Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

HR strategyEmployer branding

Winning awards offers the opportunity to boost your employer brand

by Personnel Today 29 Nov 2005
by Personnel Today 29 Nov 2005

In the hours following our success in the Personnel Today Awards in 2004 (Overall winner and Northgate HR Award for Best HR Strategy in Line with Business), I was asked several times ‘what next?’.

It is a paradox of success that it is often at the very point of victory or excellence that you need to change. In drafting our vision for HR strategy, I had set as a benchmark the achievement of finalist status in the Personnel Today Awards to support a range of internal success measures. We achieved this – and more.

My biggest concern was that, in reaching our barrier-breaking goals, our team’s aspirational commitment would slide. After all, history teaches us that many successful teams have fallen by the wayside after hitting a pinnacle of achievement.

Following our success, I needed to ensure that our team ethos was revitalised and re-energised towards scaling a new peak. If we hadn’t won the award, I knew exactly how I would challenge the team: we would build on the success of making the finalist stages and subsequently focus on improving our HR business model internally to make us the outstanding HR team in 2005.

But winning set me a different kind of task. I challenged the team to write a new script for the next stage of our journey so that we were fully equipped to tackle the next pinnacle of success.

Our ‘away-day think-tank’ kicked off the process. This involved all team members actively participating in the development of our new vision. Innovative approaches were developed with the business, including an improved internal communi-cations programme, the restructuring of training and development with the emphasis on workplace training, a different approach to talent management, and the setting up of a ‘people board’ to ensure full engagement of our people strategy by all managers within the business. We revisited our employee brand, deploying marketing techniques internally and externally as a critical way to foster pride, increase morale and motivation, and attract quality people.

Based on this, we developed an HR strategy presentation for the corporate conference and staff roadshows. These presentations represented a change of tune in showing how individuals, with their respective skills and strengths, can make a real difference to the harmonious overall performance and power of the team. To create this, we recorded a promotional video at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Everyone in the people team took part. The presentation clearly struck a chord with colleagues as our key people messages echoed resoundingly across the business.

Externally, we continued to benchmark through a range of awards and standards. We became a ‘must have’ case study feature of ‘best practice’ seminars, ranging from local business chamber events to a ‘live’ broadcast to HR directors in North America – all helping to develop and consolidate our employer brand and put the West Brom on a strong footing alongside HR’s ‘heavy hitters’.

To those who question the value of taking part in schemes such as the Personnel Today Awards, I would say the benefits of feedback and learning far outweigh any time spent on the submission process. Indeed, the process of preparing the submission can, in itself, fuel continuous improvement as the HR team seeks to identify better approaches to the way it works.

As I congratulate this year’s winners, my advice would be to focus the huge PR potential towards building the employer brand to add value in terms of the attraction, motivation and retention of quality people. Maximise the benefits of the awards process through benchmarking with the ‘best of the best’ to drive continuous improvement. Most importantly, involve the business in both celebrating the success and taking forward the people vision.

Paul Turner, general manager (people), West Bromwich Building Society

Who are this year’s Personnel Today award winners? Go to www.personneltodayawards.com

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Directors group slams plans to abolish OFR rules
next post
Companies feel weight of pensions responsibility

You may also like

Chief financial officers now more involved in HR

1 Jul 2022

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘Use crises as catalysts...

15 Jun 2022

Does a four day week work? Charlotte Lockhart...

1 Jun 2022

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022

Davos 2022: Upskilling workers necessary to overcome business...

26 May 2022

Davos hears that ‘wages can rise’ without creating...

26 May 2022

Adapt culture to hybrid work: do not force...

20 May 2022

Women in FTSE 350 leadership: ‘A lot of...

20 May 2022

Squishy, flabby, foggy HR? Andrew Bartlow talks to...

20 May 2022

How to build a compelling talent attraction strategy...

12 May 2022
  • The ultimate guide to payroll for small businesses PROMOTED | You’ve started a business that has expanded to the point of requiring more staff to meet demand. Congratulations!...Read more
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+