UNLEASH America: Panasonic on using people data as a compass

The acceleration of HR technology in the last two years has been remarkable. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of HR practitioners who have phased out old tech and implemented new systems for a turbulent time in history. 

Of course, changes can’t just be made on a whim, and during UNLEASH America 2022 Lydia Wu, head of talent analytics and transformation at Panasonic, has given insight into the navigating change amid uncertainty.

Speaking about how Panasonic handles data, Wu previously told UNLEASH: “What we do is we keep our research team and their data under lock and key and nobody sees it.

“But with that wealth of information now housed internally, we’re able to drive some pretty significant predictive analysis in understanding why people behave the way they do, and how certain policies will either benefit us or serve to be detrimental to what it is that Panasonic’s trying to do.”

The next step is using this data to make important changes.

Data and strategy

During the UNLEASH America 2022 show, Wu explains that data can inform almost all decisions within the business.

She highlights how effective people data is in retention, setting business goals, eradicating silos, and getting senior-level buy-in to projects.

Wu noted that the “fundamental reason why people analytics exist, in my opinion, is to be the voice of the workers. This is because your CEOs or CHROs and anyone who’s at the senior leadership level, probably don’t have the time to sit down and talk to everyone in the organization and figure out what’s going”.

An example of where data has been essential within Panasonic can be seen in its employees who are mothers.

Wu explained that when the company was thinking about its return-to-work policy, it was not just feasible for working mothers. In fact, if data hadn’t informed the policy, “last April we would have lost 33% of the working population who were mothers.”

This data has also been used to provide financial planning for employees and generate consistent feedback that drives the business forward.

To guarantee this data is used properly Panasonic anonymizes it, this policy also allows employees to feel comfortable giving honest feedback. It goes without saying, for any international enterprise, protecting data is an essential step. 

With data presenting clear advantages, the only question is when you will use people analytics in your business?

If you want more from UNLEASH America but can’t make it to Las Vegas, check out our website and our social media channels.