The top 3 social media channels are:

1. Facebook (32%),
2. LinkedIn (27%)
3. Twitter (18%).

UNIVERSUM – BUILDING BRANDS TO CAPTURE TALENT

Congratulations to Finnair, Kone, Fazer, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, VTT, ABB, Suomen ympäristökeskus (SYKE)…and all the other top 100 Ideal Employers. UNIVERSUM Finland has just released the results of its student research today. You can read more about the results on the Finnish blog or go to our corporate site to see the full rankings. Should you have any questions about our student research in Finland, feel free to contact the Finnish team.

Employer videos are certainly not the most preferred medium. Social media, a company’s corporate website and events are the primary channels. See results!

UNIVERSUM – BUILDING BRANDS TO CAPTURE TALENT

Here’s a short excerpt from her post:

While some managers and recruiters are fed up with some of the stereotypical behaviours of Generation Y, this group is predicted to make up nearly 75% of the world’s workforce by 2025, according to the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. The best of them will be in high demand, and companies can start using the job description to court them.

6 key messages to attract Gen Y

In her blog post, Jennifer writes about six ways employers should tweak job descriptions to attract talented Gen Y,  by telling them:

1. Why they should want to work for you.
2. Why the position matters to the company.
3. About what the job could do for them.
4. About your creative benefits.
5. About your vision for the position.
6. Your company story, quickly.

Read the full post on her HR blog: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/millennial-with-your-job-description-041712/

Number crunching has become a part of our daily routines. Measuring what we do, how quickly we do it and the quality of what we do has become a norm in most companies and departments. Employer Branding won’t be able to swim against the stream… so how can we measure the work within the field?

Universum has recently launched a new research project dubbed “Talent attraction barometer”. The purpose of this new project is to keep a live barometer with benchmark results and key trends in the field of talent management and employer branding. The scope of  the project is global and we’re cooperating with large, medium and small companies, with global, regional and local perspectives. Within this project we’re already identifying some new key trends in employer branding and talent attraction. In the first data cut we have just done, one of the questions touched upon metrics: “Which key performance indicators are used in your organization to evaluate its employer branding activities?“ Participants can choose as many as applicable. What are the results?

An interesting fact: 16% of the participating companies still don’t measure their employer branding efforts. Are they lagging behind or have they found a new way forward? If you know the answer, feel free to comment.

You are also most welcome to participate in our research project. Just click on the link below to start:

https://survey.confirmit.com/wix1/p2052013111.aspx?reid=1

1. How do we make our values relevant?
2. How much should we invest?
3. What is great about knowing talent?
4. How do you make talent happy?
5. Who are the winners in the war for talent?

Many of us have witnessed or experienced a dozen times or more the power of rumours to spread like bushfire. Often we learn more from the grapevine than through official channels. The question is how can one counteract that? Or should one even interfere in dampening the gossip?

The Danger of Rumours
The danger is that rumours always misconstrue the truth – it’s like the child game of playing telephone where the meaning gets distorted once it has passed through several steps of being heard, interpreted and relayed differently. What was once perceived as “Mathew and Sue left the party at the same time”; turns into “Mathew and Sue left the party together”; to a dangerous misconception that “Mathew and Sue are having an affair” – What?

Addicted to Drama
There is no one and only solution to get around rumours and gossip – people like to spice-up their lives with some drama. And we’re all programmed to create some spin and hype in our lives, since we indulge and digest it on a daily basis from reporters, marketers, PR gurus, etc. Everybody seems to be fighting for attention, so much so that some of us are now desensitized to the swirl of sensational drama while others are engrossed in it.

The ADD Society
Some would say that we’re living in a society where everyone suffers from the attention deficit disorder, so the good news is that what is bad news today is old and forgotten news tomorrow – or at least to a certain extent. If everything has an expiry date of one or two days and soon withers away into oblivion, is gossip really a problem then?

The Information Society
Independent journalism, social media and the empowerment of the people, by giving them access to cheap and readily available communication tools, has certainly made the world more transparent. Not all negative publicity can be ignored, as there are countless examples of crises having damaging consequence on brand reputation. Monitoring the space is certainly imperative, but deciding how to act should be done on a case-by-case basis – there are definitely shades of grey. As mentioned above, it rains information constantly and there is a different flood of information every day, washing away the old dirt and bringing with it new – so again, is intervention always necessary? Certainly not!

Transparency is a Given
Living in a transparent society is a challenge for all of us, from the job-seeker who has his Facebook profile reviewed by a prospective employer to the recruiter who is confronted with a thousand applicants all demanding feedback on why they didn’t get chosen for a job – poor recruiter! Certainly transparency is affecting employers and how they conduct their business – but is it now a given that can no longer be ignored?

As Ron Thomas, a Principal at StrategyFocusedHR, rightly points out in his article published on TLNT:
“An organization today should not feel backed into a corner with this quest for openness. Today, it is simply the right thing to do. The days of “behind the mahogany doors” shenanigans are over and they will not return.”

Five Areas to be Transparent
This can certainly be the case. Again, if information comes and goes as night and day, if our attention span has been reduced to one minute and if everything is digested superficially, then why fear being transparent? It’s a provocative thought.

In his article “Transparency: Does Your Company ‘Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk?’”, Ron recommends employers to be transparent especially in five key areas, which are spot-on and need to be reiterated briefly here:

1) Give your employees a forum to discuss the business strategy and contribute to the corporate strategy
2) Make your employees feel that the leadership is accessible
3) Encourage your employees to communicate and be honest about you as an employer – they are your primary brand ambassadors.
4) Ensure that your values and corporate culture are true and relevant.
5) Create a “glass house” organization, one where everyone can see and understand how you operate.

Be Proactive
Surely, it can’t hurt employers to be proactive instead of reactive– anticipate potential whirlwinds by communicating quickly and avoid misunderstandings by being crystal clear. It’s the “say it, as it is” approach; the stop beating around the bush! In the end, it doesn’t hurt to be honest, because people won’t even remember what you said in a year from now.

The office! For some it’s like a second home, for others it’s the place where they spend most time during the day. From the cozy desks filled with pictures of family and pets, to the coffee machines where one discusses the latest news, the way we feel at work influences our performance and engagement. When looking at the market knowledge Universum has, we see that “a creative and dynamic work environment” ranks quite high in talent preferences, wherever in the world they currently are: from 35% in China and Canada, to 54% in Brazil, in all the leading economies this is one of the most relevant attributes of employer attractiveness. With this importance in mind, Universum has a new endeavor: we’re set to find the world’s best workplaces.

In the first stop in our quest to find the World’s ideal offices, yours truly had the unique opportunity to visit Unilever in São Paulo last February.

The outcome was clear: what a fantastic workplace! From the inspiring meeting rooms, to the heart-warming baby nursery, calming shiatsu massage, game room, sporty gym, relaxing roof top café, delicious gourmet restaurant and complete Unilever shop, the entire office workspace gave a feeling of modernity, comfort, creativity and warmth. Here’s a quick virtual tour of Unilever in São Paulo:

How to create such an ideal workplace? We talked with Jessica Hollaender, Human Resources Director at Unilever, and with Joana Rudiger, Talent Manager, about their fantastic office.

Universum: What were the main reasons why you decided to improve your office space?

Unilever: A company can only achieve outstanding results, if people perform in their maximum potential. And we can only perform at our best, if we are in a perfect balance, in a holistic way. This means that the best results are achieved when people have an open connection to all aspects of life and have the opportunity of balance among them.

We want to deliver our best results and they are very ambitious, but we need to guarantee a sustainable business. Part of this is closely related to how (at what condition) we want our people arriving at the end of this way and forward.

Having this balance is not a very simple task. Because of that, and with this vision, we decided since 2004 to maintain the ‘Feel Good Programme’ for the whole company and it involves over 13 000 employees.

This programme consists in many initiatives to contribute to the well-being of our employees. All ‘Feel Good’ activities are based on two pillars:

1) Feel Free:
Offering to the employee flexible alternatives in order to balance professional and personal life. Home Office and Flexible Work times are the main initiatives for this pillar.

2) Feel Fresh:
Physical activities and constant body care as a way to achieve a well-being sensation. Activities are: jogging and walking training, shiatsu, yoga, pilates, dance classes and nutritional coach.

Universum: What was most challenging?

Unilever: The most challenging was to build a mindset among our employees about the importance of this balance, and to show them that this can create more results and business performance.

From the moment  this strategy turned into part of the business strategy, the link was built and the value added was perceived by the company and its employees. Today, this is part of the company culture and has been increasingly supported.

Universum: What do you think is the best about your office?

Unilever: The best is to experience a work environment that meets the business targets and the company culture for the long term, and to be part of an environment that supports and helps: the well-being of our employees and sustainable business practices, as aligned to our corporate mission.

The quest for the World’s ideal offices is on! If you know an office that you believe we should feature, please send your suggestion by email to jfa@universum.se

Apple & Google are equally charming

Employers like Google and Apple successfully manage to generate equal appeal among both sexes, whereas companies like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are mostly for men and L’Oréal for women.

There are differences between countries, yet in Germany both men and women love their car manufacturers such as Audi and BMW Group. One exception, the exclusive sports car producer, Porsche, seems to appeal more to men than women.

3 Factors that influence female choices

1. Products & Services
It’s apparent that affinity to the company’s products & services is a strong determining factor when choosing future employer. For women that like cosmetics, it’s only natural that they would choose L’Oréal. The same goes for men that fancy cars – BMW, AUDI and Porsche are attractive career options.

2. Company culture
The company’s culture plays a huge role in deciding employer. For example, are the investment banks Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan associated to providing work/life balance? If it’s more important for women than for men, it’ll certainly affect their career choice. Due to women still taking on more of household responsibilities, such as looking after the children, employers that offer work flexibility are seen as being a good match.

3. Career goals
Research shows that men typically aspire to be leaders or managers, more so than women, and are also focused more on the money. Women, however, tend to lean towards achieving work/life balance and finding a job that gives them some self-fulfilment, especially one that allows them to be dedicated to a greater cause. Because money matters more to men, investment banks, again, are seen as being an ideal place to land a job.

Something to think about

If you are an employer tying to diversify your workforce, make sure that you consider these factors and see how you can emphasise more on the qualities of your employer brand that would appeal to the opposite sex.