How Enbridge Went From Annual Flight-Risk Models to Continuous Retention Insights

THE CHALLENGE

Democratizing data and reducing employee turnover

Enbridge relies heavily on data across all areas of the organization. And HR is no exception, especially when it comes to managing their greatest resource: talent. While operating under a strict security model, a lack of democratized data access was keeping them from achieving their overarching goals.Christine Velasquez, manager of People Analytics & Reporting at Enbridge, was using machine learning algorithms to identify flight risks among individuals. While this method did provide insights, it wasn't scalable and only available once a year. With Visier, Velasquez could access refreshed insights on a continuous basis whenever she needed them.

"Using Visier, we were able to focus our retention efforts on top talent and underrepresented groups, while assessing how turnover impacts our ability to meet diversity goals." - Christine Velasquez, Manager, People Analytics & Reporting

THE SOLUTION

Eliminating data bottlenecks with standardized, self-service access to data

Enbridge implemented Visier in 2020, and it’s now widely used across the HR department, with varying permission levels. “This data also helps us evaluate the effectiveness of the programs we run, assessing whether they are having the intended impact and identifying any potential negative effects," says Velasquez. “We can analyze the impact of various factors such as recognition or engagement on turnover, performance, promotion rates, or other relevant metrics. This involves combining experience data with operational data to draw meaningful insights.” Visier allowed Enbridge to establish a standardized, consistent, and sustainable approach that enables self-service access to information, reducing bottlenecks for the people analytics team. By combining and analyzing data from these sources, Enbridge can now understand the impact of factors like recognition and engagement on turnover, performance, and promotion rates.

THE OUTCOME

More efficient succession planning

One of the projects Enbridge is most proud of with Visier is their succession planning. Before Visier, they struggled with tight timelines and messy data that required extensive cleanup and transformation. Reporting to the board was challenging and time-consuming. With Visier, they quickly loaded and managed their data, freeing them from repetitive data joining. This allowed Enbridge to dive deeper into insights and explore new trends, something they couldn't do before. The ability to efficiently handle data and focus on valuable analysis has been a game-changer for them.

Allowing more time for data analysis and insight generation

With Visier, Enbridge obtained significant time savings by reducing the focus on manual data preparation and allowing more time for data analysis and insight generation. This shift aligned with their vision of focusing more on what the data reveals about contentious issues and the objectives and priorities of the HR department. “This change ensures that the time of our people analytics team is spent understanding and interpreting the data,” adds Velasquez.

Better identifying the root causes behind a problem

The most significant outcome Enbridge has seen from using Visier relates to how they approach decision-making within the organization. Velasquez says it’s important to look at what the data says whenever you’re faced with a problem, especially a contentious or controversial one. “While everyone may have their own approaches, feelings, and perceptions of the problem, there is real power in identifying the root cause to effectively solve it,” she stresses. Visier has enabled Enbridge to dig deep into the data to uncover the real underlying issues as opposed to just solving the symptoms of a problem.