EVP Part I - Perception is reality when attracting and retaining talent

Article originally published in South Africa's leading HR publication, HR Future

Brett is an International monthly columnist on employer branding for HR Future

This article provides some insights into Employer Value Proposition development as featured in Brett's new book Employer Brand Leadership - A Global Perspective.

With the increasing fragmentation of offline and online channels used to communicate, ‘What it’s like to work for this organisation,’ it pays to ensure the  employment experience you project to current and future employees is matched by what you can realistically deliver upon throughout the employee lifecycle from hire to retire.

At the heart of your employer brand strategy should be your employer value proposition (EVP). Your EVP is an employee-centred approach that is aligned to existing, integrated workforce planning strategies because it has been informed by existing employees and your external target audience. In its simplest form, your EVP is a set of associations and offerings provided by your organisation in return for the skills, capabilities and experiences an employee brings to your organisation.

To read the full article please click here>

Please consider Brett's new book "Employer Brand Leadership - A Global Perspective" For full details please visit the pubisher's website click here>

Connect with Brett - You can follow him on Twitter, watch him on YouTube connect with him via LinkedIn, or friend him on Facebook.

Juggling act - Leveraging your brand portfolio

Article published in Human Capital Magazine Issue 8.4

Human Capital talks with Brett Minchington about leveraging your brand portfolio and explains why HR should play a key role in adding value to a company's brand portfolio.

To read the full article please click here>

Why is employer branding vital for corporations?

Article originally published in Finland's, "The Opinion Leader" - this is an updated version.

Why is employer branding vital for corporations?

Employer branding is vital for corporations for a number of reasons.  The increasing global shortage of talent driven by the ageing population, increased mobility of workers (especially generation Y’s (born between 1980 and 2000), migration, declining fertility rates, technological advances and an increase in culture diversity in organisations are some of the reasons when employer branding is now high on the leadership agenda.

Your employer brand can be defined as “the image of your organization as a ‘great place to work’ in the minds of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).”

The art and science of employer branding is about ensuring that your people brand aligns with your consumer brand. In terms of brand management an aspirational goal for an organisation should be that the marketing messages are reflected by the actions of all of the people at all levels of the business at all times in order to deliver the employer brand promise.

2010 South Africa Employer Branding Summit - Tour Diary

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Photos from the Tour

23 March 2010

Had a typical nights sleep before the Summit, jetlag starting to work it's magic!

We arrived at the venue early and amazed to see the level of energy amongst the staff at Deloitte so early in the morning. The environment when you walk through the front doors is welcoming and energetic, no wonder staff hit the ground running when they start so early in the morning.

Gert de Beer, Leader Human Capital Consulting, Deloitte opened the Summit and I delivered the opening presentation on Global Employer Branding trends and implications for leaders in South Africa.  I catergorised trends as offline and online, the relationships and where leaders needed to explore further so they were better prepared as the trends emerge.

I then put on my Summit Chair hat and was pleased to introduce David Comeradie who is the Director Human Capital at Deloitte who presented "Employer Brand best practices: a decade of lessons from the Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey." David had some really interesting statistics in his presentation and some great insights into employee engagement.

Heather Polivka, Director of Employer Branding at United Health Group gave an engaging presentation on “The role of leadership in employer branding.”  Heather shared the key learnings from the employer brand strategic journey UnitedHealth Group have been on for the past two years and discussed how leadership is key to developing and implementing your strategy effectively.

Prior to the lunch break, Peter Schmitt, Managing Director, tribalfish presented on, The impact of employer branding on employee engagement & corporate performance” and used an interesting story to connect the theme of his presentation.

We had lunch outside on a landing deck with an amazing view.

There were some minor renovations during the lunch break as the couch and chairs were brought in the for the panel discussion on, "The impact of Employer Branding on retention: building internal loyalty and maintaining a valuable talent pool."  The panel was moderated by Alan Hosking, Editor HR Future and I was joined on the panel by Gillian Hofmeyr, Director Human Capital, Deloitte, Heather Polivka, Director of Employer Branding, United Health Group and Prenai Pillay, Talent Attraction Consultant ABSA. Alan did a wonderful job of keeping the discussion flowing and there was excellent interaction with the delegates. The panel provided a number of best practice approaches for developing and implementing your employer brand strategy and the diversity in approaches in different parts of the world was a highlight.

The afternoon presentations were opened by Lance Petersen, Human Resources, SAP and followed by Aiden Choles - Conversation Agent, The Narrative Lab. Lance presented,  "Articulation of a global employer brand in a local environment at SAP South Africa." He showed a video of the work SAP are doing in South Africa to mobilise the small business bakeries around rural South Africa to improve business efficiencies. It was quite evident SAP were also changing the lives of the business owners and their communities as well. There were a few tears in the audience and I must say it is one of the most moving stories I have heard on how employer branding is impacting employers, employees, clients and their communities.   Aiden concluded the Summit with an intresting presentation on “Why stories & conversation strengthen the employer brand. Aiden's approach of story telling is unique and impactful in discovering what truly makes organisations 'a great place to work.'

The Summit presenters and delegates finished off a great day sharing a few drinks and stories at an event hosted by Deloitte.

We are really pleased with the outcomes of the Summit. There is an enormous amount of work required in making these events a success and it was made all the more enjoyable by the relationships developed between the event partners, speakers and event management team collaborating across 3 countries to bring the event together. This is our second employer branding event in South Africa and it's great to see the adoption and development of the employer brand concept by many companies and leaders in South Africa.

I headed back to the airport and due to road works for the World Cup a 40 minute journey turned into 3 hours but it was another chance to learn more about this wonderful city from one of the locals - I find the taxi drivers the best tour guides in all the cities I visit.

A special thanks to our event hosts and partner, Deloitte who were exceptional hosts and made everyone feel very welcome and went out of their way to ensure the Summit was a success. Their Johannesburg headquarters has one of the most inviting physical work environments I have come across, if you're in Johannesburg, it's worth a visit! Thanks to our event partners as well who have been a fantastic team of people to work with:tribalfish, IPM, Employer Branding Online, Employer Brand International, mbaconnect.net, Jobs.co.za, HR Future and the narrative lab,

Our next Summit is in Milan, Italy on 27 May 2010. Details can be found by clicking here>

South African Tour diary (continued)

22 March 2010

21 March 2010

20 March 2010

Social Media and Employer Branding – So, what’s all the noise about?

Article originally published in South Africa's leading HR publication, HR Future

Brett is an International monthly columnist on employer branding for HR Future

When social media first hit the news a few years ago many companies resisted its surge in popularity and banned employees from accessing online networking sites during working hours. This attitude is no longer an option with social media reaching a tipping point in 2009. The challenge facing organisations today is how to react to this change in consumer and employee behaviour and embrace this new media which is fast becoming entwined into their daily lives.  My discussions with HR, Marketing and Communication leaders in 20 countries I visited during the past two years has led me to believe 2010 is expected to be the year social media goes mainstream for business.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the big 3 which dominate the global social media landscape.  With more than 400 million users, Facebook is the world’s largest dispersed social network.  It took Facebook about three months to climb from 300 to 350 million users and only about two months to gain another 50 million, indicating Facebook’s explosive growth is still accelerating.  LinkedIn has 55 million users and Twitter has 18 million (but is younger than the other two) and still growing strong. According to Pingdom, an online monitoring service, Twitter saw an all-time high of more than 1.2 billion tweets in January 2010. That’s alot of noise happening online!

The emergence of social networks demands total transparency. Your employee and candidate experience will be reported on, not just by word of mouth, but also perhaps via twitter or Facebook. Potential workers tend to believe what they hear from their social networks more than what they hear from a potential employer. Workers tend to rely on what they hear from peers versus superiors. Social networks are ultimately about establishing a relationship, not about advertising or pushing a message.

Companies such as Fortune 500 Company, EMC is using tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and employee blogs and tweets to build awareness and affinity with the talent market. EMC use these tools to provide a genuine, testimonial-based look at EMC’s culture, careers and capabilities, as well as bringing awareness to certain job openings, company developments and general career tips.

So where should companies in South Africa begin in developing and leveraging their social media strategy?