Communicating a company's ethical commitment to a shrinking field of qualified job candidates is, of course, a public relations (PR) function. In PR parlance, we're talking about projecting the proverbial corporate image.
A corporation's image, at times and under certain circumstances, can be misleading. Sometimes this is done deliberately. However, because we've become more sophisticated in our ability to judge "images" created by skilled public relations professionals, we are better able to see through attempts to project an image that hasn't been earned. That's why I prefer the word reflection instead of the word image.
The great showman, P.T. Barnum, once described public relations as, "Do good and tell about it"--two distinctly different parts of the public relations equation. There are many elements of a company's reflection in addition to whether it holds itself to a high ethical standard. Some are tangible and visible; others are more subtle. In either case--and including ethics--they encompass the "do good" aspect of Barnum's definition. A company must create a compelling corporate reflection through deeds, rather than words; otherwise, job candidates, who are in demand by many companies, will see a less desirable corporate mirror-image. All the "telling about it" won't effectively mask the reality.
Look for Socially Responsible Employees
Many of today's young people, while as career-driven as their counterparts from previous generations, carry additional commitments to a variety of causes that did not play a significant role in years past. As the ethical pendulum makes its slow but steady swing back to a more reasoned center, a parallel growth of 'life values" has emerged.
Job candidates with strong environmental concerns may add them to the list of considerations when choosing between job offers. Given a relatively equitable package of salary, benefits, and potentials for career growth, a company with a strong and public track record of concern for the environment will often tip the scales in its favor. A Maritz Telephone Survey, in Quick Marketing Magazine, discovered that 86 percent of all Americans felt that a company's environmental reputation was important. Similarly, job candidates with all the right professional credentials, but who also actively participate in projects to aid the homeless, will view positively a company that has demonstrated active concern for community affairs, and that has turned such concern into action.
Establish a Positive Corporate Reputation
The global nature of business has taken center-stage. Competition from the Pacific Rim, and now the burgeoning industrial clout of a unified European Community, has encouraged career-minded American men and women to look abroad for additional opportunities. Given a choice between a company whose eyes are, at least, open to growth potential in other nations, and one that proudly wears industrial isolationist blinders, there is little doubt which will attract this breed of candidate.
To what extent is a company committed to personal and professional growth of its employees through company-sponsored programs of continuing education? Are its employees enrolled in local colleges and universities, enhancing their knowledge and skills with the company's support? If so, both employee and company ultimately benefit. These same employees will be "telling about it" in a more effective way than any company press release could accomplish.
A vitally important arm of "corporate networking," is recruitment. A recruiting tool has become increasingly important in these days of competition for the best and the brightest.
How does a company treat its suppliers and competitors? Is it known by its suppliers as a responsible customer, or one that poses an ongoing headache for the accounts-payable department? When competing with other companies in its field, does it function aboveboard and honestly, or has it gained the negative reputation of applying unethical, perhaps even illegal, tactics?
A firm that respects and values the contributions of working parents, employees of diverse ethnic, religious, and national origins, and those with "handicaps" will attract the best of them. In addition, these employees won't hesitate to tell others that "it's a great place to work."
A Compelling Corporate Reflection Helps the Recruiting Process
The purpose here is not to preach to any company on how to conduct business, but when it comes to the difference between sterling candidates accepting a job offer or the company's choosing to forfeit talents to a competitor, the importance of a positive corporate reflection cannot be denied.
Companies that have established themselves positively in the public eye are natural magnets for good people. We are all aware of such companies. They've routinely "done good" as part of their basic business philosophy, and have communicated these values to the world at large.
Quality has nothing to do with size, geographic location, product or services offered, or industry served. Quality companies come in all sizes, shapes, and corporate cultures. A small, dynamic software firm in Silicon Valley, with a relaxed culture and team approach, will naturally attract employees who respond favorably to that atmosphere. Other large companies, with a more structured approach, will be palatable for others.
Despite a conducive atmosphere, however, if a company's general reputation--its reflection--is less than positive, there will be problems recruiting good employees, unless, of course, the company is forced to pay more to acquire them.
Companies with solid reputations for ethics, community service, and environmental concerns have spent money to achieve that positive corporate reflection. If they had not spent money to enhance the way they're perceived by the public--including potential employees--would the savings make up for higher salaries needed to attract the right people? Perhaps, but only from a short-term perspective. Over the long term, it will have been money well invested. Companies that want to succeed will reap continuing benefits through the hiring and retention of good people.
It isn't surprising that many companies are unaware of their corporate reflections, positive or negative. The reason is usually that they haven't taken stock, haven't held up a thermometer to public perception. In some instances, companies really don't want to know. The truth would be too painful. In most cases, however, they simply haven't thought to do it. It isn't difficult to determine one's corporate reflection, provided it's done openly and honestly and avoids the route taken by politicians who commission polls calculated to tell them all is well, especially when it isn't.
For companies whose staffing practices have always been to seek out, hire, and nurture good, honest, ethical employees, the sort of positive corporate reflection necessary to attract other quality people will already have been established. For companies that agree with this message, but who have not, as yet, paid sufficient attention to their corporate reflection, it's time to start. In either case, employees who represent a company--who create its products and services and market them to the consumer--hold the key. If the right people have been hired, their values will become those of the company. They will be the corporate reflection that attracts others of similar attributes and values.
At Robert Half International, we have interviewed numerous, quality job candidates who, when told there's an opening at a specific company, have said, "I've always wanted to work there." We have also heard candidates respond with, "I hear a lot of bad things about that company." The difference is clear when it comes to hiring and retaining good people. Excellent job candidates are selective and insist on working with companies that enjoy a good reputation.
