They're talking about you

Every single customer, employee and stakeholder has a different impression of your company. Sabrina Zolkifi finds out how organisations are using this to build a cohesive and identifying employer brand.

Employer branding traces its roots back to the 90s, where it was first defined in the Journal of Brand Management as "the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company".

But a lot has happened since the article was published in 1996 – most notably the integration of the internet into the everyday working space.

The internet has allowed companies a deeper reach into its consumer and candidate market, allowing companies to not only be accessible to a diverse audience, but also tailor its message to suit each target market.

So how does this help organisations to shape their own employer brand?

Online platforms can be used not only to create an online identity that positions companies as an employer of choice – it can also go a long way in connecting with desired candidates.

“Social media such as Facebook has brought us closer to job seekers. This has allowed us to clarify any queries they may have,” Angeline Chua, senior assistant director of recruitment at Singapore Prison Service, says.

“The usage of online mediums has also expanded our outreach to potential candidates where traditional methods of engagement would not have been as effective.

Putting a face to the name

Richard Lau, vice president and head of the integrated recruitment agency at Certis CISCO, says in the current labour market, the importance of a strong employer brand is magnified.

“We choose to build a holistic employer brand experience, not offering piecemeal experience or disjointed and disparate messages about ourselves, so that prospective employees will be able to easily make the connection and buy into what we can offer to them as a potential place of work,” he says.

Certis CISCO prides itself as an innovative organisation, and its employer branding efforts strives to portray that.

“We have gotten a lot more integrated in how we communicate and act on who we are as a company,” Lau says.

Lau shares the company has employer branding activities and initiatives on both the corporate and business unit levels, and that is has “added a new dimension to how the employer brand is shaped”.

With the workforce increasingly being made up with Gen Ys, who are more fluent in social media than their Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts, companies need to be able to manage and leverage on social media when crafting their employer brand.

“Employer branding is not the job of one department or a few staff alone. Rather, this whole idea is pervasive throughout all our business units and everyone is an advocate in this cause,” Lau says.

Chua agrees, adding it is also important that a consistent message is being put out - right from initial recruitment advertorials to interactions with candidates.

However, there is a lot more to employer branding than spiffy ads and a smart tagline.

David Chin, group head of HR at NOL, says by limiting employer branding efforts to only the external market, companies are underestimating how valuable and important it can be internally.

Over the past two years, he has been noticing a very interesting trend in the local market.

“One of the things that has increasingly surprised me is the number of customers I meet who want to talk to me about what you’re doing with our employees – how are we training them, how are we developing them and what leadership programmes we have,” he says.

This is important, he says, because being in the services industry “customers can tell when you have good people and when you don’t”.

“They’re asking me because they have a vested interest in making sure I as a company and we as an organisation have good people in place to serve them.

“We had a big customer come through less than a month ago visiting us from Europe, and there was an HR dedicated session; they wanted to know what we’re doing because they do care and they are an important stakeholder.”

Beginning at home

But before launching into an employer branding exercise, leaders have to realise employer branding is critical both externally and internally.

Perhaps the first step should be determining what current employees think of the standing brand.

According to Randstad’s ‘Employer Branding: Perception being reality’ report, 51% of employees surveyed in Singapore feel a pleasant working atmosphere is critical when choosing a new employer.

The respondents said a pleasant work atmosphere was primarily linked to team spirit, recognition for good work, open and honest communications and respect from colleagues.

These sentiments are further cemented when the report revealed employees who stand a better chance at staying in their current role often point at lack of atmosphere and support as reasons to change employers.

Lau says Certis CISCO’s individual business unit leaders are highly involved in shaping the employer brand from the inside, with various internal activities carried out throughout the year.

“As an example of one of our business unit level activities, the Certis CISCO Auxiliary Police Force has its own Project Care Bear initiative where its supervisors and senior officers, including the divisions’ commanding officers, pay regular visits to sites during the night shift bearing food to boost the morale of our ground officers, and to show them that we care.”

Aside from getting buy in from senior management, Chin says it is also important to leverage on partnerships with different functions – particularly the marketing team.

This is something Doris Toh, CEO of SME SureCatch World, agrees with.

“People tend to think that rebranding is just a facelift and should be left to marketing and corporate communications, but the truth is, it affects the entire company, especially HR,” she says.

Toh, who practiced HR for more than a decade before taking over her family’s business (read the case study on page 26), adds the greatest level of change stems from HR policies, such as remuneration, reward structures and key performance indicators.

“Once you change the way you reward people in accordance to how you want them to perform according to the newly aligned direction, it becomes much easier to implement changes across the organisation.”

Avoid the potholes

However, Chin cautions that employer branding, much like any other undertaking, involves a lot of foundation building.

 

Lau says one of the things companies often overlook when building an employer brand is being “too casual” in choosing employees who are being featured on posters or social media.

“Best looking staff might not work best. We want the best employees to represent our company image; there is no soul to the campaign,” he says. “From what I see, some of these campaigns are very hollow. We make sure our staff and passionate about doing it.”

Chin says it’s also important those working on the branding efforts are focused and understand what they are trying to achieve.

The other piece of advice he shares is to not overcomplicate the process.

“One of the things is people try to stuff too much into an employer brand and make it too many things,” Chin says.

He adds HR leaders themselves have to be passionate about creating an employer brand they believe in.

“If you are not going to put in a lot of energy, or budget into it, my advice to you HR managers is not to do it at all, because you will get a very mediocre employer branding.”

Read more:

Case study: Certis CISCO

Case study: Singapore Prison Service

Case study: SureCatch World