A talent brand must be accessible to all

For us, there are three major brand touch points: One is the company’s corporate brand itself, second is the various product brands and the third is the talent brand and the company’s equity in the talent market. People like to work for companies whose values they can identify and relate with and, who have a strong corporate governance background. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a combination of these three dimensions of the brand. In addition to having a strong corporate set of values and a range of well-known products that make you feel good, look good and get more out of life, HUL is also seen as a place where talent grows and prospers from their own perspective at all levels and is an exciting and positive place to be in.

I think you have rightly put the question in two parts-the first part relates to aspiring employees and the second to the employees within the organization. The first thing that companies should do is to make the brand accessible. Aspiring employees should be able to relate to what his/her career in the company means, understand the nature of the industry and the work done by the company. For both the brand and the company, they should get three things right: People should be able to access, engage and connect with the talent brand. The starting point is people being aware of what a career means in HUL, how will they be able to develop and grow themselves, how senior management leads talent development in the company and how leaders become leaders. That’s how you can relate to the brand. From an internal perspective, once you have joined the company, you are a part of the talent brand in terms of early leadership, international exposure, opportunity for showing leadership in the various kinds of roles that people do. You also then become part of key talent processes that help build future leaders for the business.

They could be different. The attributes of a strong talent brand is the way people and their careers develop. If I look at India in general, there could be companies who have strong product brands but do not necessarily have a strong talent brand. Building a talent brand is something that is nurtured over years and decades.

The ownership for a talent brand must lie with the top management and not on an HR person or a talent manager. The starting point for the brand would be the commitment with which this brand is developed. The top leadership or the Board must actively involve themselves in different dimensions of the brand whether it is developing the talent value proposition, sourcing talent or managing and developing talent. A company needs to first decide how important this brand is going to be for the business, how people associate and build the brand, what is the aspiration from the talent brand and eventually understanding whether the brand is working in the market. The brand will gain credibility when it is led by the top leadership.

Strong talent brand is a prerequisite for long term success of the business. You can measure effectiveness of the talent brand through established external surveys that rate companies in terms of employer brand and these are also manifested in how attractive the brand is as seen by prospective employees. Similarly, attrition rate of the company vis-a- via the industry can also be considered as another criteria. We also have periodic surveys in the business, where we ask people simple questions like whether they would refer somebody to work at the business and so on.

There are few assets that are critical for the long-term survival of the company. One of these is the talent flow into the company. The long-term ability of the company to maintain strong performance is dependent on a flow of very high quality talent. It’s a very important enabler for the business to sustain strong performance. The second part is the right kind of leadership. We would, like any other business, like our talent to take long term decisions that build the business as well as the society in which we operate. A strong talent brand can help you get the right talent to do exactly this.