Sean O’Grady, Media Manager – US Market

Do you currently have Employer Branding Videos or is your company thinking about producing an Employer Branding Video(s)?  This is the perfect webinar for you.  During this 60 minute webinar, Sean O’Grady will provide you with general trends and best practices when it comes to producing an EB Video.  How long should the video be?  What type of information should you include in the video?  Who should be in the video? And much more!

When:  Tuesday, February 23, 2010 @ 2PM EST (60 minutes)

Sign Up Today:  https://universumusa.ilinc.com/register/cpykzhm *

*We would also like this time to note that there will only be a call in number and no access to online audio.  This will ensure for optimal sound.
We hope to have you join us!

In another recent study from IBM, two executives led a team that surveyed 250 global business leaders. They found 68 percent of the businesses they observed view CSR strategically, “as an opportunity and a platform for growth,” rather than as a bonus from the corporate philanthropy department. Fifty four  percent of the leaders surveyed feel CSR is giving them “a competitive advantage.” A surprising 49 percent of their companies have recently launched CSR activities focused on creating new revenue streams.
In this newsletter, we explore companies with social responsible initiatives to see just how they are interacting with students and current employees.

 - Salvatore Viola
Universum Marketing Director – US

Interview with…
Odesa Stapleton, Director of Talent Management, Verizon Communications

How do you define your employer brand in one or two words?

Some keywords that describe our brand: innovation, people-focused, tech-savvy, global, and dynamic

What differentiates you from your competitors?

The commitment to our employees passes on to customers, giving them a world class experience, both in the job market and in the consumer market. This is one of the reasons we find the number one people to work for Verizon. Potential employees feel if you get a job here, you are important to us and the growth and development of our business, which is in line with our desire to produce the best products.

What are you working on right now?

We are always working on attracting top college talent and developing our relationships in the colleges, with career placement offices and student bodies. We know the Verizon of the future depends on the future of today’s talent, and by working together with the enterprise to reach out to campus talent and manage our relationships on campus, we hope to capture that talent.

What new initiatives have you developed?

We try to address what we hear and what the students want. We are in the process of a making a Leadership Corner, which features our leaders that are most active in the company. The Leadership Corner gives more personal insight into who Verizon is, and is linked to our career site. We are creating an impression for students to feel that people at Verizon are innovative and engaging in unique opportunities.

We are also creating a full-scale social responsibility center where students can interact with company leaders, focusing on going green, helping the community, and helping kids become better educated.

How does the talent market perceive you as an employer?

 Research shows that the talent market evolves like we evolve as an organization. We have moved up in BusinessWeek’s “Best Places to Launch your Career” rankings and are top-ranked in Diversity Inc. for best diversity practices.

Interview with…
Shannon Schuyler, Corporate Responsibility, PricewaterhouseCoopers

How do you define your employer brand in one or two words?

Leadership. We strive to demonstrate our responsible leadership in the marketplace and convey a shared purpose to deliver lasting value to our clients, people, and community.

What differentiates you from your competitors?

Overall, it’s the experience that we are able to deliver to our clients and to our people. It is the level of expertise, quality of work, depth of relationships and the values and behaviors that guide our actions. 

What are you working on right now?

The Corporate Responsibility (CR) team is currently working with the Dean of Notre Dame to document some of the highlights and brand-defining aspects of being a signatory to the UN Global Compact.  We have also recently completed our first CR vendor survey, which was comprised of a series of questions to better understand the commitment and actions of our suppliers related to their social responsibility agendas.  As we review the data gathered, we will be reaching out to the vendors to share best practices, build meaningful partnerships through common goals, and offer our client service expertise to make recommendations on tracking results and enhancing processes, as appropriate.

What new initiatives have you developed?

A significant part of our CR strategy is to develop programs and initiatives that are sustainable and occur on an annual basis, so that we are enhancing efforts versus creating new ones.  However, this year, with our announcement around reducing are carbon footprint 20 percent by 2012, we have developed related programs to support that aggressive goal.  Most recently, we launched Green Week, which was a firm-wide initiative that included daily communications from our CEO outlining our commitment to better respect the environment. There was a different focus each day; for example, what individual actions our employees can tale, what an office can do as a team, how we can support our clients through sustainability service offering and how our efforts link to technology and cost management. Green Week culminated in local events where our employees used “human power generators” to see just how much energy is required to charge a cell phone and power a normal light bulb versus an incandescent bulb. 

How does the talent market perceive you as an employer?

We get very positive feedback from our current staff, students on campus, and potential experienced hires in the marketplace about our brand, reputation, and overall positive perception of our firm as a responsible leader.  Given the current economic conditions, having a reputation for doing the right thing and acting with integrity is critical to drive loyalty and pride in any organization. We believe that our actions at PwC are a critical aspect of fostering sustainable business in the marketplace and our commitment seems to be embraced and understood by the broad pool of talent in our communities.

Interview with…
Gwen Migita, Corporate Director of CSR, Harrah’s Entertainment

How do you define your employer brand in one or two words?

Code of Commitment. Harrah’s Code of Commitment sets the standards that govern our company’s relationships with our guests, employees, and local communities.   It encompasses our commitments with respect to responsible gaming, employee growth and development, volunteerism and philanthropy, diversity, and environmental sustainability. With respect to the environment, Harrah’s  has incorporated sustainability programs , aggregated under the internal brand CodeGreen,  into all of its properties and activities, making a fundamental commitment to the environment an integrated component of everyday business operations.  CodeGreen is a comprehensive best practices approach, engaging employees and partners in conservation and efficiency efforts as well as driving continuous improvement of facilities and processes to make them more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. 

 What differentiates you from your competitors?

Scope and leadership.  We were the first casino company to articulate a set of CSR standards.  We are the only gaming entertainment company that is an EPA Climate Leader, the only gaming company to have been named to the Dow Jones Global Sustainability Index for six years, and the only gaming company to have received a regional Environmental Quality Award, the highest award given to the public from the EPA. Twenty years ago, we developed the first Responsible Gaming programs for the gaming industry, and were the first casino company recognized for leadership by the National Council on Problem Gambling. 

What are you working on right now?

Harrah’s is working on company-wide carbon emissions reduction goals, waste management through stricter procurement standards, innovative partnerships with global environmental NGOs, and improved tracking of employee volunteer HERO (Harrah’s Entertainment Reaching Out) programs to build on the 125,000 hours we contributed through company-sponsored activities in 2008. 

What new initiatives have you developed?

Harrah’s partnered with NativeEnergy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with our World Series of Poker’s main event and Ante up for Africa celebrity tournament.  In conjunction with Meals on Wheels of America, the Harrah’s Foundation funded the first comprehensive study and action plan on senior hunger in the United States.  And, our Caesars Atlantic City HERO team and the Harrah’s Foundation worked with Habit for Humanity to fund and build the first green Habitat home in the country.

How does the talent market perceive you as an employer?

Our reputation as an employer is excellent.  We have been named one of the top places to work for IT professionals by Computerworld Magazine for nearly a decade, received two perfect scores on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign for LGBT employees, and received a Best Place to Work award as an employer from a number of jurisdictions in which we operate.

In 2008, BusinessWeek identified us as the “most generous company in America” based on a percent of our pre-tax profit.  We donate $1.5 million per week to charities across America. 

We feel that leadership and a strong record in corporate, social and environmental responsibility differentiates Harrah’s Entertainment from other employers.

Please visit our employer branding store to view more details and purchase tickets:

http://www.employerbrandingstore.com/Browse/Tickets.aspx

For more information please contact Salvatore Viola –  sal.viola@universumusa.com

Find out which employers over 61,000 undergraduates and over 6,000 MBA students ranked as their ideal employers?  And how the economy is affecting employer branding efforts on campus?  Do you know what students really think about employers being on Facebook and other social networking sites? Sign up for one of our exclusive webinars below and be one of the first companies to get a SNEAK PEAK of this year’s results and findings

To register for the webinar click on the link below:

https://universumusa.ilinc.com/register/tffkkcc

Holding on to your top performers
As news of layoffs spread through your organization or the industry, even the people you have no intention of letting go – your top performers – get nervous and may begin looking for jobs elsewhere. And high performers – per definition – can always find a job, even in a recession. With the right communication and the right messaging, you can keep your key talent. This will ensure a stronger position for the company as a whole in the long term.

Putting the recession in its proper perspective
Judging by the news reports, one might think that a recession is a one-time cataclysmic event.In reality, recessions, just like periods of strong growth, are natural cycles of a market economy. Here is where your internal communication plays an important part in supporting and emphasizing to your employees that, no matter how gloomy things may look, the situation is temporary, and that the company is working hard to prepare for when things turn around – which they will do.

Keeping the focus on the long term goals
I suggest that you devise a detailed communications plan that focuses on what the company offers long term, and what the company’s goals are long-term. Surely, the short-term events and developments have to be explained and discussed, but they should not be the dominating topics. The long-term plans, goals and strategies should be. Several distinguished sources, such as the Corporate Executive Board and Towers Perrin, have reported a clear connection between employee engagement/productivity and internal employer branding, and engagement depends on information. So get to work on your information. Meet the recession head-on, and you will be stronger, better and smarter, once the recession gives way to the next cycle of growth and prosperity.

By Michal Kalinowski, CEO of Universum

It’s important for employers to stay top of mind during a hiring freeze and not abandon the image and presence they have spent resources and time to establish. Employer Brand impressions are created mostly during the undergraduate years, when students are researching companies, searching internships and learning about your brand and offer. Avoid disappearing fully from campuses that matter to you now, or are likely to matter to you at all in the future. Otherwise you may be forced to rebuild your brand when the economy gets better and need students from that campus. The rule of thumb we hear cited by our friends and clients so often is as follows: one year off of a campus takes three years to fully repair.

So what should you do if you are not hiring?

1. Continue investing in relations with key faculty and administration. This is a sustainable channel that has a big impact. They are easy to turn back on once hiring starts and the economy kicks back in, and helps the students stay plugged in to your base brand.
2. Be the provider of content and information that helps students get ahead – even if they are not going to be hired by you. One great source of advice are your young employees. Do this through holding interview prep classes, resume writing and offering career path advice.
3. Search for sponsorship opportunities as a signal to students that you are present and still care about your brand on campus. They can be general sponsorships where there is not promise of internships and jobs. Also, attend the high profile events. Choose those events that provide the maximum impact to sustain your brand and keep it top of mind.
4. Focus on your current employees. Retention of top people will continue to get harder, and the conversations that current employees have with others via their social and professional networks (virtual or real) will impact your brand. Companies that are talked about as being empathetic during these tough times will be remembered for such actions; as well the companies that are talked about in a less positive light by current or past employees and interns.

By Jonathan McBride, Chief Strategy Officer

Interview with…

1. How do you define your employer brand in one or two words?

“Achieving potential” – This is our main theme when communicating with our target audience.

2. What differentiates you from your competitors?

We have an unwavering commitment to our people and their development. Ernst and Young has made a big investment on coaching and experimental learning opportunities -  allowing candidates to learn on the job and provide an atmosphere for them to see the concepts and real issues.

3. What are you working on right now?

One of our main priorities is to always develop a solid relationship with talented students and faculty.

4. What new initiatives have you developed?

We are working on a social responsibility competition called “Your world, your vision” where teams develop proposal ideas themed around education, environment and entrepreneurship. An example would be providing mentoring and coaching opportunities to underprivileged communities. 

Ernst & Young is also planning a large hiring initiative, where we expect to hire 2,700 students for full time positions and offer 1,500 internships.

5. How does the talent market perceive you as an employer?

External organizations such as BusinessWeek and Fortune Magazine have cited us for many years as a premiere place to launch a career.