as a new, more evolved form of training and development reinforces the scale of transformation that has been underway within this area of talent management.

New insights from neuroscience and behavioural economics and new technologies including social, mobile and cloud are just some of the drivers leading to a new focus on creating an environment in which talent can develop.

Looking back at the focus on delivering training ten or even five years ago and comparing this to the type of activities talent developers will be undertaking in another ten years time (learning app designer, content curator,  community manager etc) it is clear this has been a revolution, not just an iterative improvement.

Other areas of talent management reviewed within this book have been through similar levels of change.

Recruitment / talent acquisition is probably the most obvious example and the shift in focus from recruitment advertising to sourcing, employer branding and external talent communities has been just as radical as the change in the talent development space.

But most other areas have or are now seeing a similarly transformational scale of change.

But what about reward (meaning the topic and activity relating to compensating and engaging people through monetary and other exchanges)?

Well, although there is a lot of talk about the new pay, as yet, there is not that much difference between the new and the old!

(I like this World at Work article on the New New Pay too.)

Also see:

• Social reward

• Social recognition

• Personalised reward

• Reward gamification

• Pay transparency

• Pay ratios

For more information:

• Consulting   Research  Speaking  Training  Writing 
• Strategy  - Talent - Engagement  - Change and OD   
• Contact me to create more value for your business  
• jon [dot] ingham [at] strategic [dash] hcm [dot] com