Firms should develop brands that increase employee engagement

By Ian Brownhill, Managing Director, BergHind Joseph

After years of being dismissed as just a fashionable way of talking about job satisfaction, there is now enough serious research out there to convince managers that employee engagement affects customer loyalty, profitability, productivity, staff turnover '¨and quality of work.

So, what does employee engagement mean? The theory is that people are engaged when they are enthusiastically involved in their work, acting as though their interests and those of the company are one.

This is more than passive job satisfaction: engaged employees go beyond their job descriptions, help colleagues with their work and find solutions to clients’ problems.

Role of firm branding

How can firms achieve engagement? Reciprocity is key. Employees will only be prepared to give more if they perceive that there is something in it for them in terms of recognition, reward, working conditions and career prospects.

To make that leap of faith, they need first to trust. They begin by listening to the talk and observing the behaviour of managers and colleagues: in other '¨words, it’s about communication, culture and values.

This is where the firm’s brand comes in. The tone and content of communications, the everyday experience of firm culture and the values that employees deduce from the behaviour of managers shapes their belief in the promises that are made to them. The brand helps to shape internal attitudes and behaviours, as well as external perceptions.

There’s a clear and present danger that the emerging discipline of employee engagement communication will default to the human resources function because it has to do with employee perceptions.

However, for all of their undoubted strengths and the importance of their '¨role in building employee engagement, '¨HR professionals do not usually have the skills or mandate to develop effective corporate brands.

The way forward is for the firm’s communicators to work with HR functions, learning from each other and pooling their expertise to get results for the business.

Creating engaging brands

There’s no formula for building a corporate brand – each is as particular and individual as the business it represents – but all successful brands have features '¨in common.

Firm brands, of course, must work for multiple stakeholders, but, in terms of their role in driving employee engagement, they should do the following.'¨

1. Set inspiring goals for the entire business. People will give more to the business if they can see their work in the context of an inspiring and worthwhile overall goal.'¨

2. Include employees’ perceptions. In their formative stages, branding exercises should involve employees and their views of the world. Don’t allow the typical C-suite preoccupation with client messaging to drive thinking.'¨

3. Credibly reflect the firm’s working world. If your firm’s brand talks about an internal culture and values that employees don’t see reflected in their daily lives, the resulting dissonance will undermine trust.'¨
   Embody a consistent message to employees. Consistency is the essence of branding. A clear, consistent promise to employees is just as important as a brand’s promise to clients.'¨

4. Link working lives with business value drivers. Once employees have bought in to your vision, they need to understand where they should focus their efforts to create value for the business. The stories and imagery underpinning the brand need to focus on what matters.'¨

5. Differentiate the business from an employment perspective. The brand needs to provide reasons for people '¨to join your firm rather than one of '¨your competitors.'¨

6. Make the business look like one '¨you would want to work for. It’s '¨hard to feel proud that you work for '¨a firm if it looks like it belongs in the last century. '¨

Employee engagement is attracting more attention because the returns are potentially enormous. Firm branding has a role to play because it helps to clarify the business’ offer to employees and helps to create the kind of culture that will foster attraction and retention.

ian@berghindjoseph.com