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Free E-books To Download
The Four Steps of Forced Focus Thinking
Penny developed Forced Focus thinking to help guide actionable outcomes for a variety of issues and problems. Indeed, the process applies beyond marketing solutions, to any type of problem that requires a rethink because circumstances have changed.
Get your FREE E-Book on the four steps of Forced Focus thinking.
The Essence of Attracting and Retaining the Best People
Through her consultancy and research projects with a wide range of clients it has become clear there is a growing need for better Employer Branding; a need for employers to place as much emphasis on internal branding as they do on external branding. This book uses Penny’s wisdom and experience together with purpose built research conducted amongst the various generations to understand what today’s employees want out of their work life, and to help employers focus on the urgent need to build a more engaging workplace brand.
Download your FREE E-Book about attracting and retaining the best people.
7 Vital Facts you need to know about Market Research
Through her consultancy and research projects with a wide range of clients it has become clear there is a growing need for better Employer Branding; a need for employers to place as much emphasis on internal branding as they do on external branding. This book uses Penny’s wisdom and experience together with purpose built research conducted amongst the various generations to understand what today’s employees want out of their work life, and to help employers focus on the urgent need to build a more engaging workplace brand.
Download your FREE eBook about the 7 Vital Facts on Market Research.
Expect More from 2007
Expect More from 2007 - Strategies for Success from Leading Experts in Personal and Professional Development
Penny's Podcast
Listen to Penny's Podcast - interview with Alan Stewart from the Marketers Podcast.
http://fsplugins.com/mediaclips/essence/1.1180409070
Articles
New Ways to Find and Keep The Best - Article by Mark Lawson
Thinking outside the square pays off when it comes to hiring and retaining employees, writes Mark Lawson.
Retaining existing staff and finding new ones is becoming increasingly important as a means of overcoming the skills shortage, but employers are confused about how to go about it.
There is a lot of talk about projecting an internal brand - perhaps by making the corporation a socially responsible citizen - and then there are those who say it's all about recognising and rewarding achievement, as well as offering interesting work.
In fact major companies are doing all of that, plus whatever else they can think of to attract and retain good staff. But one theme to emerge from a check of major organisations is the importance of recognising achievement.
In the Australian end of an international survey undertaken by Accenture on the characteristics job seekers look for in employees, 67 per cent of respondents state they prefer employers who recognise and reward accomplishments. About 61 per cent (more than one response was allowed) nominate challenging and interesting work as an attractive feature in an employer, and 48 per cent nominate financial strength as an attraction. A financially strong employer will not have to retrench staff.
The next two most important factors are being people oriented and offering flexible work arrangements. Corporate social responsibility does not feature as a drawcard on the Australian list, and is well down the rankings in the international survey.
The surveys would seem to indicate that rewarding good performance is paramount, but that does not mean simply handing out money.
The national recruitment leader for Accenture Australia, Miranda Kalinowski, says the consultancy is about to start using a system that recognises performance straight away.
Instead of employees having to wait for their annual performance review for appraisal, the system will award them performance points on recommendations from superiors or co-workers.
Rewards will range from a message congratulating the worker on a job well done, up to holiday packages that can be gained by trading in the reward points. The system will be launched as soon as the consultancy has managed to "nut out" the fringe benefit tax details of the rewards, she says.
Apart from performance rewards, the consultancy offers considerable scope for employees to develop and train. Each employee has a career consultant - someone else in the consultancy - and education facilities include two internal universities, in Malaysia and Chicago.
Another firm that lives by the expertise of its people, Deloitte, also takes considerable trouble to retain them through a range of initiatives, which includes recognition for employees.
People and performance partner Alec Bashinsky, who is mainly concerned with internal staff issues, says the firm has a number of employee aims. These can be summarised by the phrases "aim to be famous", "talk straight", play to win" and "have fun and celebrate".
Aim to be famous may sound daunting, but Bashinski says that can simply mean gaining recognition from peers or having a good job acknowledged.
In addition, the firm participates in a regular "engagement" survey (this measures the commitment and loyalty of employees), and conducts exit interviews to identify the reasons for an employee leaving.
The behaviour of senior people can be a major factor in persuading employees to stay or leave, so the firm also conducts regular 360- degree performance reviews. Partners can see how they are perceived by the firm's juniors, as well as their peers and seniors.
By those and other measures, Bashinsky says that in two years he has reduced staff turnover from 36 per cent a year to 18 to 20 per cent, and hopes for further reduction.
Another way to preserve human capital by reducing turnover is to have a formal "onboarding process" - an introduction to the company.
The general manager for Recruitment Solutions, Lorraine Christopher, says some form of introductory program should be standard in any company.
Such a program may seem like a big investment, but the cost of losing an employee in the first year of employment is also high. The cost has been estimated at three times the employee's annual salary.
As 47 per cent of staff turnover occurs within the first 90 days of the employee being hired, anything that improves the employee's initial experience in the company will help reduce that turnover.
A key to keeping staff is an introductory program designed to help integrate a new employee into the organisation's culture and develop his or her skills and training needs, Christopher says.
Then there are the consultants who say that, in the fight to keep talent, employers should project an internal brand - just as they project an external one.
Penny Burke, who has self-published a book called Forced Focus, due out in March, says this is not a matter of slogans such as "putting people first", as no one believes them now.
"Generation Y employees see right through that sort of thing," she says.
Just what development of an employment brand may mean varies from company to company. Burke points to Virgin Mobile, a corporate employment brand she describes as "funky" and "different".
If Virgin Mobile employees want to take a "mental health" day - that is, a day off because they feel like it - then they can. Those touches help differentiate the company from competitors such as Telstra and give it an edge in the employment market place, she says.
Key Points:
· Deloitte participates in a regular 'engagement' survey to measure commitment and loyalty.
· The behaviour of senior people can be a major factor in persuading employees to stay or leave.
· Employers should project an internal brand, just as they project an external one.
Article Featured on the CEO Online website - www.ceoonline.com
Using Your Internal Workplace Brand To Attract And Retain
There is evidence showing that the labour market is changing globally, and the impact on the future workplace will be considerable. There's no reason why a workplace shouldn't be considered a brand to help attract and retain staff. But it's easier said than done.
There is currently the lowest level of unemployment in three decades, encouraging employees of all ages to reconsider their options. Add to that the restless energy of Generation Y and you have a workforce that no longer finds it inspiring to put in the hard yards at the one company in order to achieve the gold watch at the thirty year mark.
So what can you do to improve your chances of attracting and retaining the best talent in a market that is actively working against it? You can improve your workplace brand.
For years, many companies have spent a lot of money ensuring that their external brand is well polished and that they engage their target customer as strongly as possible, in order to build loyalty to their product over competitors.
Yet few employers maintain the same focus on their internal brand and their internal customer, the employee. Whereas the marketing department spends considerable time and money fine-tuning the external brand in minute detail, the representation of the internal brand isn't afforded the same luxury.
Similarly (some would say consequently), from the internal ‘customer' perspective, it appears employees are not as connected to, or as engaged with, their employment brand as they are with the goods and services they are able to purchase as a direct result of that employment.
The workplace is where many of us spend at least five days every week (often more time than we spend with our life partner), the place to which our aspirations and ability to progress in life are inextricably linked, and where for many, our self-esteem and sense of self is determined. Should we not be as emotionally attached to that place as we are to our Nikes?
If we think about the skills shortage and the inevitable effect this will have on organisational ability to attract and retain the best talent, then it stands to reason that a more engaged workforce will have a positive effect on turnover levels.
Why is a workplace any different? Shouldn't we as employers want staff to be every bit as involved and engaged as our most loyal customers? Here are the seven vital facts you need to know about how to build a workplace brand that can really attract and retain the best talent.
- Jobs are dead. Understand that your workplace is not offering a job, you are offering an experience. And the best workplace brands reflect that experience.
Google just won the coveted best employer award in the US. Apart from the functional benefits one gets working at Google, employees celebrate an environment that allows people to pursue success on their own terms.
This environment is underscored by free on-site washers, dryers and detergent, the annual free ski trip, unlimited sick days, lap pool, volleyball courts, free snack stations, subsidised massages, climbing wall and 11 free cafes.
It is not just the functional benefits that makes the employer brand strong - it is the emotional bonding employees feel as a result that enhances the workplace brand experience at Google.
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Put people in charge of internal branding who know how to build engaging brands. Many companies have the marketing department in charge of the all important external brand and have the Human Resources department manage the internal brand.
If you are a human resources person and you are in charge of developing the employer brand, that's excellent and exciting. But get some training on how to do it if you haven't done it before. It is possible your accomplished skill set has greater core competency in areas such as policy and process, which is very different to a way of thinking to build an engaging workplace brand.
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Don't try and please all of the people all of the time. If you go for the lowest common denominator and try to build a brand that will appeal to everyone you will run the risk of being bland and uninspiring. It is better to stand for something than nothing at all.
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The new loyalty is the people, not the company. One of the number one aspects that Generation Y, for example, are looking for are great leaders and inspiring leadership.
So actively hire leaders and good people throughout your organisation. Sure, they have to be proficient at their functional role - but are they inspiring leaders that others will really want to work for? A great leader is an excellent retention tool.
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Consider the under-employed in an attraction strategy. The grey generation, people with disabilities, non english speaking people, young mums. There are opportunities to attract solid talent in a typically underutilised demographic.
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Shorten the distance between the external and internal brand. There's no point presenting a sexy and inspiring external face but being regarded by employees as shallow and uncaring to your internal audience.
This merely dramatises that they are being thought of as an expendable bottom line cost, whilst external customers are seen as investments. Think of your employees as an investment and see how it changes your perspective.
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Force yourself to focus. People generally don't like to change unless they are forced to, and that includes CEOs. If you want to attract and retain the best people in the midst of a skills shortage, you have to focus on it as much as you would any other major organisational initiative. Force yourself and your senior management to focus on building a more engaging employer brand, or it will never happen.
AFR Article - Featured 13 March 2007.
Work Space - A million reasons to show your brand
Click the link below to view the article.
March 07 AFR Article
Article Featured in AdNews - 5 April 2007
Adland dubbed poor brand builders
Story by: Nina Lees
MELBOURNE: Former Clemenger BBDO board member Penny Burke has released a book that warns Australian ad agencies to get serious about internal branding if they want to overcome the skilled staff shortage.
Burke believes ad agencies – among other Australian companies – need to promote their virtues to employees who are now exercising their choices when it comes to employment.
Her warning comes as the advertising industry complains that there aren’t enough appropriately skilled staff to fill many of the most basic roles within the agency environment.
Burke interviewed a number of company CEOs when researching her book, called Forced Focus, and came across a call centre CEO that revealed staff turnover was at 120% annually, which she says proves her point.
“I believe the advertising industry and marketing sector haven’t applied the concepts of branding to their own workplace,” Burke said.
“There are some agencies out there who are treating their internal customers [their staff] in a way that they would never treat their external customers. Advertising agencies should see their staff as a new market to get their internal brand out there.
“But what tends to happen is that the builder lives in the worst house in the street.”
Burke, who worked as the director of strategy planning at Clemenger BBDO for 12 years, has spent more than 20 years researching why people buy what they buy and preparing major corporations for future market changes. Her advice comes after detailed analysis of international data, market information and local examples to build a case for building better internal brands.
Burke left Clemenger at the end of 2005 and has been consulting independently to mainly niche clients. Her consulting company is called Essence.
Forced Focus Book Review
The Age - My Career, Saturday 5 May
The Age Sat 5 May - FF Book Review
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