Employer reputation
The Power of Reputation. Chris Komisarjevsky’s new book, The Power of Reputation: Strengthen the Asset that Will Make or Break Your Career, is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how to steer their reputation into a career worth having.
Chris provides practical, easy-to-apply advice, techniques, tips and best practices on how to build that reputation you always wished you had but maybe never planned with very much care. He covers all the many elements that make up an enduring personal and professional reputation (they are the same, you know) such as values, character, behavior, trust and communications.
I regard myself as an insider when it comes to Chris’ new book. Chris was CEO of Burson-Marsteller when he hired me and throughout my time there, encouraged me to build the bank of reputation research we launched as a firm. He also served as a role model for how CEOs should lead their organizations and build a best place to work.
There are so many great examples that I remember from his leadership and I got to experience up-close how the character of the person at the top sets the tone for the entire organization. There is no denying the inextricable link between the two. Perhaps for that reason, I was particularly drawn to the chapter on Values. Chris provides a list of values that can guide your career path. It seems that everyone should be given that list as an exercise when they start a new job so they can be regularly reminded to follow it. The Power of Reputation also provides terrific real-life examples and anecdotes from a wide variety of CEOs who have been faced with reputational issues and had to decide what was most important to the organization and its members.
Overall, if you are looking to better understand what you stand for, what your company should stand for, and how to build trust and an enduring career, this is a great book to read.
Just read this article in Forbes about Amazon's Jeff Bezos' number one leadership secret. I've followed him for years and enjoy reading about how Amazon has grown from a bookseller to an everything store online. I had already been thinking about about the importance of employees and customers for new CEOs when I read that Bezos' number one leadership secret is that the customer is always right. There is this example described in the article that when Bezos calls meetings, he leaves an empty seat at the conference table for what he calls the customer's seat. A potent reminder to bring the customer's point of view to the table. The article hints at the fact that Bezos has built his hugely successful business bent on "coddling his 164 million customers, not his 56,000 employees." This has me wondering that in this age of the Internet and social media galore, if customers are now more important than employees, maybe because of sheer size? The pendulum seems to be swinging again anyway. It used to be that all business activities were primarily all about customers, then all about employees and now... it's all about equal parts' employees and customers but with customers gaining the upper hand again. The Internet has created a sense of urgency about how satisfied your customers are. Probably because they spread word of mouth more quickly and seem to have more power than employees. They can advocate or criticize your business approach or customer service online for all to see. They have more power because they have so many choices from which to buy from. The answer for new CEOs, however, appears to be focusing on employees with a healthy dose of understanding what your customers want and quickly scaling to reach them online to confirm what employees are telling you. Something to think about over the next few weeks. Whose more important -- employees or customers for new CEOs and CEOs who've been in office for some time?
Each year Fortune publishes the 100 Best Companies to Work For in the U.S. While the bulk of the company evaluation rests on a comprehensive employee survey, Fortune publishes a wealth of employer statistics about benefits, diversity and jobs. Weber Shandwick has been cataloguing this data since 2006, enabling us to look at how each factor changes over time.
Consistent with the improving job market in the U.S., the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For listing reflects some uptick in the areas of diversity and job statistics. While all of these Best Companies tend to offer a variety of perks to their employees, the number of these employers offering such perks have either plateaued or dwindled. Below are insights into some of these trends.
Jobs
The average Best Company enjoyed its highest job growth rate since 2008 (9%). 2010 and 2011 were bleak years, with growth of just 1% and 2%, respectively. Even more gratifying to report is that the number of companies with negative job growth is at its lowest level since 2009 (11%) when Fortune began providing job growth for all listed companies. It had been as high as 45% in 2011. While there may be a self-selection factor in this, i.e., companies that experienced very high attrition simply didn’t enter into the list competition this year, it does mean that layoffs do not preclude a company from making it onto this important list. Perhaps, it is the way in which these companies manage their layoffs from a communications and operations perspective that result in their employees voting them onto the list. In fact, only 19% of these highly regarded companies have never had a layoff.
An interesting statistic that we assessed this year for the first time is the number of applicants per job opening. We went back to 2010 to see how this has changed, and change it certainly did! In 2012, the average number of applicants per job opening is 312 vs. 83 in 2010. Most likely this is a reflection of an improving job market (employees once cautious to leave stable jobs simply weren’t applying for new jobs), or it may show the effects of the good reputations of these particular companies. (And of course it may reflect the number of people looking for jobs in general but we’d expect the figures in 2010 and 2011 to be more equal.)
Diversity
While the average percent of women and of minorities in Best Companies do not show any gains since 2006, we see that 100% of Best Companies now have gay-friendly policies and the trend for gay-friendly benefits continues to edge up from 70% in 2008 to 89% in 2012.
Benefits
The most pronounced change over time in the offerings Best Companies extend to employees has been job sharing. In 2007, 71% of Best Companies offered job sharing and in 2012 it is down to 53%. Also a noticeable change since last year is the number of Best Companies that subsidize employees’ gym memberships, down as well (71% vs. 61%). All other benefits are fairly flat from last year. Perhaps this is an outcome of a prolonged a down economy where employees’ satisfaction with having a job drives their satisfaction with their employer, regardless of job sharing or gym benefits.
Engagement
We wanted to see how many Best Companies represented their organization on the Fortune site with a picture of people (presumably their employees, but we can’t say for sure). The majority did – 64%. However, it begs the question as to why the rest would choose not to showcase their employees when the ranking is so employee-focused and is such a great recruiting tool. Most other pictures were of the corporate headquarters building.
|
|
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
|
Jobs |
|||||||
|
Average Job Growth |
7% |
9% |
9% |
8% |
1% |
2% |
9% |
|
% Companies with Negative Job Growth |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
22% |
41% |
45% |
11% |
|
Average Voluntary Turnover |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
12% |
7% |
7% |
8% |
|
% Companies that Never had Layoffs |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
9% |
17% |
15% |
19% |
|
# Applicants per Job Opening |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
83 |
N/A* |
312 |
|
Diversity |
|||||||
|
% Companies with 50% or More Women |
42% |
40% |
40% |
41% |
46% |
42% |
44% |
|
% Women (Average) |
N/A |
N/A |
49% |
49% |
49% |
48% |
47% |
|
% Companies with 50% or More Minorities |
7% |
8% |
6% |
8% |
8% |
8% |
9% |
|
% Minorities (Average) |
N/A |
N/A |
28% |
30% |
29% |
29% |
30% |
|
% Companies with Gay Friendly Policies |
N/A |
92% |
95% |
95% |
96% |
99% |
100% |
|
% Companies with Gay Friendly Benefits |
N/A |
N/A |
70% |
79% |
83% |
88% |
89% |
|
Benefits |
|||||||
|
% Companies with Unusual Perks |
7% |
5% |
15% |
8% |
16% |
13% |
12% |
|
% Companies with On-Site Child Care |
33% |
32% |
29% |
32% |
32% |
30% |
31% |
|
% Companies with Fully Paid Sabbaticals |
25% |
22% |
18% |
19% |
19% |
21% |
23% |
|
% Companies with 100% Paid Health Care |
14% |
16% |
21% |
15% |
13% |
14% |
14% |
|
% Companies with Job Sharing |
N/A |
71% |
63% |
61% |
68% |
56% |
53% |
|
% Companies with On-Site Gym |
N/A |
N/A |
69% |
69% |
69% |
67% |
69% |
|
% Companies with Subsidized Gym Membership |
N/A |
N/A |
59% |
78% |
72% |
71% |
61% |
|
% Companies with Compressed Workweeks |
N/A |
N/A |
82% |
75% |
81% |
81% |
80% |
|
Employee/Employer Engagement |
|||||||
|
% Companies with Posted Comments on their Best Companies Page |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
15% |
|
% Companies Displaying Images of People on their Best Companies Page |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
64% |
*Too many companies on list with "NA" to calculate
Employee communications will undoubtedly be the hot topic of the next few years, especially in the reputation space. As leaders come to terms with the fact that employees can be their best advocates and worst badvocates, internal communications will rise to a new level. That's a good thing because I think leader-to-employee communications is more immature than the art and science of external communications. With all the technology we have, you'd think that employee communications would be more advanced. But it is not. Research by Dov Seidman and the Boston Research Group surveyed thousands of employees at all levels. One of the more startling findings was that 27% of bosses think that employees are inspired by their firm, when in fact only 4% of employees agree. And 41% of bosses say their firms award people based on values rather than financial performance. Only 14% of employees agree. Bosses have much to do to get employees inspired and willing to go the distance to make their firms successful and a place others want to work at. Talent, leadership and culture are drivers of reputation. Time to inspire before it is too late.
I just read this wonderful interview with Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies. He has written a book titled Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Mnanagement Upside Down. And that he does. The reputation of employees seems to be gaining more steam lately. More CEOs are asking how to engage employees better and more creatively and harness their advocacy. Nayar's strategies and tactics are compelling -- not only are detailed financial performance delivered directly to employee desktops but all (ALL) employee appraisals or performance reviews are posted on HCL's internal website for all to see. And get this, this includes the CEO's review. His theory is that he too can learn from direct feedback.
The CEO seems very plugged into the employee component of the value equation. Here are a few things that really stood out to me. He must have a fine reputation among his employees to bear his soul so publicly and turn everything on its head. There are other good examples in the article so I recommend you read it. And here's to all those dancing CEO bloggers out there!
"We also looked for symbolic ways to be a model of openness. One thing I did was publicly dance in front of all my employees. This was to remove the halo that a CEO has around his head. Meaningful conversation happens after you have set the stage in this way, after you make clear that you are as open as anyone else — crazy but effective. I started writing a blog called “You and I,” in which I encouraged employees to ask me questions in the open. The only rule I made was that when you ask the question, it must have your name attached. All 60,000 employees should see your question and my answer. At first, I was depressed by the result, because I mostly received negative questions that made HCL look bad. People said things like, “Vineet, I don’t accept what you’re saying.” Or, “You lack vision; you haven’t articulated what the company’s size and scale will be in 2010.” So I held an open house with a group of employees. “I’m feeling pretty bad,” I said. “Nobody is saying what is positive about our company. Do you think I’ve unlocked a genie that is spreading demotivation?” Their answer was interesting. They said it is good to wash dirty linen in public, in this case on the blog, because it builds trust. There are no rumors. We discuss everything openly and honestly. We don’t always have solutions to problems, but at least we expose them. Out of that, I began to share the financial numbers and give my perspectives, and the tenor of the blog comments began to change."
Not sure if you were sent this article about "green" rankings....based on another article in MITSloan Management Review by Auden Schendler and Michael Toffel (you have to sign in to get the article). It is definitely worth reading but the central premise is that many of the environmental ratings focus on the wrong criteria, namely failing to incorporate advocacy activities that influence environmental regulation. What the article says is that environmental ratings should also include whether a company's political actions support or undermine climate action. From a reputational point of view, these sentences stood out:
Third party corporate responsibility ratings matter. They help consumers vote with their wallets, aid job seekers with employment decisions, affect employee morale, guide socially responsible investors and pension funds and generate good -- or bad -- PR for businesses. Research has shown that poorly rated firms respond by improving their performance.We work with companies on rankings of all sorts. And these "green" ratings are very sought after. There is no perfect scorecard that I know about and yes, companies can game the system even when they don't deserve the reputation burnishing. What else is new? But winning them is important to reputation-buidling of credentials in the environmental space. And for those companies that are not truly green today, these environmental scorecards push them to do better and that's what counts in my book. I often tell companies to go ahead and apply for Best Place to Work awards because it gets the CEO involved and gets leadership focused on one day being among the chosen few. Even if you don't win, you usually can get your scores to determine what you need to do better. The same goes for climate change. If you don't win, that's okay. Try again next year. The article rightfully says that these rating systems should factor in other criteria such as political contributions, CEO advocacy and NGO relations. True. And they also rightfully say that these rating systems could benefit us all by spurring corporate activism "to solve one of the world's most pressing problems." True. But we should recognize how far we have come already. I remember when there was no such thing as "green" ratings. As it's been said, we've come a long way baby.
No doubt about it but U.K.-based Pret-A-Manger (ready to eat, translated) is forging ahead with its reputation-building program in the U.S. I think it is catching on. Today's article on how they are building their reputation was illuminating because of its best practices on motivating employees and delighting customers who come for a fresh take on fast food. I should know because I've been a recipient for several years now since a Pret is located between my subway exit and my office.
I am usually there along with one or two regulars when the Pret opens at 7am . Sometimes they give me free coffee and tell me to have a good day. But what I hold really dear to my heart is their gesture of kindness in the dead of winter. If I arrive before their opening time and it is bitter bitter cold as it was many days over the past winter, they sometimes let me in to wait while they finish their daily early morning meeting or tell me to grab my coffee and go (I make it up the next day). As a New Yorker, most stores let people wait outside no matter what the weather is and stick strictly to their closing and opening hours. Here is another example that comes to mind of their friendly customer focus. Over the past two or three months I thought that a large coffee cost $2 and I would just drop two single bills on the counter, grab my coffee and head to my office. Just recently, however, I learned that my coffee actually costs $2.11. No one ever said anything to me. Maybe they didn't have the heart to displease me but I sure was embarrassed when I overheard another customer asking about the price. Now I pay full freight, happily. For some reason, I usually get to know the manager in charge because they are there early when the store opens and are always up front helping and welcoming customers. They always pitch in behind the counters when it gets crowed, clean up spilled milk at the coffee area and thank everyone for coming. The managers understand the importance of teamwork and working shoulder to shoulder with the others. Everyone is always bustling around and moving to stock the shelves, answer questions, say hello, and keep the flow going. I often marvel at their customer service smarts but had not spent much time learning about how they do what they do so well. Therefore I was glad to read about how they run such a tip top shop.
Here are some of training strategies they use that are worth sharing:
- New hires are sent to a Pret A Manger shop for a six-hour day, and then the employees there vote whether to keep them or not.
- Bonuses are awarded based on the performance of an entire team, not individuals.
- Pret also sends “mystery shoppers” every week. Mystery shoppers are people who visit and observe but do not reveal who they are. If a mystery shopper scores a shop as “outstanding,” all of the employees get paid an extra wage-per-hour bonus, based on a week’s pay.
- When employees are promoted or pass training milestones, they receive at least $80 in vouchers. But, instead of keeping the bonus, the employees must give the money to colleagues, people who have helped them along the way. That's a novel approach.
- Every quarter, the top 10 percent of stores, as ranked by mystery-shopper scores, receive about $50 per employee for a party.
- The top executives at Pret get 60 “Wow” cards, with scratch-off rewards of cash or an iPod, to hand out each year to employees who excel.
- Pret has all-staff parties twice a year and managers get a monthly budget of $150 or so to spend on drinks or outings for their workers.
As reputation watchers, we are always watching the big barometers of reputation such as Fortune World's Most Admired Companies and its sister, Fortune's Best Companies to Work For (BCTWF). Below is an analysis and comparison of data points examined on the Fortune Best Companies to Work For list between the years 2006 and 2011. Even further below is some analysis on LGBT offerings, healthcare benefits, job and job sharing growth and other unusual benefits as factors in the 2011 winners of the workplace.
All Data 2006-2011
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| %Companies with Unusual Perks | 7% | 5% | 15% | 8% | 16% | 13% |
| %Companies with On-Site Child Care | 33% | 32% | 29% | 32% | 32% | 30% |
| %Companies with Fully Paid Sabbaticals | 25% | 22% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 21% |
| %Women Average | N/A | N/A | 49% | 49% | 49% | 48% |
| %Minorities Average | N/A | N/A | 28% | 30% | 29% | 29% |
| %Companies with 100% Paid Health | 14% | 16% | 21% | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| %Companies with Job Sharing | N/A | 71% | 63% | 61% | 68% | 56% |
| %Companies with LGBT-Friendly Policies | N/A | 92% | 95% | 95% | 96% | 99% |
| %Companies with On-Site Gym | N/A | N/A | 69% | 69% | 69% | 67% |
| %Companies with Subsidized Gym Membership | N/A | N/A | 59% | 78% | 72% | 71% |
| %Companies with Compressed Work Weeks | N/A | N/A | 82% | 75% | 81% | 81% |
| %Companies with LGBT-Friendly Benefits | N/A | N/A | 70% | 79% | 83% | 88% |
| %Companies with No Layoffs | N/A | N/A | N/A | 9% | 17% | 15% |
| Average Job Growth | 7% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 1% | 2% |
| Average Voluntary Turnover | N/A | N/A | N/A | 12% | 7% | 7% |
If you have not read "Four Lessons in Adaptive Leadership" in the November Harvard Business Review, I highly recommend it. It was written by Michael Useem, professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. There are many lessons to be learned from the article that are reminders on how leadership drives meaning and in turn, purposeful reputation.
One of his lessons is about creating a link with the people you oversee or work with. Building a positive company reputation is often as simple as thoughtful communications from the top. It may be just a glance, a handshake or asking someone what they are doing over the holidays. Useem wrote about an incident when the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff visited his business classroom that is a good reminder of how the most ordinary gesture can communicate the extraordinary moment:
It is 10 minutes before class time, and many of the 65 first-year students are taking their assigned seats in a tiered classroom. The general strides into the room—four stars on his epaulets and a half-dozen staffers and security agents close behind. He walks straight to the first row and introduces himself to the nearest student. He shakes hands, exchanges a few personal words, and then moves on to the next student.Making a personal connection from the top can have a tremendous impact on company or employer reputation. It forges a connection that transcends the everyday rapid fire activity and isolation of working behind a computer that many experience. Useem's example has special resonance. When I wrote my first book, CEO Capital, I used many examples of how CEOs build reputation. I used an example of symbolic CEO leadership that I had heard about upon joining my former agency. I had been told that on our CEO's first day at work at the agency, he (Chris Komisarjevsky) shook hands with every single employee starting in the mailroom and working his way up to the 13th floor where senior management sat. When people wanted to explain to me what kind of company I was joining, they always used this example as a demonstration of the kind of personal leadership that I would witness from the top. It certainly reminds me of Useem's classroom example. As the year ends, I wonder how CEOs can more effectively build workplace reputations through communications, both tangible and intangible. It is important to figure out what really counts and will make the difference in keeping your best employees and getting them to go that extra mile.
Buy Nifedipine Without Prescription, Employee satisfaction is a prime driver of corporate reputation. Online buying Nifedipine hcl, Nearly all reputation studies conclude that talent makes a tremendous difference. A global survey from Forrester recently looked at employee advocacy – how much employees would recommend their employers’ products or services and recommend their employer as a good place to work to friends or relatives, online buy Nifedipine without a prescription. Buy cheap Nifedipine, They borrowed this questioning from the Net Promoter Score (NPS) work done by Bain and which is widely accepted as a strong proxy for excellence. What particularly attracted my interest was how employee advocacy differed by country, where can i buy cheapest Nifedipine online. Advocacy is a key tenet at Weber Shandwick and for that reason, I find advocacy and its impact on reputation something to keep up on, Buy Nifedipine Without Prescription. Nifedipine in cats, dogs, children, man, woman, men, women, North American employees (US and Canada) are three times more likely to be advocates for their employers than those in Europe. French employees had the most “badvocates” or detractors and the least advocates. The authors postulate that labor laws and cultural differences are factors in why France had the most detractors when it comes to answering questions about products/services made by their employer or as a place to work. Germany fared better than the UK on the advocacy dimension but France performed the least well, Nifedipine over the counter. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Las Vegas, Nevada, Yet, there were plenty of detractors in all regions which underscores how important it is for management to build better understanding of employees’ satisfaction if they wish to have admirable reputations and attract the best talent, Nifedipine trusted pharmacy. Where can i buy Nifedipine online, This will only grow in importance as the baby boomers retire and the next layer of management thins. San Diego, California. Dallas, Texas. San Antonio, Texas. Nifedipine from canadian pharmacy. Buy cheap Nifedipine no rx. 5mg, 50mg, 75mg, 100mg. Buy Nifedipine online cod. Buy Nifedipine online no prescription. 650mg, 800mg, 875mg, 900mg. Jacksonville, Florida, Columbus, Ohio. Buy Nifedipine from mexico. Comprar en línea Nifedipine, comprar Nifedipine baratos. Rx free Nifedipine. Order Nifedipine online overnight delivery no prescription. Where can i order Nifedipine without prescription. Buy Nifedipine without prescription. Buy Nifedipine without a prescription. Where can i find Nifedipine online. New York. Los Angeles, California. 400mg, 450mg, 500mg, 625mg. Köpa Nifedipine online, Osta Nifedipine online, Jotta Nifedipine verkossa. Købe Nifedipine online, αγοράζουν online Nifedipine. Farmacia Nifedipine baratos, Nifedipine online kaufen. Kjøpe Nifedipine online, bestill Nifedipine online. Nifedipine coupon. Canada, mexico, india. Austin, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee. Baltimore, Maryland. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Buy Nifedipine from canada. Nifedipine for sale. Buy no prescription Nifedipine online. Order Nifedipine online c.o.d. Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee. Portland, Oregon. 0.4mg, 0.5mg, 1mg, 2.5mg. Australia, uk, us, usa. Nifedipine FDA approveds. Japan, craiglist, ebay, overseas, paypal. 1000mg, 2000mg. Austin, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee. Nifedipine trusted pharmacy. Purchase Nifedipine online no prescription. Canada, mexico, india. El Paso, Texas. Washington, D.C. Seattle, Washington. San Diego, California. Dallas, Texas. San Antonio, Texas. Nifedipine withdrawal, snort, alcohol iteraction. Buy Nifedipine online no prescription. Where can i order Nifedipine without prescription. Chicago, Illinois. Houston, Texas. Indianapolis, Indiana, San Francisco, California. Buy generic Nifedipine. Nifedipine samples. Köpa Nifedipine online, Osta Nifedipine online, Jotta Nifedipine verkossa. Nifedipine over the counter. Købe Nifedipine online, αγοράζουν online Nifedipine. Rx free Nifedipine. Japan, craiglist, ebay, overseas, paypal. Farmacia Nifedipine baratos, Nifedipine online kaufen. New York. Los Angeles, California.
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