Companies making efforts to build talent brand one of the biggest trends of 2019

Apart from working towards keeping customers happy and retaining them for a longer period, companies have, of late, also started looking inwards at how to offer the same customer experience to their employees. The idea is simple -- motivated employees are more productive. One of the big trends of 2019 that will impact the next year is the rise of organisations as a talent brand.

"Organisations are waking up to the realisation that in the current digital world, where everyone is visible, the existing employees and the potential talent pool is exploring all the information on the web about the workplaces, their culture and the opportunities, making the management of talent brand for companies critical," says Gaurav Bakshi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at human resources services firm Strat-Board.

This led to a substantial shift in firms not just marketing their products and services but also speaking about what their brand means in terms of values, employee benefits, work culture, office environment, among others. It has changed in how companies look at their employee programmes.

The key trend has been personalisation across all touchpoints of an employee journey, says Rajiv Burman, Promoter Director at HR services firm GS Advisors, especially in areas of employee benefits, learning and development, and employee engagement. For instance, instead of the one-size-fits-all approach, the basket of employee benefits across companies have become wider. Firms are looking at the needs of people in different life stages so they can choose what works best for them. Instead of uniform training sessions, there are now customised learning path for each individual employee. Hence, even the way engagement surveys are done has changed. Organisations don't want to see how engaged in a department or a unit is but they want to know what each individual is thinking and how to give them a better experience.

Another area where individualisation has happened is recruitment. Organisations have realised that there is a long way to go when it comes to dealing with the prospective talent community. Studies show how candidates hardly ever hear back from firms after the interview. They are now cognizant of the fact that every individual should be treated and responded just like customer needs to be, says Bakshi of Strat-Board.

The number of conversations that companies are having these days with candidates is increasing. In fact, they are going at length to explain what all a job entails rather than paint a rosy picture. They are discussing the work environment, the kind of career people have, the benefits the organisation provides, what one can and cannot expect. With the rise of technology, the consumerisation of human resources will not only stay on but will grow.

Also read: Google to hire 3,800 'in-house' employees in 2020