BRANDOOS INSPIRATION: «HOW TO DEVELOP AN EMPLOYER BRAND» November 2014

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INTRODUCTION

Objective:

This Brandoos Inspiration “Employer Branding” captures the essentials of Employee Value Proposition (EVP) development. It provides you the necessary knowledge, assignments and work templates to develop an EVP for your company.

The EVP framework you are about to develop defines how your company is positioned on the job market vis-a-vis existing and future talents and thus helps you build an effective foundation for employee recruiting and retention.

About Brandoos:

We are a market oriented strategic management consulting firm and deliver fact based, creative and actionable strategies and recommendations that help you grow your business, brand and people.

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As such, the EVP is the foundation of all HR efforts and builds the basis for the interaction with existing or future employees across all touchpoints

An employer brand or employee value proposition (EVP) defines how a company is positioned on the job market vis-a-vis existing and future employees

WHAT IS AN EMPLOYER BRAND AND WHAT ARE ITS LONGTERM OBJECTIVES?

Effective Recruiting of Employees

WHAT

Sustainable Retention of Employees

However, communicating a promise is not enough. You have to walk the talk and bring the promise to employees to live across all touchpoints. Employees need to experience the EVP in their entire career. If executed right, the relevant EVP will help you retain talents sustainably and make your company a preferred place to work

The objective is to develop a strategy driven employer brand that offers a relevant value proposition and promise to employees that allows us to start the dialogue with future employees based on their needs and our company’s business objectives. This will help attracting talents more effectively if executed consistently and across all touchpoints

OBJECTIVES

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WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR AN IMPACTFUL EMPLOYER VALUE PROPOSITION?

RELEVANT

UNIQUE

CREDIBLE STRATEGIC & SUSTAINABLE

EVP

The EVP needs to be relevant for employees

The EVP needs to address talent’s needs and decision drivers

Key elements that drive employee retention need to be incorporated in EVP

The EVP needs to speak to relevant trends

The EVP needs to be strategy led

To be impactful, the EVP needs to attract the right talents with the relevant competencies for future growth

The employer brand also needs to be aligned with values of the company brand

The EVP needs to be credible - walk the talk

To be credible, all employee touchpoints need to meet expectations raised by the promises we make with our EVP

All touchpoints from recruiting to hiring to daily work routine need to be assessed (thorough touchpoint audit)

The EVP needs to offer unique benefits

Facing war of talents, the EVP needs to differentiate from what everyone else communicates and offers to talents

Ideally, an employer brand offers talents a differentiating signature touchpoint

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RELEVANT – THE EVP NEEDS TO ACCOMODATE THE NEEDS OF A HETEROGENEOUS WORKFORCE

NORTH AMERICA

LATIN AMERICA

EUROPE AFRICA ASIA MIDDLE EAST

Family oriented

Seeking collectivist

culture

Monetary driven

Seeking career opportunity

Entrepreneurial

Reputation

Seeking flexible work opportunity

ILLUSTRATIVE STAFF SEGMENTS AND THEIR SPECIFIC EMPLOYER CHOICE DRIVERS The most important requirement when

developing an employee value proposition is relevance:

It needs to be relevant for all job profiles (e.g. techies, admin, service staff, operations etc.)

It needs to be relevant for different employee hierarchies within the company

It needs to be relevant for different regions the company is operating in

In short, you need to know the needs of employee segments that drive their employer choice. As the specific needs of different employee profiles are very diverse, EVP’s are usually developed on a global scale and subsequently tailored to regions’, hierarchies’ and job profiles’ needs.

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STRATEGIC AND SUSTAINABLE – WE NEED THE RIGHT EMPLOYEES THAT WILL MAKE US SUCCESSFUL IN THE FUTURE

ILLUSTRATIVE EMPLOYEE PROFILES THAT EXCELL AT OUR FIRM

CO

MPA

NY

SUC

CES

S

The Accountant Looking for a 9 to 5 job which he carries out

with analytical rigor an precision

The Leader Looking for opportunities to lead teams or

divisions to develop leadership skills

The Careerist Is highly motivated and looking for the employer

with the highest prestige factor

The Entrepreneur Is seeking a growing and dynamic company in which he operates independently and may assume responsibility

The Balanced Life balance and cultural fit describe the

priorities of the Balanced employee

The Analyst Is seeking to deploy his analytical skills in a well led team.

Is not looking for leadership opportunities

When developing an EVP we need to ensure that strategic objectives are met. The EVP should not only be relevant for employees but more importantly should attract and retain the RIGHT employees.

These are the question you should ask:

Which employee capabilities and skills do we need to develop to meet our actual and future strategic objectives?

What employee profiles make our company successful?

Which profiles usually succeed at our company given our culture and ambition? And which do not?

The Explorer Is seeking challenges and diversity of roles and

assignments in a dynamic environment

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UNIQUE – IDEALLY, THE EVP OFFERS DIFFERENTIATING BENEFITS THAT SETS US APART FROM OTHER COMPANIES FIGHTING FOR TALENTS

Emo

tio

nal

Fu

nct

ion

al

Structured career development

Attractive work conditions and competitive salary

Family business in which everyone counts

Positive work culture

Passion for excellence

Work Life Balance

Individual fulfilment & career perspectives

Firm 1

Appreciation, trust & respect

Firm 2 Firm 3

medium strong week differentiation

ILLUSTRATIVE COMPETITOR EVP LANDSCAPE The war for talents is ever increasing. In order to win, companies will need to provide unique benefits to their employees that are at the same time attracting and retaining the right employees to reaching the companies' business objectives

To ensure our EVP will have a differentiating edge, the competitive landscape needs to be assessed:

What are competitors communicating in job advertisements and on their websites?

What are generic topics all competitors talk about (reveals table stakes)?

How are they trying to be relevant and what is their point of differentiation (reveals potential decision drivers)?

What are potential and relevant white spots (EVP territories) we can own?

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TASK: ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS

Please name the specific needs in the three phases (evaluate, onboard, advance) of the employee cycle for each employee segment in your company. You can define employee segments by hierarchy, geography or job profile.

STAFF SEGMENT NEEDS EMPLOYEE CYCLE / PHASE

Segment A What are specific needs

in each phase?

Segment B What are specific needs

in each phase?

Segment C What are specific needs

in each phase?

Segment D What are specific needs

in each phase?

Employer evaluation: What are key drivers

when selecting a company in the

different segment?

Onboarding: What are critical

needs when joining a company and

becoming acquainted?

Advance: What are key

requirements to retain employees?

ONBOARD

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TASK: PROFILING OF SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYEES AND CAPABILITIES NEEDED

1

2

3

4

5

Think of all employee segments in your company and profile the “successful employee” for each of them. Note the qualities that make them successful on the right side

Successful traits and qualities The Accountant

Looking for a 9 to 5 job which he carries out with analytical rigor an precision

The Leader Looking for opportunities to lead teams or divisions

to develop leadership skills

The Careerist Is highly

motivated and looking for the employer with

the highest prestige factor

The Entrepreneur Is seeking a growing and dynamic company,

independency and accountability

The Balanced Life balance and

cultural fit describe the priorities of the Balanced employee

The Analyst Is seeking to deploy

his analytical skills in a well led team. Is not

looking for leadership opportunities

The Explorer Is seeking challenges and diversity of roles and assignments in a dynamic environment

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TASK: ASSESSMENT OF COMPETITOR’S EVP STRATEGY Em

oti

on

al

Fun

ctio

nal

Firm 1 Firm 2 Firm 3

Please screen job advertisements and websites of your key competitors on the job market and identify their EVP topics. You can distinguish between functional and emotional employee benefits. Then colour competitors according to the weight they give to the different topics.

medium strong week weight

Firm 4 Firm 5

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DISCUSSION: WHAT ARE POTENTIAL EVP THEMES?

Talent needs The theme has to speak to talent’s needs

Required perspectives when developing an EVP

In the previous tasks you have gained relevant insights for three of the four key perspectives…

RELEVANT

UNIQUE

CREDIBLE STRATEGIC & SUSTAINABLE

EVP

Business requirements The theme needs to attract the RIGHT talents and meet business requirements

Unique benefits The theme needs

to provide unique benefits

we can own

Walk the talk We need to be able to live up to the theme as a firm

Discussion

Based on the insights from the three previous tasks, you should be able to brainstorm and develop potential themes that are relevant to employees, unique vis-à-vis competitors EVP’s and anchored in the company’s strategy. Brainstorm at least 3-5 potential themes (common denominators of the 3 perspectives).

Illustrative example for a theme:

TALENT NEEDS Fast career progression

BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS the smartest talents

UNIQUE BENEFITS fast learning, strong career

development, reputation

Theme: Learn from the

smartest and grow your career while having meaningful

impact

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TASK: PRIORITIZE THE DEVELOPED EVP THEMES & DECIDE WHICH OPTION TO CHOOSE

Please rate the developed themes by the assessment criteria below. You can use the Harvey Balls (clocks indicating low or high fulfilment) or simply use the rankings “low, medium, high”. When you are done, you should be able to prioritize a theme based on the assessment (you will go with the theme with the highest overall ranking).

Relevant for employees

Unique & we can own the

theme

Fit to strategy and brand

Theme 1

Theme 2

Theme 3

Theme 4

Assessment Criteria

Can be implemented

The overall theme is relevant for all employees and can be tailored if necessary to employee segments

The theme has potential to differentiate us as an employer from competition

The theme attracts the employee profiles that make us successful as a company

To bring the theme to life is not a cultural or financial stretch for the company

Low fulfilment

High fulfilment

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TASK: DEVELOP GLOBAL MESSAGING AND TAILOR TO EMPLOYEE SEGMENTS

Global EVP theme: Learn from the smartest and grow your career while having meaningful impact.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE: EVP THEME FOR STATEGY CONSULTANCY After agreeing on a global EVP theme that works

across regions, hierarchies and job profiles it needs to be translated into tactical messaging for websites, job ads and brochures.

The messaging should be tailored in case the needs of employees differ between cultures or job profiles.

The example on the right illustrates how a global EVP theme can be translated to different job roles with a different need focus.

The Global EVP has 2 main elements: “grow career” and “meaningful impact”

For Senior Managers, “meaningful impact” is slightly more important while Juniors expect fast career growth

As a result, the messaging for the two job profiles can highlight the specific needs within the boundaries of the global EVP.

Ideally, the messaging contains valid proofpoints, that make the messaging credible.

Work with experienced teams and the smartest consultants

Fast career progression for high achievers

Get an internal mentor for structured coaching sessions

Formal yearly training according to employee’s needs

Lead challenging client engagements

Work on industry changing projects that have meaningful client impact

Learn from our partners and senior partners who are esteemed experts in their fields

Junior Consultant Role (Key need: grow career)

Senior Manager Role (Key need: have impact)

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CREDIBLE – THE EVP NEEDS TO BE IMPLEMENTED ACROSS ALL TOUCHPOINTS AND ACROSS ALL EMPLOYEE STAGES TO BE CREDIBLE

Unfortunately, with developing an EVP theme and the messaging for employee segments, you are not done yet. The question is: can our company live up to the developed EVP promise?

If we can’t deliver the promises made in our communications, the EVP is not credible and thus we could not retain the talent we have attracted with our promise.

What needs to be done is a thorough assessment of all touchpoints with our employees. To be consistent, all of them – from awareness to belonging – need to support the claimed EVP promise.

First, you have to identify all touchpoints. Once this is done, each individual touchpoint needs to be assessed based on the alignment with the developed EVP promise.

If you consider again the EVP promise “Learn from the smartest and grow your career while having meaningful impact”, this translates into specific activities at each touchpoint (on the right).

«The company is the best

option for me» Agreement

Consideration «I consider to work for the company»

Awareness «I recognize the

company as a potential

employer»

Employee Experience

Belonging «I truly belong to

the company»

Confirmation «The company delivers on the

promise»

…we are known to recruit only the best

talents from the best institutions

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE: EXECUTION OF EVP AT TOUCHPOINTS

Learn from the smartest and grow your career while having meaningful impact means that…

…the recruiting process is

seamless and interviewers demonstrate

that talents can learn a lot

…the offer is convincing, from a financial but more importantly from a development perspective

…training and development programs are excellent. Career progression is as fast as promised

…on the long, the company offers meaningful work where talents feel that their work matters and they have impact

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TASK: ASSESSMENT OF STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES AT EMPLOYEE TOUCHPOINTS IN REGARDS OF THE CHOSEN EVP THEME

«The company is the best

option for me» Agreement

Consideration «I consider to work for the company»

Awareness «I recognize the

company as a potential

employer»

Employee Experience

Belonging «I truly belong to

the company»

Confirmation «The company delivers on the

promise»

Please collect all the touchpoints employees have with your company. You should then assess each of the touchpoints in respect of how they are aligned with the developed EVP promise. Touchpoints that are not aligned with the EVP need to be worked on, until they do! Note for each touchpoint if it fulfils the EVP claim and what implications are.

«Give the promise»

«Live up to the promise»

Recruiting events Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Website Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Job ads Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

People, office Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Job interviews Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Job offer Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Onboarding / work desk Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Training programs Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Job assignments Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Team, mentors, seniors Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

Company culture Aligned with EVP? Yes / No Implication:

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EVP

So far, you have developed a global EVP theme with tailored messaging to employee segments and identified and assessed employee touchpoints. Now you have to implement the EVP at all touchpoints to bring it to live. Here is what you have to do:

Align touchpoints with the developed EVP: Launch necessary initiatives to eliminate identified touchpoint gaps

Develop missing programs necessary to live up to the developed EVP

Develop all communication materials based on the global EVP theme and the tailored messaging (website, job ads templates, brochures, job fair stationary etc.)

Launch the EVP across all touchpoints internally and externally

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Contact: Brandoos AG Limmatquai 72 8001 Zurich +41 (0)43 243 8020 www.brandoos.com Tobias Ammann, Partner tobias.ammann@brandoos.com Manuel Specker, Partner manuel.specker@brandoos.com