I had the pleasure of presenting alongside my colleague Piotr Bednarczuk (Head of Talent Advisory for EMEA) at the inaugural Aon HR Insights Conference on the subject of the The Future of Workforce Data –Using Data to Make Better Decisions. 

Our Health CEO, Lisa Patel, welcomed our guests from a broad range of industries across people and leadership positions. I always think the greatest value for any guest at these events is the unique insight they can share between each other and for the host (Aon) to capture this and deliver value-added insight post event. 

The headline from our own HR Future Focus study was that only 28% of organisations use data to inform the benefits design and strategy whilst the majority of organisations think that they should. According to a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives conducted by PwC, highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data.

I wanted our audience to leave with a practical model and common language to make data driven decisions, outlined in the image below. 

A key takeaway is the importance of combining the use of best in class technology (planning, data collection, processing and analysing) with human expertise and context (dissemination, decision-makers, iteration and planning). 

When it comes to benefit design and strategy here are a few things to consider based on the framework:

- Are those responsible for the needs of the business where relevant to this decision involved in the initial planning? Do you have a cognitive diverse group as part of this planning? The iteration process will come back around to this group.

-  Are you collecting the most accurate data internally and externally (are your sources truthfully accurate i.e. does cognitive bias exist? Neuroscientific surveys like Aon’s reflections can solve this) to inform the analysis to drive the decision making process. 

- Is there a process in place to disseminate the findings of your analysis to those who need to observe and take action based on the insight such as regular meetings and real-time dashboards to review? 

- Don’t stop here! Make sure your decisions still align to the needs of business and you will have your data driven decision making flywheel spinning! 

The beauty of having a common language and model in place for your decision making enables anyone in the business to join the process with ease or review regardless of time available.