Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER January 25, 2016 18 FEATURES EMPLOYER BRAND Perception, trust key to customer brand – and, therefore, employer brand To attract the best and brightest talent, it's about aligning your brands By Mar Guerrero Busquets I magine you have just had a really poor customer experi- ence with a company. Would you want to work for it? And if a company went above and be- yond to delight you as a custom- er, would you be more inclined to take a call from one of their recruiters? How people perceive an organiza- tion as consumers, the trust they build in that organization to serve them well and behave respectfully, aff ects how they perceive them as a potential place to work. And we all know no business strategy can be successful without the right people to execute it. So if a company wants to attract and retain the best talent, there needs to be a deliberate eff ort to align its customer and employer brand. Why is this alignment increas- ingly important? • e lines between internal and external continue to blur. e walls of the organization are no longer thick; through social me- dia, they're more like thin blinds that are open most of the time. It takes a long time for a com- pany to build a good reputation and, nowadays, just the click of a mouse to destroy it. • The credibility of a brand is no longer based just on how a company delivers the customer promise; it's about how it inter- acts with each of its audiences — starting with employees. • Trust is the new currency — we live in a hyper-connected world where transparency is expected. Ninety-six per cent of job seek- ers say it's important to work for a company that embraces transparency, according to Glassdoor. Five steps to success So, how do we go about it? ere are fi ve steps: 1. Always start with your organi- zational culture. It's your DNA. A strong culture is the starting point to both customer and em- ployee value propositions. Any value proposition, whether for customers or employees, must meet three criteria: • Be compelling, so relevant and attractive to your target segment. • Diff erentiate: Establish what sets you apart from competitors. • Be authentic: Refl ect what your organization is genuinely about. It is relatively easy to design a value proposition to be compel- ling and diff erentiating. It is a lot harder to make it au- thentic unless it is rooted in the core values and culture of the organization. 2. Articulate your cus- tomer value proposition to clearly defi ne and com- municate to customers and prospects the value of doing business with you. en ensure that every- thing is lined up to make the desired outcome in- evitable, meaning happy customers. is includes internal pro- cesses but also, and very importantly, step three below, which is some- times omitted. 3. Ensure employees know how to deliver the cus- tomer value proposition, so the customer experi- ence matches or exceeds customer expectations. Fewer than 50 per cent of employees believe in their company's brand idea, accord- ing to 2013 research by brand- ing consultancy Lippincott, and even fewer are actually equipped to deliver on it. Employees need to know how the customer promise translates into their day-to-day job, what behav- iours they need to live by to ex- ceed expectations consistently, in every interaction — particu- larly unsupervised interactions. ey need to be empowered to solve problems for customers, so not only understand and be- lieve in the customer promise, but be equipped with the tools and resources they need to de- liver it. And, above all, they need to be passionate about customer experience. Reactionary service is no longer competitive and passionate peo- ple are more likely to anticipate customer needs, and go above and beyond to meet them. For the whole organization to rally behind outstanding customer experience, it is vital to trans- late the customer promise into something that applies to all em- ployees in the organization, not just customer-facing employees. By covering points two and three, an employer engage custom- ers in defi ning and delivering a compelling, diff erentiating and authentic customer promise. 4. However, the next logical ques- tion is: What about employees? The same level of discipline needs to be applied to defi ne and execute the employee experience as with the customer experience. An organization can't be held ac- countable for delivering an out- standing employee experience if this has not been defi ned in the fi rst place. Step four, a well-defi ned employ- ee value proposition, becomes a calibration tool and helps pro- tect the culture of the organiza- tion. It needs to be realistic but with a hint of aspiration to drive positive change and ongoing improvement. Employee experience underpins the ability to deliver a legendary customer experience. Happy em- ployees lead unerringly to happy customers. 5. Finally, focus on the employee experience and communication to reinforce the foregoing. e employee experience must live up to the employee value propo- sition. Many organizations focus on candidates through recruit- ment marketing but overlook existing employees. However, without ongoing work to put the employee experience and communications front and centre of every organizational decision, any external eff ort can leave the internal workforce feel- ing disconnected or unvalued. Identify and actively address any gaps between your current real- ity and the employee promise. It is the best way to engage existing employees which, in turn, will help amplify and add credibility to your external message. Em- ployee advocacy is a priority for the organization. It wants em- ployees to feel inspired and to share their positive experiences internally and externally. In the information and con- ceptual age, understanding the why and how behind customer and employee value propositions and having a shared vision of your organizational purpose is a critical fi rst step to engage and energize employees. Mar Guerrero Busquets is the associ- ate vice-president of employee experi- ence, employment brand and perfor- mance culture at TD Canada Trust in Toronto. Key takeaways for HR • Defi ne your organizational culture, which is the foundation of the customer and employee value propositions, through behaviours. Make sure those behaviours are clear, visible and make them sustainable by embedding them in all HR practices. Employees should be coached, developed, measured, recognized and rewarded on them. • Think and act cross- functionally. The customer and employer branding alignment requires a co-ordinated effort that encompasses leadership, internal communications, PR, marketing, HR and the business. Credit: l i g h t p o e t (Shutterstock) Credit: josefkubes (Shutterstock) Credit: Niloo (Shutterstock)

• Cover