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BE AN EXEMPLARY EMPLOYER
It’s a fact of life that bad news travels faster than good. Organisations treating their employees badly can be local gossip, or go global on the Internet. In the 21st Century, everyone involved with a brand, from the customers and suppliers to the employees, shareholders and pension fund trustees, expects to be treated well, and will speak out if they are disappointed. Branding is not just about the ideal image presented to customers, it has to be more than skin deep. There’s a television programme, Undercover Boss, in which the managing director or the owner goes to work at his or own company as a junior employee to find out what it’s really like. What would you find out if you tried it?
The idea What staff say about their own brands carries a lot of weight. Would your staff recommend your products? Do they encourage people they know and like to apply for jobs? In the UK, there’s an annual survey in the Sunday Times, the Top 100 Companies To Work For, run by the organisation, Best Companies. Companies have to register to take part – no-one gets a surprise when they find out they’ve been nominated – and employees fi ll in a detailed survey giving facts and opinions about their workplace. The organisers will visit these organisations to check the credibility of the survey findings, and to ensure that no
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