Recently several companies have engaged Universum about the question of taking or not their employer branding into moving media.  My answer would be yes!

Today’s talent lives in the digital world (facebook, renren, twitter, tudou, youtube, youku …) and expects to receive information via digital channels. Any information available online can then be accessible to a wider audience than the typical communication materials / efforts. Furthermore, a video gives companies the opportunity to show the real company environment and how it is to work there. It becomes a great tool for clear communication, enabling employer brands to be better understood by the target audience – something critical to ensure you have a proper talent relationship management strategy in place.

Some companies have also been facing the complexity of adding moving media into their communication portfolio, but creating a video doesn’t need to be complicated: interview or follow an employee during a day, show the company environment and also present basic information that students want to know (i.e., career path, mentoring programs, …). Communicate what the audience wants to know – easy to do if you have access to research data. Finally, use the videos during events (career fairs, open days, company days, …) and make it available on your online channels (website, social media pages). It will help people understanding better your employer brand and your offerings – critical to ensure you attract the people with the right personality and skills.

To sum up, creating a set of employer branding videos is a must have – it’s the same as thinking that marketing could only live with print adverts or fliers… not in this decade!

As Chinese companies continue to dominate the indexes of employer attractiveness (rankings here), it is with some dismay that I notice only a few western companies getting ready to address the challenge of talent attraction in the medium term.

Furthermore, looking at the business plans of some top western-world companies, a major growth is expected to come from BRIC; but how these companies are expecting to deliver in such big markets remains partially a mystery. What I know is that attracting talent will be a major challenge and without human capital, how are the companies going to deliver on such different markets?

Long gone are the days where being an international company represented a competitive advantage in the talent market. Nowadays, Asian talent has career expectations that they perceive only achievable in local companies. If western companies want to achieve success in Asia, the time to start building their talent pipeline is… right… now!

On an unprecendent move in the talent management field, today Google announced a 10% raise for all employees worldwide, plus a 1000 USD Christmas bonus. The reasons? First to reward their employees for a fantastic year and a job well done; secondly to try to avoid losing talent to competitors. This salary increase has a cost of 1 billion USD… It’s clear that the war for talent in the IT industry is on and the price for employee retention is not cheap.

My question: is a payraise the best way to keep the top talent?

Read more about the raise here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-bonus-and-raise-2010-11
or here:
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/80323/20101110/google-gives-employees-1000-cash-bonus-10-salary-increase-in-2011.htm