“Half” Joke Reveals Real HR Truth

Yesterday I met with the VP of Human Resources at a Fortune 500 company. I asked him how many people he had working for him and he said “About half.”
[sound]

Though he said it in jest, it’s no secret that workplace morale- intrinsically tied to workplace productivity, is down. In January a Conference Board survey found that only 45% of those polled were satisfied with their jobs. Last month, Addecco Group North America released results of a survey to see if American workers were still “in love” with their jobs, and only 39% said that the economic situation caused them to appreciate their jobs more.

With the economy stabilizing and in many cases improving, popular thinking is that employees will be jumping ship, and the “war for talent” will be back as a hot topic.

But what about the Loyalists. Or the Lazyists? The ones that aren’t looking for a new job or leaving any time soon. Maybe they’ve downshifted their efforts to match demand. Maybe they’ve gotten used to marching to a slower tempo. Will they wake up one Monday and start giving 110%?

The internet is full of quick, cheap and tidy ideas on how to improve workplace morale. They range from cuddles (recognition) and huddles (go-team-go) to thank-you notes, free lunches and time off for good behavior.

But I contend that these broad brush strokes do little to improve culture or morale or raise the needle of employee engagement in any significant way. (I invite you to disagree and leave a comment with your proven favorites.)

Rather, now is the time to survey your population and get a baseline understanding of the current climate.

Are your employees connected to business?
Do they understand the goals and how their work contributes to the success of the enterprise?
Do you understand the top three places they might seek employment if your organization ceased to exist, and why?
Do you have systems in place that compensate employees for accomplishing goals large and small?

If your company has “taken a break” from launching employee surveys out of fear of what they will reveal, I urge you to bring them back.

We are at the pinnacle of new and noteworthy times when HR can drive the rally, and implement focused ideas, tied to business goals that improve culture.

At the very least, you will have real insights from which to compare next year, or build a solid communications plan that drives employee engagement. (For help with survey or plan call us). At best, you have validated your own contribution to growth and revenue of the company you call home.

Later in the conversation, I asked him if he had any metrics around his recruitment advertising results. He said that he’s wasting half the money he spends- the trouble is, he doesn’t know which half. [sound]

Forget Engagement and Strive for FUNCTIONALL

The last Employee Engagement conference I attended had speakers from both Human Resources and Communications at Fortune 500 companies presenting case studies of their latest Internal Branding efforts. Based on their similarities, I deduced that the trend in Employee Communications is "I Am [insert company name]"

They must have all read the same 3-step engagement doctrine which lists the path to engagement as movement from UNDERSTANDING ("I understand how to impact the brand and the company") to DELIVERY ("I am the brand") and thought that it was as simple as fill-in-the-blank.

But, since it is the last day of February and trendwatching.com's February Brief was about FUNCTIONALL, let's brainstorm together on how we can implement cheap and/or simple ideas that keep employees committed to their employer and enhance the culture and brand.

1. Move From Message Controller to Brand Curator.

The first step is to realize that whoever you are in the organization, your role must shift from message controller to message curator. You will now facilitate the conversations, not invent them.

If you're scared already, then either you know that the talk won't be pretty or you don't know what their saying, in which case, back up a step.

-1. Conduct Focus Groups.

Even if times are bad and layoffs were deep and employees are scared, mad or sad, talk to them. They are still on your payroll and expected to contribute to the success of the organization. Ask them how they are doing that, and how derive satisfaction from doing that? Then help them tell the stories.

2. Give them some toys.

For less than $300 each, you can buy digital camcorders that tap into everyone's creativity and responsibility into bringing the brand to life. Help them through editing and enhancing but keep it real. That's what NY Utility Con Edison did - and the results are authentic movies that appear on the CE Eye channel- a popular internal video news channel. Check out this one called "Finding the Ring."

3. Tune into WII FM (What's In It For Me.)

Ok- this is only for the brave. Help your employees build and promote their personal brand. Give them professional assistance in updating their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and articulating the value that they bring to their current role. This is a radical way to become part of the dialogue thats happening without you. I contend that this will come back to you both in brand equity and the ability to utilize and deploy the right talent at the right time for every new challenge that arises.

At BRANDEMiX, we believe that companies are made up of moving parts called employees, and the easier it is for all of us to function as one, the more successful we all we be.

Let me know how it goes with your efforts in FUNCTIONALL. I want to hear your stories.

What's Your Budget for Failure?

The year was 1994 and something called a job board was being
launched- specifically CareerMosaic, named after the web browser credited for
popularizing an old thing called the Internet.

In a meeting with top executives, Bernard Hodes, a brilliant marketeer and the CEO of the agency that bore his name, shared his rationale for creating the pricing structure for his new category of recruitment advertising.

"We’ll price the postings as a $100 add-on with any newspaper ad” he said. (At the time a 1” by 3” classified ad in the NY Times on Sunday was probably about $1,500.) He continued, “Who doesn't have an extra $100 to experiment on a new media?”

Unknowingly, he was establishing a precedent for what is today a $6+ billion business. (Factoid- CareerMosaic was eventually sold to headhunter.net which was eventually bought by CareerBuilder, as of today one of the 2 giant oaks still standing.)

However, equally important was his underlying reminder that everyone has a budget for failure- aka experimentation ... a lottery ticket fund that smart people can sometimes leverage into big payouts.

I call this a budget for failure because that way if the outlay fails to generate a positive return on its investment, at least you can take solace from having known it in advance.

For me, it is the amount of money I set aside for a potential bad hire- someone who doesn’t meet my exact requirements but has a kernel of an idea that might take me new places.

It's important because the BRANDEMiX brand is a culture of ideas and execution.

Also included in my failure budget is an amount I can spend on something I’ve already tried that didn't work out. That’s also important to our brand since one of our brand pillars is “solutions that leverage technology.” In the fast changing digital world, though experience is a great teacher, it is not necessarily a great predictor of future outcomes.

Lastly, my budget for failure includes spending time and effort (time is a dollarized investment, effort is not), on new business pitches that are outside of our core capabilities. At BRANDEMiX, we are a culture of continuous learning and we often learn from succeeding at new challenges.

In case you haven’t yet drawn the connection, my budget for failure is also part of my plan for success. Without funding for my failures, I am unable to succeed at delivering my brand.

Who’s Steering Your Corporate Ship?

A leader is a tone-setter, responsible for bringing people together and setting a model of attitude and behavior. It’s the reason social movements form around charismatic luminaries, and the greatest football teams always have headstrong quarterbacks. Without a CEO who lives and embodies the brand, customers will not buy into it.

So if a CEO is the figurehead of a company’s brand, who is the figurehead of a company’s employer brand? You might guess HR or Marketing, when in fact it is again, the CEO.

Whether you subscribe to BRANDEMiX “1 brand” theory of corporate strategy or not, any branding initiative, regardless of target audience, needs to be inspired by the CEO. Employees will not rally around a brand unless a company’s culture and personality are defined at the top.

Without top down inspiration, the brand can flounder like a ship lost a sea.

So what’s HR’s role? First Mate.

HR must take the captain’s orders and radiate the brand out to the labor market and to the internal employees. Just as marketers have insight and knowledge about communicating to consumers, HR should understand better than any department how to talk to jobseekers and employees.

Figuring out the brand is the easy part – you already have it – communicating it is the creative part. It takes a constantly evolving understanding of the people you’re talking to.

As HR people do we spend enough time understanding the attitudes and behaviors of jobseekers, and more importantly our own employees? When’s the last time you did employee focus groups? Have you surveyed jobseekers? More importantly, how have you implemented any findings into the usual course of your communications? Answering these questions needs to be HR’s responsibility as part of the CEO’s marching orders for the brand.

Marketers have always relied on their ad agencies for this insight and expertise in communicating with consumers. Now HR has a secret weapon too.

The Naked Truth About Branding

Branding, which started as a way to distinguish products from generic alternatives now it has the exact opposite effect.

It’s been the fancy, eye-pleasing exterior that marketers have delivered but what's happened to the connection to the actual deliverable?

In other words, are too many brands all wrapping and no gift?

Ironically, today’s trendy response to the surfeit of superficial branding, is to go sans brand. Absolut has created Naked Absolute- a vodka bottle without a marking on it to “put the focus back on what’s inside” and Starbucks has built an unbranded coffee house in Seattle to bring back the authenticity of a community gathering place.

Yet I contend that people still care about content – what’s inside still matters. We still want products that work and brands we can trust, but they’re so cluttered out by gift-wrapping that we’ve been left numbed and craving authenticity.


If you agree that it's what’s inside that counts, then that’s where your employer brand should come from.


If you use your brand to build an authentic corporate culture that employees believe in, then your brand will always be grounded in your values and will always have intrinsic meaning- and you’ll have no choice but to deliver an authentic experience to consumers, shareholders, donors and alum.


For decades, companies have relied on ad agencies for their keen insights on talking to consumers, but, when it comes to branding, employees should be regarded as a significant target market- the way consumers are. They make or break the brand.


Ask BRANDEMiX how to make your employer brand more than just a pretty ribbon.

1st Annual BRANDE Awards Competition Now Open for Entries.

1st Annual BRANDE Awards Competition Now Open for Entries.
1/7/2010

NEW YORK, NY. (January 1, 2010) –BRANDEMiX , the nation’s premier independent Employer Branding consultancy, is proudly sponsoring the 1st Annual BRANDE Awards- in recognition of companies demonstrating Employer Branding excellence that have yielded true business results.

The 1ST annual BRANDE Awards highlight programs that exemplify the key principles of effective Employer Branding including building authentic brand architecture, promoting it across a variety of internal and external audiences, and leveraging it with any current corporate branding. Most importantly, the Employer Branding must be surrounded by solid goals and metrics and linked to a true business or process improvement. Entries will be judged on excellence in strategy, execution, results and creative. The BRANDE Award Web site is located at www.brandeaward.com and the deadline for free entry is February 28, 2010.

“There continues to be tremendous interest in the area of “Employer Branding” says BRANDEMiX Founder Jody Ordioni. “However it’s true connection to real business results has never been thoroughly indexed. This shortage of data perpetuates the myth that Employer Branding is just another “HR-thing” or “design element” that doesn’t create positive business outcomes or significant return on investment.”

The BRANDE Awards are open to all organizations and individuals (agencies and other 3d party service providers can submit on behalf of their client) involved in the process of developing or managing Employer Branding programs.
“What truly distinguishes the BRANDE Awards from other competitions is that the BRANDES are judged by cross-industry experts in Strategy, Marketing, Business and Human Resources. As a way to generate interest and create a baseline for future competitions, the 1st Annual BRANDE Awards will be free for submissions.”

Online entries can be submitted from January 1, 2010 through February 28, 2010. To find out more, please visit http://www.brandeawards.com. The 2010 BRANDE Award honoree will be announced in late spring at an award luncheon held in New York City.

http://www.brandeawards.com]

About BRANDEMiX

BRANDEMiX is a woman-owned marketing/communications firm dedicated to Employer Branding in support of business initiatives. Bridging the traditional gap between marketing, advertising, internal communications and Human Resources, BRANDEMiX creates consistent, relevant and brand-aligned messages across all print and interactive channels, forming a line of sight from strategy to employees, investors and consumers. Clients include many of the Fortune 500 as well as non-profit organizations in education, healthcare and social services. Learn more at http://www.brandemix.com .

Website Makeover Contest Rules

OFFICIAL RULES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER THE CONTEST.
A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

Submitting an entry constitutes your full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor and judges, which shall be final and binding on all matters relating to the Contest.

1.     Contest Entry Period: The Website Makeover Contest (“Contest”) begins at 12:01 a.m. E.T. on August 8, 2012 and ends at 11:59 p.m. E.T. on August 31, 2012 (“Contest Period”).

2.     Eligibility: The Contest is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec), who have reached the age of majority in their state, province or territory in which they reside on the last day of the month prior to the date of entry. Employees of Brandemix, Inc. (the "Sponsor"), their respective parents, subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, suppliers, distributors and advertising, promotional and judging agencies, and their immediate family members (spouses, parents, children, and siblings and their spouses) and household members of each (whether related or not), are not eligible to participate or win. Void in Quebec and where prohibited by law. All federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations apply.

3.     How to Enter the Contest: You may enter the contest by sending an email to website@brandemix.com and including the following items: First name, Last name, company name, phone number, and web site address, plus a photo of your web site before it went through a makeover, and a photo of your web site after it went through a makeover.  PHOTO REQUIREMENTS: The maximum file size of photo is 10 MB and your photo must be in one of the following file formats: jpg, .jpeg, non-animated .gif, .png, or .bmp. All entry components submitted during part of the registration process shall herein be referred to as the "Entry". 

Normal Internet access, usage charges imposed by your on-line service will apply.  Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, August 31, 2012. Entries that are late, incomplete, unreadable, inaccurate, unintelligible or otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules will be disqualified. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, destroyed or misdirected entries.  Each Entrant grants to Sponsor a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive right and license to copy, distribute, and display each submitted Entry, in any media, and with right to use, copy, modify, edit, and create derivative works there from, and agrees to execute documents confirming such right and license (as further defined in Section 9, below) at Sponsor's reasonable request. By entering, you understand that if your Entry is approved by the judges, your Entry may be posted online, in Sponsor's sole discretion, to be viewed by members of the general public. Entrants may not copy or otherwise plagiarize any portion of the Entry from any source. No information regarding Entries or judging, other than as otherwise set forth in these Official Rules or on the website listed above, will be disclosed. Each Entry submitted must be unique. Use of any automated or computer system to participate is prohibited and will result in disqualification. Normal Internet access and usage charges imposed by your online service may apply. 

4. Judging:  Each submitted Entry will be judged by a panel of Sponsor-selected judges on or about September 4th (“Judging Period”), to determine the top 10 Entries who will be presented to the general public during the voting period, based on the following judging criteria: Most Improved (40%); Visual Appeal (30%); Originality (30%).  In the event of a tie, tied Entries will be re-judged by the judges based solely on Most Improved (100%). 
5. Voting Period:  The top 10 entries determined from the Judging Period will be posted online for public voting.  The online voting period (“Voting Period”) will begin at 12:01 am ET on September 5, 2012 and ends at 11:59pm ET on September 14, 2012.  To cast an entry during the Voting Period, visit: http://pinterest.com/brandemix/ and visit the board named “Websites Before & After” (“Pinterest Board”) and either liking your favorite entry, commenting on it, or re-pinning it.  The entries with the most comments, likes, and re-pins will be determined the Grand Prize winner.  Anyone visiting the Pinterest Board during the Voting Period is eligible to vote.  In order to cast a vote, voters must have their own Pinterest account.  If you do not have a Pinterest account, you may sign up for a free account by visiting www.pinterest.com and clicking on “Request an Invite”, and then filling out the registration form, and wait for an email determining that your Pinterest account is live. Winning the Grand Prize is determined solely based on the highest number of likes, comments, and re-pins received during the Voting Period. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements of these Official Rules and Sponsor's decisions as to the administration of the Contest and prize awards are final. In the event of a tie during the Voting Period, sponsor will re-judge the tied entries based on Originality (100%) to determine the Grand Prize winner.
6. Winner Notification: The Grand Prize winner will be notified on or about September 17, 2012 by phone/email and will then be required to sign and return a Liability and Publicity Release (except where prohibited by law), or if potential Grand Prize winner is a Canadian resident, a Declaration of Compliance and assignment of rights within three (3) days of notification attempt or prize will be forfeited and an alternate will be chosen. Liability Release/Declaration of Compliance (as applicable) will be sent via email and winner will need to return the Liability Release/Declaration of Compliance within three (3) days of notification via fax or email and send the original Liability Release/Declaration of Compliance back via mail. Return of prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and alternate determination, time permitting.

7.     Grand Prize and Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”): Contest Grand Prize (1): Free Press Release distributed to hundreds of outlets, accounting both the design achievement and the victory; Video shoot capturing the success of the web site redesign and those responsible for it.  The ARV of the Grand Prize is USD $575.  No substitutions, exchanges, refunds or other compensation will be made for any reason, including cancellation of the contest. Winners are responsible for all taxes associated with claiming this prize.  No responsibility or liability is assumed for damages, losses or injury resulting from acceptance or use of prize. All federal, state and local, municipal and provincial taxes are the sole responsibility of winners, as applicable.

8. General Rules: By participating in the Contest, Entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor/Judges. Judges' decisions are final on all matters relating to the Contest. All Entries will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of Entry. "Authorized Account Holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. The Sponsor and its agencies are not responsible for technical, hardware, software or telephone malfunctions of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, garbled or delayed electronic communications caused by the user or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest or by any human error which may occur in the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the Contest if any aspect of the Contest becomes technically corrupted, and determine the Contest Grand Prize winner based on the judging criteria from Entries received prior to cancellation (where applicable). The Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual that tampers or attempts to tamper with the Entry process or the operation of the Contest or Entry; violates the Official Rules; or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Sponsor's failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. By participating in the Contest, you agree that the Sponsor, its agencies, Pinterest, and each of their respective affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees will have no liability or responsibility for any claim arising in connection with participation in the Contest or the awarding of any prize. Winners assume all liability for any injury or damage caused, or claimed to be caused, by participation in the Contest or use or redemption of any prize.
9. Release: For the good and valuable consideration of participating in the Contest and having your Entry considered for use by Sponsor or any of their websites and/or as otherwise detailed below, sufficiency of which, you hereby acknowledge, you hereby grant to Sponsor, its parent companies, affiliates, brands, subsidiaries, successors, licensees, agents and agencies and those they may designate from time to time (all of the foregoing, the "Contest Entities"), an exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, fully sublicenseable and transferable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, display, and perform such Entry, in whole or in part, in any media, format or technology, whether now known or hereafter discovered, and in any manner including all promotional, advertising, marketing, publicity, and commercial uses and ancillary uses thereof, without any further notice or payment to or permission needed from you (except where prohibited by law). You also hereby grant to the Contest Entities an unrestricted, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, fully sublicensable and transferable right to use your name, photo, Entry, nickname, user name and biographical information (collectively "Personal Content") as contained in your Entry, and Footage (for Grand Prize winner) in composite or distorted form or as otherwise incorporated into other creative works of authorship, in any media, format or technology, whether now known or hereafter discovered, and in any manner including all promotional, advertising, marketing, publicity, and commercial uses and ancillary uses thereof, without any further notice or payment to or permission needed from you (except where prohibited by law). Without limitation of the foregoing, submission of an Entry constitutes your agreement that the Contest Entities are permitted (but are not obligated) to display the Entry online (whether on Licensed Entities' web pages, applications or on third party web pages or applications), to incorporate the Entry in online and offline promotional advertising, marketing, and/or other commercial materials, and to reproduce, adapt and distribute the Entry in all media whether now known or later developed. In addition, you hereby assign to the Sponsor all rights, titles, and interests that you may be deemed to have in any reproduction, product, or derivative work using or incorporating the Entry. You represent and warrant that: (i) the Entry does not and shall not infringe on any copyright or trademark or any other third-party right nor violate any applicable law or regulation, (ii) you have the right to grant any and all necessary rights and licenses provided herein, including without limitation, all necessary copyright, trademark and other related rights to the Entry, free and clear of all claims and encumbrances without violating the rights of any person or entity, including any right to privacy or publicity. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Entry or to be compensated for any such uses. By entering, you hereby release and discharge, on behalf of yourself and your successors, assigns and representatives, the Contest Entities and each of their respective officers, directors and employees from any and all claims, suits, actions, demands, liabilities and damages of any kind whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the following: use of such Entry, or Personal Content, or any other rights granted to Sponsor by any of the Contest Entities, including, without limitation, any and all claims for copyright infringement, invasion of privacy, violation of the right of publicity and persona, and/or defamation. Without limitation of the foregoing, in no event will you be entitled to, and you waive any right to, enjoin, restrain or interfere with use of the Entry or your Personal Content embodied in such Communication as permitted hereunder or the exploitation of any of the Contest Entities' rights hereunder. You further agree to release and indemnify and hold harmless the Contest Entities from any and all claims that any commercial, advertising, presentation, web content or any other material subsequently produced, presented, and/or prepared by or on behalf of Contest Entities infringes on your rights as contained in the Entry. You agree that you shall have no right of approval, no claim to compensation or benefit, and no claim (including, without limitation, claims based upon invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, defamation, or right or publicity) arising out of any use of Entry, or Personal Content or any editing, distortion, alteration, optical illusion, or use in partial or composite form, whether or not intentional. By participating in the Contest, you agree to release and hold harmless the Contest Entities and Pinterest from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Contest or receipt or use of any prize.
10. Disputes: You agree that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in the State of New York in the U.S. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, your rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of New York or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of New York in the U.S.
11. Winner's List: For the winner's name, available after September 17, 2012, send a self addressed stamped envelope no later than September 30, 2012, to: Web Site Makeover Contest Winner’s List, 1270 Broadway, Suite 803, New York, NY 10001 USA.
12. Sponsor/Administrator: The Sponsor of the Contest is Brandemix, Inc., 1270 Broadway, Suite 803, New York, NY 10001 USA.

The Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Pinterest.  You understand that the information you provide will only be used in connection with this Contest.