Is your employer brand REAL?
Breakfast workshop with Simon Barrow
A mature, effective and REAL employer brand has never been as important as it is today, with the economic uncertainty making it essential for companies to engage and retain their best people. Yet the employer brand – or more specifically, employer brand management – is still fighting to be included in the annual business strategy and therefore securing buy-in and support across the whole organisation.
Simon Barrow from People in Business works on employer brand management with large international organisations and has seen the great successes that come when companies change their approach and create real employer brands. Join us on Wednesday 13th June 2012 to hear Simon talking about the challenges and opportunities facing large organisations on their journey to create a genuine, sustainable employer brand.
To request for more information, please email colette.macie@crf-uk.com or call Colette on 020 8387 1413.
Use technology, research data to build engagement
Findings from workshop with David Fairhurst
Engagement across multiple sites starts with creating fusion between what the company needs and what employees value, says David Fairhurst of McDonald’s Europe.
If the goal of a business is increased customer visits, greater sales, and higher profits, how does HR help deliver? David Fairhurst, chief people officer for McDonald’s Europe, talked about how the McDonald’s HR team addressed staff engagement in 2005 when he first joined as Vice President of People. The steps they took ultimately enabled the organisation to increase customer loyalty, translating to higher sales and profits.
At a breakfast workshop hosted by Britain’s Top Employers at the offices of the Telegraph Media Group in central London on 18th May 2011, Fairhurst spoke to a group of 50 HR directors and executives about the case for building staff engagement.
The first step was to determine what staff qualities McDonald’s needed in order to grow the business. Fairhurst called these qualities the 3 Cs – Committed People, Competence, and Confidence.
Next step was to ask their employees then what they valued about working at McDonald’s. The company called these emerging values the 3 Fs – Family & Friends (everyone feels part of the team), Flexibility (work fits into lifestyle) and Future (growing and progressing by learning skills).
The challenge, said Fairhurst, was to create a fusion between the 3 Cs and the 3 Fs, such that McDonald’s was able to increase staff engagement over the next seven years.
McDonald’s used technology as a key enabler, allowing the company to create a sense of family in a ‘digital home’ with social networking opportunities, and giving employees the ability to manage schedules and learn new skills.
The company also promoted its employer brand in the wider world and worked with external suppliers to this end. This enhanced the perception of McDonald’s 85,000 staff in the UK on what the company delivers to its employees.
Fairhurst also encouraged proving the business case to senior management in order to sustain commitment from the business.
The results for McDonald’s have been dramatic. Increased staff engagement halved crew turnover, from 80% in 2004 down to 38% in 2010. Today McDonald’s UK continues to grow at a tremendous rate, with 18 quarters of consecutive growth and creating 5,000 new jobs over the past year.