Employment branding and communications

“If the people on the inside don’t understand and respect your brand it’s highly likely those on the outside don’t.”

Heywood Innovation helps employers define, nurture and manage the image and reputation their company wishes to grow in the minds of employees. We create employment brands that engage with employees, inspire positive perceptions and communicate all the good things about the employment experience.

Employment branding is presently a very popular subject

Almost 20% of the hits on the Heywood Innovation website are from companies seeking information on employment branding a.k.a. employer branding and internal branding. This is understandable in an Australian market which presently favours employees as a result of increasing skill shortages. The priority task for HR managers is to attract, motivate and retain talent by gaining a better understanding of employment branding and the benefits it provides.

Attract, motivate and retain talent

All too frequently new employees’ job experiences fail to live up to recruitment promises, prompting disappointment and diminishing respect for the company brand. In order to retain and motivate staff, we help you regularly reinforce and consistently deliver the offer that was made at the point of recruitment.

It is heartbreaking and increasingly expensive to have a valued employee, one who you considered crucial to your future success, leave and accept a position with a competitor. No employment experience however is perfect. There will always be reasons why employees become dissatisfied and look elsewhere for new job opportunities. Most can be overcome and tend to be the result of little or no assistance in helping employees understand and cope with change, and confusion resulting from poor or non-existent communication.

In our experience key requirements of employment branding that have arisen in recent years are:

1. satisfying your employees’ work experience
2. positioning your brand in the minds of employees and nurturing a positive perception
3. communicating regularly to inform and motivate them and inspire respect for company
    culture, vision, procedures, policies, fellow employees and the executive team
4. continuing education to help them work better and achieve more
5. recognising and celebrating achievements and milestones

More specifically, here are situations that are likely to prompt companies to consider their employment brand and related communications...

launch of a new company brand
merger or acquisition of new company
change in company culture or vision, perhaps inspired by new CEO
company restructuring
launch of new workplace initiatives
changes in internal procedures or processes
employee awards scheme
employee social and environmental initiatives
launch of new products
brand repositioning to fend off competitors or tackle new markets
brand extensions add new complexity
appointment of new CEO or management team
workforce retrenchments and reallocation of resources
brand needs realigning with core values
brand perception gap between managers and workforce
business units have differing perceptions and motivations
new employee induction materials
training materials
graduate recruitment
documentation of company procedures and policies
regular communications to inform and motivate employees
company intranet
launch of new products or interest in new area of business
HR is overstretched and needs external help

With 18 years’ experience behind us we’ve accumulated considerable knowledge and insight into employee behaviours and how branding and targeted communications can influence employment satisfaction. We have a sound understanding of how companies achieve ‘employer of choice’ status.

Our 9-stage employment branding process

TeamPlan discovery workshops

We have achieved great success with our facilitated TeamPlan workshops that enable stakeholders to:
identify and focus on key issues affecting the success of the company’s employment brand
recognise the gap between current and desired perceptions of the employment brand
    and how it measures up to those of competitors
establish direction and generate ideas to overcome these issues

Our targeted research provides clarity

...on what is working and what is not. We audit your branding initiatives and communications collateral. We gather information from current and prospective employees, measure their perceptions and motivations and provide insight to what improvements can be achieved.

We design and write focused communications

...that resonate with employees, stimulate fast awareness and uptake, and drive home brand messages persuasively and with maximum impact in print and online media.

If you want to make your employment proposition powerful and persuasive,
call Tony Heywood on 02 8256 3999 or email us.

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View more branding information on our website.