Employee Engagement and Employment Branding Suddenly Hot Business Subjects
When did employment branding and employee engagement get so hot?
This week Harvard called, again. A business school prof there is about to release a report on the best practices … and potentially issue some journal cases … and just started writing a book on the subject — with enthusiasm for Web 2.0 models.
Harvard Business Press is currently in the midst of a global release of a book by Sylvia Ann Hewlett called “Top Talent” where she identifies strategies to engage and retain talent — again featuring Web 2.0 models.
There are Ning and LinkedIn communities dedicated to the subject of Employment Branding, with sub-communities fully dedicated to social media models, and dozens of blogs.
And let’s not forget the conferences! I get approached to speak at a conference or on a webcast on the subject of social media and employment branding or employee engagement about once a week.
Of course, the headhunters are on this too. They are calling as FORTUNE 500 companies increasingly realize they’ll be at a competitive disadvantage if they don’t spend some attention on both the genuine culture and climate inside their company — as well as the external perception of their company as a place to work.
[All in an economic backdrop mind you where it isn’t too hard to find great talent.]
Who are the people fanning the flames behind this trend? Not necessarily human resources folks. They are by and large business people first. Former Wall Street folks (I suppose I could put myself into that bucket), former Marketing folks (I could fit that bucket as well), Personal Brand speakers, Career Coaches, Reporters, and yes, some bold and forward-thinking HR people (been there too).
The headhunters are actually in a bad way on this one. Companies don’t know if they want someone from HR or Marketing to head up this initiative.
- HR people don’t think, generally, in brand and promotion terms. They also generally like the world of command and control: policies, rules, methods for communicating to employees.
- Marketing people have never, in general, given HR the time of day. They’ve been focused on the outside influencers — media, analysts, top customers — and toss table scraps (relatively speaking in resource terms) to the internal audience.
- Ad Agencies? Not so much. They’re largely still in advertising mode — reach and frequency buying. Posters and mugs for internal engagement. Most are racing to figure out this web 2.0 thing at the same speed and bewilderment as most companies.
- What about the HR firms? The folks who focus on internal training, systems, compensation schemes to align strategies with action? Haven’t been impressed yet — and man, they ask for a lot of money, and even more time, to even make a dent in improving your standing in employee engagement and being a true company of choice.
Oh, and let’s not forget the normal Myers-Briggs make up of people in business. Tags such as “Thinking and Judging” come up most often. The “Feelers” are few and far between. And yet, research shows that it is the emotional connection that drives passion, creativity, and over-performance from a workforce and in a company’s business results.
Article by, Polly Pearson, an employment branding leader passionate about Web 2.0 engagement tools with nearly twenty years of FORTUNE 500-level experience spanning human resources, marketing, branding, investor relations, public relations, advertising, and professional speaking. Her employment branding work has recently been featured in media outlets such as CBS News, National Public Radio, Financial Times, Boston Herald, Dice.com and in the new Penguin Press business book, “Closing the Engagement Gap: How Great Companies Unlock Employee Potential For Superior Results.” Polly writes a popular blog dedicated to careers, culture and cool at, http://www.pollypearson.com.
