Hardly unique around the world, the UK economy appears currently to be in a strange place. Putting pasties and petrol to one side temporarily, the big news of the week focused on the ONS downgrading GDP growth in 2011’s final quarter and the OECD predicting that the domestic economy would suffer another three months of decline – technically bringing us crashing back into recessionary territory.
But aren’t we looking in the wrong direction, both from an economic and employer branding perspective?
Plenty of forward indicators are looking healthier by the day. Here’s just a few of them. The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that unemployment is peaking this year and will decline at increasing speeds from 2013, hitting just 6.3% in 2016. The private sector will create a healthy 1.7m jobs between now and 2017, more than taking up the slack left by a slimmer public sector.
And that is far from all. A survey published today from Barclays suggests that 58% of employers plan to create jobs over the next 12 months. The same survey also hints at growing resourcing difficulties, with 71% of firms predicting they will fall short of their hiring targets as a result of skills shortages. US employment guru, Dr John Sullivan has been fuelling the fires too, suggesting that the War for Talent is back with a vengeance in his own Silicon Valley and that its impact will not be restricted to California. And finally, what better indication of future growth – the number of new patent inventions in the UK rose by 29% last year, the biggest hike in a decade.
All positive signs and useful forward indicators, but what connection do they have with employer branding?
TMP has been fortunate enough to be involved in a number a major employer branding projects over the last two-three years, both in domestic and international markets. And one key learning from such exercises? They may involve a greater time lag than all parties necessarily anticipate. Which means that the current understanding and articulation of your employer brand are likely to correspond to an economic climate and employment marketplace which belongs more to the misery of the past two years, rather than to what is looking like a considerably more buoyant and optimistic future.
And which also means that in preparing for a 2013 business climate which is likely to involve far greater levels of competition both in terms of internal engagement and retention and external talent targeting, it’s not too soon to be thinking about whether your brand is fit for the future, or fit to drop. Brand refreshes, overhauls or complete reinventions do not happen overnight, particularly when multiple stakeholders, locations, cultures and even languages are concerned. And whilst I am aware that ‘we would say this, wouldn’t we’, it would be far too easy to be left with a brand built in recessionary times during a time of accelerating expansion.
Far be it from us to correct McKinseys, but 2013 and onwards might be just as much about a Race for Talent as a War for Talent. The future of your employer brand starts today.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 