The HR Trailblazer: Unlock the Potential of Your Employer Brand

Jeff Waldman, Christine OSB McLeod

Description

How an organization conducts itself both externally towards its customers and internally towards its employees, its employer brand, has never been more important... and transparent.

HR leaders know that the ability of customers, competitors and employees alike to evaluate the authenticity of brand messages has never been easier. By becoming knowledgeable about the fundamentals of employer branding and enabling the DELIVERY of that brand to create a vibrant organizational culture, HR leaders more than ever before have the potential for incredible reach, impact and leadership within their organizations.

This guide introduces the process of evaluating, designing or influencing, and executing an employer brand strategy that aligns the brand message with workplace reality.

Sujets

• Gestion d'équipe
• Business
• Economics
• Gestion et management
• Human Resources
• Personal Management

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456605452
• Langue: English

Extrait

The HR Trailblazer
 
Unlock the potential of your employer brand in a digital age
 
 
by
Christine McLeod, CHRP and Jeff Waldman
 
 
Copyright 2011 Christine McLeod
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0545-2
 
 

 

The HR Trailblazer: Unlock the potential of your employer brand in a digital age by Christine McLeod, Impact People Practices is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
 
Introduction
 
“A company’s brand is fundamentally connected to its employee culture.”
—Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos
 
How an organization conducts itself both externally towards its customers and internally towards its employees has never been more important... and transparent. Subsequently, the role of “HR professional” is changing before our eyes. In addition to the skillset any great HR leader possesses, the new HR trailblazers demonstrate abilities usually associated with their marketing and communications counterparts. These enterprising leaders know that the ability of customers, competitors and employees alike to evaluate the authenticity of the brand messages they get has never been easier. The HR leader with a solid grasp of this shift from information to engagement age can strategically influence the organizations’ ability to attract and retain the best.
 
By becoming knowledgeable about the fundamentals of employer branding and enabling the DELIVERY of that brand to create a vibrant organizational culture, HR leaders more than ever before have the potential for incredible reach, impact and leadership within the companies they work with.
 
Organizations that have the clearest vision of who they are and what differentiates them from the competition have the easiest time penetrating the mindset of today’s harried consumer.
 
It is no different when it comes to standing out as an employer. There is a positive correlation between increased share of a customer’s mind and that of a potential employee’s. When the (positive) perception of what it’s like to work at that company matches the reality of actually working there for new and current employees, the employer and corporate brands have truly been entrenched in the culture that defines the company.
 
Apple. Zappos. WestJet. Lululemon. Starbucks. Gap Adventures.
 
We all love doing business with these organizations because they have clearly identified the textures, colours, flavours and presentation that make them unique : even if we have never bought a pair of shoes from Zappos, we probably have a mental image of what it might be like to be part of that team. That is because we have seen blog posts or social media activity or magazine articles written about its culture of “spreading happiness” from both employee and employer perspectives.
 
Today, HR is not just about managing the “processes” associated with the employee lifecycle, but about creating the conditions and experiences in each phase of an employee’s journey that create unparalleled engagement. The opportunity is about enabling a powerful employer brand to emerge and become an extension of the brand the customer knows and loves.
 
With new technological platforms appearing daily that can help organizations be more effective, gain real time feedback, encourage engagement and enhance collaboration and innovation in the workplace, the payroll tied up in transactional HR can and should be freed up to focus more on strategic initiatives like employer branding.
 
Administration of annual employee surveys; company communications documents; administration of performance reviews; administration of recognition programs; creating policies. How many man hours could be saved with the introduction of more “social” HR tools?
 
HR Trailblazers are leveraging social platforms and technology to drive corporate cultural identity AND greater employee engagement. They are so crystal clear on their internal and external brands that they are able to spend more time hiring the right brand ambassadors, making sure they have the tools to work with and ensuring the right business infrastructure is in place to deliver on their employer brand promises.
 
Our Invitation to You
 
As you read this book, we invite you to consider these questions:
 
• What if more HR professionals were involved in company brand conversations?
• What if HR was equally comfortable and capable of designing a corporate compensation plan as knowing how to help the organization raise its collective digital IQ?
• What if organizations could attract and retain the absolute BEST to represent their brand because of a company culture that had engagement levels never before seen?
• What could you possibly do DIFFERENTLY in your department as a result of this book?
• What would a trailblazer look like in your organization leading the HR department?
• What if that someone was you?
 
Human Resources can be the common thread of an organization and has a key support role to play with Communications in bringing together every business function to tell the unfolding story of what the company is about—from the inside out.
 
HR, Marketing, Sales, IT and Operations need closer relationships than ever. The stories they tell, the emotions they evoke and the experiences they deliver to both customers and employees need to be deeply connected, authentic and consistent to be credible.
 
So this book is a few things, none of which is “telling” you what to do. It is part road map, part vision and part collection of what’s current and trending in HR. Mostly though, it’s an invitation to start a conversation about the opportunity we have as HR professionals to add untold value to our organizations.
 
 
Christine McLeod, CHRP & Jeff Waldman
 
 
CHAPTER 1: Branding Basics—What is Employer Branding?
 
“[It’s] the image of your organisation as a ‘great place to work’ in the mind of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).
—Brett Minchington, Chairman/CEO Employer Brand International
 
 
Most people think of employer branding as the employer’s visual promotion and communication of a desired image of the workplace culture. What about the ACTUAL reality for an employee working in that culture? What would your employees say if you asked them if the company desired image matches their reality?
 
There are many definitions of (positive) employer branding. Here is ours:
 
“An Employer Brand is the perception of an organization as a great place to work in the eyes of current employees, prospective employees and people external to the organization”.
 
It really doesn’t matter what senior leadership thinks the employer brand is; the reality is that they don’t get to decide. They can influence and create the conditions to maximize alignment, but the employer brand is “in the eye of the beholder”. In this case, the beholders are employees, customers and the public. The collective perceptions and feelings of these audiences towards your organization are what define your employer brand.
 
What does this mean in day-to-day HR?
 
It means in HR we have to pay closer attention to the tiny day to day details that become defining elements of our brand experience for our customers.
 
Let’s pretend we just waved a magic wand and we are the proud new owners of a ski resort. Our company brand is all about “fresh and innovative”.
 
As Human Resources leaders we should ask ourselves:
• What does fresh and innovative look and feel like at every customer touch-point?
• What does fresh and innovative feel like in daily interactions between departments?
• What does fresh and innovative sound like when things go sideways?
• Who do we need to BE to be fresh and innovative?
• HOW do we do it and WHAT does it look like?
 
Magic wand just appeared again. Now we run a retail store with a brand known for having a “small town” feel.
 
Now we ask ourselves: What does small town FEEL mean ?
• Slower pace.
• Conversation is more casual.
• People remember your name.
• People congregate in spots to chat.
• People go out of their way to help each other.
 
Then we follow up asking ourselves with...
• Who do we have to hire to deliver such a desirable atmosphere?
• How do we share that vision with them?
• What practice do we give them in that environment?
• How do we listen for whether we are delivering our ideal message and image?
• How do we deliver that same feeling to THEM—what does “small town feel” mean internally?
• How do we create an employer brand that will attract individuals who share these values and can “live” them – “walk the talk” with others?
 
By working strategically on the DELIVERY of the organizational brand, HR professionals hold a very important role in the organization. Employer brand commitment leads to employee engagement which leads to… better results for your brand, business and bottom line.
 
 
Snapshot of an Employer Brand—WestJet
 
“[Sustaining employee engagement] is simple but that doesn’t necessarily make it easy”
—Richard Bartrem, Westjet VP of Culture and Communications
 
It takes commitment and stamina to successfully execute an employer brand strategy. WestJet Airlines, acknowledged multiple times as one of Canada’s most-admired corporate cultures and inducted into Canada’s “Most Admired Corporate Cultures Hall of Fame”, has invested 14 years or more in the process of supporting and maintaining its corporate culture and high degree of employee engagement, both key factors in a strong employer brand.
 
WestJet believes you must formally plan to sustain engagement. They have a strategic plan around culture, a strategic plan around care and a strategic plan around communication.
 
How do engaged employees affect the employer brand and WestJet’s recr