7 Trends to disrupt your employer brand

Digital transformation is without a doubt a major challenge for companies today. 88% of leaders stated in 2014 that it was an absolute priority for their company’s organization. But many companies still today do not have a Digital department, and digital strategy is often only carried out through IT or in the R&D departments. Yet, human resources play a crucial role in a company’s digital transformation. According to the Altimeter Institute and Brian Solis, 4 out of 8 major challenges in digital transformation are directly linked to HR. 

Achieving a full ‘digital transformation’ requires an evolution in company culture, collaboration amongst teams, using the right resources, and guaranteeing support from top management. From recruitment to employee advocates, “employer branding” has taken on a whole new meaning with a company’s adaptation to the digital world. That is why last year, TBWA\Corporate launched “People Empowerment,” an offer aimed at providing companies with the power to disrupt their employer branding through human resources. From internships to training, recruitment, evaluations and collaboration methods, the offer accompanies companies in their employer branding as well as through every step of an employee’s life in their company. TBWA\Corporate has just released an updated version of their study, "SEVEN TRENDS TO DISRUPT EMPLOYER BRANDING," a slideshare presentation you can view in full here:

Otherwise, here is a quick description of each trend:

Trend #1: Find Strength from Within. Employees are brands’ strongest advocates. Whether it’s for finding new hires or sharing brand messages on social media, employees are a brand’s best medium. Employee referrals also bring 7% of applicants, but account for 40% of all new hires. Brand messages are reshared 24 times more frequently when issued by employees vs. brands.

Consequently, it’s no surprise that companies such as T-Mobile, Orange and SNCF created social platforms to allow employees to communicate about the brands they work for – whether it’s with a hashtag or a platform that allows employees to share their experiences with potential candidates. EA created Employee Testimonials, a platform on which employees talk about their vision of diversity and why they take pride in their company’s inclusion policy.

Trend #2: Talent for Talents. Companies are having more and more trouble finding the right talents and filling in jobs. That is why it is important to leverage innovative hiring solutions, whether it’s through platforms to match talents with jobs (check out Goodco below) or recruit via unexpected touchpoints (like BoonDoggle or Marc Jacobs). Companies can also find innovative ways to allow potential candidates to "dive into the job" (like Disneyland Paris' Career app (in French)) or attractive ways to attract recruits like Sephora's campaign "Come Sephorize the World With Us."

Trend #3: Smooth Company. 44% of agile organizations report more profitable business results, and it's no surprise when we see that reducing organizational complexity allows employees the ability to be more productive. More and more digital tools such as Clustree, Slack and Facebook at Work  allow teams to collaborate more efficiently or to manage people and projects in real time. 

Trend #4: Superhuman Resources. Employees' productivity sometimes needs a boost, and digital tools that Human Resources can put at their disposal can help them manage their schedules better and be more efficient when it comes to getting their work done. GE created AppCentral, a corporate app store that offers productivity and service-oriented apps that employees can access from their phones or the web, allowing them to be mobile. The New York Times  created The Listening Table to revolutionize meetings: 

5: High definition knowledge. Digital transformation must also go through a company's employees, and HR must help accompany workers through this process. Nestle created the Digital Acceleration Team, an 8-month training program for marketing leaders in digital and social media. Orange and BNP Paribas followed  this example with their digital learning services. Employees can also receive training and learn through external platforms such as Udacity and Bloomberg, or through corporate games specific to their company such as Uber Drive.

 6: Ideas on Demand. Human Resources can also take part in crowdsourcing and revealing employees' ideas and creativity. Axa created a participative innovation program called Start-in to do just this:

HR can also play a part in challenging and rewarding employees' participation and talent (examples of Intel and Dell).

7: Think BIG DATA. Data can be used by HR to track performance, employee happiness (take BP's Million Step Challenge), as well as employee engagement. Digital tools such as Betterworks, Google People Analytics and Small Improvements allow us to transmit this data for better operational efficiency, and to better connect Human Resources with their employees.

So there you have it, the 7 ways Human Resources can contribute to a a company's digital transformation by TBWA\Corporate. While the digital transformation of companies is inevitable, Human Resources have a crucial role to play in keeping the transition human.