The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement - People's Insights Quarterly Magazine Volume 2, Issue 3

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

The FUTURE OF EMPLOYEE (RE)ENGAGEMENT

PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects – that are driving engagement with consumers and employees – on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and curate the conversations around it, on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself and also on the broader social web, into a weekly insights report. Every quarter, we compile these insights along with original insights from the MSLGROUP global network into the People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine.

In our first year and half, we focused on inspiring consumer projects around social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship. We synthesized insights from 2012 to provide foresights for business leaders and change-makers in the tenpart People’s Insights annual report titled Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement, also available as a Kindle eBook and an iPad app.

In 2013, we continue to track inspiring projects that are shaping the future of engagement, with a focus on corporate projects around reputation, employee engagement and citizenship.

Do subscribe to receive our weekly insights reports, quarterly magazines and annual report, and do share your tips and comments with us at @PeoplesLab on Twitter.

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Guide to using this magazine A toolkit of crowdsourced insights.

Read

the trends to see why employee (re)engagement has become the need of the hour

from the best practices, shared

by MSLGROUP Brand & Talent experts, Social Business experts and Planners*

Learn

An interactive PDF. Click around to experience it to the fullest.

Special shout out to People’s Insights contributors Annie Sunny and Shreyasi Ghosh

Explore

inspiring brand programs.

Crowdsourced from our network of 100+ planners and compiled by the People’s Insights team**

more meaningful and relevant engagement strategies – for clients or for yourself

Create

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these insights with your networks. And share your feedback with us on our blog or on Twitter (@PeopleLab)

Click to play a video (opens in your browser) Click to tweet the message displayed Internal link – click to go to another article in the PDF itself (FYI - everything in the Table of Contents is click-able)

Plain ol’ link – click for more info (opens in your browser) *Best Corporate Consultancy in the World 2013, by The Holmes Report **Special shout out to People’s Insights contributors Annie Sunny and Shreyasi Ghosh

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table of content The Future of Employee (Re) Engagement

Foreword: New Realities

FIRMS ARE CONVERSATIONS

PERFORMANCE WITH PURPOSE & PARTICIPATION

INSIGHTS FROM PEOPLE

TOGETHER WORKS FAR BETTER

Pascal Beucler

MSLGROUP

Essay: THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYEE (RE)ENGAGEMENT Nidhi Makhija MSLGROUP

5 Catalysts for Change

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INFORMATION ECONOMY

Reinventing the company in a social world Anthony Poncier (France)

SOCIAL

5 Drivers for Engagement

Together Works Better Nathalie Szwagrzyk I Quit! viral Siemens The ’ Call Manager’s

2 NEW GENERATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE

Generation Mash-up: Y Bother (North America)

3 NEW VALUES

COLLABORATION

Heineken The Candidate

Marsh University

Dove Real Beauty

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CHANGING WORK ENVIRONMENT

Growing Talent for Why CSR is a powerful the Future Employee Sophie MartinEngagement tool Chantepie (France) Ashraf Engineer (India) Re-discover your Purpose.

Better, Co-create it Anna Częścik (Poland)

STORYTELLING

Team GSK

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Multilogue ING Next Gen Banking

SUSTAINABILITY

ECONOMY

Engage for Success Louisa Moreton (UK)

FULFILMENT

AT&T Water Efficiency Toolkit

Zappos: Delivering Happy Employees

BMW Today for Tomorrow

Make My Trip

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IDCN (founded by Nestle)

table of content The Future of Employee (Re) Engagement

5 Trends for the Future

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GROWING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HR AND COMMUNICATIONS ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES

GROWING IMPORTANCE AS MORE COMPANIES UNDERGO CHANGE

GROWING ADOPTION OF SOCIAL BUSINESS TOOLS

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GROWING MATURITY OF ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS

EVOLUTION OF THE JOB CONTRACT

Best practices

By MSLGROUP Experts

Internal Reputation Management Julia Christoph (Germany)

Collaborative Planning Véronique Langlois & Xavier Charpentier (France)

Employer Branding Louisa Moreton (UK)

Straight Talk Heloiza Souza & José Guilherme Araújo (Brazil)

Live Online Meetings Marine Wallace (Netherlands)

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FOREWORD accepting that the norm has shifted and in embracing new realities.

Firms are Conversations Social doesn’t stop at the door of the firm.

Re-invention needs social business at its core. Too often, the challenge is that C-suites are too conservative and change-adverse.

But staff’s disengagement is a serious threat and must be addressed.

Performance with Purpose and Participation PASCAL BEUCLER SVP & Chief Strategy Officer MSLGROUP

“ ll n’est de richesse, que d’hommes” - Jean Bodin (1530 – 1596)

For the millennials today, and for the Gen Z of tomorrow, corporate citizenship is highly meaningful. They join a company also because they like what this company says it stands for, and do demonstrate their commitment to the cause. Purpose + People is the combination which helps solve the (Re)Engagement Equation, as collaborative social innovation is at the heart of employee’s expectations.

From Day 1 to Exit: Insights from Employees “People are the only true source of wealth” this quote from Jean Bodin should encourage us to focus on people’s development, and to innovate, in the spirit of a well-needed renaissance.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Foreword

In this issue of the People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine, we explore the challenge of employee disengagement: Why has it become such a pressing issue today? What works today? How can we move from behind to ahead? The answer lies in

Insights & data analysis, permanent research, participatory observation, test & try interactions: the Employee Experience Journey needs to be analyzed in all dimensions, with the consultation of all stakeholders inside the firm – and

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sometimes outside of it. Only such a holistic approach will help develop a strong and sustainable Employer Value Proposition.

Together Works Far Better Promoting mobility, creativity and team spirit, together with diversity, should be at the heart of talent’s development strategies in all industries. Positive engagement is what’s fueling a “People’s Network.”

We invite you to explore these ideas over the next pages, and beyond, in your work and with your people.

A well-needed renaissance: @pbeucler on the Future of Employee (Re)Engagement click to tweet

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Essay: The Future of Employee (RE)Engagement Five years after the 2008 recession, companies and countries are still struggling, and employee engagement is an area that can contribute to growth. Indeed, a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit and StepStone found that talent is perceived as the overall third driver of growth (cited by 41% of senior managers), second only to the economic recovery and the availability of credit2.

NIDHI MAKHIJA Senior Manager - Insights

MSLGROUP

“ To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”

- Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbell

Employee engagement – why now and why again?

According to a recent Gallup global study, only 13% of employees are engaged at work. 63% are not engaged and 24% are actively disengaged. Disengagement affects performance and leads to annual losses, Gallup estimates, of $450-550 billion in the US, €112-138 billion in Germany and £52-70 billion in the UK1.

Most companies already have wellestablished programs to engage with employees, which have been in place for many years and have worked in the past. So, what happened? Why aren’t they as effective today?

For starters, people are changing – they have different expectations, different values and behaviours, and new communication preferences. To make matters more complex, the work environment is changing too – big companies are battling a trust deficit, growing larger and more global, and competing for talent with start ups, nonprofits, social good organizations and new Asian giants.

As a result, companies are finding it’s crucial now, again, to re-understand their employees, re-engage their workforce, re-focus on their employer brand and communicate their company’s story in a relevant way.

In this essay, we’ll take a look at 5 Catalysts that are driving the need for re-engagement, 5 Drivers companies are leveraging to engage with employees today, and 5 Trends to watch out for in the near future.

Defining employee engagement In this essay, “employee engagement” refers to the ongoing engagement with employees throughout the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to change, development and exit. Engagement is twoway, like a dialogue that allows employees to contribute to and participate in the organization’s objectives. As part of this, they are more likely to fulfill their own potential.

In this way, engagement is seen as part of the “deal” where both employer and employee make commitments and derive benefit.

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2013 report Economist Intelligence Unit & StepStone’s Companies at the Crossroads report (2010) 1

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The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

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5 Catalysts for Change Broadly speaking, five major trends are catalysing the need for more relevant employee engagement strategies: the Information Economy, New Generations in the Workforce, New Values, Changing Work Environments and the global Economy.

1. Information Economy People share experiences and seek information in new ways.

For years, employees have been sharing their opinions and experiences on their personal social networks and blogs. Now, increasingly, they are sharing on anonymous review-sites like Glassdoor (global), Kununu (Germany), Rate My Employer (Canada), Job Advisor (Australia), and The Job Crowd (UK). Potential recruits actively seek out these social conversations and reviews – which they trust more than the company’s message – and which influence their career decisions.

3 million

Reviews and salaries shared on Glassdoor since 2008 Employee reviews of Google on Glassdoor

For companies, the line between private and public – between what happens inside and what’s seen on the outside – is growing fainter everyday. By choice or not, employees have become ambassadors for their employers and their social voice has the potential to carry across the web. A recent example is Marina Shifrin’s “I Quit!” video, which received 16 million views in less than two months and escalated Taiwanese animation company Next Media Animation to the global spotlight.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

People have new sources of information, and a company’s message is no longer consumed in isolation, but as a part of a larger content mix – where employee reviews, social conversations and external rankings hold a significant weight. Now more than ever, it’s important that the company’s message is aligned internally and externally (and that a crisis strategy is in place!)

For more on Marina Shifrin’s viral resignation, see: People’s Insights: I Quit! video For tips on managing internal reputation, see: Internal Reputation Management by Julia Christoph, MSLGROUP (Germany)

2. New Generations in the Workforce The workforce has seen a steady influx of Gen Y and Gen C workers, who bring with them new skills, expectations and behaviours.

Gen Y workers were born between the 1980s and 2000s and grew up with mobile and digital technologies. Beyond expecting their employers to be tech and social savvy, they expect the opportunity to do meaningful work and grow fast. They appreciate a flexible work environment

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that supports independence and creativity.

Gen Y is not afraid to share their opinion and expects two way communication and collaborative assignments.

Gen C workers are not defined by age, but rather their affinity for content creation and curation. Members of Gen C are bloggers, curators, photographers, podcasters, videographers and artists. Like Gen Y, Gen C expects the opportunity to collaborate and co-create with peers and with the organization.

Perhaps the most important difference between these generations and Gen X is how they see the role of the job. For Gen Y and Gen C, the job is no longer the first step to buying a house, getting married and having kids (indeed many members of Gen Y in the US are no longer buying even cars!). Instead, the job has simply become a means to fund their passions. Increasingly, Gen Y and Gen C are seeking alternative sources of income

(like crowdfunding or collaborative consumption) so that they can forgo the job altogether and spend more time doing what they love.

When do choose to have a job, Gen Y prefers jobs that offer the opportunity to make a difference in their field, in their community or to the planet.

For more on Gen Y vs. Gen X, see: MSLGROUP’s Olivier Fleurot vs. Mashable’s Pete Cashmore at SXSWi

3. New Values People feel a strong need to give back to society, to minimize their environmental footprint and to contribute to social good and sustainable development – both in their personal lives and also in the workplace.

it, by Anna Częścik, MSLGROUP (Poland)

4. Changing Work Environments The competitive landscape is changing with new demographics in the work place and new competition for talent.

Workplaces are experiencing a drastic shift in demographics as more women enter the workplace, more people delay their retirement, and more people enter the workforce in developing countries.

These shifts will pressure companies to design new programs and policies that keep in mind new priorities, needs and cultural values. With the east and the south making up more of the global workforce, western values will no longer be the norm.

This sentiment is powerful among Gen Y, especially those in emerging markets (like Central and South America and India), and also among older employees who wish to leave behind a positive legacy.

People want to work for ethical companies – companies that walk the talk, contribute to social solutions (not problems), and pave the path for employees to play a role as well.

How meaningful is your CSR strategy? See: Re-discover your Purpose. Better, Co-Create

In terms of recruitment, companies are now competing with start-ups, tech companies and Asian giants (like Samsung). The inverse is also true, as multinationals and non-tech companies Universum’s global Student Survey (2006–2013)

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The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

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recruit the diverse talents needed to thrive in the digital and global era. These realities will push all companies to reconsider their internal work cultures, and to strengthen their employer brands and differentiate themselves.

How are brands catering to older employees? See: People’s Insights: BMW’s Today for Tomorrow experiment For tips on creating your employer brand, see: Employer Branding by Louisa Moreton, SAS – part of MSLGROUP (UK)

5. Economy Companies and countries have not fully recovered from the effects of the 2008 recession – productivity and profitably are still key areas of concern.

ENGAGEMENT’S EFFECT ON KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Median differences between top-and bottom-quartile teams

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Absenteeism Turnover

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Law-Turnover Orgs.

Companies are beginning to acknowledge the relationship between employee engagement and low growth rates, and are slowly beginning to take action. Governments are beginning to notice too – in 2012, the UK government launched the Engage for Success movement to build the business case and a practical guide for employee engagement, to better equip organizations and employers.

For more on the UK govt. movement, see: Engage For Success by Louisa Moreton, SAS – part of MSLGROUP London, and Guru on the MacLeod employee engagement taskforce

5 Drivers of Engagement

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High-turnover orgs

and profitability. The chart below demonstrates how companies with the highest engagement rates outperform those with the lowest4.

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Shrinkage -48

Safety Incidents Patient Safely Incidents

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Quality (Defects)

-41

Customer

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Productivity Profitability

22 -80%

-70%

-60%

-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

Gallup’s study finds that employee engagement impacts key performance indicators: absenteeism, turnover, shrinkage, safety incidents, quality, customer rating, productivity

New generations, new values and major economic trends have changed the way brands communicate with all stakeholders – including consumers and employees. It’s only natural that some of the drivers that steer engagement with consumers would also apply to engagement with employees.

In addition to the common drivers of Social, Storytelling, Collaboration and Sustainability, we have also observed a

fifth that applies strongly to employees – Fulfilment.

These drivers relate both to employee’s needs and expectations as well as business needs and objectives. Adoption thus leads to a win-win for all.

1. Social People are familiar with social media and actively participate in creation and sharing of knowledge and ideas. For companies, there is value in capturing this energy and creativity, bringing it inhouse and channelling it towards business objectives.

Many companies today are present and actively share news, milestones and photos on popular social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Some create their own internal enterprise social networks to connect employees across the world, provide a private environment for employees to share ideas and discuss business, or guide new recruits in their 90-day induction period (NS-LIJ’s Career Compass ). Common enterprise social networking solutions include Microsoft SharePoint (which includes Yammer), IBM Connections, Jive, Blue Kiwi, SAP Jam, Tibbr, and Yoolink PRO. Several companies also integrate elements of gamification6 (missions, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2013 report For more, see Page 33 in Engaging The Social Workforce 6 For more, see our Now & Next: Future of Engagement report on Behaviour Change Games 4

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The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

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points, badges, rewards, recognition, leaderboards) into their social programs to increase participation. BunchBall, Socialcast, Work.com (by Salesforce) offer gamification apps, some of which can be integrated into enterprise social networks, websites and social networks (BunchBall’s Nitro).

Some companies extend the engagement of traditional programs by integrating social into live experiences. For instance, HR service provider Randstad created an online space to energize global employees about its 50th anniversary celebrations – the company organized Randstad 50 Gold Club parties in 26 locations and created an online space complete with a DJ booth with podcasts, a brand quiz, a competition around brand values, and live streams of parties taking place across the company (video) (MSLGROUP client).

Several companies are also integrating social into their recruitment programs.

For instance, Akbank created a virtual workspace at 5N1Kariyer.com (video), to introduce the company and its people to future recruits. Some companies use social networks to get to know candidates better and identify the right talent. For instance, Siemens launched The Manager’s Call on Tumblr and asked potential recruits to share their thoughts on various topics through blogs and comments – the most active candidates stood a higher chance of getting selected to the Siemens Graduate Program.

What does it mean to be social? See: Reinventing the Company in a Social World

by Anthony Poncier, Publicis Consultants Net Intelligenz (France) See how MSLGROUP used social to connect our teams: Together Works Better by Nathalie Szwagrzyk, MSLGROUP

Companies often highlight stories of employees to demonstrate brand values in action. For instance, when chemistry giants Solvay and Rhodia merged, they highlighted stories of employees in internal communications (MSLGROUP client). Sometimes, companies crowdsource employee stories (Philips All Employee Jam (video) (MSLGROUP client) or ask employees to nominate each other and share inspiring anecdotes (Team GSK (MSLGROUP client).

Some companies are creating cuttingedge storytelling platforms to capture and showcase the voice of their employees.

For instance, Intel showcases content its employees are consuming on social curation platform iQ, and IBM aggregates content its employees are creating on the platform IBM Voices.

2. Storytelling

Source: Randstad 50 Gold Club

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

Like consumers, employees too like to experience and contribute to engaging stories. For companies, communicating effectively is crucial to inspiring participation and explaining brand values and change communications. Simply put, if you want employees to adopt new values or change behaviour, you need to ensure your message is understood.

Source: Best of: Altran Career Live Chat

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Companies have also used creative storytelling to brand themselves as an employer of choice. For instance, Heineken created the web video The Candidate to demonstrate that its external brand (beer=fun) is aligned to its internal corporate culture. Altran created the web video series Altran Career Live Chat (video) to share its latest innovations and news, encourage recruits to “Ask the Boss” questions in real-time, share employee stories and provide tips on applying for jobs.

Guide to storytelling in the digital era: Creative Storytelling by MSLGROUP

3. Collaboration

and opinions. For instance, MSLGROUP invited employees to work in teams and submit proposals on its intranet around three business challenges in the Together Works Better competition. Heineken invited its employees to vote for their favourite candidate on its intranet when hiring an intern for Champions League (The Candidate). Some companies use blogs to create virtual universities and encourage knowledge sharing within the organization (Marsh University). Others have used live online meetings to invite discussion around brand strategy (AXA (MSLGROUP client)) and to introduce new brand identities (GDF SUEZ (MSLGROUP client)).

People want to collaborate on projects and have a say in the company’s strategy and direction. For companies, collaboration is increasingly a necessary skillset to ensure knowledge sharing across departments and across geographies.

Companies use social media and social business tools to collaboration on various types of projects internally. Several companies use enterprise social networks or collaboration platforms (Basecamp, Evernote, Trello, Zoho, Azendoo, SocialCast (video), MSLGROUP’s People’s Lab) to coordinate group projects, facilitate co-creation or crowdsource ideas The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

For more on virtual meetings, see: Live Online Meetings by Marine Wallace, MSLGROUP in the Netherlands

4. Sustainability People care about their personal impact and their employer’s impact on the planet. For companies, sustainable growth is increasing in importance because of stakeholder’s values, and also the depletion of natural resources and increases in operational costs. Being good is now good business.

Several companies involve employees by encouraging them to identify opportunities for sustainable development. Honda crowdsources ideas on how to optimize facilities and processes at its annual Innovative Ideas Convention. GE organizes elaborate Eco Treasure Hunts and challenges employees to physically hunt opportunities for optimization and to invent solutions.

Source: Wrap up: AXA Multilogue

Some companies also encourage collaboration externally, on social media, to brand themselves as an employer of choice (ING Next Gen Banking (video) or to identify the right talent (Siemens The Manager’s Call).

Source: GE Healthcare Treasure Hunt

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Some companies create participatory programs that leverage the size of their workforce. Levi’s encouraged employees to wear the same jeans for five days and share photos on their social networks as part of its Go Water>Less challenge.

Other companies initiate or invest in sustainable development programs to meet business objectives and to fuel their reputation as a socially responsible company. For instance, AT&T, Facebook and eBay identified opportunities for optimization or monitoring of consumption, packaged these learnings and are striving for scale by sharing with public organizations and other corporates (AT&T Building Water Efficiency toolkit, Facebook open compute, eBay Digital Service Efficiency dashboard).

Yet others invest in collaborative social innovation initiatives to encourage students to start thinking about social challenges (Sygenta Thought For Food Challenge, Siemens Future Influencers, Dell Social Innovation Challenge, HP Social Innovation Relay), to fund social entrepreneurship (Mahindra Spark the Rise) or to partner with governments in implementing solutions (IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge). Employees often play a role in these initiatives either as judges, mentors or project managers.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

For more on sustainability and employees, see: Why CSR is a powerful employee engagement tool By Ashraf Engineer, MSLGROUP (India) For more on social innovation, see: Now & Next: Future of Engagement Collaborative Social Innovation

5. Fulfilment Beyond a stream of income, people expect more from their jobs today – ownership, meaningful work, social contribution – their personal motivations differ. For companies, there is economic value in ensuring employee Fulfilment

– both to maintain retention costs and to ensure better performance.

Companies engage their people around a range of purposes, depending on their brand promise, the industry they are in and the type of workers they require.

Online shoe seller Zappos focuses on employee happiness and designs programs and policies to empower employees and celebrate achievements.

Google focuses on innovation and allows employees to spend 20% of their time on personal projects. Starbucks focuses on local communities and facilitates employee volunteering.

Source: SHRM, Bliss & Associates Inc., CIPD and others

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5 Trends for the Future 1. Growing collaboration between HR and Communications across geographies As the need for robust communication strategies increases, we will see the convergence of HR, internal & external Communications, and to some degree Marketing – these functions will work together closely to design new age employee engagement programs. HR brings a deeper understanding of the employee audience – which is very distinctive from external audiences.

Communications typically oversees engagement activities – these are not necessarily the preserve of HR. Marketing offers the methods, channels, approaches and budgets.

Source: Starbucks’ Howard Schultz on People & Purpose

Sometimes, employee needs differ based on job function or demographics. For instance, mobile employees at Nestle faced challenges settling into new locations because their spouses were unable to find jobs. To address this, Nestle launched the International Dual Career Network to support spouses. Another example – BMW realized that the average age of its engineers was rising and could

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

impact productivity. To address this, BMW introduced ergonomic changes within its factories to reduce health challenges and maintain output (Today for Tomorrow).

How to find out what motivates your people? See: Collaborative Planning by Véronique Langlois & Xavier Charpentier, Free Thinking – part of MSLGROUP (France)

This is becoming a reality in markets where employee engagement is mature (US, UK, France), and is soon becoming a reality in other markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America

2. Growing importance of Employee Engagement as more companies undergo change As the trust crisis and economic instability continue, employee engagement will be a key priority for most industries.

Industries that are undergoing drastic

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change, like healthcare, will be pressured to design better engagement and change communication strategies. In Asia, multinationals are facing unprecedented competition for talent and have already begun to focus on their employer brand to attract top talent.

3. Growing adoption of Social Business Tools As executives continue to focus on digitization of the workplace7, we will continue to see growing adoption of social business tools. This growth may also be catalysed by the big data ownership debate – more companies are beginning to realize they do not own their data on social networks and must choose between staying on popular social networks or shifting their social employee engagement programs to owned platforms.

In addition to using social business tools to engage employees, companies will also explore the use of these tools in engaging vendors.

4. Growing maturity of enterprise solutions As consumer social networking continues to race ahead, enterprise solutions are steadily catching up. Enterprise solutions are becoming more robust, through

acquisition (Microsoft – Yammer, Atos – Blue Kiwi), investment and integrations (BunchBall Nitro for Salesforce, IBM Connections, Jive, NICE, SAP Jam).

We are also seeing more collaborative platforms that focus on design and mobile accessibility (Trello), which will push the industry towards a standard that is more in-line with the user experience people are used to as consumers.

5. Evolution of The Job Contract As companies continue to hire more parttime workers, remote workers and freelance workers, the conventional job contract will come under scrutiny and will be an area to watch. This is especially being catalysed by the success and growth of freelance websites like Odesk.com, Freelancer.com, eLance.com and Zhubajie8 which offer jobs that range from the common suspects writing, web-programming, data entry and design, to legal services, customer service, accounting and HR. While a majority of the job posters identify themselves as start-ups, some sites like Odesk.com have recently introduced Enterprise Solutions to encourage adoption amongst large companies.

As companies continue to employ on the short-term basis, employee engagement strategies will evolve from long-term engagement to staged engagement.

Special thanks to the GenXers and GenYers who contributed to this essay: » Anthony Poncier, Publicis Consultants Net Intelligenz (France) » Brian Burgess, MSLGROUP (North America) » Joyce Lee, Universum (Singapore) » José Guilherme Araújo, Ideia Comunicação (Brazil) » Julia Christoph, MSLGROUP (Germany) » Leslie Rogers, SAS MSLGROUP (UK) » Pascal Beucler, MSLGROUP (France) » Sophie Martin-Chantepie, MSLGROUP (France) Shout out to the Women’s Forum for a fantastic selection of sessions under the theme Compete, Cooperate, Create (Global Meeting 2013).

Future of Employee (Re)Engagement - 5 Catalysts, 5 Drivers & 5 Trends to watch, by @NidhiMakhija / @PeoplesLab click to tweet According to a recent MIT Sloan Management Review survey, 78% of executives said that achieving digital transformation will become crucial to the organizations in the next two years.

8 These four companies alone report revenues totalling $4.6 billion to date 7

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Essay

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Catalysts for Change

Growing Talent for the Future layoffs and seen companies pull back investments in talent. Talent that was able to find opportunity elsewhere left, and moved on. People learned to stop expecting anything from the company.

They began to perceive themselves as curseurs, just another piece of the puzzle as opposed to an active part of the company.

management and the business itself. These drivers are the most critical and of course the hardest to build.

As Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, says, the new mantra is “Employees First, Customers Second.” Happy employees lead to happy customers and clients.

Why we need to re-engage Sophie Martin-Chantepie Chief Talent Officer

MSLGROUP

Why we engage Talent engagement was perhaps never more of a key driver for business performance than it is today. Companies need to communicate the business vision and expectations clearly so that people understand their individual role and collective responsibility – as well as how it impacts business performance – so leaders can achieve business goals.

To perform well, people need to feel empowered, confident and free to share their opinions and ideas, and that the management team trusts them and supports them. But they also need to feel inspired to deliver, which means they must respect the

Re-engagement isn’t just about communicating using new media and methods, but also re-engaging with different and new types of talent at various levels and various georaphies.

Today, it’s important for companies to overcome the trust deficit that’s leading to disengaged employees. There is also an opportunity to leverage social creativity to drive collaboration and employee empowerment.

Lack of Trust Within Organizations The trust deficit is in large part a result of the economic recession, but is also something that has been growing over the years – as is evident in the wary nature exhibited by many Gen Ys.

1. An erosion of trust in recent years

Over the last five years, the workforce in many economies has seen mass

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Growing Talent for the Future

2. The Untrusting Generation?

By nature, Gen Y is cautious–it’s in their DNA to be guarded. They have grown up seeing the environment at stake, and the economy in bad shape, and believe they have been handed the worst future.

Recently, they may have seen some companies let go of their parents and have experienced first hand the impact of the recession on their own careers.

As a result, Gen Y is generally more cynical, less loyal to companies than other generations, and more individualistic than, say Gen X, who tend to think in more collective terms.

To create engaging and more productive workplaces, we need to meet employees’ expectations. We need to reconcile the vision and values of the company with those of the employees. If we don’t, we become somewhat schizophrenic in our approaches, and set ourselves up for failure.

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Typically, companies are so focused on the business objectives that they fail to understand what is really being said, discussed and believed inside and outside.

Employee engagement and employer branding are two interconnected areas that need to be constantly aligned and realigned, and regularly updated. This is precisely how Brand & Talent experts can help companies to understand how perception relates to their employer value proposition (EVP), as well has how they can consistently shape and update their messaging, and take it to the next level.

As an example, see our own EVP in action: Together Works Better by Nathalie Szwagrzyk, MSLGROUP

The Potential of Social Creativity Today’s talent needs to be hybrid in nature.

We expect our people to have more than one area of expertise and we want talent that is 360, smart and creative –more so than ever before.

On social media, we are seeing a wave of energy, creativity, insight and emotionally infused ideas as people express the best of themselves, simultaneously. Companies should try to re-create the conditions for expressing this energy and creativity

internally, and harness it towards a common shared business objective.

is not okay, and we need to take the initiative to fix it.

People are used to having many different social networks, each for a different personal need. Similarly, companies need to connect with employees according to their different needs and expectations– not only in the digital world but also in ‘real life’.

The answer is not to stop using the tools.

Today, we have the opportunity to shape the way we use these tools. We should use them strategically and smartly.

It’s all about being ready to adapt your social media presence internally, and externally, as is fit for your specific audience or type of talent - and being consistent with your value proposition. This is how companies are able to engage with talent, on their grounds.

Custodians of the Future Above all, we need to actively play the role of custodians of the future. I believe strongly that we are the drivers, and that the options around us are merely tools. It is up to companies to decide if we want to use them and then to determine how they will improve our business and how we should use them.

Often, we are excited by new platforms and use them without thinking through the larger implications. If we look back, social media has contributed much that is positive but also some that is negative. These tools have upset the work-life balance - they can sometimes lead to burnout and stress. This

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Growing Talent for the Future

Take for example Yahoo!’s and subsequently HP’s decision to revoke remote-working this year. Why? Because it was no longer contributing to their business objectives.

Just because companies can offer an option doesn’t mean they should. Forbes contributor Cy Wakeman sums it up well:

“ Organizations should not offer telecommuting as an option simply because it is part of the employee engagement model that has come into fashion in the past 10 or 15 years.”

In fact, HP’s statement suggests that realtime live engagement is the need of the hour:

“During this critical turnaround period, HP needs all hands on deck. We recognize that in the past, we may have asked certain employees to work from home for various reasons. We now need to build a stronger culture of engagement and collaboration and the more employees we get into the office the better company we will be.”

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In a world that is moving towards more remote-working, mobility and virtual engagement, we as employers need to be attentive to the “social connections” we want to create in our companies and how this drives our business performance.

The need to re-think our strategies It’s time we paused to consider the impact of technology on social connections, and our need to preserve such connections. At the end of the day, we are social creatures after all, not machines.

If you look back at the evolution of labour laws, and norms around social engagement, it’s about protecting the interests of people and society, which in the long run is beneficial for business.

Today, we need to anticipate what needs safeguarding for tomorrow.

We need to ask: How do we ensure social connections are formed between people and the organization and how do they evolve? And beyond that, what sort of “social contract” do we want to see tomorrow?

@msl_group’s Chief Talent Officer Sophie Martin-Chantepie on Growing Talent for the Future click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Growing Talent for the Future

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Generation Mash-Up: Y Bother? models. Baby-boomers could envisage working for 30 years in the same company.

But GenYers have lost trust in any official form of authority, as expressed by traditional organizations, companies, and governments…

The conversation around Gen Y workers has largely focused around the differences – how they are vastly different from Gen X and even more from the Baby Boomers.

Today, the conversations is shifting from differences to potential synergies – how can the generations work together and indeed, compliment each other?

MSLGROUP’s CEO Olivier Fleurot has blogged about baby boomers, Millennials and how large companies that depend on Generation Y talent need to change.

In December 2012, he questioned, “Are GenYers and Baby-Boomer compatible?”

“ Well organized hierarchy, control and command, and a top-down approach were and are still the dominant organizational

GenYers tend to prefer smaller companies, start-ups and NGOs that have a very different and “cool” appeal. They want real responsibility earlier. They don’t like to be taught, they prefer the pull mode to the push mode. They go to work places where influence and collaborative work is more powerful than hierarchy, where innovation and new ideas are welcome. They want to work in companies that have a real purpose..

Are we going to see a clash of two generations at the expense of the future development of existing companies?”

GenXers responded to his post suggesting that they, the Gen X, would make for a good bridge between the generations. Yet the session ‘Millennials: How to Manage the Gen X Boss” emerged at SXSW Interactive 2013, implying that the three generations may simply be too different.

As the panel description said, ‘Baby Boomers have a team orientation, respect hierarchy and are likely to be workaholics. GenXers, the original “Who Cares” generation, are self-reliant and pragmatic. They believe in

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Generation Mash-Up: Y Bother?

doing a job without needing daily praise and feedback.”

And as Olivier noted: ‘GenYers have their own perspective on the planet and its sustainability, on the way companies are run, on decisions-making processes and the very meaning and purpose of work.’

In March 2013, he called for synergies across all generations in the post “A New Challenge for CEOs”

“ With their complimentary skills and drivers, each of these generations has a huge amount to offer any organization today. The challenge to any CEO – be s/he a Baby Boomer, Gen X or indeed a millennial – is how to maximize those individuals’ potential, and how to do so in harmonious, mutually respectful teams.”

Now, he gears up to answers to the question “How should millennials be managed” at SXSW Interactive 2014 with none other than the Gen Y CEO of Mashable Pete Cashmore.

Olivier and Pete are from different generations, have different styles and their own strong opinions on the values Gen Y brings to the world of business, how to manage the Gen Y geniuses in their midst and how millennials are changing business.

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» How can employers bottle the special sauce that Gen Y brings to work each day and use it to spice up their business?

GenYers are known for being tech-savvy, family-centric, achievement-oriented and team players. How do employers work with these attributes to create a next-generation workplace? What do older colleagues think of all this? Are they swinging to the Gen Y tunes or resisting change? » Is Gen Y simply better at creating and building new businesses? There have been many who have done like Pete, and built an amazing business from their bedroom or dorm room. How different is this from previous generations? Are GenYers freer thinkers and less beholden to stodgy social norms? Is technology the vehicle of freedom that their forebears never had? To be successful, what kind of help must Gen Yes get from those in other generations? » How is Gen Y changing the world of business? At the end of the day, what will be the legacy of Gen Y in the workplace?

Will it be about their innovation around new technology? Will it be about how they build new businesses? Will it be how they apply social influence to drive business success? » How has Gen Y’s preference for communicating across social media changed the workplace? Is the technology isolating, or does it build a stronger workplace community? How

should companies approach internal social media systems? How can these be deployed for greater collaboration, speed and growth? How do companies manage the downside of social systems at work? » What’s the perception about Gen Y vs. the real deal? Is the media to blame for creating the belief that millennials are self-absorbed, validation-seeking and sorely lacking in any work ethic? Or, is there truth to this theory? Where is the line between myth and reality when it comes to Gen Y?

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Generation Mash-Up: Y Bother?

Save the date: Generation Mash-Up: Y Bother? @ SWSXi 2014, March 7 – 11 at Austin Texas.

See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ vote/22015

How should Gen Y be managed? Here’s what CEOs @Fleurot5 & @PeteCashmore will explore at SXSW 2014 click to tweet

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Reinventing the company in a social world For this article we are going to focus on the internal part – employee engagement.

can’t ignore theexisting processes, and even if a decision is taken at the highest level, it takes time and often pain to come to life.

You are not a start-up…

You are not a start-up and can’t set up again from scratch. As Pascal Picq shows with the triangle adaptations in his book A paleoanthropologist in enterprise: adapt and innovate to survive, a company is based on three angles: processes, history, structure

Anthony Poncier EMEA Social Business Director,

MSLGROUP

No man is an island, and no company either.

Megatrends, like the downturn, digital, new generations and instability, show that the world is shifting and companies have to evolve too, to survive. Evolve means become more digital about customer experience and employee engagement, and a changing business model.

Last year, the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value could be unlocked in just four sectors by products and services that enable social interactions in the digital realm.

De facto, former CEO of Burberry Angela Ahrendts, who is moving to Apple to head retail, wonders how companies will survive without becoming digital and social.

Process

Employee engagement is not simple We are no more in an industrial world where an employee runs repetitive tasks – most are now automated. Today, added value is more about autonomy, creativity, innovation and nimbleness.

Your employee has to be engaged, not just present.

But many studies show that more than 70% of the employees are disengaged and at the same time 75% of CEO expect from their employees to be collaborative.

Schizophrenic? Maybe. But that’s why you really need to engage your employees to be social. Transforming an organization it is not a question of technology, it’s about establishing new relationships based on trust and transparency. But of course, you

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Reinventing the company in a social world

Structure

histORY

We can rework processes‘easily’, buy history represents the culture of the company and its identity and cannot be shaken just like that. Similarly, the formal and informal relationships structures of the organization cannot simply be ignored. This is true at all levels of the organization.

“Make a clean sweep of the past” remains an ineffective slogan in this regard. Change takes time, and must be brought about step

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by stepwith all stakeholders (who do not necessarily have the same vision).

…But it doesn’t mean you can’t change When companies think about change, they often fail to think out-of-the-box. Companies shouldn’t just wonder why their business works like it does. Then they should dream of things that never were and ask ‘why not.’Just imagine what their business will look like in five years:structures and practices that look nothing like the current corporate model but focus on the value chain and customer relationships.

When you interrogate companies’ histories you find that they have shifted and taken risks multiple times, to transform their processes and structures to adapt.

Today, C-suites are totally focused on the economic downturn. If social can be part of the answer, it’s a mid/long term view, not really a short one. But companies need to set up a long-term vision and strategy too. Yes, a digital transformation can unsettle some employees and part of the management, but the actual situation is already unstable and won’t slow down. Employee disengagement is one of the most important warning signs of that situation. And yes, climbing the maturity

curve can take long. For the moment, most of the companies (and competition) are walking, sometimes stumbling, but soon they are going to run. Mistakes that are forgivable today won’t be in the future.

(Re)Engage your employees Companies must have an approach that combines both short-term and long-term.

Showing employees that the company is not only focusing on cost killing, but also has a long term vision where employees are central is a strong signal, one that opens perspectives and allows for commitment between organization and employees.

The issue is not about adding complexity, but focus on central points to spark a move.

When you look at these central points around disengagement, you can see that a social approach can be part of the answer.

» leads to a sense of isolation, loneliness and lack of recognition By being social and using social tools, management will be able to communicate more easily, share and cascade information, explain the vision and decisions, take into account employee’s suggestions, and improve listening skills. All this results in greater transparency – everyone can see that they are not the only ones facing issues, and anyone can find answers through the enterprise network. Transparency will also highlight the investment of everyone and allow a greater recognition of each one.

Social tools have existed for years now.

The crux of the issue is willingness – are businesses willing to be social?

Disengagement… » comes from lack of information, consultation, autonomy and understanding of changes imposed » affects relationship with others (focus, help, team leadership, communication, recognition) » affects relationship with management (understanding of the vision, strategy implementation, confidence / image)

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Reinventing the company in a social world

@aponcier explores why Companies Must Reinvent themselves in a Social World click to tweet

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Why CSR is a powerful employee engagement tool

ASHRAF ENGINEER Vice-President - Content and Insights,

India, MSLGROUP

“ Which came first: the change-ready

“ While there are several tools that can be

engagement and that the staff would:

used to engage employees better, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is emerging as an effective one.”

» Consistently say positive things about the organisation

A study by global research firm Ipsos suggested that CSR was a major draw for Indian talent. According to the online survey, in which 18,150 employees participated, it is significant to 51% of employees in India that their employer behaved responsibility towards society.

Echoing that view, a Hewitt survey showed that businesses that invested in CSR would likely have a higher level of employee

» Intend to stay with the organisation » Strive to achieve above and beyond what was expected in their daily role The survey went on to say that scaling down CSR activities would have a negative impact on employee motivation and retention.

A study by Net Impact in the US found that with all other things being equal, students said they would take up to a 35% pay cut to

company or the change-ready employee?”

Lorii Myers, author and entrepreneur It’s no secret that a fast-growing number of corporations are recognising that talent is crucial to success. While paychecks and incentives are only part of the draw, corporations are also consciously working on the bigger talent picture: employee engagement.

To describe it in terms of attitude, behaviour and business outcomes would be to cloak it in jargon. What it essentially does is establish a strong connect with employees so that they relate to the organisation’s values and beliefs. It offers them a strong reason to stay engaged with the organisation.

Source: Net Impact’s Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Why CSR is a powerful employee engagement tool

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work for a company committed to CSR and as high as 45% for a job that had a social or environmental impact.

Why employee engagement through CSR counts

In research conducted by Cone Millennial Cause group, detailed in the book ‘The 2020 Workplace’, 80% of Gen Y want to work for companies that are concerned about society.

1. Emotional Attachment

For corporations, these are not just numbers; these are flashing signposts that indicate the way for talent attraction and retention. These numbers must be utilised well.

What better win-win situation than one in which companies get to retain talent costeffectively and make a sustainable social impact. Not to forget, an inspired team will deliver inspiring results.

CSR initiatives give companies a human touch, the brand gets associated with the values it stands for and the people become representatives of those beliefs. The success of these initiatives lies in the way the company communicates and engages its employees consistently and over a period of time. Reporting these activities and sharing them on various platforms lends credibility and also wins the trust of the employees as well as other stakeholders.

Engagement through CSR empowers employees by instilling a sense of: Employees are not always emotionally attached to their jobs, but a welldefined CSR engagement – by building attachment to a cause – can change that.

2. Purpose Getting involved in a socially-engaging activity gives employees a sense of purpose. This, in turn, fuels productivity.

3. Ownership An organisation that encourages active participation invariably promotes a sense of ownership, thereby reducing the risk of attrition.

While making career choices, a company that cares could become the differentiator.

CSR empowers employees with purpose & ownership, says @AshrafEngineer click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Why CSR is a powerful employee engagement tool

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Engage for Success – A movement launched by the UK to provoke a better way to work a business case for employee engagement and have sought to quantify it and make it happen.

LOUISA MORETON Director of Employee Communications

and Consultancy at SAS Part of MSLGROUP Guru on the MacLeod employee engagement taskforce

Academics and practioners have been making the case for employee engagement for many years. From the approach to employee welfare and personal improvement taken by Cadbury and Rowntree back in Victorian times to today’s employee engagement surveys and focus, and models such as the Service Profit Chain, many people have instinctively felt there is

In the UK, the last (Labour) Government took this a step further and commissioned a former Marketing head, David MacLeod, to build the definitive business case and practical guide to engagement. He started a movement, convincing companies, consultancies, research houses and academics to share all the evidence they had relating to employee engagement. The movement, known as Engage For Success, has been given momentum by its members: “gurus” (consultants and academics) and “practitioners” (those working in-house), and was launched by the current (ConservativeLib Dem coalition) Government. The fact that it has transcended political parties underlines just how important employee engagement is seen to the UK economy.

David did three important things: 1. He targeted CEOs. Whilst the HR Directors and Heads of Internal Comms are seen as key, it is the CEOs that can change organisational attitudes and behaviour by putting engagement at the heart of their business strategy. The sight of a dozen or so CEOs of large companies,

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Engage for Success

many FTSE 100, talking to the prime minister about employee engagement was heart-warming to those of us who work in the area!

2. He called for evidence. His call covered both quantitative/ statistical evidence and qualitative evidence in the form of case studies. The evidence is compelling and next time anyone questions the value of engagement, we have all the (impartial) evidence we need. A few examples are included below.

3. He catalysed a movement. One that has its own momentum and can run itself.

The gurus and practitioners have taken on work streams on niche areas associated with engagement and the website takes a wiki approach, asking people to share what they know and encouraging everyone to take what they need from the site.

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performance to target and year over year gain in sales and revenue) than units in the bottom half of both measures2 In 20063, Gallup examined 23,910 business units and compared top quartile and bottom quartile financial performance with engagement scores. They found that: » Those with engagement scores in the bottom quartile averaged 31-51% more employee turnover, 51% more inventory shrinkage and 62% more accidents. » Those with engagement scores in the top quartile averaged 12% higher customer advocacy, 18% higher productivity and 12% higher profitability.

Source: engageforsuccess.org/about/the-bigger-picture/

I’d encourage you to look at the full report- it’s clearly written and makes the ultimate case for engagement and you’ll find the statistics above and many more in there as well as case studies. It’s UKbased but many of the organisations cited are multi-nationals.

Employee engagement in numbers – a snapshot » 70% of engaged employees and 17% of the disengaged indicate they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs1 » PricewaterhouseCoopers have found a strong correlation between highly engaged staff and client satisfaction

An Introduction to the UK govt’s Engage for Success movement by @SAS_Insights click to tweet

» Business units that scored above the median on both employee and customer engagement were on average 3.4 times more effective financially (in terms of total sales and revenue

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Engage for Success

Right Management (2006), Measuring True Employee Engagement, A CIPD Report 2 Fleming J, Coffman C, and Harter J (2005) ‘Manage Your Human Sigma’, Harvard Business Review 3 Harter , J.K. et al (2006), Gallup Q12 Meta-Analysis 1

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Re-discover your Purpose. Better, Co-Create it.

Anna CzĘŚcik Senior Associate Poland, MSLGROUP

MSLGROUP’s PurPle approach, energizing People around a shared Purpose, can be a very important part of the employer branding strategy as well as an effective method for building employee engagement.

When considering the PurPle approach for employer branding strategy, we should start from a general idea of the corporate social responsibility and the importance of ethics and sustainability, and then proceed to shared value. In my view, a corporation should begin by fulfilling its basic duties.

Social responsibility starts at home As far as corporate social responsibility (CSR) is concerned, employees are one of the key stakeholders and they need to feel

that employers take care of them. Additional medical insurance, multisport cards, trainings or supporting work life balance are examples of CSR in practice. Such methods are commonly used by HR Departments but, very often, they are not perceived as an element of CSR. Communicating about such activities as a part of CSR is essential in building among employees the consciousness that their company is truly socially responsible– not only does it take care of external social programs but also its own employees.

Employees will be fully involved in the corporate social engagement programs only if they believe that their company treats them right.

Need for a shared purpose The PurPle approach is very relevant today, consideringthe lack of trust andthe growth of social demand towards corporations insolving social problems. What is more,the occurrence of the burnout and the search for meaning of life is getting more and more common among employees working in great multinational organizations. Making money is no longer enough for employees who can afford a comfortable life: they need to find a higher purpose for their life and feel thenecessity to give back to society.

Volunteering programsare examples of

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Re-discover your Purpose. Better, Co-Create it.

Source: Introducing PurPle = Purpose + People

employers’ activity designed to make it easier for employees to engage in social work. The problem is that some, most, corporations social engagement programs don’t have one common purpose nor do they really engage employees.For instance, it’s common for a corporate to support a sport… while it’s charity organization supports children in need… while it’s volunteering program encourages employees to plant trees.

Of course all these practices are useful.

But without one main shared purpose – which employees will believe in and really contribute to – suchprojects,will never be as effective as they could be.

Engage effectively. Co-create your core purpose PurPle is about true engagement based on the authentic necessity to change part of the world and make it a better place. Purpose is about the opportunity and the potential.

People make it real with their passion and insights.

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The purpose of the social engagement program must be collectively defined.

It is essential to engageemployees in the very beginning of creating the social engagement program – give them opportunity to choose what the purpose should be.

In order to create a well-designed program with one authentic purpose, which would engage employees, a company must rediscover its own social purpose.

Here are 3 steps to co-creating a shared purpose First, companies should consulttheirtop management on where they find common purpose –both a business and a social one, andone in which area they would like the company to be involved in (for example support health/ education/sport/etc).

Second, management should start a conversation with employees to find out which purpose they would prefer toengage around. It is crucial that the purpose of the social engagement programis defined bottom-up. Social media and intranets are very useful tools to make such consultations.

Third, after discovering the authentic purpose, which is shared between both the company and its employees, companies can begin to design real PurPle social engagement program and communicate about it.

The result of this approach – employees will become the best ambassadors of the program since it isn’t the company’s programexclusively, but also their own.

Co-create you Purpose & turn Employees into Brand Ambassadors says @AnnaCzescik click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Catalysts for Change | Re-discover your Purpose. Better, Co-Create it.

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Best practice today

Internal Reputation Management – Why it matters and what you should do blurred. Social Media channels have made it easy – and very tempting – to share information or opinions with external audiences, and vice versa, to seek insights from current employees. Companies must make sure their communications are transparent, authentic and congruent in both directions.

JULIA CHRISTOPH Senior Consultant, Brand & Talent, Germany, MSLGROUP

It is crucial that companies constantly engage and motivate their employees.

Why? Because the effect that disengaged employees have on a company’s success is tremendous. According to the Gallup Employee Engagement Survey 2013, disengaged employees caused an annual loss in productivity worth $300 billion in the US alone.

Indeed, the topic is gaining importance.

Three global trends will force employers to pay more attention to employee engagement and thus, to their Internal Reputation Management.

1 Always-on In today’s “Always-on-Society” the dividing lines between external and internal perspectives of a company are becoming

A job applicant, for example, will going to be probably check a company’s reputation on Glassdoor.com before applying. And, an employee, who learns on Facebook that jobs are going to be cut in his or her company, is very likely to lose faith in the employer.

Don’t forget: People trust people.

What we learn through word-of-mouth communication has a much stronger impact than what the communications departments want us to believe.

2 Constant change Change projects have become a regular part of our daily business. Nowadays we encounter them more frequently than we did only a few years ago. The world seems to spin more quicklyand it’s only natural that our work has to adapt to that.

Quite often, the reason for the failure of a change project lies in the lack of transparent and engaging communication.

In their report Employee Engagement: What’s your Engagement Ratio, Gallup claims:

“ Within the best performing organizations there is a cultural alignment between the employees and the company, paired with a strategic alignment between activities and company goals.”

Bottom line: Successful change projects simply have to be understood.

3 Global village Last but not least, it’s the intercultural set-up that forces companies to pay more attention to their internal reputation and employee engagement. Quite frankly, it’s easier to generate an efficient and streamlined working environment if your company is based in only one country.

However, if your activities stretch across continents, intercultural factors come into play, making it more difficult to draw a coherent picture of your corporate identity.

But: About 70 per cent of change projects fail because the staff does not buy in to them. Let’s not even think about the money of those failed projects going down the drain.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Internal Reputation Management

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So, what to do?

1 Raise awareness and share responsibility Make sure everyone involved in the topic is well aware of its importance. HR, Internal & External Communications as well as the management are the main actors.

2 Stop sending messages from A to B Foster a culture of dialogue and collaboration. Involve your audiences.

3 Practice yourself in creative storytelling Your communication needs to grab the attention of the recipients. What you say needs to be easily understood.

4 Be clear Transparency and authenticity are key.

5 Share values Whatever you do should be done for a good reason. Only if you highlight your work’s greater purpose or higher meaning for society, will your employees truly engage.

5 Tips on Internal Reputation Management by @MSL_Germany’s Julia Christoph click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Internal Reputation Management

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Collaborative Planning – Building Brands & Communications WITH people This way:

“ Thank you for your time and consideration. Please let me know if you have any further questions.”

Regards, Julia.

Or this way:

VÉRONIQUE LANGLOIS AND XAVIER CHARPENTIER CoFounders at FreeThinking Part of MSLGROUP France

When we launched FreeThinking in 2007 as a pure player of 2.0 consumer research and collaborative planning, we didn’t imagine that one day, people would thank us – especially these people, and this way.

These people: Not clients – even if they do sometimes thank us, fortunately – but participants, employees and consumers, who we work with to make brands and companies move forward. Today, those that we used to politely thank at the end of a focus group are the ones that express their gratefulness at the end of an online conversation.

“It was very exciting to discuss with our colleagues over the country. I believe this method makes our motivation be higher.

If possible, I want you to keep such kind of opportunity regularly in the future. Many thanks for all of you.”

Why these reactions?

Because collaborative research and planning turn people into real partners – concretely and emotionally. Collaboration empowers them, values their words and gives them the opportunity to talk to each other, rather than to us, boring and inquisitive research people and planners. Collaborative research and planning, as FreeThinking practices it, is building digital brain trusts with people that are not used to be part of any brain trust – but love it.

intelligence. We have one aim and one working method: turn group intelligence into co-operative intelligence. » This means, first, a community meeting place: the FreeThinking invitation-only platform, our investigative tool stimulating participants’ conversations (their place, their time). » This means, more importantly, a community management approach designed to get people talking freely and stimulate them to think about things as partners. 50 to 120 people, during 10 to 15 days, free to upload images and links on the platform, and to vote on and arrange priorities. » This means, then, a conversation decoding process designed to bring out the ideas around which the discussion is structured; not necessarily a consensus, but committed ideas which foster brand commitment.

How? By trusting the collective, collaborative intelligence of people we gather on our platforms in communities. FreeThinking relies entirely on managing group

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Collaborative Planning

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We have worked with several clients since 2007, and have created and managed more than 250 communities in 16 markets including China, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, and of course the US, Italy, Germany, and the UK. » Norbert Dentressangle, one of the major European Logistics company, to listen to employees, all over Europe, about their perception of their brands and its values – and more importantly the way they implement them in their daily professional life. » BNP Paribas, to explore what “rising”, could mean both professionally and socially in 5 markets, both European and Asian, in cultures as different as Chinese and Turkish. » Nestlé, to better define with them the Brand Properties of some of their major global brands, and to understand what they should be in a multicultural context, in Asia, Europe, LatAm – which means to understand what is the ideal kitchen and the perfect cooking-time for people in different places.

Home-page of one of the FreeThinking communities

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Collaborative Planning

» Renault, to better understand what was left of the fantastic relationship they used to have with the customers in France, after years of a bumpy journey towards success.

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Real conversations taking place on FreeThinking

What is common in all these examples?

The fact that each time we put people – be they employees, or consumers, customers and fans – in a collaborative approach, they respond beyond our expectations.

Each time we explain to them that we count on their input, sensitivity and common sense, they do their best and give us more – more insights, more ideas.

And each time we put our clients in a different perspective, they are enthusiastic to work in a new way – truly participating in the research and the strategic planning, rather than waiting for results and being exposed to ideas.

Interested in learning more about collaborative planning and research? You can call us. Feel free.

To start a conversation on collaborative planning and research, email veronique.langlois@freethinking.fr and xavier.charpentier@freethinking.fr The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Collaborative Planning

Intro to collaborative planning (& getting better insights) by @FreeThinkingLab click to tweet

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Live Online Meetings: Using social experiences to fuel employee engagement platform Multilogue to involve large numbers of employees in a live discussion.

Replacing the face-to-face with the online

Using online to extend the reach of top executive meetings

In some cases, an online meeting

Online meetings are a great way

to extend the reach of face-toface meetings, allowing more people to participate in an inspiring way.

MARINE WALLACE Director of Brand & Talent practice MSLGROUP in the Netherlands

For decades, corporate meetings have consisted of a speaker on stage, scrolling through slides, addressing an assembly of passive listeners. But the rise of digital and social technologiesbrings with them new possibilities to make employee events truly interactive, inspiring and cost effective.

Some employers choose to integrate participatory social elements to make their physical meetings engaging, while others prefer to move the whole event into on online forum, where attendees join from different locations and connect in a virtual meeting room.

Here are two examples of how big companies have used our online meeting

When a European service company went through a re-organization, they invited the top 70 leaders to meet in Berlin. On their meeting agenda, two hours were blocked to move their discussion to an online platform, inviting the top 1,000 managers from Europe to join remotely.

This extension of the face-to-face event was an instant success. 670 managers joined the top 70 in the online meeting room. 1,500 comments were posted (by those joining remotely and those in the Berlin room) in only 90 minutes.

Because the discussion was being monitored live, the moderation team immediately returned the first results to the plenary session in Berlin after the online discussion finished. A week later, after all comments were thoroughly analyzed, the management was able to produce a roadmap based not only on the input of those present in Berlin but incorporating the views of all those who had joined the online brainstorm.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Live Online Meetings

is the only possible way to bring large numbers of people together - other than renting a football stadium.

When a global bank decided to re-shape the company’s brand positioning they needed to bring on board all of their staff. The challenge was to introduce their new values globally in a way that the desired behaviours would be well understood and adopted by the staff at all levels throughout the organisation.

To do this, they opted for an online event inviting all 120,000 employees to address questions such as ‘What does it mean to be attentive? How will I adapt my behaviour to deliver the brand promise?’ Discussions were organized in 9 different languages and the online meeting was live for 24 hours, giving employees from different time zones the opportunity to join in. Of the 120,000 employees invited, 41% or 54,000 employees participated, representing 59 countries, and posting over 19,000 comments.

The quantity and quality of the ideas brought to the discussion was recognized by the leadership team. All comments

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were analysed and the key findings were integrated in local business plans.

Social experiences appeal to Gen Y workers Two-way communication is the

new norm in the conversation age.

The value of integrating an online part in the corporate meeting lies in the social experience.It fuels employee engagement by blurring boundaries between silos, hierarchy and cultures. It enthuses all employeeswith a sense of shared purpose.

In a live online interactive meeting, large groups of people, from around the world, can chat with each other, in real time, using a web connection and a keyboard. This means everyone speaks openly to each other. One talks the same way to a colleague as to a CEO. When someone asks a question, the answer can come from anywhere. Everyone has a voice, no matter the job title or native language.

Research on employer attractiveness shows that Gen Y workers expect a culture of transparency and openness. They don’t recognise themselves a hierarchical way of cascading messages from top to bottom.

In their personal lives - as students, consumers and citizens –Gen Y has been trained to collaborate, co-create, participate, curate, rate and share without boundaries. In their professional life, they expect to play an active role in company strategy.

Learn more about the MSLGROUP online meeting tool Multilogue.

To start a conversation on how your company can organize an online meeting, contactyour local Brand & Talent practice leader or email marine. wallace@msl.nl

More than saving costand time It’s about breaking the walls

between silos and generations to fuel engagement with the company’s mission.

An online meeting is more than a cost effective solution to host companywide discussions. The live human moderation ensures that the conversation is influenced in real time and that the key findings are extracted and analysed. The fact that it is an actual event on a given datefuels participation.

Employees feel empowered to have a say and share a common energy during the live social experience. The set-up promotes transparency, openness and co-creation. It is a culture that is especially valued by Gen Y workers and is ideal for companies who want to involve and engage their employees.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Live Online Meetings

Live Online Meetings - Use social experiences to fuel engagement, says @Marine_W click to tweet

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Employer Branding - 10 tips to avoid the bear traps reflecting your current DNA in how you express your employer brand. At the same time, your business will have a vision and objectives it needs to meet as part of the strategic plan, and your employer brand can help achieve this. The rough rule of thumb is 80% today’s truth, 20% tomorrow’s ambition.

LOUISA MORETON Director of Employee Communications and Consultancy at SAS Part of MSLGROUP

“ You’ve done many Employer Branding

2 How the employee lifecycle can help you Think of your Employer Brand as weaving through the employee lifecycle, from attraction and support, to on-boarding and training to engagement, internal communications and reward, through to exit and alumni. If you think of it in this

projects. We’ve never done one, and I hope we’ll only have to do it once.”

SAS Client We often focus on the case for an employer brand and stories of success, but we don’t often lift the lid on the process. Here are 10 tips to make the process painless and even enjoyable.

1 The Employer Branding 80/ 20 rule Your Employer brand should be a mix of “today’s truth” and tomorrow’s ambition.

It has to be authentic and recognisable to your current employees and keep the promise made to candidates. This means

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Employer Branding

way, you’ll ensure you get the right people involved in the project team, the research and the implementation. If you’re currently seeing it as a tool for recruitment only, then see if you can work with colleagues in communications and HR to expand the brief and get value from the project and consistency of experience in your business.

3 Building a brilliant project team This can make or break the project- both in terms of getting the work completed and signed off, to implementing it. Spend time inviting/ coercing colleagues on to your project team. Even if your Employer Brand is going to be used primarily for recruitment, you still need the input of other departments and functions. » HR & resourcing. They will be heavy users of the Employer brand and can influence how deeply it is embedded in organisational people processes » Marketing & brand. They will ensure alignment with corporate brand, and if you have them involved from the start, they are more likely to sign it off at the end » Internal Comms. They can help you reach the employee audience (for example for research) and can also be part of implementation, aligning your messaging with theirs

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» Business functions. This is where your employees are, after all! Get representation from your key business functions, for example engineering, sales and production » Locations/ geographies. Try to get a mix of heritage and future growth countries/ offices. Is there a country/ area that should be included for “political” reasons? » Exec team/ Board. If you don’t have a mandate from, or a sponsor in or at least the interest of the Board or exec, then you need to get one! Provide unprompted updates to gain and maintain interest or use a senior steering group as a conduit. » Trouble makers. You know the ones… and you need them on your team! They will be cynical, critical and defeatist: in short, they’ll identify every possible issue and help you to mitigate, and they must just become the biggest advocate.

4 Documentation is your corner stone Your project is likely to last a while, so you need to be ruthless in keeping everything on track and keeping people engaged.

Have clear roles and responsibilities; e.g. who has right of veto and who merely comments? Set up your project team- who will do the work- and a steering group (or senior sponsor) - who will ratify and

sign off. Then create a RACI (who will be responsible, accountable, consulted, informed). Finally, once you’ve agreed key stages and rough dates, create a chart/ slide that shows what will be happening when. Add to this a slide on why you do the project and the business case and you have a ready-made introduction to your project that your project team can use to update colleagues- ensuring a consistent story.

5 Don’t race to the summit- take your time in the foothills Think of your project in three stages: research and recommendations, then implementation. Spend time discussing the research findings, challenging them and then agreeing the messaging to be taken forward. This will form part of the brief for implementation, so it’s worth getting it right because it will be expensive and painful to go backwards. Don’t race to creative concepts; get the messaging framework right first.

6 Secret to great research » Use what you have already. It’s economical; time saving; sends a great message that you aren’t reinventing the wheel; it will inform the research you carry out » Agree the business areas you’ll research in. You need to reach the factory floor

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Employer Branding

and the support functions not just exec or comms people » Who do you want to canvass externally?

Hard to reach/ scarce audience (e.g. engineers); people who have recently rejected a job offer; or people at competitor organisations? » Geography. You might want to think about heritage or where your new markets are; or you might cover one country per continent. » Let’s be honest, research programmes can get out of hand. You need enough to inform the proposition and be reflective of the organisation, but if you are planning a toolkit with flexibility, then local market adaptation will happen later. » Admin support is critical. You need someone tenacious, charming and meticulously organised to make the research phase happen. From working with stakeholders to identify and invite participants, to arranging room, refreshments and permissions… it’s a big job. This is the most common hold-up. » Diversity groups, they might be able to help you reach employees you would otherwise miss. Unions can make or break your project; don’t leave them until they are an afterthought. If their members are

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those you want to interview, you’ll need their help.

spent time on the messaging, then you’re likely to be on the right track.

» A strong facilitator and thought-through question guide is key. Brief the facilitator on what you’d like to get out of the groups in addition to what’s in the question guide.

Anything in particular you want them to look out for. Once they’re over, you can’t go back.

10 Implementation: think big

» Discuss and debate the key themes, before you move to recommendations,.

This is your opportunity to identify red herrings, block up blind alleys and underline themes that you think are important. Work collaboratively with your agency… otherwise the chances are that the “ta dah” moment may be a flop.

7 Think “application” even during research Think back to the employee lifecycle – where do you need the employer brand to be present? For example, it’s probably worth asking about reward and training in the groups. You may not have control over these areas, but they can either support or contradict your employer brand.

8 Allow the creatives to be creative As long as you’ve given them a great brief, and they’ve understood the key research

findings, step back. Allow yourself to be open to something surprising as much as something very familiar. Listen to the story behind the idea and ask yourself if it could work today, next month, next year. Try to choose a future-proof concept.

Your employer brand can deliver value and bring consistency to so many areas of comms, HR and engagement. Once you have messaging agreed, start planning the workstreams through which you will implement the employer brand.

You can focus on two types: where the employer brand needs to be evident (e.g. resourcing) and where you need to do remedial work in order to achieve your 20% ambition (e.g. addressing work life balance, doing salary benchmarking).

Once you have identified the workstreams, give members of the project team ownership and accountability and set up monthly meetings at which you re-group to discuss progress. This will help keep the employer brand live and relevant beyond the initial launch.

9 Getting the best out of testing Will the project or steering team choose the chosen concept and will you then use testing to refine the idea? Or do you want to put all ideas out to test? Who will you test with- potential and current employees? Don’t go overboard; if you conducted good research to start, and

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Employer Branding

Employer Branding - 10 tips to avoid the bear traps by @SAS_Insights click to tweet

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Straight Talk: Training leaders to communicate in the new world supervisor, the guy immediately above him, especially in troublesome moments as the processes of change.

New world of interaction

HELOIZAFARIA AND JOSÉ GUILHERME ARAÚJO Directors, Ideia Comunicação an MSLGROUP Partner in Brazil

Leaders – the #1 source of information Whether a company is large, medium or small, global or domestic or yet in any kind of industry, communication with employees will always be a challenge. In the current networking society, winning companies have to communicate with all stakeholders, the internal ones to begin with. For those,

despite all technology available and the virtual environment we live in, face-to-face communication from immediate leadership still is of great importance.

Internal communications researches conducted in organizations all over the world can prove that. Speaking of Brazilian companies, in particular, audits run by Ideia Comunicação still show that the employee’s number one source of information is the

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Straight Talk

We are now 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide. In Brazil, half the population is connected, making Brazil the 5th country in the world by web use. This data highlights the power of interaction in a globalized world - and challenges us to think of its impact on organizations. The new world demands more transparency, dialogue and competition, because it exposes companies.

The internet, for example, promotes more informal relationships, broader possibilities for comparisons, and in this way demands greater market differentiation.

These changes at first sight seem to decrease corporate control over employees.

They are no longer the only source of information about the company. In different ways, all stakeholders can be credible sources of information about the organization. Employees, in turn, are now more well informed, inquisitive and demanding. Skeptical of one-way communication, they ask for more involvement in business decisions.

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Communicating with 21st century workers Would this “new employee” be more available to commit and engage with business objectives? And the leaders, would they be ready to act in the new relational context? In our many years of practice, we have learned - and still find – that when it comes to commit and engage, the more strategic it is to meet the preference of employees for straight talk. That is what has been making a difference in this environment of multiple print and digital platforms.

Companies that have more effective internal communication are those that understand the importance of communication between immediate leaders and employees. These organizations have found out that this straight dialogue allows people the opportunity to question, clarify and understand the contribution of their work to the bottom line.

By engaging people under the guidance of their leaders, this communication process improves the results that actually matter to the organization’s success.

In order to make it work, specific methodologies must be put into practice.

One of them is for training leaders so that they understand how important they are in the communication process and therefore why they are expected to engage as communicators. The ideal training program should also provide leaders with tools to communicate with the 21st century worker, as part of the whole employee-relations process.

Straight Talk: Training leaders to communicate in the New World by @ideiacomunica click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Best practice today | Straight Talk

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Spotlight

Together Works Better: Activating the People’s Network

NATHALIE SZWAGRZYK HR Project Manager MSLGROUP

At MSLGROUP we celebrate creative, agile and entrepreneurial talent. We attract and retain people who are ready to push boundaries and embrace the change that our industry is undergoing.

As a young network we also face the challenge of uniting very diverse offices across the 22 countries in which we operate.

To foster international collaboration as well as a family spirit we created Together Works Better (TWB) in 2009, the very first year that MSLGROUP was launched. TWB is a “homemade” internal competition that brings our corporate mantra to life and engages with our 3,400 employees, so they realize that each and everyone of them contributes to shaping the future of the company.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx1V4mLLNYU

Together Works Better ultimately guides the network in its transformation from traditional PR to a creative, digital, People’s Relations agency.

Connecting people to the business strategy As part of the competition, teams are given a specific brief – to put together a big idea for clients in a 2-minute video. The criteria to win are linked to our company’s vision: big ideas should be rooted in insights, use digital, apply globally and transform into ROI for clients.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Spotlight | Together Works Better

We are proud to say that many ideas from this internal crowdsourcing actually turn into real business opportunities!

Besides connecting our people to the business strategy, TWB pushes them to creatively package their stories, paving the way for more engaging proposals for clients.

It helps employees to think out of the box and explore new creative ideas for clients.

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Beyond engaging employees, TWB grooms our talent into becoming better creative storytellers.

It is also a great way to integrate new agencies by showing them the advantage of being part of our network: global capabilities & endless opportunities to extend our business.

Embracing the collaboration and family spirit of the competition, MSLGROUP Denmark released a promotional video to attract the winners to their office, realizing that being a host office can also be fun and rewarding.

Watch for yourself – who wouldn’t want to meet them?

create connections and celebrate international collaboration.

We already look forward to working on the 2014 Edition, which will have a special focus on rooting a successful knowledge-sharing culture.

Celebrating the “People’s Network” This year, 130 participants from 31 offices teamed up and submitted 48 entries. The prize? 8 winning teams got to travel to an MSLGROUP office of their choice.

These trips enable employees to truly experience our “People’s Network,”creating both long-lasting partnership across offices as well as friendships. It even triggered a growing interest towards our Mobility Programme.

Schwartz MSL San Francisco visited by a TWB team from Stockholm & Shanghai

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZEKSsUP0kE

Most of the teams blogged about their trip on the MSLGROUP TWB Facebook group which now has hundreds of members and is also regularly fuelled by employees on team events. Other teams shared their TWB journey on MSLGROUP’s global and regional Twitter streems, Pinterest boards and company blogs.

Together Works Better is about building a positive engagement towards MSLGROUP. It inspires the network to push boundaries,

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Spotlight | Together Works Better

Together Works Better: Activating the People’s Network at @msl_group click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Heineken The Candidate

What is The Candidate?

The Candidate is video compilation of secretly filmed job interviews at Heineken.

The interviews were designed to get applicants out of their comfort zone and to help the brand find talent that best fits the Heineken spirit. The Candidate highlights Heineken brand culture and has helped the brand engage with the external and internal audiences.

After all, Heineken is well known for its beer and remarkable campaigns, but not much is known about its corporate culture. With The Candidate, Heineken demonstrates that the Heineken brand attitude “Open your world” is also evident within the company.

How it works Heineken chose this unconventional method to recruit an intern for their events and sponsorship team. The intern’s responsibilities would include following the UEFA Champions League Trophy as it

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Heineken The Candidate

tours the world and the opportunity to meet football heroes.

1,734 people applied for the role. Shortlisted candidates were invited to Amsterdam for a three stage interview process. It began with the kick-off stage, where the boss led the interviewee into the meeting room by holding hands the entire way; medical assistance, which involved helping the boss as he ‘blacks-out’ during the meeting; and fire drill, where fire-fighters call for help to rescue a stranded Heineken employee from the roof after a ‘fire alert’.

Source: http://elmaaltshift.com/2013/02/19/heineken-thecandidate/

Candidates’ interviews were filmed and the best three videos were uploaded to the company intranet, where employees could vote for the candidate who had the necessary skills to work in the Heineken marketing department. The winner was then brought to the Juventus stadium to celebrate his new job.

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That same day, the story broke on Mashable, followed by a tweet from Pete Cashmore, Mashable’s editor. Other hybrid media (Huffington Post and Creativity Online) picked it up before traditional media got on board. When Forbes, Guardian, business insider continued the story, they confirmed that not only was it humorous but also had real marketing value to the industry.

Each media shared it on their social media channels, creating a knock-on effect that made the film go viral.

Rob Schwartz from Forbes noted:

“ The Dutch beer brand has done some nice

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Ftu3NbivE&has_verified=1

Viral Journey The best moments from the video interviews were compiled into the short film The Candidate, which was published on Heineken’s Facebook page in February, 2013.

advertising and some smart sponsorship for decades. Very recently, they came up with a “program.” The marketing objective is simple: Think big sport, think Heineken. Heineken creates some hilarious content — that all actually relate to their sponsorships.”

Jonathan Health, Online editor at Spectrecom noted:

“ Within this campaign Heineken have

Source: Mashable

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Heineken The Candidate

not only produced a quality piece of video marketing. The crowd source element has involved their social media channels lobbying for input in choosing “The Candidate” encouraging sharing and engagement and improving the virility of the piece.”

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Additionally, Heineken struck a chord with the youth by recruiting an intern who portrays values like creativity, spontaneity and passion which are valued at Heineken.

Adam Grant a Wharton professor pointed out what millennials really want out of work:

“ Whether we’re Boomers, Gen Xers, or Source: Heineken YouTube Statistics

From February till early August there were around 5,062,921 views (bulls eye on male target audience 24-54) and 22,973 likes on YouTube.

As per the Cannes Lions entry, the campaign has been mentioned 15,276 times in social and digital media, of which 87% were favourable mentions (79% male, age 21-50).

Local markets like India and Brazil adapted The Candidate, recruiting with the same method a local photo reporter for the 2013 Champions League final.

Creative & Unconventional approach Heineken turned around a standard procedure of interviews into an experience of a lifetime for the job applicants. They proved that getting out of your comfort zone gives you an opportunity to see another side of you and truly explore ones caliber and real worth.

Millennials, we’re searching for interesting, meaningful jobs that challenge and stretch us. For jobs that allow us to support our lives and families outside work, earn respect and form significant relationships, and make a difference in the lives of others.”

Through the campaign the candidates were put through unfamiliar but real life circumstances thus influencing not just the participants but also many other people who created a buzz on social media.

Daylon D’Cruz, Associate Account Director, India, MSLGROUP pointed out that Heineken has strengthened its brand value by leveraging the combination of beer and football

“ Heineken’s The Candidate connects two passions of the world, football and beer, and nothing can excite more than a sports internship. The campaign fit right in with the brands attitude of “Open your World”.

Through the various stages of the campaign it not only managed to make candidates look beyond the ordinary but also gave the

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Heineken The Candidate

outside world a glimpse into its culture, thereby strengthening the reputation of beer = fun.”

A China perspective Judy Luo, Director, China, MSLGROUP, commented that Heineken’s approach to hiring talent could be adopted in China as well:

“ Yes, I do think it works.

Of course we won’t use the same way to do the interview, but we could create some sessions to test a candidate’s reactions and feedback.

According to my personal experience, I’ve never heard any company do something similar in China. Normally, we would have two rounds of interviews: round one gauges first impressions between company and candidate where the objective is to get to know each another. The second round tests the candidate’s professional skills and thinking process through some kind of test. I believe it would be appropriate to set something like The Candidate in round one.”

Internal Branding & Engagement Companies have always embraced the concept of internal referrals, but Heineken has set a perfect example for crowdsourcing talent through this campaign. The campaign not only helped Heineken get a good intern

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but also instilled a sense of pride among the Heineken employees to work in the organisation.

As per the Cannes entry, 91% of Heineken employees watched the video and found it stimulating for their job. There was also a +279% traffic increase on Heineken’s HR sites and +317% increase in CV’s submitted after campaign launch.

Recognition in the industry In the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2013, Heineken won the Gold Lion PR for The Candidate, which was also selected for a TITANIUM and INTEGRATED BRONZE award.

Many social media and PR websites shared and tweeted about the Gold Lion PR win for The Candidate and also outlined the brand’s creative and unconventional approach.

Source: Twitter

The Heineken brand strategy ‘Open Your World’ was successfully introduced into the corporate office environment and the campaign has helped employees better identify themselves with the Heineken brand. Most importantly The Candidate has influenced people, specially future employees of Heineken.

Heineken The Candidate - an experiment in social recruiting and employee collaboration click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Heineken The Candidate

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Multilogue

Multilogue: the future of corporate events?

By hosting meetings online companies save costs and fuel employee engagement.

Multilogue helps global organisations leverage networked technologies to collaborate and co-create in real time.

Corporate events where participants suffer from jet lags, sit in expensive rooms and dine on a Power Point soup are not inspiring to the new generation of knowledge workers.

That is why Corporate Communications leaders are looking to digital and social technologies to make meetings more enriching and engaging.

MSLGROUP introduced the Multilogue, a live online interactive meeting to address this trend. Multilogue allows large groups of people, from all around the world, to chat with each other, in real time, using a web connection and a keyboard. Multilogue is especially popular among global companies with employees in multiple countries. It has been used in the past as an extension of a face-to-face meeting and even as a substitute (eliminating the travel time, costs and logistics involved in organizing largescale physical events).

Leveraging networked technologies to boost effectiveness of global meeting Of course, the act of joining an online meeting is not new and there are plenty of tools available to start a chat between colleagues. It is how corporation leverage those social technologies for the workplace that is fascinating.

In fact, in some cases, an online meeting is the only possible way to bring large numbers of people together - other than renting a football stadium. The particularity of Multilogue is that it is a private social network used uniquely in the corporate environment.

Access to a Multilogue discussion is only granted upon invitation so only those concerned can participate. At the end of a session, all the data exchanged remains the exclusive property of the corporation. It is analysed and summarized to guide company strategy.

A finger on the pulse of the organisation What makes Multilogue unique is the team of moderators who follow the discussion in real time,in every language. The software functionalities allow them to qualify, track and rank comments as they are made.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Multilogue

Moderators analyse and steer the conversation in real time

Marine Wallace, Director of Brand & Talent practice at MSLGROUP in the Netherlands, has implemented several of these online meetings. She explained:

“ We monitor what is being said. We can alert the client on key points. And we provide an overview of the comments we read as they are made. Personally I think the real value of Multilogue is the human moderation. Instead of employee comments being lost in cyberspace, people are genuinely heard and answered to in real time and in their language.�

Real time analysis also helps moderators sustain discussions. For instance, moderators are able to identify areas with low participation and send out emails to encourage employees to join in.

After the event, moderators summarize the ideas, questions and recommendations. They

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identify key themes and present a report that can guide the company’s strategy.

Henjo Guitjens, CEO of MSLGROUP in the Netherlands, explained:

“ Some clients like to get the summary from the moderation team every 45 minutes. For them, it is like putting their finger on the pulse of the organisation. They want to be able to stir the conversations and dig deeper in some of the most fruitful ideas being exchanged.”

War Room set up for 24 hours of online discussions

projectors and video cameras, somewhat similar to a newsroom or a crisis centre.

There is at least one moderator per language in order to bring insights from every part of the world.

tool has been used in several ways: from discussing strategy with board members, to brainstorming within an international marketing team or even co-creating the company values with all employees.

Client stakeholders such as CEOs, regional leaders and spokespersons stimulate discussions in their own language. They are coached by the Moderation team to respond to employee questions. Often, moderators will film interviews with clients to highlight the main points of discussion and post these as forum summaries (with subtitles in relevant languages).

MSLGROUP moderators analyse discussions and poll results in real-time to create text and video summaries. The tech support team control back-end features like opening and closing of different forums and polls, making announcements and sending reminder emails to zones where participation might be low.

Live moderation in employees’ own native language is what makes the difference

Here’s a video showing the war room during MSLGROUP’s own Multilogue discussion, hosted by CEO Olivier Fleurot: http://www. youtube.com/watch%3Fv=P3k-38AQWVM

On the day of the Multilogue meeting, a team of client stakeholders, MSLGROUP moderators and MSLGROUP technical support experts come together at a central hub. The teams work side-by-side in a so-called “war-room” filled with laptops,

The answer to collaborating across borders and time zones MSLGROUP has organised Multilogue meetings for global companies, connecting teams from 25 people to over 50,000. The

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Multilogue

The benefit of the tool is to allow an open discussion using live moderation.

Several clients have shared their surprise at the effectiveness of Multilogue in energising employee participation. In the video below, leaders from AXA and Philips share their experience.

Source: AXA and Philips leaders share their experience with Multilogue

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Case Study: Introducing a new brand signature at AXA When bank & insurance giant AXAdecided to re-shape the company’s brand positioning they needed to bring on board all their staff.

The challenge was to introduce the new values in a way that the desired behaviours would be well understood and adopted by the staff at all levels throughout the organisation.

to post a video testimonial (in their own language) about how the brand signature would affect their local market. Of the 120,000 employees invited, 41% or 54,000 employees participated, representing 59 countries, and posting over 19,000 comments.

Multilogue in action: The AXA Forum

Case Study: Co-creatingGDF SUEZ company values with 48000 employees

To do this, AXA opted for a Multilogueinviting all 120,000 employees to address questions such as ‘What does it mean to be attentive?

How will I adapt my behaviour to deliver the brand promise?’

AXA top CEOs call for participation in their own language Source: youtube.com/watch?v=-1RhB8Joq7Y

Discussions were organized in 9 different languages and the meeting was live for 24 hours in order to allow the whole globe to join in . 42 top CEOs of AXA were asked

Seeing the astonishing number of employees taking part in the event and the quality of the ideas brought to the discussion, the leadership team felt compelled to integrate the main findings in their local business plans. Furthermore, a new global intranet was created based on the key topics that emerged. The most active contributors from the Multilogue were identified as “champions” for certain topics.

And a new web magazine was launched using the views and anecdotes shared online as a starting point.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Multilogue

When Gaz de France and SUEZ merged to become GDF SUEZ it was the birth of a new company with a workforce of 210,000 employees in 30 countries and speaking 7 different languages. But the values and culture of the two old entities had to be re-created in order to make room for a new corporate culture.

In order to achieve this, GDF SUEZ opted for a Multilogue to co-create a unified identity across the company and proactively address the risk of a culture clash.

During 18 hours, employees from around the world discussed topics such as ‘How do we want to work together? What do have in common? And Who do we want to be?’ This was an emblematic initiative from the new management, empowering a large numbers

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of employees to shape on the future of their corporate values.

Using online to extend the reach of top executive meetings is the future Online global meetings are a unique way to open up the traditional corporate events like top executive meetings.Recently Multilogue served as an extension of a face-to-face meeting: Board members of GDF SUEZ joined the moderation team to chat online with employees from all around the company Source: blog.mslgroup.com

48,000 employees took the opportunity to participate in the discussion and generated 12,000 comments. Their feelings and votes were analysed and resulted in the launch of the new values a few months later. This Multilogue resulted in the rise

of a new culture of open dialogue between employees and their new management.

Both the AXA Multilogueand the GDF SUEZ Multiloguehave wonSilver Top Com Awards, a prestigious French award for communication.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Multilogue

When a European service company went through a re-organisation, they invited the top 70 leaders to meet in Berlin. On their meeting agenda, two hours were blocked to move their discussion to an online platform, inviting the top 1000 managers from Europe to join remotely.

This extension of the face-to-face event was an instant success. 670 managers joined the top 70 in the online meeting room. 1,500

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comments were posted (by those joining remotely and those in the Berlin room) in just 90 minutes. Because the discussion was being monitored live, the moderation team immediately returned the first results to the plenary session in Berlin after the online discussion finished. A week later, after all comments were thoroughly analysed, the management was able to produce a roadmap based not only on the input of the top 70 invited to Berlin but incorporating the views of their top people from across the zone.

Overall, it’s more than saving cost and time: it’s about breaking the walls between silos and generations to fuel engagement with the company’s mission Multilogue is more than a cost effective solution to host companywide discussions.

The live human moderation ensures that the conversation is influenced in real time and that the key findings are extracted and analysed. The fact that a Multilogue is an actual event on a given date fuels participation. Employees feel empowered to have a say and they share a common energy during this live social experience.

Indeed, this two-way form of communication is the new norm. Julia Christoph, Senior Consultant - Brand & Talent, MSLGROUP Germany explains:

“ Particularly through the power of social media, employees – and other stakeholders – have become used to new means of communication. Today, collaboration is key: People want to be asked and they want to feel that they participate in decision-making processes. An A-to-B-information flow is thus out-dated.”

A Multilogue promotes transparency, openness and co-creation. It is a culture that is especially valued by generation Y workers and will appeal to brands that want to leverage the power of online meetings for engaging employees.

created a global think tank in real-time and had the best, brightest and most passionate minds and influencers working on a project?

Social media has allowed for the walls to come down between brands and customers and there are many innovative benefits around this. This global collaboration tool of Multilogue will help more amazingly brilliant ideas meet and merge and come to life.”

This post was authored by Marine Wallace, Director of Brand & Talent practice at MSLGROUP in the Netherlands

Sarah Thompson, Digital and Social Leader, MSLGROUP, Canada, believes this platform will catalyse the evolution of corporate events and collaboration:

“ Multilogue is the next generation of cocreation. If you think about it, beyond just events with your employees, you can take this to your customers or stakeholders or key influencers. Co-creating is especially important with Generation Y audiences, who want to have a role in the brand’s marketing efforts. And, while it does bring in new implications for brand governance, the opportunity is one disruptive and innovative brands will embrace.

I think of this as the next evolution of Quirky combined with a TED talks. What if a brand

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Multilogue

Multilogue by @MSL_NL - a live online interactive meeting #collaboration click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Marsh University

What is Marsh University?

Insurance brokerage Marsh launched Marsh University in 2010, to combat low employee engagement scores in career development. The program encourages Marsh’s ‘crowd’ of 26,000 employees to share their expertise and experience over an internal blogging and collaborative web platform.

The challenge: Low engagement scores Employee engagement at Marsh was adversely affect by financial hardship, layoffs and management changes in recent years.

In an employee survey conducted in 2009, Marsh found that scores were low and that career development was an area of concern for employees – and also an opportunity for talent teams.

HRE Online’s Michael O’Brien noted:

“ [ Marsh ] got involved in the founding of the university shortly after a 2009 colleague-engagement survey found that career development at Marsh was “an opportunity for improvement” that could lead to increased engagement levels among employees.”

A creative, affordable idea: “Everyone is a teacher”

Source: informationweek.com

In two years, the company reported that 70% of its staff had joined the platform, 2,000 blog posts were generated and employee engagement scores were on the rise.

Marsh U also helped create a culture of internal sharing across Marsh’s 400 offices, and the platform has transformed into an active sharing platform as well as an internal social network.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Marsh University

Marsh explored expanding their employee training programs, but found that cost was a major barrier to scale. Instead, senior Marsh executives Laurie Ledford and Ben Brooks decided to tap into the expertise and skills of their employees, and facilitate knowledge share using a social platform. Marsh U was built on this principle that “Everyone is a teacher.” Employees were asked - “What would you teach?”

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Talent acquisition analyst Kyle Lagunas noted this approach was bold and contemporary:

“ Their solution: turn to cutting-edge social technology to create a global community where employees could tap into the collective experience, networks and resources of the firm. This was a bold move in the traditionally conservative insurance industry.”

To maintain cost and reduce set up time, Marsh decided not to build a cutting edge platform from scratch, but instead to usesimple tools platforms that already existed. A hidden benefit of this approach – some employees may already be familiar or even well versed with the tools.

Technology and social business writer David Carr reported:

“ Rather than building on an enterprise social networking suite, Marsh partnered with a startup, Red Rover, that helped cobble together a solution including components like WordPress blogging software, Box file sharing, Kaltura for corporate video sharing, and Red Rover’s own software for microblogging, member profiles and group discussions.”

The reliance on insight, and the pragmatic approach to technology no doubt contributed to the success of the program.

Ben Brooks, former SVP and talent head at Marsh, noted that the money saved on technology was invested in promoting the program:

“ The majority of the money and time my team spent was focused on change management and adoption, not the technology.”

In the report Introducing Social Employee Engagement: Shifting From Technology To People, Dean Parker, Digital Consultant at SAS London, highlights the importance of a relevant purpose and an adoption strategy for engaging employees online.

Marsh U features Marsh U is not an interactive learning platform, as David Carr notes:

“ Marsh University is not really a “university” or even a formal online learning environment but a social tool designed for knowledge sharing and communications.”

The platform offers three key features.

First, employees can ask questions and offer answers on a Q&A board.

“ There is a tendency for organisations to run before they can walk. It’s difficult to become a social enterprise, with all that entails (practising social commerce, social innovation, social marketing, social relationship building, gathering insights from social etc.), before first laying the foundations that will encourage employees to adopt social behaviours…

“ Only by first considering specific issues related to individuals, communities and management – and then by addressing them in a creative, human-centred way – will you ensure your employees are continually excited, inspired and engaged by the possibilities that social tools and practices afford them.”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Marsh University

Source: new-talent-times.softwareadvice.com

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Kyle Lagunas wrote:

“ Employees can also use Spark to share updates on projects and even offer employee recognition. Similar to Yammer, employees can attach hashtags to information entered in Sparks to make it searchable.”

This video provides an overview of the various features.

Second, topic experts can share their knowledge through blogs.HRE Online’s Michael O’Brien noted:

“ Marsh employees voluntarily participate by writing blogs, creating short videos, and narrating slide presentations and podcasts on a variety of subjects, including finance and communications.”

Third, employees can share content to discuss using Spark, either with the whole network, or within interest-based Groups.

Caron Carlson, editor of FierceCIO, noted:

“ The platform includes a quick-share tool called Spark, which lets employees update projects and start conversations. A tool called Groups lets employees connect and share resources according to their interests and expertise.”

Source: Marsh U - Overview of Site Functionality

Sparking adoption To spark adoption at the launch of Marsh U, Marsh pre-recruited 350 employees who would share knowledge and ambassadors who would promote the program. Marsh also

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Marsh University

set up a support team to help colleagues use the platform, and the Marsh U Certified Blogger Program to train employees on how to blog.

In a case study uploaded to The Peer Awards, Ben Brooks shared:

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“ We quickly learned that ‘if you build it, they won’t necessarily come’. So, we spent a lot of time explaining, encouraging and nurturing its adoption and learned to focus on community management to connect ‘people to people and people to content’.

We created a UK based community manager role and a small dedicated support team who work on individualised approaches with colleagues, treating them like clients.”

This phenomenon, where only a few people are active contributors, is know as the 1% rule and many are trying to overcome the challenge.

Ben Huh, founder of Cheezburger, a network of 50 user-generated content sites, believes that the way to “crush the 1% rule” is by “better design.”

The rule may cease be to as big a challenge in the near future as Gen Y, Gen Z and the age-ambivalent Gen C (characterized as being content-savvy) continue to enter the workforce.

“ In addition, establishing a global team of 40+ “MU Ambassadors”, committed to MU adoption in their locations, has been very impactful in giving them an “ownership” stake in its success.”

Over the long run, the benefits of a tool also contribute to its adoption. Employees were able to build their own personal brand through Marsh U, as Kyle Lagunas pointed out:

“ MU’s Certified Blogger Program gives employees an official platform to share experience and build a personal brand on a local and global basis, while providing their colleagues with useful content.”

Building a sharing culture A common challenge for talent professionals when setting up online platforms is getting people active - How do you get employees to overcome their shyness and the fear of ‘am I right ?’

Source: nngroup.com/articles/participation-inequality/

At PRSA’s Connect 13: Engaging the Social Workforce, SAS’s internal communications manager Becky Graebe shared her trick to encourage sharing is to start by asking for silly things on their intranet. In an eBook summarizing the speeches at the conference, MSLGROUP North America notes:

“ SAS polls employees on topics ranging from how they shop for gas to what text message they would send to Steve Jobs.

They believe if employees get comfortable sharing their opinions on silly things, they’ll be more likely to give input when you really need it…”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Marsh University

Source: View the full study at Google Think Insights

Link to Business case The Marsh U team monitors activity on the platform and evaluates performance against employee engagement scores. Online sharing has already contributed to at least one new business deal, and the team is exploring other potentials of the platform.

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The combination of social media, technology and the renewed focus on treating employees as customers and engaging with them can have “endless applications,” as Brian Burgess, Director of Brand and Talent at MSLGROUP, notes in the Connect 13: Engaging the Social Workforce ebook:

“ What was once thought to be a business distraction has evolved into an essential business communications platform with endless applications – the most logical and adaptable of which is employee engagement.”

David Carr points out potential next steps:

“ Marsh is also interested in the concept of providing a common “social layer” that integrates with multiple enterprise applications, Brooks said. Other next steps include: » Exposing Marsh University (or a subset of it) to potential new hires » Inviting participation from insurance carriers for social collaboration on the supply end of Marsh’s business. » Social collaboration with clients.”

Several businesses are using internal social networks, to connect employees across physical and culture boundaries or to find the next big idea.

SAS’s Becky Graebe notes:

“ We’re a knowledge based organization, so the next big idea is sitting in the mind of one of our employees. The best thing we can do as internal communications is to provide the tools and platforms for them to do that in a way that other employees can jump in, commenting, and help that idea to flourish.”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Marsh University

Marsh University - social tools to promote p2p learning click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Team GSK

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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) leveraged its sponsorship of the London 2012 Summer Olympics to boost employee engagement with a series of Olympics-themed programs under the Team GSK banner.

to give all of its Olympics tickets toits employees. The company’s goal was to increase awareness of the sponsorship and to instill a sense of pride amongst its employees.

GSKat the Olympics

What is ‘Team GSK’?

GSK was the Official Provider of Laboratory Services for anti-doping at London 2012 and played a critical role in delivering the cleanest games by bringing science to the games. GSK ensured that every single medallist and at least 50 percent of the athletes were tested for banned substances, making the 2012 Olympics most tested ever.

Jonathan Harris, Head of Anti-Doping at The Organising Committee for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, said:

“ The fight against doping within sport continues. GSK have been instrumental in providing services to help us deliver the anti-doping programme for the Games and with their help we have a state of the art laboratory with the ability to process a record number of tests during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

In addition to supporting the games and improving its reputation, GSK leveraged its sponsorship to engage employees.

Employee engagement was embedded in most of GSK’s programmes around the games; in fact, GSK was the only sponsor

‘Golden Ticket’ Competition The first phase of the engagement programme cantered around Golden Ticket - a ticketing competition to celebrate inspiring achievements amongst employees.

Golden Ticket had the backing of senior management, and was launched by CEO Andrew Witty in his end of year address.

Source: SAS London

SAS London, part of MSLGROUP, developed the visual identity and name ‘Team GSK’ to unite GSK’s vast range of Olympic-related employee initiatives - from ticketing competitions to Gold Challenge and ‘Orange’ (Volunteering) Days - under one memorable banner. Internal initiatives included an intranet and digital communications, installations, a travelling exhibition, competitions (Golden Ticket, Search for the Torchbearers, Strike a pose, win a prize), an ambassador programme and a corporate challenge.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Team GSK

As part of the competition, GSK asked employees to nominate colleagues who demonstrated actions in their daily lives or work that resembled Olympic values.

Nominated employees had the opportunity to win tickets to the games. GSK was the only corporate partner of the London 2012 Games to use 100% of their ticket allocation to reward and recognise their employees.

2,067 employees from 83 countries were nominated for the ticketing competition.

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AkhilaNatrajan, Account Manager, India, MSLGROUP pointed out that the initiative – and the prize – were well inclined to boost morale:

“ GSK actually opted to give out 100% of all the tickets to their employees. What a better way to go about this than to actually ask co-workers to recommend their colleagues?

This, for me, has been the highlight of the entire process. In an ever-changing business landscape which presents a challenging working environment for many employees, I’m sure this has been a great morale booster to all employees internally.”

Olympic Fever at GSK GSK organized various initiatives in the workplace to bring the experience to life, and to spread the Olympic spirit. There were internal installations such as banners, posters and plasma screens to help bring ‘Team GSK’ to offices. In addition, a ‘Team GSK’ exhibition went on a tour of UK sites at the start of 2012, and included inspirational talks by Team GSK athlete ambassadors.Louisa Moreton, Director of Talent Communications and Consultancy at SAS explained that campaign came to life through both online and offline activities including an internal microsite which is seen as ground-breaking in both structure, functionality and look & feel and has attracted up to 29,000 employees in the

critical month of the campaign. The campaign has also been supported with more traditional awareness raising materials, as well as a network of champions, blogs & message boards and competitions. GSK launched this programme in January 2012 and is already the leading corporate participant (out of over 100 corporates) in terms of employee participation.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Team GSK

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Inspire. Nominate. Reward.

Search for the Torchbearers

To kick-start activity around the ticketing competition, GSK invited employees to become ambassadors or Champions for the programme. Over 90 people volunteered to become Champions for the programme and played an important role in increasing peer-to-peer recommendations and ensuring adoption of the Team GSK programmes.

GSK wanted to reach out to as many offices and countries as possible, and connected its community of champions on internal social networking platform Yammer to facilitate collaboration and sharing.

Source: GSK Facebook Page

As part of the sponsorship, GSK was given two places in the Olympic torch relay. In September 2011, the company launched a London 2012 Torchbearer competition, and employees were invited to nominate each other for the chance to win a place.

Kerry O’Callaghan, head of global brand communications at GSK commented that GSK was looking for two people who had made a positive difference in their local community by inspiring youth:

“ We ran the competition locally and were astounded to receive 377 entries from 50 countries – it was beyond our expectations.”

“ It’s testament to the number of committed employees across GSK who are making an enormous difference to the lives of young people across the world.”

GSK’s global news release received over 18,000 hits following the announcement of the torch bearer winners.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Team GSK

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Strike a pose, win a prize Another competition organized was Strike a pose win a prize - Employees had to either take their photo or a group of colleagues, in a sporting pose. They had to also write what inspired their sporting pose and the location at which they were based. There were 15 prizes up for grabs and the winning entries were displayed on the Team GSK website.

The Gold Challenge

employee participation – a clear sign that the company had successfully energized its people around the games.

Integrating employee stories into mainline messaging GSK also integrated the employee-focus into its mainline activities. GSKhad launched an advertising campaign to highlight the role of anti-doping science at London 2012. The campaign featured British Olympians and Paralympians Phillips Idowu, Beth Tweddle, David Weir, Graham Edmunds and Marlon Devonish and celebrated the motivation and ambition that drives athletes to perform and win drug-free.

Source: GSK employee Sophie Troiano represented Team GB at London 2012 and was featured on the GSK Facebook page (via Engagement Strategy)

The comprehensive ‘Team GSK’ program helped GSK win a RAD Award in 2013 for employee communications.

Continuing Engagement

Source:NDCS

In January 2012, GSK launched the Gold Challenge - a corporate challenge that invited employees to participate Olympic and Paralympic themed activities to raise money for charity..Over 2,400 participants in 252 teams from 43 countries took part in the Gold Challenge. Of the 100 corporates that joined the challenge, GSK saw the highest

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy-ch43OCDQ

The campaign was also promoted on GSK’s social media channels including YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook. GSK ensured it highlighted its own employee athletes alongside the celebrity athletes.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Team GSK

GSK leveraged its sponsorship of the Olympics and the high energy around Team GSK to promote its general schedule of employee engagement programs both during and after the games.

Clare Brosnan, Programme Manager for London 2012 at GSK said:

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Source: Marketing week

“ Team GSK’ has become a galvanising force for both new existing programmes that had previously sat in silos, from a sporting charity challenge, to employee volunteering and science outreach programmes to health and well-being. This has been particularly useful for the smaller programmes that have been able to benefit from the planning, and budget, of Team GSK to raise profile. Although the sponsorship of London 2012 will conclude for good at the end of this year, many of the other programmes will continue as part of business as usual and the hope - and all the signs - are that their association with Team GSK will increase awareness and participation.”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Team GSK

Team GSK by @SAS_Insights - boosting employee engagement around GSK’s London 2012 sponsorship click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Zappos – Delivering Happy Employees

What makes Zappos, Zappos?

Zappos.com is an online shoe and clothing shop, which has fostered an employeecentric culture and has been named in Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list for five years in a row.

Since its inception in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe store.

In July 2009, the company was acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion.

and build personal connections with coworkers.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos said:

“ Our number one priority is company culture. Our whole belief is that if you get the culture right most of the other stuff like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring brand will just happen naturally on its own.”

Huffington Post contributor Demi Wetzel pointed out that Zappos’ culture is all about ‘its people’:

“ Zappos, who happens to nail company culture, gives an entire public tour that showcases how zany and wonderful their people are. But the core of Zappos culture is the people and they know it. Of course they offer fun perks to the team but at the end of every quarter, they value their team.”

Zappos celebrates its people’s successes with parties, carnivals, employee bonuses, and thank-you gifts, for every employee.

Take a look at Zappos’ culture in this video created by employees in 2010:

Source: happymonday.biz

Zappos believes in delivering happiness, both to customers and employees, and has built a culture of delivering happiness internally through its core values. Here are 7 things Zappos has introduced to deliver happy employees 1. Happiness Culture Zappos encourages employees to “create fun and a little weirdness” in the workplace

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4gHlEBU_NSg#t=37

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Zappos – Delivering Happy Employees

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2. Explicit Core Values Zappos culture is guided by a set of core values, which aims to empower employees, create a sense of community in the workplace, and serve a higher purpose beyond bottom-line metrics. Here are the 10 core values that Zappos lives by:

Source: about.zappos.com

The Guardian’s Jeffrey Hollender noted that all employees are challenged to make at least one improvement, every week that reflects the company’s core values.

Both personal and professional growth is expected.

sales record - it calls for a special parade.

The department in question gets together and parades through the building with music and costumes, and often candy is thrown into the cubicles of those in the path of the parade.

Source: theguardian.com

3. Celebration Bell Many departments in Zappos have a bell hanging in their area that can be used by all to make an announcement. Managers use this to announce promotions or goals being met, and employees use it to thank others or announce a project completion.

4. Parades Zappos has parades all the time, but when something big happens - like a million-dollar

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Zappos – Delivering Happy Employees

Source: blogs.zappos.com

5. Culture Book Zappos has a culture book, written by employees every year. It details how people feel about the Zappos culture and how they reinforce and develop the culture every day.

Zappos gives these culture books to visitors who tour the company (hr professionals seeking to learn, and potential employees seeking to join).

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Multilogue in action: The AXA Forum

In fact, Zappos also has a separate space, Zappos Insights, devoted entirely to helping other businesses enhance their corporate culture and develop an innovative workplace.

In his book Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success — and how by focusing on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own. The book has sold over 220,000 copies internationally and topped the New York Times Best Seller list.

6. ‘Zappos pays you to quit’ offer After four weeks of extensive training on the company’s processes, culture and underlying values, new hires receive what Zappos calls the “offer”. If the new hires wish to quit, Zappos pays them for the amount of time they have worked and offers them a bonus.

In 2008 the bonus was $1,000. Today, it’s

Source: mullen.com

$4,000. An unusual offer, the company says it’s a way of ensuring employee buy-in.

In a blog post on the Harvard Business Review, cofounder of Fast Company Bill Taylor noted:

“ Why? Because if you’re willing to take the company up on The Offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture–which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody.

Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick–and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Zappos – Delivering Happy Employees

rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-centre employees take the money and run.)”

Staffing expert Tim Sackett shares why other companies haven’t followed in the footsteps of the “darling of the HR world”:

“ It hasn’t caught on because your leadership is afraid your good hires would actually take you up on your offer!

“ Of all the HR gimmicks Zappos does, offering employees at bonus at 90 days is the best one because it puts everything on the table. It’s the one thing they did that other companies are too afraid to steal!”

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Source: tlnt.com

7. Extraordinary measures for customers Zappos doesn’t sell itself on the strength of its online shop but its customer experience.

Serving customers is a huge part of Zappos culture; every new employee irrespective of their position starts out by answering phones in the call centre. The key to Zappos’ customer service? The company doesn’t have a script directing how call employees should interact with customers on the calls.

The outcome? Extraordinary customer service, that’s unique and fun. For instance, in 2011, Zappos sent flowers to a woman who ordered six different pairs of shoes because her feet were damaged by harsh medical

Source: blogs.zappos.com

treatments. A Zappos employee once spent a record 10 hours talking to a customer who ended up buying a pair of Uggs.

Zappos leads by example. The company has a 365-day return policy and re-directs customers to competitor’s websites when a certain product is not available on its own site. Employees clearly are given no boundaries when it comes to customer satisfaction.

This reflects on the bottom-line too - Zappos reports that 75% of their orders come from repeat customers.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Zappos – Delivering Happy Employees

Source: forbes.com

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A competitive differentiator Compared to employees at many mid-size companies, Zappos’ staff earns less and receives fewer perks. But Zappos employees get something bigger in return - complete engagement in the business at all levels.

Zappos has actually made employee engagement its competitive differentiator.

passionate about work. Passionate, Happy Employees - that’s vital. It’s not a skill set that can be taught.

“ The Zappos employee engagement programme stresses on the importance of a healthy work culture -– one that employees are not just a part of but also identify with.

Their true success lies in the fact that their employees breathe the organisation culture.”

@Zappos and @Zappos_Service. Tweets of conversations, questions, and comments are then streamed on the Zappos website and on a virtual Tweet Wall, to show people how Zappos addresses and solves customer issues (and to show employees how people are responding).

Zappos’ happiness culture and employee empowerment impacts its performance on social media too, with 1,200 conversations taking place between Zappos and its customers on Twitter every month.

Source: Jessicamah.com

Alethea Fernandes, Senior Account Manager, India, MSLGROUP, commented that employee engagement is integral in the success of any organization:

“ In service-oriented organisations, employees are not only the hands and legs, but also the heart and soul of the organisation. Everything else becomes secondary. So if organisations want to succeed and grow, they must have a passionate set of inspired individuals. And I strongly believe that if your employees are not happy, chances are they’ll be less

Source: dev.twitter.com/case-studies

Source: CNN Money

*Bonus* 8. Effective use of Twitter Zappos uses Twitter to communicate with its customer base of “Zapponians.” Zappos Conversations uses Twitter’s Streaming API to look for all the tweets that mention

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Zappos – Delivering Happy Employees

Zappos Delivering Happy Employees importance of employee fulfilment click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Make My Trip

What is MakeMyTrip?

MakeMyTrip.com (MMT) is one of India’s leading online travel companies. It has ranked among the top 10 Great Places to Work for in India by the Great Place to Work (GPTW) Institute for four years in a row. It has also ranked #1 in the Professional Services category since 2011. (MMT also won the Best Travel Innovator award at the Travel Distribution World Asia 2012 awards). MMT believes that happy employees create happy customers, and strives to create a rewarding and fun work environment for its employees.

Culture – the Key differentiator MMT goes that extra mile to create the perfect culture for its employees, with special events like Hackathons and Hotelathons, and general events like themed-days, Rock Band parties, Table Tennis Tournaments, wine tastings and tug of war competitions.

Poonam Thakur, Manager-PR & Corporate Communication at MakeMyTrip.com, commented that a unique and fun culture helps them stand out in a crowded market:

“ In an era of a hyper-competitive marketplace, being an Employer-of-Choice definitely serves as differentiator. When all things are equal (compensation, designation, perks) and even when they’re not, an employee would be more inclined to stay in or join an organization where they feel engaged and valued. There are surveys a-plenty which demonstrate that ‘Empowerment’/ ‘Engagement’/ ‘Culture’ are values that serve as higher gate-keepers than Compensation & Benefits, and even brand-value.”

MMT was founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra in the US. It was created to empower the overseas Indian traveller with instant booking and comprehensive choices. It launched its India operations in 2005.

Source: Life @ MakeMyTrip

Source: businesstoday.intoday.in

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Make My Trip

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Thakur also shared three strategies that drive engagement at MMT:

“ We have three key motivational strategies for our workforce. The first is freedom at work. We create challenging jobs and empower Trippers (as we call our employees) to take risks and make decisions.

“The second is fun at work. This is about having an engaging work experience by creating real friendships at work and making MakeMyTrip a second home.

“The third is triumph beyond work. This strategy focuses on moving beyond job descriptions and achieving personal satisfaction from innovating and raising the bar.”

8. Teamwork 9. Empowerment 10. Respect for people Here are 5 MMT activities are popular amongst employees:

1. Hotelathons A Hotelathon is a 24-hour non-stop brainstorming event. It is mainly organised to kickstart new innovative projects and to complete older accumulated projects. The day generally consists of focused discussions, innovation, hard work and lots of fun. These 24-hour long events are very productive and bring out the best of the employees.

(For more about 24 hour non-stop sessions, read the comments in response to Aaron Hurst’s post Is it ever worth pulling an All-Nighter on LinkedIn)

10 Core Values MMT’s culture is built on a strong foundation of 10 core values, intended to empower employees 1. Excellence 2. Integrity 3. Innovation 4. Fun@work 5. Passion for winning 6. Customer centricity 7. Accountability

Source: inside.makemytrip.com

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Make My Trip

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2. Inductions in the “Gaming Zone”

4. Hackathon

MMT’s new employee induction program does not consist of a classroom or presentations; it is done in a gaming zone.

Armed with iPads, new Trippers acquire information about the company and learn by undertaking an MMT journey and competing on a social network. New recruits put up a talent show for the entire company, and the weeks of rehearsing build strong networks and friendship, which no traditional orientation could provide.

To encourage innovation among the employees, MMT organised a Hackathon in 2012. Participants were given a brief to create at least 1 app and make it live in 24 hours. The Hackathon witnessed 21 live apps with Tomcat configurations, 87 deployments &11,436 lines of code generated.

Source: inside.makemytrip.com/three-shades-of-freedom-atmakemytrip

MMT also organizes social events such as Green Days and interactions with a non-profit for children and women.

Green Day – the Expedition

Source: inside.makemytrip.com/the-story-of-hotelathon

5. Celebrations Source: “We Our Workplace” by MMT

3. The Virtual Tripper Villa intranet MMT’s intranet is called the Virtual Tripper Villa. It is the in-house communication powerhouse and contains everything from gossip and candid pictures to product launches and awards. MMT’s open social media policies allow all trippers to be on the intranet and maintain contacts and updates.

The MMT offices are always abuzz, and they get even livelier during festivals and other important days. For example, on Independence Day, MMT organized an MMT Janta Vote (public vote) for the best-dressed male and female, an Azadi (freedom) Jukebox in the cafeteria for the trippers to play patriotic songs, and quizzes on the India Quotient of today’s free generation. Trippers were also asked to share their vision for India and a better tomorrow.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Make My Trip

MMT observes Green Day to pursue its ongoing commitment to a greener Gurgaon.

Employees went on an expedition to the Aravalli Biodiversity Park. Many volunteered and took part in the sapling planting sapling initiative.

Source inside.makemytrip.com

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Interactions with non-profit Udayan Care MMT regularly engages with children from Udayan Care, an NGO that works to empower vulnerable children, women and youth. In 2012, the children were invited to MMT’s Gurgaon office for festive fun with Trippers on Diwali. The day included arts & crafts, fun games & competitions, and of course lunch and snacks during the day. The MMT family has supported Udayan Care for over a decade.

The Man behind MMT Deep Kalra the CEO of MMT has played an active role in making MMT what it is today. His focus has always been on people. According to the Economic Times, while most companies close the training tap in a downturn, MMT has increased spend on training by over 100% and it now stands at 0.5% of revenues.

When MMT made it to the 4th spot on the Great Places to Work for in India list in 2012, Deep Kalra commented:

“We believe that happy trippers create happy customers, a belief well proven by the fact that we enjoy a high repeat purchase rate and millions of delighted customers continue to draw benefits from our services. This recognition is a result of constant feedback shared by trippers over the years and has helped us evolve into one of the best places to work in India” .

Of all the MMT reviews on Glassdoor, 77% of employees recommend the company and 100 % have approved of CEO Deep Kalra.

Source: udayancare.org

Source: glassdoor.com/Reviews/MakeMyTrip-Reviews

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Make My Trip

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Relevance to Gen Y The MMT culture is all about freedom, openness and transparency. This culture keeps Gen Y engaged and motivated.

Hitesh Malhotra, Account Director, Social Hive India, MSLGROUP, commented:

“ MMT understands that Gen Y is not an easy one to deal with, when it comes to maintaining excitement levels. They need this constant element of ‘challenge & fun’.

“Hence idea sourcing events like ‘Hackathon’ come in very handy. All employees are given an opportunity to come up with path breaking ideas that can impact the business positively.

“To keep the fun@work factor alive, these events are usually organised during offsites where the atmosphere is more informal and engaging. The Employee Engagement teams play a very active role in ensuring that such outings are organised at a regular intervals for all lines of business.”

Source: inside.makemytrip.com

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Make My Trip

MakeMyTrip - importance of employee fulfilment click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

BMW Today for tomorrow

What is Today for Tomorrow?

BMW launched the Today for Tomorrow initiative as early as 2005, to prepare itself for an aging workforce. In the early years of the initiative, BMW introduced health management programs for employees.

By 2011 and 2012, BMW piloted and implemented ergonomic changes across plants in Germany and is now beginning to roll these out internationally.

An aging population and an aging workforce are immediate realities – all the baby boomers will be 65+ by 2030 – but very few employers are addressing this need and implementing solutions. Countries like Germany and Singapore, where the population is both shrinking and aging, are more active in this regard, while others are still finding their way.

Aging workforce at BMW An audit on its workplace revealed the average age of BMW workers at its Dingolfing plant was 39 in 2007, and was projected to rise to 47 by 2017 (it’s currently around 42).

Source: Corporate Social Responsibility at the BMW Group report (November 2011) Source: Corporate Social Responsibility at the BMW Group report (November 2011)

This led to several key questions:

“How does the new age structure affect production? How can physical labour be organised more ergonomically and age-appropriately? How can we use the particular strengths of our older employees?”

Source: csmonitor.com

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In particular, BMW was concerned about negative impacts of aging such as loss of productivity, increase in health costs, psychological health issues, conflict between different generations, mass retirement and knowledge loss. BMW believed that these impacts could be prevented and managed.

As BusinessWeek’s Chris Farrell put it:

» Social contacts –ensuring older employees are part of a community

“ An aging population may be inevitable. A decline in worker productivity with an aging labor force isn’t.”

BMW identified four areas where they could slow down the effects of aging, and has introduced programs catering to all four: » Individual healthcare –teaching employees how to take care of their physical and mental health from the day they join BMW, regardless of their age » Qualification and leadership –teaching all employees how to work together despite age gaps, and ensuring retention and sharing knowledge before older employees retire » Ergonomics & individual working time –making plants – and soon offices – less physically demanding (i.e., more agefriendly), and giving employees more options around work hours, leaves and partial retirement

Source : Corporate Social Responsibility at the BMW Group report (November 2011)

Today, BMW defines the key areas of Today for Tomorrow as “health management; qualifications; work environment; retirement models; as well as communications and change management.”

Why bother?

Twenty years ago, it was rare to see people working beyond their fifties – they were typically see as less productive employees.

Today, it’s still a challenge for people above 50 to find a job, but a large number of older workers still make up the work force. The number of older workers is set to rise. In the

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | BMW Today for tomorrow

UK, 27% of the workforce is 50+ today - this will increase to one third in 2020. Likewise in the US, the percentage of 50+ workers will increase to 35% by 2019. The proportion of the workforce over 65 is already 3.3% in the UK and 16% in the US! There are three broad reasons for this trend.

First, populations are becoming older – especially in the west and in markets like Singapore and Japan – and skilled young talent is hard to come by. For instance, 30% of Japan’s population is over 60. By 2050, there will 64 countries in this boat, where 30% of the population is over 60.

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An ergonomic makeover

Source : UN Population Ageing and Development 2012 report

Second, people’s life expectancy is increasing; they are healthier and thus able and interested in working longer, or they have to keep working to sustain their lifestyles for longer.

In addition to these external trends, some companies, like BMW, simply need experienced and high skilled workers. The Daily Mail’s Allan Hall noted:

Third, older people have to work to make ends meet because of rising costs and lost pensions – in fact governments that are paying heavy sums in pensions and social security are finding its easier to keep people in the workforce and earning their own money. Some governments like the US already have anti-age discrimination laws in place, and others are considering removing a forced retirement age.

workforce - but an increasing skills gap - BMW has taken the lead to get those laid off or in early retirement back on the production line.”

“ Because Germany has a highly skilled

While companies need to cater to this new demographic, they also need to maintain (if not boost) productivity.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | BMW Today for tomorrow

In 2011, BMW simulated the predicted average age at a production line at the Dingolfing plant and piloted ergonomic changes to combat productivity loss. A 42 member team introduced 70 changes over the course of a year, including: » a barbershop chair so that employees could alternate between sitting and standing » orthopaedic shoes for comfort » magnifying lenses to reduce eye strain and minimize sorting errors » enhanced lighting for the visually challenged » tilted screens to improve posture » machines to lift heavy weights and reduce physical demands of the job » employee rotation to reduce physical strain (having people do various tasks instead of repeating the same tasks all day) » introduction of multiple short breaks to reduce strain » ‘MoveUp’ programme to “ preserve, improve and rejuvenate the workers’ musculoskeletal system” » fitness centres and physiotherapy treatment on-site

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Achieving scale BMW launched similar programs to counter-act the adverse effects of aging at all Germanspeaking plants – over a few hundred areas. Since 2011, 10,000 employees have benefitted from the program. An international roll out was launched in 2012, beginning with a production facility in Austria and a plant in the UK. In 2012, BMW opened a car plant specifically for older workers.

The AARP awarded BMW with the Best Employers award in 2011 for this initiative.

Ludwig Lang, one of the engineers on the project, shares his experience in this video.

Source: WHAT´S NEXT - Today for tomorrow. Ludwig Lang

Return on investment The total investment on the production line was around $50,000. The return - the group increased productivity by seven per cent in one year, making it as productive as lines made up of younger workers.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Rising trend: Flexibility BMW also supports its older employees with various flexible work options, including temporary part-time positions, intermittent part-time work, and job-sharing among several employees; a sabbatical program allowing employees an additional 20 days off a year; and a phased retirement program.

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Flexible working schedules are common in countries like Singapore as well, and are intended to help older employees maintain their work-life balance and stay back or re-enter the workforce.

In addition to flexibility, companies are also creating fellowship schemes to retain older employees as mentors and to facilitate knowledge share, policies that make it easier for retirees to re-enter the workforce, and equality champions to help workers get along despite age barriers.

Are employers prepared?

The extent of BMW’s support for older workers stands out in stark contrast in a world where few HR managers and boards are actively preparing for an aging workforce.

For instance, surveys in the UK found that only 14% of managers believe they are well equipped to cope with an ageing workforce.

Lack of preparedness can be explained by the polarized view of the performance of older workers – some argue that older worker’s life experiences help them relate to customers better, more patient and more loyal; while others argue that physical and mental health interfere with the job.

Source: businessweek.com and mercatornet.com

BMW Today for Tomorrow - preparing for an aging workforce click to tweet

Source: The Ageing UK Workforce by unum

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Siemens The Manager’s Call

What is The Manager’s Call?

How it Works

The Manager’s Call is a four-month global social recruitment campaign launched by Siemens to hire the best talent for its graduate program. Siemens uses social networks Facebook and Tumblr to engage with prospective candidates and raise awareness about its Graduate Program, and the company as a whole. It aims to identify the brightest minds across the EU and Russia, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

The Manager’s Call uses Tumblr to start a global discussion with prospective candidates across a large variety of regions and topics.

The campaign attracted 220 participants around the world this year.

Source: thesiemensgraduateprogram.managerscall.com

What is Siemens Graduate Program?

Introduced in 1922 The Siemens Graduate Program is a two-year international training program for recent graduates that trains them to become future managers and leaders at Siemens.

The program comprises of three assignments, which challenge graduates to take on several responsibilities and perform demanding tasks in the company’s different sectors. Graduates

are accompanied by a personal mentor who guide them through this intensive training program, assist them in honing their skills, and planning and executing assignments, and provide career guidance.

Participants actively initiate discussions and debates on Tumblr around four main topics: business insights, career insights, future of work and future of the workforce. Every week, participants are given a new topic to write about.

The program offers graduates the opportunity to gain insights into the Siemens work culture.

Graduates can avail of real life hands-on professional experience, and network with Siemens employees across the globe.

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Julia Jank, Head of the global SGP Team at the Siemens Graduate Program, feels:

“ This is a great way for young people all over the world to make themselves known to Siemens, as well as exercising their debate skills in a unique, global forum. It’s fascinating to see alternative perspectives on the same topic emerge from each different region.”

Source: thesiemensgraduateprogram.managerscall.com

Incentivizing participation Siemens encourages healthy competition and interaction among participants by rewarding activity with points and featuring top participants in a leaderboard.

The more a participant comments or the more people ‘like’ a participant’s comments, the more points he/she are awarded. Participants are also encouraged to award fellow participants with social stars for insightful contribution to the discussion. This ensures quality and quantity are both key to standing out.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Siemens The Manager’s Call

Every Sunday the top participants of the preceding week are awarded medals. People with the maximum number of medals and points get an opportunity to interact with a Siemens manager and avail of a personal career-counseling session.

Leveraging Facebook While Tumblr is best suited for in-depth discussions, Siemens also uses Facebook to drive traffic and reach a broader audiences. On Siemens’ Facebook page, anyone can access the content streamed from Tumblr, create profiles and add to the discussion.

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Thomas Hirschmann, account director at We Are Social, said:

“ This campaign generates interest in the Siemens Graduate Program by tapping into social behaviour that already exists.

Tumblr is increasingly popular with a young audience, and people are already sharing and commenting on content on the platform, so it was the natural choice for this campaign.”

The 2012 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey reveals that social recruiting is an essential HR practice: 92% of US companies using social media to hire the best talent. 86% of recruiters are more likely to check a candidate’s social profile.

Tumblrhelps recruiters reach out to 18-34 year olds and capture their attention with visual, easy-to-share content. Tumblr makes it easy to integrate photos and videos into posts, and content on Tumblr is extremely easy to share with the “ReBlog” feature (which works like the Twitter Retweet).

Source: Jobvite.com

Source: Practicalecommerce.com

Social media as a recruitment tool Recruiting the right talent for a role has become extremely competitive. It is now essential for employers to tap into all sorts of extended networks through social media to reach out to potential candidates.

While LinkedIn is still the most commonly used recruitment network (93% of employers), Facebook is finding more takers (66% employers). The number of recruiters using Twitter for potential talent hunt has also gone (54% employers). The Jobvite survey also reveals that social recruiting is more effective, and helps employers find better talent and complete the hiring process faster.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Siemens The Manager’s Call

According to Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite:

“ The rise in social recruiting has allowed both candidates and employers an easier way to find the best match. We continue to see social recruiting gain popularity because it is more efficient than the days of sifting through a haystack of resumes. It also increases quality referral hires, which our own data on Jobvite proves are hired faster and last longer.”

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“ Professional jobs are sought out on LinkedIn whereas hourly jobs tend to be sourced on sites like Careerbuilder and Monster. In general, it’s standard practice to invest wisely in the company’s careers portal as the central hub to attract and convert applications for internal review. From there, HR should ‘own’ a number of key social media sites like LinkedIn or Monster to attract talent, but also sites like Glassdoor and Indeed to influence and manage the reputation of a brand as a great employer.

In addition, job seekers themselves expect employers to be present on social networks and expect to see communication about the organizations’ work, values, mission and vision.

Job seekers are also likely to apply for jobs via social networks, as the below infographic demonstrates.

Finding the right fit

“ Broader social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Google+ are also important outlets, but are typically ‘owned’ by marketing or communications teams. Don’t compete with them with a ‘jobs’ page or handle, be a contributor and add to your company’s broader narrative.

Recruitment messaging adds to brand narrative, it should not be isolated and stand on it’s own.”

Source: Jobvite.com

This infographic show how employers have adopted social recruiting and which platforms they’re using the most to hire the best talents.

Brian Burgess, co-leader of the global Brand & Talent Practice at MSLGROUP, points out that different sites serve different purposes, - messages and strategy should be tailored accordingly:

Dipti Agarwal, Senior Account Manager, India, MSLGROUP, said:

“ A candidate’s social media activity can actually reflect his/her capabilities. For e.g.: someone’s blog can speak volumes about his/ her creativity, writing skills, thought process, enthusiasm etc. A candidate’s Twitter feed can briefly give me an insight into his interests, behavior with others which merely a face-toface interview might not give.”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Siemens The Manager’s Call

Source: glassdoor.com

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It’s not unusual for companies to go to lengths to ensure new recruits will fit in with the culture, be it with long engaging programs like Siemens’ The Manager’s Call, or even a $4,000 bonus to quit like the Zappos “offer.”

Brian Burgess notes:

“ It’s common practice these days that talent is evaluated on two planes: 1) skills/aptitude to do the job and 2) cultural fit. Often times it’s the hiring manager who checks the boxes on skills and experience and HR on the values, behaviors and charactertistics that suggest a prospective employee will be successful within a company. “ A few areas where companies are investing are in EVP (employer value proposition) and employer brand to position employers for what they want to be known for and simultaneously attracting the right talent -- not just the best. They are also investing in their communications channels and networks (careers portals, social media properties and recruiting networks) to ensure global clarity and consistency in the employer message. And finally, improving the transitions between the recruitment experience and first 100 days into the business. This involves engaging leaders inside the business to seamlessly guide new hires from the HR experience to role alignment, making connections to people, networks and information and the behaviors/cultural attributes to be successful.”

Siemens The Manager’s Call - social recruitment to find the right talent click to tweet

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | Siemens The Manager’s Call

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

International Dual Career Network

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This post is inspired by ideas shared at the Global Women’s Forum 2013 in October at Deauville, France, in particular at Nestlé’s Sue Johnson’s session “Dual Careers: Getting and Keeping the Best Talents,”Annika Joelsson’s “Bypassing the boundaries of dual careers and mobility,” and Unilever’s Doug Baillie’s “The Future of HR.”

Here are some statistics that back the trend we’re seeing around us, via Jackie and John Coleman/Harvard Business Review:

What is IDCN?

of two-income married couples rose 31% in the US. Now 47.5% of all American married couples are dual-career couples. In Canada, the percentage of husband wife families that were dual earners is roughly 70%, and approximately two-thirds of two-adult families have two incomes in the UK.”

Founded by Nestlé, the International Dual Career Network is a network of multi-national corporates that help mobile employees’ partners find jobs and integrate into new locations.

International mobility is common at large companies with a global footprint, and many companies believe the experience is crucial to developing senior talent. In recent years, research shows that the success of international assignments is largely affected by the happiness of the family – and to a large part dependant on the spouse or partner finding a job in the new location. In fact, a partner’s career affects recruitment for mobile positions in addition to retention of this talent.

Nestlé founded IDCN in 2011 to address this challenge. The premise is simple: partners of international employees can join IDCN for advice on finding a job and to network with local HR professionals. Other organizations can join the network to tap into a pool of international “turnkey” talent and support their international employees.

IDCN was piloted in 2011 in the Lake Geneva region in Switzerland, where Nestlé has its headquarters. Today, IDCN exists in Mexico City, Paris and Zurich, and will roll out to London, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, New York, Barcelona, Malaysia and Singapore next.

Rising demographic: Dual Career Couples “Dual career” refers to couples in which both partners are working and both are career-focused.

The term canalso refer to couples in which both partners are working at the same company.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | International Dual Career Network

“ Between 1996 and 2006, the percentage

For more on dual-career families, trends and implications, see this presentation.

In the last few decades, the challenge of dual career couples affected US universities in particular; as highly qualified academics (PhDs) are usually recruited from other areas and tend to have partners in the same field or at senior positions. Universities addressed this by hiring both partners, on merit, by giving both full-time jobs or having both partners share the same job.

In the last decade, the challenge of dual career couples has become apparent at global organizations (like the UN) and multinational corporates. In 2004, the UN created the UN Global Mobility program, a global network for spouses and guidelines on creating local networks. Around 60% of international companies provide support for partner job searches according to Alain

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Verstandig, MD of NetExpat, and “thirty percent have a systematic approach and a clear and structured policy.”

Dual career and the associated challenges Concerns around a partner’s career affects both recruitment and retention of international employees.

Alain Verstandig notes:

“The problem of dual careers is itself two-sided! In the first instance it affects the people who have not yet accepted an international transfer, whether this is an expatriation or recruitment for an international assignment. For these people, the problem of the partner’s career is the prime reason for turning down the opportunity.

“ But, then, the problem again affects those who go on to accept the challenge.

For them, the partner’s problems in finding the right professional opportunity in the new country are the prime reason for the failure or premature termination of an international assignment. A McKinsey study has demonstrated that 70% of the factors leading to a failed expatriation are familyrelated.”

ECA, a company that specializes in expatriate issues, notes:

Source: ECA 2012 Managing Mobility survey finding on Retention/Assignment Success

“ According to research carried out by the

“ Partners’ careers, children’s education

Permits Foundation almost 60% of spouses say that they would be unlikely to relocate in future to a country where it is difficult for a spouse or partner to get a work permit.”

and career concerns: the search for removing formidable barriers to mobility continues: 90% of employers responding to this year’s survey rank at least one of these issues in their three most pressing concerns when recruiting for long−term assignments.”

Employers are noticing. Barry Rodin, Chief Economist at ECA shared a 2012 Managing Mobility survey finding:

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The Vision: What IDCN offers employees IDCN offers international employees and their partners a support network, job advice, networking opportunities and a potential job database. Employees and their partners volunteer to help run local networks, and the member corporations fund the endeavour.

According to the IDCN website, the networks offers partners: 1. Support in professional integration in a new country 2. Opportunity to network with HR professionals, corporate representatives and like minded spouses or partners 3. Visibility of professional development opportunities Peter Vogt, head of human resources at Nestlé, shared:

“ We want to put partners of our staff on an equal playing field with other jobseekers to find employment in a new country. This network provides advice on CVs, guidance on how best to look for a job, networking opportunities and access to HR contacts with member companies.”

Here’s a testimonial of how such services can help partners (based on services provided by Net Expat):

“ I arrived in my new home country with my husband in January 2000. I wanted to find work as quickly as possible. In addition to language problems, I ran up against the administrative authorities who sent me from one place to another. So I took my courage in my own two hands and, without any help from anyone else, started to offer my services to the companies that interested me. I quickly realized that something wasn’t working: the two or three interviews I had were unsuccessful and I got a bit depressed.

“ I then had the good luck to have access to the services of Net Expat through my husband’s employer and, together, we worked carefully on the specific aspects that were the weak points of my offer: my CV was rewritten to conform to the local norms and was immediately better received.

The preparatory work for interviews and the explanations I received on the various cultural aspects that, coming from Latin America, I was totally unaware of, helped me enormously. Finally, I learned to “sell” myself to companies by applying a recruitment logic that was different to the one I had been used to. Quite logically I found a great job within a couple of weeks.”

network became a kind of coach, helping me to gain perspective and handle the difficult changes as an expat.”

“ IDCN really helped to fill the gap to take proactive steps to find a suitable job and create my own network of people.”

The Vision: What IDCN offers companies IDCN offers corporates access to a turnkey talent pool and a solution to address dual career challenges faced by their own international employees. Theoretically, the larger the network, the larger the number of job openings and the larger the talent pool.

Here’s a testimonial of a partner who found a job at Nestlé through IDCN:

“ It was difficult to integrate in Switzerland before I found out about the scheme. The

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According to the IDCN website, the network offers corporates: 1. Access to untapped turn-key Talent pool 2. Access to a global mobility support for spouses and partners of international employees

overseeing the strategic direction and evolution of IDCN.

Is IDCN a Success?

IDCN’s pilot program in Switzerland has organized over 10 events, has a roster of 460 partners registered, 40 spouse volunteers and has successfully helped 20 partners find new jobs. In its newer locations Paris, Zurich and Mexico City, IDCN has organized 6 events, including workshops and career fairs and is already seeing high participation and positive feedback from partners.

3. Enhance the Employee Value Proposition through becoming Dual Career friendly organisation IDCN doesn’t impose any legal restrictions on corporate members – they can join and leave freely, make their own recruitment decisions and policies and are not required to hire or prioritize partners or spouses in the network. In return, corporate members are expected to support the network with active participation at events, permission to use their facilities for events, and general information about job openings.

How does IDCN ensure companies don’t poach hired talent from other corporate members? Sue Johnson, Nestlé’sHead of Gender Balance and Diversity, explains the network runs on trust on this aspect.

IDCN currently has on-board over 50 organizations – multinationals, non-profits and educational institutes – at one or more of its 4 locations. The IDCN executive board comprises of members from Nestlé, Cargill, L’Oreal and PMI, who are responsible for

Source: IDN Corporate Brochure June 2013

Dual Career support as a recruitment tool With dual career couples on the rise, experts point out that dual career support is a newage recruitment tool (much like social media engagement!).

Jan Van Acoleyen, Vice-President Human Resources of Alcatel Microelectronics, said:

“ Family issues remain the sensitive aspect of international mobility. Today, we place

TheFuture of Employee (Re)Engagement | People’s Insights | International Dual Career Network

a great deal of attention on dual career problems. The opportunities for work for the partner may turn out to strongly affect the acceptance of an international assignment and will later prove to be fundamental in guaranteeing the integration of the transferee and his/her family in the new host country. One often forgets that for the transferee, the continuity of his or her career is unaffected, as there is no change of employer, merely of country of residence.

For the partner, however, the change is total.”

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Is it worth the effort? In response to a similar question at the Women’s Forum, Sue Johnson shared an off-hand figure of 1 million as the cost of an unsuccessful international mobility (in terms of training, recruiting, replacing, knowledge lost etc.).

The figure becomes a huge concern as the numbers add up, both within the company, and across companies. According to a Nestlé release:

“A survey by one of the IDCN members Ernst & Young revealed that more than 10% of expats leave their jobs before the end of their contracts, in one in 12 companies worldwide.”

important experience to prepare talent for global roles (the company does after all operate in 86 countries). Mobility also helps transfer talent to places where the right talent is lacking.

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke elaborates on the culture of diversity within the global company in an interview with The Focus.

Here’s an excerpt of what he had to say:

“ Experience shows that offering career opportunities to talented professionals regardless of their nationality motivates exactly the right people to join our company.

Our primary concern is not ensuring that the largest possible number of nationalities is

represented in the Nestlé Group, but that different ways of thinking and/or ethnic perspectives are integrated and respected in all our decision-making processes.”

He also shared the extent of diversity at the Nestlé HQ:

“ This diversity extends all the way to the company’s top leadership: the 13 members of our Executive Board come from nine different countries. And here in our Vevey headquarters alone, our employees represent some one hundred nationalities.”

Annika Joelsson, who organized the session “Bypassing the boundaries of dual careers and mobility,” pointed out that employees

Why is mobility so necessary?

In both the IDCN session and another session on dual careers at the Women’s Forum, people asked “Why is mobility so crucial.” Their argument – companies like Nestlé would save on costs by hiring local talent and families would be spared the burden of relocating. This was especially a concern amongst single parents who felt their career would be negatively affected if they refused to be mobile, yet worried about balancing a new job in a new country without the support of a second parent.

Sue Johnson shared that mobility was a part of the Nestlé experience and was an

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can get global exposure without having to move to a different country, by traveling on frequent short trips, or by working with a diverse team at their home location.

But mobility doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. According to ECA’s 2012 Managing Mobility survey,62% of companies anticipate increases in long-term mobile assignees.

Next trend: Mutli-generational

Families in the workplace?

While trying to tackle the challenges today, also keep in mind the challenges coming froth tomorrow. In the session“The Future of HR,” Unilever’s Chief HR Officer Doug Baillie noted that economic hardship and personal ambitions would ensure more older people in the workforce, and women empowerment would ensure more women in the work force. For large companies like Unilever (which has 173,000 employees globally) multi-generational families in the work place are almost a – with a grandfather, father and daughter working in the same company.

The world is changing. The pressure to prepare companies for new demographics, new trends and future challenges is high – as is the call for effective solutions.

Source: womens_forum on Flickr

IDCN (founded by Nestle) - spousal support as a new recruitment tool for mobile talent click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Reputation

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

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ING Next Generation Banking

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What is Next Generation Banking?

The creative idea

ING Bank launched the reputation and talent recruitment campaign, Next Generation Banking, on Facebook to inspire the next generation of bankers to co-create the future of banking.

ING created a tab on their ING Careers page, where business graduates were challenged to explain complex financial issues to children aged between 7 and 10 years – the next generation of customers.

With Next Gen Banking, ING tries to distance itself from the negative stereotype around bankers and to attract future employees who are interested in more than just “material gains.” ING believes clarity and transparency are the foundations of a financially healthy future. This campaign helps them discover and attract international talent who share this belief.

Every week, ING posted a new question, on a specific financial topic, from the next gen customer, in the form of a short video.

According to ING world the questions included were:

“ Why do we need banks?

What do you do with the money I bring to a bank?

Why would you become a banker?

Why can’t I pay with the money I made myself?

How can we make poor countries less poor?”

On Facebook, ING challenges Gen Y, the next generation of bankers, to answer questions from children, the next generation of customers. This approach encourages people to communicate about complex financial issues in a very simple and transparent way. At the end of the campaign, ING published the ebook Curious Little Leo, based on the most inspiring submissions.

Source: Next Generation Banking

Here’s a short video in which KoosTimmermans, Vice Chairman of ING Bank, explains the mission:

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | ING Next Generation Banking

Source: Facebook

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The campaign ran for five weeks, from January 11, 2013 to February 15, 2013. It took place in countries including France, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Romania, Poland, and Spain.

The book establishes that ING is actively thinking about the need to re-invent banking, and also the need to promote financial literacy – to the young and the old alike.

The ebook – Curious Little Leo

Koos Timmermans, Vice Chairman of ING, said:

Using the most inspiring answers submitted to the campaign, ING created a special children’s book on banking, called Curious Little Leo,

“ The ability to explain complex financial issues in a very clear and transparent way helps strengthen trust with our customers, which is a prerequisite for a sustainable and financially healthy future.”

Indeed, this is the sentiment shared by people who were touched by the campaign. Financial analyst KunteshUpadhyaya noted:

“ CuriousLittle Leo is an innovative step taken

Source: Slideshare

The book simplifies financial issues through the open dialogue between the characters Mr. Bank and Curious Little Leo. The underlying message of the book is that you should never stop asking ‘the best question in the history of all questions ever asked’, which is: ‘Why?’

“A Conversation Starter”

by ING to bridge the gap between the current level of knowledge of the investors and the existing customer base and the prospects of the banking industry. This is an initiative undertaken by ING to build a better tomorrow not only for itself but also for the generations to come. This campaign will enlighten and evoke the masses who are either unaware or sceptical with regards to putting their money into the banks as a measure of investment.”

The book also plays with a bit of symbolism – notice how the main character is named Leo, and that ING’s mascot is the lion.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | ING Next Generation Banking

Source: Slideshare

The campaigns creative agency Energize commented that the recruitment campaign for ING Careers was quite the conversation starter – not only amongst journalists and their readers, but also amongst young business students and graduates around the world.

According to ING.com, the campaign received replies from all over the world, and not just from people who are considering a career in banking. The campaign reached more than 10 million unique Facebook users and has been viewed more than 80 million times. The campaign received the most visitors from France, Poland, UK, Spain and Germany.

The campaign led to in-depth articles in Financial Times, Irish Times, Business Day, The Globe and Mail and various other business blogs debating the importance of child-likesimplicity in banking.

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Evolving communication landscape Texting, tweeting, posting and sharing via social media has radically changed the way everyone from millennials to retirees communicates. It has thus become essential for organizations to change their communication with employees and customers – from message, type of engagement and the medium itself.

ING’s success with Next Gen Banking shows that people are willing to discuss serious topics like banking and finance on social networks.

Reaching out to the Youth with CEMS and AIESEC For ING’s campaign to be successful it was important that they engage with the right audience. ING’slong-term relationships with CEMS and AIESEC was ideal to give the campaign the impetus it needed.

Source: visiblebanking.com

Both CEMS and AIESEC are the world’s largest youth-run organisations that provide a platform for leadership development. This is exactly the audience ING was looking for:

“ The AIESECcommunity consists of young talented, open minded and ambitious people who want to make a difference in the world.

And those are exactly the kind of people who should be part of the Next Generation of bankers.”

Both organizations played an integral part in reaching and engaging the campaign’s target audience.

Source: Facebook

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Youth members had an additional incentive to participate in this campaign – to grab the attention of ING’s Koos Timmermans in the hope for a potential job. Indeed, Koos Timmermans sent the book and a special thank-you note to the 16 contributors who truly impressed him.

Engaging Gen X and Gen Y Brian Burgess, co-leader of the global Brand & Talent practice at MSLGROUP, pointed out that it is important for banks and corporations to be active on social media, to attract and engage international talent:

“ It’s critical corporations and banks are active on social media because it’s becoming more and more integrated in their customer’s lives.

Period. Gen X works notice right away when there’s a gap between the way a company engages customers/consumers with social media and the lack of social collaboration internally. Gen Y simply doesn’t understand why it’s not available and immediately label the employer as ‘out of step, outdated or even downright archaic.’ In the attraction space, it’s all about LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor.

Prospective talent, like consumers, are more savvy because the information is available to them. Even Gen X talent stopped picking out expensive 100 lb. satin paper for their resumes a decade ago.”

While Gen X and Gen Y are both active on social and digital media, their intentions and usage varies. Burgess noted:

“ There are important differences in Gen X and Gen Y workers to consider. Gen X employees expect more guidance and direction from leaders/employers whereas Gen Y is more comfortable being autonomous and independent. Both embrace a spirit of individualism but view accountability and responsibility through different lenses.

A Forrester study cites the technological difference between Gen X and Gen Y is life stage. Gen Y grew up with more advanced technology, refer to as ‘digital natives,’ and have integrated technology into their every day lives, including work, entertainment and socializing. Gen X has adopted digital/social too but in ways that support their lifestyle and hectic schedules of work, family and raising children. Online shopping, online banking and other conveniences make life much easier to juggle for Gen X.” Role of strategic communications in finance Banking and financial services has taken a reputational drubbing in recent years, which makes strategic communications indispensable today. Through this campaign, ING demonstrated that not only is it willing to change the industry, it’s also willing to listen and engage with its people.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | ING Next Generation Banking

Harmindar Singh, Vice President at MSLGROUP India,commented on the importance of strategic communication in finance:

“ The role of strategic communications in the overall growth strategy has only deepened and assumed greater importance, more than ever, in the recent past.As we live in an era of an always-on economy, the shift from monologue to dialogue was inevitable. This makes strategic communications an intrinsic part of the strategy, to be able to give shape and direction to a creative and compelling story.

This is true for any industry, as much for ours.

“ It would be a bit unfair to say that the reputation of the entire industry comes under the spotlight because of few players.

Having said that, it becomes imperative during challenging times, to engage with the stakeholders and allay their fears and send out clear, well-defined and transparent messages that aim to assuage their fears by putting things in the right perspective.”

Indeed, ING’s approach of working with future employees to ‘co-create’ a vision of the future has helped it create awareness among graduates (future bankers) and customers.

ING Next Gen Banking - collaborating with future bankers click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

What is Dove Real Beauty Sketches?

Dove Real Beauty Sketches is a short film, which promotes the idea that women are too critical of their own appearances and they are actually more beautiful than they think. A part of the Dove Real Beauty global marketing campaign launched by Unilever in 2004, Real Beauty Sketches was released online in April 2013.

The film In the film, women are shown describing themselves to a forensic sketch artist who cannot see them and is sketching their portraits basis the descriptions. The women are shown to be critical of their own appearances.

Source: Dove Real Beauty Sketches

Dove’s Purpose

Then the artist sketches another portrait for each woman, based on descriptions of random strangers who the women were asked to interact with the previous day.

When the two portraits were compared, the second one was found to be more attractive reinforcing the idea that women are more beautiful than they think. The sketches elicit strong emotional responses from women who are clearly moved. They admit that the portraits drawn based on their descriptions by strangers looked more beautiful than the ones drawn based on their own descriptions.

Source: genaustin.org/blog/what-is-real-beauty-anyway

Source: realbeautysketches.dove.com

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | Dove Real Beauty Sketches

In 2004, Dove conducted a worldwide study which revealed that the depiction of beauty in entertainment, fashion and advertising has restricted the definition of beauty. In a

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report The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, Dove found that only 4% of women surveyed across 10 countries around the world consider themselves beautiful.

At Dove, we are committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. So, we decided to conduct a compelling social experiment that explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what others see.”

The most ‘viral’ video The Dove Real Beauty Sketches video has been extremely successful in starting a conversation in media and among the public about women and their perceptions and the definition of beauty.

Body image issues among women can adversely impact their self-esteem. In a society that constantly enforces extremely rigid beauty standards women are subjected to constant scrutiny and judgment about their natural appearances.

The Real Beauty campaign is part of Dove’s l mission which to empower w omen by convincing them that beauty is and always should be a source of confidence and not anxiety. Dove aims to educate and inspire women to accept a wider definition of beauty and to celebrate their natural beauty be comfortable in their own skin:

Source: Mashable.com

The video was released on April 14, 2013 and by April 21 it had more than 15 million views. According to video analytics firm Unruly, in just about two weeks the video has been shared by 3.17 million people on social networking platforms-which exceed the number of shares attracted by any other ad in the same duration. On Twitter, Dove used a hashtag #WeAreBeautiful to interact with the audience making the video a viral success.

“ Women are their own worst beauty critics. Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | Dove Real Beauty Sketches

Source: twitter.com/dove

Just a month after the three-minute video was released it received more than 114 million views and was uploaded in 25 languages to about 33 of Dove’s YouTube’s channels. It has now become the most watched video ad off all time-a record which was once held by Evian Roller Babies (111 million views).

People shared the videos, along with messages of love and support for the cause. The frequency of participation was extremely high and positive. This has impacted the brand’s reputation positively

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and raised brand awareness. Dachis Group Social Data below shows that the campaign’s earned impressions is way more than the owned impressions and more people have initiated discussions about the campaign than the company itself.

Power of Good Content The hype surrounding the video proves once again that content is the key to the success of any campaign. David Waterhouse, the global head of content and PR at viral tracker Unruly Media has praised the content of the Dove Real Beauty Sketches which he feels is the main reason behind its phenomenal success. In an interview with Business Insider he said,

“ I think what made this campaign perform particularly strongly is the content, which elicited the intense emotional responses of ‘warmth, ‘happiness’ and ‘knowledge’ from its target demographic — one of the key factors behind a video’s sharing success.

But, more importantly, we are really seeing social motivations behind sharing becoming a lot more important. Brands have to give people a reason to share the video.”

Business Insider attributes the film’s success to “some careful media planning.” According to Dove Skin VP Fernando Machado:

“ The brand partnered with YouTube and Unruly to facilitate the distribution and seeding strategy. PR served as a key channel, generating initial placements with media such as the Today Show, Mashable, Huffington Post and Channel 7 Morning Show in Australia. The film was distributed to top media around the world and was quickly shared by women, men, media and even other brands.”

The campaign has been credited with eliciting a strong emotional response from viewers and the participants alike.

Source: facebook.com/pages/Dove-Real-Beauty-Sketches

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | Dove Real Beauty Sketches

The Accenture Video Solutions Survey 2013 has pointed out that there is an increase in video consumption among peoplein fact more than 90% people watch videos over the internet globally. With the proliferation of multiple screens and an increase in multitasking, original creative and compelling video content for the digital medium is the need of the hour to engage with the consumers.

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Fueling debate around ‘real beauty’ But the campaign has also come under fire for several reasons. Some people found the message hypocritical, some questioned the use of ‘good looking women’ and others debated the relationship between beauty and women.

A large section of population has called it hypocritical for trying to promote healthy body image perceptions among women when its parent brand Unilever which owns Axe-a deodorant brand whose sexually explicit advertisements have been accused of objectifying women, and also Fair & Lovely, a fairness cream whose target consumers are mostly dark-skinned women in Asian countries.

Charlotte Hannah from Twirlit writes:

“ [Dove’s] long-running Real Beauty campaign has shed light on some important truths about the media’s unrealistic portrayals of women, but given the fact that Dove is owned by Unilever, which also owns Axe (ugh) and the company that produces Fair & Lovely skin lightening cream (double ugh), the campaign comes across as hypocritical and patronizing—a way for the company to pander to women for sales while practicing the very evil it preaches against.”

People have also expressed grievances that it projects beauty as the yardstick by which women’s worth should be evaluated.

the video that at least three black women were in fact drawn for the project. Two are briefly shown describing themselves in a negative light (one says she has a fat, round face, and one says she’s getting freckles as she ages)… Out of 6:36 minutes of footage, people of color are onscreen for less than 10 seconds.”

According to BedatriDuttaChowdhury, a 24 years old media professional:

Source: Huffingtonpost.com

As Kate Fridkis, a blogger, Eat the Damn Cake, observes:

“ Looking at the two portraits of herself, one woman described the one meant to be prettier as looking “much younger,” which seemed to be true of all of them. The more “beautiful” facial representations seemed to all be thinner and younger-looking.

If that is the crux of beauty, then I guess we’re all pretty screwed by that obnoxiously inexorable bastard called time.”

Some viewers have also expressed that the video is somewhat lacking in a greater racial diversity.

Jazzylittledrops on Tumblr has pointed out:

“ When it comes to the diversity of the main participants: all four are caucasian, three are blonde with blue eyes, all are thin, and all are young (the oldest is 40). ... We see in

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | Dove Real Beauty Sketches

“Ultimately Dove is trying to connect the concept of real beauty to a beauty product which is an artificial enhancer. It’s like, now when I’ll walk into a store I’d think of buying a Dove product because I feel Dove cares about my feelings and appreciates my natural beauty. There’s somewhat of a contradiction.”

MSLGROUP’s NidhiMakhija points out that the campaign adds to feminism cause, in spite of the criticism:

“From day one, Dove has instigated people to challenge the idea of ‘real beauty.’ This campaign is no different. People’s reactions show that the campaign did indeed make them stop and re-think their own beauty.

Some of the critics are re-thinking the concept of beauty itself. I think this sparks more conversation around feminism and beauty, and that ultimately is what Dove intended with Real Beauty Sketches and Real Beauty.”

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Consistent Message

Commitment to Beauty

Consistency has been the key to Dove’s success over the years. The original campaign Dove Real Beauty (of which the Dove Real Beauty Sketches is a part of) started almost a decade ago but has never diluted or changed its message. People can now relate Dove with conversations about healthy body image and women’s empowerment.

Dove also launched the Dove Self Esteem Fund (DSEF), a Unilever initiative which aims at promoting healthy body image perceptions and building self esteem and confidence among young girls in the age group of 10-14 years. It commissioned a report Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem in the USA which revealed a self-esteem crisis among young girls which impacts their performances in schools and their relationships.

Dove also launched other online videos: i. Evolution portrays how our perception of beauty is often distorted by the manipulative advertisements

Source: Onslaught

iii. Amy shows a young teenage girl refusing to meet her friend because she thinks she is not beautiful while her friend cannot name one thing wrong with her appearance.

ii. Onslaught sounds a warning bell against the cosmetic, fashion and advertising

DSEF includes self esteem workshops, group activities, guides for parents, teachers, youth leaders and other influencers to interact with young girls about body image issues. The feedback to this initiative has been positive especially from parents.

Source: Onslaught Source: Evolution

industries cautioning parents and urging them to have healthy discussions about the concept of beauty with their daughters

In addition, Real Beauty Sketches’was followed by another video, Camera Shy, which highlights how older women tend to shy away from cameras because they feel a sense of anxiety about their appearances.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | Dove Real Beauty Sketches

Dove Real Beauty - creative storytelling to fuel reputation click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

I Quit!

Viral resignation

What is I Quit?

People’s response to the video

In September 2013, millennial Marina Shifrin quit her job at a Taiwanese animation company by posting a video on YouTube.

The video was picked up by Gawker.com and immediately went viral, sparking a global online debate on employment practices, public resignations and working in Asia. Her employers responded with a letter to Gawker and a parody video to showcase their point of view and announce that they had a job vacancy.

Many people applauded Shifrin’s initiative to quit a job she was unhappy in. YouTube user Blackbyrd commented:

“ She’s got my support. Some are so quick Source: An Interpretive Dance For My Boss Set To Kanye West’s Gone

She posted the video with this note, explaining her decision to quit:

The overwhelming response to the videos reflects the varying attitudes of people towards their job, their personal brand and their criteria for a ‘good employer.’

“ I work for an awesome company that

The company’s management of the crisis is also a good example of how a quick response and two-way discussion can help deflate an online bubble and save a company’s reputation.

I believe it’s more important to focus on the quality of the content. When you learn to improve this, the views will come. Here is a little video I made explaining my feelings.”

16 million views in 2 months Shifrin’s video shows her dancing in her office at 4:30am, while working the midnight shift, to Kanye West’s Gone. Her video received 16 million views and 18,000+ comments within two months.

makes news videos. I have put my life into this job, but my boss says quantity, speed and views are what is most important.

Fun fact: the popularity of the video boosted Kanye’s song back into the limelight. As YouTube user Allen Jones commented:

“ I want to know how she got this song to make in top 20 on the charts even though it came out 8 years ago just because it was playing on this video.”

to bash her, but people deal with some crazy, illogical, psychological crap on a job, and I can only imagine the narcissism she put up with, the office egos, the feeling of oppression and having your talents squandered, and even the disgust at watching a company deteriorate because of poor management and ethics. Dance on, Marina!”

Some shared the same dissatisfaction with their jobs and the way their employers teat them, and identified themselves with her. sippoujulian commented:

“ Totally agreed, some bosses are really terrible, like my case, my boss does not even pay me anything for half a year for all my hard works, in this case, i am worse than you :( , you have my support !”

Others didn’t approve the decision to quit, and wondered why Shifrin didn’t contribute to a solution at the company:

“ People keep saying that she stood up for what is right and blah blah blah, but what did she do?... By quitting her job I don’t think she made a change;at all. By TRYING

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | I Quit! Viral resignation

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to change what the company is [doing] she would.”

Another YouTube user noted that in a world driven by the number of views and clicks, this video demonstrates Shifrin’s understanding of the medium and makes her a talent worth hiring.

Yet others questioned her decision to quit in a rough job market. OmgItsEvan commented:

“ She’s not getting another job again. If somebody gave her a job after the fact that she quit in that fashion would be insane.

Come on, there are so many people out there that need jobs, and you’re making a video tap dancing quitting a job that you’re probably making decent money at, it’s just tacky. Please.”

‘Is it okay to quit in such a public manner?’

The video also inspired discussion around personal branding and the eternal memory of the internet. Comments focused around the question ‘Is it okay to quit in such a public manner?’

Dan Ryan commented:

“ It probably wasn’t the best idea to quite in this way because now every time she applies for a job the employer will see this video which will probably ruin her chances of getting the job. Any employer would fear getting bashed like this.”

Initial backlash towards the employer The video inspired a lot of backlash towards Shifrin’s employer Next Media Animation (NMA), and brought up people’s perception of Asian employers as sweatshop drivers.

These responses actually moved the company to respond and share their side of the story.

In a letter to Gawker, NMA’s Mark Simon wrote:

“ There is an image now of a sweat shop, we are not...

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | I Quit! Viral resignation

“I am not looking to slam her, nor am I engaged in anything but trying to help some other managers in their early 30’s, understand why the young lady they hung out with just cashiered them. I don’t think she meant for it to be seen as so harsh, but we are getting some nasty attacks on our managers, who she says she respects.”

Employer’s quick response and Q&A session NMA responded to video by writing a letter to Gawker, the news site that promoted Shifrin’s video, and by publishing their own video – a quick three days after the original video was posted. Rather than being defensive and

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attacking Shifrin, NMA spoke well of her and sought to clarify some of the concerns raised by viewers across the globe – they explained that Shifrin was paid a handsome salary, they were aware of her unhappiness with her profile and were working with her to find a more agreeable role within the company.

The response video featured NMA employees dancing around their office in the same style as the original video and highlight the company’s competitive offers – like a swimming pool and a sauna. The video ends with an announcement that the company has a vacancy and is hiring.

NMA’s Mark Simon invited people to ask their questions on Gawker and answered them in the comments.

Source: gawker.com/next-media-animation-responds-to-thequit-heard-round-1434926654

NMA also reportedly received 100 applications to the position vacated by Shifrin.

Source: An Interpretive Dance From Next Media Animation

Impact of the response NMA’s quick response, openness to discuss the issue further and continued respect for Shifrin ensured a lot of support from the web population.

Source: bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24394754

Working in a different cultural environment Both videos also encouraged discussion around the cultural differences involved in working in a different country.

Source: An Interpretive Dance From Next Media Animation

Jefferson Vaswani commented:

Mark Simon’s dialogue on Gawker also helped to dispel the perception of NMA as a bad employer:

“ Well I believe it’s all about cross-cultural

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | I Quit! Viral resignation

tendencies, As she’s a Caucasian working in an Chinese/Taiwanese setting, it’s really hard sometimes to be carried away how

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the Chinese/Taiwanese people work so hard and with so long hours, because they value hardwork over creativity rather than balancing it as some cultures do.”

What happened to Marina?

Shifrin became an instant web celebrity, and was invited to share her experience on The Huffington Post and on The Queen Latifah Show. Shifrin was offered a job by Queen Latifah, but appears to have turned it down.

According to her social channels, Shifrin is pursuing her dream to become a comedian.

TIME magazine’s Laura Stampler wrote:

“ Shifrin’s video accumulated almost 8.5 million views in only four days, while Next Media animation’s respo is up to 500,000 in just one. The whole thing makes us wonder, was this all some sort of viral marketing scheme? Does that puppet master Jimmy Kimmel have anything to do with this?”

YouTube user storyfinder5 commented:

“ PLOT TWIST! THIS WAS THE LATEST CAMPAIGN TO GET VIEWS! Oh gosh, nah I’m totally joking. More power to you I suppose, (-: Good luck out there.”

In an interview with Mashable, she commented:

Was this a PR stunt?

Several people joked about the authenticity of the videos, including TIME magazine, noting that it would have made for a very successful PR stunt.

“ At professional gatherings like the Asian American Journalists Association national convention, which the NMA team attended during their recent U.S. trip, the buzzword personal brand” is a near constant refrain. That’s the only solution that prior generations of careerists really have to offer to the new kids in the cubes: Roll your own. Manage your social network. Advertise yourself. Find ways to stand out and be noticed and generate hype about your skills, your image, your identity — independent of where you work and what you do there.

Seen in that light, Shifrin’s flamboyant exit was almost a logical strategic decision based on everything we’re telling and selling the Millennial generation about what they need to get ahead — and an incredibly successful one, at that.”

“ My only plan was to just be funny, you know, and entertain people for a little bit. I just want people to know that it was made in good fun and not to diss the company. I’ve heard that some people are beginning to quit their jobs, and I just hope that if they do make that decision, they have a stable plan B. I definitely had a backup plan for when I was quitting.”

In a blog post on Wall Street Journal, Jeff Yang wrote:

Source: blogs.wsj.com

Millennials & Personal Branding Some people wondered if the buzz around “millennial workers” was responsible for boosting the viral reach of Shifrin’s video.

Indeed, the video did spark some reflection on millennial attitudes and personal branding.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Reputation | I Quit! Viral resignation

I Quit! viral resignation video - Employees are ambassadors, by choice or not click to tweet

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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Citizenship

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

AT&T’s Water Initiative

AT&T and EDF’s water saving initiative In an effort to maintain their ‘aquaprint,’ AT &T partnered with the Environmental Defence Fund and used data analysis to reduce their water consumption at cooling towers. The companies then packaged their learning into a free Building Water Efficiency toolkit, which can be applied at buildings across the U.S. to reduce water consumption by 28 billion gallons annually.

responsible company. In fact, AT&T was recently ranked #1 on Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 13th Annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List, and was recognized in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America (DJSI) for a fourth consecutive year. (DJSI is the oldest global sustainability benchmark and inclusion in the Index is considered “a seal of approval for a company’s CSR program.”)

Using data to identify savings In 2010, AT&T worked with students from Vanderbilt University to measure their water footprint.

The company then initiated a data management plan and discovered that 125 facilities accounted for almost half of their annual 3.4 billion gallons of water consumption. In 2011, AT&T launched a water scorecard to track water usage at these facilities and identified cooling towers as one of the top consumers of water.

The toolkit has already helped AT&T identify ways to reduce water consumption by 14% - 40% - resulting in savings of 150 million gallons annually by 2015.

Source: environmentalleader.com

This project is designed to help AT&T find a cost-effective way to reduce their water footprint and operational costs, but also contributes to their position as a socially

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In 2012, AT&T partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund to optimize water consumption and to measure the resulting savings in cost across pilot facilities. The Building Water Efficiency toolkit was developed as the result of data and lessons from these pilot projects, and gives organizations simple cost-effective resources to build their own water efficiency programs.

Sharing the toolkit

The Building Water Efficiency toolkit comprises of a Water Scorecard and Water Efficiency Calculator to evaluate and identify consumption and savings opportunities, a Cooling System guide and video series to educate stakeholders, and sample Water Audit forms to help stakeholders build a water management program.

People, media, public and private leaders are beginning to realize that water shortage is a near reality.

AT&T and EDF have provided the toolkit for free at the EDF website and have also planned a series of free webinars to introduce and promote the toolkit.

AT&T and EDF’s water efficiency efforts don’t stop here. AT&T also hosts EDF Climate Corps fellows every summer, for four years now, and 2013’s fellows will focus on water and energy savings from free air cooling, and a regional outreach program to share the tools and findings with organizations in water stressed areas.

Sources: Business Insider, NYTimes, National Geographic

AT&T’s Director of Sustainability Operations John Schulz talks about water concerns and priorities in this video:

The ever-rising importance of water McKinsey’s report Charting our Water Future (2009) notes that in the last 50 years, the world’s population has doubled and global GDP has grown tenfold , agricultural and industrial output has boomed, and cities have burgeoned. This growth, and these competing uses, have put global water resources under ever-increasing strain.

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Citizenship | AT&T’s Water Initiative

Source: Water and Energy Efficiency Management at AT&T

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Collaborating to solve today’s social challenges Thinkers and doers point out that collaboration is key to tackling social challenges.

Source: 3blmedia.com

AT&T’s Vice President of Sustainability and Philanthropy Beth Shiroishi notes the need to combine resources and expertise:

“ As AT&T seeks to address some of society’s greatest challenges – access to education, use of resources, and the dangers of texting while driving – one of our most important realizations has been that we cannot go it alone. This past year, we undertook initiatives with groups like Communities in Schools, Environmental Defense Fund and the National Organizations for Youth Safety to tackle these tough issues.”

In a report report titled “Water Scarcity & Climate Change: Growing Risks for Businesses & Investors,” the Pacific Institute

notes the need to pool together knowledge, information and data:

“ By pooling resources and bringing together a wide range of expertise and knowledge through partnerships for a common goal, companies can respond to water-related concerns more efficiently and effectively than through individual actions.

Collaborative actions are particularly crucial in assessing and addressing climate change impacts, since there are large gaps in knowledge and information related to climate change and water, especially data and prediction modeling at the watershed level.”

MSLGROUP India’s Ashraf Engineer notes that corporates and private companies will have an increasing role to play in this space:

“ The expertise, resources and planning that professionals bring to the table are rarely replicated by the government. It won’t be long before the government starts handing over water management to private firms, just as we are seeing in the power sector.

“However, water is a touchy subject and must be handled with care. It’s very easy for private management of water to be besieged by controversy. It must be taken on with the community at the centre of the effort.”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Citizenship | AT&T’s Water Initiative

As an example, see our post on IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge which encourages collaboration between IBM experts and public leaders and offices.

Engaging employees around Sustainability Several brands have launched programs to involve employees in their sustainability initiatives. Some crowdsource ideas on how to optimize facilities and processes. like Honda did at its annual Innovative Ideas Convention. Others have organized elaborate 2-3 day fun treasure hunts in which employees physically search for efficiency opportunities and invent solutions, like GE did with its Eco Treasure Hunts. Yet others have leveraged their employees collective social presence to create awareness about issues and potential solutions, like Levi’s did with its Waterless program.

Sustainability bloggers Toby Russell and Thomas Hendrick note the need for sustainability engagement programs to evolve with the times:

“ In a digital world, the entire model of sustainability engagement has to shift. It is no longer enough to just have brownbag lunches or a river cleanup at your headquarters and call it your engagement program. Creating dynamic content that is relevant, exciting and accessible is crucial,

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and using a social network to distribute your content is especially effective.”

Source: GE Healthcare “Treasure Hunt”

People, data and devices for Sustainability Brands and organizations have also energized people in sustainability initiatives.

For instance, National Geographic Society, Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Participant Media created “Change the Course” and asked people to pledge their commitment to conserve water by changing personal behaviors around diet, energy use and product consumption. Charity:water created a crowdfunding platform and encourages people to organize their own fundraisers for water projects in developing countries. Starbucks created the Ethos Water Fund to let people support water initiatives with their purchases:

“ Ethos® Water was created to help raise awareness about this terrible crisis and provide children with access to clean water.

Every time you buy a bottle of Ethos® Water, you contribute 5 cents to the Ethos® Water Fund, part of the Starbucks Foundation.”

In addition, brands, entrepreneurs and hackers are using data and connected devices to help people measure and manage their carbon footprint and change their behavior (Opower) and to create cleaner infrastructure and processes.

Indeed, as GreenBiz’s Joel Makower noted:

“ Over the past couple years, we’ve made the intersection of sustainability and data a staple of our coverage of the sustainable business scene. Data, we’ve written, is being harvested and harnessed to improve cities’ infrastructure, eliminate landfills,improve street lighting, accelerate energy-efficient buildings, reduce water leaks and boost innovation. There’s an Internet of Things, an Internet of Buildings, an Internet of Cars (and another one of trucks).”

The Future of Employee (Re)Engagement | Citizenship | AT&T’s Water Initiative

AT&T’s Water Efficiency Toolkit - data and collaboration to reduce water consumption click to tweet

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People’s lab People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary crowdsourcing platform and approach that helps organizations tap into people’s insights for innovation, storytelling and change.

The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform helps organizations build and nurture public or private, web or mobile, hosted or white label communities around four pre-configured application areas: Expertise Request Network, Innovation Challenge Network, Research & Insights Network and Contest & Activation Network. Our community and gaming features encourage people to share rich content, vote/ comment on other people’s content and collaborate to find innovative solutions.

Contest and Activation Network: Pearl Academy

Research & Insights Network: P&G Asia - Thank You Mom

In 2013, Indian fashion school Pearl Academy used the People’s Lab platform to create Portfolio 2013 - a contest where graduates could upload their work for public voting.

In 10 days, 10,000 people visited the site, generating 100,000 impressions, and cast 7,000 votes – with NO media spend.

In 2012, P&G Asia and MSL Singapore used the People’s Lab platform to create a Social Media Regional Center, a secure, private community where 100+ P&G stakeholders and agency partners shared content and best practices for the “Thank You, Mom” campaign at the London 2012 Olympics.

The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform and approach forms the core of our distinctive insights and foresight approach, which consists of four elements: organic conversation analysis, MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, clientspecific insights communities, and ethnographic deep dives into these communities. The People’s Insights Quarterly Magazines showcase our capability in crowdsourcing and analyzing insights from conversations and communities

Learn more about us at: peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights | twitter.com/peopleslab

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MSLGROUP is Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications and engagement group, advisors in all aspects of communication strategy: from consumer PR to financial communications, from public affairs to reputation management and from crisis communications to experiential marketing

and events. With more than 3,500 people across close to 100 offices worldwide, MSLGROUP is also the largest PR network in Europe, fastgrowing China and India. The group offers strategic planning and counsel, insight-guided thinking and big, compelling ideas – followed by thorough execution.

Write to us to start a conversation on how we can help you distill actionable insights and foresights from conversations and communities:

Pascal Beucler,

SVP & Chief Strategy Officer (pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com)

Nidhi Makhija,

Senior Manager - Insights (nidhi.makhija@mslgroup.com)

peopleslab.mslgroup.com | peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights/magazine

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