Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Minchington
Your Employer Brand attract-engage-retain
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Quote
Sergio Zyman,
Chairman and Founder of Zyman Group and
former Chief Marketing Officer of The
Coca-Cola Company
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Dedication
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Acknowledgements
I wish to sincerely thank the following people for their persistence,
positive attitude and contributions to bringing my book to fruition.
Claudia Tattanelli - CEO, Catrine Johansson - University Relations
Manager and Rachele Focardi - Ferri Senior Consultant and Senior
Editor (Universum Communications, Philadelphia USA), and Anton
berg - Project Manager Research (Universum Communications,
Stockholm Sweden), Simon Barrow - Chairman and Richard Mosley Managing Director (People in Business, London UK), Michael Hall Senior Researcher and Katherine Garrick (Incomes Data Services London UK), Rob Chapman - Managing Director and Sandy Pinkerton Personal Assistant to Rob (Bank SA, Adelaide Australia), Ryan Estis Senior Vice President & Chief Talent Strategist, (NAS Recruitment
Communications, Minneapolis USA), Annette Browdy - Senior Vice
President and Jorge Patrisso - Manager, Corporate/Global
Communications, (Bernard HODES Group, New York USA), Kathryn
Oakman (Hays Recruitment, Sydney Australia), Warwick Bowd National Practice Leader (Hudson Employment Branding, Sydney
Australia), Sal Vitale, Senior Vice President, Operations (The Conference
Board, New York USA), Aysil And - Managing Director (TNS Piar),
Alexandre Sidorenko - UN Focal Point on Ageing (Department of
Economic and Social Affairs, New York USA), Liz Sanders Customer
Services Executive (Melcrum Publishing, London UK), Tina L. Campbell
- Executive Assistant and Sergio Zyman, (Zyman Group, Atlanta USA),
Andrew Boal and Margo Weston (Hewitt Associates, Melbourne
Australia), Roger Edwards, - Commonwealth Copyright Administration,
(Attorney-General's Department , Canberra Australia), Meagan Upsher
- Qualitative Data Coordinator - Supply Chain Coordinator - Marketing
Assistant (ISR, Melbourne Australia), Alice Atalla (Watson Wyatt,
Melbourne Australia), Todd Raphael - Editor (Electronic Recruitment
Exchange, New York USA), Clayton Glen - Director (HDA, London UK),
Colin Dalby (Thomas Cook, Stamford UK), Rob Willock - Group Editor,
(Personnel Today, Surrey UK), Joe Hall - Ad Marketing Manager, (The
Economist, London UK), Margit Huber (Global TRI*M Centre in
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Acknowledgements
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Table of Contents
About the author
Dedication
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
Foreword
Preface
SECTION 1: THE ENVIRONMENT FOR
EMPLOYER BRANDING
1) The emergence of employer branding
in todays knowledge economy
The rise in awareness of employer branding
Where does responsibility in an organisation for
employer branding lie?
The objectives of employer branding
Workers attitudes to their workplace
and their employers
The brands people want to work for
Understanding the value of diversity
In the spotlight - General Electric
Employer branding and the public sector
2) The role of employer branding in organisational
strategy: Dr Steve Goodman
Employer branding - Improving the organisation's
competitive position
The resource based view of strategy
Four conditions for organisational success
(i) Heterogenous organisations
(ii) Capabilities must be rare and have value
(iii) Capabilities must be hard to replicate
(iv) Capabilities must not be easily traded
Planning and control structures
Emergent self organisation
3) The strategic drivers behind the rise in
acceptance of the employer brand concept
The ageing global population
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Table of Contents
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Application value
Applications for business
Future research directions into studying employer
attractiveness
7) Employer brand metrics
Employee engagement
In the spotlight - Australia
Human capital measures
The top 25 levers of engagement
The value of employee research in tracking your
employer brand efforts
In the spotlight - technology organisation - an
illustrative HDA case study
8) Employer brand communication and actions
Getting the right message across
Employer brand communication methods
Conveying a brand across cultures
Importance of differentiation
Web technology
Recruitment advertising
In the spotlight - Coca-Cola Amatil
The strategic employment brand in action - a holistic
approach to living the employer brand
The firm-employee relationship cycle
First contact
The dating game
Proposal
Marriage
Maintaining the passion
Anniversary
SECTION 3: THE EMPLOYER BRANDING PROCESS
9) Employer Brand Management Framework TM
Employer value proposition
Defining the employer value proposition
Employer brand identity
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References
Index
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List of Illustrations
Figure 1: How important is employer branding to your organisation?
Source: Personnel Today 2005, p.27
Figure 2: In the future employer branding will become
Source: Personnel Today 2005, p.27
Figure 3: Employer branding is too much of an important issue to be
left solely to an HR department. Source: The Economist Survey 2003, p.30
Figure 4: Where does the responsibility for Employer branding in an
organisation lie? Source: The Economist Survey 2003, p.31
Figure 5: Departments involved in the employer branding work
Source: Universum Communications 2005, p.33
Figure 6: How important is your brand in delivering the right message?
Source: The Conference Board 2001 www.conference-board.org, p.34
Figure 7: Main objectives for employer branding work
Source: Universum Communications 2005, p.35
Figure 8: Main objectives for employer branding work by industry
Source: Universum Communications 2005, p.36
Figure 9: Three centuries of world population ageing
Source: The United Nations Programme on Ageing,
www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agewpop.htm 2006, p.56
Figure 10: Percentage increase in age 60 and over by region 2000-2050
Source: The United Nations Programme on Ageing,
www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agewpop.htm 2006, p.57
Figure 11: Ageing is set to accelerate - Annual change in the share of
people aged 65+ in the population 1922-2051
Source: Productivity Commission 2005, Economic Implications of an Ageing
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List of Illustrations
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List of Illustrations
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Foreword
Written by Simon Barrow, creator of the
Employer Brand approach and co-author of
'The Employer Brand - bringing the best of
brand management to people at work'
published by Wiley in October 2005.
Simon is Chairman of the consultants
People in Business, in London.
I owe my inspiration for the idea of the employer brand to the fact that
my early experience combined two very different strands, first as a
brand manager in the consumer goods business and later as CEO of an
HR and Recruitment Group. The need for marketing disciplines in the
world of employment rapidly became apparent to me and I gave the
first public talk on the subject back in October 1990.
I welcome an Australian book on this subject and it is good to see so
much research, writing and speaking happening globally. I urge all
those interested in this subject to concentrate on the essence of good
employer brand management and realise that it is about the realities of
every part of the employment experience and not just the
communication aspects (i.e. the design and copy) of recruitment and
internal messages and materials.
Making sure that those realities reflect what you need to create an
experience which will enable your people to achieve their business
objectives takes courage and coherent management across the often
deeply entrenched silos in most organisations. Ultimately, employer
brand projects must have the whole hearted, consistent support and
total involvement of the CEO. A function-driven initiative will not
succeed. HR, Marketing, Internal communications and line management
must work together to create the programme with the CEO's approval.
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Foreword
Simon Barrow
June 2006
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Preface
The employer-employee relationship paradigm has been changed
forever. The employment world has transitioned from the industrial era
to the knowledge era and the supply and demand curve for talent is
becoming increasingly favoured towards the employee. This has led to
organisations around the world aligning their people management
efforts with the development of an employer brand strategy to attract,
engage and retain talent.
This book aims to build on previous work in employer branding in
order to widen the discussion and thinking around the concept in
businesses around the world.
Simon Barrow, now Chairman of People in Business based in London
(UK) is acknowledged as the creator of the moniker Employer Brand
Concept as early as October 1990. Barrow defined employer branding
as:
The package of functional, economic and psychological
benefits provided by employment and identified with the
employing company. The main role of the employer brand
is to provide a coherent framework for management to
simplify and focus priorities, increase productivity and
improve recruitment, retention and commitment. 1
Employer branding is not jazzing up your recruitment advertisement or
re-designing your corporate website and other communication touch
points. Whilst your company projects its image through its
communication vehicles, the employer brand concept lies much deeper
than this.
An organisation with a superior employer brand is one whose people
brand matches their corporate brand. This means that the value
proposition that the business articulates is reflected by the actions of all
people, at all levels of the business, at all times. In its simplest form the
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Preface
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Preface
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Brett Minchington
MBA, B.Bus (Marketing)
E brett@collectivelearningaustralia.com
P 61 8 8443 4115
F 61 8 8443 4149
W www.collectivelearningaustralia.com
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Section 1
The Environment for Employer Branding
Chapter 1
The Emergence of Employer Branding in
Todays Knowledge Economy
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Agree strongly
Agree
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The study also found that there is currently more focus on recruiting
than on retaining talent across industry sectors. Although most of the
companies surveyed realise and state that their external message needs
to be true, they seem to attach much less value to the views of current
employees than they do to external perception. In addition there are
fewer targets for internal employer branding than for external efforts
(see figure 8). This is a worrying trend as one of the most valuable
channels for creating a picture of a company is through dialogue with
its current employees. 6
Figure 8: Main objectives for employer branding work by industry
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brightest people don't all look and think the same way. People of
character, competence and integrity come from all backgrounds.
Moreover, being a leader in diversity provides American Express with a
competitive advantage. Reaching our goals, pioneering new products
and providing superior service can't happen if we all think the same
way. We need to draw on different perspectives to remain innovative,
to truly understand the needs of our diverse customers, and to gain
market share. Being a leader in diversity strengthens our company's
brand image, employee satisfaction and customer loyalty. A majority of
our communication with students goes through our website or by
email. But last year when we were on campus we found that most of
the students still wanted a brochure. They do visit our website, but they
still wanted something tangible to walk away with after our
presentation. 6
The value of how a focus on face-to-face interaction contributes to
developing a strong employer brand is also evident in the following
section where Steve Canale, who manages General Electric's entry-level
recruitment, discusses how making an early connection with the
students leads to successful hires. 6
In the Spotlight - General Electric
Commitment and international focus attract talent
People often associate GE with quality, integrity, good ethics and high
performance. That strong corporate brand helps the company build an
attractive employer brand. Steve Canale elaborates: I believe our
international focus and our leadership training programs add to our
good reputation. Although not everyone within the organisation can
travel abroad regularly, it is very common for people to make
international connections on a daily basis as part of their job. GE
invests more than $1 billion per year in employee training. That
commitment to its employees is what attracts many talented young
people to the company. In building its employer brand, GE values faceto-face interaction. The best and brightest GE representatives involve
themselves in many campus activities such as classroom visits and
speaker presentations. 6
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I want our potential employees to say that 'he was so passionate about
his work', or 'she got back to me so quickly', when they talk about their
experience with GE. Every year GE hires 1,800 interns and co-ops. It is
important to reach out to the target audience early. GE's internship
programme was recently recognised on the Wall Street Journal's list of
America's top internships. This is a great opportunity for them to learn
about our business and for us to see if they will be a good fit for our
organisation. Today, 60 percent of our leadership development program
hires come from our pool of interns and co-ops Canale said. 6
Diversity goes beyond gender and ethnicity
GE annually recruits nearly 1,000 students in the US. The company
looks for people with a proven record of academic and leadership
achievements. Canale said, We want team players with high integrity, a
commitment to life-time learning and a passion for their field of study.
The aim for the company is to attract a diverse group of people from
different backgrounds. Last year our entry-level hires in the US were 34
percent minority and 38 percent female. But we don't just focus on
ethnicity and gender. We want to recruit from a variety of schools, a
range of minority associations and from various parts of the country. 6
To measure the success in communicating and upholding the brand, GE
conducts its own hire and decline survey. Through the interviews, GE
collects valuable information about how the company is perceived. By
interviewing students who select us as well as students who select a
different employer, I believe we obtain a well-rounded understanding of
our image. But we can always improve. It's a continuous process...
Canale said. 6
Employer branding and the public sector
Aside from a few obvious exceptions such as uniformed police and the
defence forces, public sector organisations have not traditionally
invested in shaping a distinctive image or perception around the
particular employment experience they provide. Traditionally the
marketing of public sector careers and specific roles has been a relative
low-key affair, characterised by bland newspaper advertisements and a
highly process-oriented approach to candidate sourcing, attraction and
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agencies attempting to attract talent from the private sector, many are
also looking to differentiate themselves individually as employers.
Government and indeed all not-for-profit organisations are tending to
adopt a more competitive mindset when it comes to positioning their
employment experience.
Despite the increasing need for employer branding within the public
sector and recognition of this from within, it is also evident that there
is a lack of expertise as to how to go about doing this effectively. The
concept of branding, while highly familiar to many private sector
companies is a relatively foreign one in most public sector circles,
hence the increasing engagement of external employer brand
consultants to assist public sector firms in developing their employer
brand to attract, engage and retain talent.
This chapter has detailed the rise in awareness of the employer brand
concept and has outlined the increasing role of senior management in
guiding a firm's employer brand strategy. This chapter also outlined
the objectives for employer brand work which provide the foundations
for understanding the role of employer branding in organisational
strategy. This is further explored in chapter 2 by my colleague Dr Steven
Goodman.
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Section 1
The Environment for Employer Branding
Chapter 2
The Role of Employer Branding
in Organisational Strategy
Dr Steve Goodman
BIntBus (Hons), PhD (Adelaide)
Adelaide Graduate School of Business
University of Adelaide
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'those who employ labour') must have difference. Whilst the idea of
world's best practice has merit as a Quality Assurance goal, and
outsourcing offers a valuable tool for operational efficiency, neither of
these two approaches are actually strategic. Michael Porter 3 warns not
to confuse operational efficiency with strategy - the former is about
doing things right, whilst the latter concentrates on doing the right
things. If many companies have the goal of 'best practice' then all those
companies are setting very similar objectives to one another - the goals
of what is deemed to be 'best practice' in that industry. Similarly, as
industry has followed a trend towards outsourcing, more and more of
the work within the value adding chain has been performed by
companies that specialise in that area.
In Australia, when Pan Pharmaceuticals encountered quality problems
and product recalls, many chemists and health stores pulled up to 75%
of the brands off their shelves. As a result of so many companies
outsourcing their manufacturing to Pan Pharmaceuticals any cost
advantages had begun to disappear. More and more companies start to
look the same, albeit for the differences in their marketing 'spin' and
label design. These minor differences do not rate on the scale of
heterogeneity amongst firms that successful competitive advantages
require. In fact the more brands, the more buyers then the more the
power and competitive advantage shifts to the manufacturer who can
then raise prices to seek a larger slice of the value chain profit.
Employer branding is a strategy that is underpinned by the resource
based approach to building competitive advantage - it is the attempt to
truly give the organisation a difference in appearance and organisation
of its labour force - of the intangible resource that will then develop
and implement strategies. It is the task of the core firm, the employer
brand, to attract, engage and retain the individual human assets and
collective resource that are needed to begin to build competitive
advantage.
2. Capabilities must be rare and have value
The second condition needed is that some of the capabilities the
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organisation possess must be rare and have value; the systems and
processes that firms have to organise their assets and implement them
must be unique to some extent and difficult for others to copy or
match. Once again, it can be seen that the management trend of
quality assurance or best practice, whilst beneficial in terms of
operational efficiency does not contribute to the necessary condition of
uniqueness or value. To use the resources of the organisation to build
competitive advantage rather than the same benchmarks or quality
systems, employer branding offers the opportunity to build this
required uniqueness. It does not mean that simply having an employer
brand gives this 'rarity', look at the supermarket to see how many
products have 'brands' and yet there is in fact very little difference
between them (or even amongst their customers). GMH tells us the cars
are powerful, solid, comfortable, reliable and the best car - so does
Ford, the buyer of a GMH car will tell you that their car is best for
much the same reasons a Ford driver will. This is not about
differentiation or points of difference.
The rarity requirement for building competitive advantage using
capabilities and resources requires real uniqueness, uniqueness that
stands for something and that can be used to build and maintain the
labour force and utilise it as a strategic asset. The employees of the
organisation perform activities, in most instances. Activities are the
building blocks of strategy 4 , so the efforts and interconnectedness of
the employees' activities is where the strategy of the firm is designed,
implemented and succeeds (or fails).
3. Capabilities must be hard to replicate
For competitive advantage to be built, the resource based view's third
condition is that for the firm to be successful the capabilities must be
hard to replicate. In more recent work, reflecting on developments in
the area of competitive advantage, Michael Porter 3 says that a complex
set of activities, conducted by people, becomes quite unique in itself.
Complexity supports the view that complex systems are one-offs. The
more the processes and systems develop, then the ever increasingly
complex and unique the organisation becomes. As a pathway for
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Section 1
The Environment for Employer Branding
Chapter 3
The Strategic Drivers Behind the Rise in
Acceptance of the Employer Brand Concept
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woman in the five-year period ending in 2005 from 1.79 in the five
years to 1980, according to the United Nations. Japan's birthrate is
estimated at 1.32 during that period. The European Union's rate was
1.46 in 2002. The U.K.'s fertility rate fell to about 1.7 children per
woman today from as high as 2.9 children in the 1960s. 3
Falling birthrates aren't just affecting the wealthiest nations. China, the
world's most-populous country, India and Brazil are experiencing a
drop in fertility levels. China's fertility rate is 1.86 children per woman,
down from about six per woman in 1966. By 2050, 30 percent of the
population will be over 65, compared with 25.5 percent in the U.S.,
according to the UN. At current fertility rates, Europe's population is
set to fall from 728 million in 2000 to 597 million in 2050, an 18 percent
drop. 3 It is clear that the ageing of the global population will impact on
all countries in different ways. The following section highlights the
impact of the ageing population in Australia.
In the spotlight - Australia
Australia faces a pronounced ageing of its population over the next
forty years. In Australia the current fertility rate of 1.2% (which is
below replacement) is forecast to slip to an even lower rate of 0.85% by
2016. This trend is expected to deliver a pressing workforce shortage
over the coming years, resulting in a sharp drop in new entrants joining
the workforce. 4
During the decade 2020 - 2030 only 125,000 new entrants are expected
to enter the Australian workforce. This forecast contrasts sharply with
the current annual rate of 170,000 new entrants. As a result, there will
be a larger proportion of older workers in the labour market relative to
the supply of younger workers. In Australia in 30 years time there will
be just two people of working age for every person 65 years of age and
over. The proportion of the 'oldest old' will increase even more. In
itself, population ageing should not be seen as a problem, but it will
give rise to economic and fiscal impacts that pose significant policy
challenges. More importantly it will result in an increasing shortage of
skilled workers. 4
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The ageing of our population has been occurring ever since people
started to acquire influence over fertility and mortality. As the incidence
of deaths in all age groups has declined and the average number of
births per women has fallen, the age structure has shifted profoundly.
At Federation (in 1901) , the old were scarce. Less than one in 25 of the
population were aged 65 years or more. Now, they comprise one in
every eight Australians. By 2044-45, almost one in four will be aged 65
years and over. They will comprise around 7 million Australians. The
age distribution is being squeezed into a different shape by these
demographic pressures. It has already shifted from a pyramid to its
present beehive shape. Given current trends, the population age
structure will continue its inversion and begin to resemble a coffin
(figure 12). 4
Figure 12: From pyramid to coffin: Changing age structure of the
Australian population 1925-2045
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Figure 13: Population pyramids: age and sex distribution, 2000 and
2050
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Section 1
The Environment for Employer Branding
Chapter 4
Building the Business Case
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Section 2
Building a Leading
Employer Brand
Chapter 5
Understanding the
Brand Fundamentals
Ron Tomlian
Managing Director
Marketing Counsel
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with having to compete not only with soaps from Lever and Palmolive,
but also with Ivory, P&G's own flagship product. In a now-famous
internal memorandum he argued that more concentrated attention
should be paid to Camay, and by extension to other P&G brands as
well. In addition to having a person in charge of each brand, there
should be a substantial team of people devoted to thinking about every
aspect of marketing it. This dedicated group should attend to one brand
and one alone. The new unit should include a brand assistant, several
check-up people, and others with very specific tasks 1 - and so the art
of modern day brand management was born.
It is instructive to look at an earlier form of 'identification' to gain an
insight into a more modern view of branding. Heraldic shields or family
coats of arms derive from medieval times. While they were definitely a
form of identification (you would want to know if the person you were
about to dismember in battle was friend or foe) they developed beyond
this. The symbols chosen for identification were intended to say
something about the family in question - a crown implied loyalty to the
king, lions meant bravery, books implied the family was scholarly and
so on. There are two important implications here. Firstly, the family
'brand' tried to tell the observer about the values that the family held
dear - it was designed to go beyond a mere form of identification.
Secondly, by putting these values on display it provided an expectation
of what one would get in dealing with this family. Any deviation from
these emblazoned values would have direct implications for the
reputation of that family - it would affect people's perception about the
authenticity of the family 'brand'. These lessons are as relevant today as
they were over 1000 years ago.
Branding - What is it?
Delving into the field of branding can be an intimidating experience. In
the first place, it's hard to get a straight answer on what a brand is. As
already discussed, even modern marketing textbooks describe brands as
a name, term sign symbol or design, or combination of these intended
to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and
differentiate them from those of competitors.
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person whom you are meeting for the first time, place your thumb over
your company's logo and watch the expression on the face of the
person as they look at the card. Then take your thumb off to reveal your
company's logo - Does this cause a different reaction from the person?
Now consider if the corporate logo you revealed when you took your
thumb away was Microsoft, McDonalds or Coca Cola.
Elements of the brand
While an organisation may know what it wants for its brand, how it
wants the brand to be regarded by its customers and other
stakeholders, this aspiration may not (and seldom exactly does) match
the reality. If the brand is represented by the image that exists in the
customer's head then what is desired by the organisation (the ideal
image that it tries to portray) is the identity it projects.
Again, we can relate this back to the individual. Each person has an
identity (how they see themself and a belief of how they come across to
others) but does this necessarily match the image that others have of
them (what they really are like)?
Given this tension, how does one encapsulate all the information about
a brand so that they know how to steer the image closer to their ideal
identity?
Over many years of research and struggling with these issues, people
have developed various frameworks for developing brands - hence the
profusion of books about branding. Some is quite rightly considered
hype, but, like the definition of brands, there is some consistency
amongst the schemes that offers insight into the elements of branding
that need to be considered and managed.
At the lowest level are the attributes of the brand, the adjectives that
described the mental associations with it and the features of the
products/services it covers. For instance, consumers may think of a
specific service as 'fast', 'courteous' or 'professional'. Most people
would use terms such as 'well engineered', 'prestige', 'exciting', 'fast' or
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problems describing such a person (unless they are unfamiliar with the
brand). This personification tendency is used to advantage by marketers
who understand that individuals are drawn to personalities that they
find attractive (and often who they see themselves like, at least ideally).
They will try to craft, through communication and product/service
delivery, a personality that matches that of their target audience. A
quick way to achieve this is to 'borrow' the personality of someone who
the target audience already knows and identifies with. Hence celebrity
endorsement, or celebrities becoming the 'face of' the brand, is used to
achieve immediate personification. A good example of this is the use of
tennis sensation, Australia's Pat Rafter by Bonds to promote their range
of men's underwear.
While this can and does work for consumer product brands, it becomes
more difficult for service brands and corporate brands. This is because
the clues that people use to decipher or reinforce the brand personality
are gathered from each and every interaction with the organisation.
This means that the culture, policies and values of the organisation and its effect on the behaviour of the people who interact with
customers and other stakeholders who support these people - all has
an impact on their perceptions of the brand.
Position, Position, Position
Like the real estate mantra of 'location, location, location', branding
has its own mantra - 'position, position, position'. Corporate brands are
developed to differentiate themselves positively from rivals - to
position their product as attractive and superior in the minds of the
target consumer.
All the 'stuff' associated with branding that has already been discussed
comes into its own in this exercise, because the attributes, benefits,
values and persona all combine to help provide a unique position in the
mind of the target customer in a way that a simple product/service
cannot.
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Section 2
Building a leading
Employer Brand
Chapter 6
Employer Attractiveness
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This chapter draws together and synthesises research that I have been
involved with since early 2000. To date, this work has culminated in
three conference presentations, an article in the Saturday Age
(Melbourne newspaper) and two lead articles in the International
Journal of Advertising - IJA (vol. 21, no. 1, 2002 and vol. 24, no. 2,
2005). I draw heavily on both refereed journal articles in this chapter. I
would like to acknowledge the stellar contributions of my wonderful
co-authors: Professor Pierre Berthon (Bentley College, Waltham, MA,
USA), Professor Leyland Pitt (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver,
Canada), Dr. Nigel de Bussy, (Curtin University of Technology, Perth,
Western Australia) and Ms. Li Lian Hah, (MPH, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia). In this chapter, 'we' refers to conclusions drawn by my
colleagues, while 'I' signals a personal opinion.
Advertising's role in creating strong employer brands
Advertising is a potentially important tool in support of an
organisation's efforts to identify, acquire and retain skilled employees.
It is increasingly being used to build and sustain employment
propositions that are compelling and different. 1 However, this trend
signals a departure from more traditional views on the role and scope
of advertising. Indeed, for most of its existence, advertising has focused
on attracting customers. More recently, enlightened organisations have
recognised the need to expand their communications efforts to
incorporate all stakeholders, not only end-users. The marketing
literature has also begun to address stakeholder theory, as well as
advertising's indirect and internal audiences, but more as a secondary
consideration or by-product of consumer advertising. However, this is
about to change. I anticipate seeing more and more organisations using
advertising to create 'employer brands'. In response to this anticipated
trend, our 2002 IJA article uses a metaphor-driven pattern-coding
approach to analyse and discuss a number of exemplary cases that
illustrate how certain (knowledge-based) firms are currently using
(primarily print) advertising to create employer brands. We then
categorise these approaches into a basic typology and consider the
managerial implications of these approaches.
Employer Attractiveness
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1. TRANSNATIONAL, Inc:
Status & Mobility (Global network - big & successful)
We turn over $ X billion, have offices in Y countries and employ Z people.
In this instance, the organisation is essentially promising the potential
employee stability and mobility (within the organisation). Using the
branding as reduction notion, advertising reduces the potential
employee's search costs, while promising what Y&R would call 'esteem'.
The employment proposition here is - we're big, we're stable, we're
multinational and we're a respected and admired employer - why look
any further?
Examples include many of the banks and financial service providers, eg
Allianz, Bayerische Landesbank, Commerzbank, Crdit Agricole, UBS
Warburg, HSBC, Perpetual, Pictet, West LB, UBS Warburg, State Street,
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Zurich, Credit Suisse First Boston.
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2. MISSION TO MARS
Excitement (New experiences)
What we do is exciting - join us and be ahead of the herd
Here the organisation/industry is fairly new and possibly not that well
known. As a result, many potential employees may not yet know the
major players in the industry, and even exactly what it is that firms in
the industry do. The branding challenge here is to create awareness (or
what Y&R call familiarity), and reduce any potential psychological
risks 11 whereby potential employees might be hesitant to work for an
organisation that they or their peers may not have heard of.
Examples include the new technology spin offs and start ups, such as
Aventis, Novartis, Alstrom, Agilent Technologies, Aspira (from
Motorola), Lucent Technologies, Infineon Technologies, Intelsat, Linde,
Nokia, SK, United Technologies, Viatel, Headstrong, Hyundai
Electronics and management and technology consultants, Booz Allen &
Hamilton.
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Employer Attractiveness
95
other words, regardless of the employer proposition/employer brandtype, all advertising should attempt to differentiate the brand from
direct and indirect competitors. Indeed, we would suggest that
employer branding is the key to differentiated recruitment and
sustainable human resources management.
Implications for management
Managers are going to have to develop a better understanding of how
the organisation's communication efforts impact severally and jointly
on all its stakeholders. It is unlikely that branding strategies, attempts
to build and enhance corporate image, and employer branding
initiatives are seen by stakeholders as unique and separate messages.
More probably, customers are impacted upon by employer branding
efforts ('they want to employ the best people, therefore their products
and services will probably be great'), and employees by branding efforts
('I would love to work for a firm that makes an exciting product like
that'). While there have been calls for more integrated marketing
communication efforts for some time, the increased overall branding
complexity created by employer branding means that managers will
now have to heed them, rather than merely acknowledge their
importance. Our example ads attest to the possibility of confusion and
problems in interpretation by target audiences. While some are
obviously ads intended to create an 'employer brand', others are less
direct in their message and may be susceptible to misinterpretation, or
might even miss the mark entirely. Almost certainly management must
be aware of this and anticipate the consequences.
Introducing the notion of employer attractiveness
Over the past two decades, the concept of internal marketing has
become an important area within its own right, while at the same time,
it has continued to evolve and expand to incorporate themes such as
internal advertising and more recently, internal branding. Our second
major study 8 continued along a related line of inquiry into employer
branding, and focused on a closely related concept - 'employer
attractiveness'. This concept has been broadly discussed in the areas of
vocational behavior 8 , management 9 applied psychology 10,11
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Employer Attractiveness
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Employer Attractiveness
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Section 3
The Employer Branding Process
Chapter 7
Employer Brand Metrics
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There are several metrics that can be applied to measure the success of
your employer brand efforts. This chapter presents a range of metrics
that are being used by organisations to measure and evaluate their
employer brand program.
My research discovered that employer engagement is one of the most
common metrics that firms are using to measure the impact of their
employer brand efforts. It is therefore appropriate to begin the
discussion on employer brand metrics on this topic.
Employee engagement
Employee engagement can be defined as the degree to which employees
perform work over and above what would normally be required for
their role. It is the level of discretionary effort that employees give
when they are committed, satisfied and motivated in their role.
In order to improve employee engagement, an organisation must
understand where it is currently. It must also understand the
components of engagement - the factors that influence it - in order to
know what to change.
Among employees in ten of the largest world economies, Australia has
the third highest rate of engagement across its workforce, according to
a major study by ISR (a global employee-research and consulting firm)
of nearly 160,000 employees across 10 nations. The study included
hundreds of different companies across a broad spectrum of industries
in Australia and nine other large economies: Brazil, Canada, France,
Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, UK and the US. The
highest rates of engagement are found in the U.S. and Brazil, in which,
on average, 75 percent of responses to survey questions about
engagement are favourable. Rates in Australia (and Canada) are 70
percent, placing it third in the survey, compared with rates of 72
percent in the Netherlands, and 59 percent in France, the lowestranked country in the study (see figure 21) 1
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104
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105
106
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107
108
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109
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Impact
32.8
Category
D
30.3
29.8
D
D
29.2
28.5
O
M
27.9
27.6
27.6
27.6
27.2
27.1
26.9
M
O
M
M
M
M
M
26.8
26.7
M
M
26.6
26.5
26.3
26.1
26.0
26.0
26.0
M
M
M
M
M
M
26.0
25.9
25.8
25.7
O
M
M
M
Source: Corporate Leadership Council 2004 Employee Engagement Survey - reproduced with permission
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111
that they would not typically get involved in within more established
businesses. Notwithstanding the fact that, for the most part, people in
new or newly restructured organisations are often required to spend
much of their time working well within their capabilities, ensuring that
the basics are done within the constraints of the situation, without the
typical levels of support available within established companies. 4
An internal, holistic survey was conducted on all staff across the
organisation, both in the UK and the USA. The survey measured the
following predictors of team satisfaction:
1. Process. Are the right processes in place to support the business?
2. Role challenge. are roles challenging and motivating?
3. Values. Are company values clear, and are they clearly subscribed to
by management?
4. Work-life balance. Are workloads full but not excessive?
5. Information. Do senior managers provide the business with an
appropriate level of information?
6. Stake/leverage/reward/recognition. Do people have significant longterm stakes in the business, and are rewards, recognition and career
leverage opportunities with the organisation competitive?
7. Management. Are performance objectives clear, and is performance
regularly reviewed and fairly managed for ongoing personal
improvement?
8. Work environment. Is the work environment supportive and
empowering?
9. Product. Do solutions, products and services continue to excite and
challenge? 4
Detailed and headline feedback results were then systematically used over
the next six months as a key driver for:
1. facilitated objective-setting;
2. management meeting actions;
3. management interventions;
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Section 3
The Employer Branding Process
Chapter 8
Employer Brand
Communication & Actions
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Figure 26: Are current and prospective employees clear about what
makes the organisation a great place to work?
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Figure 30 What are the most used and most effective tactics for
communicating the employer brand?
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University relations
1. Image advertising
2. Brochures & binders
3. On-campus promotions
4. Sponsorships
5. E-marketing.
Conveying a brand message across cultures
A recurring theme in the interviews conducted for The Conference
Board study is the need-mentioned especially by big, diversified
companies-to convey unified, coherent brand messages in ways that are
appropriate to different sites and cultures. In an interview for
Universum Communication's employer brand global best practices
report, Melissa Reinke, of GE describes how the company met the
challenge in a particular instance-the launch of a new company
initiative dealing with issues of integrity, a key brand component. Ms
Reinke said, 'We created a communications toolkit for use by our HR
folks and our communicators. It can be used at the corporate level and
customised at the unit level. The kit includes training materials,
facilitators' notes, videos, posters, wallet-size cards, sample e-mails
they can use in their businesses, and talking points that managers can
use if they get questions from employees. This allows a multi-channel
approach.' 2
We launched the initiative with an all-employee e-mail from our CEO.
On the local level we worked with the businesses. Each business could
do its own communications plan. We gave them all the marketing tools
that they needed to promote everything locally before we did the
corporate launch. The range of support materials enables each business
to give one-on-one training or group employee training, Reinke said. 2
GE's approach is likely to become a common approach for companies
due to the increasing level of multiculturalism around the around and
in corporations.
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Importance of differentiation
A major challenge for companies in communicating their employer
brand efforts is the need to differentiate as a result of increased
competition. Given the trend of increased focus on employer branding
in organisations, the need for differentiating your approach will grow
continuously. 3
Unilever uses marketing and advertising agencies to develop
communication materials globally. Local communication depends on
the scale of the operation. A recruitment agency is used in some
countries, especially where the level of interest in job vacancies is
overwhelming. Finding people that share the Unilever values plays a
key part the recruitment process. The selection process is therefore
based on finding both the right competencies and the right values in
candidates.
What Unilever looks for is closely related to their vision-adding vitality
to life. Unilever looks for people that share that vision. Once the right
people have been hired, Unilever offers them growth opportunities as a
way to retain them. Based on the statistics about why people leave, it is
not usually a question of money. It is about having a rewarding job and
being given the chance to develop. The company is very aware that the
behaviour of leadership within the company needs to be correct and
that people in management have enough time for their staff. 3
Web technology
According to the Universum Communications report 3 the corporate
website is the single most important channel of external
communication for companies. In Universum's worldwide student
surveys, students typically rank the website as their most important
source of information about companies. Another popular source of
information with students (after internships) is 'acquaintances
employed by the company'. Students view current employees as
ambassadors for the company and as important sources of personal
information about the organisation. This once again points out how
important internal communication is for an employer branding strategy
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Recruitment advertising
The following case study demonstrates the value of creative recruitment
advertising in communicating the employer brand to external
stakeholders including prospective employees.
In the Spotlight - Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA)
Employee referral programs
The cost of staff turnover has been calculated at around 2.5 times an
exiting person's salary. This has led to an increasing trend in
organisations to develop employee referral programs (ERP's) under the
assumption that engaged and satisfied staff are more likely to refer
their organisation as a 'great place to work' to their family, friends and
colleagues. Existing employees become part of the screening process in
an ERP by introducing endorsed candidates to the organisation leading
to decreased recruitment costs, reduced recruitment lead times whilst
contributing to a positive company culture.
Prior to 2005 the role of the existing ERP in the overall recruitment
strategy at CCA was unclear and limited geographically to NSW. The
program had low visibility, its processes were very manual and
communication to candidates and referring employees was slow and
lacking in detail. This led to a small volume and poor quality of
referrals. There were few repeat referrals and a low level of confidence
in employees referring top talent to CCA. Overall, the ERP delivered
less than 5% of total external hires.
The aim of the campaign was to develop an ERP that delivered
significantly increased speed to hire leading to increased revenue and
volume opportunities for the company. CCA also found that employees
hired through ERP's had higher retention rates than those hired
through other sources of talent and sourcing. It also found that ERP's
were 70% cheaper than recruitment advertising.
In 2005 Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) engaged leading Australian agency,
Advertising Energy to reinvigorate the branding of the existing ERP as
their current HR needs could not rely solely on recruitment advertising.
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Action
CCA's reviewed their existing ERP and identified gaps and areas that
needed attention. Advertising Energy were engaged to review the
branding and creative execution of CCA's communication program,
resulting in the National launch of 'Who's on your talent radar'
program in 2005. The target audience for the campaign was employee
family, friends, and employee's network of associates. The campaign
proposition was, 'I love my job so much I want my family and friends to
work here.' This was clearly captured in the creative used for the
campaign (see figure 32). The launch activities included extensive
training to local HR and recruitment teams. A 'Lotus notes' based
database was developed to simplify the referral process and to improve
tracking ability.
Results
The results were exceptional with an increase in referral volumes of
400% in the first 6 months of the campaign. The quality of referrals
increased to over a 60% success rate (success defined as hired or talent
pooled for future vacancy). Total hires from the ERP increased to 15%
and are targeted at 25% for 2006.
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Integrated communications
On average, companies indicate that they use four channels of
communication for internal information and six for external-another
indication that external communication is prioritised at the expense of
internal. When discussing communication channels, one notable
difference between European companies and those based in the US can
be found. American companies use an average of seven channels when
communicating externally while European companies use about five. To
some extent, the reason for that may be that the US companies are
typically larger, but probably more important is that competition is
fiercer in the US. 3
The following section provides an example of a holistic approach to
'living the employer brand' based on the firm-employee relationship
cycle.
The strategic employer brand in action - A holistic approach to
living the employer brand (this section is reprinted with permission from
Bernard Hodes Group) 6 The employer brand's magic lies in the
relationship it fosters between the firm and its employees. This
relationship starts before a person is even employed and is built over a
series of stages, resembling the 'marriage' relationship that people go
through.
A marriage can be understood as a series of bond-building experiences.
These experiences, in most cases, serve to strengthen and preserve the
relationship between couples. Similarly, companies have
the ability to create bonding experiences for employees. These bonding
experiences strengthen the employee's commitment and feelings toward
the firm. The marriage metaphor helps explain the firm employee
relationship stages more completely, and provides firms with a valuable
guide on how to create an effective 'marriage' with their employees.
The six relationship stages in this metaphor can be classified as: First
contact; the dating game; proposal; marriage; maintaining the passion;
and anniversary (see figure 33). A brief discussion of each stage
follows.
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The firm's interests are similar. To the extent that the prospect is able to
rule themself in or out of the relationship-building process, the firm
will save time and will be able to allocate its recruitment resources
toward the right candidates. This is an opportunity that every firm
should seek to exploit for one simple reason: good candidates are
scarce and can be gobbled up very quickly by a competing firm. The
firm should do everything, therefore, to enable its prospective
candidates to gather helpful information quickly and easily.
A possible outcome of the prospect's research process is that they
retain interest in the firm even while finding no suitable, or exciting,
job opportunities immediately available. In this case, the firm should
use its applicant tracking / hiring management system just as someone
might use a 'little black book' - i.e., to keep tabs on prospects. Those
already screened for specific skills or experience (qualified prospects)
should be kept on the hook by direct contact or through third party
recruiters until both the firm and the prospect are ready to pursue
serious discussions about an opportunity. The employer brand plays a
key role in maintaining or developing the prospect's interest during this
potentially long pre-interview period. To the extent that the brand is
memorable and unique - and to the extent that the firm actively
manages the fragile relationship it started with the prospect - the firm
will be able to recapture candidates over the long run that it otherwise
would have lost to competitors.
Once the firm has a bona fide opportunity that is of interest to the
prospect, both parties evaluate the match through the interviewing
process. The prospect officially becomes a candidate. If the interviews
go well, the firm should use its employer brand to sweep the candidate
off their feet. One way the interviewer accomplishes this is by
explaining the employment proposition in detail and by introducing the
prospect to other employees who provide evidence of its veracity. To the
extent that the firm applies other unique and exciting ways of
solidifying the candidate's interest, the firm will maximise its chances
of taking the relationship further.
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There has never been a good excuse for poor follow through or
mistakes in the offer process. Given the benefits of a strong firmemployee relationship, there is also no reasonable business case for
making a less than memorable offer. The process itself need not be
complicated or costly. Just as with a marriage proposal, a little creativity
and attention to detail are all that are necessary. The CEO of a small
firm might personally call the candidate to invite him to join the team.
A hiring manager at a larger company could make the job offer in
person, while showing the candidate to his new office. Even an overthe-weekend phone call from the human resources person could
demonstrate the firm's excitement at bringing a candidate on-board.
In short, the job offer is a simple yet potentially strong foundation to
the firm-employee relationship.
Marriage
Once the job offer is accepted, the firm must welcome, orient and
integrate the new employee. This should include effective preonboarding communication between the offer and the first day of
employment. Unless its brand message amounts to 'sink or swim-you're
on your own', the firm should take advantage of this opportunity to
create bonding experiences, thereby deepening the firm-employee
relationship.
As with the job offer, an effective 'honeymoon' period should not be
difficult to provide. From the moment the employee walks in on the
first day, the employee should be provided with the basic tools and
provisions: desk, phone, computer, network connections - anything that
they need to do their work effectively. As simple an assignment as this
may seem, it is rarely carried out flawlessly. What this amounts to is a
subtle message that the firm 'does not care'. It stunts the firm employee
relationship and plants a seed of guardedness that can grow over time,
contributing to moral hazard and other company costs.
The firm should go beyond the basics, however, and do all that it can to
create bonding experiences during the employee's first couple of
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The previous two relationship stages are easy for the firm to overlook;
this one, on the other hand, is just plain difficult to do. Maintaining an
employee's passion does not occur over a short or finite period of time.
Rather, it is the fulfilment of the brand's promise over the entire course
of an employee's career. Indeed, it is the firm living out its employer
brand. Making it more difficult still, there is no one formula that can be
systematically applied to every employee. Instead, each employee has
their own set of circumstances and career needs that requires a tailored
response from the firm.
Still, the upside to maintaining the passion is significant. This stage in
the firm-employee relationship gives companies the best opportunity to
distinguish their employer brands. The firm that is able to consistently
deliver a quality employment experience to its people will find itself
with a terrific competitive advantage. Characteristic of having a strong
employer brand, the firm's attraction and retention costs will go down;
hire-quality and employee productivity will increase; and company
costs will diminish.
Anniversary
Wedding anniversaries are times at which people remember their vows
and renew their commitments. Similarly, firms must continuously
measure and assess their effectiveness at following through with the
commitments embedded in their employer brands.
Couples do not use the anniversary to rethink whether or not they
belong together. Rather, they use it to reflect on the actions they take to
make their relationships work.
Continuing this metaphor, a firm should not use the anniversary stage
to re-evaluate its employer brand. Instead, the firm should focus its
attention inward-to assess how well it is doing at creating and living
out its employer brand.
The firm should ask itself: How well is the employer brand being
utilised? How can we communicate it better? Whom is it reaching and
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Section 3
The Employer Branding Process
Chapter 9
Employer Brand
Excellence Framework TM
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try a 'hit and miss' approach and expect to achieve everything in a 1-2
day workshop. Organisations such as Adelaide Bank in Australia
provide career development opportunities at all levels on a continual
basis so that learning and development is integrated into the company's
lifelong learning culture. I recently completed my MBA at a University
that promotes 7 graduate qualities that underpin the curriculum across
all courses. One of the graduate qualities is 'to prepare for lifelong
learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in
professional practice'.
From my experience, graduates would be lucky if they find an
organisation to work for that shares this vision and assists them to
further develop their body of knowledge through their employment
experience. From my experience too many organisations do not see the
value of learning and development in contributing to the success of the
company. A lot more work needs to be done in the higher education
sector to build workplace competencies such as effective communication skills, problem solving skills, and oral presentation skills to build
a more capable workforce to meet the challenges of an increasingly
complex world of business. Leaders need to be encouraged to develop
individual personal career plans with their employees. These career
development plans should be hot wired into the performance
development process for the employee and should be reviewed
regularly and aligned with objectives of the organisation and those of
the employees.
Goldman Sachs brands itself as the place where employees can build a
multifaceted career over a number of years. The company has a robust
internal mobility program for those who want to take part in
opportunities in areas others than the one they started in. In an
interview for Universum Communication's 2005 employer brand global
best practices report, Edith Hunt (Co Chief Operating Office of Human
Capital Management) said, We want people to understand that working
for Goldman Sachs is about more than money-it's about building a long
term career. As the pace of change escalates in the industry and the
complexity of financial products continues to increase, the pressure on
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Communication systems
Informal networks (sometimes referred to as 'grapevines') in
organisations are renowned as a great source of company information.
Companies that fail to communicate effectively with their employees
may feed the 'grapevine' to the point where it becomes the most
credible source of company information. Whilst some employees would
argue that this is not a bad thing, it is important that what the company
would like to say about its employee brand is communicated in a
manner that is consistent with their corporate brand messages.
Chapter 8 provides a wealth of communication mediums that can be
used to communicate your employer brand strategy to your existing and
prospective employees. It would pay to also undertake an audit of the
corporate website and company intranet to determine if these
important communication tools are contributing to the strength of the
company's employer brand.
Work environment
It is surprising to hear of the value that employees place on the
physical environment that they work in. Having personally worked in
both old style and modern workplaces I would agree that a comfortable
work environment impacts on attitude and productivity in the
workplace. A leading postal authority in Australia found itself in hot
water a few years ago when one of their policies prevented employees
from having photo frames and other personal items at their
workstation. The incident resulted in major press headlines and after
extensive media and public scrutiny the organisation changed their
position and realised (the hard way!), the value that employees place on
their workplace environment. Vodafone designed their new
headquarters campus in Newbury with two of its core values 'Passion
for our people', and 'Passion for the world around us', very much in
mind. 5
Employer Brand Strategic Platform TM
On completion of the assessment of the Employer Brand Employee
Platform TM elements, it is time to consider the performance of the firm
against the elements of the Employer Brand Strategic Platform (see
figure 36).
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way process, not the 'my way - or the highway', scenario of the past.
Good leadership builds great leadership by starting with recruiting the
right 'leadership fit' that is aligned with the goals of the organisation.
Corporate reputation and culture
The ranking of the company in best employer to work for lists such as
'Hewitt's Best Employers List', 'The Sunday Times: 100 Best Companies to
Work For', 'The Financial Times: Best Workplaces' (in the UK and EU),
and Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For'- will assist in projecting
a positive image to existing and prospective employees. High rankings
give employees a sense of pride in working for an employer perceived
as an employer of choice, and it helps to spread the word about the
company's employment practices. Protecting the corporate reputation of
the company is critical to organisational sustainability, and this does
not mean the implementation of a slick public relations campaign to
cover up bad practices. A sustainable reputation is built on effective
people management policies and practices nurtured over a long period.
Consider the impact on employees as a result of the extortion threat on
Mars Bars in Australia in 2005. The company took quick action to recall
all bars across Australia even though they were not legally required to
do so. The swift action resulted in creating a perception in the minds of
existing and prospective employees that Mars is a responsible employer
and this resulted in consumers coming back in droves after the product
appeared back on the shelf.
In Jim Collin's research for his popular leadership book, 'From good to
great', he found that organisations which make the leap from good to
great are able to do so because of their focus on building a strong
culture around their organisation, within which their employees
can excel. These companies researched and built their own unique
culture and filled it with highly disciplined people who were prepared
to take disciplined action. They shook off bureaucracies, as 'bureaucratic
cultures' only arose to compensate for incompetence and lack of
discipline in employees. Jim Collins found that when the right people
are in place in your organisation, there is no need for bureaucracy! The
importance of traditions cannot be overlooked in building a strong
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Customers
The most successful brands are built on an intimate knowledge of their
customers. In much the same way, successful employer brands are build
on an intimate knowledge of employees. The attitudes and actions of
employees impact on the promise delivered to customers. Research
shows that engaged and satisfied employees deliver higher levels of
service to customers and the expression of customer satisfaction has a
motivational effect on employees, inspiring them to voluntarily give
even more of themselves for the purpose of increasing customer
satisfaction. This has been referred to as the flashpoint effect. 7
Customers may be future employees and can make recommendations to
others about their customer experiences. I recall the time I cancelled a
wireless broadband subscription due to poor signal reception. Within
the 'cooling off' period I was allowed to return the wireless broadband
card for a refund from a major Australian telecommunications firm but
was advised by a (rude!) employee that I had not returned the card
within the store's refund timeframe. At the time the Director of the
store was on the premises and the staff member excused herself and
arranged for him to handle my query. The Director then preceded to
recite the refund terms in a rude tone and also went to the effort of
downloading a copy of the company's refund terms. It turned out to be
a blessing in disguise when I noticed that the refund terms detailed
that the card must be returned within 10 days of the cancellation of the
service, not from the date of purchase.
On explaining this to the Director he rang the company's helpline and
proceeded to argue with the operator that his franchised store could
overwrite the company's refund policy on hardware items if the
hardware wasn't returned within 10 days of its purchase. In the end the
Director agreed to refund the purchase price but not without the
following parting comment, Im only doing this because the store is
closing and I don't have any more time to discuss this with you. Is that
a store I would recommend anyone to work for!
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Prospective employees
Earlier in chapter 6, Ewing et al (2005) defined 'employer
attractiveness' as the envisioned benefits that a potential employee sees
in working for a specific organisation. The construct may be thought of
as an antecedent of the more general concept of employer brand equity.
In other words, the more attractive an employer is perceived to be by
potential employees, the stronger that particular organisation's
employer brand equity. 9
The attitudes that individuals hold about employers are informed by
their 'affective responses' to situations, people or things. Attitudes are
affected by their own employment experiences of those of their family,
friends, and colleagues. If the employment experience with an
employer in a particular industry is a negative one (e.g. call centre),
then that may impact on the attractiveness of the industry as a future
employment prospect for the employee.
As previously detailed in chapter 8 employee referral programs are
becoming increasingly common in organisations serious about
recruiting employees with values similar to the company's. Employees
who are engaged in their work are more likely to refer the organisation
as a place to work to their family, friends, and colleagues. This not only
saves on recruitment costs, it also assists to attract a workforce whose
employee values are more aligned with those of the organisation.
Research shows that Generation Ys use the internet as a primary source
of information about prospective employers. It is their experience at
this employer brand touchpoint that may be the difference in the ability
to attract this individual as a prospective employee.
Stakeholders
As part of employer brand research efforts it is recommended that a
survey of a sample of company stakeholders be undertaken to
determine how they perceive your employer brand. Consider how
stakeholders perceive the company's work practices. How do they rate
the service delivered by the employees? Chances are that if the service
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Section 3
The Employer Branding Process
Chapter 10
The Future for
Employer Branding
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In closing this three year journey which has culminated in the writing
of this book I now begin another journey of contributing as both an
employer brand researcher and practitioner to work with organisations
from around the world to develop their employer brand programs that
contribute to ensuring a larger number of employees of current and
future generations can proudly say that their company is a 'GREAT
PLACE TO WORK'.
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Section 4
Employer Brand Case Studies
Thomas Cook
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Thomas Cook
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Thomas Cook
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Thomas Cook
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Thomas Cook
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education and flexible benefits, all of which help build an attractive and
competitive package. However, we do emphasise to prospective
employees that they will work in a sales environment - it's not all
glamour and travel in these roles, as those looking to pursue a career in
travel sometimes perceive. Succession planning We've focused on
succession planning by providing clear career pathways and
development opportunities. For many years Thomas Cook has run a
successful Modern Apprentice scheme and in 2004 aims to attract 400
people. Trainees gain work experience for an 18-month period while
completing qualifications in travel and tourism. This provides a
foundation for Thomas Cook to optimise internal talent and fill future
vacancies. This year we've also recruited 12 graduates to our UK
Graduate Management scheme. The scheme is geared to fast-tracking
individuals to future senior management roles in the organisation. For
employees wishing to progress their careers we now have in place clear,
structured career progression plans, enabling individuals to gain new
skills and take on new opportunities.
Training and development
In 2003 we introduced an initiative where all new employees take part
in a Thomas Cook PROUD culture day. The aim is to ensure that from
the first day of their induction employees understand what Thomas
Cook is all about - our history, strategy and values.
Training at Thomas Cook also includes a blended approach to
development, provided through a combination of courses and self study.
Through our SAP HR information system, employees can view and book
training courses online and once attended, the system builds a profile
for each employee on their acquired skills and knowledge. Getting buyin from line managers
Creating an employer brand and making your company an employer of
choice cannot be achieved alone by the central HR function. All
employees should champion the cause, particularly line managers. To
encourage this we provide training and tools to help drive our strategy
right through the business. Recruiting the right people to work hours
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that match the business needs can be effectively managed at local level
because managers have the best knowledge of their local community
and workforce demographics. We've started to encourage managers to
use local tactics and share their successes and best practice with
colleagues.
Successful initiatives include networking in their retail area,
communicating resource plans with their team and visiting local
schools and colleges to raise the profile of careers at Thomas Cook.
Because customers tell us they like to be served by people who have
experience of resorts and destinations we may also approach welltravelled customers to inform them of job opportunities. In addition,
we've redesigned our recruitment training program for line managers.
This isn't just about interview techniques. It's designed to get the
basics right - spending more time with candidates at the interview
stage and keeping reserves 'warm' with effective communication that
creates a local database to select from the next time a vacancy arises.
The simple message to managers is that we need to get the right people
at the right time for the right cost. It's also about ensuring that
unsuccessful candidates have a good experience and aren't put off
returning to Thomas Cook in future as customers. Store managers have
also received comprehensive new recruitment guides that give them
tools to make them a successful recruiter - providing guidelines on the
selection process, the methods they can use and local tactics to employ
at minimal cost.
Thomas Cook
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Successes to date
Overall, the move to a flexible workforce is making headway. Our ratio
of part-time to full-time employees is now 35:65, whereas six months
ago it was 30:70. The aim to encourage more males is seeing results,
particularly in the sales centers. We're also finding a greater number of
mature applicants applying for roles. We see these trends continuing as
we maintain our focus on these aims, push forward on retention plans
and start to build a holistic diversity strategy. We are on a journey but
there is still a long way to go - we have completed some quick fixes,
and although we're well on the way to change, we still have plenty to
do. But, with great people we're confident we'll go far.
Key Points
Thomas Cook needed to expand its recruitment pool beyond those with
travel industry experience.
1. The company needed a more flexible workforce, and also one that
reflected its customer profile in terms of age.
2. The 'You'll go Far' campaign focused on employee development and
internal communication as well as a new approach to recruitment.
3. The campaign resulted in high-calibre applicants and, in call centres,
improved performance.
4. Thomas Cook is taking a holistic approach to retention, highlighting
factors other than pay that make it an attractive place to work.
5. The company has also trained and provided resources for line
managers on recruitment.
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Section 4
Employer Brand Case Studies
Bank SA
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Bank SA
Metropolitan Banking
Rural Banking
Commercial Banking
Strategy & Marketing
Risk Management
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Bank SA
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Bank SA
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The Bank is serious about measuring the success of it's employer brand
efforts and uses some of the metrics detailed in table 1 to measure their
employer brand efforts - employee turnover, employee absenteeism,
employee overall satisfaction, employee engagement and employee
turnover costs
The following table summaries the performance of the Bank against
these measures over the past 3 years:
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Section 4
Employer Brand Case Studies
The Compass Group
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Compass Group
Compass Group is three years into an organisational change strategy
designed to create a unified culture to 'glue' together what was and still is a
highly decentralised global business, enabling it to grow organically. While
the business has faced significant challenges in the last 12 months, the real
value in this culture change has been the continuity it has provided and
platform it has created for future growth. Following the launch of a new
vision and set of core values, the Group developed and implemented a new
employer brand grounded in employee research, championed by senior
managers and aligned to a clear strategic priority - to attract, develop and
retain 'great people'.
Compass Group is the world's largest food service company, providing
food, vending and related services on its clients' premises in over 90
countries and employing some 400,000 staff worldwide. It has been on
a massive growth journey since 1987, at which time it operated solely in
the UK and had only around 20,000 employees. Through multiple
acquisitions, the company has expanded rapidly and seen sales increase
from 200 million to 12 billion.
Business context
Having created this global platform through acquisitions, Compass
Group's strategy changed in 2002 to one of driving organic growth,
with the emphasis on 'leveraging' the scale and reach of the business to
deliver better value. To facilitate this transition, the executive board
recognised the need to set a common direction and sustainable course
for what had become, in effect, a new organisation - one made up of
the individual cultures and histories of the 167 acquired companies that
had joined Compass Group in the previous 15 years. The objective was
to create a common language and culture, a 'glue' to bind the various
parts of the business together that would help to establish a shared way
of thinking and behaving.
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Employee research
Employee research was focused around identifying what staff believed
to be unique about working for the Group and what sort of brand
promises resonated with them. As Tim Small explains: Research has
been crucial to everything we have done - the emphasis has been on
talking to our people because they are the ones who know best what it
means to work at Compass Group.
An initial e-mail survey was used as a 'toe in the water', this was
enhanced by feedback from the global employee survey and followed up
with focus groups of representative front-line staff in 20 countries. One
of the key findings was that a majority of employees identified with the
scale and size of the organisation, associating this with strength and
also the ability to offer its staff more opportunities than other
employers. This insight formed the basis of Compass Group's employer
brand promise, encapsulated in the strap-line: 'great people real
opportunities'.
Fleshing out the promise
With 'opportunities' identified as the key driver of employee loyalty,
further research was then undertaken (in focus groups and workshops)
to pinpoint what kind of opportunities staff expected from their
experience of working at Compass Group.
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Clarifying standards
This helped the project team to pinpoint eight clear standards for
delivering the brand promise. The 'real opportunities' that Compass
Group committed to delivering are the opportunities to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
These were to form the basis of future initiatives to support the brand,
as well as providing a framework for measuring delivery of the brand
promise across the organisation.
Creating a visual identity
The next step was to develop a coherent visual identity for the brand.
Focus group feedback clearly indicated that this should feature
Compass Group staff living the company values - it was thought that
this would bring authenticity to the brand and provide public
recognition to individuals. In the event, three creative treatments were
designed, all of which feature real employees from across the business
who are role models and who, in one way or another, have benefited
from 'real opportunities'. With strap-lines such as 'being great comes
naturally' and 'different tastes, different dreams, different cultures same values', the emphasis of the posters (used both internally and for
recruitment purposes) is on celebrating the diversity of employees and
on communicating - through direct eye contact with the camera - a
sincere relationship between the individual and target audiences.
In addition to the poster campaigns, an 'identity block' was developed
which brings together the Compass Group logo with those of its subsector brands, along with the promise line 'great people real
opportunities' (see figure 43). This emphasises that Compass Group is a
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197
family of brands, showing potential recruits how joining one part of the
business means belonging to the wider family.
The development of common visual standards and an online image
library of Compass Group people has been a crucial part of brand
delivery, giving operating companies the flexibility to personalise their
recruitment advertising while remaining consistent with the overall
brand identity.
Figure 43: The identity block and the employer brand promise
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Internal communications
Each business launched the brand internally with support from the
centre. (The box below sets out some general guidelines that informed
the communications strategy).
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Section 5
Employer Brand Excellence Sorecard TM
Worksheets
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Worksheets
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204
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Worksheets
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Worksheets
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208
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Worksheets
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209
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Notes
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Reference lists
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Preface
1. Barrow, S., Mosley, R. (2005) 'The Employer Brand - Bringing the best
to brand management to people at work, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, London.
2. Thorne, K. (2005) 'One stop guide to employer branding', Personnel
Today Management Resources.
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Reference lists
Chapter 1
1. 'Employer branding is key in fight for talent' (17 May 2005), Personnel
Today, http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2005/05/17/29929/
Employer+branding+is+key+in+fight+for+talent.htm
2. 'Employer branding spawns competitive edge of the future', (2005)
Universum Communications (2005)
3. 'Engaging employees through your brand' - reprinted with permission
of The Conference Board (www.conference-board.org), a not-for-profit
business research organisation with offices in New York, Brussels, and
Hong Kong
4. 'The employer branding survey', (2003), The Economist
5. Hall, M. (2005), 'The Compass Group case study', IDS employer brand
report, London
6. 'Employer branding: global best practices report 2005',
Universum Communications
7. Reprinted with permission from Work USA 2002, 'Weathering the
storm: A study of employee attitudes and opinions' 2006 Watson Wyatt
Worldwide. For more information, visit www.watsonwyatt.com
8. Hays Recruitment (2005), 'What employees want: our most popular
employers', http://www.hays.com.au/news/newsdesc.aspx?id=149
213
214
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Chapter 2
1. Hamel, G. and Prahalad, CK (1990) 'The core competence of the
organisation', in Harvard Business Review, May-June
2. Hubbard, G. (2000) 'Strategic management: thinking analysis and
action', Prentice Hall, Frenchs Forest, New South Wales
3. Porter M. (1986) 'What is strategy', in Harvard Business Review,
Vol 74(6)
4. Porter, M. (1985) 'Competitive advantage', The Free Press, New York
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Reference lists
215
Chapter 3
1. The United Nations programme on ageing,
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agewpop1.htm, accessed 2006
2. The United Nations programme on ageing,
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agewpop.htm, accessed 2006
3. www.bloomberg.com, U.S. births, immigration boost social security
system (Update1), http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&
&sid=a1LSvOsp9iUE, accessed 2006
4. Productivity Commission 2005, Economic implications of an ageing
Australia, research report, Canberra
5. Australia's Workforce 2005: Jobs for the future,
http://www.dest.gov.au/archive/publications/2005sum.htm
6. Hywood, G., Migration, like finance, needs to be deregulated,
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Opinion/Migration-like-finance-needs-to-bederegulated/2005/02/09/1107890270533.html, February 10, 2005
7. www.workplace.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/ A821DE6D-8708-4E63-BADC6FBB107A1A83/0/NSSTradesupdateDecember2004V2.pdf
216
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Chapter 4
1. Reprinted with permission from International Survey Research LLC,
303 East Ohio Street Suite 2100, Chicago, Illinois
60611, USA
2. Reprinted with permission from 'Work USA 2002 - Weathering the
storm: A study of employee attitudes and opinions', a research paper
prepared by Watson Wyatt Worldwide. For information, visit
www.watsonwyatt.com
3. Barrow, S.,and Mosely, R (2005) 'The Employer Brand : Bringing the
best of brand management to people at work', John Wiley and Sons
Ltd, London
4. The Economist (2003), 'The employer branding survey'.
5. 'Engaging employees through your brand' - reprinted with permission
of The Conference Board (www.conference-board.org), a not-for-profit
business research organisation with offices in New York, Brussels, and
Hong Kong
6. 'Employer branding: global best practices report 2005', Universum
Communications
7. Rogers, F., Towers Perrin, 'Originally published in Strategic HR
Review', Volume 2 Issue 6, Sept/Oct 2003. For more information see
www.melcrum.com/link/shrr
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Reference lists
217
Chapter 5
1. P&G: 'Changing the face of consumer marketing (2/5/2000), Harvard
Business School - Working Knowledge',
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=1476&t=bizhistory&noseek=one
2. Knapp, DE (2000), 'The brand mindset', McGraw Hill, New York
3. Davis S (2002), Brand asset management - Driving profitable growth
through your Brands', Josey Bass, a Wiley Imprint, San Francisco
4. Sharp, B (1995), 'Brand equity and market-based assets of professional
services firms', Journal of Professional Services Marketing, 13 (1),
pp3-13.
5. Dowling, G (1994), 'Corporate reputations - strategies for developing the
corporate brand', Longman, Melbourne
6. Widing et al (2003) 'Customer behaviour: consumer behaviour and
beyond', Thomson, Melbourne
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Chapter 6
1. Sherry, A. (2000), 'Put some branding iron into your image', Business
Review Weekly, 22(28), p. 66
2. Wolfinbarger, M.E. Gilly, M.C (1991), 'A conceptual model of the
impact of advertising on service employees:, Psychology and Marketing, 8
(Fall), 215-237
3. Gilly, M.C., and Wolfinbarger, M (1998), 'Advertising's internal
audience', Journal of Marketing, 62 (1), pp. 69-88.
4. Watson, R.T., Akselsen, S. & Pitt, L.F (1998), 'Attractors: building
mountains in the flat landscape of the World Wide Web', California
Management Review, 40 (20), 36-56.
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Chapter 7
1. Reprinted with permission from International Survey Research LLC,
303 East Ohio Street Suite 2100, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA
2. Rogers, F., Towers Perrin, 'Originally published in Strategic HR Review,
Volume 2 Issue 6, Sept/Oct 2003. For more information see
www.melcrum.com/link/shrr'
3. Corporate Leadership Council, 2004 Employee engagement survey
4. Clayton Glen (2006), Key Skills retention and motivation: the war for
talent still rages and retention is the high ground, vol. 38 No 1, pp37-45,
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Reference lists
Chapter 8
1. The Hudson Report, 'Employment and HR trends, Australia' | April June 2005, Part Two | HR Insights | Understanding Your Employment
Brand
2. 'Engaging employees through your brand' - reprinted with permission
of The Conference Board (www.conference-board.org), a not-for-profit
business research organisation with offices in New York, Brussels, and
Hong Kong
3. 'Employer branding: Global best practices report 2005', Universum
Communications
4. 'Employer branding is key in fight for talent' (17 May 2005), Personnel
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29929/Employer+branding+is+key+in+fight+for+talent.htm
5. www.adenergy.com.au, 2006
6. Copyright 2006, Bernard Hodes Group. Reprinted with permission
from Bernard Hodes Group, 220 East 42 nd Street, New York, NY 10017,
www.hodes.com
221
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Chapter 9
1. 'Employer Branding: Global best practices report 2005', Universum
Communications
2. www.microsoft.com (2006)
3. Barrow, S., Mosley, R (2005) The Employer Brand - Bringing the best to
brand management to people at work, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, London
4. www.theworkfoundation.com/pdf/ethical_intro.pdf (2006)
5. www.thebodyworkshop.com (2006)
6. 'Hurd signs on as new HP chief', (2005)
http://news.com.com/Hurd+signs+on+as+new+HP+chief/2100-1014_35645638.html
7. Thorne K (2005), 'One stop guide to employer branding', Personnel
today management resources
8. http://www.pikeplacefish.com/, 2006
9. Berthon, P., Ewing, M.T. & Hah, L.L (2005), 'Captivating company:
dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding, International Journal
of Advertising, 24,2, pp151-172
10. Estis, R. 'Employment Brand Architecture - 8 steps to becoming an
employer of choice' (2005), article originally appeared on the Electronic
Recruiting Exchange., www.erexchange.com
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Reference lists
223
Case Studies
Thomas Cook
1. Melcrum Publishing. Originally published in Strategic HR Review Vol
3 Issue 5 July/August 2004. For more information e-mail
info@melcrum.com or visit www.melcrum.com
BankSA
1. Brett Minchington's interview with Rob Chapman (Managing
Director of Bank SA) on 21st December 2005.
The Compass Group
1. Michael Hall, Employer Brand, Income Data Survey (IDS), 2005
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Index
226
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Brand ambassadors 68
Brand awareness 92
171, 200
Brand loyalty 85
Africa 106
Air NZ 39
Cadburys 81
Allianz, 95
Canada 102
Alstrom, 94
CEDA 182
Anderson Consulting 91
Chevron 91
ANZ 38, 39
Application value 98
Coca-Cola 83
Asia 106
Cognitive 104
AT&T 132
Commerzbank, 93
Aventis 91, 94
Bank NZ 39
Bankruptcies 26
Banner advertising 121
Barrow, Simon 17-19, 22,
212 216, 219
BASF 73, 74
144-45
Competitive advantage 28, 40, 46-50,
136, 147, 154, 167
Conference Board, The 29, 34-35, 68, 71,
119-120, 122, 194
Bayerische Landesbank, 93
Consumer brands 26
Core competence 47
Boeing 91
132, 154
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227
Index
149, 150
Employer Value Proposition 42, 116, 142,
Crdit Agricole, 93
Daimler Chrysler 92
Ford 49
Development value 98
Fortune Magazine 74
GE 40-41, 122
Generation X 185
Du-Pont 73, 91
Generation Z 56
93, 167
GlaxoSmithKline 142
E-Marketing 122
GMH 49
Hamel, Gary 47
Hays 38
HSBC 93
Hubbard, G 47, 51
144, 149
Employer Brand Excellence Framework TM
21, 139-149, 163
228
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IBM 39 ,94
Pat Rafter 86
Iceland 58
150, 153-54
Perpetual, Pictet, 93
Intangible Assets 47
Intelsat, 94
Pfizer 32
Interest value 97
194, 198
Prahalad 47
JP Morgan 94
L.L.Bean 29
McDonalds 83
McElroy, Neil 78
Mergers 26
Restructuring 37
Mexico 58
148, 153
Robbins,Tracy 193
Motorola 94
Shareholder value 80
Nanotechnology 51
Singapore 102-103
National Bank 39
Slattery, Tara 73
Nokia 94
South Africa 99
Novartis 94
OCED 58
Optus 39
Strategic Thinking 46
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229
Index
Telecom NZ 38-39
Telstra 38-39
The Financial Times 152
The Sunday Times 152, 200
Thomas Cook 169-179
Towers Perrin 105
Turkey 58
UBS 93
UK 27, 30, 68-69, 102-103, 106, 110-112,
125, 152, 167, 170, 175, 177, 190,
197, 200
Unilever 123
United Nations 59
United Technologies, 94
Universum Communications 32-33,
35-36, 39, 72-73, 122-123, 146,
158-159
US 30, 36-37, 58- 59, 102
Value Proposition 20, 29, 187
Viatel 94
Virgin 39
Vodafone 38-39, 149
Watson Wyatt 36, 38, 69
Westpac 38-39
Williams Elaine 32
Work environment 97, 111, 141, 144,
149, 154
Work-Life Balance 111, 153, 196, 200
Xerox 130
Zurich 93
230
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Notes
Notes
Notes
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231
232
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Notes