Toil and struggle
The ongoing problems hiring relevant talent across the data industry was immediately acknowledged by members of the group, with one member from a healthcare retailer stating, “this topic is very relevant to us right now, mainly because we’re struggling.” The member then explained that, historically, their business had hired graduates for analyst roles and then promoted them accordingly to senior analyst positions. However, the issue is that the member thinks “the people we have within the team right now are either very new or they just don’t have the drive to get to senior positions… we’re simply not getting the calibre of candidate candidates we want.” Additionally, some senior data staff have moved on to other organisations because the field is so competitive, and the offers are hard to decline. This experience turned out to be a common occurrence for all members in the roundtable.
The member from the healthcare retailer stated that, simply, “it really does come down to what we’re paying… salaries are just not high enough to be competitive.” One senior data leader working in electronics retail explained that they had “recently seen people in [their] team leave, going from £38,000 per annum to £55,000 per annum” and that the demand for data talent is so high that businesses are willing to pay above what should be reasonable to fill the gaps. This has led to a rapid inflation of salaries within data, despite the quality of the staff and their individual skills. A member from the communications sector said that their organisation does not advertise the salary on initial job descriptions as they have “some flexibility” with pay amounts depending on experience and specific talents, but this was acknowledged as a hurdle that would cause some people to not apply for the position.
Then there is the delicate balancing act of not upsetting the team in place by bringing in new people that do not have the skills necessary to drive everything forward. Multiple members of the roundtable confirmed that they had been in situations where they needed new staff, but the talents within the hiring pool were not sufficient. One B2C member stated, “because I have someone who is very technical in my team, I don’t want another person who is very technical; but if I had someone who was very commercial, I would want someone who is technical.” A difficulty with data teams is that they tend to be small, initially, and businesses need a diverse set of skills to optimise their data strategies. A successful data team cannot be made from copy-and-pasted job descriptions as that leaves gaps in key areas, such as coding, vulnerable to being ignored or overcompensated depending on the applicants. Another member from the financial sector stated how their team, when hiring, examine “what are the attributes that you can coach? What about attitudes? Do the candidates have a willingness to learn with an appetite and a desire to progress? Are they open to consistent and ongoing learning?”
Data teams need to find candidates who are eager to keep pace with the changing markets and embrace the developments that the specialism is experiencing for job longevity. This involves close work with the HR office to create profiles that are accurate and reflect the gaps within that specific data office.
Pinch point pyramids
A common occurrence for members was that HR often relies on a system of bandings for different staff. This leads to problems where, as one member explained, staff can be offered larger salaries to move businesses, but the data team lead is then restricted in their ability to retain the staff as HR cannot provide more pay because it would place the team member into a new band. To receive a new band usually involves creating a business case, passing a talent board and justifying the cost, which is slow and frequently fruitless. “There’s a pyramid,” said one contributor from the retail sector, “the problem is that within retail people do not necessarily move up and progress that quickly, unlike the consulting side where you develop [staff], they move on and then they go and work for your clients at some point.” The member then explained their challenges over the last 12 months including having staff members being offered up to £15,000 more for an identical role elsewhere. One member added, “HR is trying to do one size fits all…we have got these banding systems across the entire business, and it is just not working for us.”
This then leads into the next HR problem. Frequently, job vacancies are often shown to have ‘competitive salaries’ without a firm number or financial band being provided. This can be a massive deterrent, particularly for senior analysts with specialisms where the pay bands can be incredibly varied. It was noted and understood by contributors that the HR team have their own benchmarking that needs to be adhered to, but this is detracting from finding suitable candidates to fill urgent vacancies. “One thing we’re doing is changing the title of the role from ‘senior insight analyst’ to ‘insight manager’, because they’re managing people, projects and relationships.” However, this seems to have raised a new issue for this member by creating a gap between insight analyst and insight manager where a senior insight analyst is needed thanks to the HR banding system used by the organisation. “We’ve raised this with our HR team to try to get them to understand that is just doesn’t work for us,” the member added.
A roundtable member from the financial sector added another consideration for larger businesses with international operations: different countries and regions have different levels of pay and different job markets. “In India, for example, we are having staff leave us for 100% increments at other businesses,” said the financial services member. “The market is so hot that they can get 100% uplift.” Of course, it is very difficult to justify doubling someone’s salary from a budget perspective, but there is also the question of whether that team member is valuable enough to warrant the salary increase. The financial member explained that their team examined their analysts’ rules to benchmark them against external competition as well as clearly defining the needs of the role to ensure candidates are providing what is needed. This helped develop new benchmarks to assess the value of retaining a staff member. “At some point, you just need to say, ‘I wish you all the best’, and off you go,” concluded the member.
Finally, culture is another aspect that needs addressing regarding staff retention. As one contributor succinctly said, “culturally, if the team feel undervalued or underpaid, you need to know that so you can address the problem.” As remote and hybrid work models become the norm, there is a concern that tell-tale signs of culture can be missed. A member from within a remote team highlighted that “in terms of identifying those flight risks, you just need to be closely attuned and keep your ear to the ground, because you can see it and you can spot it even in remote working.” Daily conversations with staff, asking for opinions and input in meetings and offering regular opportunities to voice concerns and raise questions can be easy wins to ensure data leaders are regularly monitoring culture.
