Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Creating a
compelling
employee value
proposition
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August 2013
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I HR & BUSINESS
communicating the same and
managing it on an ongoing basis is
way beyond just advertising through
clever creative expression. This
process actually centers around
delivering people experiences in tune
with the brand promise, through
leadership behaviour and people
processes; and
in some cases perhaps even
business processes, at every
touch point between the
organization and its people, both
external and internal to the
organization. So it is far more serious
than 'window dressing' to move up
the ranking of a 'best employer to
work for'.
As Mervyn Raphael, Managing
Director of People Business
mentions, "Employer branding as a
concept is evolving in India. I see
two prominent trends. First, there is
a paradigm shift from the situation
when branding was meant only for
external communication, now the
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August 2013
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HR & BUSINESS I
CASE STUDY
AKHILESH MANDAL
Akhilesh Mandal, a senior partner
with a global consulting firm and
an accomplished consultant, has
been partnering with several
global and Indian organizations in
the areas of employer branding
and leadership development.
With three decades of experience,
he brings a rare combination of
business and human capital
understanding in his approach to
craft solutions to enhance
organizational performance.
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CASE STUDY
This organization, with more than two dozen TV channels in India,
was re-branding its customer brand including its logo and identity. All
of the channels followed a different culture with very little in common
with the parent brand. The values of the organization were not clearly
articulated too. The organization wanted to unify its various TV channels
with a common culture and create a differentiated employee
experience.
The approach was to look at the 'glue' and the common purpose
that binds the organization together. Given the current re-branding of
the corporate brand, close alignment of the EVP with values and
brand positioning was recommended with new corporate brand
commitment. It also looked at how the leadership team could
demonstrate forward momentum in translating the current weaknesses
into values-driven strengths.
G
Studied transcripts of the interviews with stakeholders conducted
by a global branding agency as part of the re-branding exercise.
This was followed by a series of discussions with leaders and
FGDs with employees in the organization.
G
Thematic analysis of inputs from primary and secondary research
to arrive at values and behavioural indicators describing the 'values
in action'.
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Leadership focus to forward momentum in translating current
weaknesses into values-driven strengths.
G
Validation of values and EVP through leadership discussions,
employee FGDs and 'proof points'.
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I HR & BUSINESS
they have the opportunity to bring about systemic
change at the highest levels in the country."
Each employer branding initiative is unique. There
are various business reasons to define or re-align the
employer brand proposition to attract and retain the
desired talent and continue to deliver high performance
business results. Some of the typical reasons are:
a) Growth in business requires employers to clarify
their value proposition. For example, Manappuram
Finance limited has grown rapidly in the past decade.
As Dr. V. M. Manoharan, Director mentions, "There has
been a concerted effort to build a strong trusted brand
with its customers. Along with that we wanted
employees to be a key partner and have made
considerable efforts in communicating and introducing
practices that are employee friendly. The
transformation of employee perceptions and their
productive engagement are to be in the desired
direction."
b) Change management requires employers to redefine
the value proposition to a diverse set of business or
regions or talent profiles; this is often true for but not
necessarily limited to, companies growing inorganically
through the M&A route.
c) Re-invigorate the changing competition / context
require employers to articulate the value proposition
better.
d) Realignment of the core value proposition in a
complex context where multiple entities work separately
but need a common outlook for employees. As Dr.
Arvind N. Agrawal, President HR and Corporate
Development at RPG Group articulates, "Employer
branding ensures people have consistent experiences
across businesses and geography, which is vital for
talent management in large businesses".
A typical employer branding engagement starts with
business need assessment followed by research in terms
of evaluating the current brand proposition. This looks
at the perception regarding the employer in multiple
areas related to business, culture, career, HR practices,
opportunities, benefits, etc. A good research unravels
the subtle challenges of engagement and employee
value proposition. Inputs are taken from internal and
external stakeholders - new employees, long- time
employees, middle management, vendors, campuses,
head hunters, media. This helps to get a full 360 degree
view of the organization. The key element then is to
distill the key differentiators for the organization both
current and future that the organization needs to build.
Downstream activities are to be aligned to the key
employee value propositions.
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HR & BUSINESS I
communication of employee value
proposition both internally and
externally helps greatly
G
Gap identification: It helps to
brings clarity in areas of
improvement for the organization
G
Aligned efforts: Efforts are put
in key areas of improvement/
segments that requires action
G
Attraction and retention: Helps
in better attraction and retention of
talent by identifying top drivers
G
Overall cost of engagement:
Overall cost of engaging employees
reduces as efforts are more aligned
and clearly articulated, as the
organization delivers what it
promises
As Prof. P. Vijayakumar,
Chairperson of Center for Social and
Organizational Leadership, TISS
mentions, " An effective EVP not
only helps in attracting the right
talent, but it can also be a strategic
tool for aligning personal goals of
employees with the organizational
goals. This alignment enhances
'employee embeddedness' and
contributes significantly to retaining
the employees. Communication too
must be consistent both internally
and externally, and managers must
ensure that indicators that represent
EVP are operationalized periodically
to make EVP relevant and effective."
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To conclude
It is critical that in an employer
branding exercise, all 'brand
signatures,' i.e., the processes which
reinforce the proposition in a
distinctive manner, all 'brand
busters', i.e., the processes which
undermine the proposition, and the
'hygiene factors' must be identified
and acted upon. Employer branding
as a concept and new age practice
has evolved over the years and has
become the umbrella and focus for
development of core employee
contract and engagement. EVP has
become the guiding light for aligning
values, culture, engagement,
communication, and HR processes
and practices. The key is to
understand that employer branding
is an effort to understand the reality
of current value proposition,
amplifying the strengths and
working towards achieving the
stretch areas. Richard Mosley,
stresses the point that the internal
and external branding should be in
sync to meet and exceed the
expectation of employees. A wellresearched and developed employee
value proposition and effective
activation and implementation of
the same can truly build an
HC
employer of choice.
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