Many HR pros, especially in small- to medium-sized
companies, might say, "Oh, we don't have an HR brand." They may think they have
yet to develop one. But that's a misconception. Want it or not, you already
have an HR brand. Is it a good one? Is it aligned with your business and
recruiting strategies? Let's look at what's involved, according to Bethany
Haley, president of Savage Branding & Corporate Design in Houston, Texas.
"HR Branding: A Field Guide" is the title of a booklet created by Savage to help
organizations identify the essence of what they are as a place to work--a
combination of culture, reputation, benefits, and internal relationships. As
the booklet says, HR branding "is an emotional attachment that makes employees
long-term partners in achieving your company's goals." In addition, the
partnership only succeeds when the brand "rings true and is reinforced across
all touch points that the employee encounters at your company."
To represent the uniqueness of your corporate culture,
it should be aligned with your external branding. As examples of successful
alignment, Savage offers these, among others:
Deloitte +
Touche: Does it matter who you are?
Or does it matter what you do?
Amazon.com: Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
Anheuser-Busch: We tap talent.
Picture yourself at Kodak.
Microsoft: How far will you go?
Southwest Airlines: Freedom begins with me.
The Home Depot: Build communities. Build relationships. Build dreams.
Build something.
Xerox: eXpress yourself.
Where does HR start identifying its brand? A good first step is to assess
the characteristics of the employees who have remained with you for the longest
time, as well as of those you've lost long before you wanted to. Two cautions:
If all your best and brightest who've left are part of Generation Y, that tells
you more about their constant quest for new challenges than about who you are
as an employer.
Second, assess whether your long-tenure employees are
top performers. If not, you may be retaining the wrong people. Keep your eye at
all times on the people who contribute the most to your organization. If you
lose a few mediocre performers, don't worry about it. Identifying the strengths
of people who succeed in your company can also be crucial for effective
recruiting strategies.
Ask yourself, and your colleagues, whether the company
treats its employees as well as it treats its customers. In the same way your
customer service has to be good all the time, not just when it's convenient,
employees' experience of working in your organization needs to be consistent
and rewarding. As the national recruitment manager of a large network of
printing facilities puts it, "You entice someone to join your
company--that's the dating process. But once that's over you have to work
even harder on the relationship. What companies really need to focus on these
days is recruiting their existing employees."
Enhance Your HR Brand With These Steps
Here's more from Savage on how to
recognize and then spark up your HR brand.
- Carefully
define your employer value proposition: It's not just about your mission to
your customers; just as important are the values your employees will
derive--beyond salary and benefits--from working for your
organization.
- Be
sure you have top-level support for your branding effort. If it doesn't seem
important to the C-level suite, you may be able to persuade them by talking
about the impact of the war for talent on your recruiting program, stressing
the hard-to-find skills.
- Create an ongoing communications
program that reinforces the HR brand by recruiting through new-hire orientation
all the way to retirement. Remember that your brand doesn't die when an employee
resigns or retires. If you've inculcated the messages well enough in the
person's mind and heart, he or she will continue to broadcast them to others.
Dell Computers instituted a branding campaign called "Be the Reason." Aimed at
employees through newsletters, awards events, and PowerPoint® presentations, the
campaign reminded them of their pervasive influence on Dell's relationships
with customers. The customer satisfaction index improved by 20 percent within
the first year of the campaign. For more about branding and the Dell program,
visit Savage's website at www.savagebrands.com.
- Although it's not all about
compensation and benefits, some of it is. Don't neglect to keep your offerings
competitive within your industry and location.
- As you build your HR brand, stick
strictly to the truth--all the time. Once employees come to believe what
the organization tells them, they are your best means of getting your message
out to customers and the general public.
- Extend the brand as well to
potential employees, even if you're not yet aware of your need for them in
specific jobs. That means the brand should be prominent at trade shows, trade
association meetings, networking events, and wherever else your organization
appears.