An interesting moment...I was recently offered a VP People role. I declined bc I'm happily obsessed with building Included. But the offer is on trend: what tech companies really want in HR leaders is the founder's obsession with measuring everything. They were after my ability to track people metrics – so here's what tools I would use in my first weeks as an HR leader to start measuring: 1. Calendar data - a secret weapon. The magic number? 30% cross-functional meetings. Less than that? Your teams are working in silos. Leverage this early signal as a conversation starter with leader - get transparent about where the info came from to demonstrate early data-driven signals. 2. Survey data & the one metric matters most. Teams with >15% engagement gap from company average in growth scores. Those are your problem spots. Begin bonding with the top layers of execs in those teams right out of the gate to enable early visibility. 3. HRIS data - it's hiding retention triggers: 18 months without a promotion + comp below market rate = resignation risk. Get to the info fast and act as a "retention guru." Over the next 3 days I'm going to break down how to implement each of these. • Bite sized action plans • Tool recommendations • Easy hacks to metrics Follow along if you want to level up your people analytics game 📈 or...if you want to get scouted for an HR leadership role! 🙃 #PeopleAnalytics #HR #Leadership #CHRO #First90days #VPHR #AI #AIforHR #Worktech #HRTech #Femalefounder #WomeninAI #HiringStories
Love the combo of pay + time to promotion (or lack thereof) for spotting flight risks. Curious what you’re seeing in terms of appetite from execs on pay transparency and equity audits?
I love number 1. Looking forward to learning more! For number 3, we do comp reviews 2 - 3 times a year and look at this data. This creates a great conversation with the leaders to understand why the employee is at the place they are at and what needs to be done. Then it requires at least one, if not two conversations with the employee around this topic. It shouldn't be a surprise as we do require monthly conversations with the employee around their rate of growth, behaviors (our values) and impact.
Holy 💫💫💫 … yes to this Laura Close. Particularly point #1 struck me. When I work with leadership teams wanting to increase their effectiveness, increasing the amount of time they spend together cross-functionally around; priorities, work/projects and 1:1 time is crucial. This data, important! Thank you 🙏 for sharing.
18 months for a promotion? Wow! Times are changing… took me many years before promotion.
Great points, thanks for sharing! Do you have an "optimal" range that you recommend for x-functional meetings (i.e., ~ 30-45%)? Would you say there's a % that is "too much?" I also would wonder if there's an opportunity with managing by "consensus" or some type of work politics getting in the way of faster decision making and execution.
Laura, this is such an insightful post! Your ability to connect founder-level obsession with data to HR leadership is spot on. I love how you’ve outlined practical, high-impact tools to use from day one—especially leveraging calendar data for early insights into cross-functional collaboration. Your approach demonstrates the power of people analytics in driving both retention and team effectiveness. Can’t wait to see your deep dives over the next few days—this is a must-follow for anyone in the HR space! 👏📊
Oooh!
Following! (Would also love to see how you measure performance over time, beyond Revenue Per Employee).
I think the 18-month promotion timeline isn't a strict standard or golden rule; it varies based on the industry/sector, job profile or individual experience . But I agree with the high level concept, it's important to monitor high-potential employees and their motivation levels.
HR Consultant, Resourcing Futurist & Tech Advocate
1wThis! At last... 👏 As a fellow measurement obsessive, this is what I call the "Flour, Milk and Eggs" of PA. Remember a few years back a thing called Network Analysis was a momentary trend? Its purpose was #1 above but I don't see anyone saying it went anywhere? It should've done. #2 is a signpost, but it's the drivers of engagement (or lack of it) that need measuring, the gap is a good start, particularly for stats geeks - as I often say, "Count everything you can see, then count everything you can't" #3 might be my favourite, (it's actually a driver for #2), you'll find a whole load of useful people there, they're being ignored, taken for granted, but in many cases they can't leave, so they're a either a problem or a massive opportunity, depending on who's bothered. Just love this conversation - I'm a follower 👍