Recently at a dinner with a group of senior HR leaders, it was surprising to see the conversations completely revolved around the value of employer branding. The zeal and fervor with which everyone discussed the ascendance and power of the concept was akin to the importance that has been accorded to likes of big data and culture in the recent past.
Now we all know what Employer Branding is all about; Google is full of articles, blogs and views and opinions from thought leaders to research agencies to publishing houses, all extoling the value and virtue of it. After all employer branding is not a spectator sports but a contact sport! What begs a question then is: Is it already a mega trend? Has work begun on it in holistic manner? Have companies redesigned their organizations to factor this as a full time role? Is it getting talked about in the board room? Let me share my points of view on these questions:
Is it a mega trend? Not so far, but soon will be. The onus lies on us as HR professionals and leaders to understand the subtleties and nuances related to employer branding and nurture employee value proposition to unleash employee ambassadorship. This, together with organizations marketing efforts can become a force multiplier to propel employer branding. If all talent influencers and business leaders can put this discussion front and center, it will gain momentum.
The onus lies on us as HR professionals and leaders to understand the subtleties and nuances related to employer branding and nurture employee value proposition to unleash employee ambassadorship
Has the work begun on it in a holistic manner? No it hasn’t. But that’s ok. As always, there are initiators who have taken this raging bull by the horns and have started to make the inroads. They are making this their priority and focus, and are starting to invest both resources and time on it. For example, Mark Zuckerberg regularly shares his stories of dreams, successes and failures. But why is he doing it? Well, it does give tremendous impetus to the FB brand which no amount of marketing spends can! Added bonus – it’s free for him! Makes business sense – right?
Have companies redesigned their organization to factor this in as a full time role? Progressive companies that are catching the rising tide on concepts such as Future of Work, Modern Workplaces have certainly begun to do it (Remember my conversation on the dinner table). Like it happened with Diversity and Inclusion, Internal Communication and Employee Engagement, Employer branding, which has also been an additional assignment so far, is becoming a full-time role reporting to CHRO/CXO.
Is it getting talked about in the board room? Yes absolutely! It has made its way to the board room. The reputation of a company both from value creation and risk management perspectives is one of the top things boards are beginning to focus on, especially in this era of IOT and social media. Astute board members and the CEO/CXO teams today are fully conscious of its materiality and have a technology leader on their board who’s the soul keeper of leveraging social/technology both for creating business value as well as to fuel employee ambassadorship. Anand Mahindra, the Chairman and MD of Mahindra group consistently tweets and updates his followers on what is happening within the company. His twitter followers are 4.8 mm nearly twice of the major national dailies in India. No wonder then, his speed and reach of communication about the Mahindra brand is phenomenal!
So does employer branding really matter? Does it make business sense? Do stakeholders value it? Is there a concept of materiality to it? Such and many other questions will get asked, and are getting asked. There will be soothsayers, naysayers and opinion makers. Either way, the brand is getting built. The difference is will it be by design or default. The music will ebb and flow for a while before it reaches a crescendo, but then, that’s how symphonies are written!