HUMAN RESOURCE

ANALYTICS
BBA 306

CASE STUDIES
Johnson & Johnson: Experience and retention
• Area for improvement:
American multinational Johnson & Johnson was looking to improve both employee performance and
retention. At the time, their recruiters prioritized candidates with job experience in the industry, assuming
they were more likely to stay with the company and would be quicker to make significant contributions. As a
result, the company experienced a 10 percent decrease in new hires who had recently graduated from college.

Data and analysis:

Challenging these assumption, HR and the people analytics team at Johnson & Johnson compiled data on
47,000 employees to test the link between experience and turnover. The data revealed that employees hired
right out of college actually remained with the organization “significantly longer” than more experienced
candidates. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the two groups’ contributions to the
company. Their new hypothesis is that Johnson & Johnson’s two-year leadership development program may
help reduce turnover among recent graduates.

Analytics and outcome:

Based on the people analytics, Johnson & Johnson increased hires of new graduates by 20 percent, effectively
reducing turnover while maintaining performance.
Clarks: Employee engagement
• Area for improvement:
C. & J. Clark is a British shoe manufacturer and retailer with approximately 1400 locations and over
13,000 employees. According to Chief People Officer, Belinda Deery, Clarks already had high levels of
employee engagement relative to their industry but were looking to maximize return on investment,
especially at the store level.

Data and analysis:

The HR analytics team used 450 data points to get an accurate picture of the relationship between
employee engagement and overall business performance. The report and subsequent analysis revealed that
for every 1 percent increase in employee engagement, business performance increased by 0.4 percent,
confirming the correlation and the value of employee engagement. The analytics team also collected
additional data from the company’s 100 best-performing stores.
• Analytics and outcome:
The combined findings of this two-step people analytics initiative enabled Clarks to implement multiple
effective changes and programs that improved engagement and increased business performance. First, they
drafted a replicable schema to create high-performing stores, including the ideal team size for optimum
efficiency. The company also designed a store management development program and put together an
employee engagement toolkit for managers. The CPO reported positive ongoing results after implementing
these initiatives.
Credit Suisse: Predicting turnover
• Area for improvement:
• Credit Suisse is a financial services company based in Switzerland that employs over 47,000 people.
To reduce turnover, they tried to predict which employees were most likely to leave the company
and when. It’s been estimated that the cost of replacing an employee can be anywhere between
30 and 400 percent of an employee’s salary, depending on seniority and experience. This is a
substantial loss for a company the size of Credit Suisse.
• Data and analysis:
Because the Credit Suisse workforce is so large and since they have strong data tracking practices,
the analytics team had substantial information on who left the company, why, and after how long.
The team dug deeper to explore “the specific circumstances prior to the points of departure” by
tracking over 40 variables, such as performance ratings, the time spent in a given role, and the size
of an employee’s team.
• Analytics and outcome:
The resulting predictive people analytics model gave Credit Suisse the ability to accurately predict
how likely an employee is to leave the organization in the next year based on as few as ten
indicators. With these predictors, Credit Suisse is able to identify risk factors and address these
issues with employees before they result in attrition.
 On: Absenteeism
• Area for improvement:
• Based in Essen, Germany, E.On is an electric company that employs approximately 78,000 people. When
absenteeism rose above the acceptable benchmark set by their HR department, E.On used people analytics to
determine the factors driving increased unscheduled time off. Depending on whether an employee is paid
hourly or with an annual salary, absenteeism can cost a business anywhere between $2,660 and $3,600 per
employee, annually. For an organization of E.On’s size, that potentially adds up to hundreds of millions of
dollars.
• Data and analysis:
The people analytics team at E.On put together 55 hypotheses. Based on the available data, the team tested 21
hypotheses and finally validated 11 of them. What they found was that the duration and timing of vacation had
the biggest impact on the frequency of unplanned time off for the rest of the year. Contrary to popular belief,
employees selling back their vacation time to the company did not appear to have any statistically significant
impact on absenteeism.
• Analytics and outcome:
Based on these insights, E.On implemented policy changes that encouraged managers to be more
accommodating with how employees schedule time off. Employees are encouraged to schedule multiple breaks
throughout the year with at least one larger vacation—a combination that reduces absenteeism. The findings
from this people analytics initiative also provided the HR team with additional insights they can use to test
other variables in the future.
 Cisco: Choosing an office location
• Area for improvement:
This multinational technology conglomerate based out of San Jose, California employs over
75,000 people. When the time came to open a new regional office, the company used people
analytics to determine the best building and location for it. The goal was to avoid wasted space,
create a positive work environment for employees, and attract the right talent to the organization.

Data and analysis:

With 266 Cisco offices across 87 countries, their People Planning, Analytics and Tools department
were able to source data about office usage rates and average costs within the organization. Senior
Director Ian Bailie and his team also looked at the building’s neighborhood and the location’s
community to evaluate their respective potential impact on business performance. Most importantly,
the analytics team explored the availability of talent, specifically from neighboring universities,
relative to the number of competitors in the area.
• Analytics and outcome:
Because of Bailie and his team’s findings, the company decided to go with a different location than
they first had their eye on. Their research found that the original choice would have left the
recruitment team struggling to fill the necessary roles. The findings also changed Cisco’s process for
opening new offices by bringing people analytics into the discussion much earlier. Planning, staffing,
and operating new offices became much more resource efficient.