Need to increase staff retention? Look to your Branding Strategies…
Posted by Joanne Brent on 15 Apr 2008 at 03:17 pm | Tagged as: Employer Branding
Quality staffing shortages are affecting organisations on a global scale. No one can afford to sit back merely administrating the ebb & flow of employees joining / leaving a company with no regard to what’s going on in between.
Keeping the staff you’ve successfully attracted employed & performing well, should be a priority agenda for both the HR & Marketing departments - with an overflow onto the commercial consumer facing (product or service) brand as well.
Many companies make the mistake of viewing the consumer brand & the employer brand as two separate entities. However this is an inefficient & inherently flawed strategy. The best brand is one that successfully communicates the same unified message to both the company’s employees & their consumers.
Splitting a brand message dilutes the message far too much, allowing for bitterness to increase in employees who’ll feel that what the company is as a brand - is not what it is as an organisation. It’s no use having special initiatives & brand messages for customers undermined by disrespect to your own employees.
An example of unified branding: A successful employer brand such as Microsoft will pick one message to thread throughout the company’s relationships. The brand stands for realising people’s “potential”. Therefore whether it’s realising the “potential” of its consumers through technology, or the “potential” of it’s employees & their careers at Microsoft, they work hard as an organisation to reinforce a unified brand message - with a promise of delivery on both sides of the fence (consumers & employees).
Some key focuses:
1. Ensuring career & work experience satisfaction for employees
2. Effectively positioning & nurturing the employer brand message
3.Consistent communication informing & motivating respect for:
- company culture
- vision
- procedures
- policies
- fellow employees
- executive team
4. Education programmes for initiating career and self improvement
5. Acknowledging feats & accomplishments with appropriate rewards
