World class employment

It is almost 20 years since Simon Barrow, then Chairman of the UK-based People in Business consultancy, began selling the concept of employer branding. But only in the last five years has the concept really gained traction in the corporate world. In Asia, a number of both local organisations and multinationals now consider each of their moves in this context.

Employer branding, at its simplest, is the way an employer sells itself to current and future employees. The brand showcases the company’s personality and values, declaring what the company stands for and why a prospective employee would want to work for it.

Engineering brand success

Most recognise Rolls-Royce from its history in the luxury car business. But the company exited that business in 1971, selling off the rights to build Rolls Royce cars to a conglomerate including Bentley Motors. Today’s Rolls Royce is a global power systems company, developing power systems for use in land, sea and air transportation.

Tom Brown, Head of HR, Rolls-Royce, says the brand lives on. He says it’s his job to make sure that consumer brand - well known for precision engineering and innovative design – is also translated into superior employment opportunities. “The challenge of having such a powerful brand is to define what it means in employment terms, both for current employees and also for those you want to attract,” he says.

In its most recent employee engagement survey, employees at Rolls Royce rated “pride in working for the company” as the most engaging factor. Externally, further research has told the company that Rolls-Royce is seen as having a strong history in innovation, Brown says. “It is also considered a responsible organisation and one which has an exciting future where people can fulfil their ambitions.”

Rolls-Royce’s challenge is now to turn that information into a global employment brand, defining how that strong consumer reputation translates into an empowering employment relationship. “Some elements will be common across all of our markets,” Brown says. “However, it is inevitable that there will be differences driven by cultural norms which means some elements will be valued more highly than others. Our employment brand will have to be sufficiently flexible to recognise and value those differences.”

As a first step, the brand messages are being built into the recruitment cycle. Position advertisements in both internal and external media will feature some of the experiences Brown is hoping to get across to candidates. If they haven’t been clued in by the time they are employed, they will certainly pick it up during the orientation process. In Singapore, part of the focus on employer branding involves a new work campus at Seletar, due to begin operations in 2012.

Brown’s advice to companies looking to create a strong employer brand is to be absolutely sure why they need one. “Having a strong business case is an essential starting point which will then ensure you get the buy-in of management,” he said. “After that, all you have to do is deliver it.”

The power of a brand

The employer brand is at its most powerful when it instills a sense of purpose to the employees of an organisation. That, at least, is the thinking behind Unilever’s branding strategy in Asia. Harish Manwani, President of Unilever in Asia, says branding is considered as part of everything the company does. It is embedded into the company’s values and at the heart of its talent management strategy, he says. This helps Unilever to offer an “inspiring” vision to its current and future staff.

“This is the essential tool that attracts, builds and retains top talent and ensures their long-term energy and motivation,” Manwani says.

David Kent, managing director of The Right Group, says an employer brand can be seen in various ways throughout the organisation. He says all current employees are exposed to the brand each time they connect with one of these “touch points”: HR procedures, direct managers, communication from executive leadership, career mobility, and development opportunities. “Each touch point is a brand experience for the employee,” he says. “For the best companies these experiences truly reflect their brand. In other words, they deliver on their communicated promises to employees.”

One brand for all

Successful organisations align their employer brand promise with their customer brand, Kent says. This works to optimise both the organisational performance and customer experience. Leading employers will clearly state the benefits employees can expect from the organisation, in return for their contribution towards the customer brand experience.

Cerebos Pacific in Singapore is one such employer. Listed on the Singapore stock Exchange, Cerebos is in the food and health supplement business; and so in order to align its customer and employer brands, it focuses a lot on employee health, and work-life balance principles.

Even general fitness is a top priority. The company dedicates daily time to this, with a formalised HR policy to get people out of the office for an exercise break at 4.30 each afternoon. Staff strap on their running shoes or roll out their yoga mats to indulge in fitness activities before heading back to their desks refreshed and revitalised.

Michael Yeong, Vice President, Regional HR, Cerebos, says that while relatively few jumped on to the fitness bandwagon when the company first started the plan, managers have since been leading the way. The result has seen more employees taking the unique exercise opportunity seriously.

Cerebos’ health screening benefits also form part of its employer brand. Yeong says these were also under-utilised in the early days. But, discovering this, the company chose to increase, not shrink, the available coverage. It has since started mass free health screenings for all employees with the hope of catching any issues as early as possible. Staff are then able to follow up with more in-depth health screenings with the use of individual medical benefits.

Yeong says these and other employee health benefits are giving Cerebos a strong positive reputation in employment markets. “This is part of my HR architecture,” he says. “When I am interviewing candidates and I ask them why they want to join Cerebos, (they) tell me that it is the work lifestyle and benefits we have that makes our employer brand stand out.”

Communication is the final piece of Cerebos’ employer brand puzzle. “Once defined, the employer brand needs to be managed throughout the organisation and every line manager and corporate leader needs to provide the right experience for employees,” Yeong reveals.