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How significant is it
for the HR department of an organisation to establish itself as
a brand? “Absolutely necessary in today’s times,”
comes the unanimous answer from most HR managers and industry observers.
The past one-year has seen an increasing number of companies focus
on creating a unique ‘HR brand’ for their organisation.
Traditionally viewed as a powerful marketing
tool to manage customer perception, ‘branding’ is being
increasingly used by HR departments as a tool to recruit new people
and establish its position in the organisation. This is a reflection
of the changing role of HR—from a recruiting entity to a business
partner, internal consultant, operational as well as an administrative
expert. In addition, there is also a continuous effort to establish
strong partnerships with both internal and external customers.
The need for HR branding
 A
brand is a product, service or concept that is publicly distinguished
from other products, services or concepts, so that it can be easily
communicated and helps in establishing a unique identity. It is
a promise to the customers that a specific level of value, quality
and service will be received. The most important point to be noted
is that ‘building a brand’ is a corporate strategic issue
and not a short-term tactical activity.
In case of HR, the past few years have
seen dramatic changes in its perception or outlook by corporate
leaders. From just being looked as a support function, HR today
is viewed as a key player in driving corporate success and customer
satisfaction. “In today’s knowledge driven economy, HR
plays a strategic role in bringing in the right kind of people into
the organisation. In a sense, HR is the first face of an organisation
that a new prospective employee sees,” says Dhruv Shenoy, vice
president of marketing for Monster.com. According to V Kartikeyan,
director of HR for Texas Instruments (India), investing in brand-creation
for HR is of paramount importance for an organisation. “Market
research has shown us many times over that strong brands do contribute
to strong competitive presence. In that sense, in HR’s new
avatar, the importance of branding HR follows quite as a corollary,”
he says. In the present times, the role of the HR manager is more
of public relations skills combined with strong problem-solving
skills.
Shenoy however points out that while the
top management is able to recognise the HR team’s contribution
to the business objectives of the company, by and large, other employees
tend to overlook its role in the success of the organisation. “I
think the biggest hurdle is the fact that HR departments derive
their importance by becoming ‘power centres’ and that
has to change. It has to be become a partner as the other functions
are, than just remaining a support arm,” says Gautam Sinha,
CEO of TVA Infotech, a recruiting and consulting firm.
To make the right impact on the target
audience, the HR head needs to have a good understanding of the
business and its future course. This can help him/her increase the
value and stature of the HR function within and outside the organisation.
Hemant Sharma, head of HR department at Sun Microsystems, says,
“A good balance between task and people-orientation, responsiveness
to employee issues and concerns, coaching and training people managers
to take responsibility of people-related issues can help in establishing
a good brand.”
Upinder Zutshi, COO of Infinite Computer
Solutions, adds, “Various Quality models also depict concentration
on the people development factor in traditional or in non-traditional
segment. In the IT and ITES sector the SEI-PCMM and PCMM-I models
have their key performance areas on these aspects. All organisations
are progressing towards the P-CMM practices and its certification
in order to earn the credibility on these attributes. Customers
will also feel comfortable to deal with such organisations as the
stability and maturity of the work force will indicate the stability
of the organisation for its delivery.”
Achieving brand success through employees
A brand is an external manifestation of
several internal processes of a company. The stronger the internal
processes the better the chance of the brand getting stronger. Time
and lack of a continuous brand perspective can create problems in
its success. Potential employees in the market place would like
to associate themselves with companies that have a brand of success,
leadership, people-development, and which instill a deep sense of
pride and commitment.
While HR branding has been an established
phenomenon in the Western countries, it is still to catch up with
Indian organisations. Not many HR departments market themselves
correctly, internally as well externally. However, there are few
companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, IBM, Cadence,
HP, Sun Microsystems, Wipro, Daksh, Satyam, Tata telecom, I-Flex
solutions, Texas Instruments, Polaris Software and Birlasoft, who
have successfully established their HR brands both in India and
abroad. According to Sinha, among the Indian companies Wipro and
Infosys would be the leaders in branding. In case of MNCs, it is
Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Oracle, HP and Accenture, which are the leaders.
Experts state that to reach out to all
levels of employees, the HR team has to perform the role of a facilitator
instead of enforcer. Effective communication (listening and promoting)
and educating the employees about their capabilities and potential
contributions can help strengthen the HR brand.
According to Kartikeyan, the HR manager
needs to take three steps to embed the HR brand. First is the strong
internal anchoring of HR. “HR members must have a pride in
their profession and must not be limited to activities like staffing,
training, and compensation. HR members must see themselves as architects,
not as functionaries alone,” he says Secondly, HR has to function
as the CEO’s closest ally and must extend this to each of the
business leaders within the organisation. Lastly, the HR must take
the lead in investing in ‘reflecting’ and ‘visioning’
processes in the organisation. These analysis help in understanding
the difference between what you are providing and think your organisation
wants from you, and what they say they need.
Take the case of TCS, which started its
HR branding initiative two years ago. While the company had successfully
implemented the HR policies, TCS was lacking in effective communication
with its employees across the globe. “We decided to bring about
a significant change in our communication processes, the way things
were communicated. In addition, we also decided to align the HR
and corporate communication relation to make an impact on our internal
customers,” says Atul Takle, vice president of corporate communication
at TCS. Understanding the importance of communication, the HR adopted
different PR related activities to reach out to its employees. Things
like changing the tone of communication, encouraging Friday dressing,
evolving a separate HR logo or sending them calendars (listing monthly
HR activities) has helped TCS score high on the employee satisfaction
surveys.
After getting a feel of things, the HR
team can decide which brand identity works best for their work culture
and create it. These can be taken from the basic values, which the
company stands for. For example, if the HR has identified ‘trust’
and ‘timely delivery’ as their key brand, they have to
make sure that their workforce delivers accordingly. For this, they
have to identify the typical best practices and train the workforce.
The HR policies and programmes have to be framed in such a manner
that they reinforce and promote the ‘brand behavior’ and
people think themselves as a ‘brand’. This needs to be
followed by each employee of the organisation.
However, the most important promotional
piece is the HR department itself, where they can achieve success
through their own example. In addition, the HR also has to use PR
as a major skill to make its brand visibility. Besides, communicating
it in board meetings, organisation’s newsletter and intranets,
the HR team also has to devise different employee-friendly schemes.
According to Zarir Batliwala, head of human resources for HP India,
to gauge the real experience of the employees and make an impact
of being there, the intranet acts as a great tool. In HP, individuals
can log in their complaint or request on the intranet, which is
solved in a short span of time.
Conclusion
Though still at a nascent step, market
analysts point out that this trend is expected to catch up very
fast in times to come. This will see a lot of activity in the HR
arena, with companies coming up with innovative branding exercises.
For this, the HR manager needs to have a good understanding of the
business and it future course, so that he can work out his policies
and branding excercise accordingly.
Talking about future success stories Martin
Appel, vice president for human resources at IBM India Limited says,
“Organisations which invest in hiring the best and developing
their skills, can provide a high performance culture that will be
the frontrunner. HR plays an important role in partnering, supporting
and sometimes leading the business in these areas.” It won’t
be easy, but ongoing communication, and actually meeting the organisation’s
real and expressed needs, will help HR earn respect.”
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