“How many of your employees would describe your organisation as a great place to work?”

Gallup Australia undertakes a Biannual Australian Engagement Study in Australia. It surveys the levels of workplace engagement of Australian employees. Although the most recent study relies on 2008 figures and may not accurate reflect the 2009 situation (which may be worse), the study reveals that 21 per cent of employees are actively disengaged. What is very worrying is that this is estimated to be costing employers $33.5 billion annually! In addition to this, evidently 45 per cent of these employees intend to stay with their employer for the next twelve months (ie through 2009). The big challenge for the employers is how many of their disengaged employees can be transformed into engaged employees, and how will they achieve it?

One question that is guaranteed to make employers cringe is “How many of your employees would describe your organisation as a great place to work?” It’s a great leveller and a direct reflection on how the organisation performs as an employer.

I believe that it requires some determined questioning to accurately gauge levels of employee engagement. It is not a subject to be taken lightly as disengagement has a direct impact on an organisation’s bottom line – more so than most employers seem to realise. The world’s leading drinks producer Diageo relies on six questions which employees are required to answer annually. With the best of intentions, I really cannot believe this is a sufficient number. From the answers it receives, Diageo determines whether employees are ‘engaged’ or ‘super engaged’. Evidently 41 per cent are in the ‘super engaged’ category. This seems to be supported by voluntary turnover figures which dropped from 18.4 per cent to 13.5 per cent between 2007 and 2008.

Conducting online surveys to gain insight to employee perceptions is of significant value. Sadly, in my experience not too many employers conduct such surveys and certainly not regularly.

The next level however is to hold ongoing face-to-face meetings between varying groups of employees and senior management to provide employees the opportunity to engage in open dialogue (and prove, despite rumours to the contrary, that bosses are real people). A live meeting with ‘real’ people is much more valuable than reading an inter office memo. It’s where clarity, understanding, encouragement and inspiration tend to come from.

Ask yourself this question... Are regular meetings between employees and senior management part of your organisation’s culture, and actively encouraged? If not, why not?

Engagement is directly related to employees having a great place within which to work and thrive. Open and honest communication is a key contributor to this.


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

Why do only 16%* of companies have a clear employer branding strategy?

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

A powerful business tool

Believe it or not there are still some organisations out there who don’t rate employer branding in the ‘must have’ category (yet). They don’t even realise they have one and that it probably isn’t performing quite as well as it should. Do they spend all their time trying to get more customers to buy more product and wonder why it’s one long struggle? Do they wonder why the big advertising dollars they’ve entrusted to their advertising/communication/keepers-of-the-brand aren’t getting the results they want... or are they just blaming it all on the financial downturn? Did they commission research to find out from their customers and potential customers why they aren’t too enamoured with the product/brand on offer and why wallets/purses are remaining closed? Did they ever wonder if it might be something to do with the fact that employees haven’t been quite as engaged with their employer and job these last twelve months or so?

Employees have had it pretty tough this year. They’ve seen markets fall, companies go under, unemployment rise, promotion prospects die a death, house values plummet and disposable income reduce. No wonder sales teams are distracted and disengaged, morale is low and they don’t quite have the same enthusiasm to engage with customers the way they used to. They’ve lost faith in the organisation and what it used to stand for. They’re questioning its ability to survive/grow/provide for them excellent career prospects. They’re keeping their heads low or, if they’re really worried, scanning the employment pages. And it doesn’t help if employers aren’t too forthcoming with information on what’s happening with the business, thereby leaving employees in a bit of a vacuum. The future for many employees is presently looking a bit fuzzy, and will probably remain so for some time.

Customers have a knack of picking up on changes in companies, products and sales staff. They’re fickle  and unforgiving. They want to believe sales staff are really enthusiastic about the product they’re selling, have complete faith in it and are being really honest about its attributes. That slightly disengaged look, the hesitation, the distant gaze, the forced smile, the curt responses... won’t sell product. The customer has second thoughts and walks away.

People sell products and services. They’re essential to the sales process and convincing customers that the brand is aligned with their needs and the product is something they really need to own.

There’s a big market readjustment going on out there. It’s called competitive advantage. In 2008 organisations were going at it hammer and tongs fighting the marketing wars striving to gain market advantage by optimising sales techniques, increasing advertising budgets etc ... all the usual stuff that goes on. This year much of that has gone out the window. Money is scarce. Everyone has pulled back so we’re lead to believe. Canny organisations however, those with vision who recognise that a distressed market is an opportunity to get ahead of the competition, are investing in their people right now to get them primed and pumped up to take advantage of the recovering markets and leave competitors behind. This is where the value of employer branding comes to the fore. Because as we all know... you start on the inside first don’t you? Unless you do, customers will never be inspired by your sales staff.

Unless sales staff engage with their employer, customers won’t engage with your sales staff, so they won’t engage with your product. And everything will grind to a halt. And we don’t want that now do we? I recommend that organisations channel some of those precious advertising dollars into something more immediate. It’s called employer branding.

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

Do employees have a high regard for a company’s commitment to CSR?

Just when you thought you’d mastered corporate governance... CSR arrives on the scene.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines it as ‘... the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development, while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large’.

The Australian Human Rights Commission describes it as ‘corporations having a degree of responsibility not only for the economic consequences of their activities, but also for the social and environmental implications.’

No longer is it sufficient to simply provide jobs, pay taxes and provide customer service. It’s all about your organisation committing itself to the present and future wellbeing of society, and actively supporting a sustainable global economy. CSR is widely recognised as a major contributor to company reputation – and we all know how important that is to business success – inevitably impacting on share price and product sales.

Potential employees are more likely to seek out organisations who can demonstrate a commitment to CSR. An organisation’s CSR activities can have a measurable influence on employee morale and retention. Employees who are satisfied with their organisation’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility are likely to be more positive, more engaged and more productive than those working for less responsible employers.

Ask yourself this. How highly is your organisation regarded in the local community? What measure does it take to protect the environment? Does it actively support good causes? Does it look after its employees? Does it have a reputation for caring?

There is increasing demand for organisations to be more open, more accountable and willing to report publicly on their performance in social and environmental arenas – no matter what their size or activities.

Common views on CSR range from...

‘It is fundamental to the positive reputation a business builds in the minds of its employees’

‘It distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses’

‘It is nothing more than superficial window-dressing’

‘It is an attempt to place more control over powerful multinational corporations’

“Organisations with no measurable commitment to CSR are less likely to attract top performers”

What is your view?


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

Disengage your employees and you disengage your business

In the present climate, your Employer Brand has to work harder than ever before, says BrandSynergy

Singapore, 12 May 2009 – According to the Singapore Ministry of Manpower report, the total number of retrenched workers rose to 10,800 in 1Q2009, up from 7,500 in the previous quarter. With retrenchments on the rise, some employers are beginning to take the backseat in talent retention and benefits with the mindset that times are hard so no-one’s going to be leaving – why should I worry about losing people?

“In times of rising unemployment, increasing insecurity and low business confidence, employer branding becomes more important as talent is key to growth,” says Tony Heywood, Principal of BrandSynergy Pte Ltd. “If you can provide an image that highlights stability, innovation and security during uncertain times, it translates to a positive energy amongst your employees which is in turn projected onto the marketplace. And during a recession, as others retrench, it is also a prime opportunity to pick up a few good talents.”

“Every employer has a brand. It is a perception that people have of the employer and what the company represents, and it is distinct from the product brand. At the heart of your Employer Brand is your Employee Value Proposition or your EVP,” Heywood adds.

This was shared with an audience of senior business executives and human resource professionals attending a special presentation on “Employer Branding: Solutions for Stormy Conditions” which took place in Singapore on Wednesday, 22 April.

“The EVP is supported by 12 pillars for a solid foundation – advancement, communication, corporate brand, culture, environment, experience, leadership, people, recruitment, remuneration & benefits, values & corporate social responsibility and work-life integration.”

Earlier this year, BrandSynergy launched the EmployerBrandGuidanceSystem in Asia, a 9-stage end-to-end Employer Branding Process where companies are provided the tools to begin discovering, implementing, monitoring and measuring their EVP progress (Please refer to Annex I).

Few companies have a good grasp on the external and internal perceptions of their organisation as a good employer. To determine what your EVP is, the System offers a TeamPlan survey that can be conducted either by an online/offline questionnaire or in focus groups.

The participants at the presentation took part in a TeamPlan exercise where they responded to a few key questions like “What HR-related challenges is your organisation presently encountering?” and “What aspects of your employer brand do you believe can be improved?”. They experienced first-hand the process of clustering responses where prevalent thoughts and emotions emerge, revealing rising issues, like communication, empowerment and staff benefits.

“One of the common and recurrent issues we encounter is the ineffectiveness of internal communications. Employers who are too busy to communicate with their employees foster disengagement, and de-motivated people will under-perform inevitably, putting your company off its track. An employer brand reflects both the functional and emotional components of your EVP. Employers today face new challenges with greater staff expectations beyond just functional components like salaries, hours of work, parking facilities and training. Employees are more cognizant and discerning of the company’s corporate culture, environment and values as well as advancement opportunities within,” said Heywood.

Quoting John Quelch, Professor at Harvard Business School: “Branding your company as the best place to work during a recession is critical. Top talent is looking, especially now. When you start to grab these players during a recession, it will positively impact productivity.”


Karen Fong
Managing Editor
Equity Communications
Singapore

Chicken rice and workshops in Singapore

Friday 24 April 2009 and my creative director Neil Cookson and I are just back from a successful 4-day mission in 34 degree heat to our BrandSynergy Singapore office. Thank heaven for air conditioning. With the help of my partner Max Chia and other members of our fabulous Singapore office team, we held our inaugural BrandSynergy employer branding workshops at the Rendezvous Hotel for 20 companies ranging from large corporates including HSBC and Singapore Press Holdings to medium size enterprises and government entities. Singapore, although an island of modest size, is host to 150,000 SMEs who contribute significantly to the GDP, and receive much encouragement from government agencies IE Singapore and Spring, who actively support these SMEs across a wide range of business building activities including branding advice and support. Our discussions with a delightful gentleman from Spring highlighted the branding grants available through its Brandpact initiative to Singaporean companies, which can cover 50-70% of the costs associated with an approved branding exercise. Hello, are you listening Australia - please take note! In the past two years Spring has approved grants for 120+ businesses. Of particular note is that Spring is presently experiencing a surge in enquiries from businesses wishing to build their brand to the next level. This is the result of a recent awareness program and seemingly the fact that Singaporean companies with whom I have spoken have switched on to the rare opportunity provided by the present downturn to step back, focus on the future, prepare their businesses for the upturn and achieve competitive advantage. The rest of the world please take note.

What did we learn from the workshops and the interactions we had with attendees?

1/. Positive feedback from attendees suggests that we have a powerful employer branding offer that is attuned to helping Singapore businesses build strong employer brands that optimise their recruitment and engagement activities and enable them to attract and retain top talent.

2/. Singapore companies are showing more interest in employer branding and its benefits than their Sydney counterparts.

3/. Information gleaned by us from pre-workshop attendee questionnaires indicated almost all organisations had no creative proposition with which to underpin and promote their employee-related activities.

4/. More worryingly, the majority had not defined their Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

5/. The workshops reinforced that regardless of where a business is located - in Europe, Asia, the Americas or wherever - it will be facing very similar employer branding challenges and have very similar opportunities to make improvements. Human beings generally think and behave in similar ways and have similar aspirations and desires when it comes to their employer, their job and their career prospects.

6/. Any work undertaken to create or improve an employer brand must be taken seriously and accomplished within a carefully managed process, not just on an ad hoc basis - our EmployerBrandGuidanceSystem was created to do just this.

7/. Any employer branding activities can only be accomplished with a very clear understanding of what your employees are presently thinking, as their perceptions of their employer will undoubtedly have changed as a result of the downturn - moderately in some cases, critically in others. This can be accomplished in two ways:
> Online employee survey - a multiple question survey where employees are instructed to complete an anonymous online survey is a fast and effective way to identify what employees are thinking, what are their perceptions of their employer and prospects for the future, and to gain their ideas on what improvements that can be made and how to make them. Results we have gained from such surveys have ranged from predictable to alarming, in many cases requiring urgent remedial action. Without this knowledge and insight it is next to impossible for us to offer recommendations for a way forward.
> TeamPlanSystem process - where employment insight and ideas need to be sourced from smaller groups of people, or new employer brand initiatives introduced to them, our tried and tested process which we trialled with the workshop attendees is the definitive way of achieving this.

8/. Attendees expressed keen interest in our ‘12 pillars’ EVP model. Our process of defining an organisation’s EVP identifies the core strengths and weaknesses of the organisation as an employer... and therefore which ‘pillars’ need to be improved.

9/. Recruitment remains a challenging proposition even in a downturn where emphasis is now firmly on retention of talent. It remains a costly exercise and one where a creative proposition - visual and verbal - plays a crucial role in attracting job candidates, positioning the employer and establishing a consistent and recognisable brand presence.

10/. As one attendee with a DIY store chain is experiencing - the ability to fully engage with customers and achieve high levels of brand loyalty and differentiation relies not only on a strong corporate brand but also on sales personnel who are fully motivated and engaged by the brand and possess a clear understanding of what the company brand represents and how it can benefit the customer. Engaged sales personnel lead to satisfied customers.

11/. Communication is critical. Without it all efforts to build a strong employer brand will come to nothing. Employees need to be informed. They need to know what the company leaders and managers are thinking and planning, particularly in trying times. They need to have reinforced to them constantly the important role they play in the company’s future. And this needs to be achieved with language they understand in a medium that is easily accessible.

12/. Investing in the development of a strong employer brand, whether you are a large corporation or an SME is not an option. For some it is a survival requirement. For some it is the sole means to achieve competitive advantage.


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

“We just don’t think employer branding will work for us right now!”

Despite there always being sceptics out there pathologically committed to an alternative viewpoint, employer branding makes a lot of sense for companies right now. The continuing downturn means that many of them will not be actively seeking new employees to facilitate growth strategies and replace non performers or mobile high performers for another 12 months. The recruitment frenzy of 2008 is now but a distant memory.

... in our day-to-day interactions we’re identifying so many companies who are doing so little to address the need to communicate with, engage and retain their best people.

The ‘new order’ of 2009 is characterised by clamp downs on hiring and new focus on finding ways to keep valuable people in their seats. For some companies this may mean a handful of people, for other companies the entire workforce – depending on the nature and size of the business, products/services delivered etc. Considering the severity of the downturn and the corresponding delicate financial position of many businesses, I find it surprising that, while the majority of companies are responsive to my company’s offer of assistance, in our day-to-day interactions we’re identifying so many who are doing so little to address the need to communicate with, engage and retain their best people. I’m sure my company is not the exception to this in the world of consultancy, so what can be causing it? Here are a few reasons/excuses that I have been made aware of:

> A basic lack of awareness of employer branding, its benefits and value
> Scepticism of what it can achieve
> Company clamp down on all spending so no available funds to initiate work in this area
> Previous bad experience with recruitment/advertising consultants
> Belief that the company is too small for employer branding activities
> Recovery efforts totally focused on product sales, not employees
> Activities thwarted by narrow vision HR Manager
> CEO has internalised all employee-focus activities and closed the door
> Company in dire financial straits and beyond help
> Too much reliance on incumbent recruitment agency to “get us out of this mess”
> “We’ve already got a recruitment website thank you”

When it comes to survival and the opportunity to get ahead once markets recover, guess where these guys are going to end up? Recessions can be ruthless when it comes to selecting those companies who just aren’t physically or mentally capable of surviving. For many, investment in tried and tested employer branding initiatives is probably the only lifeline that can stop them from going under, but it takes an enlightened CEO to recognise this. Some dwell in the dark, some see the light.

For a consultancy like ours, this reluctance or inability to seek help is very frustrating, when so many companies have sufficient knowledge and insight to converse intelligently on the subject, have a good understanding of what they need and recognise the urgency with which they need to make a decision and commission help. This doesn’t stop us from wanting to help. So we’ve decided to create an ‘Employer Branding for Beginners’ workshop to test the market. I will report back in a later post with the results of this initiative.

Perhaps we overestimate the ability of companies to grasp the benefits, or is it just a built-in reluctance to ask for help? Let’s find out.

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