Employer Branding: The New Asset of Social Enterprises (I)

Last Friday 25^th May, the Hesperia Hotel in Madrid hosted the second edition of the Employer Branding Leadership Masterclass organized by the Spanish consulting agency People Matters. The main speaker was Brett Minchington (Chairman - CEO Employer Brand International) from Australia followed by representatives from Prosegur, Vodafone, People Matters and túatú social media & pr. The audience was made up by HR, marketing and communication professionals.  

This year’s prevailing tendency was the evolution of new technologies. Brett Minchington started his presentation pointing out that one of the goals in the international market is how we develop a global employer branding strategy and localize it in the different countries. Most of the companies do not have an Employer Branding (E.B.) strategy but they are working on it. EB is very useful in order to attract candidates and stimulate the commitment towards the employees of a company. At the moment, there is a big demand for employer brand managers. Companies must give priority to people; they must achieve employee’s happiness at work. The visible part of the company is the employee and the way he or she treats customers.

Brett shared with us some statistics about the global workforce in developed and developing countries. One of the most shocking rates was that, in Spain, 41% of the people interviewed said that they still work in their current job because they need stability (22% in the rest of the countries).

Companies must set specific guidelines in order to create an Employer Branding strategy but also measure the impact of each EB Project. It takes up to 4-5 years to build a solid employer brand project. It is important to choose the appropriate employees. The best professionals in EB strategies are extroverted, vital and communicative. Nevertheless, there is not a specific person in charge of EB but an entire group made up by people with different abilities. Every employee should become a Chief Values Officer (CVO).

An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) Development should promote engagement. We achieve engagement by getting people involved. Brett suggested us to promote employee engagement through interactive and social actions. A good point is to record a video presented by the employees of the company. In the near future, companies will need to attract people from other industries. What does make your company different? Brett explained part of the·”Employer Brand Excellence Framework” and gave us some interesting tips: “Your employer brand set of metrics needs to be aligned with business objectives so managers from all departments will need to be involved in the development process”

Brett shared with us many graphics and statistics, videos and good examples of Employer Branding such as the following:

• Ikea: a clever recruiting campaign through career instructions.

• Intel: sometimes, less attractive brands develop creative branding strategies in order to generate engagement. Video of “the rock star employee”.

• Starbucks has a wonderful value proposition. They sell coffee but they aim at changing the world through specific actions (Social Corporate Responsibility, SCR)

Read the complete post here.