Brands influence us every day – and if this is in a negative way, the consequences for a company’s HR team can be disastrous.
People are exposed to brand experiences continuously through their day, either as consumers, employees, or job candidates.
According to Brett Minchingto, CEO of Employer Brand International, and Lisa G. Morris, principal at North Highland Worldwide, these experiences are rarely distinctive or consistent – and often, they fail to deliver what is expected based on perceptions of the brand.
At its worst for HR, the impact can be candidates accepting another job offer, or employees resigning – as well as potential damage to a company’s reputation.
“Happy employees perform at their best,” said Michael Holm, a senior HR manager at Lego’s Danish Headquarters.
Holm manages employees at a company with arguably one of the world’s strongest brands.
“If they are passionate about what they do, work in a trusting environment with highly skilled colleagues and in a company they can be proud of, then they will provide a stellar performance,” he continued.
“They are telling a story every day to friends, relatives, networks about work, and if that story is positive they will attract other like-minded individuals to the company.”
Minchingto and Morris told HC that in order to optimise the employee experience across the employment cycle, employers should focus their efforts on the following areas:
1. Be clear on the brand experience you want to create for customers and align the employee experience journey with it
2. Train leaders and employees in how to deliver the brand experience and align it with your EVPs through supporting systems, processes and policies
3. Engage leaders across functions at the outset to ensure a consistent approach to managing the employee experience journey
4. Identify which cultural behaviours need change to support the employee experience and align systems, processes and policies to support the change
5. Conduct an employee experience mapping exercise to understand where the company delivers the most impactful experiences and those areas that need improvement, redesign, and/or discarding altogether
