February 5, 2025 • 21 mins
Implementing an effective DEI strategy relies on a deep understanding of your organization’s current position, the required steps for progress, and a reliable method for ongoing DEI metrics measurement. In this HRchat episode, we discuss why the numbers should determine leadership direction. In light of recent changes, we also consider if now is the time to double down on demonstrating the need for the DEI data.
Bill's guest this time is Kristen Boyle, VP of Marketing at PeopleInsight by HireRoad, a leading people analytics solution. Kristen, joined the PeopleInsight by HireRoad team in January 2024 after serving as VP of Marketing at PandoLogic, B2B marketing lead for Amazon Ads, and climbing the marketing ranks at Indeed and Nielsen during peak growth periods. Kristen is a marketing strategist with a passion for insights-driven storytelling and leads the mission of telling HireRoad’s impressive story of growth and innovation.
Questions
- PeopleInsight by HireRoad has seen big changes at the leadership level over the past 18 months. What are some of the challenges and opportunities that come with a fresh leadership team?
- You believe that "a data-driven strategy is no longer optional... Anyone who is in the throes of year-end reporting knows what I'm talking about". What did you mean by that?
- In light of recent political decisions and the broader pullback on DEI efforts across industries, the urgency to back DEI initiatives with data has perhaps never been more critical. Why is NOT collecting (specifically) DEI data no longer an option? Can you share some ways PeopleInsight provides the DEI data that can correctly inform business decisions?
- What are some of the primary challenges your team has seen HR professionals face when adopting data-driven decision-making (and how does PeopleInsight help address them)?
- Why did HireRoad decide to publish The State of People Analytics 2025, and what do you hope readers will take away from it?
- The ebook mentions that only 22% of organizations rate their people analytics as “very effective.” What advice from the ebook would you offer to companies aiming to build a more robust data-driven HR function?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom and visithrgazettecom.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Kristen, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the
HR Chat Show today.
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I'm good, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Thank you very much for being my guest.
So, beyond my wee introductionjust a moment ago, why don't you
start by taking a minute or twointroducing yourself to our
audience, telling them aboutyour career journey and, of
course, your role over at HighRoad?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I really started at some of thebigger players, the industry
giants Nielsen, amazon, indeed.
I very much have a love for HR,hr audiences, hr technology and
just all of the innovationsthere, so it's always been
pulling me back and I really, atthose bigger players, learned
(01:09):
the foundations of marketing andof business and of SaaS model,
so I've taken a lot of that.
I have since become head ofmarketing at PandaLogic, which
is programmatic recruitmentadvertising, and most recently,
higher Road, Been here for alittle over a year and it's been
a really amazing journey.
(01:30):
I lead the marketing team andwe're just focused on building
our brand and driving growth inthe HR market.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Okay, very good.
So when I was doing my homeworkahead of our call today, I was
all over your LinkedIn and we'llhave questions later on about
some of your recent socialshares and I was also looking at
the Higher Road website andlooking at the leadership team
and it struck me that you allquite knew.
(02:00):
In fact, Higher Road has seensome big changes at the
leadership level over the pastyear, 18 months.
What are some of the challengesand some of the opportunities
that come with having a freshleadership team?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yes, it really is a new team.
I'd say yeah, 18 months isaccurate really starting with
John Fetterman, our CEO, whojoined in 2023.
John Fetterman, our CEO, whojoined in 2023.
He has a lot of experienceleading and growing businesses
as a CEO, but he had never cometo HR tech until now, so he sort
of surrounded himself with someHR tech experience.
(02:36):
He brought on a chief productofficer, chief revenue officer
and myself, all of whom have hadspent significant time in the
HR technology industry.
So he's surrounding himselfwith people who know the space
and we've spent a lot of time.
In terms of opportunities.
It's exciting to kind ofrealign the business, realign
(02:57):
the go-to-market strategy, butalso a challenge right, there's
a little bit of undoing what hadbeen done previously.
Historically, higher Road is aroll-up of it's under private
equity.
There's a little bit of undoingwhat had been done previously.
Historically, higher Road is aroll-up it's under private
equity.
There's several entities andproducts that span the HR space
recruitment, onboarding,learning platform and people
(03:18):
analytics.
Since John has come in and thenew team, we've really
reevaluated the space and we'vedoubled down on people analytics
, as really our lead dog, peopleInsight by Higher Road is our
people analytics platform thatyou know.
We've sort of redirected thebusiness to.
You know, almost 100 percentfocus on this product.
We're really excited about itand the opportunity there.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So a quick follow up to that what's the one thing,
the top thing that you loveabout your job the most?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I really love uh, you know startup mentality for sure
.
Every day is a new excitingchallenge being thrown at me and
I get to wear many hats, andthat's my favorite thing,
especially coming from largecompanies with, you know, for
better or worse, many resources,so many different teams that
you sort of stay in one lane asa marketer.
It's been really exciting towear all of the hats and really
(04:11):
stretch my expertise indifferent parts of marketing.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat
Podcast.
If you enjoy the audio contentwe produce, you'll love our
articles on the HR Gazette.
Learn more at hrgazettecom.
And now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Very good.
Thank you very much.
As I mentioned in the intro,the focus of today's
conversation is around data andwhy you've got to have a
data-driven strategy, andthere's basically no excuse for
any more listeners.
And you recently shared a postby Higher Road CRO Matthew
O'Connor called Shifting thePeople Analytics Mindset from
(04:55):
Nice to have to Must have, andyou commented a data-driven
strategy is no longer optional.
Anyone who is in the throes ofyear-end reporting knows what
I'm talking about.
You said so on the back of that.
Could you tell me what youmeant by that?
Maybe include mention of thelegal and the reputational risks
(05:15):
as part of your answer?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, I think it's funny because year-end reporting
, the polls and just the timespent, I think it's relevant
across all functions.
Right?
You know, I certainly was inthe middle of it as a marketer
in Q4.
And you realize, as you pullthose reports together, you're
trying to demonstrate yourimpact, show the value you've
made this year or this quarteragainst the resources and the
(05:40):
investments that you've made,that you've received and the
investments that you've madethat you've received.
And there's really just nolegitimate story without data to
support that story.
You can't just come in as amarketer and say, oh, we've
grown brand awareness this yearbecause people said that they've
heard of us.
Right, you need data to backthat up, you need website views,
(06:01):
you need other brand metricsand for HR, it's absolutely the
same.
It's one thing to say you'verolled out some great employee
engagement or DEI initiativethis year, but how do you know
they're working?
What impact have you made onthe business?
And, most importantly, how canyou justify the need for more
resources next year in thisbudget-constrained environment?
(06:23):
Whether it's more headcount,more funding, whatever it might
be, you need to be able to tieyour performance back to
business outcomes and I thinkbusiness leaders across any
function can tell you that ifyou're trying to make the case
to your C-suite or get executivebuy-in for any program, any
investment, you need data totell the story.
(06:45):
So it really resonated with meas I was pulling together my own
report for the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, very good.
One of the types of data youguys offer is data around DEI or
DEIB.
We are recording thisconversation today, towards the
end of January 2025.
In light of recent politicaldecisions and the broader
pullback on DEI efforts Kristenacross industries, the urgency
(07:14):
to back DEI initiatives withdata has perhaps never been more
important or mission critical.
Adding to your answer just now,why is not collecting DEI data
no longer an option?
Perhaps you can share some waysthat People Insight provides
the DEI data that can correctlyinform those business decisions.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
We held a webinar with MLTConsulting and Steve Pemberton,
who sits on the Higher RoadBoard of Directors and has years
of experience in leading DEIinitiatives, and it was right
before the election, so it'scertainly been an interesting
few weeks and months since then.
But Steve shed light on some ofthe history of DEI in business
(07:59):
and spoke about the class actionlawsuits that occurred in the
90s as a result of companies whowere being sued for
discrimination against DEIgroups, and we've realized it
really comes down to two things.
One is that claiming ignoranceabout your DEI hiring or
workforce actions is not adefense in a court of law.
(08:20):
Right To say we didn't knowbecause we didn't measure it
isn't going to cut it.
So really it's critical forcompanies to measure and track
their DEI hiring, their DEIengagement, by using people data
, and whether they decide to acton it or not is a different
story.
And two, in today's politicalenvironment where we're seeing
(08:41):
companies pull back on DEI, itultimately comes back to
business value.
There's so much research andevidence to suggest again and
again that prioritizing DEIdrives better business outcomes,
whether it's employeeengagement, productivity or
revenue in a lot of cases.
So companies who can use datato connect the dots between
(09:02):
their DEI programs and theirbusiness outcomes.
They have their business caseright there.
So that way, regardless of whatyour politicians are saying or
even what the right thing to domight feel like, it will
ultimately come down to data andhow you're driving business
(09:22):
outcomes.
So I think that's where peopleinsight and people analytics in
general can help HR teamsconnect their DEI data, not just
to each other across hiring andemployee, but also connecting
back to business KPIs that aregoing to be used as evidence to
justify investment.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Once in a while, an event series is born that shakes
things up, it makes you thinkdifferently and it leaves you
inspired.
That event is Disrupt HR.
The format is 14 speakers, fiveminutes each and slides rotate
(10:06):
every 15 seconds.
If you're an HR professional, aCEO, Thank you very much.
Learn more at disrupthrco.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thank you very much and listeners.
Just to add to that, if you'relooking for more information,
more reports on that connectionbetween the DEI initiatives and
how that does affect the bottomline, check out various reports
by McKinsey.
They've written lots on this.
Okay, so continuing throughwhat are some of the primary
(10:40):
challenges, Kristen, that yourteam has seen HR pros face when
adopting data-drivendecision-making.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah, you know, I think the hardest part for a lot
of HR teams is just gettingstarted.
Companies feel like they needto have everything be perfect,
that their data needs to befully cleansed, that every HR
system needs to be aligned andtalking to each other, that they
need the latest AI to help themvisualize and extract, and I
think you don't want perfect tobe the enemy of good, especially
(11:12):
for smaller or under-resourcedorganizations.
Ultimately, adopting adata-driven mentality, it's not
reserved for the largestenterprises.
Anybody can do it, and that isreally what People Insight
embraces that people analyticsis for everyone, and so,
especially for teams who mightnot have a dedicated data
(11:32):
science resource, which is manyteams, we offer a team of
dedicated analysts, along withour software to help teams make
sense of their data, cleanse it,model it, customize dashboards
to their business needs andoffer ongoing support.
So I think that really helpsalleviate some of the initial
(11:53):
roadblocks that teams face whengetting people analytics off the
ground at their company.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Thank you very much.
Okay, so one thing that yourteam were keen that we touched
upon in today's conversation isthe fact that Higher Road
recently published the State ofPeople Analytics 2025 report.
So I'd love to talk to you abit about that now report.
(12:19):
So I'd love to talk to you abit about that now.
Why did Higher Road decide topublish that report and what do
you hope readers will take awayfrom it?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, higher Road published this report sort of
off of an HRcom report titledthe State of People Analytics
2024-2025.
And Higher Road was a sponsorand a partner on that report.
But we took you know, the HRcomreport took the approach of
analyzing people analytics andthe space by breaking out
leading people analyticsorganizations versus what they
(12:48):
called people analytics laggards.
And we didn't want to end itthere.
We feel like the term laggardsreally implies that those
organizations are behind, whenin reality it is never too late
to get started.
So we took this research and wetook it a few more steps forward
.
We were repositioning laggardsand that population in that
(13:10):
report as early stageorganizations, early stage
organizations, and we use thedata surrounding the leading
organizations to focus on whatthey were doing well and
repurposed it into actionablesteps that some early stage
organizations can take toactually make a difference in
their data-driven strategy in2025.
And it all comes down to youknow, rome wasn't built in a day
(13:34):
.
Small, under-resourced teamswho see themselves as lagging
behind should not feel defeatedthat they're not operating as
some leading, you know five-starpeople analytics organization.
Instead, they should befocusing on small, very tangible
, feasible steps to take, one ata time, to transform their HR
(13:54):
function into a data-drivenorganization.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So one thing that I thought was quite interesting
from that ebook that reports wasthat it mentions that only 22%
of organizations rate theirpeople analytics as very
effective.
One would hope that numberwould be higher.
What advice from the ebookwould you offer to companies
aiming to build a more robustdata-driven HR function?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, it's certainly.
Nobody should feel alone, andif they don't feel like they're
very effective in peopleanalytics, it's that only 22%
say that they're doing it right.
I do think the most criticalstarting point for HR teams is
really about aligning andstreamlining your HR data
sources, because ultimately,it's going to be impossible to
be data driven if you can't makesense of your data, and this
really means aligning on datadefinitions across sources so
(14:53):
that you aren't comparing applesto oranges.
When you want to connect thedots between your ATS data and
your HRIS data, you want to makesure you've got standardized
definitions.
Again, that's really wherepeople insight or other people
analytics solutions come intoplay Just any you know
opportunity to integrate andmodel your data in one place so
(15:14):
that you can compare all of yourdata sets side by side in a way
that makes sense.
And for a lot of companiesagain who don't have that
internal data lake and dedicateddata science team, it can be
really hard to get to this step.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Okay, thank you very much.
Let's talk a bit about the tech, if you don't mind.
I'd love to hear from youwhat's new on the platform front
.
So in another recent LinkedInpost, you said that generic
dashboards that don't addressyour needs are a thing of the
past.
Let's hope so.
So my question for you iswhat's new or what's on the
roadmap for people in sight in2025 that will further enhance
(15:51):
the platform's user experience,its reporting and other features
?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, it's true Out of the box dashboards.
They might help you get some ofthe way and some of what you
need, but ultimately comes downto customizing your data
analysis and visualization tothe specific needs of your
business.
What are your company's KPIsand how is HR going to impact
them?
So, building specificdashboards to address those key
(16:17):
questions that can be cleanlyhanded off to your stakeholders
that's really the North Star forevery organization.
And in terms of other newplatform features, we are very
excited We've got some reallygreat AI enhancements rolling
out in 2025.
We now offer a full suite of AIfunctionality, including
(16:39):
AI-generated insights, as wellas diagnostic and predictive
analytics.
So these are offered you knowthey're kind of side-by-side
with our customers' dashboardsto make it even easier for users
to extract insights quickly andeffectively.
And our people insightassistant, who we have named Pia
P-I-A do a little pun there canalso really help just speed up
(17:05):
the time to value within oursystem.
So users can ask questionsthrough conversational AI and
extract those insights veryquickly and confidently.
So all of these features kindof paired with our dedicated
analyst support.
Really the North Star forPeople Insight is to make our
analytics more accessible to hrteams who may not be experts in
(17:27):
data in their field thank youvery much.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So, uh, we here at the hr gazette love industry
events, possibly because I am ashameless extrovert and I love
getting involved with networkingand whatnot.
What events will you and yourteam be attending or speaking or
exhibiting at in the next yearor so?
Do they include, for example,shrm, hr Tech, atd, cipd,
(17:52):
disrupt and others?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
You named a lot of acronyms there, but I think I'm
going to stay with you there.
You know, our one upcomingevent that we're very excited
about is Unleash.
We're really excited.
Unleash America.
I should clarify we're excitedto present some of our latest
industry research in partnershipwith Lighthouse Research, so
we'll definitely be at thatevent, if anyone is there in
(18:15):
good old Las Vegas.
Other than that, we'reattending a lot of smaller
events focused on data andanalytics.
So People Analytics Summit,people Analytics, World HR I
have to get these names right HRData Analytics and AI Summit
right, it's a mouthful, butwe'll be in Toronto, in Atlanta,
in Chicago this spring, andyou'll definitely find us at HR
(18:37):
Tech in some capacity.
Last year, we held this greatroadies happy hour.
We passed out some beers andbeverages to conference
attendees as a pit stop on theirway out of the event.
So we love a good trade showover here.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Very good.
I've attended most of those.
I was based in Toronto for 10years, so I know that people
will analytics summit very well.
You'll enjoy that one as well.
Lots to offer there.
Uh, we are just about out oftime for today before we wrap up
.
How can our folks connect withyou, so maybe you might want to
share your linkedin, your email?
(19:12):
Apparently tiktok's not goinganywhere, uh, so if you're on
tiktok, tell us about that.
And, of course, how can folkslearn more about people insight?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
yeah, I might be the last marketer in the world who's
not on TikTok, so you won'tfind me there yet I'm old school
, but now you can find me onLinkedIn, kristen Boyle.
Also visit higherroadcom orvisit us on LinkedIn People
Insight by Higher Road.
I'm happy to connect and chatfurther.
Really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Me too.
That just leaves me to sayKristen, thank you very much for
being my guest today.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Thank you Appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And listeners as always.
Until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode,why not subscribe and listen to
some of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette and
remember for what's new in theworld of work?
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom and visithrgazettecom.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Kristen, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the
HR Chat Show today.
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I'm good, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Thank you very much for being my guest.
So, beyond my wee introductionjust a moment ago, why don't you
start by taking a minute or twointroducing yourself to our
audience, telling them aboutyour career journey and, of
course, your role over at HighRoad?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I really started at some of thebigger players, the industry
giants Nielsen, amazon, indeed.
I very much have a love for HR,hr audiences, hr technology and
just all of the innovationsthere, so it's always been
pulling me back and I really, atthose bigger players, learned
(01:09):
the foundations of marketing andof business and of SaaS model,
so I've taken a lot of that.
I have since become head ofmarketing at PandaLogic, which
is programmatic recruitmentadvertising, and most recently,
higher Road, Been here for alittle over a year and it's been
a really amazing journey.
(01:30):
I lead the marketing team andwe're just focused on building
our brand and driving growth inthe HR market.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Okay, very good.
So when I was doing my homeworkahead of our call today, I was
all over your LinkedIn and we'llhave questions later on about
some of your recent socialshares and I was also looking at
the Higher Road website andlooking at the leadership team
and it struck me that you allquite knew.
(02:00):
In fact, Higher Road has seensome big changes at the
leadership level over the pastyear, 18 months.
What are some of the challengesand some of the opportunities
that come with having a freshleadership team?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yes, it really is a new team.
I'd say yeah, 18 months isaccurate really starting with
John Fetterman, our CEO, whojoined in 2023.
John Fetterman, our CEO, whojoined in 2023.
He has a lot of experienceleading and growing businesses
as a CEO, but he had never cometo HR tech until now, so he sort
of surrounded himself with someHR tech experience.
(02:36):
He brought on a chief productofficer, chief revenue officer
and myself, all of whom have hadspent significant time in the
HR technology industry.
So he's surrounding himselfwith people who know the space
and we've spent a lot of time.
In terms of opportunities.
It's exciting to kind ofrealign the business, realign
(02:57):
the go-to-market strategy, butalso a challenge right, there's
a little bit of undoing what hadbeen done previously.
Historically, higher Road is aroll-up of it's under private
equity.
There's a little bit of undoingwhat had been done previously.
Historically, higher Road is aroll-up it's under private
equity.
There's several entities andproducts that span the HR space
recruitment, onboarding,learning platform and people
(03:18):
analytics.
Since John has come in and thenew team, we've really
reevaluated the space and we'vedoubled down on people analytics
, as really our lead dog, peopleInsight by Higher Road is our
people analytics platform thatyou know.
We've sort of redirected thebusiness to.
You know, almost 100 percentfocus on this product.
We're really excited about itand the opportunity there.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So a quick follow up to that what's the one thing,
the top thing that you loveabout your job the most?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I really love uh, you know startup mentality for sure
.
Every day is a new excitingchallenge being thrown at me and
I get to wear many hats, andthat's my favorite thing,
especially coming from largecompanies with, you know, for
better or worse, many resources,so many different teams that
you sort of stay in one lane asa marketer.
It's been really exciting towear all of the hats and really
(04:11):
stretch my expertise indifferent parts of marketing.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat
Podcast.
If you enjoy the audio contentwe produce, you'll love our
articles on the HR Gazette.
Learn more at hrgazettecom.
And now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Very good.
Thank you very much.
As I mentioned in the intro,the focus of today's
conversation is around data andwhy you've got to have a
data-driven strategy, andthere's basically no excuse for
any more listeners.
And you recently shared a postby Higher Road CRO Matthew
O'Connor called Shifting thePeople Analytics Mindset from
(04:55):
Nice to have to Must have, andyou commented a data-driven
strategy is no longer optional.
Anyone who is in the throes ofyear-end reporting knows what
I'm talking about.
You said so on the back of that.
Could you tell me what youmeant by that?
Maybe include mention of thelegal and the reputational risks
(05:15):
as part of your answer?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, I think it's funny because year-end reporting
, the polls and just the timespent, I think it's relevant
across all functions.
Right?
You know, I certainly was inthe middle of it as a marketer
in Q4.
And you realize, as you pullthose reports together, you're
trying to demonstrate yourimpact, show the value you've
made this year or this quarteragainst the resources and the
(05:40):
investments that you've made,that you've received and the
investments that you've madethat you've received.
And there's really just nolegitimate story without data to
support that story.
You can't just come in as amarketer and say, oh, we've
grown brand awareness this yearbecause people said that they've
heard of us.
Right, you need data to backthat up, you need website views,
(06:01):
you need other brand metricsand for HR, it's absolutely the
same.
It's one thing to say you'verolled out some great employee
engagement or DEI initiativethis year, but how do you know
they're working?
What impact have you made onthe business?
And, most importantly, how canyou justify the need for more
resources next year in thisbudget-constrained environment?
(06:23):
Whether it's more headcount,more funding, whatever it might
be, you need to be able to tieyour performance back to
business outcomes and I thinkbusiness leaders across any
function can tell you that ifyou're trying to make the case
to your C-suite or get executivebuy-in for any program, any
investment, you need data totell the story.
(06:45):
So it really resonated with meas I was pulling together my own
report for the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, very good.
One of the types of data youguys offer is data around DEI or
DEIB.
We are recording thisconversation today, towards the
end of January 2025.
In light of recent politicaldecisions and the broader
pullback on DEI efforts Kristenacross industries, the urgency
(07:14):
to back DEI initiatives withdata has perhaps never been more
important or mission critical.
Adding to your answer just now,why is not collecting DEI data
no longer an option?
Perhaps you can share some waysthat People Insight provides
the DEI data that can correctlyinform those business decisions.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
We held a webinar with MLTConsulting and Steve Pemberton,
who sits on the Higher RoadBoard of Directors and has years
of experience in leading DEIinitiatives, and it was right
before the election, so it'scertainly been an interesting
few weeks and months since then.
But Steve shed light on some ofthe history of DEI in business
(07:59):
and spoke about the class actionlawsuits that occurred in the
90s as a result of companies whowere being sued for
discrimination against DEIgroups, and we've realized it
really comes down to two things.
One is that claiming ignoranceabout your DEI hiring or
workforce actions is not adefense in a court of law.
(08:20):
Right To say we didn't knowbecause we didn't measure it
isn't going to cut it.
So really it's critical forcompanies to measure and track
their DEI hiring, their DEIengagement, by using people data
, and whether they decide to acton it or not is a different
story.
And two, in today's politicalenvironment where we're seeing
(08:41):
companies pull back on DEI, itultimately comes back to
business value.
There's so much research andevidence to suggest again and
again that prioritizing DEIdrives better business outcomes,
whether it's employeeengagement, productivity or
revenue in a lot of cases.
So companies who can use datato connect the dots between
(09:02):
their DEI programs and theirbusiness outcomes.
They have their business caseright there.
So that way, regardless of whatyour politicians are saying or
even what the right thing to domight feel like, it will
ultimately come down to data andhow you're driving business
(09:22):
outcomes.
So I think that's where peopleinsight and people analytics in
general can help HR teamsconnect their DEI data, not just
to each other across hiring andemployee, but also connecting
back to business KPIs that aregoing to be used as evidence to
justify investment.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Once in a while, an event series is born that shakes
things up, it makes you thinkdifferently and it leaves you
inspired.
That event is Disrupt HR.
The format is 14 speakers, fiveminutes each and slides rotate
(10:06):
every 15 seconds.
If you're an HR professional, aCEO, Thank you very much.
Learn more at disrupthrco.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thank you very much and listeners.
Just to add to that, if you'relooking for more information,
more reports on that connectionbetween the DEI initiatives and
how that does affect the bottomline, check out various reports
by McKinsey.
They've written lots on this.
Okay, so continuing throughwhat are some of the primary
(10:40):
challenges, Kristen, that yourteam has seen HR pros face when
adopting data-drivendecision-making.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah, you know, I think the hardest part for a lot
of HR teams is just gettingstarted.
Companies feel like they needto have everything be perfect,
that their data needs to befully cleansed, that every HR
system needs to be aligned andtalking to each other, that they
need the latest AI to help themvisualize and extract, and I
think you don't want perfect tobe the enemy of good, especially
(11:12):
for smaller or under-resourcedorganizations.
Ultimately, adopting adata-driven mentality, it's not
reserved for the largestenterprises.
Anybody can do it, and that isreally what People Insight
embraces that people analyticsis for everyone, and so,
especially for teams who mightnot have a dedicated data
(11:32):
science resource, which is manyteams, we offer a team of
dedicated analysts, along withour software to help teams make
sense of their data, cleanse it,model it, customize dashboards
to their business needs andoffer ongoing support.
So I think that really helpsalleviate some of the initial
(11:53):
roadblocks that teams face whengetting people analytics off the
ground at their company.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Thank you very much.
Okay, so one thing that yourteam were keen that we touched
upon in today's conversation isthe fact that Higher Road
recently published the State ofPeople Analytics 2025 report.
So I'd love to talk to you abit about that now report.
(12:19):
So I'd love to talk to you abit about that now.
Why did Higher Road decide topublish that report and what do
you hope readers will take awayfrom it?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, higher Road published this report sort of
off of an HRcom report titledthe State of People Analytics
2024-2025.
And Higher Road was a sponsorand a partner on that report.
But we took you know, the HRcomreport took the approach of
analyzing people analytics andthe space by breaking out
leading people analyticsorganizations versus what they
(12:48):
called people analytics laggards.
And we didn't want to end itthere.
We feel like the term laggardsreally implies that those
organizations are behind, whenin reality it is never too late
to get started.
So we took this research and wetook it a few more steps forward
.
We were repositioning laggardsand that population in that
(13:10):
report as early stageorganizations, early stage
organizations, and we use thedata surrounding the leading
organizations to focus on whatthey were doing well and
repurposed it into actionablesteps that some early stage
organizations can take toactually make a difference in
their data-driven strategy in2025.
And it all comes down to youknow, rome wasn't built in a day
(13:34):
.
Small, under-resourced teamswho see themselves as lagging
behind should not feel defeatedthat they're not operating as
some leading, you know five-starpeople analytics organization.
Instead, they should befocusing on small, very tangible
, feasible steps to take, one ata time, to transform their HR
(13:54):
function into a data-drivenorganization.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So one thing that I thought was quite interesting
from that ebook that reports wasthat it mentions that only 22%
of organizations rate theirpeople analytics as very
effective.
One would hope that numberwould be higher.
What advice from the ebookwould you offer to companies
aiming to build a more robustdata-driven HR function?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, it's certainly.
Nobody should feel alone, andif they don't feel like they're
very effective in peopleanalytics, it's that only 22%
say that they're doing it right.
I do think the most criticalstarting point for HR teams is
really about aligning andstreamlining your HR data
sources, because ultimately,it's going to be impossible to
be data driven if you can't makesense of your data, and this
really means aligning on datadefinitions across sources so
(14:53):
that you aren't comparing applesto oranges.
When you want to connect thedots between your ATS data and
your HRIS data, you want to makesure you've got standardized
definitions.
Again, that's really wherepeople insight or other people
analytics solutions come intoplay Just any you know
opportunity to integrate andmodel your data in one place so
(15:14):
that you can compare all of yourdata sets side by side in a way
that makes sense.
And for a lot of companiesagain who don't have that
internal data lake and dedicateddata science team, it can be
really hard to get to this step.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Okay, thank you very much.
Let's talk a bit about the tech, if you don't mind.
I'd love to hear from youwhat's new on the platform front
.
So in another recent LinkedInpost, you said that generic
dashboards that don't addressyour needs are a thing of the
past.
Let's hope so.
So my question for you iswhat's new or what's on the
roadmap for people in sight in2025 that will further enhance
(15:51):
the platform's user experience,its reporting and other features
?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, it's true Out of the box dashboards.
They might help you get some ofthe way and some of what you
need, but ultimately comes downto customizing your data
analysis and visualization tothe specific needs of your
business.
What are your company's KPIsand how is HR going to impact
them?
So, building specificdashboards to address those key
(16:17):
questions that can be cleanlyhanded off to your stakeholders
that's really the North Star forevery organization.
And in terms of other newplatform features, we are very
excited We've got some reallygreat AI enhancements rolling
out in 2025.
We now offer a full suite of AIfunctionality, including
(16:39):
AI-generated insights, as wellas diagnostic and predictive
analytics.
So these are offered you knowthey're kind of side-by-side
with our customers' dashboardsto make it even easier for users
to extract insights quickly andeffectively.
And our people insightassistant, who we have named Pia
P-I-A do a little pun there canalso really help just speed up
(17:05):
the time to value within oursystem.
So users can ask questionsthrough conversational AI and
extract those insights veryquickly and confidently.
So all of these features kindof paired with our dedicated
analyst support.
Really the North Star forPeople Insight is to make our
analytics more accessible to hrteams who may not be experts in
(17:27):
data in their field thank youvery much.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So, uh, we here at the hr gazette love industry
events, possibly because I am ashameless extrovert and I love
getting involved with networkingand whatnot.
What events will you and yourteam be attending or speaking or
exhibiting at in the next yearor so?
Do they include, for example,shrm, hr Tech, atd, cipd,
(17:52):
disrupt and others?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
You named a lot of acronyms there, but I think I'm
going to stay with you there.
You know, our one upcomingevent that we're very excited
about is Unleash.
We're really excited.
Unleash America.
I should clarify we're excitedto present some of our latest
industry research in partnershipwith Lighthouse Research, so
we'll definitely be at thatevent, if anyone is there in
(18:15):
good old Las Vegas.
Other than that, we'reattending a lot of smaller
events focused on data andanalytics.
So People Analytics Summit,people Analytics, World HR I
have to get these names right HRData Analytics and AI Summit
right, it's a mouthful, butwe'll be in Toronto, in Atlanta,
in Chicago this spring, andyou'll definitely find us at HR
(18:37):
Tech in some capacity.
Last year, we held this greatroadies happy hour.
We passed out some beers andbeverages to conference
attendees as a pit stop on theirway out of the event.
So we love a good trade showover here.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Very good.
I've attended most of those.
I was based in Toronto for 10years, so I know that people
will analytics summit very well.
You'll enjoy that one as well.
Lots to offer there.
Uh, we are just about out oftime for today before we wrap up
.
How can our folks connect withyou, so maybe you might want to
share your linkedin, your email?
(19:12):
Apparently tiktok's not goinganywhere, uh, so if you're on
tiktok, tell us about that.
And, of course, how can folkslearn more about people insight?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
yeah, I might be the last marketer in the world who's
not on TikTok, so you won'tfind me there yet I'm old school
, but now you can find me onLinkedIn, kristen Boyle.
Also visit higherroadcom orvisit us on LinkedIn People
Insight by Higher Road.
I'm happy to connect and chatfurther.
Really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Me too.
That just leaves me to sayKristen, thank you very much for
being my guest today.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Thank you Appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And listeners as always.
Until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode,why not subscribe and listen to
some of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette and
remember for what's new in theworld of work?
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.
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