Tushar Pandit
Chief People Officer
SPINS
Episode 220
HR's New Mandate: Drive Revenue & Growth, Master AI. The Future is Strategic.
Current chapter: This podcast is presented by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern among employees
Built By PeopleApril 23, 2025 · 17:27
Thesis
“In a world of accelerating change, HR leaders must move beyond foundational data collection to provide strategic insights that tie directly to enterprise KPIs, focusing on growth and revenue per employee, while proactively fostering AI literacy and continuous skill development across the organization.”
Show notes
A PC or a Mac doesn't determine organizational success. The talent operating it does. That line from Tushar Pandit, CPO at SPINS, sounds obvious — but the implications for how HR leaders should think about their role, their metrics, and their AI literacy strategy are anything but.
Tushar's framework for HR analytics is built around three letters: RUR — Relevancy, Urgency, Revenue. Every insight HR presents to the C-suite or board should clear all three filters. Not "here's our headcount and turnover," but "here's what's happening with internal career mobility and promotion rates, and here's what that means for our growth trajectory." At SPINS, he's focused the people analytics function on the metrics that actually predict talent loss and business impact: IDP completion, internal mobility rate, promotion rate — the leading indicators that show up months before a resignation. Last year, 40% of the SPINS workforce was promoted, with a significant representation of women in leadership roles. That doesn't happen by accident — it happens when HR tracks the right things and acts on them.
His other big conviction: AI literacy is now a critical workforce skill, and HR owns the mandate to build it. Not by mandating tool adoption, but by creating conditions where employees feel safe experimenting with Copilot, Gemini, and other platforms — reducing the fear and building the fluency that will determine organizational competitiveness over the next two to three years. Corporate cultures, he predicts, will look fundamentally different: "mini networks of intelligences" across functions, with specialized expertise embedded everywhere. The leaders who thrive will be those who started building that future now.
- The RUR framework for HR analytics — Relevancy, Urgency, and Revenue as the filter for what HR presents to executive audiences
- Leading indicators for talent retention — IDP completion, internal mobility, and promotion rates as early warning signals
- Building AI literacy across the workforce — why HR must lead this capability-building, not just enable it
- Connecting HR metrics to enterprise KPIs — how to frame people data in the language boards and CEOs respond to
- The future of corporate culture — Tushar's prediction for how AI will reshape team structures and organizational intelligence
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What you'll take away
- 1HR must shift its focus from merely collecting data (headcount, turnover) to providing strategic insights, guided by the RUR framework: Relevancy, Urgency, and Revenue.
- 2Critical workforce metrics for talent and succession planning include individual development plan completion, internal career mobility rate, and promotion rate, as these directly impact employee retention and engagement.
- 3HR leaders must champion AI adoption by encouraging employees to experiment with tools like Copilot or Gemini, overcoming fear, and driving utilization as a new critical skill set for the future workforce.
- 4When presenting workforce analytics to executive teams and boards, insights must be framed as enterprise KPIs, directly linking HR efforts to business growth, revenue, and demonstrable ROI.
- 5Future corporate cultures will be characterized by 'mini networks of intelligences' across functions, requiring continuous adaptation to accelerating change and specialized expertise within each team.
What most organizations get wrong
- •It doesn't matter whether you're a Gen Xer, whether you were a boomer, whether you happen to be Gen Alpha at some point in time because Z's already in the marketplace now. When I come in, I want an opportunity. I wanna learn the stuff. What can I do next after 2 years or 3 years?
In Tushar's words
“a PC or a Mac does not make an organization's success or results. It's the talent in that organization.”
This quote emphasizes the fundamental importance of human talent over technology for organizational success and productivity.
“RUR, R-U-R. The first R stands for relevancy, then comes urgency, and then comes revenue.”
This acronym provides a memorable framework for HR leaders to approach data analytics strategically, ensuring their insights are actionable and impactful.
“Last year we promoted 40% of our workforce and good for us, they all happen to be women and also happen to be in women leadership roles up to and including the executive leadership team as well.”
This specific example demonstrates a tangible, positive outcome of a strong career mobility strategy, linked directly to diversity and inclusion.
“The days of physics and chemistry will still be part of the curriculum, but understanding or having a good solid knowledge of Python, dashboarding, AI, these are going to be the new critical skill sets.”
This quote highlights the significant shift in essential skills required for the future workforce, emphasizing data and AI literacy.
“I'm predicting that in the next 2 to 3 years, corporate cultures are gonna be talked about in a very different way... I see a cluster of many intelligences within an organization.”
This offers a forward-looking vision for future organizational structures and culture, driven by specialized 'intelligences' across functions.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR teams are struggling to move beyond basic data collection (headcount, turnover) to derive strategic insights that inform business decisions.
- •Organizations face challenges in demonstrating the direct ROI of HR initiatives to executive teams and boards, failing to connect HR metrics to enterprise-wide KPIs, growth, and revenue.
- •There's a significant skill gap in the workforce, with employees lacking proficiency in critical future skills like Python, dashboarding, and AI literacy.
- •Leaders lack immediate access to proactive talent insights (e.g., trends in one-on-ones, potential flight risks), leading to reactive responses to talent departures.
- •Companies are at risk of losing top talent due to insufficient career growth and development opportunities, failing to measure and act on internal mobility and promotion rates.
In this episode
This podcast is presented by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern among employees
Built by People
HR is about optimizing people's talent; it's not about technology
What Makes a CHRO so Special?
As HR leaders shift from data collection to strategic analysis, what are challenges
Analytics in HR: The Challenges
Everything is gonna be revenue per employee in the world of AI
Revenue per employee
How do you convert HR data into a possible thing
What is the Impact of attrition on a company's forecast?
Tushar says key workforce metrics are critical for talent and succession planning
Top Five Workforce Metrics for Talent and Succession Planning
Tushar, AI and automation are transforming HR analytics
How AI and Automation are transforming HR analytics
When presenting workforce analytics to executive teams and boards, it has to be enterprise KPIs
Employee Experience and Board Communication
Trishar: I think there's change fatigue in the workforce today
Trishar on Corporate Culture
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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