Beth
White
Published on
March 8, 2022
2022 is the third year of disruption in the world of work. Although Covid-19 is declining and becoming endemic, companies continue to combat the Great Resignation and feverishly create the “new normal” to advance toward the Future of Work. Their success will depend on the outcomes of their People Operations to streamline processes, gather reliable data, and effectively use this data to make continuous improvements.
According to Visual Capitalists, the Future of Work includes the following:
People Operations began at Google with a simple idea: use people analytics data to drive improvement. They began to track worker, team, and operations performance data and surveyed employees to identify the obstacles for improving company productivity and innovation. The data was used to implement measurable strategies and goals to drive strategic advancements.
People Operation’s first success at Google was in understanding how it could more successfully recruit and retain women. It was a priority business issue for Google as a gender equality issue and affected its bottom line. The fledgling People Ops organization reviewed their data and surveyed a sample of the workforce. They discovered that the main problem was inadequate maternity leave benefits. Google changed its policy to provide five months of leave with full pay and benefits.
Later, Google’s People Ops organization would again tackle tough issues such as the best competencies for their managers and the factors that enable teams to perform at their best.
In the Fall of 2017, Google’s People Operations published its study on team effectiveness. As with previous studies, they found that group dynamics and especially the key dynamic of psychological safety (trust) was most important.
The People Operations analysis conducted more than 200 interviews with their employees and analyzed 250-plus attributes they identified from more than 180 active Google teams. They compared high-performing teams with low-performing teams.
According to Google’s rework website, they discovered that “who is on the team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributors."
They discovered five key dynamics that set successful teams apart from the rest:
According to Google, psychological safety was far and away the most important of the five dynamics, and it is the underpinning of the other four. Additionally, individuals on teams with higher psychological safety are less likely to leave Google. They are more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas from their teammates. They bring in more revenue, and they are rated as effective twice as often by executives.
In 2022, there will be plenty for People Operations functions to do:
MeBeBot is an AI-powered chatbot that is at the forefront of helping organizations digitize their workflows through automating FAQs for HR, IT and Operations questions. In addition, it can gather employee opinions on the strategic issues the company is addressing. It helps HR and its People Operations functions in many ways:
Remember, it is all about the data. Your organization’s success in transitioning back-to-the-workplace, implementing flexible work arrangements, and the Future of Work depends on how thoroughly your People Ops team gathers reliable data and effectively uses it.
Click here to learn more about developing and improving the data analytics of your People Operations functions?