Article: Song of the brand and rhythm of values

Employer Branding

Song of the brand and rhythm of values

Organisations are giving more importance to employer branding these days
Song of the brand and rhythm of values

Every employee, every manager, every function, owns & lives the organizational values. As organizations give more importance to their employer branding, it is being used to integrate many of the core HR processes as they apply across the employee life cycle. So values, behaviors and attitudes models are being incorporated beyond the attraction process, into realistic job preview, interview probes, competency frameworks, induction, team work areas, employee opinion and recognition activities/forums, performance appraisal, training and development programmes. 

Brand is what the Brand Does! 

For example an FMCG brand is largely build basis catchy advertisement – Above the line and below the line communication. And then touch and feel of the product takes over. However, interaction between employees and end user is negligible. Whereas the service industry, the whole experience of touch and feel is as critical as the advertisement of the brand and therefore making it almost inevitable to not to have “galvanized” approach to Brand and core cultural value attributes. 

And now the Brand personality aka the core values 

Regardless of degree of values in an FMCG companies or Service Industry, the core value of the Organization makes the difference. Embedding core value attributes in the Brand attributes or visa-a-versa what builds a strong culture of a place. The core value are, the way we like to behave with each other, with our business partners, with employees, and of course our customer- the reason we exist. It is the ability to operationalize and institutionalize core values in our day-to-day lives. That’s how and what is making the difference. The stronger the glue of brand and core value, stronger organization that we could build.  

How is it being nurtured?

The formation of an (EVP) employer brand is about developing the value proposition embodied in the brand and offered to employees on the basis of information about the culture, management style, DNA & image of current employees, and perception of the product or service quality.

Organizations are now increasingly looking at enhancing their employer proposition to strengthen and influence relationships with all stakeholders in order to retain and attract high-potential and loyal resources. These include investments in social media, employee events, creating a positive candidate engagement experience and employer websites, to name a few. 

Employers should prioritize creating effective internal communications and employee engagement programs (i.e., investing in employees sharing their work with each other in sophisticated ways that connect to the mission). Communicating pride in the work employees are doing and demonstrating that the company cares about its people and its mission is critical to developing a winning culture and raising the EVP. Creating a recognition & rewards plan, sharing what success in the organizations looks like, promote awards and accreditations won by the organization, Demonstrating a persistent commitment to CSR, highlighting the commitment to career development and training could be few ways.

Underlying challenges

However, there are very different ways in which employer branding may work, and each way of thinking tends to bring its own assumptions and suggestions for best practice. 

One has to deal with political and reputational challenges, many of which are unpredictable too far in advance, and has to consider how they can ensure the brand itself is resilient to such challenges. 

The range of activities and responsibilities that we might choose to build an employer branding are very wide. Communications are “always on”, and there are a range of evolving challenges.  There is a need to bring in consistent experience across various touch points, limit to relevant avenues, and build ownership & monitoring mechanism.

Organizations often need both internal brand management in addition to their work on external recruitment to ensure that employees are attitudinally and behaviorally ready to deliver the brand promise. The more distinctive any organization’s employer brand, the more the brand itself has value.

For example let’s look at a few core values that a lot of organizations embed:

  • Being Open: is about transparency. It’s about delivering what you promise. It’s about TRUST. There can’t be a better differentiator if we could build a brand as well as core  organizational values on this very plaque. 

  • Being Positive: It’s about seeing the opportunity in the problem. It’s about simply not giving up come what may. It’s about learning in the face of adversity. Do I say more about how the value and the Brand attribute of this design could be a deadly combination. 

  • Being  Passionate: Passion is foundation on which any of the values - Brand or Core Org values are build. It drives our belief. Gives us energy. It’s the passion that infuses culture and makes it just preached but lived. 

Thus, the point that the Song called Brand can’t be sung without Rhythm of Organization values. And unless the notes of rhythm are embedded well, it does not deliver the cultural fabric that organization would like to weave.

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Topics: Employer Branding

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