According to Shari Caudron in her article Brand HR: Why and How to Market Your Image, "If you want HR to be perceived as more strategic, more valuable, more credible, more whatever, you need to start thinking like a business with a product and market your overall brand image."
As organizations continue to outsource non-value-added activities, HR is facing competition from outside vendors. If HR practitioners do not strive to build up the profession's overall image and reputation, they will lose services to organizations that understand what customer service and accountability are all about. These are Caudron’s eight great tips for building and enhancing the HR department's image and reputation.
Market Your HR Department's Reputation and Brand
Identify your customer's needs and perceptions.
The first step in creating or enhancing a brand identity is to determine who your customers are and what they need from the HR function. You will also want to know your customers’ current perceptions of the HR department.
Begin this process by identifying your customers. Are your primary customers executive managers, line managers or the entire workforce? What products and services do they use from HR? What would they like to receive from HR? Do they use HR services from outside HR vendors, and if so, why? How do they perceive the internal HR department?
HR departments could conduct employee attitude surveys to obtain answers to these questions, but to get truthful and more useful information, Caudron suggests it is worthwhile to hire an outside consultant to conduct the interviews in private. She states that "employees would more likely state their true feelings about HR if they are guaranteed anonymity."
It is important to conduct this type of analysis, to understand the difference between what you are providing and think your organization wants from you, and what they say they need. In today's organizations, there are so many perceptions about what role HR should play. HR conducts so many activities: training, recruitment, personal welfare, salary and bonus, and a whole range of other concerns, that "HR brand" development is challenging. In order to correct this, HR practitioners must research their current "brand" to figure out where they stand.
Craft an identity based on customer needs.
Caudron says that after you determine the needs and current perceptions of your existing customers, you can decide how you would like your customers to perceive the HR department. It is important to note that the function of the HR department will differ from organization to organization. In one organization, internal customers may want the HR department to provide great service in all of the traditional HR areas.
In others, customers may expect HR to take responsibility for productivity and growth. You have to decide what "brand" identity works best for your particular culture and then work to create a mission statement and organization that supports that identity.
As another example, in your organization, it may make sense to outsource routine tasks such as payroll processing so that the remaining HR staff can concentrate on more strategic matters. To achieve a solid brand identity, you cannot be all things to all people. You can try, but you will fail in the eyes of significant numbers of your customers.
Develop a mission statement that resonates with meeting customer needs.]
Having determined your identity, Caudron suggests taking the time to design a mission statement that will guide you through the changes and improvements that you need to make. The mission statement should define the HR function, the values and core principles the department will uphold, and the benefit HR expects to provide to the rest of the organization.
For example, the Los Angeles County HR Department's mission statement follows:
- "To provide a human resources program that carries out Board priorities for a comprehensive and equitable County personnel system;
- To assist departments in developing and maintaining a high quality workforce, enabling them to provide critical services to the public;
- To establish Countywide policies and provide monitoring and oversight necessary to ensure consistent application of human resource policies, including recruitment, selection, promotions, training, discipline, employee benefits administration, workforce reductions, classification, compensation, employee appeals and disability benefits; and
- To ensure fair and equitable job and promotional opportunities and services for both current employees and individuals seeking employment with the County of Los Angeles."
It is important to have a mission statement as it helps define your future goals and direction. The mission should not be empty rhetoric. It is a charter that outlines the HR pledge to the rest of the organization.
Read even more tips about building the HR department reputation and brand.
