{"id":330,"date":"2025-03-09T21:54:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T21:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civitastalent.ap.applyflow.com\/uncategorized\/the-power-of-people-data-the-bgis-story-with-sarah-novelli-executive-director-people-culture\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T00:21:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:21:57","slug":"the-power-of-people-data-the-bgis-story-with-sarah-novelli-executive-director-people-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/hr-hse\/the-power-of-people-data-the-bgis-story-with-sarah-novelli-executive-director-people-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of People Data: The BGIS story with Sarah Novelli, Executive Director, People & Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to this edition of the \u2018Inside our World in HR\u2019. This week, we\u2019re diving into a critical topic for organisations and in particular HR teams. The power of people data and analytics and how it can transform an organisation is a conversation we hear alot. But the real test is in the detail.<\/p>\n

At some of our recent workshops and industry events, we were asked, \u201cThere is alot of evidence pointing to the power of data and analytics, there are systems and tools companies highlight as essential and there are practices and processes to follow, but, we would like to hear from someone who talks about their organisation and how they can advise on their journey. Do you know anyone like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

So, here it is\u2026<\/p>\n

In our recent HR Community Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sarah Novelli<\/a> , Executive Director of People & Culture APAC at BGIS<\/a>. BGIS is a global leader in integrated facility management services. With a combined team of over 10,000 globally, BGIS relentlessly focuses on delivering innovative service solutions that create value for its clients.<\/p>\n

In the podcast we talked work life, Sarah career journey and of course people data and analytics, a topic that she is passionate about and can talk real time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Journey to a Data-Driven HR Strategy<\/h3>\n

Like many organisations, BGIS, a global property and facilities management company with 12,000 employees worldwide, had historically relied on gut feel and anecdotal evidence in HR decision-making.<\/p>\n

That changed when CEO Donna Nelson challenged Sarah and her HR team to move beyond general trends and start using real data to drive workforce planning, retention, and hiring strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our industry, data is king. We use it for everything including monitoring field staff, building performance but HR was behind,\u201d Sarah shared. The turning point came when leadership asked for deeper insights, such as where turnover was occurring and which demographics were most affected. This shift led to HR becoming a key driver of business strategy at BGIS.<\/em><\/p>\n

Overcoming Challenges: Clean Data and Building Trust<\/h3>\n

As BGIS embraced data analytics, they faced two significant challenges:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Data Accuracy<\/strong> \u2013 Early in their journey, HR produced reports on Learning & Development (L&D) ROI, only to find discrepancies in the data. \u201cOnce managers lost trust in the numbers, it was hard to rebuild credibility,\u201d<\/em> Sarah explained. The takeaway? Always validate data before rolling out reports.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. HR\u2019s Analytical Capability<\/strong> \u2013 Recognising that HR professionals aren\u2019t always data experts, BGIS brought in an operational reporting specialist to build Power BI dashboards and analytical tools. \u201cI make sure to hire people who are smarter than me in their fields,<\/em>\u201d Sarah noted, reinforcing the need to build strong cross-functional teams.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Big Wins: How People Data Transformed HR at BGIS<\/h3>\n

    Strategic Workforce Planning<\/strong>: By analysing three years of hiring trends, BGIS identified that Q3 consistently saw a 23% hiring increase. This insight allowed them to proactively resource their HR team, reducing time-to-fill and improving recruitment efficiency.<\/p>\n

    Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Strategy<\/strong>: A key client, the Defence Australia<\/a> , prioritises veteran hiring. BGIS\u2019s data showed only 20 veteran employees across 3,000 APAC staff. By setting a 10% year-on-year growth target, they successfully increased veteran representation.<\/p>\n

    Retention & Internal Mobility<\/strong>: Data revealed that employees with clear career progression pathways had higher retention rates. This led to the development of a capability framework<\/strong>, reducing turnover by 8% in 12 months.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    From Insights to Action: Lessons for HR Leaders<\/h3>\n

    \u2705 Start with Clean Data<\/strong>\u2013 Ensure accuracy before making business decisions.<\/p>\n

    \u2705 Align HR Strategy with Business Goals<\/strong>\u2013 Understand company priorities and use people analytics to support them.<\/p>\n

    \u2705 Hire Data Experts in HR<\/strong>\u2013 Don\u2019t expect HR teams to become data scientists overnight bring in the right skills.<\/p>\n

    \u2705 Measure ROI on HR Initiatives<\/strong>\u2013 Demonstrate value to leadership by linking people programs to business outcomes.<\/p>\n

    \u2705 Make Flexibility a Business Priority<\/strong> \u2013 BGIS saw firsthand how offering flexibility retains top talent, especially for working parents and caregivers.<\/p>\n

    Looking Ahead: The Future of HR & People Analytics<\/h3>\n

    Sarah\u2019s story is a powerful case study in how HR can leverage data to make meaningful business impact. As we move into an era of AI-driven workforce insights, HR leaders who invest in analytics will be at the forefront of strategic decision-making.<\/p>\n

    Want to hear more from Sarah? Check out our full conversation on the HR Community Podcast<\/strong>: Listen here<\/a><\/p>\n

    For all insights, conversations and recruitment solutions, reach out to Civitas Talent and follow us here: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/civitas-talent\/?viewAsMember=true<\/a><\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s keep the conversation going! How is your organisation using people data? Drop a comment below or share your thoughts!<\/p>\n

    #HRCommunity #PeopleAnalytics #HRLeadership #DataDrivenHR #FutureOfWork<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Welcome to this edition of the \u2018Inside our World in HR\u2019. This week, we\u2019re diving into a critical topic for organisations and in particular HR teams. The power of people data and analytics and how it can transform an organisation is a conversation we hear alot. But the real test is in the detail. At…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr-hse"],"acf":[],"post_author_name":"","post_authors_type":"author_team_members","post_authors_from_team_members":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/1517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.civitastalent.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}