Co-Author of Excellence in People Analytics | People Analytics leader | Director, Insight222 & myHRfuture.com | Conference speaker | Host, Digital HR Leaders Podcast

I am a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work.

My main role is as an Executive Director at Insight222. Our clients include several Fortune100 firms and through 'The People Analytics Program', we help member organisations create more value and better employee experience through the wise and ethical use of people analytics. The consumer side of Insight222 - myHRfuture.com - provides training for HR professionals in 'future-oriented' topics.

WRITING | PODCASTING
I write regularly about people analytics and its role in the future of work and the evolution of the HR function. My articles are published on LinkedIn and myHRfuture.com. Subscribe to my Digital HR Leaders newsletter and podcast via myHRfuture: https://www.myhrfuture.com/subscribe 

SPEAKING
I am fortunate to speak at and chair conferences all over the world. Recent and upcoming speaking engagements include:
- UNLEASH World (Paris, Oct 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019)
- UNLEASH America (Las Vegas, May 2025)
- Workday Rising Europe (2024, 2023 and 2022), Workday Rising US (2024)
- People Analytics World (London, 2014-2025), Zurich 2025, 2024, New York 2025, 2024 Amsterdam, 2023)
- Wharton People Analytics Conference (2025)
- Workhuman Live (London, 2025)
- People Matters TechHR India (Delhi, 2025)
- Visier Outsmart (London, 2024)
- HR4results by Gupy (São Paulo, Jun 2023)
- HR Tech by HR Nørge (Oslo, May 2023)

GET IN TOUCH
Please feel free to follow me here on LinkedIn and subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter - Data Driven HR Monthly. 

If you would like to book me as a speaker/chair, please contact me at dgreen@zandel.org.

If you are a people analytics leader or CHRO interested in joining Insight222's People Analytics Program, or finding about more about how we upskill HR professionals in data literacy, please get in touch at david.green@insight222.com.  

For my full biography, please visit davidrgreen.com.

David Green 🇺🇦

What are the key opportunities for the HR function in 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣?

My article, 12 Opportunities for HR in 2026 presents the first ten (see images created through NotebookLM), which are all centred on the theme: Building Organisations That Thrive In The Agentic Age.

🎙️ HAVE YOUR SAY
As in previous years, I’m looking to you – the community – to crowdsource the final two opportunities.

If you were to add one opportunity HR must focus on in 2026, what would it be - and why?

✅ Read the article – and the ten opportunities I have detailed thus far – and then share your ideas in the comments of the main article: https://lnkd.in/eae-Kvq4

I’ll synthesise the strongest contributions into two additional opportunities - #11 and #12 - in an update of this article in the New Year.

🙏 Thanks in advance to all who decide to contribute.

🎙️ “Trust, integrity and connection aren’t soft values — they’re performance multipliers”

These words from Katarina Berg feature in the January edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, which brings together the HR, people analytics, AI and future of work resources that caught my eye over the month.

Lenin’s observation that: “There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen”, certainly holds true for the first month of 2026. I’m sure – like me – many of you are worn out after a rollercoaster of a month.

🔎 Hopefully, the content in this edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly should prove a welcome distraction from world events. Selections include Josh Bersin (on the “great reinvention of HR”), the latest report from the World Economic Forum (on four scenarios for the future of jobs), McKinsey (on the need to invest in “brain capital”) and Insight222 (on how AI is shaping people analytics functions and their work).

🙏 Thank you to Chris Eigeland and the Go1 team for sponsoring the January edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly.

Perfect for a Sunday read 🥐 ☕ 🗞

🔗 If you find the newsletter valuable, please subscribe here - https://lnkd.in/g8Awizjk - and share some data-driven love by liking, commenting, or sharing 🫶

There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen. It’s been quite a month. Lenin’s infamous quote perfectly captures t

Open article: The best HR & People Analytics articles of January 2026 by David Green 🇺🇦 • 30 min read

The best HR & People Analytics articles of January 2026

🎙️ "Work in the future will be a partnership between people, agents, and robots—all powered by AI."

In its recent report, Agents, Robots, and Us, McKinsey introduces the Skills Change Index, which is designed to illustrate the skills most and least exposed to automation in the next five years - as the workplace evolves with people, AI agents and robots operating side by side. 

The report is structured into four chapters, each addressing a different dimension of this shift. 

1️⃣ Chapter 1: The workforce of the future will be a partnership of people, agents, and robots  
🔎 This argues that the future workforce will be a partnership of people, agents and robots. While current technologies could technically automate about half of U.S. work hours, the report emphasises that work will not disappear — it will be repartitioned, with humans overseeing, interpreting and guiding machine activity. 

2️⃣ Chapter 2: Human skills will evolve, not disappear, as people work closely with AI  
🔎 This chapter outlines that human skills will evolve, not vanish. More than 70% of skills used today remain relevant across both automatable and non-automatable tasks. Demand for AI-related skills has risen sharply, while interpersonal, caring and problem-solving skills become even more important as humans work more closely with intelligent systems. 

3️⃣ Chapter 3: Entire workflows can be reimagined around people, agents, and robots  
🔎 This chapter demonstrates how entire workflows can be redesigned around human–machine collaboration. Real value comes not from automating individual tasks but from re-architecting how work flows — combining machine speed with human judgment, empathy and creativity. 

4️⃣ Chapter 4: Leadership is crucial as agents and robots reshape work and the economy  
🔎 This highlights the role of leadership in stewarding this transition. Leaders must invest in reskilling, redesign roles and workflows, and build trust in human–machine partnership models. 

For HR and people analytics leaders, the learnings include prioritising: building AI-complementary skills, redesigning work at the workflow level and leading a people-centred transition to an AI-enabled economy.

📙 A highly recommended read.

🔗 The study is featured in the December edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, which you can access here: https://lnkd.in/ex8Nfs5U 🔗

Agents, Robots and Us | McKinsey

🎙️ "If you measure success using old metrics, you’ll optimize for old outcomes."

In his comprehensive series - 'The Purpose is People: A Playbook for Reframing Modern Work', 🚀 Marc Steven Ramos 🚀 provides new tools and approaches to determine what work is suitable for AI, or not. 

Drawing on current research and industry practices, Marc’s manifesto emphasises: 

🔎 Agency over Automation: 
Workers must view AI as a partner, not a replacement, ensuring human oversight remains central to avoid the "competence penalty." 

🔎 Governance as Strategy: 
As AI is now making execution a commodity, the shift of power will move towards new Governance models. 

🔎 Systemic Redesign: 
As the Figure illustrates, using a new “Atomic Hierarchy” to reframe work at the systems level. 

🔎 Assessing Work: 
Using tools like Hierarchical Task Analysis for linear processes and Cognitive Task Analysis for judgment-based work to map the "atomic bond" of tasks. 

🔎 Deploying AI-Optimised Tech: 
Implementing new technologies such as "Magentic-UI" to keep humans in the loop and "Model Context Protocols" to connect enterprise data. 

🔎 Refining Roles: 
Leveraging Stanford’s Human Agency Scale that audits what tasks humans prefer keeping, versus AI handling. 

This is a “customisable playbook" as all resources and the entire series are available within the Google NotebookLM suite. This means you don't just "read" the information. You can query it, interact with it, create with it, and conduct additional Gemini 3 Deep Research.

📙 Highly recommended.

🔗 The report is featured in the December edition of the Data Driven HR Monthly, which you can access here: https://lnkd.in/ex8Nfs5U 🔗

🎙️ “AI is a force multiplier. The top performers adopt it earlier, get proficient faster, and pull further ahead.”

That insight from Philip Arkcoll, CEO of Worklytics, sets the tone for this week’s Digital HR Leaders podcast episode on what data tells us about how work is changing in 2026.

One of the clearest patterns is that many of the constraints organisations faced in 2025 have not gone away. In fact, they are becoming more visible.

As Philip puts it:
🎙️ “The same issues that slowed productivity before are now slowing down the rollout of AI.”

Collaboration and activity data shows why:
🎙️ “Traditional HR metrics miss how work flows across teams, functions, and time zones.”

Meetings are a good example. Despite new tools and automation:
🎙️ “Meetings continue to increase. Even with all the new tools and automation, we’re still seeing more time spent in meetings, not less.”

At the same time, managers are carrying more responsibility than ever:
🎙️ “We are seeing manager spans increase from five or six people to ten, fifteen, or more, and that puts huge pressure on managers.”

The implication for HR and people analytics leaders is clear. Understanding how work actually happens matters more than adopting the next tool.
🎙️ “If you don’t have a listening and measurement strategy, you’re flying blind.”

In this episode, Phil and I discuss:
🔎 Where organisations were getting stuck in 2025 and what is changing in 2026
🔎 What collaboration and activity data reveals that traditional metrics miss
🔎 Why decision making, not output, is becoming the primary bottleneck
🔎 How expanding spans of control are reshaping the manager role
🔎 What HR and people analytics leaders can do to diagnose and redesign work

🙏 Thanks to Philip for sharing his time and expertise, Laura Morris and the Worklytics team for sponsoring the episode, and Oceane, Jasmine and the Insight222 team for bringing the podcast to life.

🎧 Enjoy listening! If you do, please add your comments below and share the episode with your colleagues and network. Thank you. It really helps! 🫶

This week's episode will likely appeal to: Jeremy, Stela, Brydie, Courtney, Ashar, Aimee, Michael, Greg, Shujaat, Brian, Adam, Phil, Dan, Jacob, Andrés, Brenda, Kyle, Richard, Dan, Alexis, John, Marta, Paola, Ian, Blaine, Andrew, Manish, Ralf, Patrick, Michal, Amit, Abhilash, Nicole, Jaap

🎙️ “If AI is introduced as a cost-cutting exercise, people will respond with fear. If it’s introduced as a capability-building exercise, people lean in.”

In this week’s episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, Brian Elliott shares a clear, evidence-led perspective on why so many change initiatives stall, from hybrid work to AI adoption.

Brian is the CEO of Work Forward, a former Google and Slack executive, and now a senior advisor to BCG and executive in residence at Charter . He has spent years researching how organisations navigate major shifts in where and how work gets done. That experience comes through clearly in our conversation.

Much of the tension around return-to-office policies and new technology has less to do with performance and more to do with trust. Leaders often default to instinct over evidence, focus on presence rather than outcomes, and lose clarity on why teams come together at all.

As Brian puts it:
🎙️ “If leaders don’t trust their people, no policy is going to fix that.”

The episode also highlights a longer-term risk that is getting far less attention:
🎙️ “When you remove the early rungs of the ladder, you shouldn’t be surprised when you don’t have leaders ready later.”

Decisions being made today about hybrid work and AI are already reshaping entry-level roles and future leadership pipelines.

One theme runs throughout the conversation. Change sticks or fails based on leadership behaviour, not policy design.
🎙️ “The role of HR in all of this is not to write better policies, but to help leaders change how they lead.”

In this episode, Brian and I explore:
🔎 Why the hybrid and return-to-office debate continues to divide leaders and employees
🔎 What the evidence says about making hybrid work effective for people and the business
🔎 The similarities between hybrid work decisions and today’s AI adoption challenges
🔎 How AI is reshaping early careers and long-term talent pipelines
🔎 Why leadership behaviour ultimately determines whether change takes hold

Thanks to Brian for sharing his time and expertise, Philip Arkcoll, Laura Morris and the Worklytics team for sponsoring the episode, and Oceane, Jasmine and the Insight222 team for bringing the podcast to life.

🎧 Enjoy listening! If you do, please add your comments below and share the episode with your colleagues and network. Thank you. It really helps!

This episode should appeal to: cc. Julie, Hanadi, Dan, Shonna, Annie, Jeremy, Stela, Ruslan, Irada, Malgorzata, Narelle, Amit, Katarina, Dr Tomas, Marcela, Anne-Marie, Sophie, Lewis, Jason, Swechha, Jacqui, Devika, Nick, Alexis, Dawn, Angela, Sebastian, Patrick, Kevin, Jena, Amber, Jeff

🎧 What Tesla taught one HR leader about courage, power and agency

In this week’s episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, Kristen Kavanaugh shares a stark perspective on leadership, power, and agency, shaped by her time as Head of DEI, Talent Management and Learning at Tesla.

Kristen is the co-author, with Mike Randolph, of Courage Over Fear: Harness the Power of Agency to Lead in Uncertain Times, and the themes of that book run strongly through this conversation.

Kristen starts with a reminder that will resonate with many HR leaders:
🎙️ “Leaders do have a lot more agency than they think. What gets in the way of that agency is fear.”

The discussion explores what happens when fear quietly becomes the operating system inside organisations. Fear can drive short-term gains, but it weakens trust, narrows judgement, and limits people’s willingness to speak up or act with integrity.

Kristen introduces The Agency Loop as a practical framework to help leaders navigate tension, misalignment, and difficult decisions without losing sight of their values.

As technology reshapes roles, skills, and power at work, Kristen is clear about what courageous leadership requires:
🎙️ “We have to be willing to level-set with our employees about what AI is and what it isn’t, and be honest about what’s changing.”

She also reflects on the moment HR leaders are facing:
🎙️ “We are on the front edge of a transformation inside our companies that is once in a generation, and HR has to have a seat at the table.”

Kristen closes with a message that sits at the heart of this episode:
🎙️ “You have a lot more agency than you think you do. Don’t be afraid to use it, because you’ll regret it if you don’t.”

In this episode, we discuss:
🔎 Why fear-based leadership creates short-term gains but long-term damage
🔎 Why HR leaders often underestimate the agency they actually have
🔎 How the Agency Loop supports better decisions under pressure
🔎 What courageous leadership looks like as work and power structures change
🔎 Why HR has a rare opportunity to help shape a more humane future of work

🙏 Thanks to Kristen for sharing her time and expertise, Philip Arkcoll, Laura Morris and the Worklytics team for sponsoring the episode, and Oceane, Jasmine and the Insight222 team for bringing the podcast to life.

🎧 Enjoy listening! If you do, please add your comments below and share the episode with your colleagues and network. Thank you. It really helps! 🫶

This week's episode should appeal to: Manjuri, Memory, Shlomit, Katarina. Johanna, Dr Tomas, Dan, Sanja, Shonna, Erin, Al, Anna, Heather, Hanadi, Swechha, Brian, Irada, Amit, Shujaat, Marcela, Sophie, Lewis, JESS, Jason, Nick, Alexis, Dave, Catherine, Serena, Dorothy, Alexandra, Brian

🎙️ “Strategic workforce planning can feel deceptively threatening because it exposes risk organisations would rather not talk about. SWP only creates value when it is anchored to real business decisions with cost and risk attached.”

That observation from David Edwards captures the essence of this week’s new episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast.

David is a long-time strategic workforce planning practitioner and advisor, and the author of the recently published 'The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook'. In this conversation with me, he brings a clear, experience-led view of why workforce planning remains so difficult to do well, even as AI and skills disruption accelerate.

One recurring issue David highlights is the misalignment inside HR itself:
🎙️ “When they’re not aligned, analytics ends up proving things and workforce planning ends up predicting things, but neither drives decisions.”

As AI reshapes tasks and workflows, David is clear that organisations need to move beyond narrow skills conversations:
🎙️ “AI is going to change the work, and therefore it’s going to change the workforce. Backfilling roles is no longer enough.”

That requires a different starting point:
🎙️ “Start with the work every single time. Skills need to step back and let work take centre stage.”

And it requires broader ownership than HR alone:
“Strategic workforce planning takes a village. Finance, HR, talent, learning, strategy, and org design all need to be around the table.”

In this episode, David and I explore:
🔎 Why strategic workforce planning can feel threatening inside organisations
🔎 What changes when leaders shift focus from headcount to capability, capacity, cost, and risk
🔎 What goes wrong when people analytics and workforce planning do not operate in harmony
🔎 Why SWP needs to look beyond permanent employees
🔎 How AI is forcing a rethink of work design, not just skills strategies

🙏 Thanks to David for sharing his time and expertise, Philip Arkcoll, Laura Morris and the Worklytics team for sponsoring the episode, and Oceane, Jasmine and the Insight222 team for bringing the podcast to life.

🎧 Enjoy listening! If you do, please add your comments below and share the episode with your colleagues and network. Thank you. It really helps! 🫶

🚀 This is an episode that my strategic workforce planning network will enjoy: Jordan, Alicia, David, Eden, Toby, Jen, Dr Philip, Ross, Gareth, Jacob, Sandra, Rupert, Kouros, Alan, Patrick, Dr. Tobias, Kevin, Alex, Richard, Dan, Jane, Sebastian, Sebastian, Seth, Brian, Ashar, Adam, Andrés, Justine, Pierpaolo, Asaf, James, Lewis

HCM Metrics

Book an appointment with me now

https://calendly.com/david-simmonds/meeting

Chairman

Birkbeck College, University of London

PhD Candidate - Evidence Based HRM

THE GUILD OF HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS LIMITED

Freeman of the Guild of HR Professionals

Various

Executive education, business management projects, executive coaching, and board-level assignments with many organisations, including:
 
Amersham International  Barclays Bank  Bank of Malaysia  Baptist Union of Great Britain  Bloomberg  British Airways   British Telecom  CBRE  Calor Gas   Centrica  GlaxoSmithKline  Heinz Foods  National House Building Council   Royal Mail   Roche  Smith & Nephew   several NHS Health Trusts  Spurgeon’s College  Starwood Hotels  Thames Trains  Triton Investment Advisers  West Sussex County Council

Business Consultant

Universities of West London, Westminster, and Chichester

Consultant, educator, trainer, lecturer, researcher and supervisor of  Masters / CIPD students in HRM and HRD

Principal / Senior Lecturer

Several public, private and not-for-profit organisations

Executive education, management development, executive coaching, board-level assignments, organisation development

Training Learning and Development Specialist and Consultant

Chairman-HCM Metrics Freeman-Guild of HR Professionals

We are here to transform the workplace - for employees and employers alike! We're passionate about making every day something to look forward to!

The objective, International Standard framework of ISO 30414 HCM reporting empowers the HR function to take its rightful place in the boardroom, and for it to move from a service role by using data-driven evidence-based actions to take the lead in strategic organisational transformation.

This will enable the organisation to achieve its strategic plan. And every member of staff will enjoy the ride!

www.hcmmetrics.co.uk           Book an appointment now!     https://calendly.com/david-simmonds/60min 

Helping large companies measure the ROI of their HR function - #ISO30414 #HRanalytics #HRdata #HRadvice #Audit

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