O.D Employer Branding by Nitish Arora

8/8/2019 O.D Employer Branding by Nitish Arora

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ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

ASSIGNMENT -2

TOPIC - EMPLOYER BRANDING

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

Mr. SUSHANTA BOSE NITISH ARORA

ROLL NO – 21

REG -10806134

LALTHALMUANA

ROLL NO – 15

SECTION – RQ1809



INTRODUCTION

The term employer brand was first used in the early 1990s to denote an organization‘s reputation

as an employer. Since then, it has become widely adopted by the global management

community. The art and science of employer branding is therefore concerned with the attraction,engagement and retention initiatives targeted at enhancing your company's employer brand. Just

as a customer brand proposition is used to define a product or service offer, an employer brand

proposition (otherwise referred to as an employer value proposition, employee value proposition

or EVP) is used to define an organization‘s employment offer. Likewise the marketing

disciplines associated with branding and brand management have been increasingly applied by

the human resources and talent management community to attract, engage and retain talented

candidates and employees, in the same way that marketing applies such tools to attracting and

retaining clients, customers and consumers.

Origin and adoption of the employer brand concept:The term ‗employer brand‘ was first publicly introduced to a management audience

in 1990, and defined by Simon Barrow, chairman of People in Business. Senior Fellow of

London Business School, in the Journal of Brand Management in December 1996.

While the term ‗employer brand‘ denotes what people currently associate with an

organization, employer branding has been defined as the sum of a company‘s

efforts to communicate to existing and prospective staff what makes it a



desirable place to work, and the active management of a company‘s image as

seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires .

EMPLOYER BRAND MANAGEMENT

Employer brand management expands the scope of this brand intervention beyondcommunication to incorporate every aspect of the employment experience, and the people

management processes and practices (often referred to as ‗touch- points‘) that shape the

perceptions of existing and prospective employees.In other words, employer brand management

addresses the reality of the employment experience and not simply its presentation. By doing so

it supports both external recruitment of the right kind of talent sought by an organisation to

achieve its goals, and the subsequent desire for effective employee engagement and employee

retention.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

2001 American Express, Cisco Systems, Amgen, Starbucks, and Intel, all of which have received

recognition on The List of 100 Best Companies to Work for in America are leaders in EmployerBranding as well. "They all share the common trait of treating employees better than their peers

in industries, and all invest heavily in employee training and development," states Horning.

Companies who don't invest in developing an effective Employer Brand will, in the long run, be

less financially successful than those who are. As stated by States Woltzen, "They will not be

able to recruit or retain the high- performing‖

2002 Gallup survey reported that less than a quarter of American workers are fully "engaged" intheir work, costing the US economy $300bn (and £50bn in the UK) per year. Gallup surveys in

Great Britain, France and Singapore revealed similar findings in 2003.

The surveys revealed that more than 80% of British workers lack any real commitment to their

jobs, with a quarter of those being "actively disengaged," or truly disaffected with their

workplaces. Gallup estimates that actively disengaged workers cost the British economy



between£37.2 billion ($64.8 billion U.S.) and £38.9 billion ($66.1 billion U.S.) per year due to

low employee retention, high absentee levels, and low productivity.

Gallup survey results in 2003 also showed that only 12% of French workers are engaged in their

work, with approximately 2.5 times as many workers (31%) being actively disengaged, or

disconnected from their jobs. In Singapore's workforce, the percentage of actively disengaged

employees is on the rise. At 17%, this figure is up five percentage points from 2002. Gallup

estimates that the lower productivity of actively disengaged workers penalizes Singapore's

economic performance, costing between $4.9 and $6.7 billion annually.

Recruiters in IT/ITES sectors are increasingly advising companies to hire expert help for

employer branding. "If you are not a first-mover like Infy or Wipro, then where is your USP?"

asks Mr. Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, one of the largest IT recruitment firms in the

country.

2002 Mr. Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, calls this a cusp activity between

HR and marketing. "Internal branding is all about activation of solutions that can be seen,

touched, felt and literally smelt by the employee every single day. Branding from the external

perspective is all about top-down branding. Internal branding is a very bottom-up process."

2001 Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, a Bangalore-based IT recruitment firm, says the

brand name is the most important factor at entry level. On a scale of 1-10, he says, most students

would place brand name on top. An opinion that is also influenced by parental views, he says.

"At campus placements, parental consent plays a critical role. Most candidates choose big brands

because of this, unless of course they have specialized in niche subjects like robotics which big

brands may not offer. Thus as per the organization requirements employer brand or the Trust

generating factors should be culminated in the system.



Benefits Of Employer Branding

The major benefits of employer branding include:-

Increased Productivity and Profitability.

Increased Employee Retention.

Highly ranked for Employer Attractiveness.

Increased level of staff engagement.

Lower Recruitment Costs.

Minimized loss of talented employees.

Employees recommending organization as a ―preferred ―place to work.

Maintenance of core competencies.

Employees committed to organizational goals.

Shorter Recruitment time.

Ensured long term competitiveness.



Improved employee relations.

Decreased time from hire to productivity.

The employer branding is an authentic description of an experience, similar to a consumer brand.

It includes pay, working conditions, culture, job title, intangible rewards, and the emotional

connection employees have with the organization and manager. It tells candidates who you are,

what you want, and what you stand for. As a marketer attracts customers with a compelling

product brand, a company attracts candidates with a compelling employer brand.

Think an employer brand is more than a one-way description of ―what it‘s like to work there.‖

It‘s a multidimensional conversation among the company‘s leadership, its employees, candidates

in the marketplace, alumni, and even outsiders such as the press, bloggers, and anyone else whohas an opinion. The employer brand includes:

The Company’s professional reputation

A description of company culture.

News reports about the company, both good and bad.

Word-of-mouth statements about the company.

A description of the company‘s future.

How the employer‘s brand compares to the competition.

Beyond conversation, it’s also a set of subjective candidate experiences, such as

Applying for a job on your Web site or via e-mail.

Interviewing for a position.

Talking to employees and walking through the workplace sites.

Using products, services, or customer help.

The company‘s impact in the candidate‘s community.

What emerges in the candidate‘s imagination is a fuller story than any recruiting slogan can

capture: it‘s an experience. Candidates pay attention to an organization‘s reputation and compare

it to other reputations. Employees are asked what it‘s like to work there. In the quest for quality,



employer branding is the foundation of attracting the right people. This is where the thought is

given to the new candidate comes together with the urgent need to bring great talent into the

organization. The new candidate, as noted, is empowered to compare the organization to others,

and start with the employer brand.

A typical hiring situation in which the employer branding makes

a difference: -

A mortgage broker, already employed at a bank, gets a call from a recruiter. ―Come work for this

leading financial services firm and make a lot of money,‖ says the recruiter. Instantly the

mortgage broker begins to weigh the reputation of the firm against current employer. Are they

prestigious or unknown? Are they thought of as a sweatshop or a fun place to work? Will one be

proud to approach customers with that name on his business card? Does he know people at the

firm, and are they happy to work there? Also might even think of their advertising, charity

affiliations, and location — all relevant factors in trying to judge the experience of working

there. If the answers aren‘t right, one might not even be receptive to the recruiter‘s pitch.

A thought of how hard it is for organizations in crisis to attract talent (except for turnaround

specialists) conveys about the power of employer branding. A reputation as ―a lousy place towork‖ is part of the death spiral that afflicts failing companies. It‘s a grim but true reminder that

reputation matters. People have affinities for brands. Those who use Apple computers, iPods,

and other devices respond to the brand‘s hip image. People feel different driving a BMW than a

Hyundai in part because they associate themselves with the brand and that colors their

experience.

An employer brand is a standard against which one can judge whether all the tasks around

attracting, acquiring, and advancing talent are working together. If an organization‘s efforts are

unified by the right employer brand, the company will look for the right people, create the right

employment advertising, do the right networking and other outreach programs, and explain the

advantages of working for the company versus competition. One will capture the candidates who

share values and will succeed, and take a pass on candidates (even talented ones) who won‘t



work out. Furthermore, an authentic employment brand is a challenge to the organization‘s

management to walk the talk; to manage daily work according to a set of values and standards

that identify the company. This means employees know who they‘re joining, what they‘re

expected to do, and how they will be judged.

The employment brand is in fact the heart and soul of the company. It‘s really an articula tion of

why you exist, why you work, and why you work here and not someplace else. It‘s that

important.

Why Employer Branding important :

In Research Insight Employer branding: fad or the future ? Dr Shirley Jenner and StephenTaylor of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School suggest there are four main

reasons why the concept of employer branding has become prominent in recent years. They

identify these as:

Brand power HR‘s search for cr edibility Employee engagement Prevailing labour market conditions.

Jenner and Taylor explain their importance in the following extracts from the Research Insight.

Jenner and Taylor explain their importance in the following extracts from the Research Insight.

Brand power

The past 20 years have seen the rise of the brand as a central concept in organizational and social

life. Branding underpins a growing, influential and profitable reputation management, PR,

consultancy and recruitment advertising industry. The past decade has seen unprecedented

growth in the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for investors, employees and

other stakeholders.

HR search for credibility

HR professionals continue in the search for credibility and strategic influence. Embracing the

language and conceptual tools of brand power seems an obvious choice. This direction reflects



continuity with earlier iterations of HR, for example with organizational development and

culture change.

Employee engagement

Recent years have seen an increased interest in promoting employee engagement. This includes

attempts to recruit, socialize and retain a committed workforce. From a branding perspective, the

recruitment proposition forms the basis for workplace satisfaction and identification with

organizational goals and values.

Labour market conditions

The final driver identified by Jenner and Taylor was prevailing labour market conditions. At the

time of writing (2007) they pointed out that for an extended period of time unemploymentremained low and skills shortages continued. Tight labour market conditions were combined

with a tough trading environment. Employers were thus obliged to compete more fiercely with

one another to recruit and retain effective staff, while also being severely constrained in the

extent to which they could pay higher salaries in order to do so. A strong employer brand was

being promoted as the key to winning this ‗war for talent‘ by establishing organizations‘ unique

selling point in employment terms.

Since the time of writing, there has been a change in labour market conditions with the economicdownturn and rising unemployment. However, in uncertain economic times, employer brand

appears still appears to be a relevant concept as organisations seek to motivate and engage

existing employees and need to tempt candidates for key positions away from roles they perceive

as ‗safe‘ in their current organisations. Businesses making employees redundant will need to

consider how they minimize damage to their reputation as an employer and consider the impact

on ‗survivors‘ still with the company.



EMPLOYER BRAND MANAGEMENT

Employer brand experience framework

The inherent weakness of IM, internal branding and, more recently, employer branding has been

the over-emphasis placed on communicating brand promises at the expense of longer term

management of the employee experience. This is now being addressed through an adoption of

the same thinking that has driven recent developments in management of the customer brand

experience, namely if we want to deliver a consistent on-brand service experience, it is not just a

question of managing our communication channels, we need to manage every significant

operational and interpersonal 'touch-point' with the customer.

While the employee experience is far more complex than any service experience, there is a

recognition that organizations would benefit from adopting a similar approach. People



management involves a wide range of ritualized processes and HR 'products' that can be

described as employee touch-points. The term 'customer corridor' used to describe a relatively

predictable sequence of 'touch-points' can equally be applied to the recruitment process,

orientation, employee communication, shared services (including HR and facilities

management), reward, measurement (eg employee engagement surveys), performance

management and employee development. Likewise, core values and competencies can be seen as

a framework for governing the everyday experience of employees through the communication

and behaviour of their immediate line managers and corporate leaders.

As for the customer experience, being consistent is good, but being both consistent and

distinctive is even better. If we want to deliver a distinctive customer brand experience, and that

experience depends heavily on interpersonal interactions, then we need to ensure our employerbrand attracts the right kind of people

and our employer brand management reinforces the right

kind of culture (from the customer-facing frontline to the deepest recesses of every support

function).

To ensure our culture is aligned with the desired customer brand experience, it clearly helps to

have a distinctive 'brand of leadership', but it is equally important to ensure that our people

processes are also distinctively in tune with our brand ethos. These 'signature' employer brand

experiences will help to engender a distinctive brand attitude, generate distinctive brand

behaviours and ultimately reinforce the kind of distinctive customer service style that will add

value to the customer experience and differentiate an organization from its competitors.

Beyond Employer Brand:

Companies spend billions every year on their consumer brands to attract new customers and

open new markets. These vast sums are meant to entice the consumer to buy and continue buying

throughout the product and company life cycle.

Leading organizations may suffer if the employees itself don't understand or can't articulate

company value to the marketplace. Formal employer brand programs will help attract, retain and

motivate top talent in a market in which the talent pool is shrinking and recruiting costs are

growing.



Reuters Case Stud:

The Reuters Fast Forward programme demonstrates how internal values can be used to

provide an effective focus for business and cultural transformation.

Reuters is best known as the world's largest international multimedia news agency, but

more than 90% of its revenue comes from its financial services business. Nearly half a

million people in the financial markets worldwide use information and analytical and

trading tools supplied by Reuters.

Reuters had experienced significant growth through the 1980's and 1990's on the back of stock

market deregulation around the world. While stock markets boomed, there was an apparently

insatiable appetite for Reuters' trading systems and information products. But in 2001 Reuters

was hit by the global economic downturn. Subscriptions to its information services fell 4% in

2002 and the Group posted a record loss of £493m for the year.

Over the last two years Reuters has undergone a dramatic process of internal change, which has

taken it back into profit, sharpened its competitiveness and created a more robust platform for

future growth.

Fast Forward

The 2002 results prompted Reuters to accelerate its business transformation by launching a

three-year change programme called ‗Fast Forward'.

Tom Glocer described the aims of ‗Fast Forward': ―I believe that we need to become a much

more competitive company, a more efficient company, a more service-oriented company, and a



more aggressive company. However, it is much more than just changing our products or

changing the architecture: it means changing the Reuters culture as well.‖

In addition to simplifying its organizational structure and product offering, Reuters also

addressed the attitudes and behaviors of employees which it recognized would be key to

achieving lasting change.

Living FAST

Early on in the process, CEO Tom Glocer, led a two-day workshop of 20 key managers to

identify the values that would underpin ‗Living FAST', the desired characteristics of the new

organization.

FAST stands for:

Fast (working with passion, urgency, discipline and focus);

Accountable (being clear on performance, responsibilities, rewards and consequences);

Service-driven (understanding customer needs and then exceeding expectations through

personal commitment);

Team (sharing, challenging and trusting).

But what would these values mean in practice? A ―Living FAST Framework‖ brought together

the key drivers of change into a single coherent plan covering internal communication, reward,

recognition, learning and development, talent and performance management.



Communication

Revitalized internal communications, with increased participation by employees, has been vital

to the success of the Fast Forward programme. Living Fast was launched on June 11th, 2003, via

a global, 24 hour event involving staff in all of the 92 countries in which Reuters operates. Priorto and during this event, employees were invited to log issues they felt needed to be addressed,

and Tom Glocer committed managers to respond to all of the 3400 feedback messages within the

following three weeks.

The website established for the event of June 2003 has been maintained as the home for all

communications about Living FAST. In addition, ―Daily Briefing‖, the company's daily

electronic newsletter for employee‘s features examples of best practice, and ―Talkback‖ allows

employees to raise issues with managers on-line.

Performance development, reward and recognition

Tom Glocer is firmly on record as wanting a performance culture. FAST values have been

integrated into performance review. Reviews are still held formally once a year, but there is now

much more emphasis on informal performance feedback quarterly, or even monthly.

Fast Forward targets have been incorporated into bonus awards, and into a formal recognition

scheme, which publicly rewards exemplary performance according to FAST values.

Reuters has also incorporated FAST principles into its managers' training programmes.

Environment

Most of Reuters' London-based staff, scattered across the city in a number of sites, will come

together in a new headquarters building in Canary Wharf during 2005. The working environment



is being created with the new values firmly in mind. For example, in contrast to Reuters'

traditional preference for corridors and offices, open-plan will be the norm to encourage greater

collaboration and teamwork.

Measuring success

In a survey carried out in November 2003, over 80% of employees said they understood and

supported Reuters' core values, and significantly greater numbers than six months before

expressed confidence that Reuters would change for the better in the year to come. This

confidence in the Fast Forward programme has been borne out by recent results. The reported

figures for 2003 have seen the Group back into profit, and the outlook for 2004 is currently

looking very positive.

Culture change of the scale being enacted at Reuters is not for the faint-hearted. Events have

dictated that it act decisively. Its coherent, integrated approach gives it the best chance possible

to meet its targets for recovery in the short term, and create an enterprise highly responsive to

market challenges and opportunities into the future.

CONCLUSION

There is not only the need of creating a satisfaction in minds of employees, but also an urgent

need of creating this positivism in the minds of external customers and stakeholders. The created

image has to be monitored and sustained in such a way so that it will help in increasing profits as

well as would create belongingness, pride, self actualization and true commitment in true words

and spirit.



Employer branding presents HR people with an opportunity to learn from some of the techniques

of marketing and apply them to people management. New roles have started to emerge in some

organizations which draw on skill sets from both disciplines. It is important that HR works

collaboratively, for example with colleagues in marketing and in internal communications, to

share expertise and reap maximum benefits from developing an employer brand . Employer brand

is the image of an organization as a great place to work in the minds of its current employees and

key stakeholders. It is the development of such an organizational culture which fosters a sense of

belongingness with the company and encourages the employees to share organization‘s goals for

success. In short, it is the value of the company in external marketplace. The goal of employer

branding is to create loyal customers; the customers here being the employees. An employer

brand represents the core values of an organization. Companies that are considered good

employers have a strong identity and an image in the minds of its employees and customers.

Building a brand of oneself in the market is not a one day process. It requires a track record in

business leadership, delivering quality services to clients, creating a corporate culture of trust and

providing ample growth opportunities for the employees. It involves answering the basic

question ―how do we live up to the expectations of our stakeholders?‖



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O.D Employer Branding by Nitish Arora