Employer of Choice

Almost 20% of the hits on my branding & communication company's website are from organisations seeking information on employer branding!

Is this 1/.symptomatic of there being no suitable job candidates out there or 2/.are companies afraid that they are just not perceived as great employment opportunities?

Is 1/. or 2/. correct? They both are.

No.1 is definitely the case in an Australian market which presently favours employees as a result of increasing skill shortages. It's a highly competitive market out there, there just aren't the same numbers of candidates looking for those vacancies. The economy has been strong for a long time, unemployment rates are low, we've had it pretty good. Whether or not 2008 is going to be the year of the big recession and big change is still being debated and perhaps may never happen. So what can you do about it?

You focus on No.2

The priority task for HR managers is to attract and retain talent by gaining a better understanding of employment branding and the benefits it provides.

"If the people on the inside don°t understand and respect your brand it's highly likely those on the outside don't.

To become an employer of choice employers need to define, nurture and manage the image and reputation their organisation wishes to grow in the minds of employees. Employer (a.k.a. employment) brands must engage with employees, inspire positive perceptions and communicate all the great things about the employment experience.

All too frequently new employees' job experiences fail to live up to recruitment promises, prompting disappointment and diminishing respect for the organisation's brand. In order to retain and motivate staff, organisations need to regularly reinforce and consistently deliver the offer that was made at the point of recruitment.

It is heartbreaking and increasingly expensive to have a valued employee, one who you considered crucial to your future success, leave and accept a position with a competitor. No employment experience is perfect. There will always be reasons why employees become dissatisfied and look elsewhere for new job opportunities. Most can be overcome and tend to be the result of little or no assistance in helping employees understand the organisation's brand and what it should mean to them, not coping with organisational change and confusion resulting from poor or non-existent communication.

In our experience key requirements of employment branding that have arisen in recent years are:

1/. satisfying employees' work experiences
2/. positioning the brand in the minds of employees and nurturing a positive perception
3/. regular communication to inform and motivate them and inspire respect for company culture, vision, procedures, policies, fellow employees and the executive team
4/. continuing education to help them work better and achieve more
5/. recognising and celebrating achievements and milestones

Listed below are situations that are likely to prompt organisations to consider their employment brand and related communications. Do you recognise any of them?

> launch of a new corporate brand
> merger or acquisition of new organisation
> change in organisation's culture or vision, perhaps inspired by new CEO
> company restructuring
> launch of new workplace initiatives
> changes in internal procedures or processes
> employee awards scheme
> employee social and environmental initiatives
> launch of new products
> brand repositioning to fend off competitors or tackle new markets
> brand extensions add new complexity
> appointment of new CEO or management team
> workforce retrenchments and reallocation of resources
> brand needs realigning with core values
> brand perception gap between managers and workforce
> business units have differing perceptions and motivations
> new employee induction materials
> training materials
> graduate recruitment
> documentation of organisation's procedures and policies
> regular communications to inform and motivate employees
> intranet not available or not working
> launch of new products or interest in new area of business
> HR is overstretched and needs external help

As you can see from the above, your employer brand can be challenged on many fronts.

To overcome these challenges, stakeholders need to be able to:

> identify and focus on key issues affecting the success of the organisation's employment brand
> recognise the gap between current and desired perceptions of the employment brand and how it measures up to those of competitor brands
> seek professional help to generate ideas and solutions.

To provide clarity on what is working and what is not, I recommend you make the following a priority. Audit your branded applications and communications collateral. Determine whether they are building a positive perception of your organisation, its positioning, its products and its employees. Gather information from current and prospective employees and measure their perceptions and motivations. Determine where the gaps are and what needs realigning. With this insight you will be well on your way to understanding what needs fixing. How you fix it is the big challenge.

In my experience managers tasked with this employer brand review are 'too close to the coalface' to make an unbiased and objective appraisal of the situation. An experienced external consultant is often the answer.

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singpore.
tony@heywood.com.au
www.heywood.com.au
www.brandsynergy.com.sg

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