A Brand Your Workers Trust July 07, 2008 The Human Capital Institute examines internal talent branding
By Alex Palmer
A company's brand matters to more than its customers, according to the Washington D.C.–based Human Capital Institute (HCI). As important as marketing efforts to consumers may be, HCI's "The Branding Imperitive in Talent Management" says that the kind of brand impressions companies are making on their employees—or "internal customers"—can be. The report, which was presented at the New York Incentive, Rewards and Recognition Show in May and published at the end of June, found that about one-third of the about 500 respondents hold a positive view of their company brand, while 24 percent hold a negative view (42 percent had mixed feelings).
This internal brand is defined in the report as the "combination of culture, reputation, products and services, as well as the way the organization deals with and values its workers." The survey found three factors common to those companies that workers reported wanting to join and remain in: they onboard workers for fast socialization, support workers during transitions, and engage them in ways that turn them into recruiters themselves.
"A lot of it is word of mouth, I'd say most of it. The employees themselves generate the buzz," says Allan Schweyer, SVP and executive director of HCI.
An area given particular attention in the study is the way workers were treated during times of personal and professional transition. How a company's leadership responds to a major event in an employee's life, like family illness, maternity responsibility or a move, was rated as of moderate to large importance by almost 85 percent of respondents. "They should take the opportunity to show support during personal transitions. Those kinds of stories become part of the culture and part of the legend of the company," says Schweyer.
He says the idea of internal branding has been around for awhile, but has gained more attention in the last several years, as companies have seen the advantages of improving the view of employer value on retention and loyalty, what Schweyer calls the "Google effect".
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