Employer Brand Development
Ultimately, competitive advantage derives from people. The prism and practices of Employer Brand Development allow a company to control how it is viewed by current employees and external talent looking in. Employer Brand Development relies on the proven principles and tools of a series of disciplines, including employee engagement, talent development, appreciative inquiry, and positive organizational behavior.
Employer Brand Development is not about one-off events or one-dimensional notions of employee fulfillment. It is a holistic process, integrating targeted changes to optimize employee performance through the functions of talent attraction, retention, engagement, and growth. Frank can support your Employer Brand Development through the following four critical phases.
Phase 1: Employer Brand Analysis
One-on-one and group sessions with key stakeholders establish the mindset, misconceptions, and core practices of employer branding currently operating in the organization. The proprietary Granek Employer Brand Audit captures perceptions of employees and those outside the organization. Employee views of both intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards as well as multiple layers of culture are identified in this analysis. A clear picture emerges of the Employer Brand, distinguishing the Brand’s Image, Identity, and Potential. Employer Brand Analysis replaces loose and conflicting notions of corporate reputation with bracing clarity.
Phase 2: Refinement of the EBVP (Employer Brand Value Proposition)
Against the backdrop of robust quantitative and qualitative research, Frank collaborates with the human capital team of your organization in a series of cross-functional workshops to improve the Employer Brand Value Proposition. The EBVP may be strategically modified or thoroughly recast. The upgraded EBVP is tightly aligned to overall corporate strategy, customer value dynamics, and emerging competitive opportunities. The EBVP is not just a handful of rousing sentences. It is expressed as a detailed set of concrete deliverables to employees that will differentiate the organization from competitors. The EBVP establishes employer brand stretch targets. These targets balance aspiration and pragmatism: the organization can come into its full potential as an employer while remaining firmly grounded in the realities of the day.
Phase 3: Implementing Employer Brand Change
In Phase 3 the initiative rubber meets the road. Frank helps the organization operationalize the EBVP through a set of value improvement sub-initiatives. Each of these sub-initiatives is artfully rolled out, refined in flight, and rigorously evaluated. The process is anchored in an Employer Brand Initiative Handbook that formalizes the path to success. It includes action plans and customized change management guidelines for up to six sub-initiatives (SI):
- SI1: Advancing Positive Organization Culture
- SI2: Deepening Intrinsic Rewards
- SI3: Systematizing Partnership-Level Relationships
- SI4: Building Wellness at Work
- SI5: Accelerating Career and Leadership Growth
- SI6: Revitalizing Internal Communications
Phase 4: Integration of the Employer Brand Platform
Complacency can kill the Employer Brand. A little effort in Phase 4 ensures that positive changes become embedded in the long-term strategic thinking of executives and the mindset of employees throughout the organization. Integration emphasizes courageous measurement and innovation. It includes ongoing marketing of the employer brand platform and its refinements to all employees and the wider talent pool. The Employer Brand becomes a stalwart feature of the organization’s talent differentiation strategy while adapting to change.
