Monday, February 20, 2017

Employer Branding: Perception VS Reality

Once upon a time, there was an HR department at a company interested in the trend on employer branding. Like most of them, they were talking about how to attract the best talent and become a great workplace, how to have a good perception among colleagues and potential employees…

Then one day, they decided to hire Employer Brand Specialists and compose a team to make the company one of the best workplaces. They made interviews with candidates and hired one of them; convinced the C-level to get the budget necessary to invest in employer branding.

Based on the assumptions about candidates (target group), they carried out some projects to increase the employer brand perception. Surely, they became one of the best workplaces, attracted the best talent and the HAPPY END…

Do you think that there is something weird in that story?

I think that I’m not the only one who thinks that it is really weird. So, let’s rewind and take it step by step.

But firstly, let’s not forget the fact that employer brand perception among candidates must not be different from the one among employees.

Step one: You forgot to send a response to candidates?
What happened to all of the candidates the company interviewed during the hiring process of “Employer Branding Specialists”? Did they receive a response in a timely manner without needing to contact the company a couple of times to receive an answer? If an HR department dedicated to increase “Employer brand” perception doesn’t do it, who will?
Furthermore, it would be hard to change perception among all these people and their friends (you know the power of word of mouth)!

Step two: You Base On Assumptions?
Who is / are your target group?
You hire among high-school graduates or postgraduates?
Do you consider university rankings?
Do you prefer new graduates or experienced candidates?

You need to answer these questions and more; then you need to conduct a survey among your target group(s) to better understand their expectations from companies.

Step three: You copy-paste a practice you have seen at another company? 
There are lots of companies who do very good jobs on employer branding. But does it mean that a good project with wonderful results will also result the same way at your company; considering company culture, employee profile, etc? There must be an intersection between company culture, employees’ perception and candidate expectations; so that you can base your projects…   

Step four: Once established, had good results and stop then? 
We, human beings are very forgetful, merciless and always want more. This is what HR specialists face every day. When an employee has a good salary increase, he forgets about it in 6 months and starts to complain about salary. When he / she participates at trainings, he/she says that there are lots of work and no time for training; but when you don’t offer trainings they say that “there is no training to improve ourselves”. Anyway, the list continues like that.

Here is the link to our subject: As a result of successful employer branding strategy and implementation, you may have an increase among best workplaces rankings. However, if you don’t continue your practices and develop them, what you do will start to be considered as “normal”. Then you will face a decrease among rankings and among candidates’ & employees' perception. So you have to develop projects for better practices.

Step five: What about daily routines? 
Beside all these steps, one important thing to remember is here. While working on big projects, you mustn’t forget the daily routines that may affect the employer brand because these ones really affect it. When you focus very much on how to develop the ongoing processes / projects, you always forget to start with small steps that can easily change the perceptions.

When increased employer branding perception meets reality, your company can become one of the best places to work for! Here is the HAPPY END!

Sunday, February 12, 2017

International Awards Map of HR in Turkey!



All HR departments have the same objective independently of region, country, sector… Attracting and retaining the talent for supporting business goals.

For achieving this objective, HR departments focus on two main points:
-          1st: Attracting the talent
-          2nd: Developing processes and practices that will boost employee performance and engagement

International awards are good ways to show HR’s success in these fields. Thus, management, employees and candidates will trust more to HR department and its practices. And also the HR department will be noticed in the sector and consulted for benchmark.

There are lots of institutions / organizations that give awards on HR field. However, it is certain that most prestigious ones are ATD, SHRM and CIPD. Brandon Hall is also a significant one. 

Let’s see the approach of these institutions to giving awards and evaluate the awards received by companies in Turkey. 

For A Quick Start

Since 2007, companies from Turkey received 135 awards from ATD, Brandon Hall, CIPD and SHRM. The categories of awards received are shown below. 



1.       ATD Awards

 ATD gives two different awards:

a.       ATD Best Award: For recognizing organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success as a result of talent development. There are no categories at this award. Since 2003, every year approximately 30 companies win this award from all over the world.

Although the award is given since 2003, first awards Turkey received date 2010. Since then, 9 companies received this award from Turkey:

Year
Company
2010
Yapı Kredi Bankası, Global Bilgi
2011
Garanti Bank
2013
Denizbank, Migros
2014
Türkiye İş Bankası, Teknosa
2015
TEB, Turkcell, Yapı Kredi


In 2016, there not any winners from Turkey.


b.      ATD Excellence in Practice Awards: For recognizing results achieved through the use of practices and solutions from the entire scope of workplace learning and talent development. This award is given since 2000.

There are 10 categories at this award and a practice can be entered for consideration in two categories.  Approximately 30 companies win award and 30 companies are honored with citation.

Although ATD Excellence in Practice Awards are given since 2000, first awards companies from Turkey received date 2007. Since then, 12 companies from Turkey received 30 awards (11 awards, 18 honorable mentions and citations).

“Award” Winners:

Year
Company
2007
Global Bilgi
2011
Turkcell, Türkiye İş Bankası & Dilek Sağlık & Sistema & Nar
2012
Yapı Kredi bankası
2013
Turkcell
2014
Finansbank
2015
Eczacıbaşı,Teknosa, TEB, Tük Telekom, Vestel
2016
Migros




“Honorable Mention” & Citation Owners:

Year
Company
2009
Turkcell
2010
Turkcell
2011
Turkcell, Finansbank & MCT, Yapı Kredi
2012
Turkcell
2013
Migros, Tukcell - Ufukkoç Strateji ve Yetkinlik Gelişimi
2014
Coca Cola İçecek, Eczacıbaşı, Finansbank, Teknosa, Yapı Kredi
2015
Eczacıbaşı, Teknosa, Türk Telekom
2016
Migros



The number of award / honorable mention and citation winner companies from Turkey seems to increase regularly.



2.       HRM Impact Award
SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management): Together with SIOP (The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology), SHRM gives HRM Impact Award since 2013.

Their aim is to promote human resource management practices that contribute to the success of today’s global work organizations, making them better places in which to work.
With a belief that the way to improve practice is to publicize the best available evidence regarding the usefulness and impact of successfully implemented innovative HRM initiatives…

Every year maximum 3-4 companies are awarded by HRM Impact Awards. This makes the award more prestigious than the others. There are no categories. Every applicant is evaluated through financial, people and scientific impact of practice. 

QNB Finansbank from Turkey was awarded with “Honorable Mention” in 2016. There is no other company from Turkey who was awarded by HRM Impact Awards.

Year
Company
2016
QNB Finansbank




3.       CIPD Awards:

CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) gives two different awards.

a.       CIPD Recruitment Marketing Awards (RMA): RMA provide reward and recognition for excellence and professionalism in recruitment marketing and talent management. This award is given since 1980.

There are 20 categories. For each category, shortlist is announced and the winner is selected within the finalists. There is also “Grand Prix” for overall winner.

Finansbank was one of the finalists in 2014 under the category “Best In-house Recruitment Team”. There are no other finalists or award winners from Turkey.

Year
Company
2014
Finansbank


Award Web Site: http://thermas.co.uk/

b.      CIPD People Management Awards: PMA provide reward and recognition for excellence and professionalism in increasing engagement and performance since 2010 (there is no mention to the first PMA award on website; but the first award I saw dated 2009).

There are 19 categories. For each category, shortlist is announced and the winner is selected within the finalists. There is also “Grand Prix” for overall winner.

There are no companies from Turkey who were shortlisted or awarded by PMA.

Award Web Site: http://www.cipdpmas.co.uk/


4.       Brandon Hall Excellence Awards

Brandon Hall Excellence Awards are given since 1994. The award recognizes the best organizations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results.

There are 7 categories and more than 80 sub-categories at this award. More than 600 companies win gold/silver/bronze award in a year.

Although Brandon Hall Excellence Awards are given since 1994, first awards companies from Turkey received date 2011. Since then, 34 companies from Turkey received 92 awards.

Year
Company
2011
Turkcell, Garanti Bank
2012
Türk Telekom, Denizbank, Enerjisa, Garanti Bank, Avea
2013
Migros, Denizbank, Avea, Türkiye İş Bankası
2014
Denizbank, Turkcell, Horizon Hızlı Tüketim, Koç Holding, Enerjisa, Eczacıbaşı Holding
2015
TEB, Turkcell Global Bilgi (Sağlık Bahçesi, Patika, Bilge Adam ile birlikte), Eczacıbaşı Holding, Acıbadem, Vodafone, Vestel, Tofaş, Albaraka Türk, Garanti Bank, Carrefoursa, Doğa Okulları, Cigna Finans, Teknosa, Bilim İlaç, Defacto, Omsan Lojistik
2016
Türk Telekom, Yapı Kredi, Türk Asset, Turkcell, Doğuş Holding, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi, Yıldız Holding, Eczacıbaşı İlaç Pazarlama, Türkiye Finans, Boyner, Domino’s Pizza, Eczacıbaşı Holding, Enerjisa, Defacto



Summary:
In 2007, only one company from Turkey won an award. Howeever in 2016, the number of award winner from Turkey was 31! 

When all the information above is considered together;
-          It seems that companies started to attach more importance to employee experience especially since 2010s and develop practices / programs for employees; received awards with them.
-          Most of the awards were received for “Learning & development programmes”. Companies might have invested more on learning & development programmes than any other field.  
-          Receiving an international award has become important and such a trend in Turkey in the last 4 years. It has mostly become prestigious in HR environment to receive them.
-          Banking and telecommunications are the top sectors attaching great importance to these awards. 
-          ATD and Brandon Hall give lots of awards each year and companies in Turkey are especially interested in these awards.


*There are lots of other international awards HR departments in Turkey received such as Stevie, HR Excellence Awards, etc. However, considering that ATD, SHRM, CIPD and Brandon Hall are the most important ones, this article focuses only on them.