Episode 5: The Evidence-Based HR Backpack – Stakeholders’ input
Just like all of us, Evi, HR Manager of the international bicycle manufacturer BisonBikes, is confronted with the current pandemic. Today all their employees who can, work from home. A part of the population still works on site to keep the bicycle production running. Meanwhile, Evi is thinking about how they’ll organise once things change: in the past, there has been some flexibility at BisonBikes in terms of working from home, although it was rather limited. What’s the best way for Evi to decide on how to organise work in the post-Covid world?
Today, the discussion around remote work - and work design in general - is one of the most burning issues within HR. A few years ago (in 2013), Yahoo! experienced how critical the topic is when they banned all work-from-home and asked all employees to be physically present in the office during work hours. Although well-intended, with the aim of encouraging collaboration, people simply didn’t like the directive. Not only did employees disapprove, so did shareholders and even competitors. In the end, the decision didn’t turn out well for Yahoo!. Maybe because they lost sight of the fact that people’s perception and embracing of a decision can influence how well it works.
HR decisions impact on people, direct or indirect, positive or negative, big or small. Many groups can be affected – employees, managers, board members, clients, suppliers, etc. All of whom are stakeholders, and you need their input to make evidence-based HR decisions.
This impact causes Evi some concern, given that she’s not sure on how to tackle this delicate matter in the right way. Let’s reassure her.
After the problem definition, Evi took a look at this through the first three sources in evidence-based HR: scientific research, organisational data and professional expertise. These sources are evaluated based on how objective they are.
However, for people-related decisions, the subjective perceptions of those affected are important. So, if stakeholders want the solution to work, they really need to get into the program and collaborate. You can have the best evidence in the world that working in the same office is more productive, but if people don’t like it, they’ll find workarounds or, even worse, quit.
Besides being practical, it’s also ethical to gather input from those affected by a decision. That way, you’ll understand how the measures will play out for them.
Subjective stakeholder evidence is both practical and ethical in people decisions.
When we look for input from stakeholders, we look for:
Stakeholders’ input is helpful throughout the 6 As process of decision-making (ask, acquire, appraise, aggregate, apply and assess). We’ll cover the last two steps in a separate article, however, here we’re going to focus on how stakeholders’ input helps throughout the first 4 As:
Stakeholders’ input helps interpret evidence from other sources
By supplementing the first three sources of evidence-based HR (scientific research, organizational data and professional expertise) with the subjective views and feelings of stakeholders, Evi arrives at a substantiated and supported decision.
Stakeholders’ input is subjective, but it’s the framework to use when interpreting all other evidence, for both practical and ethical reasons.
Follow our page to read about how to apply all the evidence you’ve collected and how to assess the outcomes of your decisions.
Enjoy the journey.
For more inspiration and freely available resources, check the websites of our partners CEBMa and ScienceForWork.
Would you like to interact about EBHR and learn together with other people? Then you’re welcome to join our knowledge sharing forum for EBHR-learners on Facebook, and our open workshops. We're also happy to provide a custom session for your organisation, online or offline.