Fishburn Hedges

18.05.2011

On Wednesday 1 June 2011, Further hosted a fascinating debate on the role and realities of employer branding.  

The debate was chaired by Paul Sweetman, Director of Employee Engagement at Fishburn Hedges Group (which includes Further) and involved panellists James Ash (Ambition), Wayne Clarke (Best Companies Partnership) and Nicholas Creswell (Thomson Reuters).

James began by emphasising the importance of clear employer branding to attracting and retaining talent (by giving employees within the organisation a sense of belonging and purpose). But the brand, and the experience it articulates, should be designed to attract the type of people who will thrive in the organisation, rather than trying to be ‘all things to all men’. This means that the organisation has to be clear and realistic about the employment experience that it offers, so that employees at all levels can recognise truth in the picture that is painted. Making sure the reality lives up to the promise depends particularly on effective engagement of line managers.

Wayne echoed this theme and explained that leadership behaviour also has a major influence on an employer’s brand. Research from Best Companies has highlighted that, in many cases, there is a major dip in employee engagement after someone has been with their employer for more than six months. This is often because those employees feel that the experience has not lived up to the brochure: that they were led to believe one thing (based on their understanding of ‘what’s in it for me’) only to find themselves disappointed by the reality of life within the organisation. In Wayne’s view, this is often because leaders don’t live up to the organisation’s values in practice. 

Nicholas explained the approach he has taken within ThomsonReuters to define, articulate and communicate an employee value proposition (EVP) that blends aspiration and reality.  He endorsed previous points regarding the importance of engaging and equipping leaders and managers to play their part, but he also talked about the role of effective ‘storytelling’ in helping existing and prospective employees to identify with the organisation and see how they might fit in. Nicholas showed one of the suite of films that has overseen to help bring this to life. 

Overall, through the presentations from panellists and the subsequent Q&A session, there was clear belief in the potential power of the employer brand – but also recognition of the challenges involved in getting it right. Chief amongst these is the need to ensure aspiration matches reality, and this means that organisations need to invest as much in shaping the experience within the workplace as they do in the ‘shop window’ to attract candidates in the first place.