How HR Can Win Trust with Numbers & Data
There is a sentence that sounds confident but quietly weakens HR’s credibility. “I can tell in five minutes if they are a good hire.” Most people who say this are not lying. They genuinely believe it. After years of interviews, they feel they can “read people.” The problem is that this confidence is rarely backed by evidence. It is usually a judgement made quickly and defended later with experience-based storytelling.
In Episode 8 of withBrio, Fermin Diez explains why this mindset is expensive. When HR relies on instinct instead of data, it stops being a strategic partner and starts functioning as a guessing function. Decisions still get made, but no one can explain clearly why they work or fail. His argument is not that intuition is useless. It is that intuition without validation is risky, especially when hiring, compensation, and performance systems affect hundreds or thousands of people.
Why HR Struggles to Be Seen as Strategic
Many HR leaders are told to “be more strategic,” yet they spend most of their time dealing with administration, conflict, and cleanup. This is not because they lack ambition. It is because they are rarely included early in business decisions. Dr. Diez points out several common patterns. In many organisations, HR does not report directly to the CEO. HR is brought into mergers and acquisitions after the structure is already decided. Strategic plans are finalised first, and only then does HR get asked to recruit or reorganise. When this happens repeatedly, HR becomes reactive. It manages the present but has little influence over the future.
HR Is Not an Employee Care Department
One of the most important ideas in the episode is also one of the most uncomfortable. HR is not primarily an “employee care” function. It is a business function whose role is to execute strategy through people. This does not mean ignoring wellbeing. It means understanding that wellbeing alone does not secure budgets or influence. Teams that promise growth, efficiency, or profit will always win internal debates if HR cannot translate people initiatives into business outcomes. When HR frames its work only as “support” or “culture,” it weakens its own position.
Why Workforce Planning Is No Longer About Employees Only
Dr. Diez also argues that HR thinking is often stuck in an outdated model of work. In many organisations today, work is done by a mix of full time employees, contractors, freelancers, project teams, software, automation, and AI systems. Treating workforce planning as “headcount management” no longer reflects reality. This is why he suggests that the function may eventually evolve into something closer to a Chief Resources Officer role. Someone responsible for managing human and non human resources as one integrated system. This is also why AI adoption cannot be left only to IT. Introducing automation changes how people see their future, their value, and their security. Managing that transition is primarily a trust and psychology challenge.
Why Data Changes Power Dynamics in Meetings
One of Dr. Diez’s strongest points is about how influence works inside organisations. When discussions are based on opinion, power comes from hierarchy and personality. The loudest voice usually wins. When discussions are based on data, power shifts. Arguments become harder to dismiss, even when they are uncomfortable. This does not make HR cold. It makes HR credible. Leaders are not allergic to people topics. They are allergic to decisions that cannot be justified.
A Case Study: Sales Hiring in Mexico
He illustrates this with a real example from his work. In one organisation, managers held completely opposite beliefs about sales hiring. Some believed experienced representatives were a bad idea because they brought habits from previous companies. Others believed only experienced people could perform fast enough. Both sides were confident. Neither side had evidence. Instead of choosing one view, Dr. Diez collected performance data from thousands of salespeople and built a predictive model. He then tested it in six distribution centres. The model predicted a 3.4 percent improvement in results. The actual outcome was 3.6 percent. After that, the approach was rolled out across Latin America. The important lesson is not the number. It is the process. Intuition generated the question. Data provided the answer.
Why Many Pay Systems Fail Quietly
Compensation is another area where assumptions dominate. Research shows that unfair pay demotivates people strongly. However, increasing bonuses beyond a certain level does not reliably increase motivation. In many cases, team based incentives outperform individual ones. And annual merit increases regularly disappoint employees, even though companies repeat the same process every year. These patterns are well known in research. They persist because few organisations test alternatives properly.
The Practical Method: Pilot, Measure, Scale
Instead of endless debates about what “should” work, Dr. Diez advocates a simple approach. Test small. Measure carefully. Scale what proves effective. This applies to recruitment, learning, engagement, performance management, and reward systems. It is how most other business functions operate. HR often does not.
Why Removing All Stress Backfires
Another important insight concerns motivation. Performance follows an inverted U curve. Too little pressure leads to boredom. Too much leads to burnout. The optimal zone is where people feel challenged but supported. Organisations that aim for constant comfort often reduce performance without realising it. Growth requires managed tension.
Where Intuition Still Matters
Dr. Diez does not reject intuition completely. He sees it as useful for forming hypotheses and for practising empathy. Good leaders notice emotional signals, personal struggles, and contextual issues that numbers cannot capture. But intuition should trigger analysis, not replace it.
Why Finance Is a Career Multiplier for HR
His final advice is straightforward. Learn finance. Most strategic conversations are framed in financial terms. Cost, return, risk, investment, productivity. HR professionals who cannot translate people initiatives into this language limit their own influence. Being good with people and good with numbers are not opposites. They are complementary skills in modern leadership.
Conclusion
If HR wants lasting influence, it cannot rely on personal credibility alone. “Trust me” is not a strategy. Influence comes from being able to explain how people decisions affect performance, profit, and risk. It comes from testing assumptions instead of defending them. It comes from treating HR systems with the same rigour applied to finance or operations. That is the shift Dr. Diez is arguing for. And it is the difference between HR as support and HR as strategy.
Want the full conversation on how HR can move from opinion to proof, from support to strategy, and from cost centre to value driver. Watch the full episode of withBrio.
To learn more about how brioHR can transform your HR processes, check out BrioHR’s website or request a demo.
