In these recovering markets, I anticipate the following:
1 Employer emphasis is now shifting back to recruitment. After some of the toughest business conditions many organisations have ever experienced, employers realise more than ever that employees are the life blood of their organisation and can make the difference between success and failure. There is a fear however that employees have been ‘biding their time’ for the past year and may be now keen to test the recovering jobs market. A case for some urgent focus on employee engagement.
2 The ongoing strength of an organisation’s employer brand relies heavily on an ability to maintain communication with employees and address their concerns regarding the future and ongoing job security.
3 Companies are looking for ways to reduce recruitment costs. They are loathe to tolerate the high recruitment costs of previous years. Reducing costs however, is not about less communication and less marketing. It is about finding ways to be more capable and perform more recruitment tasks in-house.
4 The upturn will advantage those organisations that have used their time and resources wisely, to keep their employees informed and engaged with the company’s vision and confidence in the future.
5 A new style of company leader is emerging who is people-focused and can inspire a workforce to make deeper commitments to its employer. These newly engaged and motivated companies will be the new leaders in 2010.
6 Employer branding is increasingly recognised as an essential complement to a company’s corporate brand. An increasing proportion of advertising and marketing budgets will consequently be channelled into employee-focused activities.
7 Companies who define and strengthen their employment proposition will be favourably positioned ahead of competitors in recovering markets.
8 Recruitment companies will increasingly realise the value of employer branding to themselves and to their clients. They will stimulate closer relationships with practitioners of employer branding, particularly those with end-to-end service offerings.
9 Employees will expect their employer to be open and truthful about the employment experience and keep the promise that was made at the point of recruitment.
10 Organisations will realise that people are the essential fabric of their business and critical to future business success. Consequently they will have a deep desire to know employees’ present perception of the employment experience.
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
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1 comment:
Great article Tony. I am Director of MBA Career Management at a business school and I am trying to make the companies I work with realize the power of employer branding and ensuring that potential recruits know their employer value proposition. It's really a powerful concept that is quite simple. But it is always the simple concept that is the most difficult to implement.
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