Branding has always been an important part of every company’s marketing and advertising campaigns. The brand is basically the identity of the product that has some distinct and innovative features that makes it stand out from the rest. It gives the product a name that people can identify with and trust. This is how the product positions itself in the market and makes a name and place, thus creating an iconic item that consumers can trust and rely on.
Now that was all about branding. I will now relate it this to a very popular term that has become very rampant in the corporate sector for the past couple of years. The term is EMPLOYER BRANDING. The concept is the same but here the customers are basically the pool of talented human resources that the company wishes to hire.
In simple language it means that the organization or company wishes to portray itself in a manner that WE ARE THE BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR and this in turn will attract the best and most talented pool of resources. The employer will brand itself in a manner that they wont have to look for the talent, rather the talent will come to them. They will become a prestigious company that people will want to work for a will automatically attract human resources like flies to honey.
Interesting concept? Well yes, it is. But it is much easier said than done.
I have seen companies that love the concept and go all and out and spend, or rather waste money on fancy advertising and cleverly worded punch lines that give a feeling of ” Ahh this is what a dream company is made of” It makes the job seekers wish that they could be included in this fantasy like workplace where they will get paid and enjoy their work too. Usually the bubble bursts within the first month on the job and the new hire realizes that all that glitters was not gold!
The Benefits of Employer Branding:
Actual fact is that the concept is not only interesting but if it is done correctly it is quite rewarding and has long term benefits as well. The main thing that must be kept in mind is that you must know how to go about branding your company as an employer of choice and must be prepared to feel the heat when things will not sound as pleasant as you thought they were.
This will mean that you will have to actively involve your employees in all aspects of the process, and if you keep monitoring and refining each aspect of the work experience (especially those critical moments of truth), you will also enjoy the side benefits that affect your bottom line:
• Lower turnover.
• Less absenteeism.
• Higher productivity
• Satisfied employees and satisfied customers
• Higher employee retention
• Long Lasting reputation
• Good will and strong standing in market
• Active, energetic, self starting workforce
• Having and influence and say in the market
Let me give you a few examples of what I mean through my experience over the years…
PACKAGES Pvt Ltd.
This company is a very huge company that produces packaging material of all sorts. If u have a product that needs a package you have probably dealt with this company. Packages has such a huge name and standing in the market that it is a company that every one wants to work for.
Sounds nice huh? Is there a catch. Yep! You guessed it.
I have worked with and interacted with the employees there on a very micro level and got a chance to delve deep into the corporate culture and basic working environment of the organization. Being and outsider, I was shocked to find out that the grievance level was extremely high. It was totally adverse to what I had thought and had heard of. But since it was coming from the actual employees directly, it was the hard truth. (I will not go into petty details as my intention is not to tarnish the company image. I just wish to lay down some hard core facts and some practices that need to be revised and upgraded.)
I had a chance to sit down with the management and discuss this particular issue with them. They also acknowledged that fact that it has become difficult for them to attract and retain new talent and need to revamp their strategy. Packages had become a place where employees joined in , spent a while and moved on to a better company. The label that “we have worked in PACKAGES Pvt Ltd.”, was an excellent way to land a better job in another company. But it is Packages itself that has to bear the brunt of the situation. They are providing a talented pool of resources in the market at the expense of their own organization. Employees want to be recruited only to get labeled so that they can move on. Why? Why is it so?
The reason is simple. The organization is unable to deliver the promised and to meet the expectations of the employees. If this situation continues, they will be sucked dry of talent and may fall behind to their competitors because of this.
Human Resources are the vital component in any organization. You can have the latest technology, but unless you have thinking, breathing, creative and technical people to back it all up, your organization can never flourish. Once companies realize this, and acknowledge the fact that they need to change, they will be ready to embark on the journey of employer branding.
The First Step
My advice is… Please don’t waste your time and money on creating a glittery and fancy tall tale that you are the elite employer of choice, without conducting the preliminary investigations. You must make sure that what you are saying is true; otherwise you will do an excellent job of tarnishing your reputation beyond repair.
I quote the advertising legend David Ogilvy “nothing will kill your reputation in the labor market faster than doing a great job advertising a work experience you don’t deliver.”
You may be getting cross with me by now, and saying ” Ok smarty pants, how are we suppose to investigate all this?
Well ,as usual my answer is simple. Conduct a survey in your company to find out what your employees think about you as an employer and make sure the survey is discrete and unbiased. Also be prepared to listen patiently to the grievances, problems and issues that are mentioned. The tact will be to not take these highlighted problems and issues with a raised brow and vengeance filled attitude. Take it with a grain of salt and use this vital employee feedback to repair damages and build better relations. This feedback will be the foundation of your research and the initial step to being a better employer.
Ask your employees
• What kind of employer you are
• All positive and negative aspects of the company
• Ask them to compare you to other similar employers
• What facilities they enjoy and what more legitimate one do they require
• Why did they join this company
• What can the company do to become an employer of choice… etc
The main success factor will be how the company uses this information to design a better corporate culture and working environment.
Nestle Pakistan
Ok, I will now use another example to further elaborate what I have been discussing.
I have also had a chance to work with Nestle Pakistan on a project and had some very detailed meetings and useful insights from the employees there. I must congratulate this company on its successful working environment and the employee development focused attitude of the management. This is one company that has some really satisfied and happy employees. None of the employees I came across was ready to even listen to anything about leaving Nestle and joining any other company. They said that no other company could provide the work environment and opportunities that they had at Nestle. Each employee had a mapped career path, performance based promotion, was given a chance to take new initiatives, excellent learning experience, job rotation and augmentation. Employees were even given a chance to explore new departments that they had no knowledge or experience like an accounts person can be assigned to the marketing department just because he wants to venture and get a feel of that job as a change. This creates excitement and a drive to excel and obviously results in improved quality of work and productivity.
Another secret weapon of employers of choice is their proactive and motivating managers and supervisors. This level of management is the most widely ignored, but the most important in creating and sustaining a productive and complacent work environment.
I must quote Mr David Lee, “Common sense combined with research by the Gallup Organization tells us that bosses are the most important factor affecting an employee’s work experience. As Gallup’s research revealed, “Employees join companies, but they leave managers.” Thus, if you’re serious about actually being an employer of choice and not just saying you are, invest in leadership development at all levels. Make sure all of your supervisors and managers get the training and coaching required to know how to create a work environment that can make you an employer of choice. ”
Here I will quote Rebecca Clake, CIPD adviser, organisation and resourcing, says: “Employer branding is still important, and in times such as these it’s more important than ever. Budgets are under pressure, and it’s now that HR needs to demonstrate that it is true to its principles. If you cannot avoid making redundancies, then you will need to work hard to look after the people who are leaving and the ones who remain, to retain the impression of how good an employer you are.
To round it all up I just want to say that in today’s cut throat competitive corporate world every company should strive to have the best consumer brand and be the best employer brand. This can be done if we be more open and build better relations with our employees and consider them all as a part of one big family.