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Employer Branding in Practice Opinion Paper

(Re-publication: Feb 2007)

Abstract

Employer Branding is one of the most significant developments in recent times. Organisations are increasingly recognising that - directly or indirectly - most brand promises are delivered by people not products. The people offer behind the product has
to be consistent with the brand and the commitment has to be reflected from the top of the organisation to the newest recruit. To achieve this, businesses have to consider all aspects of their business to ensure consistency in messages, values and behaviours. Employer Branding can also help in the war for talent, in recruitment, retention and in becoming an employer of choice. This paper provides a holistic model of how to embrace vision, values and behaviours in order to demonstrate commitment to employer branding and service excellence. It includes two case studies from Virgin and HSA on modelling best practice.

Overview

In its simplest form, Employer Branding (EB) is about ensuring that your people brand matches your marketing brand. In terms of brand management, an aspirational goal for an organisation should be that the marketing messages are reflected by the actions of all of the people at all levels of the business at all times in order to deliver the brand promise.

Although EB has been around since the early 1990s, it finally seems that its time has come as more and more organisations begin to recognise its importance. The biggest challenge in adopting a process of EB is ownership, because it is often not clear who should sponsor it - the responsibility can fall down the middle between marketing, corporate communications, and HR. To succeed, it needs an integrated process linking all departments, with endorsement from the highest level within the organisation. As an aspirational goal it also needs a pragmatic approach to achieve it.

One of the definitions of a brand in the Concise Oxford Dictionary is ‘to impress unforgettably on one’s mind’.

If we explore that statement a little further it is clear that building an employer brand is an extension of this definition. Every organisation has a brand; the impact of your brand is 24/7, 52 weeks, 365 days every year. Although your building may be closed, its image is open for all to see. Your employees, clients and customers may be talking about their experiences to others. Global communications mean that while one part of the world is sleeping another part may be awake, and the various experiences of your organisation will give an impression - for better or worse - in the minds of the people who matter most.

What is increasingly being recognised is that having strong consumer brands is not enough.

Organisations need to adopt an integrated approach encompassing:

• People
• Products/services
• Processes/systems
• Premises/environment

In terms of EB, all four elements above impact on the overall experience. e.g., the most obvious one is people. It’s no good giving people a badge that says “We love to help you,” when patently the expression on the face above the badge says something different. Investing in customer care programmes won’t work if the management style doesn’t encourage individuals to take responsibility for their own actions and to really think about what they personally can do to make a difference.

Fortunes are spent on recruitment advertising, implying that an organisation wants “dynamic, innovative, creative, inspiring people capable of acting on their own initiative,” only to find that, once recruited, the organisational structure is stifling, hierarchical and doesn’t sponsor original thought. EB also relates to the messages that an organisation gives to new employees through recruitment, induction, engagement, development and retention.

Most organisations recognise the need to have good products, or services, but it is the interaction between the delivery of the product/service which makes the real impact on the customer’s experience. Financial institutions discovered this recently when many of their call centres were shifted overseas.

As well as the importance of people and products, the underpinning infrastructure is equally important. When organisations re-engineer, or when new IT systems are being implemented, little time is allowed to prepare for the impact that this can have on their people. Different departments simply do not communicate, or fail to realise the implication of their actions – and, unfortunately, HR are often the last people to be involved. Equally, organisations may invest in the development of their customer facing employees, but often do not apply the same principles to supporting the internal customer.

Recognising the issue of ownership highlighted above, the Organisational Brand Model below is an holistic approach to EB. From this one model it is possible to highlight all of the key issues related to EB and to identify who can sponsor the development.

Organisational Brand Model

Our Vision
(Where we want to be)

Our Values
(What we stand for-our integrity)

Behaviours/competencies/ standards
(What we demonstrate daily)

Creating an environment where people want to work
(Develop coaching, feedback, sharing)

Working in partnership
(Employees, customers, suppliers, community and the media)

Communicate the key messages
(Internally and externally, gain commitment to key goals)

Sharing with our competitors
(Best practice)

Rewarding performance
(Real measures, that we all recognise)

Measuring our success
(Establish a process to learn and grow)

(HDA Source : © The Inspiration Network)

OUR VISION /MISSION/PURPOSE

Where we want to be

This must be a real statement or statements which people can easily remember and identify with - not just words on a wall it should be very clearly articulated; a test of its validity is that, when asked, each and every employee clearly understands what the business is trying to achieve. Strongly identifying with the sentiment is more important than accuracy in the actual words. “When people truly share a vision they are connected, bound together by a common aspiration.” Senge P 2

OUR VALUES

What we stand for/our integrity

Like vision, mission or purpose, an organisation’s values should run deep. The aim should be to encourage everyone to demonstrate the values through their behaviours; this particularly applies at senior level, when more junior employees are looking for role models.

In the current market place, with increasing competition for talented employees, potential candidates are also trying to identify where the values of the organisation are aligned with their own. Daniel Goleman, in his book The New Leaders, goes further when describing how to motivate employees, saying that “Getting people to really embrace change requires attunement, alignment with the kind of resonance that moves people emotionally as well as intellectually.
Strategies couched as they often are in the dry language of corporate goals speak mainly to the rational brain, in the neocortex. Strategic visions and the plans that follow from them are typically linear and limited, bypassing the elements of heart and passion, essential for building commitment.” 3

Contrast this with the view taken by First Direct. “From day one, the business was built implicitly around the idea that employees deliver the best customer service if they are motivated and satisfied with their work and feel that they have
permission to do whatever they perceive to be right for the customer.” As the business grew, a set of values were agreed as the key behaviour that underpins First Direct both internally and externally. The company still continually evaluates all its policies and practices against the essence of the brand. 4

BEHAVIOURS, COMPETENCIES, STANDARDS

What we demonstrate daily

This is a key area where cross-functional collaboration is essential; all too often the creation of the “corporate way” is kept separate from the day-to-day measurement of individual performance. Employees need very clear guidance on the corporate expectations - e.g. this is the way we do things, the way our performance is measured; it applies to everyone and ensures consistency. These standards need to be clearly defined, not just “we promise to do our best,” but “we promise to respond within fourteen days, on time, and to meet identified standards.”

It has to be a two-way process. If an organisation wants to attract the best employees it is also important to sponsor talent, adopt flexible ways of working and allow people to take responsibility for the success of the organisation. It must also be creative, in order to encourage people to share ideas and to make no assumptions about the way something has to be done - but to think about how could it be done differently. One very real issue, particularly for talented people, is time wasting, bureaucracy and trivia. Giving clear guidance on expectations and agreeing the specific details on deliverables means that individuals can really focus on what they need to do. Objectives can be set and work can be completed within a shorter timeframe.

Many organisations adopt anthems, hold motivational events and build inspiring quotes into the fabric of their company; however, this will make little difference unless there is real belief and unity of hearts and minds behind the words. This can only be achieved through a carefully orchestrated and planned process of developing an employer brand.

CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE PEOPLE WANT TO WORK

Develop coaching, giving and receiving feedback, sharing

Commitment to people development needs to start at the top of an organisation; it is not just an issue for HR or learning and development functions. The leadership behaviours set the tone and expectations for employees. People are smart. Talented people are even smarter - they will be not be taken in by lip service to values; they want to see an active demonstration in the day to day people management of the business.

One of the recent trends in employee development is a recognition that retention of key employees is going to become increasingly important. With reduced resources available, everyone is going to be competing for the same people. Today's younger employees are much more mobile than previous generations.

It’s important to encourage managers to be someone who makes a difference, taking time to “know” the people they manage as individuals – to cherish, nurture, respect, value each person and watch that person ‘grow’. This is the most rewarding aspect of any relationship - to recognise what people are good at, identify their strengths and provide the opportunity for them to use these skills; to empower by communicating, by giving responsibility and the opportunity to be part of decision-making; to create a support system to give confidence, stability and security, and help people to help themselves; to engender a sense of fun about life and work.

Technology can support flexible working. People no longer need to be in an office - for many, freedom to operate is important and their creativity is unlikely to be contained within office hours. Allowing them flexibility and freedom will ensure that you maximise their contribution. New legislation related to work/life balance will mean that organisations will have to adopt a more flexible approach.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP The way forward

Employees, customers, suppliers, community and the media

No person or organisation can function for long alone. Working with people, helping others to be successful, building pride, self-esteem and sharing success are all important components. Equally, building close links with suppliers, encouraging the media with positive news and building links with your local community are positive partnership actions.

Brand loyalty is created in many ways, but essentially it is all based on the relationships that an organisation builds with its partners. Corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important. Features like the Sunday Times’ Best Companies to Work For, Investors in People, and national training awards, all emphasize the importance of these relationships. No business can afford to ignore its standing in the community or with its customers. One company with perhaps the longest tradition is Whitbread. As Ian Anderson, former Community Investment Director at Whitbread said in Corporate Fundraising - “The provision of financial contributions to the community by business will always be important, but will always be of a limited nature.Donations of gifts in time and gifts in kind can add so much to the fabric of the community and can play to the strengths of commercial organizations by using all their resources.” 5

COMMUNICATE THE KEY MESSAGES

Internally and externally, gain commitmentfrom others to the key goals
You need everyone to unite behind a common goal; however you will also need to identify the people who are going to be most pro-active. You do not need to call them champions, but in reality they will be the sponsors of EB. You need them at every level in the business, from the very top to the newest recruit.They need to quietly (and sometimes loudly!) promote positive messages about the organisation. Those who understand the total impact of the brand need to support others who are less clear, or who adopt a silo approach.

Identifying talented individuals does not just mean focusing on people who apply for a job; it means clearly inducting recruitment companies and headhunters into your brand and expectations. It means thinking very carefully about the messages that are given about your brand in advertisements.

It also means sharing key messages with the people that you meet about your business and the opportunities. You need to keep replenishing your talent pool; ideally you want people to come to you. Entrepreneurial CEOs are often passionate about what they are doing, and that passion is infectious. Think about what Richard Branson has done for Virgin and what Jack Welch did for GE - but it shouldn’t just rest on the shoulders of a charismatic CEO. Questions that all organisations should be asking themselves are: “Are our employees acting as ambassadors for us? Are they talking positively to their families, partners and friends about our organisation? What are they saying to our customers?”

Employees experience every day whether you are delivering what you promise and this will be demonstrated through their attitudes and behaviour. Nothing will destroy a reputation faster than an organisation promoting itself as an employer of choice, only to find its employees informally giving out a very different opinion to its customers, or their own family and friends. People want to work for a company that they respect.

Organisations that take employee relations seriously will be seeking to engage the hearts and minds of their employees and seeking to attune their dreams with the organization. This attunement should be demonstrated through the way an organization recruits, develops, rewards and retains individual employees.

From the bottom to the top (and vice versa), the organisation needs to open up channels of communication and encourage the giving and receiving of feedback - and, even more importantly, be seen to be acting on this information.

SHARING WITH OUR COMPETITORS

Best practice

Be proud of your achievements, and demonstrate best practice. Be the organisation that others benchmark against. This will have internal spin-offs for morale. Demonstrating your corporate and social responsibility is one way of addressing this issue. Equally, being part of an employer’s forum, or network, sharing best practice, being prepared to be involved in the evelopment of shared knowledge, and wanting to create an industry standard, are all ways that an organisation can input into the corporate market place for the benefit of all. If an organisation wants to encourage discretionary behaviour on the part of its employees, it needs to demonstrate its own willingness to support activities designed for the greater good.

REWARDING PERFORMANCE

Real measures that everyone recognises

- Not just money, but personal recognition which is best demonstrated little and often. Create a reward and recognition system, not just a financial one.

Individuals do appreciate recognition for their achievements and being thanked for a particular action. Being given extra responsibility and being made to feel part of something special - all are valued by an employee. financial rewards are important, but other forms of recognition are also motivational too.

One concern that people often have is how their contribution will be measured. Measures are not always shared with individuals; the organisation may be using one set of criteria, while an individual believes that they are being measured against another set. This stage is very much linked to goal setting stage. Unfortunately, many organisations still have annual appraisal systems, which are not linked to the day-to-day activities of an individual. It is important that clear objectives are set and regularly monitored, and that an individual receives feedback and also has the opportunity to discuss their own view of their progress. In a coaching environment this will happen more naturally; so, create opportunities to regularly recognise achievements, both individually and in the team. Take time to thank people who have met targets, helped others achieve, or gone out of their way to be helpful.

REVIEW AND PROGRESS

Establish a process to learn and grow.

How often do you celebrate success? Be open about measurement and success factors; never forget where you started, and realise how much progress has been made. There should be a process of continuous improvement. Ask “What have we learnt? Where can we innovate?” To prevent a distorted view of the organisation, the process should be seamless from the front to back and from the top to the bottom of the organisation. The most innovative organisations innovate, accelerate and innovate again. The larger the organisation, the more opportunity there is to learn from different parts of the business. The collective knowledge within an organisation is rarely captured effectively; you will therefore find many examples of re-inventing the wheel - if there is not an effective process of data capture and sharing of best practice as well as the pportunity to learn from mistakes in a blame-free environment.

Once EB is initiated you will want to build on and learn from the experience. EB does not require huge resources, but what it does need is often a change of mindset. People need to be prepared to learn from the experience, to share successes. All too often, people move on to something new before reviewing the experience and sharing the lessons. Success can be celebrated at different stages, depending on the size of the challenge. It is all too easy never to celebrate because the goal keeps moving. In reality, the process of EB is never completed; therefore, celebrating the small achievements is vital in order to keep individual motivation alive.

Employer Branding in Practice

Once a model for EB has been established, it is likely that a number of projects will need to be coordinated. As has been mentioned previously, it is important to view the overall picture and identify where the best starting point is, and how to incorporate other initiatives that may have already started.

The following HSA-SimplyHealth and Virgin Group case studies llustrate different approaches to EB.

Virgin

Virgin is one of the strongest brands in today’s global marketplace and has undertaken a number of key steps to protect and strengthen its employer brand.

The “company ethos” is established right at the centre of the group of companies, with commitment from Richard Branson and the board at Virgin Management Ltd - VML - (known as “the home of Virgin”). They have a Group Brand and Marketing team, which regularly consults with Marketing, Customer Service, People and Internal Communications Directors around the Virgin Group, helping ensure that brand values and messages are translated through to the day-to-day actions of all employees.

Virgin is a rapidly expanding group, both in terms of range of product and service sector and also on a global scale throughout five continents. To meet the challenge of consistency in the brand ethos, particularly relating to new start up businesses, Virgin Management Ltd has created a Brand Toolkit, which includes practical guidelines to enable all Virgin businesses to clearly understand what it means to be part of that Brand. Additionally, all new employees are given a starter pack highlighting the benefits, as well as explaining the ethos of the company.

Also in the pipeline is a People Toolkit, designed to support People Directors in understanding what the company stands for as an employer, how it operates as regards its people processes and what it expects its employees - particularly in smaller start up companies - to do to demonstrate the Virgin way. These guidelines cover recruitment, induction and engagement, as well as the ongoing development of employees, and are being developed primarily by the People Team at VML. Overall, the brand team is responsible for monitoring the day-to-day practical application of the brand throughout Virgin, but everyone has responsibility for delivering the ethos.

One of the outstanding features of the brand is to encourage people to demonstrate ‘Virgin’ behaviours and to reward staff for providing service over and above what customers might expect. Virgin has an annual event celebrating the Employee of the Year and there is ongoing recognition through “Stars of the Month” initiatives. Employees also benefit from extended learning and development, which develops understanding of what is expected in their different roles. One fundamental of this is being personable and “non corporate” in the manner in which they approach customer service; Virgin wants to encourage people to engage with their customers in the most natural and helpful way. To this end, staff in their call centres are specifically trained to focus on the human side of their job and are encouraged to work within broad guidelines, rather than directly from a script.

In many Virgin companies, the brand ethos and associated behaviours are included within their performance management systems. In general, however excellent someone might be in their technical field, they still need to demonstrate the right way of doing things, and, as such, show more that just competence in their role. Virgin also applies this principle to its recruitment process, seeking to recruit “Virgin” people rather than individuals who are just technically adept.

Although the brand provides a framework within which companies operate, Virgin companies create their day to day working practices on a largely autonomous basis, with each company individualising its processes under the brand umbrella. This helps allow the group to meet the challenge of maintaining a single identity whilst operating competitively in a variety of business sectors.

Virgin, like HSA and Whitbread, also has a high level of commitment to corporate social responsibility and has a variety of measures to ensure that it listens to staff and lives up to its promise to customers. The group also have a charity, Virgin Unite, which runs a number of charitable initiatives as well as creating and supporting Aids, TB and malaria projects in Africa.

In the spirit of Virgin, all employees have access to a range of attractive benefits and discounts from across the Virgin Group. International secondments can offer staff the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world, and socially there is a calendar of events ranging from festivals held at Branson’s house to 5 a-side football tournaments.

Despite Virgin’s obvious success, there are also challenges. One very real challenge relates to public perception of the group as a fun brand to work for, as this can sometimes lead to potential or new employees feeling that they will have an easy ride working for a Virgin company. In fact, Virgin employees work very hard and in some businesses areas, for example Virgin Rail, or Virgin Money, there are strict regulatory procedures that have to be observed. The group also recognises the importance of keeping its overall reputation as an employer of choice in the marketplace, and is determined not rest on its laurels as more employers recognise the importance of employer branding.

Being protective of its brand, Virgin also uses a whole variety of data-measurement to gain feedback on its performance with its end user. This includes suggestion boxes on its website, customer feedback and mystery shopping as well as rigorous follow-up on personal letters written to the company. The group also undertakes exit interviews to determine why employees might be leaving, and importantly also encourages talented employees to return. One recent measure introduced by Virgin obile involved sending ex-employees a packet of “Forget-me-not” seeds, with a note inviting them to return if their new role turned out to be less than satisfactory.

One of the challenges for any organisation is identifying the business positives of adopting a focus on employer branding; however, in Virgin’s case there are some very real and tangible benefits. The group has identified that its staff turnover is lower and its employees more productive - and interestingly, although its remuneration may not be the industry highest, it attracts and retains high calibre employees, who select Virgin as a lifestyle choice and who identify with the company ethos and values.

For other organisations seeking to develop an employer brand, Catherine Salway, Group Brand Manager at Virgin Management Ltd, offers the following advice: “Don’t over-hype the organisation or try to impose a corporate brand on individuals by aggressively marketing a process of employer branding. We employ brilliant people, so we nurture a culture which allows us to deliver on our values whilst still respecting their individuality.

The focus should be on what we can do for them as much as what employees can do for us. Then we have a fighting chance of delivering to our brand promise.”

 

HSA –SimplyHealth

The HSA Group developed its employer brand in line with its corporate branding and values over the last four and a half years. The values are based on openness, honesty and integrity built within a spirit of community. To HSA, community spirit means employees, customers and suppliers, as well as the larger community within which they operate. Its relationships are built on collaboration and teamwork, and it wants to build adult and long-term relationships with both employees and customers.

There has been collective ownership from Des Benjamin, Chief Executive, and the board, to drive the process forward, but, equally, employees are encouraged to be proactive and to put their own ideas forward. The customer brand and the corporate brand are seen as primarily being owned by the senior marketing team. However, this team works closely with HR and the line managers to ensure that all employees are living and breathing the brand in providing the customer experience.

The HSA Group has linked its values into performance appraisal systems and objectives at all levels of the business. Employees are encouraged to recognise that how you deliver the service is as important as what you deliver. In addition, there is ongoing recognition and reward for employees, who are identified as offering exceptional service and being good role models. Any employee can nominate them. The reward may be a personal letter, gift vouchers, nights out, or special day events. The group believes in the old adage of “catching people doing right”. Equally, it is not afraid to use the ultimate sanction of dismissing people who, after the correct process of support, are not willing to demonstrate the espoused values.

The group is also committed to corporate social responsibility and devotes around 1% of its annual turnover to healthcare related charities. It also encourages employees to work with charities in their local communities. One recent example was ‘Fly the Children’, where over 100 autistic children and their carers were given fights in light aircraft. Staff from across the organisation were involved in the event and participated in the logistics of organising the children and their carers.

The measurable benefits to the business are that customer satisfaction levels are increasing, as is retention. In empathy audits, staff are connecting more effectively both internally and with customers and there are positive results from the group’s employee opinion survey. In addition, the group has also been recognised in the Sunday Times Top 100 companies to work for over the past three consecutive years, including the top awards of employee wellbeing for 2005.

Like Virgin, HSA is a rapidly growing and devolved group and feels that it is crucial that as the organisation grows new employees and associated businesses understand how the business,- and the underpinning values – has evolved. One of the key statements for employees is “Be Yourself”, encouraging employees to make use of all of their associated life and social skills as well as their specialist skills.

Overall, the group has a commitment and conviction that what it is doing is right, while recognising that the path will evolve and change. When asked what advice it would offer to others, Mark Day, Director PMI & HR at HSA stated: “There is a lot of talk about the need for empirical data, but we believe that organisations should start when intuitively it feels right, rather than hold back and wait for demonstrable business results.”

 

As the above case studies illustrate, developing an employer brand can help to create a nurturing culture which enables individuals to give of their best, which in turn supports the organisation in delivering its brand promise. As a holistic process it has a dynamic role to play in delivering true competitive edge.

Acknowledgements: I should particularly like to thank Mark Day, Director PMI & HR, HSA Group Limited, and Peter Wheeldon, People Advisor, Virgin Management Ltd, part of The Virgin Group of Companies, for all their help in compiling the case studies

References:

More on Kaye Thorne

Kaye is a well-known coach, consultant and respected author. She is an acknowledged expert in developing an Employer Brand and is a Senior Consultant with HDA.

As a skilled organisational development consultant and facilitator, Kaye manages across a broad range of organisational change interventions. Kaye also scripts, designs and delivers a wide range of Train-the-Trainer, supervisory and management development programmes and learning products specialising in creativity, motivation and personal development. She enables organisations to identify ways of developing a more customer focused brand and how to become an employer of choice. She also works with small groups in team building and offers personal coaching for senior executives and individuals.

Kaye has worked as a management consultant since 1984 across most industries and all sectors. She is a winner of a National Training Award in 1992, and was nominated for an Outstanding Contribution to Learning by WOLCE in 2001. She is a prolific business author with a range of business coaching, training, employer branding and talent management titles.

Her latest book, the Essential Guide to Managing Talent, by Kogan Page, was published in December 2006.

 

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