EMPLOYER
BRANDING
TRENDS 2019
in the Czech Republic

Foreword …................................................................................ 2
1. Creating MEANINGFUL WORK ............................................. 4
2. Capturing KEY VALUES .......................................................... 5
3. Focus on the CARING ENVIRONMENT ................................. 6
4. Corporate EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITY ............................... 7
5. United TEAMS ………………………………………..…………. 8
In Conclusion ……………………………………………..……….... 9
Content
1.

What companies did in 2018 is not enough heading into
the New Year.
First, we will look at trends from the Czech Republic in in
the field of Employer Branding throughout 2018. I'll let
you know upfront that if you’re searching for 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 primarily create it.
Instead, my approach to Employer Branding, which I
follow and continually promote, is as follows:
"Employer Branding is a leadership concept to increase
the value of companies, organize thoughts and form
teams of inspired employees who pull together.”
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 miracle pill for company leaders which automatically
grants them instantaneous powers to instill meaning in
their employees’ work.
Foreword
2.

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 highest places, especially
once companies that previously invested hundreds of
thousands of Czech Crowns in fast-paced HR marketing
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 football. 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 “pros and cons”
focus only in videos about what is perfect etc. and not
acknowledging cons. 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.
Foreword
3.

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
“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 minimizing
bureaucracy and trying to reward people fairly. Perhaps
every company has acquired a benefits-card program so
that employees 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 businesses from other sources). This is
probably best described by Simon Sinek: “Great
companies don`t hire skilled people and motivate them,
they hire already motivated people and inspire them.
People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you
give motivated people something to believe in,
something better than their job to work toward, they will
motivate themselves to find a new job and you`ll be stuck
with whoever`s left.” The result equals meaningful work
and the development of managers who create
exceptional teams with members who have autonomy
and development opportunities and who will listen to
fellow teammates. Take a look at the picture below, which
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.
Creating MEANINGFUL WORK
4.

You know the basics: openness, respect, teamwork,
innovation, reliability. 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 example
on a bulletin, "Our company provides its customers with
high-quality 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
relationships with employees who are proud of our
business, providing them with a stable and dynamic work
environment. " Not only does it have 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 understand that their unique set of company
values define the personality of the organization and give
employees instructions on how to act, reducing 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 differentiate 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 significant enough to refuse a job if it goes
against them, or to let an employee go who has good
results yet resists following your value-set and has refused
to change for a long time.
Capturing KEY VALUES
5.

What would we still give our people not to leave us, and
new ones to come? What did they tell us in the latest
survey that they wanted? Saturation of people in
companies is growing to unprecedented heights. Rich
businesses arrange office according to recent trends, with
renowned architects, redesign large and small meeting
rooms, telephone booths, fitness and relax rooms,
sleeping bags, billiards and xboxes, cafes, libraries, the
latest laptops, every year a new mobile phone.
Manufacturing companies are also investing, though true,
there are far behind. But do you know the 19th century
experiment? I can not remember who the economist has
done to measure the influence of the boss on the
atmosphere of a team at a workshop under changing
physical conditions. They took light and warmth and
measured the mood. Finding: where he was a great boss,
the good atmosphere was in the cold and dark.
In 2019, companies will focus on developing managers
who are behind the building of a caring environment and
an overall atmosphere. Team Leaders – Chiefs – are the
most common reason people leave companies (forget
about the reasons people often say at exit interviews – I
got a better offer ...) and the frequent reason why people
come to companies. While only leaders can create the
premise of meaningful work, managers are responsible
for implementing the caring environment. How to do it?
Engage employees by giving them autonomy in decision
making, provide ongoing feedback, notice them while
doing something good, compliment and praise good
work, be interested in colleagues as people and listen
their opinions to they acknowledge they are an important
part of the company. That's gonna work!
Focus on the CARING ENVIRONMENT
6.

For corporate indulgences, they no longer go to church,
but to Corporate Social Responsibility. Sponsoring shelter
dogs, senior homes, playgrounds, etc.—I have nothing
against companies doing good. However, it is very often
a publicity stunt, where Corporate Affairs gets to write a
popular, 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
exceptional achievement is a financial literacy program
coupled with individual consultations and help for
employees in executing financially beneficial actions.
In 2019, company interests in 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 vouchers 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, 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 above-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.
Corporate EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITY
7.

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 atmosphere and results report is
quite different. What's behind that? Incomprehensibly
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 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 are working on team alignment,
clarifying roles and tuning the interface between them to
build employee feelings of mutual responsibility for
company success. This will be greatly helped 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 the next year, a lot of
separate departments will disappear and be replaced by
teams. If you have not done so yet, take this small step
which produces great rewards – simply change your
thinking and vocabulary. Labels like "interviewing",
"human resources", "ordinal employee" and in my eyes
also "recruitment," do not have a place in businesses that
want to move to the next level of internal cooperation.
Corporate culture and employer brands are made of the
words, symbols, behaviors and actions of leaders and
managers that are then passed on to all other workers.
United TEAMS
8.

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.
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.
In Conclusion
9.

The Era of Recruitment Is Over,
The Future Is in Attracting.
cz.linkedin.com/in/petrhovorka1
@Petr_Hovorka1
Petr Hovorka
Employer Brand Baker
@ BrandBakers
+420 602 271 011
petr.hovorka@brandbakers.cz