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IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD MOSLEY,

AUTHOR AND EMPLOYER BRANDING GURU


Dr. Sandeep K. Krishnan, Guest Editor and
Associate Director, People Business in conversation
with Richard Mosley, Employer Branding
Guru and author of the book Employer Brand
Management : Practical Lessons from the Worlds
Leading Employers.

1. We recently heard from you that the war for talent is back. How do you think India
is going to experience this?
According to Manpowers recent employment outlook survey (Q4-2014) employers in
India have recorded the most optimistic forecast among all 42 countries and territories
participating in the survey for the third consecutive quarter. Nearly half the companies
taking part in the survey reported that they plan to add to their workforce in the near
future. Given this vigorous upturn in hiring activity talent supply is expected to remain
extremely tight in India, with two thirds of organizations reporting difculty in lling
jobs (the third highest level reported across the world in 2014). In addition to the growing
demand for talent between established companies Manpowers research also suggested
that talent supply is likely to be further constrained by the growing trend among
Indian professionals to walk away from high-paying jobs to pursue entrepreneurial
opportunities.The three most likely side-effects of this trend in India will be increased
employee turnover, wage ination and greater investment in employer brand marketing.
2. There is always an India-China comparison in terms of growth, in the employer
branding space. How distinctive are the challe nges between the countries?
Like India, organizations in China have also had to deal with relatively high levels
of wage ination and employee turnover; however, with the recent cooling of the
Chinese economy, the employment outlook is far less optimistic than in India with
hiring activity at its lowest level for the last ve years. While the challenge for HR
professionals in India is to decide the best way to strengthen their employer brands
in order to compete effectively for talent, the challenge for HR practioners in China is
persuading senior management teams to maintain investment in their employer brand
and talent management programs during a period in which the immediate return on
this investment may not be as self-evident.
January | 2015 NHRD Network Journal

3. You have done multiple assignments in the employer branding space in India. How
was your experience?
Over the ten years I have been involved in employer brand development projects
in India, I have been extremely impressed with the level of senior management
involvement and the degree to which brand development has been founded on strong
people management rather than simply seen as an image-driven exercise in creative
communication. This was evident in my recent experience of working with the Manipal
Group (Manipal Global Education (MaGE) and Manipal Health Enterprises Private
Limited (MHEPL) where there was signicant involvement and commitment from
the top management in building the employee value proposition and shaping people
management practices to deliver on the desired promise. Similarly, when working with
Genpact, I recall their leadership team reaching the conclusion that the ultimate aim of
their employer brand management activities was to make the employment experience
so positive that employee advocacy and recommendation would remove the need for
any further employer brand marketing!
4. What do you think would be the key challenges Indian HR managers will have to
tackle to attract and retain talent?
I believe the 3 key challenges in attracting and retaining talent are:
i)

Avoiding the temptation to over- inate your employment promises in a


competitive marketing environment in order to attract greater attention and
convince more people to join you. This may work in the short term but in the
longer term you will drive higher levels of attrition and negative word of mouth.
While it may take longer you need to ensure your external promises remain in
step with the employment experience.

ii)

Identifying what makes you special as an employer in order to differentiate your


organization from your key talent competitors. HR has a tendency to focus on best
practice which will certainly help you maintain healthy levels of engagement
and retention. However, HR people also need to think more like marketers and
identify the more unique aspects of your culture and working practices to give
people clearer reasons to choose your organization over others.

iii) Staying vigilant in a fast changing labour market. As the talent market heats
up its important to step up the frequency with which you check the pulse of
your organization and the external environment. If you only run an employee
engagement survey every other year you should probably consider making
it an annual or even bi-annual event. Likewise you should probably consider
benchmarking levels of reward on a more regular basis to ensure you remain
competitive.
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January | 2015 NHRD Network Journal

5. You have published the new book Employer Brand Management : Practical Lessons
from the Worlds Leading Employers, What are the top three lessons for Indian
organizations from the book?
In addition to the points made above the top 3 lessons from my book are:
i)

Build your employer brand from the inside out. The ultimate test of a strong
employer brand is the quality of the employment experience not the quality of
the advertising.

ii)

Do everything you can to encourage and support employee advocacy. The voice
of employees is more powerful and persuasive than any other form of marketing
communication.

iii) Invest in joined-up talent metrics and analytics. For the value of employer
branding and talent to be fully recognized within the business it is essential
that HR adopts more rigorous and integrated measurement systems, capable
of diagnosing the complete talent management cycle from external reputation,
marketing investment, source of hire, selection, orientation, engagement,
development and deployment through to business performance.
6. How do you compare Indian organizations from an employer branding maturity
perspective with the worlds best?
From my experience, the leading Indian companies are equal in employer brand maturity
to the worlds leading multinationals, and in general I believe that India is far ahead
of the other BRIC markets in terms of its adoption and practice of employer brand
management. However, there are still many areas that individual companies can make
more effective use of employer brand marketing to improve their ability to attract and
retain talent. With hiring activity on the rise, is no better time to upgrade your employer
brand marketing efforts to ensure your emerge a winner in the next war for talent.

January | 2015 NHRD Network Journal

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