Based on these figures sourced by the Employer Branding Institute, you could be forgiven for thinking that many employers don’t really care too much for their employees. Or aren’t they aware of this ‘employer branding thing’? Is it a new phenomenon in the developed world only embraced by the biggest of corporate achievers? Is it too expensive to entertain by ordinary companies? Will it distract HR managers from their recruiting tasks and holding exit interviews? Is it not on the CEO’s vision-for-the-future agenda? Was it a good idea that got swept under the carpet when these recessionary times hit home? Are employers sitting on the fence waiting to see if it can make the early adopters some money and keep employees in their place? Do they think it’s an overnight sensation and will be quietly forgotten in 2010? Is it a new Chinese idea designed to corrupt the minds of honest workers? Is it something those good people from McKinsey dreamed up in their lunch hour? Is it a crank idea published on Youtube by geeks working in the Social Sciences Dept at Manchester University? Are they confusing it with Facebook? Is Tom Cruise promoting it? Are they adopting the stance “We’ve already got a logo and a Flash website and we don’t need another one”? “We bought one on the internet and it only cost US$49”. “The CEO’s wife says that they should be happy to work for us”. “We’ll perhaps try it next year when we have more time”. “Our competitors don’t have one so there doesn’t seem much point in us having one”. “We have to get the car park re-surfaced which is our No.1 priority right now”. “We’ll have one so long as it doesn’t conflict with the staff Christmas Party”. “Can we have one for a trial period?” “Does it come with a guarantee?” “Our new uni graduate studied employer branding so I guess we’re OK for the moment thanks”. “Is this EVP stuff something your company has dreamt up?” “This other crowd came in to see us last week and they’re selling employer brands for $2,500, and they’re including a free course in NLP”. “Our sales team are dead against anything that takes up their valuable time and hampers their sales efforts”. “My PA looked at your literature, laughed and told me that employees only ever want one thing... more money”. “Sorry, we’ve already developed our own EVP with some help from our interior designers”. “We’d love to take you up on your offer of developing for us a new employer brand, but we’re just about to enter into a merger with another company – call us again this time next year”. “Our HR manager says she’s too stressed to think about employer branding right now”. “The CEO’s son is developing one for us as part of his school project”.
Where was I? Oh yes. You need a clearly defined strategy before you start off down the super highway to developing an effective employer brand. There are many potholes and a collapsed bridge waiting for the unwary. Just like M&A branding, the chances of success can be remarkably low if you don’t decide up front what and how much you want to get out of it. And it makes a whole heap of sense if the CEO and senior management are leading the process. It needs to be totally aligned with the organisation’s overall business strategy and not just a ‘one-off’ initiative from the marketing department. With some careful planning it will make a significant contribution to the organisation’s ability to attract, engage and retain talent.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
tony@heywood.com.au
www.heywood.com.au
www.brandsynergy.com.sg
*down from 37% – info received from Brett Minchington of renamed Employer Brand International
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