Employer Brand & Gen Y

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

We welcome another new writer that you’ll recognise from previous guest posts.  Paul Goring completes our Gloucestershire trio with a fantastic piece on employer branding. (Ed Scrivener)

Employer Brand & Gen Y

Regardless of the state of the labour market, we all know that attracting and keeping the top talent in any sector is still tough. The phrase Employer Brand has been around since it was first coined in I guess the 90’s and as Minchington (2005) said, it is all about ‘the image of your organisation as a great place to work,’ which is all fantastic as a concept until you start to look more closely at what that means and ask questions like; for who, how much will changing things cost and what is the bottom line business benefit?

So perhaps you know that your Employer Brand needs your attention and that the business needs to accept that people choose employers for a range of reasons...blank piece of paper time; What is it like to work here? The first and biggest question of the whole piece I think because you are now going to have to introduce the idea of generational preference because different people of different ages or generation types choose employers and more importantly stay with employers for very different reasons?

I will come clean; my focus professionally in this sphere was on Generation Y, working for a big pan-Global insurance business I was asked to help the business answer the huge question of ‘how do we attract and retain sufficient top level talent from the top schools globally’ this meant understanding, talking to, researching and reaching out to Generation Y and specifically looking at what they really want from an employer and what might encourage them to hang around for a few years.

The list of ‘must have’s’ for that top talent globally was indeed a revelation. Using a mixture of focused Exit Interviews, round table discussions and travelling to many careers events around Europe the list became very consistent in its content.

What did Gen Y want from an employer? Well salary was not at the top of the list; quality training, career mobility, flexible working, information and environment all featured in their top ten and we did something about them all because they were all things that could be focused on and worked into our offering and indeed most existed already but were not being communicated well enough or in the right way.

So you move heaven and earth to change the way that your future talent sees your business in terms of your Employer Brand but what do the Gen X and Baby Boomers that you employ already think about that? Is it possible for you to develop your Employer Brand and not impact the people who work for you and do a great job but who also want and need different things from you as their employer and who would define a ‘great place to work’ very differently from Gen Y.  What about your non-Gen Y candidates too? How can you possibly be all things to all men...

The crux of the problem I believe.  I think that www.employerbrandingtoday.com have some very interesting things to say on the issue and appealing to the right people in the right way without trying to appeal to everyone is one of their key messages. Your EVP (Employer Value Proposition) is a unique set of offerings, associations and values that should be cross generational and coalesce into your Employer Branding both looking outwards and inwards to be truly congurent and effective; there is no point saying something to candidates that you would not be prepared to say to your current staff.

The process of reviewing, understanding and honing your Employer Brand and then allowing it to evolve and be informed by what staff and candidates think is alot tougher than it appears because afterall how easy is it to create a ‘great place to work’ anyway?

Read about Paul and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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How HR can support the brand....

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

Well this year has certainly flown by!  This is the last post for the year and today we welcome our latest guest writer Sarah Ambler who looks at HR helping to support the development of a brand.

Before the end of the year look out for the final few reviews of our panel of writers.  Likewise, next week I shall be making a rather exciting announcement about the future of this blog.  I have taken a lot of feedback on board, so hopefully the blog will be even better very soon!  (Ed Scrivener)

How HR can support the brand....

Every business, from the largest employer to the smallest SME, has a brand whether it is one they have consciously developed or not.  HR has a key role to play in supporting that brand – by building a reputation for the business as an employer of choice and helping to attract and retain the talent that will lead it into the future.

These five tips will help you maintain a positive employer brand and make sure the business is giving out a strong and consistent message to all of its stakeholders.

Define the proposition

Often, HR is not that clear what the company’s employer brand actually is.  The best way to find out how you are currently perceived by employees is to ask.  Do your people feel it’s a fun, relaxed place to work or do they see it as stressful and competitive?  Analysing data about staff retention can also give you some important clues Are levels of employee turnover high, for example, or are staff in certain age groups more likely to leave than others?  If you don’t have this data in house, you may find some useful clues if you look at your company’s profile in LinkedIn.  Once you have a clear picture of what your employees feel about the company- and what they think it stands for, you can start to look at areas you might want to improve or change going forward.

Keep it consistent

The employer brand needs to be congruent with the company’s overall brand.  It’s no good telling customers you are a vibrant, innovative business if internally new ideas and any kind of risk-taking are openly frowned upon.  Equally, you can’t make swathes of staff redundant while at the same time telling the world how well the business is doing.  Make sure you work closely with marketing colleagues to ensure the messages you are conveying both internally and externally are clear and consistent.

Walk the talk

The brand should permeate all parts of the employee life-cycle.  It starts with the moment someone applies for a job with you, continues with the experience they have while working with you and lives on after they’ve left.  The advent of social media has made it more important than ever for companies to walk their own talk.  Employees can and will discuss what it’s like working for you on Twitter, Facebook, Glassdoor and LinkedIn.  The word soon spreads, whether it’s positive or negative.  Depending on the experience they have at your hands, your employees can be your greatest advocates or your worst enemies – and don’t forget that employees and their families and friends are often current or potential customers too.

Take the temperature

You may be clear about your employer brand and what it stands for – but that doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels.  It’s important to check back regularly to see how employees are feeling and pick up any issues or problems well in advance so that you can adjust your proposition if necessary.  Regular employee surveys or focus groups are a good way to make sure you keep your finger on the pulse – but be aware that if you ask for feedback, you need to be prepared to act or at least respond.

Communicate, communicate, communicate…

Just as marketing people keep up a continuous stream of communication with customers, so HR needs to keep pushing the message home with employees.  Find ways to remind people of what a great place it is to work, perhaps by helping to get an employee newsletter off the ground, encouraging managers to share successes, championing team-building events or introducing quarterly total reward statements that remind them that they benefit from more than just their basic salary. Often employees don’t realise the value of their total package. Keep them up to speed with potential changes and future plans so they feel involved and are not the last to know.

Your employer brand is one of your most valuable assets, so make sure you take every opportunity to reinforce the message.  Some of the latest HR software incorporates social features, such as an HR portal or activity feed, so that employees know where to go to get the latest information or can engage in the conversation. Again, this is a great opportunity for HR and marketing people to join forces to create an internal communications programme that keeps everyone informed, enthused and engaged.

About the author

Sarah Ambler is currently a digital marketer for Cezanne OnDemand HR Software in London. A Business Management graduate of Newcastle University, Sarah is passionate about marketing and HR.

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK. 

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