Andrea Alexander
CHRO
Coterra Energy
Episode 289
Stop Chasing Comp: Learning & Development is the Real Talent Magnet
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleFebruary 25, 2025 · 14:36
Thesis
“Prioritizing employee learning and development over solely focusing on compensation is key to long-term talent retention and engagement, advocating for a balanced, data-driven yet human-centric approach to HR decision-making.”
Show notes
Ask most employees why they stay at a company, and compensation ranks high. Ask the ones who actually stay for a decade, and you'll hear something different. Andrea Alexander, CHRO at Coterra Energy, has the data — and it makes a provocative case: learning and development matters more than pay when it comes to long-term retention.
Andrea's path to the CHRO seat ran through a high school math classroom, and she brings that teacher's instinct to everything she does — the belief that the right framework, clearly taught, changes how people perform. At Coterra, she's built a data-driven HR function that starts not with dashboards, but with questions. What are we actually trying to understand? What decision will this data inform? She's an advocate for starting with even basic tools — a well-structured Excel model — before reaching for sophisticated analytics platforms, because the discipline of asking the right question is the skill that matters most.
Andrea is also candid about the limits of data. Numbers can confirm a trend you suspected, but they rarely tell you why. That's where qualitative conversations, focus groups, and listening sessions become essential — not as alternatives to analytics, but as the interpretive layer that makes data actionable. Her approach to development is equally individualized: one-size-fits-all programs waste resources and signal to employees that the company doesn't actually know them.
- L&D as the primary retention driver — why employees stay where they feel they're growing, even when compensation is competitive elsewhere
- Question-first data strategy — starting with the decision you need to make, then building the measurement around it
- Analytics without paralysis — practical tools (including Excel) that HR leaders can use without a data science team
- Combining quantitative and qualitative insights — using data to identify patterns, conversations to understand causes
- Individualized development approaches — understanding what each employee actually needs to grow
- Flexibility as a retention strategy — adapting programs and policies to changing employee needs over time
Built by People is sponsored by Previ, the private pricing network that saves employees an average of $2,200/year on essentials like cell phone and auto insurance — free for companies to launch and maintain.
What you'll take away
- 1Prioritize learning and development: Employees stay where they feel they are learning more than anywhere else, even if compensation is slightly less, once a baseline is met.
- 2Adopt a data-driven approach to HR: Start with a specific question, then leverage data (even basic Excel) to understand retention trends and evaluate policy impacts, collaborating with non-HR analytics experts.
- 3Balance data with human insights: Combine quantitative data with qualitative conversations and focus groups to confirm findings and ensure well-rounded, effective HR decisions.
- 4Tailor employee development: Avoid one-size-fits-all approaches; instead, understand individual motivations and provide both the 'skill and the will' for employees to succeed and grow.
- 5Embrace a flexible career path: Focus on being continuously challenged and learning, allowing for changes in career trajectory rather than adhering to a rigid endpoint.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Learning and development is more crucial than compensation for employee retention, assuming compensation is already at a competitive level.
In Andrea's words
“I absolutely do believe that learning and development is more important than compensation when attracting and retaining individuals. Now, your compensation has to be at a certain level first, but at the end of the day, people stay places where they feel like they are learning more than they could. Anywhere else.”
This is the core contrarian take and thesis of her argument regarding talent retention.
“So, I wouldn't say that every company should look at the same 5 metrics when it comes to HR. First, I would say, well, what problem are you trying to solve? Now, let's think about what metrics you need to have in place in order to know how you're doing in that dimension.”
Emphasizes a problem-first, data-second approach to HR analytics, promoting strategic thinking over generic metric tracking.
“One of the things that I learned in my first year of teaching is that no one wants to be a failure... And when I think about learning and development, my approach really has been, okay, what can I do for this group of individuals to get them excited about this thing that I want them to learn or the job that they're doing, and also make sure that they have the skills to do it. So it's the skill and the will.”
Connects her teaching experience to her philosophy on employee development, focusing on both capability and intrinsic motivation.
“Well, I think the importance is it's very important to have both. So I like to start actually with a question and then go to the data and then confirm it or let additional questions arise by having the human element there.”
Describes her balanced approach to strategic decision-making, integrating quantitative data with qualitative human insights.
“And I would just encourage everyone to make sure that you are challenged every day and you show up, um, as, as your best to demonstrate what you're capable of and have an idea of where it is that you want to end in your career, but also be very flexible about what that path looks like and be okay changing that endpoint.”
Offers personal career advice on the importance of flexibility, continuous challenge, and open-mindedness regarding one's professional journey.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR teams struggle with employee retention when their primary focus is solely on compensation, overlooking the critical role of learning and development.
- •Organizations lack a structured, data-driven approach to HR decision-making, often relying on intuition rather than measurable, problem-focused metrics.
- •HR leaders need to move beyond generic L&D programs to tailor development opportunities that address individual employee motivations and skill gaps, fostering both capability and willingness.
- •Companies often fail to effectively balance quantitative data with qualitative human insights in their HR strategies, leading to incomplete or misguided decisions.
- •HR professionals may lack basic analytics skills (e.g., Excel proficiency) hindering their ability to leverage data for strategic decision-making.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
Andrea Miller shares a little bit about her career journey
How Did Your Career Journey Begin?
Learning and development is more important than compensation when attracting and retaining employees
Employment Compensation and Learning and Development
I wanna switch gears and talk about metrics and data. I'm curious about your perspective on strategic HR decision-making
MSNBC: Metrics and Data in HR Decision-Making
Having worked across different industries, how has your approach to employee development evolved
Employee Development in the Global Market
What's your advice to HR leaders who are just beginning to build data capabilities
WSJD Live: How to Build a Data-centric Team
How do you balance the human element of HR with the increasing focus on data
How Do You Balance the Human Element of HR?
Andrea, what parting advice would you like to share with our listeners
A Few Words of Advice From Andrea Furnace
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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