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The
IT industry being people-oriented, what differentiates the best
from the rest is the “quality of human capital” in every
organisation. While there is plenty of talent available, the difficulty
comes in finding the talent with the “best fit” to the
organisation. Potential employees would like to associate themselves
with companies which have a “brand” of success, leadership,
people development initiatives and also instill a deep sense of
pride and commitment.
Not
much effort has been made by organisations to improve their corporate
image internally. However, with increasing global competition and
a more mature work environment, Indian IT companies have also started
looking at this facet of branding.
What
is employer branding?
Employer
branding is all about the company’s value in the market, a
timeless process that in today’s scenario has gained even more
significance. It is essentially a combination of the reputation
of the organisation, the career offer and the corporate culture
existing in the company.
Typically,
there are two types of employer branding exercises. One is for prospective
employees and the other for the current set of employees. In case
of the former, the employer branding initiatives are targeted at
building mindshare in potential recruits about the company as a
preferred place to work. This can be in the form of communication
through advertisements, third-party endorsements through the media
or going to campuses. “Internal employees might not know about
all the product or solution offerings of the company and it becomes
necessary to inform and educate them,” says Mita Brahma, the
head of Nucleus Software’s corporate HR department.
Growing
importance
Employer
branding has become more critical in today’s times, as most
professionals are looking at a stable career and establishing a
long-term relationship with the company. D K Srivastava, the vice
president of HR at HCL Comnet says, “It is said that an unsatisfied
customer tells ten people about his experience while an unsatisfied
employee tells a hundred. Employer branding reflects the work culture
in an organisation. Therefore, it is of much significance. Through
right branding, the company can recruit the best talent and reinforce
its positioning amongst its employees.”
A
survey conducted by Hewitt Associates reveals that more companies
are now focusing on employer branding to “attract employees”
and keep them engaged. There is a direct correlation between an
effective employer brand and achieving business success. It helps
in retaining current employees, increasing employee satisfaction,
attracting job candidates, and motivating employees in their work,
which leads to excellent business gains. The purpose is to use the
internal brand as the seedbed for aligning their people programmes
to deliver significantly improved business results.
This
is evident from some of the recent initiatives taken by organisations
to make the workplace more employer-friendly and implement development
concepts like “spiritual quotient” and “value-building”.
Some companies have gone even further and appointed “internal
branding consultants”, targeted to have a better relationship
with their employees. For example, Texas Instruments, whose brand
mantra is “conscious” and “consistent”, which
gets reflected in all their activities, be it company journals,
awards or regular meetings. HCL Comnet, whose brand value signifies
“exuberance”, has developed a “Force of One”
campaign that signifies innovative attitude and the ability to individually
make a difference. Or Cognizant, whose employer brand is “Celebrating
Work”, which gets reflected in its participative, empowering
and transparent work environment.
Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young on the other hand, likes to lay emphasis
on both internal and external customers. “Paying attention
to what matters to employees, and then delivering on that promise,
keeps CGE&Y at the top of the list for the most talented employees,”
says Atul Srivastava, who heads people relationship management at
the company. “The greatest goal of Cap Gemini Ernst and Young
is to be the ‘Employer of Choice’, a company that can
deliver a wide range of career opportunities, a company known everywhere
for its ability to develop top professional talent delivering work
of top professional quality. We have used Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs as the basis for categorising retention programmes and
selecting a broad range of programmes which can best address employee
motivation and satisfaction issues,” says Atul Srivastava,
the head of people relationship management at Cap Gemini Ernst &
Young.
Commenting
on the changing scenario, Arun Tadanki, the chief executive officer
of Monsterindia.com, says that it also gets reflected in the kind
of advertisements taken out by the companies. “Till recently,
employment ads were just showing the job description of the vacancy.
The focus in the last two-three years has shifted and is largely
driven by the IT & ITES employers, to create a powerful image
for the organisation as a “dream place to work”. In the
ITES industry, the job of a customer service agent is more or less
the same irrespective of the company he is working in. What differentiates
one ITES company from another is largely its employer brand image.
This depends on a whole host of factors like how successful the
company is perceived to be; what is the vision and mission; what
kind of work culture they have; what kind of career growth opportunities
they offer, etc,” he says. On the contrary, Srivastava of HCL
Comnet has a different viewpoint: “We expect to see more innovation
within organisations to improve our corporate image. Training programmes,
motivational classes, employee career plans have become a common
phenomenon now days. These things are employee deliverables. What
organisations would be aiming towards is not employee satisfaction
but employee delight!”
Roadblocks
Pramode
Sadarjoshi, the director of Human Resources, Cognizant Technology
Solutions, points out that employer branding is not an easy task
as it is a long-term process. “It takes tremendous effort and
a strategic blend of logic and intuition in the brand-building exercise.
The company has to have superior leadership, operational excellence
and customer focus, and most importantly people-orientation in a
genuine way, for the branding exercise to be successful,” he
adds.
Companies
have been focussing on more advertising than taking concentrated
efforts in building relationships. According to “Riding the
Wave” survey (conducted by the Career Innovations Research
Group), the future might be in danger for those companies who may
otherwise invest too much in mass media and little in personal contact
programmes. As per the survey, the most believable forms of communication
are not the advertisements, literature and websites, but the behaviour
of employees and accounts of their own work experience. Srivastava
of HCL Comnet states, “I believe that the most credible forms
of communication are not the ads, literature and websites, but the
behaviour of one’s own employees and accounts of their own
work experience.”
Employer
branding is a part of overall branding strategy of a company. For
this to happen, the HR department should ensure that there is a
constant flow of communication within the organisation and there
is no conflict with respect to internal and external image. Both
these factors are very significant. “Every single employee
should buy into the vision, commitment and ethics of the company
and should be a walking advertisement for the company. Doing a major
employer branding exercise would be nothing if the company’s
own employees do not believe what is being said,” says Sadarjoshi.
Agrees R Shekar, the senior vice president and head HR, corporate
strategy and business excellence of Polaris Software: “An organisation
must adopt a concerted and focused approach to building and maintaining
its reputation as a ‘Best Workplace’ and constantly work
towards reinforcing this branding through continuous exercises.”
A
typical branding exercise would involve identifying the USP (unique
selling proposition) of the company and articulating the DNA of
the company, highlighting the competitive advantages of this DNA
and creating a consistent brand language across the organisation
in all forums to all the constituencies. Says DK Srivastava, the
vice president of HR at HCL Comnet, “The most significant aspect
of any organisation is to realise its inherent values and the image
that it would like to project to its audiences. The next step is
to evolve the right messages and reinforce those values again and
again. And the most important part is to act on what you say. Plain
words can’t get a brand. A brand has to be built on action.”
Employer
branding is however limited to bigger companies, with very few initiatives
taken by smaller players.
Future
course
As
companies come up with innovative branding exercises this trend
is expected to be very popular in the future. It would however entail
a lot of effort from the top management. “What we have seen
so far is just the beginning. Every company, no matter how small
or new, would want to come out with a ‘niche’ image, brand,
product or service. So there will be intense competition amongst
all the players to get branded for something unique,” says
Sadarjoshi.
Experts
point out that the next couple of months will witness companies
engaged in innovative methods to stay ahead in the race. These may
include hiring image building experts to enhance the brand value,
providing competitive compensation, enabling foreign postings with
dollar salaries and stock options, or offering challenging work
environment in cutting-edge technology areas.
Employer
branding
Employer
branding is a derivative of the following factors:
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Impressive and consistent track record in business leadership.
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Demonstrated investment in growth by way of future products, R&D
spend, articulation of the roadmap ahead, and viable strategies.
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The organisation should clearly be perceived as a place where
every employee
could learn and develop skills in the latest technologies, concepts
and knowledge areas.
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Aggressive, competitive compensation and benefits package.
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Transparent and merit-oriented performance management system,
wherein the polarisation between various levels of performance
is both visible and fair.
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Very high score on the leadership, business conduct and customer
satisfaction, or any other parameter evaluated by an independent
third party.
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