I used to be not too long ago requested to do a coaching and workshop on The Model Structure for a corporation’s HR Division. It was a fairly odd ask from the Branding Nerd as I’ve by no means educated a gaggle of HR professionals because the inception of this weblog, and initially, I wasn’t fairly positive if the framework of the course would apply to them.
Thankfully, the coaching x workshop turned out very productive for the group and The Model Structure framework proved to be very efficient in serving to your complete HR Division perceive their inner clients higher, in addition to enabled them to zero in on the ‘slender focus‘ that issues most to their clients. Based mostly on a current dialog I had with certainly one of their high leaders just a few weeks after the engagement, it looks like they’re now clearly on the trail to turning into a extra targeted, extra cohesive and extra constant inner model inside their firm.
In the midst of that engagement, I used to be compelled to replicate on the significance of ‘Employer Branding‘ and the way this gives a transparent aggressive benefit for a corporation. That’s why I’ve determined that this ought to be the main target of Branding Nerd’s very first weblog for 2023. And as we discover ourselves within the midst of the so-called ‘nice resignation‘, I sense that Employer Branding is actually a well timed idea that wants revisiting by corporations as most economies emerge out into the post-COVID 19 period.
Employer Branding
What’s ‘Employer Branding‘ and the way is that this completely different from ‘Branding’?
As we now have talked about a number of occasions on this website, we all the time level again to the Al Ries definition of branding which I discover to be exact and concise. He says that ‘A model is a singular idea or concept that you simply personal within the thoughts of the prospect‘. In The Model Structure course, that is the foundational definition on which the entire framework is constructed upon. The ‘prospect‘ that’s referenced on this definition often pertains to the model’s clients or shoppers.
Then again, ‘Employer Branding‘, whereas carefully associated to the idea of ‘Branding‘, is primarily related to how a model positions itself in direction of potential staff.
LinkedIn, the main social media platform for professionals, gives this clarification:
“Just like the best way a company model works (which affords a worth proposition to clients, defining services or products within the market), an employer model contains the market’s notion of your organization as an employer, but in addition describes your promise (or worker worth proposition) to staff in trade for his or her expertise, skills, contacts, or abilities.
Employer branding, then, is just the way you market your organization to desired job seekers. You are able to do this by showcasing your group’s distinctive cultural differentiators, after which working to amplify them so you’ll be able to place your self as a high place to work.”
In different phrases, paraphrasing the Al Ries definition of branding, I’d say that ‘Employer Branding is the singular idea or concept that you simply personal within the thoughts of potential staff‘.
Due to this fact, employer branding is how the corporate’s model as an employer is positioned and perceived within the minds of the worker market.
In branding, I all the time inform my college students that the singular idea or concept of a model will be often discovered both in (a) the model’s battlecry (or slogan) or (b) the mission assertion. The ‘Suppose Completely different‘ slogan of Apple® and the ‘One Particular person, One Cup and One Neighborhood at a Time‘ mission assertion of Starbucks® are examples that are mentioned at size through the coaching course. Two of the three modules of the course are devoted to a deep dive into your complete model structure of Starbucks® based mostly on the above mission assertion.
In the identical breadth, an organization’s employer branding will be discovered of their firm’s slogans as an employer.
Listed below are just a few notable examples of employer model slogans from some main world manufacturers:
- Microsoft | ‘Be the one who empowers hundreds of thousands.‘ – a deal with empowerment
- Fb | ‘Do probably the most significant work of your profession.‘ – a deal with self-actualization
- Unilever | ‘A greater enterprise. A greater world. A greater you.’ – a deal with alignment of goal
- GE | ‘Creativeness at work.‘ – a deal with innovation
- Apple | ‘Be part of us. Be you.’ – a deal with self-fulfillment
- SAP | ‘Carry all the things you might be. Grow to be all the things you need.’ – a deal with self-fulfillment
- L’Oreal | ‘An exciting expertise, a tradition of excellence.’ – a deal with tradition
The above examples are additionally known as “EVP (worker worth proposition) Taglines or Slogans”.
Not all corporations have separate battlecries for his or her model and their employer model. However in any case, the battlecry or mission assertion serves the identical goal of offering a singular idea or concept of the model or employer model which successfully positions itself within the thoughts of their potential buyer or potential worker, respectively.
“We’re in enterprise to save lots of our residence planet“: How Patagonia® Shines as an Employer Model
In contrast to the above examples, within the case of American out of doors retailer Patagonia®, it doesn’t have a separate employer model slogan. Nonetheless, its mission assertion successfully serves this similar goal as properly.
Their mission assertion is as uncommon as the corporate itself:
“We’re within the enterprise to save lots of our residence planet.”
Actually, Patagonia® is ‘enterprise uncommon‘.
Patagonia®, based in 1973 and headquartered in Ventura, California, and is extensively identified for its activism for the planet, hit world information headlines round 4 months in the past, again in mid-September 2022, when the model’s billionaire founder Yvon Chouinard (estimated web price of US$1.2Billion) introduced that the corporate’s voting inventory was being transferred 100% to assist save the planet. Based on Chouinard’s letter: “Right here’s the way it works: 100% of the corporate’s voting inventory transfers to the Patagonia Function Belief, created to guard the corporate’s values; and 100% of the nonvoting inventory had been given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit devoted to preventing the environmental disaster and defending nature. The funding will come from Patagonia: Every year, the cash we make after reinvesting within the enterprise will probably be distributed as a dividend to assist combat the disaster.”
It was a strong and awe-inspiring assertion that clearly displays the core mission assertion of the model which as been in existence since day one.
“I by no means wished to be a businessman. I began as a craftsman, making climbing gear for my mates and myself, then bought into attire. As we started to witness the extent of world warming and ecological destruction, and our personal contribution to it, Patagonia dedicated to utilizing our firm to alter the best way enterprise was executed. If we may do the best factor whereas making sufficient to pay the payments, we may affect clients and different companies, and perhaps change the system alongside the best way.”
Yvon Chouinard, Founding father of Patagonia in his announcement letter
As a Board Director of Patagonia, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins put it: “I consider this plan that he and his household helped create is tectonic. It is going to make the corporate extra aggressive and its staff around the globe will without end be empowered by goal.”
A number of the model’s improvements that carry their employer model mission assertion ‘We’re within the enterprise to save lots of our residence planet‘ to life embrace the next examples.
Enviro Days
The model runs what they name ‘Enviro Days’ for all new hires and take them to Apricot Lane Farms to study concerning the significance of regenerative agriculture (a conservation and rehabilitation strategy to meals and farming methods) as a follow and as part of Patagonia®’s mission. Based on its web site, “Apricot Lane Farms is a farm built-in inside a reawakened ecosystem. Our focus is seeing and using the interconnectedness of nature to assist construct soil well being, maximize biodiversity, and regeneratively develop probably the most nutrient-dense meals attainable.” The farm was additionally the house of the award-winning, critically acclaimed 2018 characteristic documentary The Greatest Little Farm, directed by filmmaker and farmer John Chester.
Zero Waste Week
The model mounts huge occasions like Zero Waste Week whereby the put the duty (and instruments) on every retailer, facility, and division to go zero waste in their very own sphere. Abigail Moreman (@abbeymoreman9), Patagonia®’s Regional Visible Merchandiser for Northeast and Japanese Canada, posted on Instagram: “Zero waste week for @patagonia! Swapped a ziplock bag for @beeswrap & introduced my reusable @miir mug…”.
In addition they do related work on a carbon footprint perspective, working with groups to embed vitality reductions of their departments.
Integrating into Way of life of Staff
Based on a characteristic by Universum (an organization that’s primarily targeted on Employer Branding): “Patagonia® conjures up sustainability as a life-style for its staff. Whereas they entice and rent expertise that already has the sustainability seed planted of their private values, the corporate encourages them to follow what they preach and reside these values at residence.
“We use (inner sustainability) targets to encourage change in private lives… to provide folks instruments to reside extra merely at residence, cut back their waste, and cut back their carbon footprint.”
“For example the extent of their success in translating their model values to their office tradition and staff’ life, Patagonia® supplied us with this enjoyable reality: “Sick or injured birds are sometimes dropped off” for certainly one of their R&D Managers who additionally runs a profitable wildlife rehabilitation heart. Patagonia® embraces such worker ardour, and says it “speaks extremely to the tradition and group on campus”. Moreover, Patagonia® has initiatives that encourage worker sustainability motion, together with their Trip Share Program, Bike to Work Week, and Composting Program.”
These are just some examples of their intensive improvements that are all aligned with their mission assertion and their employer model.
This sensible model leaves us with two key classes:
First, employer branding is as vital as branding itself. Each ideas, whereas distinct, are very a lot intertwined. It’s due to this fact a should that employer branding is absolutely in step with the positioning of the model.
And second, improvements surrounding employer branding ought to all be aligned with its battlecry or mission assertion. A cohesive execution of such improvements over time will in the end cement the employers model’s positioning within the thoughts of its potential staff.
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