...BY BRETT MINCHINGTON MBA

International Employer Brand strategist and author, Brett Minchington MBA defines your employer brand as, “The image of your organisation as a great place to work as perceived by your internal (current employees) and external audience (active and passive candidates). To achieve sustainable growth in today’s climate, companies must focus their collective efforts on developing their employer brand to attract and retain talent.
To build a best practice employer brand programme, Minchington recommends companies need to understand how their current employer brand is perceived by employees, and candidates the company would like to convert into new hires.

Companies should assess the effectiveness of how they communicate their employment experience to the target audience. Developments in Internet technologies have been rapid and assist recruiters to speed up the hiring process to attract the best minds. The use of the Internet for activities central to the employment process has shifted the paradigm of the traditional recruitment process. The recruitment process is now being supported by career websites, RSS feeds, podcasting, blogs, rich media and e-recruitment technology that allow companies to build relationships with potential employees. “Too often talent is left waiting for a recruiter’s call to advise them of the next steps in the application process. In today’s talent short market, companies will miss out on the best available talent if they are slowed down by bureaucratic recruitment practices,” Minchington said.

Regards,

Vrushali

]]> http://postodibloggo.wordpress.com/?p=90 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:51:45 +0000 postodibloggo http://postodibloggo.wordpress.com/?p=90 Ho appena finito di leggere Management delle Risorse Umane (Daniele Boldizzoni, ed. Sole 24 Ore).

Un testo interessante e ben articolato che affronta la questione delle risorse umane e della loro gestione sotto diversi punti di vista. Risorse Umane come valore competitivo di aziende che operano in mercati sempre più esasperati. Risorse umane come il vero forziere, l'asso nella manica dell'azienda. Risorse umane che sono il vero fattore che fa la differenza. Cose molto belle e molto vere... se solo fosero implementate dalle nostre aziende.

Ad ogni modo non è bene fare di tutta un'erba un fascio. E' bene fare una riflessione sensata con numeri alla mano. Perchè le aziende considerate i "great place to work" sono le aziende con la migliore redditività al momento? sono anche quelle che godono di fama migliore. E se non sbaglio sono anche quelle con un basso tasso di turnover e un alto tasso di retention...

Ormai è un dato di fatto. Far parlare bene della propria azienda è una leva strategica nella costruzione della brand reputation e chi meglio dei dipendenti può essere un real testimonial dei valori, della lealtà e della consuetudine dell'azienda in cui lavora? Perchè non fare in modo che i propri dipendenti vadano al lavoro col sorriso sulle labbra, certi di recarsi in un posto in cui possono essere a proprio agio, in cui si sentono a casa?

Marketing interno. Di questo parla Boldizzoni nel suo libro. Una sezione della macro-strategia di comunicazione aziendale interamente dedicata ai propri dipendenti, visti come "clienti interni", soggetti a cui rivolgere le stesse attenzioni che vengono dedicate al mercato esterno.  

Sono diverse le aziende che hanno capito questa cosa e investono tempo e risorse a "coccolare" i propri testimonial. Potrei stare qui ad elencare le più grandi, le più belle: Google Italia, Ferrari ( che sta sviluppando un ampio piano di employer branding e migliora continuamente la qualità dei propri ambienti di lavoro).

Vi consiglio invece di visitare il sito di un'azienda che per il secodo anno si colloca nei primi posti della classifica Great Work To Place, Elica SpA. Un'azienda che percorre questa strada da tempo e che raccoglie i frutti di questa politica in termini di fatturato e di espansione. Un'azienda che produce impianti d'aspirazione (settore che non offre grandi visibilità se interpretato in maniera tradizionale) che ha saputo fare della propria etica comportamentale il proprio cavallo di battaglia e il volano per far decollare la propria visibilità. Beh... complimenti!!!

Le considerazioni potrebbero essere tante e varie. Troppo spesso i dipendenti vengono considerati una fonte di costi e peso per le aziende. Sempre più spesso i dipendenti, quelli formati, incentivati e motivati sono la vera catapulta aziendale... chi vivrà vedrà!

Saluti.

F

As iHipo is a platform which employers use to market their brand to an international audience of high potentials, we met up with Brett on his recent visit to Singapore for a discussion on global employer branding and international career planning. Due to its length, this interview is published in two parts, starting with a focus on employer branding.

Brett, first of all, how would you define employer branding and in which ways does it differ to the more traditional recruitment marketing?

Your employer brand is “the image of your organization as a ‘great place to work’ in the minds of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).”

Employer branding is therefore focused on implementing attraction, engagement and retention initiatives to enhance the image of your company as a great place to work.

Recruitment marketing is an employer branding initiative. It is an important factor in building a strong employer brand. Companies that rely on traditional recruitment practices will not survive. Recruiters need to respond to the changes in the job search habits of talent and connect with them where they hang out, whether that be on social network sites, at career fairs or even at the gym. There are numerous opportunities to recruit talent. Recruiters should focus on building and leveraging networks to reach out to talent to not only save costs but to develop referral networks which will result in a steady stream of candidates coming through the pipeline.

What are the driving forces behind this more integrated concept of employer branding?

The changes in the external environment are driving the adoption of the employer brand concept to attract and retain talent. Globalisation, declining fertility rates, increased migration, the ageing population and increasing job mobility are just some of the market forces driving Universities and Business to find innovative ways to collaborate to maximise employment outcomes for students. The paradigm has shifted - employers now need to sell the employment experience to candidates rather than relying on traditional methods of candidates selling themselves to employers.

What are the latest trends you can observe in companies sourcing graduate talent?

Companies are taking a more strategic approach to sourcing graduate talent. The lead times are becoming longer – it is not unusual for corporations to sponsor talent through the early stages of their degree with the aim of recruiting them upon graduation.

UK and Australian research shows that the displacement rate of graduate talent is between 30%-40% within one year of graduation. What this means is that 30%-40% of graduates enter the hidden talent pool within one year of graduation and are working in jobs unrelated to their degree. Many of them never connect with the industry they studied for and corporations need to realise that this leakage of potential hires is unsustainable.

Another trend is the rise in the number of internships available to students. Internships or vacation placements are on the rise especially in the USA and I believe this will flow through to other major economic regions of the world.

The smart companies are realising that students are much more astute and savvy than the previous generation and they desire relationships rather than just being treated as a ‘number in a graduate recruitment program.’ Where once the strength of the corporate brand was the major attraction for graduates when considering which companies to apply to work for, the company’s reputation as an employer is now top of mind as graduates realise their increasing value due to the talent shortages.

In that context, do you actually see a trend in that top MNCs are recruiting on a more global scale these days than e.g. 5 years ago?

Top MNC’s are definitely focusing their recruitment efforts globally. Using the latest technology to leverage local and global networks the MNC’s realise that in order to foster incremental innovation and sustainable growth they need to be souring the best available global talent. The key to global recruitment is being able to establish a global talent pool and use a talent relationship management system that allows MNC’s to keep in touch with talent they would like to recruit.

Part II of the interview will follow in the coming week.

Brett can be contacted via email at brett@collectivearningaustralia.com or at +61 8 8443 4115.

Top Talents Romania identifica la nivel national tineri cu rezultate deosebite si potentialul de a-si dezvolta o cariera intr-o companie care investeste in capitalul uman. Timp de trei luni, 2200 de tineri talentati trec printr-un proces complex de evaluare, 20 dintre acestia urmand sa fie premiati in cadrul Top Talent Days.

Profilul urmarit este format din studenti sau tineri cu experienta de pana la 2 ani, expunere internationala – studii sau experienta de lucru, implicare in activitati extra-curriculare si experienta sau potential de lider. Din cei 2200 de aplicanti care au raspuns invitatiei de a se inscrie in proiect:
• 938 activeaza in 1163 de organizatii non guvernamentale;
• 433 de tineri au bursa de merit si 862 au bursa de studiu;
• 609 au decis sa isi continue studiile dupa facultate, astfel – primul master – 480, al doilea master – 58, MBA – 22, Doctorat – 49;
• pentru perioadele de lucru in afara studentii prefera stagiile Work&Travel si programele AIESEC;
• 767 de persoane detin 854 de certificari IT;
• In afara de domeniul IT, sunt 457 de persoane ce aduna un total de 613 certificari;
• 1177 dintre cei inscrisi au un atenstat de limba straina, in felul urmator: engleza – 458, franceza – 66, germana – 66, spaniola – 47.

Toti aplicantii cumuleaza cel putin trei dintre criteriile de mai sus.

Un pas important din procesul de evaluare a constat in testarea tinerilor cu ajutorul instrumentului Cut-e (lider European in testari psihometrice online). Rezultatele ne ofera un profil complet al tinerilor talentati – sunt persoane cu un nivel de incredere in sine foarte ridicat, mai ales in situatii formale – prezentari, evenimente, sunt independente – actioneaza din initiativa, isi urmaresc obiectivele, isi exprima ideile si opiniile liber, gandesc sistematic si sunt bine organizati, definesc obiective clare si isi planifica pasii pe termen lung. Pe de alta parte, pentru ca sunt foarte ambitiosi si pragmatici, sunt genul de oameni care functioneaza dupa principiul – “daca vreau ca lucrurile sa se intample, atunci trebuie sa le fac singur”. Prefera sa lucreze in medii putin procedurizate, in care nu exista reguli stricte.
Diferentele de scor sunt destul de mici intre competente, dar sunt cateva tendinte pe care le-am observat inclusiv in timpul interviurilor care s-au desfasurat pana acum.

Sunt oameni valorosi, dar au nevoi speciale la care companiile trebuie sa raspunda cu programe complexe, cu joburi in care tinerii sa simta ca au impact si spatiu pentru inovare.

“Ne asteptam la un profil de oameni deosebiti, motiv pentru care am implicat in proiect companii care pot sa sustina prin programe si oportunitati provocatoare dezvoltarea lor. Rezultatele obtinute pana in acest moment pe proiect ne arata faptul ca in Romania sunt tineri foarte valorosi – extrem de bine pregatiti academic in tara si strainatate, preocupati de dezvoltarea lor profesionala si personala, cu o atitudine profesionista si cu dorinta de a inova in medii diverse.
Este important sa dezvoltam instrumente prin care sa ii descoperim si sa le aducem oportunitati care sa ii puna in valoare”, Cristian Hossu, Catalyst Recruitment Solutions, initiatorul Top Talents Romania.

Finala Top Talents Romania va avea loc intre 13 – 17 martie si va consta in patru zile de interactiune cu companiile partenere si in traninguri de dezvoltare personala.

Parteneri: Adobe, BRD, Deloitte, Rompetrol, Pfizer.
Proiect sustinut de: Cut-e, Human Invest, Crowne Plaza, www.hipo.ro.
Mai multe detalii despre proiect – www.toptalents.ro

Catalyst Solutions dezvolta solutii pentru atragerea si recrutarea de tinere talente din randul absolventilor precum si tineri profesionisti si specialisti cu potentialul si dorinta de a-si dezvolta o cariera intr-o companie de top. Printre instrumentele pe care le-am dezvoltat pana in prezent se numara evenimentul de cariera „Angajatori de TOP”- cel mai mare targ de profil din Romania, Ghidurile Angajatorilor (Economic, Tehnic&IT, Farma) distribuite la nivel national, portalul de cariera www.hipo.ro care prezinta oportunitatile de cariera de la cele mai dinamice companii din fiecare industrie precum si studiul „Cei mai doriti angajatori de catre tinerii profesionisti”.

Noutatile editiei:
• Peste 3,000 de joburi pentru tineri profesionisti cu experienta de pana la 7 ani;
• Se lanseaza 20 de programe speciale de recrutare pentru absolventi cu background in domeniul economic, IT&C si tehnic;
• Tinerii interesati de Audit, Taxe sau Consultanta pot afla intr-o singura zi ofertele de joburi ale celor mai mari jucatori din domeniu – Big 4 – Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst&Young, KPMG;
• 28 de workshopuri de cariera vor fi sustinute de companiile prezente la eveniment.

Domeniile cel mai bine reprezentate cu joburi la eveniment sunt – ingineri (350), audit si consultanta (500), financiar-contabilitate (600), constructii (200), resurse umane si marketing (400), vanzari (250), telecom (300), IT (400).

Tinerii profesionisti pot participa la doua workshopuri – Tehnologii IT&C de viitor si Strategii de cariera in consultanta in cadrul carora pot discuta cu specialisti in domeniu care sunt tendintele pe plan global in fiecare dintre cele doua industrii si cum trebuie sa se pregateasca pentru a evolua in cariera in functie de aceste tendinte. In cadrul evenimentului companiile participante prezinta aproximativ 900 de joburi in IT&C si Consultanta, iar cele doua workshopuri ii vor ajuta pe tineri sa faca alegeri informate asupra joburilor la care aplica si sa le dea o imagine mai buna legata de planurile de cariera pe care trebuie sa si le construiasca.

“Ajunsi deja la a patra editie a Angajatori de TOP, cautam sa inovam in continuu si sa gasim noi modalitati de a veni in intampinarea atat a angajatorilor, cat si a celor ce vin la targ sa isi caute un job ori pentru a afla mai multe informatii despre piata muncii. Anul acesta, pe lagna faptul ca am marit cu 500 numarul de joburi din care un candidat poate alege si avem 28 de workshopuri sustinute de companii, vom avea 2 seminarii dedicate domeniilor IT&C si Consultanta, doua domenii in crestere la ora actuala, si care prezinta un mare interes pentru tineri.” Mihai Cima, Project Manager, Catalyst Recruitment Solutions, organizator Angajatori de TOP.

Industriile prezente la Angajatori de TOP: Big 4 - Audit, Taxe, Consultanta (Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst&Young, KPMG), Telecom (Vodafone, Orange, Ericsson, Cosmote, ZAPP, UPC, RDS&RCS), Consultanta (Accenture, BearingPoint, ABS, TASC), IT (Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Oracle, Lyngsoe Sistems, Siemens, Route 66, Thales, TotalSoft, Xerox, Sincron, S&T, Ixia), Bancar/financiar (Raiffeisen Bank, BRD groupe Societe Generale, ING Bank, Unicredit Tiriac Bank, Bancpost, ABN Amro, ING Asigurari de Viata, GE Money, Intercapital Invest), FMCG (British American Tobacco, Tuborg, Coca Cola HBC, Danone, P&G, JTI, Henkel, Kraft), Retail (Metro Cash&Carry, Carrefour, Bricostore, Real - Hypermarket, Elmec), BPO (HP, Accenture, TMF, WNS), Inginerie (Dacia groupe Renault, Apa Nova Bucuresti, Tenaris, Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies, Rompetrol, Distrigaz Sud, Acvatot), Real estate (Impact – Developer & Contractor, Colliers), Marketing si cercetari de piata (Ipsos Interactive Services, Daedalus Consulting).

Angajatori de TOP va fi deschis vineri, 21 martie, intre 10.00 – 19.00 si sambata, 22 martie, intre 10.00 – 17.00. Intrarea este gratuita. Tinerii pot gasi toate informatiile despre eveniment si pot aplica la joburi pe www.hipo.ro, platforma online a evenimentului.

Start BRD

Programele START ofera tinerilor oportunitatea de a descoperi ca entuziasmul si tenacitatea sunt factori determinanti pentru inceputul unei cariere. Specializarile propuse acestor tineri au fost orientate pana in prezent catre domenii de activitate cum ar fi audit, comercial, IT financiar.

In cadrul acestor programe, incepute din 2002, BRD si-a propus atragerea, dezvoltarea si retinerea unor talente autentice, formarea persoanelor cu potential ridicat ce pot deveni specialisti de top ai bancii si, de ce nu, chiar manageri.

Banca pune la dispozitia participantilor mijloacele si instrumentele necesare pentru dezvoltarea profesionala si personala. Nu oricum, ci sub indrumarea si evaluarea permanenta a superiorilor ierarhici si a specialistilor din Departamentul de Resurse Umane.

Catalyst Solutions dezvolta solutii pentru atragerea si recrutarea de tinere talente din randul absolventilor precum si tineri profesionisti si specialisti cu potentialul si dorinta de a-si dezvolta o cariera intr-o companie de top. Printre instrumentele pe care le-am dezvoltat pana in prezent se numara evenimentul de cariera „Angajatori de TOP”- cel mai mare targ de profil din Romania, Ghidurile Angajatorilor (Economic, Tehnic&IT, Farma) distribuite la nivel national, portalul de cariera www.hipo.ro care prezinta oportunitatile de cariera de la cele mai dinamice companii din fiecare industrie precum si studiul „Cei mai doriti angajatori de catre tinerii profesionisti”.

The user-generated content and peer-to-peer reviews trend is catching up slowly with recruitment. On the consumer side, this is already the case. Who doesn't search online for product reviews and ratings? Searching for reviews on employers in on the rise and isn't going to go away. I wrote about JobVent.com last year and they have been steadily increasing traffic (see their Quantcast profile or their Compete profile).

Now there is GlassDoor.com, too. They provide a rating of your organization and post the written pros, cons, and advice to senior management that the reviewer provides. They also have reviewers rate your CEO and provide salary information specific to their job title. The current reviews are only for a few top employers, but I imagine this will expand rapidly over time. There is currently a lot of honesty in the reviews, some are very negative, some are very positive, but a large percent have very balanced views of the organizations and legitimate advice for management. It's not just the disgruntled workers or bitter former employees, it's employees that genuinely care about the company. I hope this doesn't change, I think it's a good thing.

So, I ask... how is your organization planning on dealing with this? Don't know? Here are a few suggestions:

• Start doing your own internal reviews. There are many solutions for doing this (including my company's own QTrac). You must track and know about the issues in order to address them.
• Start listening.. What is being said on these sites is valid, important information. Assign someone to start tracking these sites and your reviews. If the site allows organizations to respond, plan to do so.
• If you do respond, do so honestly. It isn't going to help for you to try and discredit the reviews or suggest the information is baseless. Respond in a positive way. Address negative feedback by accepting that issues exist and state how they are being addressed.
• Build a ways to communicate. Find ways to open the channels of communication internally. Create an internal blog, community, or review site. Imagine if your intranet included employee ratings for different business units or products. Just think what you could learn. I'm going to call this Employee Intelligence
• Encourage your employees to write reviews. Even bolder - encourage your candidates to read the reviews.

Ultimately, the more you know, the better. The more you listen, the more you will know. The more ways you provide someone to give you feedback, the more feedback you will receive.

In questo mondo di precarietà e di rassegnazione, dove la laurea non dà garanzie, serviva una ventata di positività e di ottimismo (che è il sssapore della vita!) e così io e i colleghi di THINK COMMUNICATION abbiamo cercato, a modo nostro, di far entrare questa leggera brezza all'interno della nostra facoltà.
L'obiettivo era realizzare un video che raccontasse una realtà attuale in ambito aziendale, ma soprattutto una tematica interessante che trasmettesse ai giovani come noi, la voglia di credere e di aver ancora fiducia nel futuro.

E quale miglior modo se non focalizzarci sull'Employer Branding?
Non vi dico di cosa si tratta, altrimenti che senso avrebbe tutto il lavoro fatto in questi mesi?!

Colgo l'occasione, però, per ringraziare ufficilamente per la loro disponibilità i professori Stefano Epifani, Marco Stancati, Patrizio Di Nicola e anche Fabio Ricceri (fondatore di People Value) e Poste Italiane.

Ed ora non mi resta che augurarvi buona visione, sperando che il risultato finale del nostro lavoro vi piaccia.
 

Tape Transcript by JANE TEMPLE

MONEY BOX

Presenter: Paul Lewis

TRANSMISSION: 3rd FEB 2001 1200-1230 RADIO 4

Orange Flotation
Cat Marks for Credit Cards
Incapacity Benefit News
Children's Tax Credit
Actuaries
Egg Card promise

ANNOUNCER: It's four minutes past twelve and time for MONEY BOX with Paul Lewis.

LEWIS Hello and welcome to MONEY BOX. Today, does Orange have the zest to tempt investors? People who are planning to take early retirement on grounds of ill health are warned go before April or risk losing money - Chris A'Court is looking at plans to beat credit card rip-offs?

A'COURT Yes Paul, a Treasury Minister tells us how her cat standard will keep credit cards up to scratch, but is it just a toothless tiger?

LEWIS The Egg promise that ended up on the company's face, and out of the shadows, the spotlight falls on a secret profession that rules our finances. But first, Orange, there are just five days left for people who want to buy shares in the mobile phone company to get their forms and the money in, and if you're a customer or watch television you can't have missed the adverts for the second flotation of the mobile phone company. The company's last flotation in l996 was very worthwhile, £1000 invested then was eventually worth £12,600 when Orange was sold to the German company Mannesmann in l999. It was then bought and sold again, and now it's new owner France Telecom is offering a second bit at the orange with a new share offer. So far more than a million people have asked for a prospectus. On Thursday we went to the City of London and asked first some members of the public if they would buy a segment of Orange?

WOMAN No I won't be, particularly because I got burned so badly with last minute dot com, probably a bit short sighted but who knows...

MAN I think that it's a good market to be investing into, and I think Orange have got the right ideas to be at the top of that market.

MAN If the future's going to be that you're going to buy stuff and basically run your life over your mobile device, then I thought in the long term it's a pretty good investment.

LEWIS So to get a City view of whether it's a good idea to buy Orange shares or not I'm here at Barclays Stockbrokers in the City talking to Hilary Cook who's their head of research. Hilary, do you think individual shareholders should be going for this share offer?

COOK Well as with any decision to buy shares or not it all depends on one, your appetite for risk and secondly, what other shares you already hold. You know Orange shares should be looked at as part of the whole portfolio, and clearly as a telecom stock they do represent a higher risk offering than perhaps others in the market.

LEWIS And if you were thinking of going into telecoms would you choose Orange?

COOK Well certainly our view within stockbrokers is that if you wanted to buy telecom stock at the moment Vodaphone would be the preferred one. There will be big winners and big losers. You need to be numbers one or two in each market really to be sure of making money. Vodaphone is there already - Orange is not - it remains to be seen. You know this is a high risk investment but potentially high return.

LEWIS And do you see this as has been said by some people as like one of the great privatisations of the 80s - is it that big a deal?

COOK For the UK investor not a sort of "must have" like the privatisations - definitely not - much higher risk, but the currency risk - the fact is the company - it's not making that much money at all yet, so a long way from being that confident about recommending it.

LEWIS And do you see the departure of its chief executive Hans Snook as significant - he's been a very important character in the development of Orange and its huge growth - he's now going. Would that be a note of caution for you?

COOK It's clearly always a concern when any charismatic chief executive leaves a company, but any company should always be bigger than any one person. It's undoubtedly the case that he's done a great job at building a very strong brand - particularly in the UK - with French - with France telecom backing the company they have now got the ability to take this into a different league of business.

LEWIS Well live now to our Bath studio to talk to Janette Colloby a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the seven brokers closely involved in selling Orange shares to the public. Janette, high risk - part of a portfolio of shares - not a share for a amateur to buy - do you share those views about the Orange flotation?

COLLOBY I think basically yes it is fairly high risk because it's in the telcommunications sector which everyone knows last year had quite a fall in the stock market. What we are seeing though this year is a bit of a rival since New Year - and a bit of optimism coming through now - now that some of the valuations are a bit lower.

LEWIS But there's a danger isn't there - this is being very much sold to the public to Orange phone users who probably haven't got any other shares in many cases - don't you think this is a danger of being a mis-sold share?

COLLOBY It could be, but I think people have to remember that with something like Orange and any telecommunications companies that, you have to really look at the investment as being a medium term investment, not a short term, and basically not look at the papers every day and check where your shares are. Due to the volatility in the market and the fluctuations you have to really sit back and wait for them to invest in the networks - and to get the third generation licence costs out of the way and start making revenues.

LEWIS Yes these were the big costs for the new licences for third generation phones and of course we're not quite sure what they're going to do or if there's a profit in them are we?

COLLOBY We're not sure at the moment no. But it looks as though - I mean going forward a lot of these telecommunications companies do look as though they will succeed and start to bear fruit - it's just a question of waiting.

LEWIS And what are the practicalities if people do want to go for this - what do they have to do?

COLLOBY Basically they have two options - for the people who only want to invest below £1000 you can go through Computer Share - who are the share information office handling the applications - you can then apply for £250 worth , £500 or £750 worth. Alternatively you can go through one of the nominated brokers - and it's a minimum amount then of £1,000 and it goes up in various different increments from there. They won't actually be charged for buying the shares in the first place.

LEWIS Janette Colloby from Hargreaves Lansdown, thanks, and we did invite Orange to put up their new chief executive, or any other director to talk to us but they were all too busy. If you'd like more information about investing your money in a socially responsible way, what used to be called ethical investment, then you can listen on Monday afternoon when I'll be here with our phone-in MONEY BOX LIVE looking at socially responsible investments. Well this week the government unveiled proposals that it hopes will stop consumers being ripped off by credit card operators. In future, cards deemed to be fair will get a stamp of government approval known as a cat mark. Chris is with me - you've been looking into this Chris?

A'COURT Yes Paul, this week the Treasury issued a consultation document outlining how it thinks decent value credit cards should operate - cards that won't hook wink us as the government puts it. At present card companies are expert at maximising their profits and stoking up our debt using all manner of ruses.

LEWIS Well as you've exposed on Money Box several times - and how will these proposals help change that?

A'COURT Well first its proposed there should be no membership fees, so Barclay Card's £10 annual fee would rule out Britain's most popular card from getting approval to start with. Then statements should show the annual percentage rate not the much lower monthly rate that looks better and encourages people to borrow more and if you miss or are late making a payment there should be a maximum penalty charge, but it's suggested that this could be £20 - simply confirming the amount some cards are already charging and which is already being criticised as being too high.

LEWIS Surely though the most important thing people need to know is whether they're being charged a reasonable rate of interest on money they borrow - are interest rates going to be controlled?

A'COURT Well you're right - there's a huge range of interest rates from nothing at all to a massive 30% on credit cards and that's five times the Bank of England's base rate. People are often tricked into signing up to eye catching opening deals at a low rate - they run up or transfer debt and then find their interest payments are being increased. Now to stop the tricksters the Economic Secretary Melanie Johnson told me she's considering imposing a maximum rate of interest for cards seeking the official recommendation, but her difficulty is deciding what that maximum rate should be:

JOHNSON If you make it too tight then either you end up with very few cat standard products or you end up with excluding possibly a section of those who might want to have a cat credit card because they wouldn't be necessarily accepted for one.

A'COURT She wasn't giving much away so I asked the Economic Secretary again what a fair maximum credit card interest rate should be? 10, 20, surely not 30%?

JOHNSON You're trying to tempt me into a discussion of exact amounts and I'm not going to be drawn into a discussion of exact amounts. We know that there are people providing credit at half the rate of others or a quarter of the rate even of others. Most consumes are not I think aware of the degree of variability there is at the moment. With a cat standard product they'll be aware of what they're getting - there won't be any hood winking and people will be aware of the fact that if they go for a cat standard product they won't have any surprises.

A'COURT The Economic Secretary also told me Paul that she's considering an alternative to setting a maximum rate of interest - if a card promises to move rates up and down in line with the Bank of England's interest rate changes, then it might also get the government thumbs up.

LEWIS But what's been the reaction to all this Chris?

A'COURT Well interestingly the major card companies who this is deigned to crack down on remember, have said they rather like the plan. They feared it would be tougher on charging. Others like Ian McQueen Simms of Card Check which is an independent organisation that monitors how card companies can fleece us believes it's all rather toothless.

SIMMS A voluntary cat mark or code of conduct is really meaningless - it's simply enshrines a lot of what are current practices. We're concerned by yet another consultation document which means it will be discussed to death. There's more paralysis by analysis. And during all this time there will be billions added on to the consumer debt.

A'COURT But the Consumer Association's Mick McAteer is more positive - he believes that this week's proposals can help stop the rip off merchants.

MCATEER The last time we did our calculations we found that credit card customers in the UK could save around 4 million pounds a day in interest and charges by switching to a best buy. So I do think the cat standards will make a difference. I think there will be a bit of shock to the more established companies, I think when it becomes really clear just how bad value the products are then I think we will see people shifting to more competitive cards.

A'COURT Now it's hoped that the first approved cards will be around by the end of the year but crucial to this will be whether the card companies themselves feel they need to bother to offer these fairer terms - they're not going to be compelled to change. They could choose to continue doing just what they're doing already Paul - fair or unfair.

LEWIS And we'll be following that story during the year - thanks for that Chris. Now, if you're thinking of taking early retirement on grounds of sickness or disability you could be able to claim nearly £70 a week from the Department of Social Security. It's called incapacity benefit, but if you don't claim it soon you may lose money. If you wait until after April you'll be caught by changes that will cut the amount of benefit paid. More than 20,000 people this year alone will be paid less money and the DSS has told Money Box the government will save around 50 million pounds. Well with me is Gary Vaux who's head of the Money Advice Unit at Hertfordshire County Council. Gary, who is affected, who should get their claims in?

VAUX Well I think there are really two groups who need to be looking at this - one are people who should be on incapacity benefit already. These are people who are long term sick - maybe still getting money from their employer and they don't realise they should be on incapacity benefit. The second group are people who maybe, as you say, have some option about when they retire on ill health grounds and claim their incapacity benefit because the change is very very important.

LEWIS And it's an important change because people can lose money - under what circumstances do they lose money?

VAUX Well the change comes in from the 6th April and anybody who claims incapacity benefit after that date will find that if they get an occupational pension or a private pension that their incapacity benefit will be cut by 50 pence for every pound that they have above 85. Now that sounds a very complicated formula.

LEWIS So if they've got a pension of less than £85 a week. They needn't worry?

VAUX No problem.

LEWIS But more than that - and it's important to stress isn't it - this is only people who claim after that date - the 600 and odd thousand who already get it aren't affected?

VAUX That's right. That's right - and really the trick is to try and get yourself into that 600,000 before the 6th April.

LEWIS So get your claims in now. And there's also news this week about a much simpler claim form for people over 60 to get the minimum income guarantee. Now the government's put a lot of money into trying to get people to claim this extra help, income support, as we used to call it and there's a very long claim form - we've got them both here in the studio - 40 pages - hundreds of question in the original one - how much better is the new one?

VAUX The new one's considerably better. I mean they've cut it down from 40 pages to 10. They've cut out - you counted them I think 200 questions have disappeared. There is a danger still I think that what will happen is people will fill in this simpler claim form and all that will happen is it will trigger additional questions form social security anyway. But at least the original claim form is going to be a lot lot shorter.

LEWIS So although it's been cut from 40 pages to 10 and yes I did sadly ,I did count the questions -there were 327 - now there's 124 I think - it's still a lot to get through and you still have to reveal your personal circumstances, your savings, your income and that's one of the things people don't like isn't it?

VAUX That's right. I mean the government are going through a big issue trying to re-brand income support for pensioners by calling it minimum income guarantee - making the claim form simpler, but the basic problem is pensioners don't like means tests and however you dress it up, however you change the form, that's still the basic principle - a lot of pensioners find questions about savings, questions about who lives with you intrusive and they don't want to know.

LEWIS And the government's also trying to encourage people with children to claim not a benefit this time but tax relief - it's a new children's tax credit which starts in April and yet only half of those who could get it are claiming?

VAUX Yes I think there's been - again another problem of branding here. The government introduced the working families tax credit two years ago, and it's been a relatively successful benefit for people on a low to middle income. Then they've introduced the children's tax credit from this April - people are entitled to both, but many people believe it's an either or.

LEWIS Okay - a quick round up of all those things Gary - let's just go back to the first story - incapacity benefit - the people who should claim, what should they do?

VAUX They need to get an incapacity claim in before the 6th April if at all possible. They should seek advice maybe from their employer, from a trade union, from a citizen's advice bureau - if they're considering ill health retirement or claiming incapacity benefit anyway - they need to get their claims in before the 6th April.

LEWIS So do it now - Gary Vaux from Hertfordshire County Council, thanks very much for talking to us about that. And now the latest on Equitable Life - the insurer brought near to collapse before Christmas and whether that vital buyer could yet to be found to protect policy holders' interest - Chris, you've been looking into this?

A'COURT Yes a new name has entered the frame this week Paul - as they say - it's the Halifax. It's confirmed that it's considering buying some parts of Equitable. Money Box understands that includes Equitable sales force and the people who manage its investments, but Halifax tells us that it's not interested in buying the whole of Equitable.

LEWIS So how if it does go ahead, how would this help Equitable's worried million odd policy holders?

A'COURT If the sale goes ahead and there could be an announcement as soon as this coming week we understand, the money from selling those parts of Equitable would go into the with profits fund so anyone with money invested in Equitable with profits products could benefit, but the major problem still remains, how and who will pay the £1.5 billion, or possibly more, promised to guaranteed annuity rate policy holders? Speculation that those liabilities may be capped still hasn't come to anything, and until that's sorted everything's uncertain.

LEWIS Okay well we'll keep you up to date on that in future weeks, but the crisis at Equitable Life of course has put the spotlight on one group of people who normally stay very much in the background: actuaries. Equitable invented the job of actuary and they're at the heart of the life insurance business. I went into the City to talk to the President of the Faculty of Actuaries - David Kingston. How did he feel about being the centre of attention?

KINGSTON Well I don't think this is particularly good news for the actuarial profession. The actuary profession by and large goes about its business relatively quietly - it's a relatively small profession - about 6 or 7,000 members in the UK and thrives at not making a lot of noise let's say. Clearly the situation in the Equitable is not satisfactory from the profession's point of view - a company where a large amount of actuaries work - the largest life company is not in as good a state as it was 5 - 10 years ago and that obviously arouses some questions and we'll have to sharpen some things up for the future.

LEWIS What dos an actuary actually do?

KINGSTON The catch line for actuaries is that we make financial sense of the future - so traditionally actuaries were very much involved in the life insurance industry - that's where the profession arose 150 years ago. They were the people who by and large set up and ran life insurance companies using some of the earliest data which was available countrywide which was mortality data.

LEWIS What is so crucial about that information to the performance of all our investments?

KINGSTON If you look at the role within a life insurance company, of an actuary, there are two principle roles - one is actually valuing the assets and liabilities because remember the liabilities have promises into the future - which have to be turned into financial value today. The second part of it is in the setting of premium rates - if you were selling pure life insurance you've got to determine how much you should charge now for say someone of 60 who is taking out a life insurance policy for 10 years.

LEWIS So getting that balance right - of how much you have to charge now for promises in the future must be crucial to the solvency of the companies you advise?

KINGSTON Absolutely - the role of the actuary in that context is critical. First of all that you don't make promises which you can't fulfill, and secondly that you value these promises on a continuing basis.

LEWIS So is that what went wrong at Equitable Life - promises were made that either couldn't be fulfilled or would be much more expensive to fulfill than people expected?

KINGSTON Well first of all I should say I'm not an expert in the Equitable per se and indeed we as actuaries have set up an enquiry into the situation in Equitable to see first of all what actually happened and in particular whether the guidance we gave, because we set guidance notes for appointed actuaries in life insurance companies, whether that was followed, and whether it was sufficient. It's clear that they gave a guarantee to certain policy holders which turned out to be much more expensive than people had foretold, but clearly in retrospect given the Lord's judgement, it wasn't the correct thing to do, but who's to know the way that the House of Lords was to judge.

LEWIS David Kingston, the president of the Faculty of Actuaries - out of the spotlight at last. Now before Christmas Money Box ran a story about Egg - it had offered a credit card through the website of Boots the Chemist with a 0% interest rate and 0% on any debt transferred to the Egg card from another card. It seemed the best deal on the market except it was a mistake. But 1500 sharp eyed people spotted the offer before the error was corrected. Initially Egg refused to give them 0% on their transferred debt but after Money Box intervened Egg promised on this programme that the offer would be honored for those who had already applied. Here's what Andy Thompson, a director at Egg said to me in December:

THOMPSON As and when they return their agreement to us we'll be contacting, advising them that the offer that was put on the site will be fully available to them.

LEWIS And how many people is that?

THOMPSON We're still waiting for the final analysis but it's somewhere in the region of about 1500.

LEWIS And there's no chance that these people, these 1500 lucky or clever souls will find that you're a bit stricter about accepting their application?

THOMPSON Not at all no. They've already been through the application process already and we're merely simply waiting for them to return their agreement to confirm they want the card and at that stage we'll tell them how they will get access to this offer.

LEWIS Well things haven't gone quite as smoothly as Andy Thompson said they would. The man who brought this to our attention was Money Box listener Mike Gemmell - when he got his bill in January though Egg had charged interest - in full on the debt balance he'd transferred to the zero percent Boots card, and it wasn't easy to convince Egg's staff that he should have got zero percent as Egg had promised.

GEMMELL I mentioned my moments of fame when I was on the Money Box programme along with an Egg representative and there it was stated that it would be zero APR and eventually I managed to get somebody to acknowledge the fact that I was entitled to zero APR. The interest that had been added would be removed from my statements so I'm now waiting for my February statement to arrive to ensure that the interest charged has been removed.

LEWIS But Mike was to get a worse shock - on Monday he received this letter from Egg:

EGG STATEMENT Dear Mr.Gemmel, your balance has increased to an unacceptable level. Your card has been suspended. All future transactions will be rejected.

LEWIS Frightening stuff especially as Mike and his wife hadn't spent a penny on their new Boots Egg card.

GEMMELL We were shocked by the letter because it came out of the blue and I knew, and my wife knew, that we hadn't spent that amount of money. We'd never used the card apart from having the initial balance transfer.

LEWIS Well Andy Thompson from Egg wouldn't come on the programme this time to explain what had gone wrong, but in a statement he explained that the balance Mike had transferred to his Boots Egg card was in fact debited twice and that took him above his credit limit - hence the letter. He said that because Mike was a special case his case had to be dealt with manually, but by mistake his balance was transferred once automatically and then once again by hand. The same thing happened in around ten cases out of the 1500 who Money Box won this original victory for. Andy Thompson apologised unreservedly on behalf of Egg but Mike told us although he'd been offered some compensation he wondered if it had all been worthwhile.

GEMMELL As a means of compensation they've offered me zero APR for my balance transfer and new purchases for the rest of the year. I did say to the guy yeah okay thanks very much but this should never have happened and it does make me a wee bit happier having this zero APR, but that wasn't the point of my getting in touch with Money Box. It was the fact that these things shouldn't happen - somebody's been very lax in their job to my mind. I'll certainly be monitoring my Egg account just to make sure that I am getting zero APR. I'll be keeping an eye on just exactly what's been happening more so than I feel I should need to.

LEWIS Mike Gemmell. And in the nicest possible way let's hope he doesn't have to come on to Money Box again. And Chris, tax again - more than a million people now are thought to be facing fines for not getting their tax forms in on time?

A'COURT Yes the deadline for getting forms in past this week of course Paul - the Inland Revenue has said it's count has indicated about a million forms are outstanding though not of course yours because you make a bit of an outing of it and take it along personally on the last day to the office?

LEWIS I was there at lunchtime on Wednesday - yes I enjoyed that. Fines for tardiness though, they do kick in soon?

A'COURT By the middle of the month people will start receiving letters saying they're being given the automatic £100 fine for getting the form in late.

LEWIS Thanks Chris and that's all we have time for today. If you'd like more information about any of the items on today's programme you can call the BBC Action line on 0800 044 044. Calls are free on 0800 044 044 or of course you can look at our website : www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox which will be updated shortly after the programme. You can keep up with personal finance stories throughout the week by watching our colleagues on Working Lunch - BBC 2 at 12.30. And as I said I'm here on Monday with our phone-in MONEY BOX LIVE on ethical or socially responsible investment. You can e-mail questions now on moneybox@bbc.co.uk and it's the same address to tell us about any of your financial problems. I'm back with MONEY BOX at the same time next week. Today the reporter was Chris A'Court. The producer was Paul O'Keeffe and I'm Paul Lewis.

Further contact details:

Orange Flotation

A million small investors have had their appetites whetted by the Orange flotation. But will the future be bright for them? For more information, click on the link (top right) to visit their website. Or you can telephone the Orange Share Information Line on 0800 085 8888

Incapacity Benefit Changes

For more information, click on the link (top right) to visit the Department of Social Security's website.

CAT Standard Credit Cards The government's extending its CAT marks to credit cards, further details are available on the HM Treasury web site. Click on the link (top right).

Global Aircare at Bampton is moving to a plant in Hull and has issued staff with 90-day redundancy notices.

The company makes supermarket brand air fresheners and is blaming falling profits for the decision.

Although unemployment in the town is only about 1%, most of the jobs are in care, administration and shop work.

Some local people have described the news as "devastating" and there are fears that employees will have to travel some distance to find similar jobs, or possibly leave the area.
]]> http://mosaicom.wordpress.com/?p=12 Fri, 23 May 2008 02:31:11 +0000 mosaicom http://mosaicom.wordpress.com/?p=12 A friend of ours recently applied for a job. He had to write a sequel to War and Peace in addressing the selection criteria, attended an exhaustive interview process, then was told he would receive an answer in a week. He did. It was by email.

We consider that to be very poor brand management. Firstly, candidates went to a lot of time and effort to put an application together. If a person does not have the luxury of being able to cut and paste, it can take days to write. Secondly, a person often goes to the expense of buying a new outfit to front up to the interview. Often they have to pay car parking, which is an added expense. Sometimes, they also have to take time off work in their current job, so have pay docked. Thirdly, it is just plain rude. It sends the message that people are a dispensable commodity that can be treated shabbily. And if this is the is the message a candidate receives in the interview process, then your brand and your reputation are at risk.

Businesses put a lot of effort into their brands. It's a pity to sully a reputation with poor recruitment processes.

Because the process of determining and managing how employees and potential employees engage with an organisation is necessarily an ongoing, long-term activity, it would be a tragic waste if the progress currently being made by so many employers was to be interrupted as a result of cost-cutting measures. Indeed, short-term actions could well turn out to be a false economy. Much of the working population is feeling the effects of increases in the costs of fuel, food, energy, mortgages and taxation; organisations that can communicate with empathy and motivate their people to give of their best at times like these will win huge support. It is also vital that they maintain a positive image externally in order to attract the new talent needed to make the most of changing conditions.

BIG pat on the back to Nick. It's rare that reactionary cost cutting measures (with respect to employee engagement and retention) work in times of economic downturn. Employees worldwide expect more from their employers these days, those employers who keep up the efforts in the downtimes will surely prosper in the long term?
Adam Shay

It must be really hard to be an insurance agency.  One, no on really wants your product.  People feel compelled to have it based on multi "what if?" scenarios.  Two, how do you advertise a product that no one really wants?  Hats off to the RAA  who are quite creative with the whole George says thing (although apparently no one knows that George is selling insurance!).

SGIC is not in the same league. We are know they are trying to say that they can compete with other insurers, but all they do is make themselves look like bad employers.

We'd hate to work there

 If you think about Corporate Social Responsibility, where one of the rules is moral management, then SGIC fails miserably.  We would hate to work in an environment where everyone is trying to out do each other.  It would be very stressful, and we would imagine that communication - at all levels - would suffer as a result.

And if SGIC want to attract staff to the organisation, they haven't thought about the sort of person who would be relish that environment (even if it's not really like that - we know it's just an ad).  How would women (or men for that matter) with family responsibilities be perceived?  How would part-time employees access promotion opportunities?  How would young people fare?  Is this the sort of environment that sets up good practices for future leaders?  We don't think so.

We would really like to have a chat to their brand manager and get some insight into their thinking.

We hold regular seminars which focus on the issues challenging you, and give you the chance to shape the debate, exchange ideas and network with like-minded professionals.

[slideshare id=385095&doc=employeebranding-1209750395156196-8&w=425]

Employee branding: wishful thinking or competitive edge?

"Is employee branding just a Utopian vision that people inside an organisation will behave in line with the promise it makes externally?

How can communications professionals work with internal stakeholders, add value and inspire employees to deliver that promise?"

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[slideshare id=385094&doc=brandnewpres-1209750414963007-8&w=425]

Putting employees first

,,“Internally, a brand is a symbol of cohesion, a rallying point that is ‘home’ and enables people to recognise other members of their company’s ‘tribe’,” says brand guru. Wally Olins. This seminar explored how to get employees to feel they ’own’ the brand; how to manage the ‘rebels’; how to engage front line workers and measure success.''

And many many more...

McGraw Hill, prin 1985, a publicat un print, devenit acum un exemplu classic al eficientei publicitatii media, portretizand un client iritat asezat intr-un scaun de banker, continand mesajul de mai sus. Implicatiile acestei reclame publicitare sunt acelea de a promova importanta publicitatii in companiile McGraw Hill, atat in relatia cu potentialii marketeri (clienti) cat si cu cei existenti. Conotatiile acestui mesaj sunt valabile nu numai pentru publicitatea scrisa ci pentru oricare alta din multele metode prin care o companie poate ajunge la consumatorii potentialii sau existenti prin intermediul unui mesaj. Ideea centrala care se poate desprinde din aceste cuvinte frumos spuse ma duce cu gandul la faptul ca: daca o companie nu depune eforturi in a-si spune povestea, in a-si comunica identitatea (le raison d'etre), cum ar putea potentialii consumatori sa stie de existenta acesteia? Astfel, a-si mentiona ca este deosebit de important ca o companie sa aiba o personalitate sau un brand diferite de ceea ce produce (dar in acelasi timp sa proiecteze o imagine unitara), de a-si forma o perceptie in mintea consumatorilor chiar inainte de a intra in contact cu acestia prin intermediul produselor/serviciilor. Din acest motiv brandingul este esential in eficienta campaniilor de marketing. Mai mult, intr-o era in care sectorul serviciilor depaseste ca importanta si pondere sectorul productiei de bunuri, primele impresii ale oamenilor fata de un anumit brand sunt puternic influentate de angajatii cu care interactioneaza. In consecinta angajatii sunt interfata, reprezentarea vizuala a brandului, iar modul in care ei se comporta, atitudinile, credintele etc. acestora creaza o imagine in mintea consumatorului despre valorile brandului. Doar printr-o intelegere comuna a identitatii brandului din partea tuturor angajatilor, o consecventa si consistenta atat a comunicatiilor interne cat si a celor externe... in definitiv un sistem (oameni, politici&proceduri, instrumente) care sa sustina brandul, intern, experienta consumatorului va fi nealterata, incredibila. Brand mangement=people management, right? and the brand sells.

.

[slideshare id=375434&doc=richard-mosley-employer-branding-masterclass-keynotes-1209334130211814-9&w=425]

Employer brand keynotes -Richard Mosley

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[slideshare id=375435&doc=retention-engagement-version-4-1209333909855133-8&w=425]

Retention and Engagement - Ernest&Young

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[slideshare id=375436&doc=employer-branding-presentationcocacola-1209333853534722-8&w=425]

Re-Defining Direction - The Coca Cola Company

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Cat despre carte, mi-am propus sa o recitesc si sper sa reusec sa-i fac un review.

Dar pana atunci cititi ce s-a scris pana acum despre ea. Fie ca lucrezi in HR, Departamentul de comunicatii interne, Brand Management sau pur si simplu esti pasionat de brand, branduri si branding aceasta carte este o lectie buna despre "Employer brand, theory and practice".

Strategic HR Review, Nov/Dec 2005, by Salkey, Josie

]]> http://startsnakken.wordpress.com/?p=24 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:33:26 +0000 Jesper http://startsnakken.wordpress.com/?p=24 Nykredit går galt i byen med Facebook side og jeg giver gode råd.

En 'sponsored story' med overskriften "Tænk nyt - Bliv fan af Nykredit" dukkede op i min news feed på Facebook i dag.

Det lød umiddelbart ikke så tillokkende, men der stod også noget om en konkurrence, så jeg klikkede alligevel nysgerrigt videre og kom hertil.

Det, jeg fandt, var Nykredits page på Facebook kaldet "Job i Nykredit". Ved første øjekast ser jeg både videoer med medarbejdere, en stor konkurrence om at lave en ny "Tænk Nyt" reklamefilm, invitationer til virksomhedspræsentationsevents, fotoalbums og et diskussionsforum. Og så tænkte jeg: "Fedt! Endelig en dansk virksomhed, der rykker på Facebook og tilsyneladende gør et ordentligt stykke arbejde ud af det!"

Men så begynder advarselslamperne at blinke. Der er kun 142 medlemmer - 'fans' som Facebook så åndssvagt har valgt at døbe dem - på siden. Til trods for at konkurrencen om at lave en ny reklamefilm har kørt siden februar, er der kun ét bidrag - lavet af nogle knægte, der øjensynligt har haft det skægt, men som næppe vinder en reklamepris foreløbigt.

Videoerne med medarbejdere fra Nykredit ligner et forsøg på at tegne en alsidig virksomhed med diversitet i de ansatte og mange karrieremuligheder, men de savner noget originalitet. Og så er der det, som virker mest underligt på mig: i diskussionsforummet stiller Nykredit de besøgende spørgsmålet: "Hvad er det vigtigste for dig, når du søger job?" med underspørgsmålene "Hvad brænder du for?" og "Hvordan fanger Nykredit bedst din interesse?" Det er der ikke en eneste, der har svaret på.

Siden har været oppe og køre siden februar 2008, men har altså kun 142 medlemmer, 1 bidrag i konkurrencen og ingen kommentarer i forummet. Ikke så imponerende. Når jeg læser velkomstnoten står der:

Det lyder jo godt, men siden er kun opdateret to gange - 4. marts da der kom et event i kalenderen og 3. april, da bidraget i filmkonkurrencen landede på deres Super Wall.

Men hvor er det så, at Nykredit er gået galt i byen? Der er flere ting, men først og fremmest har de tilsyneladende manglet en klar strategi med tilstedeværelsen på Facebook.

1. "What's in it for me?"

Det første spørgsmål, Nykredit burde have spurgt sig selv, er: "hvad får de besøgende med sig?" Det er en flot side, og videoerne og virksomhedspræsentationsevents er måske interessante, hvis man kunne tænke sig at arbejde for Nykredit. Men der er intet, der belønner dem, som kommer tilbage jævnligt - ingen nyheder eller opdateringer. Og helt ærligt: hvor meget interessant nyt kan en rekrutteringsafdeling skabe?

Forummets spørgsmål er et eksempel på, at man ikke tænker i modtagere men prøver at få noget nyttigt (for Nykredit) ud af gruppen. Og det er sådan set legitimt nok - men det er stillet op på en måde, så Nykredit beder om min mening - og min dyrebare tid - og ikke giver noget igen. Den går ikke i et socialt medie, og det viser de manglende svar også.

Man bør også stille spørgsmålstegn ved valget af en page på Facebook - frem for en group eller måske noget helt andet på et andet socialt medie. Styrken ved en page er bl.a., at medlemskab automatisk fremhæver page'ns navn og ikon på hver enkelt medlems profil - så andre kan se det. Men et af de centrale elementer i Facebook er ekshibitionisme: jeg vælger at være med i en gruppe eller fan af noget, fordi det er med til at skabe den signalværdi, jeg ønsker. Derfor vil jeg gerne være fan af iPod, Hugo Boss eller Dyrenes Beskyttelse, men hvor er det fede i at være fan af "Job i Nykredit"? Så havde "Nykredit" trods alt været (en smule) bedre.

2. En video er ikke dialog

Kernen i de sociale medier er, at de ansporer dialog. Men at lægge en video på et socialt medie som Facebook er ikke at gå i dialog med de jobsøgende. Det er stadig at tale til dem - bare på en ny platform. Jeg lavede en rask søgning og fandt desværre kun en af de fire medarbejdere fra videoerne med en profil på Facebook. Hvis Nykredit virkelig ville i dialog, så havde det været oplagt, at der i slutningen af hver video havde stået: "Vil du vide mere? Så skriv til [navn] her på Facebook!" efterfulgt af et link. Når nu medarbejderne stiller op til en video, kunne man godt forestille sig, at de kunne få løn for at tage skridtet videre og blive rigtige ambassadører for Nykredit i kød og blod?

3. Viral spredning bygger på underholdning

Jeg kan naturligvis ikke vide, om siden er en stor succes og har haft tusinder af besøgende. Men brugen af en 'sponsored story' (som jeg må antage koster penge?) og den ringe aktivitet på siden tyder på, at Nykredit ikke har fået spredt ordet ordentligt. Og det er egentlig synd, for specielt ideen med konkurrencen om at lave sin egen "Tænk Nyt" video er både sjov, involverende og har nogle præmier, der sikkert kunne få folk op af stolene - hvis de havde hørt om den!

Men der er ikke noget på siden, der ansporer eller faciliterer den virale spredning. Der er ikke et konkurrenceopslag på Super Wall'en, man kan forwarde til vennerne. Der er ikke noget spas, som kan give mig positiv opmærksomhed blandt venner og kolleger ved, at jeg sender det videre. Der er ikke noget, som gør, at når man ser vennerne blive medlemmer (fans), så tænker man: "Det må jeg lige tjekke ud!"

4. De har ikke TÆNKT NYT

Mest af alt savner jeg, at Nykredit tager deres eget "Tænk Nyt" slogan alvorligt med siden og viser mig noget, jeg slet ikke har set før! Det er måske en svær udfordring for en rekrutteringsafdeling, men det er trods alt deres eget slogan og burde derfor, kunne man synes, gennemsyre alt, hvad de laver i Nykredit.

Nykredits "Tænk Nyt" portal er et rigtig godt eksempel på nytænkning og involvering af kunderne. Det bygger på samme koncept som DELL's "Idea Storm", der er et forum, hvor almindelige mennesker kommer med ideer til produkter og services, som DELL bygger videre på. Den form for nytænkning savner man på Facebook siden.

Hvis Nykredit gerne vil i dialog med flere potentielle medarbejdere og have nogle flere bidrag til deres reklamefilmskonkurrence, kan de fx overveje følgende:

Nå ud til jeres medarbejderes netværk

Der er over 500 Nykredit medarbejdere med profiler på Facebook - start der. Igennem den interne kommunikation i virksomheden kan man opfordre medarbejderne til at medvirke. Det vil også helt automatisk fungere som et kvalitetsfilter, for ting der ikke er sjove, interessante og godt lavet, gider man ikke give videre.

Prøv ikke at nå alt på en gang

Det er svært at samle en god konkurrence, noget saglig information om Nykredit som arbejdsplads og så et cool fan-koncept under samme hat. Prøv at tænke de forskellige mål igennem og så lægge strategien (en gang til). For hvert budskab Nykredit vil formidle, skal der gerne være én klar kommunikationsindsats. Det kan fx være, at konkurrencen er bedre tjent med at køre sit eget liv på sin egen side (eller på MySpace?), hvor den kan fungere som et element i Nykredits branding aktiviteter.

Gør det sjovt

En medarbejdervideo, der fortæller hvor fede muligheder der er i Nykredit, forventer jeg at finde på Nykredits egen hjemmeside under HR. Det er ren markedsføring af den slags, man selv kan opsøge, hvis man mangler informationer. Hvis Nykredit skal bruge et socialt medie til at vise mig, at de er en fed virksomhed at arbejde i, vil jeg se noget, som er virkeligt. Hvorfor lader man ikke afdelingerne dyste om at lave den fedeste (sjove) video omkring, hvad det vil sige at være en del af Nykredits team? Det ville sætte ansigter på virksomheden på en helt anden måde og garanteret også være sjovt for medarbejderne - hvilket igen er med til at brande Nykredit.

Brug hvad I allerede har

Der er allerede over 140 medlemmer, som I kan gå i gang med at tale med. Hvorfor ikke spørge dem, hvorfor de er blevet medlemmer, hvad de gerne vil have mere af på siden og hvad de evt. ville være interesserede i ift en ansættelse i Nykredit?

Gå i dialog

Dette er faktisk det vigtigste af alt. Hvis Nykredit skal have udbytte af at være på Facebook og ikke bare have et statisk, virtuelt visitkort liggende, så skal de i gang med at tale med folk. Nykredit bruger i forvejen blogs og RSS-feeds. Den slags kan integreres på Facebook fx via FriendFeed, der fås som application. Hvis Nykredit havde en personprofil, man kunne "være venner med", kunne man i FriedFeed se, når Nykredit blogger, uploader Flickr billeder, lægger videoer på YouTube, bruger del.icio.us til at bogmærke spændende emner på Internettet og mange andre ting, der ansporer interaktion med Nykredit, fordi man får pirret sin nysgerrighed.

Facebook giver også muligheder for at bruge polls, så man kan lave meningsmålinger (der er nemmere at forholde sig til end et spørgsmål i et diskussionsforum og giver øjeblikkelig belønning i form af en svarstatistik). Som en branding gimmick kunne man lave en "Hvilken slags Nykredit medarbejder er du?"-quiz, for selv om mange Facebook brugere efterhånden siger nej pr. automatik til nye, hjernedøde tidsrøvere, så er quizzer på grund af konkurrenceelementet stadig populære som korte afbræk i hverdagen.

Men man skal have bestemt sig for, hvad det er man vil opnå - hvad man vil i dialog om - for der er ikke nogen tvivl om, at det koster lidt ekstra ressourcer at være i dialog.

Så Tænk Nyt Nykredit! - og skab værdi for Facebook brugerne. Så kommer de også til jer.

En meses posteriores la publicación va anunciando listas específicas de Top 10 para determinadas dimensiones: mujeres ejecutivas, latinos, LGBT (por cierto, todas aquellas compañías que no ofrecen beneficios de salud a las parejas de sus empleados, con independencia de la orientación sexual, son automáticamente excluidas del Top 50), asiáticos, afro-americanos, personas con diversidad funcional... Este año, por primera vez , también tendrán una lista de "Diversidad Global" que supongo se refiere a actuaciones fuera de Estados Unidos, lo que confirmaría mi percepción del interés creciente de las compañías por globalizar sus prácticas de diversidad en todo el mundo.

El fenómeno de las listas de "mejores empresas" va en aumento. Son por un lado un escaparate, una forma de mostrarse ante potenciales empleados y clientes como empresas de referencia en cuanto a su entorno de trabajo. Pero también son una herramienta poderosa de cambio organizativo; una forma de compararse con los demás que genera interés por no quedarse atrás e impulsa la implantación de nuevas políticas y prácticas.

A menudo se oyen voces críticas sobre el valor de estas iniciativas, como la lista Best Place to Work, o los Premios Empresa y Sociedad 2008 que acaban de ser anunciados. No es infrecuentre encontrar empleados en empresas galardonadas y bien situadas en los rankings, que narran realidades alejadas del discurso corporativo y vidas casi casi miserables. Y aún así el valor de las listas es incuestionable porque tarde o temprano la empresa tiene que alinear lo que muestra hacia afuera con su realidad interna o pondrá en riesgo su reputación corporativa. Además es frecuente que la metodología de estas listas incorpore una encuesta directa a una muestra de empleados así que si su percepción general no es positiva la empresa tendrá imposible hacerse un hueco entre las mejores.