Employees or customers

Employees or customers

Paucity of talent coupled with high rate of attrition has forced corporate companies in India to give higher priority to employees than the customers sometimes to ensure their top and bottom lines continue to improve.

Cutting across sectors, employees both in new age and brick and mortar companies are today in the enviable position of choosing their employers, contrary to the dictum of chasing a job. With this reversal in trend companies are thriving to become “employer of choice”.

Finding the right talent has become much harder in today’s world and the employers need to create brand value for themselves among the job seekers. Employers are now working in a small field with very few quality candidates and finding right person is three times harder than it was ten years ago. Employer branding comes as a rescuer in such a scenario.

Waking up to the need, a number of companies, from IT firm HCL to tires to pharmaceutical group Apollo International, are projecting themselves as employer of choice, while valuing their workers more than customers.

At HCL a strong message is conveyed to employees that customers come second to the employees. This imbibes a feeling in the mindsets of employees that they are the priority for their organization. This creates a sense of belongingness and employees on their part feel a sense of responsibility for the organization.

Apollo wants to be known as the most preferred employer of choice mentions a top HR director of the company. The branding is the need for the day, be it for a product, a person or a company. An “inside-out method” is followed, as per which internal branding compels value proposition for external people as well as current employees.

The industry players believe the new focus is helping the companies not just for hiring new as well as right talent, but for also retaining their existing employees. With the companies having a better brand value than others, the existing employees stay on for longer recognizing the brand promise and new candidates are also attracted. In addition, the exercise also saves on hiring and related costs.

The tool has helped up in significantly cutting cost per hire. High reputation in marketplace helps in attracting specialist talent in the present difficult market. This tool fosters employee productivity and helps to retain and attract employees.
However, the rule is not the same for each and every company. To create a brand value, the company first needs to be good at its original business.

Firstly a company has to be successful at its business. Also, they should walk their talk by running an organization which has a sense of purpose and which treats employees fairly based on the current market value.

The dividends reaped, however, are significant for the companies that have successfully implemented this model.

A fastest growing IT corporate company in India is projecting itself as a young dynamic company with a workforce that could pay a leading role in the information technology sector, and this projection has helped with the company becoming the fastest growing IT company in India, managing to be in the top five slots for the last few years.

Here we would like to clarify that customers are not neglected for the sake of employees. It is while customers are given certain privileges the same benefits are also passed on to the employees subject to feasibility and practical possibility. For example in case of 5 star hotels the facilities given to their guests is even extended to the employee and his family members subject to the rules even guests may have to follow. In case of a IT company a club facility meant for top management and their high value customers is noe being extended to employees beyond a certain grade. Another IT company provided a chauffeur driven car to an employee of Assistant manager and above category on his or her marriage anniversary day at company’s expense.