Your Employer Brand

Bringing the best of brand management to people at work

Hoofddorp, Netherlands
4th November 2010

Simon Barrow, Chairman

People in Business
12 Great Newport Street, Tel +44 20 7632 5910
www.pib.co.uk

Introduction to People in Business

Originated employer brand concept in early 90s conducting the
first research on the discipline with London Business School
First book on the subject in 2005
15 years hands-on experience
in employer brand development
and implementation
Global network of employer brand consultants, research and
resourcing specialists
Recent employer brand clients include: Coca-Cola, EON, HSBC,
HP, IBM, John Lewis, Nokia-Siemens, P&G, RBS and Sky

Brand relationships
Powerful consumer brands provide a focal point for:
Aspiration (When Ive really made it Ill drive a Mercedes)
Identity (The devil and I both wear Prada)
Engagement (My Nikes make me feel like running)
Advocacy (Lets meet at Starbucks)
Trust / Loyalty (When the new i-pod comes out Ill be the first in line)

The employer brand relationship

Powerful employer brands play a similar role:
Aspiration (Its a company Id love to have on my CV)
Identity (Im proud to tell people where I work)
Engagement (Im committed to going the extra mile)
Advocacy (I tell people its the coolest place to work on the planet)
Trust / Loyalty (It would take a lot to get me to leave)

Integrated brand management

Marketing
Customer
Value
Proposition

Why should consumers consider you?

Why should they come back for more?
Consumer experience

Corporate Brand
DNA

What shines through everything

the organisation does and says?

Leadership

Employee experience

Why should people join you?

Employee
Value
Proposition

Why should they stay?

Why should they commit?

HR

Establishing clarity
Vision

A digital vision for everyone

Shared Objective

To be at the heart of 21st century living

World Beating Customer Service

Services Vision

Passionate about the

business

Close to
Customer

Cultural
Characteristics
Values its People

Core
Competencies

World Beating
Customer Service
Developing our
People

Problem Analysis &

Decision Making
Enthusiasm and
Passion

Successful &
Profitable

Honesty
Innovative

Leading
Edge & Agile
Passion for
Excellence

Empathy

Accountability

Respect

Co-operation
Creative

Credible &
Confident

Team Player

Empowerment

Organisational
Values
Brand Values

Connected

Friendly/ Helpful

Entertaining

Excellence
Challenging

The fully loaded proposition

Passionate about the
business

World Beating Customer

Service

A digital vision for everyone

Close to
Customer

Values its People

Connecte
d

Problem Analysis
& Decision Making

To be at the heart of 21st

century living

Accountability
Team Player

Credible
and
Confident

Empathy

Passion for
Excellence

Enthusiasm
and Passion

Friendly/ Helpful

World Beating
Customer
Service

Respect

Empowerment
Successful &
Profitable

Co-operation
Leading
Edge &
Agile

Excellence

Developing our
People

Creative

Innovative

Challenging

Entertaining
Honesty

Business case
A strong employer brand reputation attracts more top quality
candidates

More active
job seekers:
contain
fewer top
quality
candidates

Less active
job seekers
contain greater
proportion of
top quality
candidates

Source: Corporate Leadership Council - Attracting and Retaining Critical Talent Segments study
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Principles for EB success

1. The content of the working experience is the heart of an EB not
branding. It is about reality not spin and the key audience must
be your existing employees
2. It reflects the needs of the organisations overall strategy and
delivers business benefits.
3.

HR can initiate but it needs other functions and line mgt

4. EB is a long term commitment not an initiative (P&G created brand

management in 1931 !)
5. The EB needs the principles of good brand management i.e.
coherence, coordination, research, planning, innovation and
measurement
6. The readiness to be courageous and stand out from the crowd.

Why the EB needs such care

Customers

Employees

Life style is a factor

Work is about life itself

Theyre external

Theyre family

They dont know everything

They do!

Mistakes can be managed

Mistakes can be mortal

Broadscale communications

One to one preferred

10

Recommended employer brand model

Corporate Brand
Vision / Mission

The core brand DNA of the organisation

reflected in everything it says and does

Personality

Employer Brand

Values

Employee Value
Proposition
The one quality you most want to be
famous for as an employer

Headline Proposition
Defining attributes

The distinctive qualities that further define

the employment experience

Reasons to believe

The tangible proof points that make the

proposition credible
The everyday basics you need to deliver on
to ensure the proposition is credible

Qualifiers

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For example
Mission
to help people and businesses throughout the
world realize their full potential

Corporate Brand
Vision / Mission

Distinctive Values:

Personality

Taking on big challenges.

Values

Constructive self-criticism.

Target profile

Natural communicators with a passion for

technology.

Headline Proposition

An environment where talented people can realize

their full potential.
Individually tailored, strength-based development.

Defining Attributes

Industry leading investment and innovation in L&D.

Reasons to Believe

Respectful, open and supportive management style.

Qualifiers

12

Wordle of values from FTSE 100

websites

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Tailoring the umbrella proposition

Target propositions need to be aligned but also adapted to reflect:
Regional / divisional strengths
The specific needs and aspirations of different target groups

Adaptation can be achieved through relative emphasis, distinctive local

reasons to believe and supplementary attributes (consistent with the
overall brand)

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For example.
Headline EVP Proposition: A new challenge every day.
Regional Tailoring
US Career Site

Western European Career Site

Functional Tailoring

15

Distinctive look and feel

Recruitment advertising and career websites often very generic

16

Distinctive look and feel

If you have a distinctive customer brand identity
use /and adapt it!

17

Distinctive look and feel

If you have a distinctive customer brand identity
use /and adapt it!

18

The employee experience

If you want to be a comedian,

dont tell people youre funny,
..make them laugh

19

Shaping an on-brand employee experience

of ip
d
a n rs h
r
B de
a
Le

Employer
Brand
Experience

Va ore
lu
es

Pe
De rfor
ve ma
lo n
pm ce
en &
t

Everyday
Behaviours M S
an tyle

Underpinned
By

Working
Environment
20

Re
cr
ui
tm
en
t

ag o
em f
en
t

s
e cie
r
Co ten
pe
m
Co

n
io
t
ca
i
un
m
m
Co

Orientation

Measurement

&
d ion
r
a
w nit
e
R cog
Re

Process
Touchpoints

Employer brand action planning

Recruitment Process
Job description

Basic strengths and weaknesses

(is it a consistently positive experience?)

Alignment with the brand proposition

(does each stage support the promise?)

Signature brand experiences

(what is distinctively on-brand?)

This thinking can be applied to every

touch-point

Advertising
Media
Career Sites
Interviewing
Assessment
Selection*
Correspondence
Pre-joining instructions

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Distinctive practices
Every team member has a say on recruitment decisions

Annual party for all Virgin employees and their families

Regular input from front line employees in senior level

decision making (Real Directors)

Six to seven weeks training for all new representatives

22

Overcome EB Management
challenges!

Seldom positioned to influence the whole employment experience

Recruitment communications the main priority yet branding is not

brand management

EB research does not always lead to necessary change to the

working experience

Lack of connection with business strategy

Insufficient metrics on HR

Low profile with senior management (and HR can be a nervous

platform for EB)

The culture does not demand courage and distinctiveness

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Remember the principles for EB

success
1. The content of the working experience is the heart of an EB not
branding. It is about reality not spin and the key audience must
be your existing employees
2. It reflects the needs of the organisations overall strategy and
delivers business benefits.
3.

HR can initiate but it needs other functions and line mgt

4. EB is a long term commitment not an initiative (P&G created brand

management in 1931 !|)
5. The EB needs the principles of good brand management i.e.
coherence, coordination, research, planning, innovation and
measurement
6. The readiness to be courageous and stand out from the crowd.

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 We wish you every success in building Employer

Brands which will last a 100 years plus!

Simon Barrow
simon@pib.co.uk
www.people-in-business.com

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