Harvard Business Review Highlights IBM CHRO Diane Gherson's Leadership in Deploying Cutting-Edge HR

Jobs, Skills and Training, Technology

Diane Gherson, Senior Vice President, Human Resources at IBM Corporation, gave insights in the Harvard Business Review about how IBM is adopting agile talent practices in an era where rapid innovation has become a strategic imperative for most companies.  From an end-to-end redesign of its onboarding experience to customized learning tools, IBM is known for using cutting-edge technology and practices to achieve a more engaged and productive workforce.  In explaining the business case for IBM's innovative practices, Gherson states, "We’ve found that employee engagement explains two-thirds of our client experience scores.  And if we’re able to increase client satisfaction by five points on an account, we see an extra 20 percent in revenue, on average."  One method IBM uses to achieve employment engagement is including employees in the design process of HR practices with the use of data analytics and, specifically, sentiment analysis to determine areas for improvement.  "So much more weight is now given to what is said inside an organization," Gherson says, "because it can be heard outside as well, through social media."