HR Analytics in Excel Masterclass
Provides practical, hands-on approaches to connect HR policies and practices to business performance.

Course Fee SGD1,795
Accredited by HRD Future and the Course Trainer
Offered virtually in two full-day sessions
13, 14 Jul 2023 / 02, 03 Nov 2023
Course Trainer

Fermin Diez
Expert Leader in Compensation & HR Analytics
Dr. Fermin Diez has more than 35 years of experience in human resources, which includes consulting, corporate and academic roles in 40 countries in all continents.
As a consultant he has advised major multinationals, large local companies and public sector organisations at the Board and C-Suite levels. He has also managed the P&L in several geographical locations and businesses. As an HR leader, he has been Regional Head of HR for two large MNCs in AsiaPac and in Latin America.
He is currently Deputy CEO and Group Head of Human Resources for Singapore’s National Council for Social Service. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Singapore Management University and at Nanyang Technological University and is co-author of three books: ‘Human Capital and Global Business Strategy’, ‘The Remuneration Handbook: International Edition’ and ‘Fundamentals of HR Analytics’. Fermin has also previously taught Business Policy and Strategic Planning. He has been teaching WorldatWork course for over 20 years in the US, Puerto Rico, Australia, the UK, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
He has served on the Board of the Jurong Health Systems, where he also was a member of the HR Committee. He was also a member of the HR Committee at the National University Health System Group. He has also served in the Singapore Management University Business School Advisory Board, Taylor’s Education Group Advisory Board, the Children’s Cancer Foundation Board and the Board of Directors of World@Work, where he is currently on the Global Advisory Council. Fermin is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of HR Professionals, where he Chairs the Assessments and Insights Committee and is the Dean of HR Education. He is also a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors.
Fermin obtained his PhD from Singapore Management University, his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and his undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Who Should Attend
Any HR Professional who wishes to go beyond the descriptive statistics and reports, and begin to link HR Policies to Business Outcomes. Particularly welcome are those HR Professionals that understand that they need to “get better at HR Analytics”, but find the current course offerings too heavy on techniques and tools like advanced statistics and programming language, and wish to have a more practical approach to day-to-day application to common HR issues.
Testimonial
Course Introduction
HR today must provide data-driven insights on implementing and executing strategy through people. The HR Analytics in Excel Masterclass provides practical, hands-on approaches to connect HR policies and practices to business performance, using excel as the main tool to carry out the analyses and visualization.
We introduce a framework for Data-analytical thinking; become familiar with available tools to complement Excel; discuss data collection, clean-up, and warehousing; practice building descriptive and predictive models; and get hands-on experience in applications for workforce planning, recruitment, compensation, training, career planning and turnover. By the end of the module, participants will be able to put HR analytics skills and excel to good use.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this 2-day module, participants will:
Session Topics
A Framework for Data-analytic Thinking
In this section, we will cover the principles of data-analytic thinking, including hypotheses building, visualization and storytelling.
Tools for Data-driven People Decision Making
The objective of this section is to have a look at available popular and easy-to-use tools for HR Analytics.
Data Collection, Clean-Up, and Warehousing
This section is about understanding data and how to use it. We will discuss structured (internal) data, big data (external), and how to ensure the validity, reliability, and generalizability of data for consistency and clarity. We will also talk about storing of data so it can be consolidated and accessed.
Data-driven People Decision Making Modelling
We will cover three main ideas in this section:
● Graphs tell stories
● Developing and testing hypotheses and models
● Data analytical thinking
Practical Applications
Turnover
This is where most Data-driven People Decision Making programs are focused in practice. We will look at a simple, yet powerful, way to address this issue.
Training and Development
Attracting staff is an essential task of HR. The objective of this section is to examine what it takes to ‘hire’ successful employees, in terms of quality, longevity and fit.
Employee Engagement
This section will consider the important, but elusive, concept of the ROI of training linked to business outcomes.
Recruiting
Link of employee engagement to business outcomes.
Pay Plans
Pay is the traditional “data-driven” area of HR. We will address the impact of pay programs on outcomes and look at a seldom-appreciated area of Rewards: Benefits Administration.
Career Planning
To illustrate the importance of setting career tracks and how analytics can be used to support this important HR process.
HR Policies Vs. Profit
To wrap up the module, this section will bring to light the links between HR policies and company profitability
NOTE: Participants will be provided with slides for all lectures, and the excel spreadsheets with the data for all exercises.
Suggested books and Readings

Fundamentals of HR Analytics: Diez, Bussin & Lee, 2019, Emerald Publishing. If you are interested in this book, you can purchase it through the following either link:
Other Recommended Readings
Business Analytics, 2nd Ed; Evans, 2017, Pearson (BA).
Retooling HR; Boudreau, 2010, HBR Press (RHR).
Human Capital Analytics; Pease, Byerly & Fitz-enz, 2013, Wiley (HCA).
The Power of People; Guenole, Ferrar & Feinzig, 2017, Pearson (POP).
Making Human Capital Analytics Work; Phillips & Phillips, 2015, McGraw-Hill (MHCAW).
Data Science for Business; Provost & Fawcett, 2013, O’Reilly (DSB).
Statistical Analysis: Microsoft Excel; 2013 (SA).