As organizations expand their operations across borders, maintaining a consistent company image is becoming more and more challenging.
HR and talent acquisition teams play pivotal roles in achieving that consistency by establishing a unified employer brand both internally and externally. They’re the first port of call for potential and existing employees, but are all employees engaging with your brand in the same way?
With teams working across different continents with contrasting cultures and ways of working, it is clear that hiring processes and relationships with staffing agencies differ. It’s a difficult job to manage, and nearly impossible for centralized HR teams in charge of global operations.
However, all is not lost. There are some simple strategies these teams can implement today to make progress in achieving the goal of unified candidate and employee experience.
Establishing a Consistent Global Brand
First off, we need to establish why establishing a consistent global brand is so important. A brand represents a company’s culture, values and identity — it’s not just a logo and a tagline — which all play a huge part in the role of HR and talent acquisition. When they are aligned, the company’s brand and reputation can be upheld globally.
A strong and consistent brand goes a long way in enabling businesses to acquire top talent, according to some reports. Candidates are much more likely to apply for roles at companies that are known for great working practices. With a global war on talent, organizations that maintain a consistently strong global image will be setting themselves up for success.
Linked to that, when HR policies align with talent acquisition processes, both providing a consistent experience, employees are more engaged and committed, leading to higher retention rates. This goes a long way in bridging the global skills gap all companies are experiencing.
There are also significant risks around compliance and regulation. The same processes, from resourcing to onboarding to employee experience, need to be in place globally to ensure compliance. This can be very difficult to police if run on a local level. Just from a diversity and inclusion standpoint, the global head of HR needs to have a clear understanding of who you’re hiring and where, which is difficult without a unified HR and talent acquisition strategy worldwide.
How to Achieve Global Alignment
It’s a complex, but not unattainable, task to align HR and talent acquisition on a global scale.
Here’s how to approach the problem:
- Establish your brand identity. This seems like an obvious first step, but ensure you have a clear employer brand that is embedded in your business. Communication is key and an important start in establishing consistency.
- Source and implement global tools. A very simple way to establish set processes for teams to follow on a global scale is to implement the right tools for your business. This includes management of staffing agencies, applicant tracking systems and HR platforms. Alongside implementation, roll-out and communication of these tools is key. You need the buy-in of key stakeholders globally to support and advocate the tools. This will introduce cohesion across the global business and act as a base from which teams can build a consistent employer brand.
- Monitor and measure. Once you have established an identity, communicated it across the globe and implemented the necessary tools to facilitate global brand alignment, it’s time to monitor and measure the effectiveness of teams in each region. This will show if processes are being followed globally. Regularly review the results and make necessary adjustments.
Many of RAMP Global’s clients are currently experiencing global growth. One example is SoftwareOne, where we have seen significant transformation. When we first partnered with SoftwareOne in 2019, there was siloed working across multiple countries and regions, but through a robust global talent acquisition strategy, there is now a controlled and cohesive centralizing of systems and processes. While there are benefits of managing HR and resourcing on a local level in terms of language and culture — and some of this should remain — it is critical to present the benefits of creating a consistent global brand and experience to benefit the business in its entirety.
By bringing in consistent processes, tools and technologies, which have an impact from sourcing a candidate to hiring and onboarding, someone in Japan can have the same experience as if they were based in North America. HR and talent acquisition can set the ball rolling in establishing a consistent brand across the organization — in all conversations with partners, clients and prospects.
Businesses can successfully align their HR and recruitment process to create a powerful and consistent global brand by defining brand identity, establishing set practices and processes, investing in technology that can be universally applied and regularly monitoring and measuring progress.
As your company continues to grow globally, set yourselves up for success by establishing this alignment now.
Editor’s Note: Additional Content
For more information and resources related to this article see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:
