What, don’t people say that at your company? If not, you may want to put some thought into your employer brand.
According to a new HR Outlook survey report from CIPD, 64% of business leaders and 71% of HR professionals cited cost management as their top priority. And with compensation and benefits costs comprising the lion’s share of most corporate annual budgets HR organisations are under pressure to get those costs down.
Or, as the HR Director for a leading global insurance company recently put it, ‘How do we get bigger, better people for less money?’
There are two ways to address most business problems: reactively and strategically. The reactive method to cutting labor costs includes measures like laying people off, reducing salaries and bonuses, delaying hiring decisions and an increasing reliance on contingent workers rather than FTEs.
These measures may deliver short-term cost savings but can also negatively impact a company’s overall business performance.
Addressing the problem strategically has the disadvantage that it takes longer and is hard to measure. However, if the strategy succeeds you can reduce your total spend on compensation while improving business performance.
The first step to attracting bigger, better people for less money is employer branding.
Your employer brand communicates critical information to current and potential employees. It reminds current employees why they work for you, helps shape their daily priorities and - if they like working for your company - turns them into recruiters. Employer brand also helps attract talent to your company. More importantly, it helps attract people that are a good fit, which can reduce turnover.
I’ll give you an example from a leading global supplier of medical technology. They compete in a difficult market for talent but are not what most would consider to be a pay leader. They fall short against the competition in terms of additional benefits such as education or relocation reimbursement. And yet, they are successful at attracting and keeping talent.
One of the ways they do this is by promoting an employer brand focused on saving or improving people’s lives and living and breathing that brand.
For example, team meetings may start with a story of someone who has recently had their life saved or improved with the device the team is working on. For company meetings a production crew puts together short films about individuals whose lives have been improved or saved by a medical device. Every employee has a clear idea of how their work helps others.
In terms of recruiting, their employer brand doesn’t attract everybody and some people are turned off by the lower pay and benefits. What this company’s employer brand does is attract the right people who care passionately about saving people’s lives and want to make a difference. Which in turn perpetuates the brand and attracts "more people like us".
Some of the key components of employer brand are pay, benefits, how people work and interact, how they are managed and work-life balance. Companies that want to offset pay and benefits with a strong employer brand must define what they offer instead in terms of work-life balance, flexible work schedules, career opportunities, valuable experience or saving the world.
They must also communicate the trade off clearly to employees and prospective employees. For example, when I interviewed for my first real job at a large consultancy years ago the managing partner explained that although they paid less than the competition I would receive real business experience from day one. That sort of thing.Here’s the bit that matters. Companies with strong employer brands don’t just talk about their culture. They define what it is, communicate it clearly and make it part of everything they do.
They live it.
Laura Schroeder is a global talent specialist at Workday, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA. She has nearly fifteen years of experience envisioning, designing, developing, implementing and evangelizing global Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions and holds a certificate in Strategic Human Resources Practices from Cornell University. Her articles and interviews on HCM topics have been published in the US, Europe and Asia. She lives in Munich, Germany and enjoys cooking, reading, writing, kick boxing (well, kicking things) and spending time with friends and family. If you want to read more from Laura, check out her talent management blog Working Girl or follow her on Twitter @WorkGal.
Picture courtesy of greatplacetowork.net.
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