How People Results helps HR teams build data-driven insights

Data-driven insights can transform the way HR operates, but many companies struggle to understand how to effectively deploy this data in a way that can lead to tangible results for employees.

“A lot of people get overwhelmed with the amount of data they have,” says Dr. Fiona Jamison, Vice President of Research and People Analytics at People Results. 

The management and labour consulting firm works with organisations such as the USTA to move away from what Fiona refers to as “gut-based decision-making” and towards more evidence-based people strategies. 

“A big part of our work is ensuring the data we collect is translated into data storytelling, so that clients can make progress towards taking action” she says.

A decision-making accelerator 

According to Fiona, consultants at People Results work side-by-side with the company’s clients to deliver solutions tailored to their individual workforce needs. To achieve this, she says the company traits data as a “decision-making accelerator,” rather than an endpoint. 

This involves developing listening ecosystems and asking the right questions so clients can gather information from different areas of their workforce to better understand the employee experience – which it used to help audit and enhance the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) DEI initiatives.

People Results first started working with the USTA “several years ago,” says Fiona. “Leadership came to us, and they were very committed to improving the employee experience. 

“They wanted to understand, with more precision, what they were doing well in terms of employee experience and where there were opportunities for improvement.”

To achieve this, the company partnered with the USTA to design and implement targeted employee engagement surveys for different areas of the organisation. These surveys asked employees about their experiences at the company to understand what they valued. 

“Creating that survey framework allowed us to start beginning to measure the experience that employees were having, and developed a shared language and structure for action for the USTA,” says Fiona “It enabled them to talk about the employee experience in a digestible way, which makes it easier to consume specific employee data and insights.”

Over time, Fiona says, this approach has allowed the USTA to move towards better utilising data-driven insights in its people strategy. 

“That's really part of the role we play with the USTA and other clients,” says Fiona. “How do we take the information you have and really use it for decision making?”

Working under operational pressure

“A lot of our clients are coming to us when they’re going thrwough major change,” says Fiona. “This may be a company experiencing growth, implementing a new system, or a company that is having labour issues or external scrutiny. I think that’s exactly when employee listening matters the most.”

For Fiona, working under operational pressure means helping to reduce the burden on internal HR teams as much as possible. 

“They need to be focusing on their employees, responding to comments and taking action,” says Fiona. “We’re really taking a lot of the heavy lifting off of them in terms of gathering data, analysing it, creating the insights and delivering reports and insights for them as they make decisions. Our role is really to take that off their hands, so they can focus on more of the employee-facing decisions.”