1. Charlotte Housden Bernard Hodes Group
Strategic Human Resources Conference
7th February 2007
Geneva

2. Or… have I stumbled into a Marketing presentation?
Using Employer Brand to attract talent
Or… have I stumbled into a Marketing presentation?

3. So, as we’re talking about brands…..
Do you know which are top 10 Best Global Brands in the world (Interbrand 2006)?
Or which are the 10 most Respected companies in the world (PWC 2004)?
Or which are the top 10 MBA Employers in the world (Universum 2006)?

4. Best Global Brands
1 – Coca Cola
2 – Microsoft
3 – IBM
4 – GE
5 – Intel
6 – Nokia
7 – Toyota
8 – Disney
9 – McDonalds
10 – Mercedes
World’s most respected Co’s
1 – GE
2 – Microsoft
3 – Toyota
4 – IBM
5 – Coca-Cola
6 – Dell
7 – Wall-Mart
8 – Citigroup
9 – Procter & Gamble
10 – Hewlett-Packard

5. Top 10 MBA Employers in the world

6. The talent squeeze

7. Working age populations
Working age taken as years

8. Working age populations

9. Reduced talent pool Aging populations Decreasing birth-rates
Increased life expectancy
Reduced talent pool
There will be “a significant exodus of talent and experience in the next two decades and a dearth of new employees to step into roles that require specialized skills”
Accenture (2005)

10. Global employee engagement levels
Towers Perrin global workforce study (2005)

11. Declining employee tenure in the USA
1/3 in jobs less than 2 years
2/3 in jobs less than 5 years
1/2 employed on Interim/Contract basis
3.5 years average
Years of Service
Depression Survivors
Pension Seekers
Victims
“Free Agent Nation”
2000
US Department of Labor, Employee Tenure Surveys, ( )

12. Baby Boomers:
1946–1961
Generation X: 1961–1981
Generation Y:
1981–1997/2000

13. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

14. Bigger Meaning: The Australian Leadership Foundation
When looking for a job Gen Y’ers want (in this order):
Training
Management Style
Work flexibility
Staff activities
Non financial rewards
Salary

15. A less interested talent pool
Aging populations
Decreasing birth-rates
Increased life expectancy
Reduced talent pool
Declining tenure
Self-actualisation
Drop in engagement
A less interested talent pool

16. Together… an attraction and retention issue
CIPD 2006 recruitment, retention and turnover survey:
82% of organisations reported difficulties in recruiting
69% reporting difficulties in retaining
RightCoutts 2006, in Management Issues 2006
41% of Senior HR professionals thought retention of key staff was their most critical HR issue
Accenture on-line survey 2006
67% of senior directors in N. America, Europe and Asia think the inability to attract and retain the best talent is one of their top 3 threats to success

17. Some HR Levers Employer Brand “what do people think of us?”
Performance Management
“where is our talent in the organisation?”
Individual
and Team
Competence
Leadership
Performance
Review
Talent Management
“how do we manage our talent?”
Values and
Culture
Core Work
Processes HR
Processes
Recruitment Processes
“how we do attract talented people to us?”
Organisation,
Team and Job
Design
Reward & Recognition
“what keeps our talent with us?”
Communication
“how do we talk to our talented people?”

18. Employer Brand: a short summary for the uninitiated…..

19. What is it?
“The package of functional, economic, and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company”, Ambler & Barrow 1996
A long term strategy that establishes an organisation’s identity as an employer
Which differentiates them from competitors in the employment market

20. Where do you start?
The development of an employee value proposition (EVP)
Capturing in one statement, the sum of “everything that people experience and receive while they are part of the company”
It must be aligned to the overall brand and reputation

21. Who is it for?
Potential employees – to persuade more and better applicants to apply and accept offers
Current employees – to reduce turnover, increase employee motivation, a sense of belonging and align behaviour to the organisation’s needs
Consistency of messages across both groups is vital as the organisation has to deliver what it promises
Projecting an unrealistic image may improve recruitment but can increase attrition

22. Brand Strength
Brand strength
Attraction of the right candidates
Employee engagement and retention
Differentiation from competitors
Customer engagement and retention
Employer Brand
The unique and differentiating promise a business makes to its employees and potential candidates
Employee experience
Actual delivery of the promise throughout the employee lifecycle +
Attraction of high quality employees is a competitive necessity
Engagement of high quality employees is a bottom line issue

23. Employer brand – a three step process
1.Brand insight
2. Brand development
3. Implementation
Competitor analysis
Brand positioning vs competition
Understanding vision for the business and employees
Understanding best of the current employee experience and improvements
Alignment of the consumer brand/ employer brand
Concept development
Concept testing
Refinement and development
Recruitment guidelines and roll out for recruitment advertising
Design of internal launch process
Production of comms materials, internally and externally
Employee Value Proposition
Brand book
Communication strategy
Communication tools
Employee vision
Personality
Key messages
Strengths/areas to improve

24. Employer brand benefits
Significant decreases in cost per hire
Reduced cost of recruitment - efficiencies maximised throughout the recruitment process
Reduction in recruitment marketing costs over time
Greater numbers of higher quality applicants
Higher performing employees
Increased retention rates
Stronger reputation in the marketplace
Increased ability to attract specialist talent in a difficult market

25. Employer brand benefits at our clients
Diageo - Began with an attrition rate of 18%, costing £4 million. In 14 months they reduced attrition rates to 7%, recouping the costs of the initial research 30 times over.
GSK - applied the proposition and guiding principles to their recruitment process, increasing the number of offers accepted from 83% to 96%
Philips - are now receiving 10 times as many quality applications from graduates and MBAs

26. Philips Case study

27. Philips: The background
2002 global recruitment redesign programme found quality of service could be improved and needed to focus on proactive talent recruitment
Identified inconsistent positioning of messages to prospective employees – not addressing them as “One Philips”
They weren’t reaching targets they’d set to attract/ retain the best talent
They also wanted to find out how potential employees regarded the company as an employer

28. Philips: their vision
“To be certain that we are able to attract, recruit and retain the sort of talent that will give our business competitive edge.”
“To be sure that our employer experience will enable and motivate our talent to work in a way that is ‘one Philips.’ Providing maximum satisfaction for both the organisation and the individual.”

29. The research 29 internal focus groups 18 external focus groups
3500 internal survey respondents
1000 external survey respondents
Both Sales/Mktg and R&D people, different ages, length of service
Netherlands, Germany, France, UK, Poland, USA, India, China

30. Some of the outputs
Employees didn’t not know the full range of products/services
Everything Philips makes impacts every aspect of consumers’ lives, something to be proud of and make more of
Philips could be too formal – there needed to be more personality in the way the brand was communicated
They wanted Philips to be
One company – all working together, united in one purpose
Proud and confident about what it does, passionate
People and products could have equal and united prominence
Offer great reasons for coming to work everyday
An “icon of innovation”
Global and diverse

32. “Touch lives every day” – The Trial

33. “Touch Lives every day”
“ Is not only a description of how Philips should approach prospective and existing employees, but also a call for managers to ensure the company delivers on its promises “
Jo Pieters, Global Vice President Recruitment, Philips, The Netherlands

34. Philips Touchpoint Wheel
Exit
interviews
Campus
recruitment
Retention
Career
development
Internship
Awareness
Performance
review
Post-
Application Experience
Pre-
Application
Experience
Career site
Employer Brand
Commitment
Management
behavior
Company
brand
Consideration
Informing /
Involving
people
Invitation
letter
Engagement
Application Experience
Introduction
Interview
Preference
Rejection
letter
Assessment
Contract
handling

35. Ensuring Global Consistency – The Toolkit

36. Ensuring Global Consistency – Deployment

37. Guide for Hiring Managers

38. Building brands from the inside out
“ Winning the war for talent means primarily focusing on the retention of your current talent and [then], building a strong position in your key labour markets…
…a brand that is only visible in external communications is less valuable than a brand that is truly lived inside.
Each and every employee should act as an ambassador of your brand and that requires a strong recognized internal and external employee value proposition ”
Jo Pieters, Global Vice President Recruitment,
Philips, The Netherlands

39. Philips Labor Market Ranking – China Employer brand launch Dec 2003

40. Philips Labor Market Ranking – Europe Employer brand launch Dec 2003

41. Lessons learned Don’t underestimate the size of such an initiative
Even if you have clearly defined the scope, focus and approach, you have to make tough choices along the way about what to keep in or leave out
Getting the whole organization behind the Employer Brand is critical to making it a success
You must get commitment and involvement of people beyond HR, particularly in marketing, and get it early on!

42. So what does this mean for you…
…and your Employer Brand?

43. Some final questions for you
Do you know what your organisation represents?
Have you tested out your values, your culture?
Have you looked at your brand values?
What does this say about your organisation?
Who is the real competition in the employment market (not just
the ones you know or think it should be?)
Is your brand attractive to new recruits?
Does it help you present a strong employer brand in the marketplace?
Who manages your Employer Brand – HR or Marketing?
What are you going to do with this information when you get home?