UniversumQuarterlyI ssue #4, 2007

B e s t P r a c t i c e s a n d G l o b a l Tr e n d s i n E m p l o y e r B r a n d i n g

© Universum 2007

Featured companies

Bernard Hodes GroupBritish American TobaccoChartered Institute of Personnel and Develop ment (CIPD)Colman ServicesDeloitteErnst & YoungFacebookFerrariGoogleKontakt East Holding EcommerceKraftMicrosoft Russia

NHOOsram SylvaniaPeople in BusinessPwC UKShaker Recruitment Advertising & Com municationsStaffwellStarbucksTerrakultur Russia LLCToyotaUBSVestasWagamama

Hot topics: The female touchIf you think inviting women into the board room is just about niceties, you are behind the times. Today’s modern companies push for female employees and firmly support the idea that it is no longer a ‘man’s world’. page 6

Checking back with the bestHow successful was Kraft’s 2005 employer branding campaign? Universum checks back with Carin Kaiser to find out. page 24

G U e s T w r i T e r s:

Driving eBEB expert Brett Minchington discusses the drivers of employer branding. page 20

Getting it right at career fairsThe newly graduated stefan Visser shares personal experiences of the dos and don’ts of career fairs. page 8

s U C C e e D i n G i n :

russiaWith businesses heading east, Russia is experiencing a tug of war for talent.

Without enough qualified candidates to meet new demand, companies big and

small are experimenting to give their most attractive offer. page 16

Fuelling the employer brandCreating your employer brand is crucial, especially when future recruitment will be

based in new markets. The Danish energy company Vestas share with us how they

rejuvenated their employer brand. page 22

C o M M U n i C aT i o n T r e n D s :

The next frontier The expression may be ‘social network site’ but that does mean it is only a social tool.

Some companies are appreciating the benefits of using these online networking sites for

recruiting. But know your boundaries, not everyone likes to take work home with them.

page 10

Fad or future?EB is bigger than HR, but is it here to stay? A panel of experts debate the future of

employer branding and explore some of the pitfalls companies succumb to when

trying to keep up with the times. page 26

The increase in adoption of the employer brand concept as a strategic framework to at-tract, engage and retain talent has been driven by factors which are homogenous across most of the world’s major economic regions. many of these markets are facing critical labour chal-lenges driven by the ageing population, declin-ing fertility rates, increased mobility of talent, declining labour market growth, technological advances and rising employee expectations.

Having researched and tracked employer brand trends since its adoption in the early 1990s i believe the future directions in employ-er branding will be driven by four key themes:

1. strategically managing employer branding

channel partners

2. an understanding and mindset at the c-Level

that talent are now driving the business perform-

ance agenda

3. an increase in leadership capabilities that

support effective employer brand management

4. an ability to leverage employee networks will

become a key driver of a company’s employer

brand

managing channel partners

Directors of human resources, employer brand-ing, talent management and people and culture are being expected to take a more strategic view of human capital management. This is at a time when they are also being asked to ensure that investments in people are linked to corporate goals and provide a measurable return on in-vestment – no different to what is expected from investment in physical assets.

my co-founding partner of the Employer Brand institute (EBi), Kaye Thorne and i de-veloped the EBi Collaborative Partnership model™ to assist companies to manage the complexities and competing priorities of chan-nel partners responsible for enhancing a com-pany’s employer brand.

The EBi Collaborative Partnership model™ identifies the main channel partners impacting on the employer brand:

• talent acquisition partners (e.g. online and offline

recruitment service providers),

• talent engagement and development partners

e.g. specialists in organisational development

solutions,

• recruitment advertising partners, and

• corporate reputation partners e.g. public

relations specialists.

i find too many directors are managing con-flicting objectives amongst the channel partners resulting in inefficiencies and high levels of bu-reaucracy which divert the focus of the main priority of leveraging their employer brand to attract and retain the best. Directors should spend more time discussing strategy with their channel partners in the same room.

the c-level mindset

Employer branding is not a human resources re-sponsibility, it is not a leader’s responsibility, it’s every employee’s responsibility.

As you are reading this article, someone is ei-ther reinforcing the key behaviours and positive messages about your employer brand, or quietly destroying it.

With the shifting supply/demand curve fa-vouring the supplier of talent (the employee) and the quality of talent pools declining, creat-ing chronic skill shortages, companies will need to ensure their talent acquisition strategies de-liver the right message about the employment experience to the target audience.

There are a number of studies that conclu-sively demonstrate the positive impact on fi-nancial performance in organisations where employees are engaged. iSR’s three-year study of over 360,000 employees from 41 countries found companies with higher engaged employ-ees achieve a 3.74% increase in operating mar-gin and 2.06% increase in net profit margin.

GUEST WRiTER

�0 universum Quarterly Issue #4, 2007 © Universum 2007

By Brett Minchington

Issue #4, 2007 universum Quarterly �1© Universum 2007

experience with a manager may lead to a blog entry that has a potential to be seen by over one billion eye balls.

Facebook has become the ‘it’ company of the tech world with over 41 million users, and online job boards such as Jobster and Seek now have a strong presence there for the purpose of engag-ing with the massive talent pool that exists on this platform. it is not uncommon for recruiters to Google, to Linked in or to Facebook a can-didate or current employee to learn more about the person. Engaged employees will also use this network for referrals to the organisation.

Businesses will need to rethink their business model to optimise their speed to hire whilst maintaining a high level of candidate cultural fit. Top companies want top talent fast and the level of competitiveness to source talent is in-creasing significantly.

in closing, i encourage executives to take a more strategic view of their company’s em-ployer brand programme and have the vision, focus and commitment to provide the sponsor-ship and investment to ensure leaders have the resources to optimise the outcomes of the em-ployer brand strategy..

CEOs must never underestimate the influ-ence they have on a company’s employer brand. During a recent interview on Cnn, Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, said “Starbucks spend very little on advertising; however, we do invest a significant amount of employee en-gagement and development activities.” This is a CEO who clearly understands brand promises are delivered through people.

supportive leadership capabilities

A 2006 study undertaken by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers UK found there is little evidence to suggest that leadership is improving despite a continued focus and investment in this area.

The Australian benchmark survey conducted in 2007 by the Employer Brand institute using the minchington/Thorne Employer Brand in-dexTm also found leadership to be the second lowest ranking of 14 employer brand drivers by middle-senior managers.

These findings are of grave concern, as tal-ent management programmes which discover, nurture and challenge employees to reach their potential will underpin an organisation’s ability to sustain competitive pressures and build an organisation that is “fit for the future”.

inspired employees will ‘buy in’ to the leader-ship agenda and vision. When approached by leaders at italy’s largest power company, Eni, workers agreed to wear ‘lighter and cooler’ attire to work and raised the thermostats at HQ one degree Celsius. The summer savings: 217,000 kilowatts and CO2 emissions equivalent to 140 employees taking public transport for a year. A good result for shareholders, leaders, employees and the environment!

employee networks – a key driver of a

company’s employer brand

The acceleration of social networking sites has increased the speed at which good and bad news is circulated around the globe. A poor

GUEST WRiTER

Future directions in employer branding

Brett minchington

Managing Director of Collective

Learning Australia, Co-founding

Partner of the Employer Brand

Institute.

Background

Brett Minchington is an international

employer brand strategist who has

delivered keynote addresses and

masterclass events to executives in

11 countries and has been published

in six countries. His book Your Em-

ployer Brand attract-engage-retain

is the International employer brand

book of choice and has been sold in

over 20 countries. Brett’s company

delivers employer brand solutions th-

rough audit, strategy, research, publi-

cations and speaking engagements.

Further details can be found at:

www.collectivelearningaustralia.com

and:

www.employerbrandinstitute.com

“as you are reading this

article, someone is

either reinforcing the

key behaviours and

positive messages

about your employer

brand, or quietly

destroying it.”

– Brett minchington

employer Brand strategist

Employer Branding Store

For all these and more titles by Brett Minchington MBA go to

www.collectivelearningaustralia.com

Over 300 pages of Employer Branding Best Practice including 9 Global Case Studies from the World's most published author on employer branding, Brett Minchington. The follow up book to Your Employer Brand Attract, Engage, Retain, ‘'EMPLOYER BRAND LEADERSHIP - A Global Perspective' defines a practical approach to building a world class employer brand from concept to design, to organisation wide integration, to measuring your return on investment. This book is the most comprehensive book in the world published on employer branding Sharing the best insights from his Employer Brand Global Tour where he has shared best practice and trained thousands of managers in more than 30 cities in 20 countries, Brett's new book, ‘'EMPLOYER BRAND LEADERSHIP - A Global Perspective' is a practical management resource for leaders at all levels and includes frameworks, models, tools, strategies and tips to assist you to lead your employer brand strategy. The art and science of employer branding has been embraced by leaders of top companies around the world and the role of the employer brand leader is growing in importance as a way to strategically manage a company's ability

to attract, engage and retain talent. This book will ensure your focus is guided in the right direction and provides key learnings from 9 global case studies of top companies such as IBM, Deloitte, BASF and Sodexo who have journeyed down the employer brand strategy path before, saving you time, energy and investment.

Focused on the attraction, engagement, and retention of talent this engaging book is highly recommended for Company Directors, CEO's, MD's and Senior Managers in companies of all sizes responsible for shaping the future of their organisation. The book features the innovative Employer Brand Excellence FrameworkTM which may yet be the best solution to the attraction, engagement and retention of employees in a shrinking talent pool. The publication contains International research findings in employer branding from leading firms such as Hewitt Associates, The Corporate Leadership Council, Hudson, Watson Wyatt, the Conference Board, Hays and The Economist. Internationally supported, this book presents a number of solutions to the complexities facing organisations today as they address the challenges of attracting, engaging and retaining talent in their organisations.

www.collectivelearningaustralia.com