What that means for the American workforce and more importantly the American dream

The American dream is a national ethos that has traditionally been the pursuit of prosperity and success. Yet that dream for many in the US is proving hard to achieve. Something that has defined the country and the American people as a whole is being challenged to the core.  Americans have always been known to be driven and ambitious to reach insatiable levels of wealth. But the reality today is that a large proportion of Americans, including the middle class, are finding it hard to make ends meet.

Veteran US pollster John Zogby believes that the American Dream is in the process of being redefined. According to him, there is a growing movement of people rejecting materialism and becoming instead secular spiritualists. He explains that the new age mindset is about “being genuine, about achieving a legacy larger than one’s self, about leaving this earth a better place for family, community, and planet”.

Why is materialism being rejected? Here are his reasons. 

“Status Anxiety” — Try to keep what you’ve got, let alone purchase more
Today, 35%  of people work for less than in their previous job. A growing number of people are afraid of losing their current status, resulting in most changing their goals in life because the traditional materialist goals are simply unreachable. People earn less today despite working harder, so the pursuit of prosperity seems like a long-shot – it’s thus better to try keep what you’ve got. Our research confirms this trend as more than half of working professionals in the US are concerned about job security above any other career aspiration, such as being a leader or manager of people, being entrepreneurial or creative/innovative, being a technical or functional expert, etc. (research taken from Universum’s recent professional survey).

“Baby Boomer self-indulgence” — Find your true purpose and remove material noise
The baby boomers are changing priorities and will reshape America. They will be the first age cohort of one million to reach the age of one hundred. Most baby boomers, unfortunately, will not be able to retire at 65 and will have to continue to work. Yet they will not be working to earn a living per se, instead they will be volunteering to do work that brings self-fulfilment, meets their own requirements and helps them to make their legacy. Aside from the baby boomers, it also includes people that are trying to simplify their lives and rid themselves of the materialist illusion of happiness, i.e. of more stuff equals greater self satisfaction.

Everybody is a global citizen
We have come to realize that the pursuit of materialism is leading to the destruction of our planet. Global warming and environmental catastrophes are no longer isolated problems of one nation or another. Today, everyone is concerned and needs to be held accountable. Consumption for that reason needs to be sustainable and eco-friendly. The transition from the pursuit of materialism to globally conscience citizens is especially embodied by the under-30s.  John Zogby describes them as such, “They have passports and have travelled abroad. The world is in the palm of their hands, they are the least likely to say that American culture is superior to other cultures of the world, and they are by far the most likely of any age cohort to call themselves ‘citizens of the planet Earth’”.

A new dream in the making
Mr. Zogby believes that the under-30s or global citizens are “revolutionizing the worlds of work, philanthropy, relationships, governing, and music.” Research shows that contribution to society and sense of purpose is extremely important to the Generation Y cohort. Most employers struggle to address and satisfy this need. Universum’s research shows that 45 per cent of America’s undergraduates choose “To be dedicated to a cause or to feel that I am serving a greater good” as one of their top three career goals (2010 survey results). First comes work-life balance and second is to be secure or stable in my job. Again, it’s a reconfirmation that the American Dream is taking on new meaning.

Even working professionals are changing their perspective on life. Recent research shows that more and more employees are disillusioned: 30 per cent feel overworked and resentful about layoffs; 33 per cent believe they are underemployed or overqualified for their positions; and 23 per cent do not find their work engaging. Moreover, a large proportion of people are half way out the door from their current employer:  25 percent of professionals plan to leave their organization within the next 6 months; another 28 per cent within 1-2 years; and close to 50 per cent of professionals have applied for a new job either internally or externally (Universum’s data).  Are Americans looking to achieve the secular spiritualist dream of being true to one’s self and making a significant difference?

Perhaps the American Dream is in the process of creating new meaning and has changed to reflect the current reality that Americans are now confronted with, as Mr. Zogby suggests.  Does the end of materialism, however, imply the end to the capitalism? Or are we striving to attain a new version of it, one which is dictated not by maximizing profits and minimizing costs but driven by care and love for society and our planet? Maybe a new dream for everybody is not such a bad idea.

Employers from the banking sector are back in students’ good books.

According to the results of Universum’s research, UK students now see the banks as an attractive place to start a career.  In 2010, all banks dropped in popularity for business students, but now with the worst of the economic recession behind, career prospects at the banks now look good again for young and soon-to-be graduates.

Being asked to select their favourite employers, the banks received more nominations by students than in previous years; all banks therefore climbed in the UK Ideal Employer rankings that measure their employer appeal on the recruitment market. 

The research shows that The Royal Bank of Scotland is the highest climber among business students, climbing +37 places from 58 in 2010 to 21 this year. Other banks that climbed the business ranking include: HSBC (+5 places); J.P. Morgan (+5 places); Barclays Bank (+12 places); Lloyds Banking Group (+16 places) and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (+17 places).

The news made the headlines: Students ‘longing to become bankers’ , The Banks Are Back As ‘Ideal Employers’ For UK Students ,  Graduates like RBS more this year, The Top 10 Employers for Business Students in the UK  and Universum awards – all the winners.

Mike Maddick, head of graduate resourcing at RBS, commented: “This time last year, Universum’s research indicated that the desirability of potential employers within the banking and finance sector had been negatively affected by the economic downturn. The fact that we are now being perceived so positively is a very encouraging sign for the future of both RBS and the sector more widely.” (HR Magazine)

Universum’s UK research is based on 41,532 employer evaluations, reflecting the opinions of more than 13,000 students. Although the banking sector has increased in popularity, employers with innovative and exciting products continue to be the favourite employers for engineering, IT and business students: Apple (1st business, 2nd engineering/IT) and Google (2nd business, 1st for engineering/IT).

Imagine a company where 1/5 of your employees leave. The world renowned performance art company, Cirque du Soleil, has an annual attrition rate of 20 per cent. Performers leave due to injuries or become too old for a profession that requires people to be in optimal physical shape. Further aggravating the situation, finding top performers and training them to be the best in very unique and particular skills, which are aimed at always stunning the audience with amazement, is a long and costly process, requiring both time and resources.

Question: How do they secure their talent pipeline and is there something that employer branding professionals can learn from this very successful performance arts company?

As reported in the FT by James Quigley and Mehrdad Baghai, here are the solution to renewing a much needed talent pool:

1) Identify talent scouts and head-hunt in defined territory

The company has thirty talent scouts, who are specialized in specific skills, such as singing or gymnastics and acrobatics. They recruit or head-hunt talent from the Olympic Games, the Mongolian State Circus and world championship athletics competitions. 

As an employer, get people who hold specific skills needed in your business, and make them responsible for identifying top talent at specific places – make the process larger than the HR department.

2) Audition and screen potential performers

Potential performers are asked to audition during two intense days, where initial screening occurs. Once identified as Cirque people they are then added to the database to await a suitable role.

All employers obviously do this already during recruitment days, so there is nothing new here. Yet indentifying people as Cirque people is the key. Have you identified Your people?

3) Train in “boot camps”

At Cirque du Soleil, new performers are “drilled into their new craft at boot camps for up to four months before their first performance”. The immersion programme is aimed at training, shaping and enhancing the best of individuals.

Immersion programmes are also nothing new for the world of HR, however, how intense and thorough is your induction and training programme. Can new recruits go out after four months and master the trade, perform and captivate an audience’s attention? If results are poor, revaluate steps 2 and 3 and ask “where did we go wrong?”   

4) Transform the rookies into longstanding family members

“Key to the transformation process are mentors – veterans who guide new artists and get to know them.”

The word transformation is important in this particular context: to change an individual in his/her condition, nature, or character; to convert the individual to be your outstanding employee is the challenge. Do you have a mentorship programme in your organization and is it successful in the transformation part? Can you turn a moth into a butterfly?

Could you beat Usain Bolt? The man, dubbed the lightning bolt, who set the world record of 9.58 in the 100 m race. The average person wouldn’t have a chance. While you are still on the starting line, he’d finish the race and leave you stranded and left wondering “what happened?” Now is Google the Usain Bolt of companies, far ahead of the competition and leaving the others out of breath – perhaps so.

The results of Universum’s US professional survey, which were revealed for the first time on Monday, didn’t reveal any big surprises. Yes, one could almost predict that Google would be number one, with Apple close behind.  What was surprising to see was the extent of the company’s success – one in four professionals chose Google. Wow! Now, what about the others?  Apple received a little over 13% of professionals’ nominations and the other top five employers were all under the 10% mark – The Walt Disney Company, the U.S. Department of State, and Amazon. 

Google continues to be in its own league
The analogy, of a company that keeps the others struggling to catch-up and keeps all competition at bay on the running track, is a valid one when looking at Google.  True, Facebook did receive many write-ins, as the WSJ reported, and they probably will be a threatening contender in next year’s election. Nevertheless, to be nominated as the world’s most attractive employer for two consecutive years and now to be awarded, for the first time ever, as the Ideal Employer of America’s professionals is a true accomplishment – Google’s brand reputation is spectacular.

Matt Millunchick, recruiting programs manager, and Orna Holland, EMEA recruiting manager

Being a social network, Facebook is its people and they, in turn, are the company’s brand ambassadors. The organization is extremely flat, no hierarchy of positions or top management sitting in an ivory tower. Even Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, works in the open space and the only conference room they have is called the aquarium, because it has no solid walls but only glass. Being a company where people are at the core of what they do and represent, Facebook encourages its employees to be bold and open, to challenge and make a difference.

This is the image that Facebook conveyed to Universum in an exclusive one-on-one session with Matt Millunchick, recruiting programs manager, and Orna Holland, EMEA recruiting manager, to get the inside story. “The open office space is what drives productivity and team collaboration”, says Matt.  “If people want to focus, they can wear earphones”, he said.  Yet, there is more to Facebook than just a bunch of people working in an open office. Both Matt and Orna were noticeably the perfect representations of what a brand advocate should be. They conveyed enthusiasm and passion for what they do in the way they spoke about the company – something they insist every employee feels at Facebook.

The importance of cultural fit

Perhaps this is the company’s true magical formula for success: identify talented individuals, make them believe in the company, its products and services, and finally turn them into the ideal brand advocates. Unsurprisingly, 30% of their recruitment needs are done via referrals. “Smart people know other smart people and that has helped us attract new talent to the company”, said Matt. 

Similar to Zappos, reported as a perfect business case study by the Financial Times, Facebook also assesses cultural match of candidates as part of their recruitment process.  “How potential candidates fit the corporate culture is definitely important to us at Facebook”, said Orna.  More and more companies that excel in talent attraction and retention proactively work with personality targeting; a practice that Universum advises will provide most employers with a competitive edge. 

 Yet, with the rapid growth Facebook is currently experiencing, both Orna and Matt expressed their concern about the company staying true to its core values. Facebook has gone from 200 employees, when they first started, to over 2000 colleagues today.  To prevent the risk of losing part of its initial identity, Facebook sets-up new offices with cultural carriers – to make sure that Facebook anywhere will have the same feel as the initial Palo Alto office. “We don’t want to be an organization that is bureaucratic and hierarchical”, Orna said.   “To remain true to who we are will be one of our future challenges”, she added.

Facebook’s popularity as a great place to work is impressive – the social network received a quarter of a million job applications in 2010 worldwide! “It’s overwhelming to process and review each and every candidate”, says Orna, “but the team works hard to do so and we rely on technology to identify promising individuals”. In addition, “all candidates that interview with us conduct a candidate experience survey, which is important to ensure that no candidate experience is negative”. It’s a best practice approach to consider, especially for organizations that struggle to manage the huge influx of applications.

A corporate culture that inspires action

Facebook is a company with an extremely strong corporate culture. It has five short and easy to remember values: 1) Focus on Impact 2) Move Fast, 3) Be bold 4) Be open and 5) Build trust. The values permeate the whole organization, with posters on the walls reiterating the key messages, with employees writing their own personal tributes or even comical interpretations of the core values. In their corporate videos, which were shown during their presentation at the Universum Awards in Sweden, the viewer was constantly reminded by Zuckerberg and other representatives of their core values. One could almost walk away with a feeling of knowing the company without ever having worked for Facebook or even visiting their headquarters. A simple exchange with two ambassadors, a presentation and a few videos gave all the impression one needed.

Facebook is an organization that empowers its employees. Their videos showed that and Matt stressed that everything filmed was non-scripted and truly shows how people feel about their work. “It’s an open and honest environment”, he said. The corporate values represent the trust in their people to do great things and make a difference, and they constantly encourage their staff to be bold and make an impact.

Being a social network, you would expect it would be relatively easy for a disgruntled employee to write something disagreeable about the company, but again they are all about being open and they say it is not something that has really happened. “We are authentic and true to what we say and we haven’t really had a situation of an employee experiencing otherwise”, insisted Matt. Because of the transparent and flat corporate culture, Facebook really works hard to recruit people who have an affinity to the corporate culture and they allow their employees to dare to work on their own projects, provided that there is, of course, some sort of impact to what they are doing.

Creating great content is the cornerstone of their employer brand communications

From an employer brand perspective, everything Facebook does is focused on content and building connections with and between people. “That’s our employer brand work in a nutshell”, said Matt. With regard to any guidelines in terms of what content they could generate, Matt said he had more or less free reign to do whatever he wished.  “When good content is created, it gets shared”, was his wise words of the day to other professionals in field.

How does Facebook measure the affects of their employer brand activities? By the number of connections, interactions and sharing of content they make and build. It’s obviously something which is relatively easy for a social network to do, but perhaps harder for other companies that don’t have at their disposal the ownership of such a powerful communication channel. However, the most important message of the day, which Matt summed up perfectly for every employer, was the rule of three 1) be authentic, 2) be meaningful and 3) be relevant. And for companies that are willing to explore social media, he said that social media is a team effort, “get everyone to tell a story!”

 It couldn’t be timelier, with International Women’s Day, to address the topic of diversity. It’s unquestionable that today’s employers need to embrace a diverse and globalised workforce. Aside from being obligated by law to provide equal opportunities and not to discriminate, evidence shows that diversity is beneficial in a number of aspects.  

One, it allows employers to tap into the entire talent pool to meet their recruitment needs. Two, having a workforce that reflects the diversity of today’s consumer base means that organizations are better at marketing and catering to a much varied and complex audience. Three, there is evidence that it leads to higher productivity and financial performance.

Clearly, there are benefits to having a diverse workforce, but not all employers succeed in achieving one. Certain industries, for example, tend to be favored more by men than women and vice versa. Certain employers struggle to address the different needs and appeal to desired target groups.

Although we strive for equality in the developed world, it doesn’t mean that we are all the same. On the contrary, we are all different.  Lovisa Öhnell, research and consulting director at Universum, explains that companies need to keep in mind that men and women are dissimilar: they are attracted to different things, respond to different communication styles, have different consumer experiences and different realities.

In other words, if employers want to build a more diverse workforce, they need to be sensitive to dissimilar needs and wants. For example, women tend to give more importance to flexible working conditions and a culture that supports equality between the sexes, whereas men want more responsibility and leadership opportunities (see chart below). “This may change, but for now our research shows just how stereotypical we all are”, said Lovisa.

Click on image to see full size. Males & Females are attracted to different things in an employer

In terms of which industries or companies men and women are drawn to, one could almost guess the results. Men find the automotive industry to be an appealing sector to work in, while more women want to work in marketing or advertising. The same goes for investment banking and financial services, where more men than women seem to be interested in the sector (see chart below).

Click on image to see full size. Male & Female preference over industries.

Is this an ideal situation? “Definitely not”, says Lovisa. “Employers that face challenges to build a diverse workforce will suffer in the long-term. They’ll have a harder time meeting their recruitment needs and will not be able to generate as much business compared to organisations that are able to attract and retain people of diverse backgrounds and skills”.

To address the diversity challenge, Lovisa proposes a four-step process for employers to consider: 

1) Understand your position
• Study your attractiveness in your key target groups
• Compare the trend against competitors in your industry
• Study the development over time

2) Explore the underlying causes
• Is your offer less attractive to one gender?
• Are you perceived differently?
• Do you have an awareness problem?

   Evaluate your communication approach
• Is the design effective?
• Are you using the right channels?

3) Create an action plan
• Adapt the message to become more relevant and attractive
• Adapt the design in order to have more impact
• Use the right channel mix to address your challenge: awareness building, relationship building or targeted

4) Communicate
• Use authentic communication, like employee testimonials
• Show, not tell
• Communicate what is relevant to the potential employee
• Be consistent!

It makes perfect business sense that a diverse workforce, with people from various backgrounds and skills, should help businesses improve their competiveness. Employers that struggle to build a diverse workforce should consider the four-step process above and take action now.

Beth Axelrod, head of HR at eBay, probably said it best:
“Having talented women in key decision-making roles helps us better understand our customer base. And we have several strong, capable women executives leading our biggest business. This didn’t happen by accident, and it certainly didn’t happen simply because they were female”.

The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report. During December 2010 to January 2011, Universum interviewed 632 global employers in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The majority of respondents were at manager/director level in HR, recruitment, or employer branding functions. Based on the data gathered, it was possible to identify seven clear trends.

Trend no. 7 –  Employers agree on the most important benefits of a long-term employer branding strategy.

• Employers think their long-term employer branding strategy is most important in
achieving the following outcomes:
1. Improve your organisation’s ability to attract the right talent
2. Be more consistent in your communications (internal and external)
3. Improve your organisation’s ability to retain the right talent

Long-term Employer Branding. Click on the image to see the full size.

Implication: finally, although still identified as important by over half of employers, build employee engagement and increase group performance is helped the least by a long term employer branding strategy. With the economies returning to pre-recession levels, the focus to retain and manage the current right talent will be crucial for business success.

The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report.

Trend no. 6 –  There is a gap between the skills sought by an employer and what those new hires bring.

•80% of employers believe that finding the right and competent people is a current challenge or a potential one in the future.

Click on the image to see it in full size. Question: is finding the right and competent people a problem for your company?

• Nearly 6 out of 10 employers agree that the talent group hardest to attract is people with specific skills and experience, e.g. engineering, business, IT, accounting.

Click on the image to see it in full size. Question: Which of the following talent groups is most difficult to attract?

• The skills employers are most likely to look for are those that they find most absent in new hires.
• The top two skills desired are Communication (61%) and Technical Expertise (59%), while those most often missing in new hires are Practical Experience and Business Acumen.

Click on image to see full size. Question: what type of skills are you looking for in new hires vs. what are the skills that your new hires lack the most

• In terms of personal characteristics, employers are looking for employees that are team players (71%); while by comparison, only 30% highlight creative as an input.

Click on image to see full size. Question: which personal characteristics do you most look for in an employee

Implication: the demand for team players is a confirmation that the match between employer and employee needs to be right. Thus, employers need to ensure that they are attracting and recruiting the correct personality types.

Viviane Reding, European Commissioner, in an interview in today’s metro, done by Elisabeth Braw, explains her logic behind imposing diversity quotas. She wants to ensure that European companies’ boards are comprised of at least 40 per cent women. It’s not for feminist reasons but for sound business, she explains. 

The female predisposition or mentality is advantageous. According to her, women apparently ask questions because they want to know and understand. Compared to men, they are cautious and take fewer risks. She jokes that if it had been the Lehman Sisters instead of Brothers, we most probably would have avoided the financial crisis – maybe so. 

Indeed, there are a number of positive aspects of having more female managers. Women in decision-making positions will help companies commit fewer mistakes and increase revenue, she adds. It’s also unquestionable that not only women, but everyone, should have equal opportunities to succeed. 

From a business perspective, having more females in management positions might just make European companies more competitive. Her most compelling argument, although she says isn’t the only one, is economic: “80 per cent of all purchasing decisions in everyday are made by women, not only butter but cars and apartments” among many other things.

If women are the biggest influencers and represent a significant proportion of consumers, it’s then only logical to incorporate them in business. Yes, a company’s workforce should represent their customer base, so companies should naturally start putting women in management positions.

Employer Branding trends from Employer Branding Insights 2011

 The data featured comes from Universum’s Employer Branding Insights 2011 report. During December 2010 to January 2011, Universum interviewed 632 global employers in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The majority of respondents were at manager/director level in HR, recruitment, or employer branding functions. Based on the data gathered, it was possible to identify a number of  clear trends.

Trend no. 5 — Hiring trends: Employers focus hiring efforts on recent graduates and young professionals.

• 74% of employers are looking to hire talent in the range of college graduate to professional with 8 years experience.

• By contrast, only 18% are looking to hire senior professional (more than 8 years experience).

Click on image to see full size. Question: which target group represents the main proportion of your new hires?

Implication: logically, companies should ensure they have a pyramid structure in terms of the age distribution of their employees – the larger proportion of employees should be under the average age of 35.