Читать книгу The HR Trailblazer: Unlock the Potential of Your Employer Brand - Christine OSB McLeod - Страница 4

“[It’s] the image of your organisation as a ‘great place to work’ in the mind of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).

—Brett Minchington, Chairman/CEO Employer Brand International

Most people think of employer branding as the employer’s visual promotion and communication of a desired image of the workplace culture. What about the ACTUAL reality for an employee working in that culture? What would your employees say if you asked them if the company desired image matches their reality?

There are many definitions of (positive) employer branding. Here is ours:

“An Employer Brand is the perception of an organization as a great place to work in the eyes of current employees, prospective employees and people external to the organization”.

It really doesn’t matter what senior leadership thinks the employer brand is; the reality is that they don’t get to decide. They can influence and create the conditions to maximize alignment, but the employer brand is “in the eye of the beholder”. In this case, the beholders are employees, customers and the public. The collective perceptions and feelings of these audiences towards your organization are what define your employer brand.

What does this mean in day-to-day HR?

It means in HR we have to pay closer attention to the tiny day to day details that become defining elements of our brand experience for our customers.

Let’s pretend we just waved a magic wand and we are the proud new owners of a ski resort. Our company brand is all about “fresh and innovative”.

As Human Resources leaders we should ask ourselves:

•What does fresh and innovative look and feel like at every customer touch-point?

•What does fresh and innovative feel like in daily interactions between departments?

•What does fresh and innovative sound like when things go sideways?

•Who do we need to BE to be fresh and innovative?

•HOW do we do it and WHAT does it look like?

Magic wand just appeared again. Now we run a retail store with a brand known for having a “small town” feel.

Now we ask ourselves: What does small town FEEL mean?

•Slower pace.

•Conversation is more casual.

•People remember your name.

•People congregate in spots to chat.

•People go out of their way to help each other.

Then we follow up asking ourselves with...

•Who do we have to hire to deliver such a desirable atmosphere?

•How do we share that vision with them?

•What practice do we give them in that environment?

•How do we listen for whether we are delivering our ideal message and image?

•How do we deliver that same feeling to THEM—what does “small town feel” mean internally?

•How do we create an employer brand that will attract individuals who share these values and can “live” them – “walk the talk” with others?

By working strategically on the DELIVERY of the organizational brand, HR professionals hold a very important role in the organization. Employer brand commitment leads to employee engagement which leads to… better results for your brand, business and bottom line.

Snapshot of an Employer Brand—WestJet

“[Sustaining employee engagement] is simple but that doesn’t necessarily make it easy”

—Richard Bartrem, Westjet VP of Culture and Communications

It takes commitment and stamina to successfully execute an employer brand strategy. WestJet Airlines, acknowledged multiple times as one of Canada’s most-admired corporate cultures and inducted into Canada’s “Most Admired Corporate Cultures Hall of Fame”, has invested 14 years or more in the process of supporting and maintaining its corporate culture and high degree of employee engagement, both key factors in a strong employer brand.

WestJet believes you must formally plan to sustain engagement. They have a strategic plan around culture, a strategic plan around care and a strategic plan around communication.

How do engaged employees affect the employer brand and WestJet’s recruitment efforts? “Existing employees realize what a unique place it is to work, and they’re the ones who are out there saying to their friends that they should consider coming to work for us.” [1]

Take an assessment to evaluate the strength of your employer branding

Brett Minchington [2] provides an EXCELLENT assessment to gauge how well your current employer branding initiatives measure up against best practices. His assessment questions follow; Read his complete article here:

Answer yes or no to the following (yes = 1 point; no = 0 points)

1.We have developed an employer brand strategy

2.We have developed a social media strategy

3.We have at least two of the following working closely on our employer brand strategy – HR/Marketing/Communications/IT

4.Alignment to brand values is part of our performance management system

5.We have an active coaching and mentoring program in place to transfer knowledge and build internal capabilities

6.We have defined our employer brand metrics

7.We have conducted research to determine the perception current employees have about our company

8.We have conducted research to determine the perceptions prospective employees have about our company

9.We monitor what people are saying about our brand online

10.We have identified the leadership competencies we aspire employees at all levels to have

11.We have created a database of talented employees who we would like to hire when the time is right

12.We have a dedicated careers section on our corporate website

13.Managers have access to a leadership development program

14.We have defined our employer value propositions (EVPs)

15.We have reviewed our EVP’s in light of the Global Financial Crisis

16.We have an active employee referral program which we promote to staff and external stakeholders

17.We conduct an employee engagement, satisfaction and/or climate survey at least once per year

18.We participate in an external annual best employers and/or employer of choice survey

19.Each staff member has a documented career development plan that is reviewed at least annually

20.We use an IT system to automate our recruitment process and rank candidates against weighted criteria

So how did you do? Are you in the very early stages (0-5 points)? Made a start (6-12 points)? Need some fine tuning (13-17 points)? You’re up there with the best (18-20 points)?

What should I do now?

(Or, “The HR Trailblazer goes into detective mode”)

1.Review your assessment score and brainstorm what the score means. Why did your organization receive this score? Did the score align to your perception of your organizations’ employer brand?

2.Take some time to ‘Google’ your company name. See what comes up. Look at it from the perspective of a new visitor. Go to Twitter, search your #company name and see what you find.

3.Make some notes about what words come to mind when you “touch” your brand online for the first time—are these words reflected in your culture and your HR strategy?

4.Brainstorm where the opportunities may lie.

5.Overlay what you discovered in #1 and #2 above with your internal business infrastructure—are there any opportunities to refresh, tweak, overhaul or redirect components of your internal business infrastructure? Examples include:

a.Marketing Collateral and social media/online presence—do the messages accurately reflect the true employer culture you have in place?

b.Employee Performance—does your employee performance system integrate brand values alignment? Do your performance management practices (discussions, feedback, goal setting, recognition, etc...) optimally support a highly engaged workforce?

c.Leadership—do your people managers possess strong leadership capabilities? Are they strong communicators? Do they successfully respect the individual and unique differences of their employees?

d.Talent Attraction—where are your primary sources of talent coming from (e.g. employee referrals, social channels, career site, unsolicited)? How engaged and involved are your current employees in attracting new talent? What are the images, messages and vehicles used to attract new talent?

e.Working Conditions—does your organization employ flexible work options? What technological tools does your organization use to support teamwork, collaboration, project management and internal resources (e.g. Skype, Yammer and Rypple)?

6.Keep reading to find out how you can get the ball rolling to improve your score!