Welcome to episode two of series 11 of The Digital HR Leaders podcast. According to the latest Future of Jobs report from The World Economic Forum, by 2025 50% of all employees will need to be re-skilled. Moreover also by 2025, the same research predicts that 97 million new jobs will emerge and 85 million will be displaced by a shift in labour between humans and machines. Most commentators believe that the pandemic has only accelerated this progress.

Skills is not just a challenge for organisations it is a challenge for entire countries and Singapore is setting a template that others could and perhaps should follow. The mission of SkillsFuture SG, or SSG for short, is to build a skills competitive Singapore and a nation of resilient and confident lifelong learners.

My guest today is Wenshan Xu, Deputy Director of The Skills Development Group at SSG. Wenshan describes the unit as an intelligence unit for skills and as you are about to hear, the work they are doing is as fascinating as it is important.

In our conversation Wenshan and I discuss:

• How SSG helps re-skill workers in sectors affected by Covid and then helps them transition to sectors that were hiring
• How SSG works with employers, education providers and citizens to create a skills and learning ecosystem that meets the changing requirements of jobs in the country
• How Wenshan’s team uses data, analytics and machine learning to understand the supply and demand of skills now and in the future
• The skills taxonomy that they have developed, which encompasses 34 skills frameworks, 11,000 skills competencies and over a thousand job roles
• How all this supports the vision for talent mobility in Singapore

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in skills, learning and workforce planning. So that is business leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by orgvue . To learn more, visit https://www.orgvue.com/.

Welcome to the first episode of series 11 of The Digital HR Leaders podcast. As I wrote in my annual list of HR predictions for 2021, which we covered on last week's episode, the pandemic has thrust the Human Resources function into the spotlight. All eyes are on HR. Some have likened the pivotal role the CHRO is playing in this crisis to that played by the CFO in the global financial crisis. Undoubtedly HR has a unique role to play, but how does the function shift towards generating value for the business, the customer, the workforce, investors and the community at large?

We decided to bring an esteemed panel of three experts together to debate the topic. Firstly, Brigette McInnis-Day Head of HR at Google Cloud, where she focuses on attracting and developing amazing talent and shaping the culture for business growth and transformation.

Secondly, we have Dave Ulrich, Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and co-founder of the RBL Group. With his colleagues, Dave has written over 30 books that have shaped the HR profession, defined organisations of capabilities and shown the impact of leadership on customer and investors.

Last but not least Rupert Morrison, who is leading the way in data-driven organisational planning as CEO at orgvue. He has also authored a Chartered Management Institute shortlisted book of the year on data-driven organisational design.

In our conversation the panel and I discuss:

• The impact of the pandemic on organisations, employees and HR
• How HR can be more value and business focused
• The skills that Google looks for in its HR business partners and how Google measures its culture
• The impact of the pandemic on workforce planning, organisational design and people analytics
• What HR can do in 2021 to capture more value for the business

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in HR and how it can create value for the organisation. So that is business leaders, CHROs and anyone in an organisation design, people analytics or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by orgvue . To learn more, visit https://www.orgvue.com/.

This is a special bonus episode to kick off the podcast for 2021. In 2020, we learnt that the field of Human Resources is even more important than we thought it was, that People Analytics can save lives and that humans and the organisations they work for can adapt quickly in times of crises.

What do the events of 2020 mean for HR though, as we set sail into 2021? I have been publishing an annual set of predictions since 2014 and the show's producer, Ian Bailie, persuaded me that it would be fun to record a special episode of the podcast framed around my predictions for 2021. As you will hear I managed to turn the tables on Ian at several points in the conversation to get his take on a couple of the trends that are destined to set the agenda in 2021.

In our conversation, Ian and I discuss:

• Whether the future of work has arrived and if so, does it mean we can actually stop talking about the future of work?
• Why People Analytics is set to evolve in 2021 and how it can deliver more value at scale
• How skills, learning and careers are coming together and breaking down traditional silos in HR
• What HR Leaders and professionals can do to prepare for the future

This episode should be an interesting listen for anyone in a Workforce or People Analytics role, as well as HR, Learning and Business Professionals interested in how HR can drive business outcomes and create valuable experiences for employees.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic HR functions with People Analytics Teams have been pivotal in co-ordinating and leading responses to the crisis in companies all around the world. Well, one such company is Indian multi national giant Wipro, which found it had to suddenly contend with 150,000 remote workers in India alone.

My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Renil Kumar, Vice President and Global HR Head at Wipro. He is the personification of a modern HR Leader, Business focused, data-driven, technologically savvy, inclusive and collaborative.

In our conversation Renil and I discuss:

• How People Data and Analytics enables hyper-personalisation across Wipro’s 200,000 plus global employee workforce
• How a powerful People Analytics project at Wipro delivered quantifiable value to the business, as well as revealing some interesting insights on the impact of team size and promotions
• How to infuse HR Professionals with the skills needed to be more data-driven and why experimentation, starting small and getting hands-on drives progress
• How Organisational Network Analysis can be applied in Sales and Customer Service
• What HR can do to prepare their organisations for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in how HR can drive significant value in large multinational businesses. So that is Business Leaders, CHRO’s and anyone in a HR Leadership, People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

There should be little doubt that human capital is a firm's greatest asset, however, this isn't enough. Organisations must also ensure that individuals are relationally positioned for success. In other words, bringing in the best people is only part of the solution. Firms must also bring out the best in people and that requires us to more intentionally leverage social capital. Those are not my words, although I wholeheartedly agree with their sentiment, but of Michael Arena, my guest for this week's episode of The Digital HR Leaders podcast.

Michael is the author of the brilliant book, Adaptive Space, How General Motors and Other Companies are Positively Disrupting Themselves and Transforming Into Agile Organisations. He is also a faculty member in Penn's Masters in Organisational Dynamics and he is currently the VP for Talent and Development at Amazon Web Services. He is also one of the world's foremost experts on Organisational Network Analysis.

In our conversation, Michael and I discuss:

• Why social capital is the next frontier for HR and how to measure it through the use of active and passive ONA
• Why the pandemic will likely fast forward the future of work by five or ten years
• The critical role that social capital plays in generating, incubating and scaling innovation
• The potential implications to bridge connections of a shift to virtual and hybrid work environments
• Some typical use cases and specific examples of how ONA can be used in relation to understanding collaboration, M&A, research and development, culture and employee wellness
• How to ensure ONA initiatives deliver value for the business and the workforce and properly address any concerns on ethics, privacy, and trust
• What HR can do to prepare their organisations for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in Innovation, Culture, People Analytics, Employee Experience and Social Capital. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a Talent Development, People Analytics, D&I or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

My guest on this episode of the podcast is Daniel West. His 20 years of experience in HR Leadership roles at data-driven companies like Uber and Apple have taught him how analytics can drive business performance, improve customer outcomes and enrich employee experience and culture. Daniel is now the founder and CEO of Panalyt and the technology his firm provides is helping organisations bring together and democratise their people and business data and enrich it further with external and social capital data to drive decision-making.

In our conversation, Daniel and I take a deep dive into organisational network analysis and how social capital data can be linked to performance, engagement, sales and innovation. We also discuss:

• The level of analytical skills required by HR professionals and what we can learn from our counterparts in Marketing
• The impact of democratising data across business stakeholders and how this drives more agile decision making and improved business outcomes
• The critical role of ethics and trust in People Analytics
• A great example of how a Japanese company had to virtually onboard over 200 new starters due to the pandemic and used People Analytics to help that effort
• What HR can do to prepare their organisation for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in People Analytics, Employee Experience and Social Capital.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

We are in the midst of the biggest global pandemic for a century, combine that with social unrest, an economic crisis, and at the same time, rapid business transformation, then the role of the HR function has never been so important.

One company where HR has really come to the fore during the crisis is Bayer. My guest on this episode of the podcast is Melissa Harper, Senior Vice President for HR Innovations at Bayer. With more than 30 years of HR experience, Melissa has been at the forefront of Bayer's response to the crises of 2020 and efforts to redefine the workplace around purpose, innovation, and culture.

In our conversation, Melissa and I discuss:

• Why Bayer’s people first philosophy, has been critical to the company's response to the crisis and its efforts to redefine the workplace of the future
• How Bayer is incorporating some of the positives that have emerged in 2020 such as faster, more distributed decision making and increased employee listening to enhance its innovative culture
• Bayer's approach to inclusion and diversity and how this is premised on taking action on the talent challenges that arise
• How digital analytics and culture provide the connective tissue around the workforce at the company
• What HR can do to prepare their organisation for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in Inclusion and Diversity, Culture, Employee Experience and Innovation. So that's Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning, I&D or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

When I was in Singapore a couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Grab, one of Southeast Asia's largest and most innovative technology companies and spending time with the guest on this week’s episode, Head of People Operations, Chin Yin Ong and some of her talented team. With a background in sales and marketing, a psychology degree and a passion for using technology and analytics to drive better outcomes for the business and its workforce, Chin Yin is the epitome of the Chief People Officer as a catalyst for growth. Chin Yin combines her role as Head of People with running the technology solutions team, which as you will hear, capitalises on the technology Grab has developed for its customers to enhance the work experience for Grabbers, which is Grab's name for its employees. I know you will enjoy listening to some of the innovations that Chin Yin and her team are driving at the tech firm.

In our conversation Chin Yin and I discuss:

• How to keep employees engaged and connected during the crisis
• Examples of how people data is driving better business and employee outcomes at Grab
• How to infuse HR professionals with the skills required to be more data-driven and achieve the optimal combination of head, heart and gut
• The rise of micro learning and the impact on skills
• Why the 2020s is set to be the golden age for HR

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in employee experience, people analytics, HR technology and business outcome driven HR. So that is business leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, workforce planning, recruiting or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

In the last episode of this series, my guest is Vidya Krishnan, Chief  Learning Officer and Global Head of Learning and Development at Ericsson, who is at the cutting edge of driving a culture where learning is a habit that matters. When we were planning this episode Vidya and I quickly realised we had a mutual passion for people data and analytics. Vidya also shared with me a view that I found quite profound, she told me that learning is oxygen, invisible but necessary to survive and analytics will make it visible.

In our conversation, Vidya and I discuss:

• The relationship between learning and business outcomes
• How to cultivate a growth mindset across your workforce
• How to build a skills driven organisation and help employees identify the skills that they need to grow
• The future of learning and why it is wrapped up in the future of people analytics
• The impact of technology on the future of learning

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in learning skills and culture development. So that is Business leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning, Learning or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Degreed. To learn more, visit https://degreed.com/.

In this episode of the podcast my guest is Simon Brown, Chief Learning  Officer at Novartis, a company that is really setting the pace around  the whole learning and skills agenda. Simon believes that curiosity is  the greatest driver of value in the digital age and as well as being  co-author of a fascinating new book, The Curious Advantage, Simon and  his team have instigated curiosity month at Novartis, an integrated  learning experience of 170 events throughout September featuring  internal and external speakers.

In our conversation, which took place just before the start of curiosity month, Simon and I discuss:

• The increasing importance of curiosity, it's intrinsic link to learning and the 7C’s of curiosity model that Simon and his co-authors outline in their book
• How curiosity is nurtured in practice at Novartis and the business value it provides
• How Novartis is embedding analytics into learning and measuring skills
• The impact of learning on performance, retention and mobility at Novartis
• The role of L&D in 2030 and whether the Chief Learning Officer will report directly into the CEO

This episode is a must listen to anyone interested or involved in learning skills and culture development. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning, Learning or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Degreed. To learn more, visit https://degreed.com/.