Building an Authentic Employer

Brand

HCI White Paper

August 21, 2007.
By Janet Shaffer of Aardvark Writing
INTRODUCTION rent and prospective employees," as well as with
customers. A good employer brand is consistent
Employer branding is an essential aspect of a suc- with the business and talent needs and involves
cessful overall strategy, but, "It was not that long combining proven market techniques with a deep
ago that you could scatter a group of people by talk- understanding of cultural change and organization-
ing about the topic," states Dan Fagan, Director of al reinforcement.
Organizational Development and Staffing of
Schneider Electric. "One reason that many people "Employer branding often focuses on and revolves
do not come willing to this conversation is that around attracting external talent, but unless the
despite the fact that employer branding can seem company can cite a crisp business outcome aligned
intuitive and there are many reasons why having an to organizational strategy, there is a possibility that
employer brand would be a good thing, questions the relevance of the brand to the business might be
still exist as to what branding is and how organiza- in question."
tions can create an authentic, strategy-relevant
brand." Companies can use a successful brand to tell a bet-
ter story to attract and retain higher-quality talent.
Using the case of Schneider Electric as a real-world Branding also furthers employee engagement by
model, the branding experience can be examined aligning the values of the employee base with the
from the following angles: messages and actions of the corporation.
o The importance of employer branding
o The customer experience Figure 1 illustrates the relationships between the
o The employee experience internal and external elements of the employer
o The branding initiative brand and the interrelation between the two. If one
o The critical success factors that helped the looks at the definition of employer branding as
company achieve its goals based on the process of defining the relationship
that customers and employees can expect with the
Many companies question how to inspire employ- company and managing those perceptions, then the
ees to act in a way, which continuously supports image accurately depicts the two groups. "The
strategic business objectives. The answer lies in experience of the customer and that of the employ-
developing an effective employer brand. ee are inextricably entwined."

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYER BRAND- An employer brand is a dynamic entity and changes
ING in every moment. "This is good news for companies
in the 'early adolescence' of their branding journey-
Employer branding can be defined as "the frame- a company has numerous opportunities to adjust its
work for defining, managing, and communicating brand."
about the total employment relationship with cur-

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"THE BIGGEST COMPANY PEOPLE HAVE
NEVER HEARD OF"
An overview of Schneider Electric and the journey
to adapt its employer brand provides a real-life case
study. Schneider is a multinational corporation,
headquartered in Paris, France. Its 2006 data shows
revenue of €13.7 billion (approximately $19 billion
USD) in 190 countries and a local presence in 106
countries. Schneider employs 105,000 people in
more than 200 factories, with 6,500 R&D people in
Figure 1
Figure 2
25 countries. North American business accounts
for about 27% of total sales.
Schneider is a power and control specialist-an end-
to-end provider in the power area. Schneider
strives to "Power a New Electric World" and make
energy reliable, smart, green, and available for
everyone around the globe.
Schneider Electric participates in four segments of
the market:
o Energy and infrastructure: electrical net-
works, water treatment, airports, tun-
nels, telecom, data centers
o Industry: food and beverage, auto-
mobile, electronic, packaging, pharma-
ceuticals
o Buildings: offices, stores, factories,
hotels, hospitals, museums, schools,
universities
o Residential: single-family homes,
apartment buildings
Like many organizations, Schneider
Electric's primary strategy is customer-
centric; the company focuses on getting
its people to be all about the customer,
all of the time. In the United States, the
company's brand name is Square D.
Over a span of three years, Schneider
has taken on $10 billion in acquisitions.
This growth is important because it con-
tinuously affects the company and its
employer brand; with each acquisition,
Schneider must work to be one organi-
zation and incorporate the varied
approaches of these businesses. Though
the individual components may be alig-
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ned strategically, they have a separate existence that the relationship or employment experience-has five
must be managed. components: recruitment, performance manage-
ment, development, total rewards, and succession
THE OPPORTUNITY planning. The company manages talent most effec-
tively when it collaborates to deliver a comprehen-
Schneider's story is compelling, but the company sive set of integrated offerings to leverage its com-
has little-to-no name recognition, is in an industry petitive advantage, the company's people.
that is not outwardly very attractive, and has a cul-
ture that is well rooted in engineering and manu- "For effective talent management, the fundamentals
facturing. "We may very well be the biggest compa- must be in place." It would have been difficult for
ny you have never heard of." Schneider to pursue a branding initiative if the sys-
tems around HR processes were in question. That
Schneider's acquisition of the Square D business in doesn't mean everything needs to be perfect, but
1991 brought the need for employer branding. that the company's processes must be fundamental-
"Employer branding is fundamental. If a company ly sound to advance the discussion and move into
is going to win in the war for talent, this is some- the area of employer branding.
thing it needs to do." Schneider began to think of
branding as a way to articulate its story. There is a growing body of work correlating the
employee experience with the customer experience;
The company took a broad approach and tried to these two metrics move in agreement. Research
understand the relationships between the employer from the 2004 Corporate Executive Board showed
brand and other pieces in the same orbit. Though that companies with above-average commitment
there were other factors to consider, the company had greater one-year revenue growth relative to
listed five major concerns (Figure 2 above). their industry than those with below-average
employee commitment.
The need to identify and align to a business strate-
gy is a critical success factor. Without this, a com- Because Schneider's business strategy focused on
pany is in danger of having an external story that the customer experience, the company knew it
lacks internal relevance and impact. Fagan admits could not ignore employee engagement. Improving
that Schneider has a long way to go, but the recent and optimizing employee performance and reten-
rollout of a new strategy has benefited the company tion became a primary goal of the company. "If an
and allowed it to align to an important need of the organization is centering on where it can make a
business. difference for the customer, the engagement factor
is critical because in the end, it is the employee who
Employee engagement is linked to talent manage- is touching the customer." Striving to create and
ment (Figure 3). Schneider Electric's system of peo- improve the customer experience is essential for an
ple management-the levers that proactively manage effective strategy.

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The company considered Human Sigma a major cator. The probability that a customer will be a
focus. First coined in the July 2005 Harvard repeat customer is driven by the sales engineer's
Business Review, Human Sigma is a measure that product and process knowledge.
focuses on reducing variance in key employee and
customer outcomes by improving an organization's "If a company is taking a holistic approach and
human performance and moving it toward excel- involving multiple players, it is not easy, but 'know-
lence. Focusing on Human Sigma created an ing your stuff ' will definitely help the company nav-
opportunity for Schneider to engage a part of the igate rough waters.
organization that until that point had not been
overly concerned about the people side of the busi- THE APPROACH
ness.
Schneider's story began with the understanding
Employer branding works simultaneously with the that the branding initiative was more than just an
business strategy, talent management and engage- HR project; it was part of the corporate strategy.
ment and Human Sigma to align organizational ini- The company included HR, Marketing, Quality,
tiatives, but a critical factor for success is that the
and Strategy Development in its plan, quadrupling
people involved "know their stuff." Though this its number of stakeholders and key contributors
may seem obvious, key players need to develop (Figure 4). As a result, the company knew the ini-
familiarity with the concepts, the language, and the tiative would take a slightly longer path than a con-
relationships before they begin to solicit support. A ventional HR plan.
company should be confident that its people are
leading it where it needs to go. Since Schneider's strategy focused on delivering a
superior customer experience, and the company
Even if a company is selling a concept, the people knew that its employees are the key lever to deliver
need a sound working knowledge of how those that customer experience, the company took a
concepts play out. An example at Schneider is the holistic approach and translated its strategic deci-
"intent to repurchase," a key customer statistic indi- sions into implications for its employees. The ques-
Figure 3 tion became one of changing specific
behaviors and processes to advance
the company strategy every day.

"Developing and understanding the

relationships, drivers, and key players
in the system around organizational
strategy is essential." Schneider
Electric had an intentional strategy
and was moving in the right direc-
tion. A critical success factor was the
desire to incorporate, or at least

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understand, the key processes and activities around goals. They defined which employee behaviors
employer branding in a holistic approach and not would create the greatest impact on customer satis-
being one-dimensional around the external story. faction and loyalty and would reduce the variabili-
This ensured organizational relevance. ty occurring within the customer's experience.
Next, the team introduced a cultural framework
After acquiring a basic understanding of the indi- that promoted employee engagement and high lev-
vidual components, the next step was to get senior els of individual and team performance. Finally, the
leader buy-in. The advantage was that each of the team took a leadership role in the cross-functional
individual players were business process owners implementation of the "people part" of its strategy.
and responsible for essential elements or adjacent Once the team concluded that the employee was
activities or processes that the organization needed the lever to move to achieve strategic goals, it came
to include as part of the total employer branding up with six key behaviors:
approach. The purpose of the linkage was to drive
higher levels of customer satisfaction. o Focus on the customer
o Be responsive
Schneider's focus allowed the company to get an o Solve problems
agreement on concepts, the relationships between o Communicate
them, the potential to drive customer satisfaction, o Be empowered to make changes
and the commitment to devote resources to the o Know company processes and products
project. The combined team reiterated the goals of Some of these reflect on the history of the Square D
the company: to make the primary focus the cus- brand and Schneider's position as a flexible, engi-
tomer, and to make the company and its services neered-to-order provider; others represent what
unique to the customer. the business already was or wanted continuously to
improve. The behaviors are the result of incorporat-
The team created a framework to accomplish these ing quality and customer research around specific
feedback about the actions and activities that satis-
Figure 4 fy customers.

"These behaviors can be mag-

ical if a company thinks about
them in terms of the potential
to name a behavior, align it to
organizational strategy, and
then use it to describe day-to-
day activities and tasks that
the employees can engage in
to drive the organization's
ambition."

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A key success factor at this point is the need to be
patient. More players equal more complexity, but
what the company can gain in terms of thought
diversity and concept buy-in makes it a small price
to pay. "Remember that the organization is institu-
tionalizing change-and change is not easy."
"Any company that has changed management
models knows that the probability of failure is not
remote. Employer branding, if tackled ambitiously,
is going to create change in the environment, and it
needs to be intentionally and consciously man-
aged."
o Be holistic
o Be patient
o Hope for luck and timing
o …but be fast!
"While a company is being patient, it needs a little
bit of luck, but subscribe to the notion that luck is
'preparation met with opportunity.'" Schneider's
inclusive approach was not an effort built for speed,
but the company looked for conversations it could
have-and the luck followed.
THE FUTURE STATE

THE PROGRESS Schneider knows what "living in the future" looks

like. The company has created an atmosphere
Schneider Electric has acknowledged its identity where "on" brand and "off " brand behavior is spon-
problem and the need for change. To achieve orga- taneously recognized and rewarded (or corrected)
nizational goals, the company recognized the need and customer satisfaction is increasing. The
to identify the employer brand and align it to a employees think about the customer experience,
business imperative. The company also created a even in non-customer situations; the way the com-
cross-functional team that identified behaviors pany articulates the brand is the way employees
associated with creating lasting customer loyalties. describe it when engaged in casual conversation. As
a result of a successful branding initiative, cus-
"The more specific an organization can be-the tomers and partners describe the company the
more it moves out of the idea state and into the pic- same way it describes itself.
ture of what it looks like when an employee and a
manager are having a conversation-the better off These are all factors that prove the company has
the company will be." Identifying effective behav- succeeded. The brand is reflected in HR process
iors enables clarity of focus. and more importantly, reflected in all company
processes.
Schneider was able to implement an early launch of
its business in Canada, and set an objective to raise CONCLUSION
its customer satisfaction rating by three points.
Much of this was due to the adherence to the fol- To succeed, it is necessary to include HR peers to
lowing critical success factors: challenge company assumptions and ideas in order
to create diversity of thought. Employer branding is
o Identify and align to a business imperative not necessarily recruitment advertising. The foun-
o Know your "stuff " dation inside the organization should be tied to

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company strategy and business objectives in order For Schneider Electric, its singular focus on driving
to make the program "come alive." customer satisfaction has created an effective way
for the company to "blend the reality of today with
Schneider took a comprehensive view of organiza- the dream of tomorrow."
tional planning. "The holistic approach with a
strong focus on organizational development takes
more time to get it done," states Kristen Weirick, Based on the HCI Webcast Building an Authentic
Manager, Employer Brand and Talent Acquisition, Employer Brand, presented August 21, 2007.
Whirlpool Corporation, "but it builds a stronger
foundation to engage an organization into deliver- PRESENTER
ing the brand."
Dan Fagan
Director, Organizational Development and
To get the attention of executive leadership, says Staffing
Paul Rogers, Program Manager, Employer Brand, Schneider Electric
Starbucks Corporation, there should be a tie in to J. Daniel Fagan is the North American Director of
customer experience and profitability. "At the end Organizational Development, Recruiting and
of the day, that is what it is all about. Show how the Mobility for Schneider Electric, a 13.7 billion man-
brand affects the bottom line." ufacturer of electrical power and control solutions,
headquartered in Paris, France and with operations
Unfortunately, many of the measures still tend to be in over 100 countries. Dan joined Schneider
activity-oriented. "One of the challenges of employ- Electric in 1993 and is responsible for training and
er branding is finding accurate measures that com- development, international mobility, and talent
panies can look at across different industries and strategy and operations.
businesses," declares Weirick. Organizations can
utilize external surveys, polls, focus groups, and PANELISTS
candidate and onboarding surveys to get a better
picture. Paul Rogers
Program Manager, Employer Brand
It is essential for an organization to know what it is Starbucks Corporation
looking for and where the brand fits in the total
scheme. Whether large or small, known worldwide Kristen Weirick
or locally, the most important element of a brand- Manager, Employer Brand and Talent
ing strategy is to accentuate the positive and play up Acquisition
the organization's strengths. "Facts are good," says Whirlpool Corporation
Fagan, "but there are other intangible elements that
factor in."

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MODERATOR attract, recruit and retain people in every corner of
the working world. Talk to us about how we can
Bill Craib talk to your workforce by defining and managing
Vice President, HCI Communities your employer brand through recruitment market-
Human Capital Institute ing, employment communications and consulting
Prior to joining the Human Capital Institute, Bill services. Take a tour at (www.jwtec.com)
was the Founding Director of AIRS Human Capital
Solutions, and served as Director of Training and ABOUT THE HUMAN CAPITAL INSTITUTE
Curriculum Development from 1997 to 2003. An
early Internet adopter and advocate of its far-reach- The Human Capital Institute is a catalyst for inno-
ing potential, Bill developed his practical experi- vative new thinking in talent acquisition, develop-
ence by establishing an Internet-centric executive ment and deployment. Through research and col-
search practice focused on telecommunications. laboration, our programs collect original, creative
This endeavor helped lay the groundwork for the ideas from a field of top executives and the bright-
significant contributions he has made to the core est thought leaders in strategic HR and talent man-
curriculum of AIRS. Bill earned a BS Degree from agement. Those ideas are then transformed into
the Newhouse School of Public Communications at measurable, real-world strategies that help our
Syracuse University and spent 10 years as a journal- members attract and retain the best talent, build a
ist working for several media organizations, includ- diverse, inclusive workplace, and leverage individ-
ing ESPN and the Rocky Mountain News, before ual and team performance throughout the enter-
entering the recruiting industry. prise.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Human Capital Institute gratefully acknowl-

edges the financial and volunteer contributions of
This White Paper is made possible by JWT, spon- our Underwriters. They include:
sors of HCI's Employer Branding Track.
- ADP: VIRTUAL EDGE
ABOUT JWT - AIRS
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