Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Google HR Analytics

Ref link at TLNT-
http://www.tlnt.com/2013/02/26/how-google-is-using-people-analytics-to-completely-reinvent-hr/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tlnt+%28TLNT%3A+The+Business+of+HR%29

Dr. John Sullivan is a well-known teacher, author, and HR thought leader.

Below is his article published on Feb 26, 2013 in TLNT.

I have written my responses from my experience of being in Human Resources functions with Indian large companies, to MNCs and start-ups.


On average, each employee generates nearly $1 million in revenue and $200,000 in profit each year

How does the Google approach reinvent HR?

HR at Google is dramatically different from the hundreds of other HR functions that I have researched and worked with. To start with, at Google it’s not called human resources; instead, the function is called “people operations.” The VP and HR leader Laszlo Bock has justifiably learned to demand data-based decisions everywhere.

People management decisions at Google are guided by the powerful “people analytics team.” Two key quotes from the team highlight their goals:

“All people decisions at Google are based on data and analytics.”
The goal is to … “bring the same level of rigor to people-decisions that we do to engineering decisions.”
Google is replacing the 20th century subjective decision-making approach in HR. Although it calls its approach “people analytics,” it can alternatively be called “data-based decision-making,” “algorithm based decision-making,” or “fact or evidence-based decision-making.”

“Top 10” of Google’s past and current people management practices to highlight its data-driven approach:

1. Leadership characteristics and the role of managers –Its “project oxygen” research analyzed reams of internal data and determined that great managers are essential for top performance and retention. It further identified the eight characteristics of great leaders. The data proved that rather than superior technical knowledge, periodic one-on-one coaching which included expressing interest in the employee and frequent personalized feedback ranked as the No. 1 key to being a successful leader. Managers are rated twice a year by their employees on their performance on the eight factors.

2. The PiLab — Google’s PiLab is a unique subgroup that no other firm has. It conducts applied experiments within Google to determine the most effective approaches for managing people and maintaining a productive environment (including the type of reward that makes employees the happiest). The lab even improved employee health by reducing the calorie intake of its employees at their eating facilities by relying on scientific data and experiments (by simply reducing the size of the plates).

MK- THIS IS WHAT THEY DO IN RESTAURANTS AT "BUFFET COUNTERS" BUT FOR A DIFFERENT REASON OF SAVING ON CONSUMPTION AND PROBABLY WASTAGE AND SO COST.
IN A COMPANY I WORKED, A SMART BUSINESS CONSULTANT DOING, AT A MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FIRM WAS THAT HE USED, 'SURVEY MONKEY' SURVEY AND PRESENTED SLIDES, WHERE WE KNEW THAT IT WAS "ROTI KA INTEKAAAM". EVERYONE WANTED ROTI. SO, THE MESSAGE IS, WHO IS DOING YOUR ANALYTICS?
ANALYTICS IN NOT MIS.

3. A retention algorithm — Google developed a mathematical algorithm to proactively and successfully predict which employees are most likely to become a retention problem. This approach allows management to act before it’s too late and it further allows retention solutions to be personalized.

MK- ROOT CAUSE HAS TO BE ADDRESSED ONCE PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS THROW FORECAST. AS PROJECTIONS CAN BE DRAWN ON BASED ASSUMPTIONS AND DATA EVIDENCED.

4. Predictive modeling – People management is forward looking at Google. As a result, it develops predictive models and use “what if” analysis to continually improve their forecasts of upcoming people management problems and opportunities. It also uses analytics to produce more effective workforce planning, which is essential in a rapidly growing and changing firm.

MK- EXCELLENT IDEA OF "WHAT-IF" ANALYSIS.

5. Improving diversity – Unlike most firms, analytics are used at Google to solve diversity problems. As a result, the people analytics team conducted analysis to identify the root causes of weak diversity recruiting, retention, and promotions (especially among women engineers). The results that it produced in hiring, retention, and promotion were dramatic and measurable.

MK-GREAT IDEA BUT DIVERSITY CAN BE STRENGTHENED NOT AT THE COST OF QUALITY OF HIRE. YOU SAID 300 TIMES IS THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE! MEDIOCRITY BREEDS MEDIOCRITY.

6. An effective hiring algorithm – One of the few firms to approach recruiting scientifically, Google developed an algorithm for predicting which candidates had the highest probability of succeeding after they are hired. Its research also determined that little value was added beyond four interviews, dramatically shortening time to hire. Google is also unique in its strategic approach to hiring because its hiring decisions are made by a group in order to prevent individual hiring managers from hiring people for their own short-term needs. Under “Project Janus,” it developed an algorithm for each large job family that analyzed rejected resumes to identify any top candidates who they might have missed. They found that they had only a 1.5% miss rate, and as a result they hired some of the revisited candidates.

7. Calculating the value of top performers – Google executives have calculated the performance differential between an exceptional technologist and an average one (as much as 300 times higher).

MK- NOT SURE IT IS 300 TIMES HIGHER OR 300% HIGHER. 300 TIMES HIGHER WOULD MEAN, THIS GREAT GUY DID WORK OF 1 YEAR IN I DAY OR DID 300 YEARS OF WORK IN 1 YEAR AND THEREFORE ADDED $300 MN, WHILE AVERAGE GUY ADDED $1 MN. IN A YEAR'S TIME. RIGHT?

Proving the value of top performers convinces executives to provide the resources necessary to hire, retain, and develop extraordinary talent. Google’s best-kept secret is that people operations professionals make the best “business case” of any firm in any industry, which is the primary reason why they receive such extraordinary executive support.

8. Workplace design drives collaboration – Google has an extraordinary focus on increasing collaboration between employees from different functions. It has found that increased innovation comes from a combination of three factors: discovery (i.e. learning), collaboration, and fun. It consciously designs its workplaces to maximize learning, fun, and collaboration (it even tracks the time spent by employees in the cafĂ© lines to maximize collaboration). Managing “fun” may seem superfluous to some, but the data indicates that it is a major factor in attraction, retention, and collaboration.

MK-GREAT IDEA. LOOKS LIKE LEVERAGING COLLABORATION BY ENGAGING IN "FUN"

9. Increasing discovery and learning – Rather than focusing on traditional classroom learning, the emphasis is on hands-on learning (the vast majority of people learn through on the job learning). Google has increased discovery and learning through project rotations, learning from failures, and even through inviting people like Al Gore and Lady Gaga to speak to their employees. Clearly self-directed continuous learning and the ability to adapt are key employee competencies at Google.

MK-DISCOVERY, LEARNING AND FUN!

10. It doesn’t dictate; it convinces with data — The final key to Google’s people analytics team’s success occurs not during the analysis phase, but instead when it present its final proposals to executives and managers. Rather than demanding or forcing managers to accept its approach, it instead acts as internal consultants and influences people to change based on the powerful data and the action recommendations that they present. Because its  audiences are highly analytical (as most executives are), it uses data to change preset opinions and to influence

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