Tableau: Data is key to building better workplaces

Tableau is a visual analytics company, which was founded in 2003 to help democratize access to data. This mission has not changed despite Salesforce’s acquisition of the company in 2019; Tableau continues aims to drive success for businesses and their employees by helping people to see and understand data.

Following Salesforce’s World Tour event back in June, UNLEASH had the opportunity to catch up with Tableau’s Dan Pell, general manager and senior-vice president of EMEA.

Pell notes that Tableau aims to provide its clients, who include Nissan, Ocado, Pfizer, and Jaguar Land Rover, with the right data and insights, and “then allowing people to dive into that data, keep asking questions”, and ultimately make better decisions.

How data can drive hiring success

In terms of HR, there are a few ways that data can supercharge decision-making. One  case study that Pell shares is around recruitment.

“[One] thing that I’ve learned in leadership is get the people bit right, then a lot of the hard work is done”.

Pell continues: “You need to make sure you’re finding candidates, [and then] progressing candidates in a timely manner through the recruitment process” – all of this drives good candidate experience, an essential in making your company stand out in the ‘Great Resignation’ and associated staff shortages.

Tools like Tableau can help here. Data and analytics technology can help HR teams look at, and track, “how long it takes to go from screening to first interview to second interview” and then to an offer, according to Pell.

Having visibility over the hiring process means HR teams can see if candidates dropping out at certain stages, as well as when they are dropping out. This helps reveal bottlenecks in the process, and where better communication with candidates needs to occur.

Ultimately, a good hiring process should be “as simple, easy, and transparent as possible” for both candidates and HR teams.

But recruitment also needs to have a feedback process; this enables HR teams to gather even more data and continue to learn about the frustrations candidates faced, while unsuccessful candidates can improve their future job applications.

“If you’re privileged enough that people want to come and work for you, then you have to respect that…and make sure you invite them in”, notes Pell.

Tackling attrition with data

While better candidate experience with the help of data is positive for the talent acquisition part of the ‘Great Resignation’, data also has a useful role to play on the retention side, according to Pell.

Data and insights from employee engagement surveys give employers the opportunity to ask their workforce “a whole myriad of questions about the work environment” – examples include: Do you enjoy working here? Do you feel a sense of connection to the organization? How would you rate your wellbeing and burnout?

Asking these questions helps identify areas for improvement – Pell states “we don’t live in a perfect world” – but the important thing is to act and make changes based on the recommendations.

While taking actions based on employee listening is positive for encouraging people to stay, Tableau’s Pell argues employers cannot stop here. They need to have really clear visibility over what is causing employees to make the decision to resign.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies are missing the mark on this. At Salesforce World Tour, Pell was speaking to some companies and he found that while attrition is a major concern, “quite a few said they don’t actually know why people leave”. “Often people will resign without really having had that conversation [about the reasons] with their managers and leaders”.

The solution here is to not only conduct exit interviews – where you find out why people are leaving, where are they moving to, what drove their decision to move – but for organizations to actually aggregate individuals’ data in order to identify trends around resignations, so they can make real changes to avoid attrition rates getting out of hand.

“Of course, people do leave, that’s always going to happen, but the aim to make sure you’re capturing that information, and then using that to improve and fix whatever was causing the problem,” notes Pell.

Credit Tableau.

Pell gives the example of whether length of tenure is impacting a company’s attrition rate.

“Are my zero to two-year employees happier than my four to ten-year employees?” – if so, maybe the answer could be to rethink learning and development processes and ensure that those who have been at the company for a while know there are career paths open to them internally, they don’t need to look externally for more money or promotions.

Pell shares another example on the back of a conversation he had at Salesforce’s World Tour event. A public body in the UK shared that they were grappling with high attrition rates.

So they started conducting exit interviews, aggregating the data together, and “they found out…the reason why people were leaving was that employers were just finding it too hard to get work done” – basically “the processes were too cumbersome, there was too administration”, and “people were just getting fed up that they couldn’t do their job properly”.

Now this company has spotted the trend, they can act to improve “the operating efficiency of [their] business; putting in new tools or processes”.

Of course, it is crucial that employers continue to track resignations to find out if the changes made are making a real difference to employees’ lives over time.

Organizations could also think about adding a question on the particular attrition issue in their employee engagement surveys. This helps to ensure they aren’t just dealing with issues once employees have already left, but stopping attrition in its tracks.

There’s a data skills shortage

Of course, employers are not just grappling with a talent shortage and the ‘Great Resignation’, but also a skills shortage, particularly in the realm of tech.

Tableau and Forrester surveyed 2,000 leaders and employees across 10 countries. The research identified that while 82% of leaders expect all employees to have basic data literacy, only 47% of employees say they have been offered data training by their employer. In addition, just 26% of basic skills training is company-wide.

This is a major issue for employers as it means that although they might be providing tools like Tableau, employees are ill-equipped to actually use data and analytics to improve their decision-making. 69% of leaders acknowledged this fact in the Forrester study.

Another concern for organizations is a lack of data upskilling is a major cause of the ‘Great Resignation’ ??? – 74% said they were more likely to stay at an organization that invests in their data skills. This corroborates other research that shows that career development opportunities are an important motivator of employees looking for new jobs.

Ultimately, for Pell, “if we can help everyone in the organization see and understand data, and have better insights, then companies can be more productive. Employers are going to be happier, they’re going to be more engaged, and they’re going to feel more empowered to help their business”.

Inside Tableau’s workplace

The conversation around data’s role in talent attraction and retention, as well as the need for better skills, led Pell to reflect on some of Tableau and Salesforce’s wins as an employer. What can other companies learn from Salesforce’s example, particularly around data and analytics?

Salesforce is laser-focused on using employee listening – through its annual Great Insights Survey – to drive meaningful change.

Pell explains: “Once we receive the data back…various teams…use Tableau to dig in and find insights to drive our actions [based] on what our people are telling us.”

One core theme arising from recent studies is that “flexibility is very important” to employees; this is why Salesforce has implemented its Success from Anywhere strategy.

Ultimately, there is no return to office mandate at the tech giant, instead, each team decides what works best for them, “including how many days a week they come into the office and what kind of work they’ll continue to do at home”, Pell explains.

Employees also really appreciated Salesforce’s ‘async week’, “where we asked employees to cancel routine meetings to create space for more deep, focused work”. Around a quarter of workers took part, and 80% of them enjoyed it and asked for it to be repeated quarterly.

Salesforce’s Trailblazer Ranch was another idea that stemmed from the insights survey. Employees told Salesforce that although they wanted to continue to work from home (at least some of the week), they also missed in-person connection and socializing opportunities with their colleagues.

So, the ‘future of connection’ was borne, according to CPO Brent Hyder, the Ranch is “an exciting new gathering place where employees can forge trusted relationships with their colleagues, learn from one another, get inspired, grow in their career, get trained on the company, and give back to the community in a fun and safe environment”.

Being a purpose-driven organization

But it is not just taking action on surveys that makes Salesforce – and Tableau by extension – a great place to work. The company’s values and its focus on learning and development, particularly in technology through its Trailhead offering, are also key.

“We have a very values-driven business”, shares Pell. “I think what attracts great talent to Salesforce are those core values” of trust, customer success, innovation, equality and sustainability.

“Diversity, equity, equality, and inclusion are a really big focus for us. We really want to be representative of the community around us”, adds Pell. As a result, Salesforce is continually innovating in this space so it can become the world’s most inclusive company.

This week the tech giant decided to update its 2019 diversity goals – its new aim is to reach 40% of female and non-binary employees by 2026. The original goal was to have half of US employers from under-represented groups, including women, Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+ groups – currently 35.9% of Salesforce’s global employees are women or identify as non-binary.

Chief equality officer and executive vice-president Lori Castillo Martinez shared in a release: “We are re-imagining how, when, and where we hire – with equality at the center of our processes”, but also ensuring it retains female and non-binary talent with equal pay, as well as gender-inclusive benefits, including six months parental for all irrespective of gender.

Pell concludes: “Frankly, I think Salesforce is doing things right” in being “an organization where feel they can express themselves…and have a purpose”. But the company must not rest on its laurels and will continue to learn from the data and improve employee happiness.

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