Welcome back to 5th episode of the Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast! Since we’ve gathered quite a few new listeners (Hey! Hi! Welcome!) let me start with a round of introductions. Co-hosting we have me (Alan Walker) from Udder, Toby Culshaw from Amazon, Alison Ettridge from Talent Intuition and Nick Brooks from Microsoft.  And joining us for this episode we have the amazing by Lyndon Llanes of Verizon. As usual, Toby kicked us off with a refresh on the happenings of the world of Talent Intelligence. His first update revolved around a recent report by Deutsche Bank. Their research suggested working from home should be taxed to help support workers whose jobs are under threat. Obviously, the report was met with some very mixed reviews, in general leaning towards the negative. With Lyndon correctly pointing out that there are no set of rules that decide who gets to work from home and who doesn’t. And how there are clear cost benefits regarding working from home, for both sides. While an employee doesn’t have to pay to commute, the company also does not have to pay for the upkeep of office space. So perhaps the tax should be split? Not just imposed on the employee? A new mandate by the SEC, around human capital disclosure, sprouted the discussion – Are we going to see more investment from the company in Talent Intelligence? Due to business wanting to provide the SEC with numbers that are healthy and good? While Lyndon and Nick both agreed the change that was long overdue, clean and usable data is still a very long way off. But I think Alison really highlighted the positive of this change: ‘I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS. I THINK THIS MANDATE IS GOING TO EXPOSE A WHOLE BUNCH OF ORGANISATIONS THAT JUST DON’T HAVE THIS TYPE OF DATA, NEVER MIND IT NOT BEING ACCURATE. THAT MEANS THERE IS GOING TO BE A DRIVE TO COLLECT DATA, WHICH IS AMAZING. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, THERE IS NOW A RECOGNITION THAT HUMAN CAPITAL IS THE REAL DRIVER OF VALUE WITHIN AN ORGANISATION. AND IT CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED. WE ARE GOING TO SEE A MASSIVE RISE IN TALENT INTELLIGENCE.’ Toby continued with his worldly updates pivoting our discussion to the new Tesla Gigafactory (what a fun word!) and the NewYorkTimes opinion piece – The Human Experience Will Not Be Quantified. ‘I’VE QUITE A STRONG OPINION ABOUT THIS. DATA ALONE OR KNOWLEDGE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE A DECISION. TAKE SMOKING FOR EXAMPLE. SIMPLY KNOWING THAT SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH ISN’T ALWAYS ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU STOP. YOU CANNOT SIMPLY LOOK AT DATA AND FIND YOUR ANSWER. THERE ARE ALWAYS OTHER THINGS INVOLVED.’ – LYNDON I then opened the floor to our resident hard-hitting interviewer extraordinaires – Toby and Alison. Who were very much prepared with questions like: ‘How does Talent Intelligence and People Analytics blend?’ and ‘Do you have any words of advice for companies who are just starting out in the world of Talent Intelligence’. As always we hope you enjoy the episode. Please do leave a review and a rating for the podcast (if you liked it). Your support really does mean the world to us and it is all we need to ensure this podcast continues to grow. Stay intelligent!