Think about your organisation. Think about how much it’s changed over the last two years. Think about how its competitor set has evolved. Think about the market and industry sectors you inhabit. What about your locations? Have things stood still? Probably not. And what about the economy? Predictable? Easy to call? Most definitely not.
And yet, what about your employer brand and the value proposition that sits behind it? Have they kept pace with this sense of change and evolution? Or do they paint a picture of an organisation that exists more in the memory than in topical reality?
There are a number of insightful current examples of organisations demonstrating the bravery and self awareness to reinvigorate their brand and messaging platform. Two of them, interestingly, from a sector not normally given to revolution and dynamic change – insurance.
Is Alexandr Orlov about to be handed his P45? After 15 ads, an autobiography and even a new entry in the Collins English Dictionary (‘simples’), there are unconfirmed stories that Mr Orlov and his meerkat buddies have been replaced by comedy actor Robert Webb. Compare the Market have created a by now instantly recognisable and much loved icon, but everything has a shelf life, everything evolves. A similar fate appears to be looming into sight for the slightly less loved Gio Compario, big boned opera singing star of the Go Compare website. The commercials have evolved over the last three years and Mr Compario is now portrayed as a self-pitying victim, rather than the confident, centre stage hero of the (original) piece.
If both Alexandr and Gio have been quietly sidelined through the desire of the respective brands to remain topical, relevant and front of mind, another organisation has announced an even more dramatic shift in its tectonic brand plates – Research in Motion or Blackberry. With coverage problems, ambitious and successful competitors and financial challenges, the organisation is staring into the abyss. Change is not a nice to have or an optional extra. Change may be the difference between failure and a future. And change is not something the organisation has shied away from. A shift in name from RIM to Blackberry has been accompanied with the launch of an all new operating system (the Blackberry 10) as well as radically different handsets. Radically different from what we have seen to date from Blackberry but not entirely different to what we have seen in an iPhone.
Do we see examples of such bravery, such purpose, such future focus within employer branding? Perhaps we do.
The Police Force in late January announced plans to consider the recruitment not only of figures from outside the police for senior roles but for some of these individuals to come from overseas. The argument behind such an initiative is an increase in the available talent pool. Similarly, it is estimated that for an ambitious individual to move from constable to senior ranks takes around 25 years – a factor likely to put off aspirational undergraduates as well as those mid career professionals potentially seeking a change of career direction. The initiative is not without its critics and time will tell whether this is an idea that takes root. However, it demonstrates bravery and comes as a time of organisational success – in direct contrast to Blackberry. Crime is down 10% across the UK over the past two years and the force has no shortage of individuals keen to join. Nevertheless, such a move will change the employer brand and value proposition of the domestic police force in the UK, enabling the organisation to recruit in from a broader and more diverse talent pool.
For TMP, if organisations apparently steeped in heritage and tradition as insurance companies and the Police recognise the need to evaluate, adapt and change, then few others should see themselves as immune. And it is the word ‘adapt’ that stands out for me. With a nod to Mr Darwin, it is not those organisations that are necessarily the fittest that both survive and thrive, but those most able to adapt and change.
And an organisation’s approach to its employer brand is no different – if a value proposition depicts an organisation as it was two years ago, new people are not joining the organisation they thought they were and the messaging platform seeking both to hire and to engage reeks of the past and not an aspirational future.
The question to ask is whether your employee value proposition defines the next two to three years of your organisation or the last two.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 