Rethinking HR’s Role

Many things come to mind when we hear the term human resources. We think of employee relations, payroll, benefits, performance reviews, and recruiting. I could go on. There is more to HR, though. What few people consider an HR function is actually one of the most important aspects.  What might that be, you ask? Branding.

Branding?  What do you mean? Why does branding belong in HR?  That’s a marketing tool, right?  Right. I sense confusion – let me explain.

Branding is the perception of your company as an employer. It encompasses the employee experience, company culture, values, and how current and past employees talk about your organization. When your employees go home or out after a bad day at work and they are telling everyone who will listen what a terrible company they work for, that’s branding.  When your employees are bragging about their great work environment and encouraging their friends to apply because they love their job, that’s branding.

Branding sells the experience of working at the company. The HR team drives this branding from start to end, as they take part in every step of the work journey.

Employees Are Your Brand Ambassadors

Your employees are the face of your brand. The employee experience creates branding, both internally and externally.  They share the perception of the organization with others. This is how great companies can recruit top talent and why terrible companies suffer from turnover.  The employee experience matters. It is shared during conversation, on social media, and in future interviews for different jobs.

Some massive companies are known for their employee experience and attitude.  Starbucks, which “hires the smile,” and Chick-fil-A, which teaches their employees to say, “My pleasure” instead of “You’re welcome.” Zappos and its employee-first culture. Cisco is known for prioritizing psychological safety for its employees.

These companies have strong employer brands not just because of their marketing departments, but because HR builds experiences worth talking about.

How Does HR Ensure Brand Consistency?

HR’s role extends to the administrative back end of brand consistency. Are the email signatures consistent? Do they represent the company correctly? What about letterhead, logos, applications, and job posts? If you have a marketing department, they should be working with HR to consistently create and disseminate the company’s message.

Smaller organizations may not have a dedicated marketing function, so this task usually belongs in (and falls to) HR to get it done. The handbook, mission/vision/values, company policies, culture, and even employee benefits offered are a piece of the bigger (brand) picture for your organization because they all feed into the same thing – the employee experience.     

Branding Includes Reputation Management

 A key HR branding function is reputation management. Have you ever had an employee disparage your company on social media?  What about managing the public fallout of a discrimination lawsuit or a wage and hour claim?  Has the owner been arrested?  This type of publicity needs to be managed by someone, and if it comes from the people operations side, it’s only logical that the people operations leader – human resources – stays on top of it.

How Human Resources Can Partner with the C-Suite to Define Culture

Working closely with the CEO or President of an organization is another way to manage branding. The CEO is oftentimes the face and culture of the company. Their public actions, internal communications, and strategic decisions often become the company’s values and vision. This means HR and the C-Suite can partner together to make brand management effective and optimistic. This partnership makes HR a strategic brand manager, incorporating the CEO’s vision into the company’s daily operations and ensuring the brand is built from the inside out.

Make Your Organization an Employer of Choice

Branding is everyone’s job, but HR leads it. When HR has a marketing department, we encourage you to work with them.  If not, take some time to dive into your creative side. Your efforts affect how people see, talk about, and trust your company.

When HR embraces this role, it can transform your workplace into a destination for top talent and make your company an employer of choice.

By: Amy Matthews, SPHR

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