Attractive culture as the basis of an attractive brand

People are the brand. After all, in a transparent world you can no longer promise outside what you don't make true inside. It's about what you do, not what you shout. That's why employer branding is now more important than ever. But, what about the collaboration between HR and Marketing? And is there alignment between culture, corporate branding and employer branding?

HR has been making significant development in recent years. From a silo that mainly deals with transactional matters such as recruitment, salaries, pensions, assessments and vacation arrangements, we see that HR increasingly gets a strategic role in developing a positive culture. "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" is an often heard and convincing premise. But how do you build such an attractive positive culture? What is the relationship with the brand? And what can you as CEO do about it?

Now that the economy is picking up strongly and companies are investing in development and growth, attracting and retaining top talent is a high priority for executives. Usually the responsibility for this lies with HR. According to PwC's 20th annual CEO survey, Innovation and Human Capital are the two biggest priorities and 77% are worried about the availability of talent - an increase of 14% compared to the same survey in 2014.

CEOs are therefore really worried that it's becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain talent. This also especially concerns the 'fit' of those talented high flyers with the organization's culture. And without motivated and positively engaged employees, building competitive advantage, adapting to market developments and operational excellence is simply impossible.

Attracting top talent as a major concern for the CEO

While those CEOs apparently mainly worry about top talent, in our opinion it's about the entire organization, with all the 'ordinary' people that belong to it, as the basis for success. Of course there are the movers and shakers within the company who set change in motion, but if the whole doesn't move in a coherent way, the desired development or transformation won't come off well.

But back to the CEOs and their concerns about top talent. For potential candidates, it's quite difficult to assess whether they fit well with the culture and ambitions of the organization. Continuity, salary and other employment conditions are really no longer sufficient to be attractive.

Young talent nowadays no longer automatically wants to work for the big corporates like Shell, ABNAMRO or Unilever. Not only are strongly hierarchically oriented companies where bosses have the say out of favor, companies that only exist to satisfy shareholders' financial needs are also becoming less and less popular.

Millennials care a lot less about security, a good salary and pension provisions. They are increasingly looking for self-development, freedom and meaning for society and environment.

Exceeding the expectations of top talent is quite a job

Connecting the culture and ambitions of the organization with what future talent is looking for is quite a challenge and often means a major change in individual behavior and the design of collective systems.

And that's where employer branding comes around the corner. The employer brand stands for the challenge of activating attractive, authentic and meaningful experiences at all employee touchpoints. When done well, an employer brand helps attract the right talents and increases the chance that they develop into loyal, productive and inspired employees. And who doesn't want that?

Nowadays, HR therefore has the task of developing such a positive employee experience and perception that it's really attractive for current and future employees.

Developing such an employer brand means aligning ambitions, themes, needs, wishes and behavior with the employees you want to recruit and retain, in short, not an easy task. Especially if the people in the C-suite themselves are no longer fully aligned with what's happening in the 'ordinary' world and their own behavior is no longer attractive to the rest of the organization.

Employee engagement remains disappointingly low

Maybe the biggest task for an organization is to transform into an environment with intrinsically inspiring energy. An environment that truly makes people happy, thereby greatly increasing their pleasure and productivity.

After all, an 'inspired' employee is more than twice as productive as a satisfied employee and more than three times as productive as a dissatisfied employee. While generally only about one in eight employees is fizzing with positive energy at work.

And despite decades of investment in increasing employee engagement, that engagement generally remains disappointingly low.

You don't yet have an attractive culture with a ping-pong table and a fruit bowl

The importance of creating a positive work experience and environment for current and future employees is now broadly accepted. But developing and internally activating such an attractive employer brand involves more than placing a ping-pong table and offering fruit at lunch.

Budget and time must be made available for sustainably building the culture. Does the CEO see the value of that? Is the relationship clear between an inspiring environment, attractiveness in the labor market and the bottom line?

Or does the short-term thinking that Fokke and Sukke ridiculed long ago prevail: "And the culture change? That's Thursday the 17th at half past three."

At BR-ND, we've been working for a number of fast-growing clients in recent years who have the challenge of attracting international top talent. There's one thing they all really agree on: successfully building an employer brand takes time and energy and can't be done by HR alone. Involving and working together with Marketing from the very beginning is really necessary, and the CEO will have to play a leading and decisive role throughout the entire trajectory.

We see six preconditions for developing an attractive employer brand:

1. The CEO as foreman

It must be clear from the start how decision-making takes place and who is responsible for the trajectory. Of course, there's no better foreman for the employer brand than the CEO himself. But involving other employees, securing the budget, and having the employer brand embraced organization-wide won't work well without a designated final responsible person from HR or Marketing.

2. Employer branding doesn't stand alone but is part of corporate branding

Even if the corporate brand is outdated or unattractive, employer branding must of course be built and coherent with the corporate brand. Otherwise it's confusing for employees and the market and doesn't strengthen each other.

So use the existing assets that the brand has and build on them. The credibility of the employer brand depends on how HR and marketing work together to create a work experience that fits the brand. And if done well, the employer brand will contribute to the attractiveness of the corporate brand. In the heads of people in the outside world, all of that merges and there's of course only one brand.

3. Involve all departments

From the start, assemble a project team with participants from all important departments of the company. Make sure not only HR and marketing are there, but also think about R&D, production and sales.

It's important that ultimately every formal and informal leader within the company understands the importance of an attractive employer brand and actively contributes to it. So involve them as much as possible from the very beginning. Have the project team regularly report progress to the CEO and his top team. Set it up as much as possible as an organization-wide trajectory.

4. Activate the employer brand with a team of enthusiasts

Once the employer brand strategy is clear and the main departments are on board, you need advocates from all departments to activate and roll out the employer brand internally.

To really have impact, you need a strong group of people committed to the project, who are part of the entire trajectory. So invest in regular sessions, call the whole team together often and take each other through the trajectory.

Don't always do this in an uninspiring meeting room, but go outside or to an inspiring place. Give your people from the team tasks and responsibilities. It's not only the discussion about the content that connects people, also a nice inspiring process with clear milestones brings people together and ensures connection and positive energy.

5. Make sure your organization has a beautiful purpose

Making money, having success, making a career and gaining status is only part of why people want to work. People today are also looking for autonomy, talent development, and their own individuality.

Unlike many baby boomers, personal financial gain is no longer all-encompassing; millennials, the talents of the future, seek the satisfaction of being able to contribute to a more beautiful and better world. A world with opportunities and prosperity for all people and where production resources are used in a more sustainable way.

So the question here is how your company will contribute to something truly worthwhile. This goes back to point 2; is your corporate brand purposeful?

6. Don't forget it's about people

The employer brand aims to emotionally bind people and thereby be successful in recruiting and retaining talented employees best suited for your company. HR understands very well what's emotionally important for employees, and marketing knows how to attract attention, persuade with targeted communication, and create memorable experiences at every touchpoint of the employee journey.

Together, HR and marketing can get people moving. So frequently provide very targeted internal and external activities to activate the employer brand.

When HR and marketing truly work together on an employer brand strategy, they will ultimately ensure that the organization starts living it by being (un)consciously busy with it every day. This way the employer brand contributes to a positive inspiring culture.

Top talent wants to work there and the people who are already there work harder, are more creative and motivated and ensure happy customers. Quite a task, but it's possible!

Kim Cramer PhD

Alexander Koene

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