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Employer branding has been defined as the sum of a company¶s efforts to communicate to
existing and prospective staff what makes it a desirable place to work, and the active
management of a company¶s image as seen through the eyes of its associates and potential
hires.

Customers differentiate firms by their products. Marketers have traditionally used "The 4 Ps"
(product, price, position and promotion) to set the products of their firm apart from those of
the competitor in the market place. Employees now differentiate their jobs by HR branding
.The 4 Ps of HR are People, Pay, Position and Prospects.




Employer branding is the development and communication of an organization's culture as an

employer in the marketplace. It conveys your "value proposition" - the totality of your
culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging your people to
embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and
professional levels.

Employer branding is the essence of the employment experience, providing points that
commence with initial employer brand awareness, and continuing throughout the tenure of
employment, even extending into retirement. Employer branding is a distinguishing and
relevant opportunity for a company to differentiate itself from the competition creating its
branded factors as its USP for employee satisfaction and happiness resulting in retention,
productivity and efficiency.

Developing an image as an employer is part of employer branding. Turning that image into a
working relationship between an organization and its potential recruits is a process.
Understanding that relationship is often a process of discovery," says Jo Bredwell, senior
partner at JWT Specialized Communications. "Sometimes employers need a brand, but what
they really need is to discover what it is.

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It is said that an unsatisfied customer tells ten people about his experience while an
unsatisfied employee tells a hundred. Employer branding reflects the work culture in an
organization. It has become more critical in today's times, as most professionals are looking
at a stable career and establishing a long-term relationship with the company. Research shows
that employees of industrial brands feel a much greater sense of pride, attachment and trust
towards their employer. They are also significantly more likely to recommend their company
to others and claim it treats employees well. Through right branding, the company can recruit
the best talent and reinforce its positioning amongst its employees. It helps build trust and
reliability. A good employer brand makes it easy to attract good talent and curb attrition. The
strength of an organization's brand has a significant impact on the performance of its
employees. Working with one of the largest or most innovative companies in a specific industry acts
as a motivator too.

But as one moves higher in his career, brand name becomes of little significance as job role
takes over. Brand name is the most important factor but at entry level only. When one is a
fresher and embarks on one's career, the brand of a company matters. It helps in reflecting a
stronger resume. With career growth, one places importance on things that are more
meaningful to one's sense of purpose. According to Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, for
employees who have spent three-four years in the industry, brand is high on the list. It is
easier to sell the company if it is a reputed brand. For those who have spent five years in any
industry, it's the job role that's important and for those with 10 year behind them, the job role
becomes the most critical factor.

It is also being argued that in most cases, companies treat employer branding as a mere short-
cut for attracting the talent. Instead of self-analysis, the HR departments tie up with ad
agencies to conjure up an image that may be attractive to their target market, even if not their
own. While some argue that organizations like Google with strong employer brand hardly
spend money in building the brand; instead they focus on living the brand. Sasken, for
example, has a stated 'People First' policy to emphasize that employees are the focus. Fedex
has a core philosophy of 'people - service - profit' to indicate what comes first. Bill Marriott
of Marriott Hotels does not tire of repeating the founder's belief "Take care of the associates,
and they'll take good care of the guests, and the guests will come back." These organizations
reveal a high degree of trust in the management of the organization. Managements must
understand that the core value offering of the organization is to engage employees towards
being productive and responsive to customers. In the end, it is believed that if the company
takes care of people, people will take care of the company.

Employer brand is the image of an organization as a great place to work in the minds of its
current employees and key stakeholders. It is the development of such an organizational
culture which fosters a sense of belongingness with the company and encourages the
employees to share organization's goals for success. In short, it is the value of the company in
external marketplace. The goal of employer branding is to create loyal customers; the customers here
being the employees.








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1.? Increased talent retention

2.? Increased productivity

3.? Increased internal promotion

4.? Decreased recruitment costs

5.? Robust succession plans at all levels of your organisation

6.? Brand advocates spreading the good word for your organisation


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When properly planned and executed, an employer branding initiative can generate lively
dialogue between an employer and its employees, build a rationale for a 'mutual working
arrangement', and establish compelling reasons to commit to the arrangement. Whatever is a
corporate or an employer an employee expects the following from employer:-

1) Fair treatment
2) Trustful and open channeled communication
3) Ability to provide security and benefits in present and future
4) Planned and systematic career and succession planning
5) Motivating and morale building team and management
6) Smooth Disciplinary procedure and I.R
7) Employee benefit oriented culture and practices
8) Adequate talent acquisition , management, retention and utilization
9) Proper advancement and up gradation of employees
10) Participatory management
11) Industrial democracy
12) Clarity in roles and goals
13) Clearly defined authority responsibility charting
14) Timely decision making
15) Impartial , fair and growth promoting organization structure


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360 degree employer brand audit to determine the strength of your current employer brand
and to determine its level of synergy with your corporate brand and business objectives.

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The Design Phase is the process to formulate your employer brand strategy. It includes -

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The EBI is made up of two components ± the Employer Brand Employee Platform which
includes

2 Recruitment & induction

2 Compensation and benefits
2 Career development
2 Employee research
2 Reward and recognition
2 Communication systems
2 Work environment

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2 Your firm's mission, vision & values
2 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
2 Leadership
2 Corporate reputation and culture
2 People management policies and practices
2 Performance management
2 Innovation

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towards corporate branding so that betterment could be created not only among internal
customers but also among external customers and all stakeholders.

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!3"# ") Employer branding process and techniques should be aimed towards
building a positive image of the organization in external and internal environment equally.
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these may include:

2 Career website
2 Company intranet
2 Careers fair brochures
2 Company newsletters
2 Policy and procedures templates
2 Recruitment advertising
2 Sponsorship

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The Evaluation Phase involves measuring the impact of the Employer Brand program

Above all the success of any employer brand program depends on the efficiency with which
the need, situation for designing, implementing and monitoring an employer brand program
has been made. Not only a good understanding between the need, process, and inputs are
required but the full utility comes when full workforce is benefited by it.

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 Employees perception at all times is not same.
 There is no appropriate method for prioritizing things.
4 People may not have proper knowledge towards branding.
5 Marketing and branding always overlap and create confusion.

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Thus, Employerbranding gives an organization a competitive advantage. Employer branding
is a tool to attract, hire, and retain the "right fit it also has an impact on shareholder value,
creating positive human capital practices, contribute to bottom-line.

Strong employer brands have employer value propositions (EVP's) which are communicated
in company actions and behaviors and evoke both emotive (e.g. I feel good about working
here) and tangible benefits (this organization cares about my career development) for current
and prospective employees. These organizations segment and communicate EVP's which
reflect the image that the organizations want to portray to its target audience. A company's
employer brand is reflected in the actions and behaviors of leaders and is affected by
company policies, procedures, and practices and the same when well planned and
implemented results in profitability of organizations

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This case is about the employer branding strategies adopted by McDonald's Corporation,
one of the largest fast food chains in the world. Since the 1980s, entry-level jobs at
McDonald's had come to be associated with low-paying dead end jobs.

The term 'McJobs' had become synonymous with low-prestige, low-benefit, no-future
jobs in the service or retail sector particularly at fast food restaurants and retail stores.
Though the term was coined to describe jobs at McDonald's, it was later used to refer to
any low-status job where little training was required and workers' activities were strictly
regulated

Because of its common usage, the term appeared in the online version of the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED) in March 2001 and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate
Dictionary (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) in 2003.

The case discusses how McDonald's systemically tried to redefine the term 'McJobs' and
improve its employer brand since the early 2000s. According to McDonald's, this
negative interpretation of McJobs was not only inaccurate but also demeaning to the
thousands of people working in the service sector. As employer branding was a critical
management tool for companies to attract the right talent, McDonald's decided to try and
revise the image associated with McJobs. This it did by taking various initiatives that also
included advertising campaigns aimed at showcasing the benefits of working at
McDonald's and bridging the divide between people's perceptions of the McJob and the
real employment experience of people actually working for the fast-food chain.

Experts felt that these were some of the best examples of a company successfully
planning and implementing an employee branding strategy. However, the case also
highlights the challenges faced by McDonald's in attracting new talent as derogatory
comments continued to be made about McJobs and this could discourage prospective
employees from taking up such jobs.


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â Understand the importance of employer branding and its relationship with the ability of a
company to attract talent.

â Understand the issues and challenges in planning and implementing an employer branding
initiative.

â Understand the strategic role of Human Resource Department.

â Evaluate the initiatives taken by McDonald's to bridge the gap between people's perceptions
of McJobs and the real employment experiences of people actually working at its restaurants.

â Explore strategies that McDonald's could adopt in the future to enhance its employer brand.

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In early 2009, when an outlet of the world's leading fast food chain, McDonald's Corporation
(McDonald's), in western Ireland put up a "Now Hiring" banner on its site, it received more
than 500 applications. These included applications from bankers, architects, and
accountants.4 Analysts viewed this as a sign of the troubled times with a recessionary trend
setting in. But experts also pointed out that it was an indication that the company had been
largely successful in bridging the gap between external perceptions of work at McDonald's
and the internal reality through effective employer branding initiatives.

Since the 1980s, the word 'McJobs' had been used as slang to describe a low-prestige, low-
benefit, no-future job in the service or retail sector, particularly in fast food restaurants and
retail stores. Though the term had been coined to describe jobs at McDonald's, it later came
to refer to any low-status job where little training was required and workers' activities were
strictly regulated. Because of its common usage, the term appeared in the online version of
the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)5 in March 2001 and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate
Dictionary6 (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) in 2003. The OED described McJobs as "an
unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the
service sector.


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McDonald's complained about the definition of the term 'McJobs' after it was recorded in the
OED. The company claimed that the meaning of the term as described in the dictionaries was
offensive to McDonald's employees all over the world and that it brought negative publicity
to the brand.

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Since the 1980s, McJobs had become synonymous with low-paying jobs with no growth
opportunities. Analysts felt that such jobs imparted a few skills to workers that would be
more or less of no use to them in the future.

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In September 2005, McDonald's launched a television campaign to promote the advantages

of a McJob and to enhance its image as an employer brand. The campaign, titled "My First
Job" was designed to position McDonald's as a preferred place of employment and McJobs as
stepping stones to a successful career.

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During this time, McDonald's Ireland commissioned Cawley Nea/TBWA launched the
'People Project' in Ireland to change the negative perception about McDonald's as an
employer.

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In April 2006, in order to shed its low-paid 'McJob' label, McDonald's UK started a
nationwide poster campaign highlighting the positive business practices of the company and
the advantages of working at McDonald's (Refer to Exhibit V for employment benefits
offered to McDonald's employees in the UK).

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In this Case Study, we give an overview of the importance of branding, steps involved in
building a brand for the HR department. We have also described the importance of creating a
brand for the HR department to attract, motivate and retain the best and brightest in order to
survive in the competitive world. Then we have analyzed the various sub systems of HR
brand system, which serves as the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of the company to grow
in a big way in the long run. Surveys on the employees of the NTPC have been conducted
on the basis of expectation gap analysis and there view points are being mentioned in the
survey. (i) Basic Product, which means to define what, the HR department is all about. (ii) (ii)
Expected Product- which means what the employee expect the HR department to be
Augmented Product, which means what are the services in reality provided by the HR
Department of NTPC.


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Customers differentiate firms by their products. Marketers have traditionally used "The 4 Ps"
(product, price, position and promotion) to set the products of their firm apart from those of
the competitor in the market place. Employees now differentiate their jobs by HR branding
.The 4 Ps of HR are People, Pay, Position and Prospects. As the functions of HR started
spreading across the organization, the services rendered by the HR department to the
Employees can be treated as the same thing as selling services to the external customer.
Hence, the HR department should care about its brand identity. For a company to be
successful, it has to attract, motivate and retain the best and brightest, making it competitive
in the race. As organizations are complex, open systems, single interventions are not enough.
The best organizations have compelling people strategies that are perfectly aligned with the
organization's business strategy. Once the people strategy is aligned with the business
strategy, we can begin creating a great place to work. The HR brand has to be aligned
congruently with what the company delivers to the employee, customer, public and
shareholder.

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NTPC Limited is the largest thermal power generating company of India. A public sector
company, it was incorporated in the year 1975 to accelerate power development in the
country as a wholly owned company of the Government of India. At present, Government of
India holds 89.5% of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5% is held by
FIIs, Domestic Banks, Public and others... Within a span of 31 years, NTPC has emerged as a
truly national power company, with power generating facilities in all the major regions of the
country. Recognizing its excellent performance and vast potential, Government of the
India has identified NTPC as one of the jewels of Public Sector µNirvanas¶- a potential global
giant. Inspired by its glorious past and vibrant present, NTPC is well on its way to realize its
vision of being "A world class integrated power major, powering India¶s growth, with
increasing global presence".


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Branding in HR has traditionally been limited to the employment function. The HR branding
has become a topic of great interest. The importance of mastering the concepts and skills
behind branding has greater implications for HR professionals in the "new economy".
The success of an organization relies upon excellence in execution. Historically, corporate
leaders have looked to other functions, such as product development, marketing and sales, to
drive corporate success, today more and more eyes are looking towards HR as the call for
need. Success of the brand depends upon of awareness and relevance. If target audiences
are not aware of the brand, if their internal and external customers don't notice your effort in
the cacophony of messages they receive each day, then we will never have a chance to be
relevant. And if they become aware of you, if we capture their attention and fail to deliver
relevance, then they will learn to ignoreus.


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In today's knowledge driven economy, HR plays a strategic role in bringing in the right kind
of people into the organization. In a sense, HR is the first face of an organization for a new
prospective employee. Market research has revealed that strong brands contribute to strong
competitive presence. In this way, the HR in its new avatar, the importance of branding HR
follows quite as a corollary. The challenge faced while structuring the brand is to establish
new deliverables to sustain strong partnerships with both internal and external customers. The
ability to see the big picture and to deploy the resources to address to this big picture will be
more important than ever, based on the interactions of HR department with both internal and
external customers.

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Based on customer input, your HR department needs to do a better job by providing good
services. Whether it is hiring employees or conducting team-building sessions, customers
want you to be more responsive and pleasant to deal with. Because branding is about
delivering a promise, we must ensure that people, practices and systems in the HR
department all work to support the goal of customer service. There has to be an alignment
between the brand promise and what you actually deliver. Just as the company does not hire
retired men in leisure suits to sell its hip, young clothing, we should not staff people who are
unwilling to go the extra mile for line managers. For a brand identity to work, the systems
must provide itself with back-ups.

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We knew that corporate branding initiatives are created in a vacuum, and not always based
upon reality, or the ability of our firm to live up to the image created. Unfortunately, failing
to follow through on a promise put forth by our brand, either stated or implied, is one of the
easiest and most effective ways to drive customers away and revenues down. Branding
initiatives should always have the customer as their primary focus, and focus on their needs
and wants. In some cases, the customer is internal, in other cases external. Branding can be
used to accomplish a variety of challenges, but success depends upon follow through, and
that depends upon the quality of your workforce and their ability to deliver. Why do we go
for brands? The answer is simple -.reliability. It¶s the popular brands which provide this
reliability. Attracting knowledge workers has become a Herculean task for the HR
department. Only the best practices and the best environment can assure their interest in
working for your organization. The practices and policies of the HR department and its
outlook create a certain brand for the HR. The better the brand, better are the chances that
you attract the best talent. The focus in our paper outlines all that are required to make HR
the best brand. A question that seems to be popping up more and more in the minds of
recruiters and general HR leadership is, "Why should branding be important to HR manager?
I work in HR, not marketing." In proposing an answer to this question, one must admit that
just a few short years ago, answer would have been significantly more limited than it is today,
in that branding in HR has traditionally been limited to the employment function. But while
employment branding has always been a topic of great interest to many leading recruiting
professionals, the importance of mastering the concepts and skills behind branding have
much greater implications for HR professionals in the "new economy".
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This case is about the employer branding initiatives adopted by the US Army. Since the early
1970s, the US Army had been known for its recruitment efforts that aimed to encourage
people to take up a career with it. Experts felt that it was one of the first organizations to
practice employer branding more than a decade before the term 'employer brand' was coined.
However, recruiting for the US Army became a challenge with the country engaged in wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq. Moreover, the recruiters also had to overcome certain
misperceptions held by young Americans about considering a career in the US Army. This
the US Army did by taking various initiatives that included recruitment advertising
campaigns such as the 'Army Strong' campaign and the 'Officership' campaign that strove to
showcase the benefits of a career with the Army.

These noteworthy campaigns were supported by innovative recruitment tools such as the
'America's Army' game, Virtual Army Experience, and the Army Experience Center that
aimed to bridge the divide between people's perceptions of the Army and the real experience
of people actually working for the US Army.

Experts felt that these campaigns and experiential marketing initiatives had led to an increase
in recruitment numbers in the US Army and had also enhanced its employer brand. While
some experts appreciated the US Army's recruitment advertising campaigns and its use of
experiential marketing as a promotion tool, these initiatives also attracted criticism from
certain quarters. Critics contended that the US Army was duping young Americans with their
advertising and recruitment tools by projecting the career in the Army as a fun-filled and
thrilling experience - something that was far removed from reality.

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â Understand the importance of employer branding and its relationship to the ability of an
organization to attract and retain talent.

â Evaluate the employer branding initiatives taken by the US Army to bridge the gap between
people's misperceptions about the US Army and the real experiences of being an Army
officer.

â Understand the issues and challenges in planning and implementing an employer branding
initiative.

â Understand how experiential marketing can be effectively used as part of an employer

branding initiative.

â Explore strategies that the US Army can adopt in the future to enhance its employer brand.

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From 2006 to 2009, the US Army witnessed a growth in recruitment numbers - sparked in
part by a sagging job market due to the slowdown in the economy. By mid2009, the Army
found itself with enough young recruits but not enough Army officers to lead them. Hoping
to reverse the trend, it launched a new promotional effort. On August 3, 2009, for the first
time in its history, it unveiled a new advertising campaign called the 'Army Officership'
campaign to recruit officers. Though the campaign resembled the US Army's mainstream
recruitment effort - camouflaged soldiers carrying heavy guns with a patriotic soundtrack, it
was tweaked to appeal to college graduates who could be eligible for one of US Army's
officer training programs.

Through this campaign, the US Amy aimed to generate awareness among the American
youth about the different paths available to become an Army officer. The television
commercial (TVC) showcased real Army officers narrating their stories to encourage the
youth to take up the Army as a career.

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Recruitment to the US Army and the US Army Reserve was the responsibility of the United
States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC). The recruiting operations were conducted
throughout the US, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and at US facilities in Germany
and Asia.

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The US Army's strategic communication challenge was to inspire young adults and raise their
aspirations to embark on a career in the Army. It had to convey the message in a compelling
way that would touch them and motivate them to take action.

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In 2000, the US Army planned to launch a game that would help users experience how it
would be to be a soldier. This was expected to be a recruitment tool that would help it attract
people to join the US Army. This project sought to offer educational opportunities in
visualization tools, missile systems, and command and control systems to soldiers within the
Army.

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In 2007, The Washington Post reported that the US Army had recruited 80,000 people.
Experts attributed the growth to the unemployment rate that had reached 6.5 percent from 4.8
percent during the same period in the US.

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While most of the recruitment advertising campaigns and tools were well received by young
Americans and defense analysts, it also received criticism from some quarters. Critics felt
that the 'Army Strong' ads were aimed at influencing young men and women to join the Army
without giving a true picture about the Army or helping them really know what they were
getting into. They pointed out that the campaign concealed the realities about the Iraq war...

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Experts appreciated the innovative recruitment tools adopted by the US Army to attract
young Americans to take up the Army as a career option. The US Army felt that though
traditional marketing had helped them convey the message, it had failed to attract the
required number of recruits. According to Walters, experiential marketing tactics had a
greater reach than traditional marketing since young Americans could experience the VAE,
the AEC, talk to real soldiers, and gain insights about Army life.

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Thus it can be concluded that not only there is a need of creating a satisfaction in minds of
employees (Internal customers) but there is an urgent need of creating this positivism in the
minds of external customers and stakeholders. The created image has to be monitored and
sustained in such a way so that it will help in increasing profits as well as would create
belongingness, pride, self actualization and true commitment in true words and spirit.

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