A SERIES OF ARTICLES FRoM THE 2011 EMEA CoMPENSATIoN ...

OPTIMISING HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENTS:
ANALYSIS-BASED INSIGHTS TO ADDRESS IMPERATIVES FOR
CHANGE AT OECD
There has been a clear evolution over the past few years in
how organisations inform their human capital decisions.
They have been shifting focus from the use of market data
in benchmarking pay “rates” and practices to the analysis
of robust, organisation-level data maintained in the human
resources information system (HRIS) and supporting
systems in order to understand the drivers of key workforce
outcomes. Through application of statistical models to such
data, organisations can obtain strategic insights on human
capital priorities. The objectives of such workforce analytics
are to refine people strategy and to optimise organisational
performance.
ABOUT THE OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) is “an international public
organisation” financed and governed by its 34 member
countries. Its primary activities are to provide research
and advice on social policies, and its workforce consists
largely of economists, statisticians and specialised
policy analysts. Its structure mirrors the national
administrations it represents: it has 2,800 staff, half in
professional and half in support roles. Located in Paris,
its employees are, in principle, recruited from member
nationals. Around 35% of its employees are French,
11% British and 9% American.
THE ENVIRONMENT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR
THE OECD
Significant macroeconomic and social changes are
now calling for the reform of HR policies and practices.
A primary change is the shift in global economic power,
reflected in the expansion of the old G7 – the “club of
rich countries” – into the G20. Interests of the member
countries have broadened. Also, the funding model
has become more unpredictable. Today, governments
are much more demanding and an increasing amount
of funding comes with specific projects attached – and
it can be difficult to anticipate what those projects
might be. The main policy work of the OECD has
become, necessarily, more multidisciplinary, which
means that the organisation has to work in a more
holistic and integrated manner than it has in the past.
Adapting to these changes carries implications for the
organisation’s human capital strategy. Essentially, it
needs to complement its specialists with generalists,
those with a broader perspective; it has to use its
financial and human resources more effectively to
meet changing needs; and it needs to act in a more
coherent fashion in its human capital management
rather than in a decentralised manner. The HR team
moved to address these imperatives through an
analytic assessment designed to find out how people
were moving up, through and around the organisation;
what kinds of movements led to success and might
be exploited to generate the right kind of expertise;
and how the organisation could capitalise on that
knowledge to meet the challenges ahead. Given the
organisation’s analytic “product” and highly technical
leadership, an analytic approach would make the most
effective business case for change.
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