The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

The July 28 issue of Nation’s Restaurant News featured a piece by staff HR writer, Dina Berta, on efforts by Claim Jumper Restaurants to nourish their employment brand. That’s right, employment brand. According to Avery Block, a member of Claim Jumper’s HR team, who is quoted in the article, “the CJ brand is commitment to the journey. It represents and reflects the journey the company has been on the last 30 years… We’re committed to our community, one another, and to ourselves for individual growth and development. We want people to feel that when they come to Claim Jumper, they are on a journey.”

Two things are axiomatic in this respect:

1.Like it or not, every organization that has employees (including yours and ours) has an employment brand. At it’s root, that brand reflects your reputation within the community of those who would, do, and have worked for your organization. Not unlike other types of reputations, your employment rep is hard to enhance and easy to ruin.

2. Our employment brand extends well beyond the usual raft of trite, worn out slogans (e.g. people are our most important asset) to the very tangible qualities that define the employment relationship, things like trust, mutual respect, standards, and discipline.

If you’re at all uncertain as to the value of this reputation, chat up any recruiter in the hospitality or high tech industries.

A thought leader in the areas of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

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