The Conference Board Issues Guide to Effective Evidence-Based Human Resources

Press Release / News

July 2, 2009

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Evidence-Based Human Resources can play a major role in helping companies successfully manage their global talent in today's highly competitive marketplace, according to the third in a series of reports by The Conference Board, the global, independent business-membership and research association.

"EBHR is a dramatically new approach to human capital analytics based on the notion that talent drives performance and focusing on the basic components of business strategy and standards of evidence," says John Gibbons, Senior Research Associate, Human Capital, The Conference Board, and author of the report with Research Associate Christopher Woock. "It is a challenging conceptual framework introducing new terminology, new methods of practice and new ways of thinking about the HR field and human capital analytics."

The new EBHR report from The Conference Board, Evidence-Based Human Resources: A Practitioner's Guide, provides guidance for companies embarking on an evidence-based approach towards implementing human capital strategy and discusses issues related to the actual implementation of an evidence-based practice.

While interest in HR-based metrics is growing, it does not yet exist in all major companies. But some leading firms have begun making inroads by establishing their own links between their HR practices and performance, testing hypotheses and incorporating research findings into the design of their programs.

The following topics are deemed important by companies surveyed by The Conference Board regarding effective development of EBHR: identifying an organization's key performance indicators; building HR capacity by increasing business acumen; applying EBHR to existing initiatives; developing a "show me" mentality with vendors; leveraging the skills of researchers to supply key data; starting small (even at lower levels) and keeping metrics simple to understand; the embracing of experimentation; keeping the plan specific both quantitatively and qualitatively; and carefully maintaining timeliness of data collection.

Via discussions with executives from 40 leading companies and guidance from The Conference Board Evidence-Based Human Resources Advisory Panel, the authors of the new report identify the following five factors as critical to introducing EBHR into a business:

Developing an evidence-based mindset by balancing strategic alignment and analytics.
Building cross-functional partnerships within the organization.
Using technology but keeping it in perspective as a means to an end, not the end itself.
Cultivating a tolerance for failure in the face of challenging long-term practices.
Trusting one's intuition based on insights obtained throughout a career in HR.

The second report, Evidence-Based HR in Action: Case Studies (July 2008), provides examples of early adopters of Evidence-Based HR, including Capital One, Harvard University and Hewlett-Packard.

Evidence-Based HR is one of the pillars of human capital architecture at The Conference Board, along with strategic workforce planning, workforce diversity and talent management.

Source: Evidence-Based HR in Action: A Practitioner's Guide, Report #1427-09-RR The Conference Board

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For further information contact:
Frank Tortorici
(1) 212 339 0231
f.tortorici@conference-board.org