‘Employer Branding’ – Mumbai Edition

This month, All Things Talent kicked off the proceedings with another successful meet-up session on 1^st July, 2017 in Mumbai, which focused on the concept of ‘Employer Branding’.

The event mainly catered to HR Professionals who were interested in obtaining a better understanding of the essentials of Employer Branding, holding considerable prior experience in Talent sourcing and Branding communication.

Employer branding is the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company aims to recruit and retain. It is a term commonly used to describe an organization’s reputation as an employer, and its value proposition to its employees, as opposed to its more general corporate brand reputation and value proposition to its customers.

To create more awareness on the understanding of effective employer branding as the combination of market research, advisory services, communications and marketing to achieve both a credible and desirable brand position, All Things Talent invited several influential HR hiring and recruitment experts to this meet-up in order to facilitate a discussion wherein HR professionals could gather keen insights on present trends in Employer Branding and the initiatives taken by various organizations to create a more sustainable employer brand as a living, vibrant and attractive entity.

Ms. Reena Roy – Social Recruitment, Branding and Communications Leader at IBM, emphasized on the role of social media in Employer Branding. She talked about the fact that it is important to respond on social media, i.e. maintain a regular communication and response activity, even on negative criticism, as failing to acknowledge criticism projects an employer’s image as negligent. She also discussed a 4-step model followed at IBM which involves key steps of Culture, Attraction, Candidate Experience and Retention, which works in a cyclic manner.

Ms. Neha Asthana – Head of Talent Acquisition at Media.net, shared her views on the importance of constant communication. She discussed certain components of Employer Branding, such as Workplaces, Leadership communication and Opportunities to grow. Besides this she also described as to how companies, like they approach their customers, now also have to approach their employees in the same way, as the sign of a healthy Employer Brand is if it can successfully deliver on its brand promise. 

Ms. Rashmi Sharma – Head of Talent Acquisition and Rewards & Recognition at Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd, led her discussion with the Employer Branding model followed at Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd. Her talk focussed on the integrity of an employer in terms of being honest about what they are not good at, instead of simply highlighting their strengths. Also, she gave the audience a glimpse into the fun and motivation enhancing practices, such as giving jovial, comic names to all employees, irrespective of their designation, in order to facilitate a more egalitarian and enjoyable workspace.

Ms. Shweta Pathak – Global Lead for University Relations and Branding at Sun Pharma, concluded the proceedings by focussing her talk on recognizing the different approaches needed for different individuals, as the driving factors are unique for each individual and the use of same set of protocols for all employees alike will not yield the desired results. She also furthered her discussion by sharing her point of view on University Relations, and how her approach to it had helped her cause.

All our panellists also answered the queries and questions put up by the audience members, who comprised of HR executives from eminent companies such as AON Hewitt, Mahindra & Mahindra, Deloitte and Asian Paints.

The event concluded with the presentation of mementos to all the panellists and a lunch session towards the end.