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Employer Branding / Reflections & Visions Heading Into 2019

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Employer
Branding
Reflections and Visions
Heading Into 2019
Petr Hovorka
Reader
favorites
from 2015
to 2018
Several newart...
02
Petr Hovorka
is a Employer Brand Baker
@ BrandBakers,
a leading consulting company
in Central Europe
focusing purely on...
Foreword by Brett Minchington,
the world's most respected authority
in the Employer Branding field
In 2016 I launched the ...
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Employer Branding / Reflections & Visions Heading Into 2019

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Reader favorites plus several new articles to highlight projected trends in Employer Branding, published on www.brandbakers.cz from 2015 to 2018.

The Era of Recruitment is Over

The way companies hire employees in the Czech Republic, and Europe as whole is going to change due to a decreasing workforce, sluggish economy and preferences of the incoming Y generation.

Reader favorites plus several new articles to highlight projected trends in Employer Branding, published on www.brandbakers.cz from 2015 to 2018.

The Era of Recruitment is Over

The way companies hire employees in the Czech Republic, and Europe as whole is going to change due to a decreasing workforce, sluggish economy and preferences of the incoming Y generation.

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Employer Branding / Reflections & Visions Heading Into 2019

  1. 1. Employer Branding Reflections and Visions Heading Into 2019 Petr Hovorka Reader favorites from 2015 to 2018 Several newarticles to highlightprojected trends +
  2. 2. 02 Petr Hovorka is a Employer Brand Baker @ BrandBakers, a leading consulting company in Central Europe focusing purely on a holistic and honest approach to Employer Branding and recruitment marketing. I would like to say thank you to a few special people: Jiri Landa, my partner at BrandBakers, who lets me have my thoughts and visions and does the great amount of work in our company Kristen Binda, a Charles University student with big dreams to change the world, for translating all articles from my “Czechglish” to correct English Brett Minchington, world Employer Branding authority, for reviewing some of my texts and for encouraging me to write articles
  3. 3. Foreword by Brett Minchington, the world's most respected authority in the Employer Branding field In 2016 I launched the first World Employer Branding Day in Prague and returned in 2018 for a sold out event with the strong support of Petr Hovorka and his team at Brandbakers. Petr has also been supportive in connecting our team into the broader Czech Republic Employer Brand- ing community which is growing every year. During this time, Petr has been an active contributor in developing thought leadership in Employer Branding in Czech Republic and his opinion and commentary has also been felt beyond his local borders. The management field of Employer Branding is now the number one focus in many organisations around the world as they adapt to the complexity of multiple trends that impact on the world of work simulta- neously. Petr’s work assists organisations to develop solutions and strategies to respond and adapt to these trends. I admire Petr’s tenacity and dedication to contribute to advancing awareness, knowledge and practice in Employer Branding through his authorship and agency practice and I look forward to continuing our friendship and partnership for many years to come. 03 Brett Minchington Chairman/CEO | Employer Brand International & Employer Branding College Founder | World Employer Branding Day
  4. 4. 04 Jiri Landa, Brett Minchington and Petr Hovorka (from left) A photo from the meeting, where we planned the third year of the World Employer Branding Day conference in Prague, 2018.
  5. 5. Content The Era of Recruitment is Over 06 Recruitment Marketing x Employer Branding x Advertising 17 Employer Brand Versus Employer Branding: What’s the Difference? 25 Employee Satisfaction is Not Enough 29 Galluping into the 21st Century 35 How to Convince your CEO to Approve an Employer Branding Budget 39 How Employer Branding is like a Fish! 43 Employer Branding Trends in 2019 in the Czech Republic 46 05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
  6. 6. The Era of Recruitment is Over 1 06 The way companies hire employees in the Czech Republic, and Europe as whole is going to change due to a decreasing workforce, sluggish economy and preferences of the incoming Y generation.
  7. 7. I 07 OFTEN HEAR RECRUITERS who wish to become business part- ners and seek to establish that role through labeling themselves specifically as "HR Business Partners". Rather than simply retit- ling yourself, I offer a few tips below which can help your busi- ness on a more substantial level. And here’s the best part: you can start right now and without a large budget. But let us begin little by little, starting with words. Three Words to Retire It’s commonly said and accepted that the words we use affect our think- ing and actions. So, what are the three most frequently used words used in HR, and how might they be holding us back? 1. Recruiting -> Attracting Whenever I hear the word “recruitment”, I imagine army recruiters from a different era who had lines of eager young men seeking to enlist, so many in fact, that they had to turn away those with flatfeet, tattoos, poor eyesight etc. Similarly, this used to be the case when the labor market, was still full. However, in five years, the number of working people will drop by 400,000 people, or 10% less, in the Czech Republic with similar trends predicted across Europe. This will come at a time when trade is increasing, and companies will need new employees. Rather than recruiting them, they will need to attract them. 2. Interview -> Dialogue Back to our military metaphor, imagine the rank involved with interview processes. Rather than speaking as equals in a conversation or dia-
  8. 8. logue, maintaining “interview” in your vocabulary calls to mind a superi- or speaking to, or even at, a subordinate. In contrast, inviting candida- tes to an initial dialogue, or conversation, allows them to feel involved and equal in the process of considering their employment. 3. Human Resources -> Human Energy I am not sure if anyone wants to be referred to as a resource, as in the days of “bodies on the ground” from military dominance. Rather than considering employees as resources to be used, consumed for duty and potentially discarded, let’s work to find a better alternative to this term. I suggest something akin to “human energy” instead. Energy Drives Business During the Industrial Revolution, it was possible to gain a competitive advantage by building a factory and equipping it with proper machines and a full staff. Then, Henry Ford developed his assembly line along with labor specialization and took over the world of cars. He used the money he earned to buy other factories and better machines which built upon technology. From there, a patent period followed and only a short while ago, we entered the era of knowledge. And now comes the era of people! Those who can use knowledge, technologies and patents are the new movers and shakers. I like to 08 Figure 1: The Development of a Competitive Advantage in Business; Source: Marty Neumeier
  9. 9. think of people in this new era as energy, and not resources. They are the energy we need in our companies. But how can we attract (formerly “recruit”) such “human energy” (formerly “human resources”)? Relationships Rule When the pool of recruits was plenty, recruiting was easy! All you had to do was throw out a recruitment ad as bait stating "a-successful-inter- national-corporation-is-looking-for-candidates-requires-offers-send-CV" and wait until a sufficient number of candidates pressed “apply”. Then, you invited them for an interview and chose the best mercenaries for your army. After a short training, you could go to battle, to another war. It is not only the approach to recruitment that’s changing. Even in business (attracting customers) we do not push as hard as we used to. We’re moving from the push approach to the pull approach – to attracting and building relationships (formerly called “recruiting” in HR and “acquisition” in business). Instead of using cold calls, business pre- 09 Figure 2: Men wanted, Ernest Shackleton’s Recruitment Ad Source: http://discerninghistory.com
  10. 10. 10 sentations and special offers as often as we used to, quality content steps in to help us. They key to quality content is its uniqueness: that which is made especially in view of our own company, and gives advice, helps, inspires, entertains and most importantly, informs. Content doesn’t exclusively mean blog posts, but can also be lectures at conferences or sharing at workshops etc. The present day demands followers, not mercenaries. We need followers who will connect with us through our thoughts, approach and the common will to enact change. This doesn’t mean promising them the moon. We Need Results, Not Employees After all, we don’t want to fill a free position. We need people who like col- laborating with us, feel a connection with our mission, believe what we believe in, bleed with us, and share their best with us. Simon Sinek, the bestselling author of Start with Why says: "Great com- panies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire al- ready motivated people and inspire them. People are either motiva- ted or not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate them- selves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left." As a side note, for a legendary TED talk, see Simon’s presentation on “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”. What We Now Know Thanks to much research and study, we have a greater sense of what people want when choosing their employer. Dan Pink, the author of many bestsellers (check out his amazing TED talk, “The Puzzle of Moti- vation”), tells us that people’s intrinsic motivation, regardless of their profession, depends on three things. According to Dan, in order for us
  11. 11. to enjoy our work, we need: 1) purpose – participating in something meaningful beyond ourselves, 2) mastery – the possibility to do more of what we are best at because that gives us recognition and praise and enables us to grow 3) autonomy – we do not want anyone smarter than us to nanny us. We want a task and to make make decisions about what steps to take to complete it ourselves. It Will Take Work Unfortunately, the shortcut trend still persists in HR. Personally, I am always late whenever I want to take a shortcut to avoid a traffic jam, for example. Often, the solutions that seem to be quick and effective are usually slow and expensive. Many companies fall into this trap as well and accelerate in a frenzied fashion - they determine the need to have “career profiles” on social networks, and now! So, they post all the in- formation about their wonderful CSR projects, new colleagues and 11 Figure 3: Causes of Intrinsic Motivation; Source: Dan Pink, Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us!, Riverhead Books 2011
  12. 12. 12 excellent results while remaining satisfied when no one likes, shares or comments on their content. Work-Life-Balance This is also another popular buzzword term. Recruiters are questioning how they can provide people with their desired work-life-balance while still requiring significant performance from them. It seems that many companies have decided the solution is to build relaxation rooms, buy more plants, or include massages and nice meals at the workplace throughout the day as benefits. But what does “work-life-balance” actually mean? I understand it as "being able to go home early so I can do the things that make sense to me and that I enjoy in a place that I like with people close to my heart." So, what’s the solution here? The latest fad in HR is the use of Big Data. We are thinking about how to analyze and learn from it to perform better but I suggest something else: start with your own small data! Small Data We can start collecting small data immediately. A small step for your recruiters, and a big leap for your whole company. This will prepare you for the time when, instead of recruiting people, you will instead be at- tracting them. To achieve that, you need to be a good employer and introduce yourself as such in the job market and provide information to candidates in the following three areas: 1) Why your company exists: what is your place in the world as a company, what do you improve, what do you bring to the table, and what do you seek to accomplish? 2) What you are like as a company: what is your corporate culture and
  13. 13. leadership style, what opportunities are available for education, how do you support the growth of employees, what are the unwritten rules (lived corporate values), what events and rituals do you have, and what kind of environment you work in? 3) What you offer to your employees: why should anyone work for you instead of another company? An Offer You Can’t Refuse How can you prepare an attractive advertisement to highlight your specific offer to candidates? To do that you need three ingredients to make your offer sincere, relevant and unique at the same time: The first ingredient is an awareness of the reasons why your employ- ees work for you, why they have chosen you and what they appreciate most about you. So, go and ask them! They will tell you. 13 Figure 4: Basic parts of an Employer Brand’s DNA; Source: BrandBakers, 2015 Mission & Vision Values & Culture Opportunities & Reward
  14. 14. The second ingredient is an insight into candidate decision-making criteria. You need to know how they make their decisions and what is important to them in that process. Use the opportunity provided from the dozens or even hundreds of people who you engage with in dia- logues about cooperation (my alternative to the word interviews) and ask them how they decide what is most important to them when choos- ing an employer. The third and last ingredient is familiarity with the competition’s offer. Go through the career pages of your competitors in the job market within your region or industry. Describe those companies in terms of what they say about themselves, what they’re like and what they offer. To finish, place all ingredients into a bit pot, set it to boil and cook them. Mix them thoroughly until you can clearly see your unique position as an employer. Figure 5: Ingredients you need to design your EVP; Source: BrandBakers, 2015 14 Employees Accociations Competition Offer Candidate Criteria
  15. 15. 15 Return on Investment? Believe me: you will do a great job in this process and it will really be worth it and can be done by yourself and with the help of your HR team, without a budget. You will be able to understand your employees, candi- dates and competition in the job market. You will do an excellent job not only in attracting your future employees (recruitment communi- cation), but also in communicating with your current employees. They too want to be able to introduce their company to their friends and encourage them to join you. If you persevere in communicating to your candidates and within your company long enough, you might become the new Zappos, an ad- mired employer in the United States that was able to completely cancel posting for open positions last year. There are so many people applying for them that when they need someone, they can search internally. Will You Try? During the industrial revolution it was possible to gain a competition advantage by building a factory. You would put the right machines and a required number of people in it. Today, company success is dictat- ed by people who want to take part in its mission and progress. Don’t wait to run out of people or for the best ones to start leaving. To paraphrase Tomas Bata - attracting the right people is go- ing to be the toughest job. Don’t look for the easy ways which are used by so many companies nowadays, for example, investing in “beautiful career websites”. These kinds of distractions offer a competition advantage for only so long and ultimately divert money from where your greatest investments should lie, in your property – your brand. Make a first small step: change your vocabulary. Since recruitment as we knew it is dead, the future will be about building relationships and attracting candidates. The time is coming when people will be the
  16. 16. 16 energy of your business (not its source) and those entering will expect to be acknowledged as partners, who you should have a dialogue with rather than treat as another candidate to interview. The first compa- nies to understand this will gain a competitive advantage by attract- ing followers versus mercenaries. Before you get down to work with Big Data, collect your own small data and give people meaning that they can connect to: tell them who you are and why they should work for you and start communicating with them as you have been communi- cating with your customers for a while now. The era of recruitment is over, the future is in attraction. So good luck!
  17. 17. Recruitment Marketing x Employer Branding x Advertising: 2 17 What Do They Mean Together?
  18. 18. VERUSE OF THESE THREE words is reaching new heights. Everyone implements recruitment marketing, many "introduce" Employer Branding to the mix and most utilize advertising. What they don’t realize, and what often leads to failure, is that this process of build- ing your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) takes a good amount of time and effort – it’s not a product that one can just go to the store and buy off the shelf. I suggest, we take away the confusion and assign true meaning to these terms. Because the better we under- stand, the better we can perform at work – for both the employees and business partners and us, the marketing experts. Understanding of common phrases is a great start, but it’s not enough as marketing is made of push tactics while branding is all about pull strategy. Advertising is what you say about yourself while branding is what other people say about you. I elaborate on this concept below and explore my interpretation of the meanings of these three terms (recruit- ment marketing, Employer Branding and advertising) through telling the short-stories of the fictional companies, Living & Co. and Coffee & Sons. Recruitment Marketing Living & Co. was an amazing company that built its success through working well with people and prioritizing its employees above all else. Understanding Candidates O 18
  19. 19. As Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire, says: "Learn to look after your staff first and the rest will follow." Employees were proud of their workplace and eagerly recommended it as an employer to their friends and professional network (note that such firms typically receive 40% or more of the employees through recommendations). Turnover was practically nonexistent, and Living & Co. grew and grew and need- ed new employees to fill its open spaces. In the European labor market with such low unemployment, recruitment efforts by existing staff were not enough. The company decided to start advertising for their employ- ment needs. Living & Co. went to work. Through interviews with staff the hiring mana- gers found out why employees chose the company and what they were most proud of in the workplace. Representatives of individual depart- ments at Living & Co. (business managers, IT, junior staff, HR, engineer- ing, etc.) helped identify important attractions for potential groups of candidates. Interviewers focused on what influenced their original choice when selecting Living & Co., why they’ve stayed, and what has been most important and helpful to them in the workplace. Additionally, Living & Co. compared their offer to other competitive employers in the labor market. Based on the findings, Living & Co. outlined its EVP corresponding to the question, “What makes us (as of today) a unique employer?” The company did not advertise that it "offers the best IT software equip- ment to salespeople in the field", but instead, customized the advertise- ment according to each candidate group’s needs and interests. For Living & Co., most of its outstanding features could be found within its corporate culture – its values, education, leadership style, trusting ma- nagement of employees and a strong mission – so they emphasized these qualities in their ads. By sticking with the conditions to create an attractive offer, their hiring campaign was authentic, resonated well with potential candidates and stood out from the competition. 19
  20. 20. After their thorough evaluation, Living & Co was well prepared to develop a strategic plan to present its offer to the labor market. They decided how they would present their offer, what tone and langu- age to use to attractively and accurately represent themselves, and where to find ideal potential candidates. They created a career page where current employees briefly introduced themselves and their posi- tion through videos and launched a targeted online campaign that in- cluded banners and Google AdWords for specific candidate groups. Additionally, they hosted educational seminars for Java developers and held an open-house day. As a final touch, they hired a quality third-party advertiser to disseminate information about Living & Co’s hiring needs. So, no wonder the campaign was a success! In just 3 months, more than 3,000 candidates sent their CV’s, visited career webpages, open days and meetings – each with a sincere interest to work for the compa- ny. Thanks to this, Living & Co. had plenty of great candidates to choose from. My partner at BrandBakers, Jirka Landa, says recruitment market- ing is a tool to "put your best foot forward as an employer, and really sell your business to future employees.” It is the process that helps you attract new employees and understand what candidates are looking for. Employer Branding Let’s refer now to a different example from Coffee & Sons to see how Employer Branding can be used to better understand your own business. Coffee & Sons was a successful company that built success through its business model and broad portfolio of clients with its “customer first” attitude. Employees reported high levels of satisfaction in each annual assessment: they were well paid, had good employee benefits, and some even recommended the company as an employer to their friends and professional contacts. However, a small portion of Understanding Your Own Business 20
  21. 21. them were let go, and from time-to-time, an employee received a "better offer" and left the company. Recently, these cases had begun to increase. Meanwhile, the firm continued to expand, and in addition to finding good staff for new projects, it also needed to replace its outgo- ing employees. To add to their troubles, less and less people respond- ed to Coffee & Sons’ hiring ads through different websites. The company decided to look internally to establish why so few employ- ees were deeply engaged, how to increase employee referrals, and find the REAL REASONS why some employees were leaving. It was import- ant that they had the courage to take a look in the mirror. Employee interviews showed why people worked at the company, what features they liked most and vice versa, what they liked the least. They gained deeper insight to their current Employer Brand and what employees thought of the company, how they understood and judged the compa- ny's mission – some didn’t even know what it was! Interviews with repre- sentatives of different company sectors revealed what they liked most and least enjoyable in the workplace. Finally, Coffee & Sons researched the offerings of competitive employers, those with no problems finding and retaining good employees, in and out of the industry. What Coffee & Sons found was not an entirely positive report – its reputation was weak in many areas compared to its competition. At this point, it was important that the company did not give up, but instead began to think about how to improve the situation and reestab- lish its brand through the EVP, corresponding to the question: “How can we be unique as an employer going forward?” Project team employees and management representatives – including the CEO – collaborated to change the unfavorable situation and determine how to create the employer's brand. As a team, they outlined what steps to take, what to start with, and what resources to use in the process. They sought to improve understanding within the company, change overbear- ing management practices, add greater flexibility to worker hours, and 21
  22. 22. attractively advertise to potential candidates. The process was long and painful, but in the end, they achieved great results and created a winning strategy. Based on their strategy, the company slowly began to change things for the better. Coffee & Sons issued a company-wide manifesto summarizing the changes, which included: Coffee & Sons’ purpose of existence as a business, company goals, and rules and expectations. Additionally, they implemented a series of workshops to personally ex- plain these ideas to most employees. Other changes included making the pay system more transparent and fairer to employees, improving mid-level management skills, enhancing internal communication through weekly team breakfasts, a monthly meeting of all employees, and an employee E-newsletter. They also adjusted the recruitment process by responding to all applicants, enhanced integration by pair- ing new employees with mentors at the company, and invested in new office, dining and kitchenette equipment. A year later, Coffee & Sons was hardly recognizable! Employees were happier, enjoyed their work more and frequently recommended the company to others who were seeking employment. What's more - people started seeking out employment at Coffee & Sons, writing that they would like to work in the company thanks to its good reputation. They began recruitment marketing in the same fashion as our first ex- ample, Living & Co., and employees shared their stories and successes on the corporate blog plus attending lectures at colleges and industry conferences. Coffee & Sons became recognized for its good work- culture and developed a great network of supporters. Since then, the company has not struggled to retain current employees or fill the posi- tions created by its growth. Employer Branding is a leadership concept which buildings on a deep understanding of your business in order to help you attract new employ- 22
  23. 23. ees, encourage their engagement, and reduce turnover. I define the Employer Brand and Employer Branding as follows: EMPLOYER BRAND is what people say about your company as an employer, and what they think and feel about the company. We can also say that the Employer Brand captures answers to questions like: why does the company exist (beyond making mo- ney), what is its values and corporate culture, what are its goals, how it is led and operated and what rewards and condi- tions can employees expect? The Employer Brand gives com- pany names the meaning which people can identify with, connect to, and follow. EMPLOYER BRANDING is a thoughtful set of steps that aim to lead the brand from its current to an ideal state set by the EVP. It is also a leadership concept for increasing the value of compa- nies by organizing ideas and shaping teams of inspired employ- ees who sweat, work and win together. Advertising In both stories above, they needed to pay someone from time to time to distribute their content. Companies with a well-known customer brand, such as Apple, Audi or Adidas, have a slightly easier start since people know them. Smaller companies need to invest in advertising through vendor stands at employment fairs and other public events, ads in job portals, magazines, PPC campaigns through social media sites like Facebook or YouTube, increasing their SEO on Google, and buying spots on local radio stations. There is nothing remarkable or Paying someone else to tell candidates about yourself 23
  24. 24. bad about it – if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind! These tactics are necessary to compete with today’s flood of recruitment campaigns. However, an approach I do not want to encourage is false advertising. Companies use it very often and its unfortunately not a unique problem. You know the drill: they claim to have a friendly environment, people never leave, they offer great work-life balance, meal vouchers, benefits, recreation and relaxation zones, have great processes and continually innovate, development opportunities abound, they make the world better each day, and advertise through extravagant career sites and recruitment campaigns. The result: lots of people are reached, attract- ed, and employed for a few weeks or months only to leave feeling disap- pointed and deceived. In Summary: Recruitment marketing = Candidates Employer branding = You Advertising = Someone else False advertising = They (Let the others do it) 24 Figure 6: Less Wrinkles in Only One Minute
  25. 25. Employer Brand Versus Employer Branding: What’s the Difference? 3 25 How much difference can three extra letters (ing) truly make in practice? A big difference indeed! Let’s break down Employer Brand versus Employer Branding below.
  26. 26. HE EMPLOYER BRAND is the status quo, final result, and reputation of the company as an employer while Employer Branding is the process or project that crea- tes the brand (i.e., the reputation). It is a project that ideally never ends. Yeah, you read that right - it does not stop. Be careful to avoid adding marketing to the mix too soon and simplifying the brand into a common formula of: HR + marketing = hearts and rainbows, ad campaigns and new employee benefits. Instead, we need to fit leadership into the formula: HR + CEO + whole management = a company where people come first and have the highest priority and attention in the workplace. For me: “Employer Branding is a leadership concept used to increase the value of businesses by organizing thoughts and shapes teams of inspired employees who work together and is an ongoing project, that – in enlightened businesses – changes into a day-to-day approach within leadership, ultimately to the best practice in Human Relations.” So, back to it – the output of Employer Branding is not just a brand book with a description of the ideal brand and position that the company wants to build and display on career pages, employee video introduc- tions and attractive recruitment campaigns. It's about how you get to your brand book, i.e. your company DNA: how many employees are involved in creating an ideal image of their workplace, how they are T 26
  27. 27. 27 engaged in creating a strategy, and how many great partners you make from these employees. Visions, missions, and values penned by management on weekend re- treats often are not lasting or real inspiration for employees. Generally, they fail to become a guideline for the decisions and actions of a com- pany and don’t materialize. The company, Decathlon was able to enga- ge 30,000 workers in a new vision (out of a total of 70,000), but it took them over a year’s time to achieve such cohesion. Now, however, they have an inspirational long-term outline broken down into five areas that people understand and want to participate in. This is on top of a long- standing and widespread comprehension of employees for why the company exists (in other words, their mission): to make sports more accessible. Simply put – in the case of building an employer's brand, the journey is more important than the goal. In the case of Employer Branding, it is not just a cliché. For those who do sports or other activities: do you prefer the feeling you have during a run, cycling, skiing, painting, or playing guitar or when you’ve "gotten to the finish?" For most of us, it’s safe to say the feeling of the journey, or of doing, is greater even than a triumphant or picturesque ending. The path towards developing a desirable brand creates understanding, engagement, desire, and reconciliation along the way – a result without these key ingredi- ents is just an empty wrapper. The purpose of building an Employer Brand is to have as many people as possible in the company who enjoy their work, understand the business, are sympathetic to the ideas of the company and literally live and breathe its missions and values. The goal is to have employees as fans and ambassadors or at the very least strong teammates. Only these types of employees will advocate for the company in their daily, real-world battles of the market. They’ll also be the ones who are happy to recommend the company to qualified friends (increasing the inflow
  28. 28. 28 of good candidates) and will not easily leave the company (decreasing employee turnover). When thinking about building an Employer Brand – think about the journey (branding) at least as much as you think about the final result (brand). Trust that through this process, true values arise along the way, not just at the end. As I said in the beginning – building a brand is a project that ideally never ends. It is an ongoing project, that – in enlightened busi- nesses – changes into a day-to-day approach within leadership, ultima- tely to the best practice in Human Relations. Perhaps it will help you understand the length of the project, setting the individual steps, the need to involve management, related tasks etc. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
  29. 29. Employee Satisfaction is Not Enough 4 29 If you want a more successful company, don’t measure employee satisfaction.
  30. 30. ERE, I’LL ASK which kind of employee you would ra- ther have: A) those who are "just fine", they don’t wreck anything, but also don’t solve anything or B) co-workers who are happy and engaged in helping you with your bu- siness – whether you are manufacturing, trading or providing services? Okay – I assume that you answered "B". On your pathway to working suc- cessfully with engaged employees, it will probably be your first step to map out the current situation to decide in a strategic manner which steps to take. Knowing the simple demographics of your workplace is not enough, you must search for deeper infor- mation to determine what makes some employees feel committed to you, and what makes others feel less in- vested in your business. The picture above depicts the situation in the Czech Republic from the viewpoint of employees and their relationship with employers. H 30 Satisfied but unmotivated 8% Satisfied and motivated 36% Dissatisfied and unmotivated 38% Dissatisfied but motivated 18% M O T I V A T I O N SATISFACTION Figure 7: Satisfaction and Motivation of Employees in the Czech Republic; Source: JobsIndex, LMC, May 2018
  31. 31. It is powerful to realize that 38% of employees feel dissatisfied and un- motivated. This is why we do what we do at BrandBakers, connecting employers with solutions to create more satisfied and more motivated employees. Recently, we completed a culture analysis in a company with a high share (around 40%) of satisfied but unmotivated employees. You may find this a bit confusing, that satisfaction does not lead to motivation. Below we’ll explain exactly why and how this issue is all too common. An important prerequisite for mapping your current situation is in- sight into the intrinsic motivations of people. You'll need it when you ask employees and interpret their survey data to distinguish the difference be- tween achieving satisfaction and engagement and then plan your steps. Satisfaction and engagement. What's the difference? Employee satisfaction shows to what extent employees are generally satisfied or satisfied specifically with their work and work environment, while Employee motivation shows to what extent employees are en- Get meaning and inspiration from their company’s mission Are inspired by the leaders in their company Have the tools, training and resources to do their job well Can get their jobs done efficiently, without excess bureaucracy Are valued and rewarded fairly Have a safe work environment INSPIRED EMPLOYEES ENGAGED EMPLOYEES Are part of an extraordinary team Have autonomy to do their jobs Learn and grow every day Make a difference and have an impact SATISFIED EMPLOYEES 31 Figure 8: Pyramid of Employee Needs; Source: https://hbr.org/2015/12/engaging-your-employees-is-good-but-dont-stop-there
  32. 32. thusiastic about their work, dedicated to their organization and are committed to extraordinary performance. Got it? Perhaps it’s be better to look at the two concepts through the pyramid of staff needs (pictured above). On the pyramid, you will see what works for Satisfaction versus Motivation (engagement) of employees. Inspiration – a key element And there is still Inspiration, which we have not talked about yet: the highest standard that we can reasonably achieve in our employees, a consequence of great organizational structure and, in particular, of ma- nagement style. Take a look again at the pyramid of needs with a focus upon requirements for inspired employees. There are two main assumptions for creating a clearly defined com- pany and inspiration in the workplace: 1) a strong mission, vision and values and 2) authentic leaders who model the values of a company’s DNA and set an example for all employees. A clearly defined company based on Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business”, (which I recommend from the bottom of my Employer Branding heart) outlines six questions to better understand your company. 1) Why does our company exist (mission)? 2) How do we behave (company values)? 3) What do we do (business category)? 4) How will we succeed (business model)? 5) What is most important now (strategic plan)? 6) Who has to do what (action plan)? 32
  33. 33. Satisfaction – Motivation – Inspiration. What’s it all about? Most of us know how important inspiration can be in everyday situati- ons. In the workplace, employees sometimes "hit a wall" when dealing with challenging tasks. We can generally expect three different respon- ses. 1) Satisfied employees call a meeting to consider how to break down the wall, 2) engaged employees will start looking for solutions themselves, and 3) inspired employees will burst straight through. Bain & Company conducted a survey that showed the excellent bene- fits of engaged and inspired employees, compared to satisfied em- ployees. They found that satisfied employees create a value of 100 units of productivity, while engaged employees create a value of 144. And now watch out for a real jump… inspired employees were found to reach up to 225 units of productivity. Simply put – you need two-and-a-half satisfied staff members to achieve the same performance as one inspired worker. Don’t just be satisfied – be courageous You can stimulate the inner motivation of employees through the ideas of your business, corporate culture, and leadership style. Addi- tionally, in Figure 9: Employee Performance Source: https://hbr.org/2015/12/engaging-your-employees-is-good-but-dont-stop-there Dissatisfied Satisfied Engaged Inspired 71% 100% 144% 225% 33
  34. 34. order to inspire it is imperative that you be comprehensible as a com- pany. If your employees can’t clearly answer the questions posed above, how can we expect them to even be satisfied? If you want to be a better company and become better by working more closely and effectively with your people, you have to start by get- ting to the bottom of their feelings and understanding of the workplace. Be real and comprehensible. Keep inspiring commitment to your mis- sion and building leaders to then inspire others. Forget about simply measuring employee satisfaction and rather follow along the wisdom of V. Frankl, “The greatest misfortune is to seek happiness. Look for meaning and fulfillment.” 34
  35. 35. Galluping into the 21st Century 5 35 *The Gallup Q12 Index The Gallup Institute has proposed its 12 questions* based on 30 years of experience in continuous behavioral and economic research involving more than 17 million employees around the world.
  36. 36. ASED ON THIS RESEARCH, Gallup identified 12 key question/answer statements that best predict employee and team performance and significantly impact busi- ness results. While these iconic 12 statements main- tain undeniable validity through the business world, here at BrandBakers we’ve added a few new elements to a classic formula in order help you create a more engaged and in- spired group of people. The 12 Gallup questions are commonly revered as the manager’s equiv- alent of the ten commandments. For a better breakdown of what specif- ic areas are targeted, I’ve divided the set of questions into four primary categories: B 36 Figure 10: Impact of Engagement on Company Results: Comparison of Firms from the Bottom and Upper Quartiles of Engagement; Source: The Relationship between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes 2016 Q12® Meta-Analysis: Ninth Edition Absenteesm High Turnover Orgs. Turnover Low Turnover Orgs. Shrinkage Safety Incidents Patient Safety Incidents Quality (Defects) Customer Ratings Productivity Profitability O%-10% 10% 20% 30%-20%-30%-40%-50%-60%-70%-80% -37 -65 -28 -48 -41 -41 10 21 22 -25
  37. 37. A) Do I have everything I need? 1. Do I know what is expected from my work? 2. Do I have all the materials and equipment to do my job correctly? B) How am I doing, and am I enjoying what I do? 3. Do I have the opportunity every day to do what I am really good at? 4. Has someone honored or thanked me during the last seven days for my work? 5. Does my supervisor seem to care about me as a person? 6. Is there someone who encourages my development? C) Do I belong here? 7. Do my opinions matter at work? 8. Does the mission/purpose of the company make me feel that my job is important? 9. Are my co-workers committed to giving their best performance? 10. Do I have a real friend in the workplace? D) What can I learn? 11. Has anyone spoken to me about my development over the past six months? 12. Did I have the opportunity during the last year to learn new things and grow? Sweet 16: When you want to map out the causes of engagement (or dis- engagement) in your workplace - use Gallup’s 12 questions. However, to understand the level of inspiration of your employees, add these four questions from us at BrandBakers: E) Am I inspired? 13. Do I understand and agree with why our company exists (mission)? 14. Do I know what makes us unique from others (business model)? 15. Are our leaders are a model of corporate values (corporate values)? 37
  38. 38. 16. Do I know where our company is headed and what we want to achieve (vision)? It’s as simple as that! To elevate your employee commitment, engage- ment and inspiration you must dive deeper than classic evaluations that stop at the boundary of employee satisfaction. These question sets should allow you a much deeper insight into how your employees are connected to and understand your company. Take the results and move forward to greater engagement. 38
  39. 39. How to Convince your CEO to Approve an Employer Branding Budget Leaders are busy people, so I’ll be quick! Here are 4 key arguments you can use to convince your leaders to “give you the money” to build a stronger Employer Brand. 6 39
  40. 40. HEN BUILDING AN Employer Brand, I see 4 key advantages to emphasize – arguments I use my- self when talking to CEOs and CFOs: We want to be a modern company Most of the key companies in the Czech Republic have already started to build their Employer Brands to strengthen their company culture and use it as a competitive advantage while increasing the value of their companies. They then become interesting employers who attract new applicants without having to spend large annual sums on hiring campaigns. To be a good employer and partner for people (employees) when the pool of talent is decreasing is not only a necessity but also a matter of personal “taste”. While companies are at different stages of their Employer Branding lifecycle, most have started the journey. We want to build our success with people Employees who understand and are in harmony with the company’s values (the brand), and are the right, dedicated, and enthusiastic people for the job have far superior performance than those who are in a company just for the “salary and benefits.” The Employer Brand links all employees with the company’s story. W 40
  41. 41. The productivity of a company stands and falls upon its employees. It also depends on how much they understand and are in harmony with its values and the company’s strategy. To achieve this goal, the Employ- er Brand is a wonderful tool. We want to define the price for the job Strong brands in business usually get an average price bonus of about 10 percent, as well as not going through as much pressure for salary in- creases as average brands do. People simply want to work for great em- ployers with a strong Employer Brand — those they are in harmony with. When a company cannot present its candidates with an attractive offer, it usually increases the monthly wage and offers a wider range of benefits. Research shows that companies with a strong Employer Brand, “collect” on reduced wage growth pressure. This is similar to how strong customer brands collect on the “price premium” in higher prices and operating margins – look at the price of iPhones in comparison to Alcatel, Sencor, or Huawei. We want to invest in people Companies with a strong Employer Brand get more applicants without having to spend large amounts in hiring campaigns, promotions, or publicity. They can then pick and choose the best candidates from this large pool. These companies also decrease the length of finding the right employee and limit turnover rates for new employees because those employees already “know what they are getting into.” Smart companies invest into people over the long term and spend less on advertising in the short term. The most effective marketing tool is word of mouth, which is dri- ven by a positive experience with a product. In the world of HR, we define a product as an entire company, including its culture. Smart leaders 41
  42. 42. would rather invest over the long-run into their own people rather than subscribe to quick-fix recruitment advertising campaigns and ads. But please, don’t think that if you decide to build a strong Employer Brand you will not need to support your career pages or your brand awareness program using PPC campaigns (e.g. search engine, Face- book or public transport ad campaigns). No way! You will still have to pay for general advertising. In the case of an Employer Brand you will be investing far more into your own estate which cannot be copied (it can only be badly imitated) and it will provide you with a long-term competitive advantage in the job market where the fight for the best employees has already started. 42
  43. 43. How Employer Branding is like a Fish! Every week, I talk to HR professionals about problems with candidates, employee engagement, and increasing turnover or dissatisfaction of employees with... (insert your workplace issues here). When the discussion finally, but briefly, turns to the topic of Employer Branding, we'll begin to discuss what support the boss is giving to this "project". 7 43
  44. 44. GENERALLY PROPOSE an introductory half-day workshop with management where we hone our understanding of what the em- ployer's brand is, what its benefits are and how to build a strong brand. Most importantly, we emphasize the need for bosses to understand that without their involvement and support the employer's brand cannot be built. We look for a suitable time in which we can get into the busy schedule of directors – ideally pencil- ing in 45 minutes at the monthly management meeting. However, the concept of Employer Branding is often introduced to people who are not tuned to better cooperation between companies and people and are more skilled at focusing on technical and financial aspects of business instead. Naturally, this concept may be easier for some to grasp than others so below, I describe how Christina Wasylkiwova, Em- ployer Branding Manager at FINIDR, offers a recipe for success that’s easily understandable for anyone! Her example is not only interesting, but also engages and communicates the idea of Employer Branding. Just like a fish, the brand either leads or rots from the head first. Picture this: Christina ascends to the front of a blank flipchart and asks the managers to imagine their brand as a fish with employees making up specific parts of its body. She asks, “Who would be the head?” After a while she hears the right answer - yes, at the head, just like in every company is the director, the CEO. Then she no longer takes questions while drawing other parts of the fish. She shows how the backbone represents the board, management, and top executives. Middle management – team leaders and managers – are the bones leading from the spine which help to contain the core (the I 44
  45. 45. ribcage). All the other small parts are employees. Between the bones are the muscle and flesh, which Christina uses to symbolize as relation- ships, company atmosphere and culture. If you eat fish, you’ll know the rule that generally applies, the firmer the flesh (relationships), the better. Finally, the scales come. What each fish shows to the outside world. Similarly, in recruitment communications, employers’ “scales” are the labels and marketing campaigns representing them to the labor market for candidates. When you explain, draw the fish gradually – starting with the head and the spine, through the ribs to the smallest bones, innards and scales. You’ll see that through this process Employer Branding will become more imaginative and graspable for your management teams. Ideally, by showing the employer's brand as a fish your group will be able to imagine the importance of the head: a source of success, direction and leadership or starting point for rot and decay. And that’s all! Like it? Let me know – I’ll be sure to share your com- ments with Christina as well. Do you have a different opinion? Wri- te and discuss, I’m eager to hear your thoughts. For HR profession- als, lets help your bosses help you by showing them this post as well so they can begin to engage in the actual work of building their Employer Brand. 45 Figure 11: Fish Source: Petr Hovorka
  46. 46. Employer Branding Trends in 2019 in the Czech Republic What companies did in 2018 is not enough heading into the New Year. 8 46
  47. 47. IRST, WE WILL LOOK at trends from the Czech Republic in the field of Employer Branding throughout 2018. I'll let you know upfront that if you’re searching for a discussion of artificial intelligence technologies or the latest career sites with an expanded reality penetrating the Human Relations area, you’ll be searching in vain. These are all things that relate to Employer Brand communications, but do not pri- marily create it. Instead, my approach to Employer Branding, which I follow and continually promote, is as follows: Building strong Employer Brands is the responsibility of leaders. Many people can help with it, but none of them can carry the baton and do it for them. No one, other than company leaders, has the power to change the company so employees find meaning in their work. Even Pfizer, with all its pharmaceutical expertise, cannot create a mir- acle pill for company leaders which automatically grants them instanta- neous powers to instill meaning in their employees’ work. What was happening in the labor market in 2018? I have been talking about Employer Branding this year with far more business directors than ever before. The topic began to resonate in the F 47 Employer Branding is a leadership concept to increase the value of companies, organize thoughts and form teams of inspired employees who pull together.
  48. 48. highest places, especially once companies that previously invested hundreds of thousands of Czech Crowns in fast-paced HR marketing schemes realized their high-cost efforts had stopped working. Do you wonder what this fast-paced, high-cost HR marketing is? Most often, you will see it on the career pages and profiles of companies that emphasize superficial benefits such as relaxation rooms with foosball tables. In video cameos, they portray scripted opinions of employees who keenly argue that everything is wonderful in the company and don’t admit every coin has two sides. I always learn the flip-side of the coin when I speak (off-record) to people in such a company. However, I have a good feeling that more and more companies are turning to real solutions based on understanding the real causes of problems to enhance their Employer Brand, attract new employees and retain workers. I won’t conceal that this makes me very happy, and I have high hopes and belief in the trend continuing on through 2019. How did my forecast turn out in 2018? Before we look into 2019, let's look briefly, and subjectively, at my pre- diction for last year’s domestic market. Maybe I have not seen every- thing and indeed missed something, in that case, do not hesitate to write to me with your thoughts. What five trends did I predict? 1. Directed by HR teams–> Co-building by management I did not do a quantitative survey, but as I mentioned above, this has already begun to happen. Finally! 2. Hunting on LinkedIn –> Relationships on Facebook Companies have not created really great recruitment content. Content remains (possibly) a kingpin in communicating with customers, but with people on the labor market, it is still crapshoot. 3. Stimulating through money –> Inspiring by thoughts This is what we are waiting for on a larger scale, I firmly hope. 48
  49. 49. In 2018, I did not notice the emergence of new referral programs based on internal motivation of employees. 4. Marketing informs –> Ambassadors communicate Here was the most achieved prediction of mine in 2018. I've seen many companies that are pushing their employees to create content for their performance on the labor market. Instagram is the most widely used channel. 5. Satisfaction measurements –> Cohesion surveys This was a clean shot. Companies who provide satisfaction surveys and those who provide things like meal vouchers are heavily pushing (like lobbies) for this method of employee retention. It will likely not change until companies realize that satisfaction is not enough… a process which will take some time. What will happen in 2019? As always, I can only read between the lines, combine various signals, information and experiences from the labor market, unlock trends in the United States and Western Europe, watch the progress and the actions of inspirational companies, and polish my Employer Branding crystal ball. I have been faithful to this approach for many years. So, what do I see in the next year? With my eyes closed, I see "people dancing around the company fire in a celebration of a meaningful workplace pro- gression for them". Well, let's move the metaphors into a more compre- hensible form – 5 specific directions that could be enacted in the new year in Employer Branding. 1. Attempts of any kind to motivate –> Creating meaningful work In the Czech Republic, the practice of companies has remained with satisfaction, measured year by year and compared with other similar companies. Others hire managers supposedly charged with the task of 49
  50. 50. “improving happiness”, and single-handedly boosting the workplace and corporate atmosphere. Manufacturing factories especially care about security and proper training, while others are dedicated to mi- nimizing bureaucracy and trying to reward people fairly. Perhaps every company has acquired a benefits-card program so that employ- ees can choose from a range of options. Everything complements the rewards for reaching the annual bonus – which some companies still think can utilize to motivate employees towards better performances. One incentive after another – stimulation for stimulation. In 2019, businesses will begin to perceive the need for sustaining people's long-term enthusiasm (versus those making sustainable bu- sinesses from other sources). The result equals meaningful work and the development of managers who create exceptional teams with mem- bers who have autonomy and development opportunities and who will listen to fellow teammates. Take a look at the picture below, which 50 2018 Mission 2019 2025 HOW WE BEHAVE – VALUES What How Why 2030 Vision HOW WE WILL SUCCEED – EVP & USP Figure 12: Meaningful work; Source: Petr Hovorka, 2018
  51. 51. outlines five questions as prerequisites for creating meaningful work that, together with managers’ approaches, forms a corporate culture in which people want to perform their best. 2. Buzzwords on notice boards –> Capturing key values You know the basics: openness, respect, teamwork, innovation, reliabili- ty. Most people in the company do not even name them all, let alone know what they are supposed to mean. Clutter on central notice boards, empty chatter in meetings. I just saw one nice exam- ple on a bulletin, "Our company provides its customers with high-quali ty products and expertise necessary for informed purchasing decisions. We deliver our products faithfully and honestly to the highest level of customer satisfaction. We create professional and long-term relation- ships with employees who are proud of our business, providing them with a stable and dynamic work environment. " Not only does it have 51 Distinctive patterns of behavior that distinguish you Core Values Desired Elementary Accidental Desired values are the qualities that an organization strives for Minimum standard of behavior – do not distinguish the organization from others They have become values unintentionally Figure 13: Types of Corporate Values; Source: “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business” by Patrick Lencioni, 2014
  52. 52. nothing to do with people, but it also lends itself to creating cynics who stop believing in the company and its statement. In today’s society we are increasingly incorporating the Y generation, which will make up half of the workforce by 2020. It’s been shown time and time again that what this group wants is authenticity, and not corporate bullshit. In 2019, corporate values will come to a halt and instead, companies will dig deep to discover their own unique key values. They will begin by realizing what the core of corporate values are: hiring the right people, leading them, and finally assessing their performance. They will under- stand that their unique set of company values define the personality of the organization and give employees instructions on how to act, reduc- ing the need for inefficient and demoralizing micro-management. Eliška Novotná of IKEA said it nicely: "Where we have no process or rules, we have values." When defining values, companies will differ- entiate between basic rules that apply to the game versus the wishes and key values that help to distinguish the company from others. The process for testing your specific corporate values is indeed harsh, but necessary. It requires asking yourself whether your values are signifi- cant enough to refuse a job if it goes against them, or to let an employ- ee go who has good results yet resists following your value-set and has refused to change for a long time. 3. Material incentives for employees -> A caring environment What would we give our employees in order for them to not leave us, and what about the new ones to come? What did they tell us they wanted in the latest survey? Saturation of people in companies is growing to unprecedented heights. Rich companies arrange offices according to recent trends with the aid of renowned architects by redesigning large and small meeting rooms, telephone booths, fitness and relaxation rooms, sleeping areas, billiards and Xboxes, cafes, libraries, and the latest laptops or mobile phones. In spite of this new trend for material enhancements let’s remember a great experi- 52
  53. 53. ment performed in the 19th century by an economist which measured the influence of the bosses and managers on the atmosphere of work- shops under changing physical conditions. They slowly analyzed the light and warmth of the setting and measured laborer’s moods. The finding may surprise you: where there was a great boss or manager, the mood was still good regardless of little light and warmth. In 2019, companies will focus on developing managers who are invest- ed in building a caring environment and an overall positive atmosphere. Team leaders are the most common reason people leave companies (for- get about the reasons people often say at exit interviews – “I got a better offer” etc...) and the frequent reason why people enter companies. While only leaders can create the conditions for meaningful work, managers are responsible for implementing a caring environment. So, how to do it? Engage employees by giving them autonomy in decision making, provide ongoing feedback, compliment and praise good work in the moment, be interested in colleagues as people and listen their opinions so they feel they are an important part of the company. That'll work! 53 Get meaning and inspiration from their company’s mission Are inspired by the leaders in their company Have the tools, training and resources to do their job well Can get their jobs done efficiently, without excess bureaucracy Are valued and rewarded fairly Have a safe work environment INSPIRED EMPLOYEES ENGAGED EMPLOYEES Are part of an extraordinary team Have autonomy to do their jobs Learn and grow every day Make a difference and have an impact SATISFIED EMPLOYEES Figure 14: Pyramid of Employee Needs; Source: https://hbr.org/2015/12/engaging-your-employees-is-good-but-dont-stop-there
  54. 54. 4. Corporate social responsibility –> Corporate employee responsibility Church no longer serves as a corporate indulgence, but companies have instead switched to utilizing Corporate Social Responsibility to improve their image. Sponsoring shelter dogs, senior homes, play- grounds, etc. — I have nothing against companies doing good. How- ever, it is very often a publicity stunt, where Corporate Affairs gets to write a well-liked, feel-good article in the hopes of boosting employee morale and enhancing consumer opinion. Often these activities are performed according to the following formula: CSR = PR minus HR. I'm not saying that all companies are doing the same thing, however, I think it's a pretty common occurrence. The simple question is: why aren’t employees themselves the primary group of focus for a company’s charitable or development focuses? They are very often educated only in matters closely related to work, while, for example a good but excep- tional achievement is a financial literacy program coupled with individu- al consultations and help for employees in executing financially benefi- cial actions. In 2019, company interests focused on the well-being of employees will increase significantly, and I don’t mean simply adding more benefits to what’s already commonly available like gym memberships, food vouch- ers and other “perks” to be loaded onto cards. These will be more demanding solutions focused on maximizing human energy (perhaps substitute this term for "human resources"). The process begins with the aforementioned training, moving beyond the profession through individual life coaching, and developing personalized interest in each employee and their needs. Maybe a shorter work week – which is already being piloted in a few progressive arenas. All of the abo- ve-mentioned trends will also be achieved by creating meaningful work in a caring environment and corporate culture. Next year, I predict we will see activities shift towards Corporate Employee Responsibility rather than focusing so heavily on Corporate Social Responsibility. 54
  55. 55. 5. Separate departments –> United teams Too often I come across companies where the teams work great, but the company atmosphere as a whole is lacking. When I listen to individual teams, I feel excited – however, the overall company atmo- sphere and results report is quite different. What's behind that? Incom- prehensible long-term visions, vague texts instead of well-defined corporate values, unclear accountability, unclear or uncommunicated business models, and the absence of medium-term goals that break into short-term annual and quarterly plans. All this creates a confused workspace. You'll easily see it when you listen to managers as they discuss issues: either you hear the statement "it was their task, their responsibility, we could not influence it", or "we did not succeed, we Figure 15: 5 stages of tribal leadership; Source: “Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization” by Dave Logan, John King & Halle Fisher-Wright, 2011 55
  56. 56. need to think differently about it the next time." What sounds better to you? For me, clearly it is the second statement, that as managers, “we” should seek how to resolve issues differently in the future rather than simply blaming other who did not succeed in the past. In 2019, companies will work on team alignment, clarifying roles and tuning the interface between them to build employee feelings of mutual responsibility for company success. A large part of achieving that outcome may be the disappearance of many separate departments which will be replaced by teams instead. This will be greatly aided by the creation of meaningful work, which is actually a prerequisite for quality, cohesive teamwork. A beautiful demonstration of how to foster mutual understanding among teams was the presentation of teams in the IT company, Tieto, through posters which depicted each team’s role in the company In Conclusion In 2019, Employer Branding will be a sign of companies seeking to make meaningful work in a caring environment. Businesses will focus on greater clarity, outlining why, when and where they plan to go; revise their core business values, invest in the development of managers who are in charge of creating a caregiving environment, debug the interface between separate departments, and clearly state responsibilities of individual teams. And last but not least, they will increase their levels of care for their employees. Before you start thinking about who to assign to Employer Branding in your workplace, remember that this is primarily a continual, every-day leadership endeavor, and one which translates into enlightened firms achieving the best practice in Human Relations standards. While the initiator can be anybody, ultimately the person responsible will be none other than a CEO or a member of top management. 56
  57. 57. I feel positive energy surrounding corporate trends, one that will bring greater, and more authentic businesses and communications rather than exclusively superficial perks. I wish you a most successful new year and look forward to what 2019 will bring. 57 Note: The term "trend” refers to direction, or the long-term process of change. It is used in common language as well as in the sciences regarding current and difficult-to-predict changes, especially in the economic, social and cultural spheres. Source: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trend
  58. 58. Contact I would like to hear how you think about Employer Branding. Let’s have a chat, please send me an email, give me a (Skype) call or just stay in touch via LinkedIn or Facebook. Petr Hovorka Employer Brand Baker @ BrandBakers E-mail: petr.hovorka@brandbakers.cz Cellphone: (+420) 602 271 011 Skype: petr.hovorka_5 https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrhovorka1/ https://www.facebook.com/petr.hovorka1 https://twitter.com/Petr_Hovorka1 58
  59. 59. Petr Hovorka Employer Branding: Reflections And Visions Heading Into 2019 © Petr Hovorka, 2019 Published by BRANDBAKERS, s.r.o., Borivojova 1252/4, Prague 3, 130 00, Czech Republic in March 2019 1. edition (PDF) Free download: www.brandbakers.cz or cz.linkedin.com/in/petrhovorka1 Ebook design by Goran Patlejch ISBN 978-80-270-5299-8

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