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    Booking.com’s Employer Branding Hacks: Attracting Talent with Wanderlust

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    Struggle to find that perfect, unicorn candidate? Booking.com feels your pain. Their global platform demands a unique talent pool – imagine needing a UK-based customer service rep fluent in Norwegian! But fear not, fellow recruiters, because Booking.com has cracked the code with their employer branding dream team.
    Building the A-Team: Forget scrappy startups with a single intern handling recruitment. Booking.com boasts a 20-person powerhouse tackling employer branding, recruitment marketing, and early careers. This dedicated crew goes beyond posting generic job ads. They dive deep – think extensive employee interviews – to understand what truly makes Booking.com tick. What makes employees excited to wake up and conquer their workday? What unique benefits does Booking.com offer that other companies can’t touch?
    The Secret Sauce: Through these employee conversations, Booking.com identified the four pillars of their powerful Employer Value Proposition (EVP):

    Belonging: Fostering a welcoming and inclusive culture where everyone feels valued.
    Development: Providing continuous learning opportunities to help employees grow their skills and careers.
    Discovery: Encouraging a spirit of curiosity and exploration, both within the travel industry and beyond.
    Impact: Empowering employees to make a real difference in the travel experience for millions.

    It’s More Than a Job, It’s a Journey: Booking.com’s mission statement perfectly captures their essence. They’re not just selling jobs, they’re offering a chance to be part of something bigger, a journey of exploration and discovery. This resonates deeply with travel enthusiasts, the very talent pool they’re looking to attract.
    Engaging the Wanderlust Within: But employer branding goes beyond crafting a catchy mission statement. Booking.com understands the importance of employee engagement. Here’s how they turn their workforce into a community of brand advocates:

    Fueling the Travel Bug: A dedicated online community allows employees to share travel tips, photos, and stories, fostering a shared passion for exploration.
    Employee Advocacy Program: Booking.com empowers employees to become brand ambassadors by providing them with easy-to-share content and encouraging them to spread the word on their social media channels.
    Personal Branding Powerhouse: They don’t stop at company branding. Workshops help employees develop strong personal brands online, creating a win-win situation where employees benefit professionally while boosting Booking.com’s employer brand.
    Going Global: Booking.com’s world tour interviewing employees around the globe isn’t just another PR stunt. It showcases the diversity and vibrancy of their workforce, further solidifying their employer brand as a global travel adventure.

    Measuring Success: It’s Not Just About Vibes: Sure, a happy workforce is great, but Booking.com goes beyond feel-good stories. They track website performance, campaign engagement rates, and hires per event to measure the effectiveness of their employer branding efforts. Additionally, they leverage the Employer Brand Index (EBI) to gain valuable insights into employee sentiment and perception. This data allows them to demonstrate the tangible impact of employer branding to stakeholders across the organization.
    The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Booking.com’s dedication to employer branding has earned them the prestigious Great Place to Work certification. They’ve attracted top talent, fostered a passionate workforce, and established themselves as a leader in the travel industry – all thanks to their innovative employer branding strategies.

    Ready to Unleash the Wanderlust in Your Employer Branding? Follow Sandra Petschar’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn, and learn how to build your own employer branding dream team to attract the best and brightest talent! To embark on your very own employer brand journey at your company, get in touch.
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      Siemens Powers Up Employer Branding: Building a Global Talent Magnet

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      Forget washing machines, Siemens is a tech titan quietly shaping the world’s future. From smart cities to sustainable factories, their innovations touch millions. But attracting top tech talent in a crowded field? That’s a different challenge.
      Enter Stefanie Drerup, the mastermind behind Siemens’ employer branding revolution. In this interview, she reveals how she built a global dream team to attract the best and brightest.
      The Talent Battlefield: Why Employer Branding Matters
      Siemens competes with tech giants like Google and Amazon. To stand out, they needed a clear message. “We want to create technology with purpose,” Drerup explains, “technology that makes a real difference.”
      Their vision? Smart infrastructure for resilient supply chains, energy-efficient cities, and cutting-edge industrial digitization (think revamping Porsche’s production lines!).
      But a strong vision alone doesn’t win the talent war. They needed a powerful employer brand (EB) to resonate with the tech wizards they craved.
      Building the Dream Team: Collaboration is Key
      Drerup didn’t build this empire alone. From day one, she championed a cross-functional approach. HR, global communications, and recruiters from all levels and regions became her allies.
      Here’s the twist: Siemens didn’t just rely on HR experts. They tapped into their internal tech talent. “We wanted real engineers, not just recruiters,” Drerup emphasizes. Their insights ensured the message resonated with the tech crowd, not just HR professionals.
      Crafting the Perfect Pitch: The Siemens EVP
      Drerup’s team landed on a simple yet powerful EVP (Employee Value Proposition): “Create a better tomorrow with us.” This encapsulates the Siemens spirit.
      But they didn’t stop there. To flesh out their EB strategy, they identified four key pillars:

      Customer Impact: Work on world-changing projects that touch millions.
      Technology with Purpose: Drive innovation and sustainability, making a positive impact.
      Empowered People: Thrive in a culture of learning and growth.
      Growth Mindset: Explore diverse career paths across countless business units.

      These pillars, while overlapping intentionally, provide a clear focus for all EB content. Every piece aligns with the overall EVP, ensuring a cohesive message across the globe.
      Going Global: Tailoring the Message
      Activating an EVP in a global company is tricky. Different regions have different priorities. German talent seeks stability and career progression, while Chinese candidates value innovation and social responsibility.
      This is where the cluster structure shines. Drerup’s team can adapt content for each region without reinventing the wheel. They simply emphasize the most relevant pillar within the overall Siemens EB narrative.
      Building a Global Talent Magnet: The Results
      Siemens’ employer branding journey is a masterclass in attracting top tech talent. Drerup’s global team, built on collaboration and a powerful EVP, has transformed Siemens into a global magnet for the best and brightest minds.

      To follow Stefanie Drerup’s work in employer branding, connect with her on LinkedIn. For help identifying the values and culture you want to create in your company, let’s chat.
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      Crafting a Team Brick by Brick: LEGO Group’s Talent Quest

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      Certain brands hold a cherished spot in our memories, yet landing someone’s dream job doesn’t automatically guarantee they’re the right match for your team.
      In a recent episode of the Employer Branding Podcast, we delve into the world of Andrew Paterson, the Global Employer Brand and Talent Attraction Lead at the LEGO Group. Discover how they tackle this distinctive talent puzzle while infusing a spirit of joy and play into their recruitment strategy.
      The Power of Play
      The LEGO Group, a venerable 90-year-old family enterprise, has blossomed into the world’s top toy company by revenue. Its name, derived from the Danish phrase “leg godt,” translates to “play well.” Almost everyone has fond memories of tinkering with their vibrant plastic bricks.
      While other iconic brands like PepsiCo or Mars grapple with luring talent for unconventional roles, Paterson faces a unique scenario. LEGO is inundated with applications for every position they offer. “The majority, if not all of our time is spent managing applications,” Paterson notes. “Because of the power of our brand, everyone wants to be a LEGO designer.” Thus, the challenge lies in pinpointing the best candidates while ensuring those who miss out still leave with a positive experience, remaining lifelong aficionados.
      Fostering an Employer Branding Oasis
      LEGO’s employer branding and talent attraction endeavors have yielded remarkable results, with a 45% team expansion since 2020. However, achieving such growth necessitated substantial effort from Paterson and his lean team.
      With a global footprint encompassing 5 main regional hubs, 37 sales offices, 5 manufacturing sites, and over 500 retail stores, LEGO needed to showcase employee narratives from diverse locales and roles. Amidst this, they revamped their careers page and launched “Behind the Bricks,” a content hub consolidating all employer brand content.
      The EVP Epiphany
      To craft their Employee Value Proposition (EVP), Paterson and his team conducted colleague research groups and collaborated with an agency to gauge applicant insights and employer brand perception. This led to the identification of six core LEGO values: fun, creativity, learning, caring, quality, and imagination.
      These values permeate every facet of LEGO’s operations, from factory floor diligence to the intricacies of employer branding. An annual tradition dubbed Play Day underscores this ethos, where employees worldwide pause work to immerse in the joy of learning through play. This year’s theme, “The Mysteries of Play,” fostered a day of collaborative detective work. Moreover, LEGO integrates play into daily tasks, with bricks and communal builds adorning every office.
      Culminating these principles, Paterson and his team coined their EVP: “Imagine building your dream career.” It perfectly encapsulates LEGO’s essence, promising not just a job but an adventure brimming with fun.

      To stay updated on Andrew Paterson’s employer branding insights, connect with him on LinkedIn. For assistance in sculpting your company’s values and culture, reach out for guidance.
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      From Data to Success: Experian’s ROI Journey with the Employer Brand Index

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      At Link Humans, we’re always eager to delve into anything data-related. In this context, we had the privilege of chatting with Doug Kelsall, Global Recruitment Marketer and Branding Director at Experian, about the pivotal role the Employer Brand Index (EBI) plays in helping them gauge Return on Investment (ROI).
      In this edition of the Employer Branding Podcast, Kelsall sheds light on why Experian’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP) activation is an ongoing project and how the EBI serves as the cornerstone for their ROI assessment.
      EVP Tailored for Employee Engagement
      As the world’s foremost global information services company, Experian navigates diverse markets. It is known as a B2C entity in North America for consumer credit reporting and a B2B specialist in data analytics across Asia. The challenge lies in crafting an EVP that bridges these disparate perceptions while positioning Experian as an attractive destination for top tech talent.
      Kelsall emphasizes, “Our employer brand is designed to carry the load in talent attraction and brand awareness,” focusing on real employee stories and moments. Their EVP concentrates on employee engagement and the values crucial to their workforce.
      Evolving EVP Activation
      Experian’s EVP centers around four pillars: People first, Force for good, Innovate, and Together we win. Kelsall identifies “People first” and “Force for good” as the most popular among employees, reflecting the company’s genuine commitment to culture. He highlights the latter, “Force for good,” as a testament to Experian’s impactful work driving financial inclusion.
      Mapping the EVP across 16 employee lifecycle stages, from attraction to development, poses a substantial challenge. EVP activation is an ongoing process of refinement, aligning various materials, such as job postings and training materials, to ensure consistency.
      ROI Measurement through the EBI
      The tangible results are evident, with Experian reporting a record number of applications last year. Now, the focus is on elevating candidate quality and passive talent attraction. Kelsall relies on various accreditations and awards, including Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” and the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark. Additionally, Experian turns to Link Humans’ Employer Brand Index, a data-driven external evaluation, to measure success and prove the ROI on employer brand.
      These metrics form the foundation of a comprehensive monthly employer branding newsletter, reaching all of HR and beyond. Experian’s CEO has discussed their successful Glassdoor strategy with investors, indicating the increasing importance of employer brand in the company’s future.
      Insights and Tips from Kelsall
      For a deeper dive into Experian’s employer brand strategy, listeners are encouraged to explore the podcast. Kelsall offers valuable advice for employer brand professionals, emphasizing the power of collaboration and diversity within the team. He underscores the importance of consistency, stating that it outperforms sporadic moments of brilliance. Maintaining a candidate-centric approach consistently across platforms is key to success.

      Given the awards and metrics, it’s evident that Experian is making significant strides in the realm of employer branding. For those interested in Doug Kelsall’s work, connecting with him on LinkedIn is recommended. To measure your employer brand’s effectiveness, the Employer Brand Index, with its 16 key attributes, provides valuable insights for industry comparison.
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      Activision Blizzard’s Talent Attraction Strategy: Three Brands, Three EVPs

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      Activision Blizzard is a well-known name in the video game industry, with three distinct brands: King, Blizzard Entertainment, and Activision. Each brand has its own unique identity and EVP (employee value proposition), which helps the company attract and retain top talent. In this episode of our Employer Branding Podcast, we talk to Alex Horner, the Global Head of Talent Attraction at Activision Blizzard, about how they manage three separate brands for three unique game studios.

      The Unique Talent Challenges of the Video Game Industry
      Making video games is a complex process that requires a wide range of skills, from game design and engineering to art and animation. “There are so many incredibly niche roles and skillsets needed to make games,” says Horner, “and we need to articulate why someone with such an in-demand skillset might want to join us and what the benefit they would get from coming here might be.”
      One of the challenges of attracting talent to the video game industry is that it is a very competitive field. There are many different companies vying for the same talent, so it is important to have a strong EVP that will resonate with potential hires.
      Activision Blizzard’s Three Distinct EVPs
      Activision Blizzard has developed three distinct EVPs for its three brands:

      Activision: “Great games start with great people.” This EVP is focused on attracting talent who is passionate about creating blockbusters for the largest audience possible.

      Blizzard Entertainment: “Entertain the universe.” This EVP is focused on attracting talent who is passionate about creating genre-defining titles that are known for their fantasy and immersion.

      King: “Make the world playful.” This EVP is focused on attracting talent who is passionate about creating inclusive games that are accessible to a wide audience.

      Why Employee Advocacy Is Key to Activision Blizzard’s EVP Activation
      Activision Blizzard has found that employee advocacy is a key to activating its EVPs. “We really wanted to put our people at the heart of the storytelling and to have them tell the story on our behalf,” says Horner. The company has an employee advocacy program that identifies employees who are a good fit and takes them through a structured learning and development program to help them build their personal brand.
      The employee advocacy program has been very successful in helping Activision Blizzard attract top talent. With 55 people in the program, they collectively have 500,000 followers on LinkedIn and generate 2-4 million impressions on a monthly basis.
      The Benefits of Activision Blizzard’s EVP Strategy
      Activision Blizzard’s EVP strategy has a number of benefits for the company:

      It helps the company attract top talent in a competitive field.
      It helps the company differentiate its brands and attract talent to the right studio.
      It helps the company create a strong employer brand that is known for its passion for creating great games.

      Activision Blizzard’s EVP strategy is a great example of how companies can use employer branding to attract and retain top talent. By developing distinct EVPs for its brands, the company is able to attract talent with the skills and experience it needs to be successful. The company’s employee advocacy program is also a key part of its EVP strategy, and it has been very successful in helping the company attract top talent.
      Conclusion
      Activision Blizzard’s EVP strategy is a complex and multifaceted approach to employer branding. However, it is a strategy that is working well for the company, and it is one that other companies can learn from.

      To follow Alex Horner’s work in employer brand, connect with him on LinkedIn. For help with your own EVP, get in touch. We help you identify the values and culture you want to create in your company.
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      How Mars Used the Employer Brand Index to Refresh Their EVP

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      Developing an employer value proposition (EVP) is essential for any organization that wants to attract and retain top talent.
      The EVP is a statement that summarizes the unique value that a company offers to its employees. It is a promise to employees about what they can expect in terms of compensation, benefits, development opportunities, and overall work experience.
      An EVP is essential for any organization that wants to attract and retain top talent. It helps communicate the company’s culture and values and shows potential employees why they should choose to work there.
      But how do you know if your EVP is working? And how do you know when it’s time for a refresh?
      That’s where Link Humans’ Employer Brand Index (EBI) comes in. The EBI is a comprehensive analysis of your employer brand that tells you what candidates, employees, and alumni are saying about your company online.
      Mars, Inc. is a global company with over 140,000 employees in 80 countries. They recently used the EBI to guide an EVP refresh for their organization.

      Refreshing an EVP on a Global Scale
      Mars is a complex organization with a wide range of businesses. Their EVP needed to be something that could resonate with employees and candidates all over the world.
      The first step in the refresh process was to conduct an EBI survey. The survey asked respondents about their perceptions of Mars on a variety of factors, including career development, culture and values, and work-life balance.
      The results of the survey showed that Mars had a strong reputation among its employees and candidates. However, there were a few areas where the company could improve. For example, respondents felt that Mars could do more to promote its mission and purpose.
      Using the EBI to Supplement Internal Surveys and Focus Groups
      In addition to the EBI report, Mars also conducted internal surveys and focus groups. These surveys and focus groups provided additional insights into the company’s culture and employee satisfaction.
      However, the EBI data had some advantages over the internal surveys and focus groups. First, the EBI survey was anonymous, which allowed respondents to be more honest. Second, the EBI survey reached a wider audience, including candidates and alumni.
      How Mars Uses the EBI
      Mars now uses the EBI to measure the effectiveness of its EVP on a regular basis. The company also uses the EBI to inform its decision-making on a variety of topics, such as talent acquisition, employee engagement, and corporate communications.
      Establishing Your EBI Baseline
      The EBI is a valuable tool for any organization that wants to attract and retain top talent. By using the EBI, you can get a clear understanding of how your employer brand is perceived by candidates, employees, and alumni. This information can help you to identify areas where you can improve your EVP and make your organization a more attractive place to work.
      To follow Marie Codet’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. For help gathering data and insights you can act on to improve your own company, get in touch.
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      How to Use Your Employer Brand to Reduce Hiring Costs

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      The success of every company hinges on its people. But attracting the best talent isn’t always an easy feat. Companies often invest significant amounts of money into the bottom of the recruitment process — job boards and recruiters. But at Flexa, we’ve found that a great employer brand can reduce hiring costs whilst attracting the high-quality candidates your company needs to grow.
      At its simplest, employer branding is a combination of:

      Your employee value proposition (EVP), which will probably centre around your working environment and flexible working policies

      Your company culture

      Your employees’ voices.

      And then, importantly, knowing exactly how and where to shout about all this hard work!
      Here’s how it’s done.
      1. Identify your Employee Value Proposition
      A strong employer brand is built on authenticity, transparency, and a positive reputation. Start by working out what you want to be known for, what you represent, and what you can offer employees that other companies can’t (this is your EVP). This is the perfect time to identify any areas for improvement that don’t reflect positively on your brand. It’s never too late to shake up company culture to attract and retain a happy team.
      When setting out your EVP, make sure to be authentic. There’s no point in making promises you can’t keep, as this only leads to disgruntled new hires later on.
      Once you’ve identified your EVP and what makes you unique, you can start shouting about it.
      2. Leverage social media
      Social media is an indispensable tool for employer branding. Create a strong presence on relevant platforms (at Flexa we love LinkedIn) and consistently share content that reflects your company’s culture, values, and employee achievements. Engage with potential candidates through relevant hashtags and participate in industry discussions (hosting your webinars can be a great way to draw people in). By utilizing these platforms effectively, you can reach a broader talent pool and reduce reliance on expensive recruitment agencies or job boards by having talent excited to be part of your company when you are ready to hire.
      3. Encourage employee advocacy
      There are no better advocates for your company than those who already work for you. They’re your biggest ambassadors and the most authentic marketing tool. Encourage employees to share their positive experiences and wins on social media; and amplify their stories through company channels and website testimonials. At Flexa, our team often posts about how they’re making the most of flexible work.
      By leveraging employee voices, you can tap into the networks of trusted employees whilst giving potential candidates an invaluable window into your world, so they can make an educated decision about whether you’re the right fit for them.
      Remember though, this needs to be authentic: people are smart; they can tell when someone has been told to post something nice about a company. The real stories from real employees will have a much more significant impact!
      4. Shake up your success metrics
      Many companies will measure their employer brand’s success using applications and hires alone. But your employer brand is far more extensive than that, so you need to evolve the marketing metrics you use to measure it.
      Employer brand is a strategic marketing effort. Therefore, when starting out, consider measuring the success of your efforts using metrics like reach (impressions/profile views on company and employee pages), engagement (company saves/likes/subscribes/ speculative interest), and audience relevance (diversity/geography/ skills of candidates coming through the pipeline).
      Lower down the funnel, you need to measure applications and hires, as well as things like alignment and diversity. If you focus on getting maximum relevant reach to start with, you will drive down your ultimate cost to hire.
      5. Foster positive candidate experiences
      Treating candidates with respect and providing them with a positive experience during the hiring process can significantly impact your employer brand. Maintain clear communication throughout the process, provide timely feedback, and offer a smooth and efficient application process. Even if a candidate is not selected, leaving them with a positive impression can lead to recommendations or future applications. This approach helps build a strong employer brand and reduces the need for extensive and costly recruitment efforts in the future.
      6. Don’t just focus on employer brand when you’re hiring
      An employer brand doesn’t just need your attention when you’ve got roles to fill. If you want to build a strong talent pipeline, you need to have a true focus on your employer brand all year round.
      Rather than forcing applications reactively when you have vacancies, focus on proactively nurturing relationships with potential candidates and engaging with passive candidates online, on platforms like Flexa, and at networking events and conferences all year round. Maintain regular communication with these individuals using the free channels at your disposal. Being consistent in these efforts will pay dividends when it comes to bringing great talent through the pipeline and reducing your cost to hire.
      Employer branding should be an essential part of your talent attraction and marketing strategy. If you’re not doing it, take a few steps to get started. It’s easy once you know how.
      By Beth Carter, Head of Growth at Flexa.
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      Building a Flexible Employer Brand for a Multinational Media Company

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      NBCUniversal is a media company with more than twenty businesses in thirty countries, including theme parks, television stations, motion pictures, and premium streaming services. With so many diverse brands and localities, creating an EVP (Employer Value Proposition) that works for all of them is a significant challenge. Anne Hurley, Director of Talent Branding at NBCUniversal, discusses the process of executing an EVP refresh for one of the world’s largest multinational media companies and building the flexibility to activate it across a wide variety of brands and countries in an interview with the Employer Branding Podcast.
      Setting Objectives for Employer Brand
      To articulate an EVP that works for all the different brands, NBCUniversal started by laying out the Talent Acquisition organization’s goals as a whole. They decided on setting objectives around brand awareness and engagement, employee experience, DEI, and recruiting excellence. These objectives helped steer the process and defined what they were trying to get out of their new EVP and how they should measure success across all brands.
      EVP Built on Flexibility
      NBCUniversal is a decentralized company, with properties operating independently. Hurley says, “our job is to influence them at each point of the candidate lifecycle.” They needed to create an EVP that brought everything together and was flexible enough to work equally for NBC News and Peacock streaming.
      They began with a research phase by hosting employee roundtables, looking at internal data collection, and engaging with external vendors. They then took those findings and got together with other internal groups like Corporate Creative and Corporate Communications to distill everything into the tagline: “Here you can.”
      “It’s simple, right? But that’s why it works,” Hurley says, “it acts as a ‘fill in the blank’ where we can insert language at the end of the phrase based on personas, skillsets, or interests. It doesn’t need to compete with our consumer brands—it’s simply complimentary.” For example, for E! News, it might be articulated as “Here you can be Pop Cultured,” or if they wanted to speak to their DEI initiatives, it might become “Here you can be authentically you.” Their EVP is powerful because it can be articulated differently to different personas.
      Activating EVP Globally
      Hurley’s Talent Branding organization has been working to make localization a priority. “Our brand does not resonate with people in the UK or Germany or France in the way it resonates with people in the US,” Hurley says, so they set to work creating a global toolkit to bring everything together.
      Hurley and her team started with focus groups to more clearly identify needs in each global territory and used that information to create localized assets that would align with the organization’s EVP while sharing the same look and feel across all languages. They worked closely with local brand champions to develop these resources, which in turn gives them everything they needed to create their own localized, inclusive content.
      Connect with Other EB Pros
      Hurley advises you to be clear about your internal goals before starting the EVP refresh process, do the research to get a complete picture of your organization and make sure to bring everyone to the table when the time comes to take the following steps. Large organizations come with unique challenges, but best practices exist for developing and activating an EVP. Additionally, don’t hesitate to reach out to other professionals working in the employer branding space. “I’ve made a lot of connections by simply pinging the guests on this podcast,” Hurley says. This podcast includes a way to get in touch with all of the guests, so don’t be afraid to make a connection.

      To follow Anne Hurley’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. To identify the values and culture you want to create in your own company, get in touch.
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      Building an Effective EVP: The Journey of a Bangalore Tech Company

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      India’s startup ecosystem has been experiencing a rapid growth rate, with the country emerging as the third-largest startup hub globally, posting record revenue of $227 billion in 2022, according to Mint. This growth has led to a highly competitive market for talent, making it essential for companies to have strong employer branding and an attractive Employer Value Proposition (EVP) to remain competitive.
      To gain insights into creating an effective EVP in such a fast-paced environment, we caught up with Malliga Rajkumar, the Senior Director of HR and Talent Branding Lead at Flipkart, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in India based in Bangalore, which began as a startup 15 years ago with a team of 200 people.
      As a 30,000-strong organization serving 150 million customers across all of India, Flipkart is known as the “startup of startups,” with alums going on to found their successful tech enterprises. Despite its size, the startup ethos of risk and innovation remains near and dear to Flipkart’s heart.
      However, with the tech sector’s growth came fierce competition for key talent, prompting Rajkumar and her team to build and implement an employer branding strategy to ensure Flipkart could compete. Rajkumar’s approach was to ask two simple questions: “What is it about our culture that we want to absolutely retain and rebuild where it may have atrophied? And what are the elements that we want to add on?”
      Developing EVP
      The journey to Flipkart’s EVP was months of extensive primary and secondary research. Rajkumar and her team interviewed people at all levels within the organization, spoke to headhunters, and did market benchmarking with accredited organizations like the Great Place to Work Institute and Mercer.
      In the end, they had a list of all the things Flipkart wanted to be known for and a list of the things talent cares about. The challenge was to find a balance between the two to stake out an EVP that encapsulated what Flipkart stands for while appealing to the talent they wanted to attract.
      They settled on a simple EVP that stitched together all of the concepts they wanted to include in one phrase:
      “Together, We Dare to Maximize.”
      Together spoke to everything they hope to foster in terms of community and collaboration. Dare represents their startup heart by celebrating audacity and breaking boundaries. And maximize represents their ambition to be the best they possibly can be and continuously improve.
      Activating EVP
      Articulating an EVP is only half the battle; Rajkumar and her team still needed to activate it for both employees and candidates. “Together we dare to maximize” is displayed in every Flipkart office. More importantly, that concept and the four pillars that support it are woven into all internal communications, awards, employee forums, and events throughout the year.
      They also measure its resonance each year in their annual employee engagement survey. A team of over 250 employee advocates helps get the word out and shares an honest look at what life at Flipkart is like.
      Aspirational EVP
      Flipkart sees its EVP as aspirational, and they want to ensure that they live up to its promise. Therefore, they used their mission statement to build a 3-year maturity model that articulates every process’s intent, design, experience, and measurement. The goal is to look at everything they do and take the time to align it with their EVP incrementally.
      As always, it is crucial to measure the impact of employer branding to demonstrate its value to key organizational stakeholders. At Flipkart, they compare their engagement statistics to a benchmark list of other companies to assess their performance and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, they have specific metrics for individual campaigns and regularly conduct internal surveys to assess the level of awareness within the organization regarding employer brand themes.
      According to Rajkumar, “Employer brand is not about who you are today; it’s about who you aspire to be.” A good EVP should reflect the organization’s current state and set higher standards for what it can become. Good employer branding presents an opportunity for an organization to improve and live its values, which in turn attracts top talent.

      To follow Malliga Rajkumar’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. For help identifying the values and culture you want to create in your company, get in touch.
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