Once again professional from diverse organizations had participated HR KURAKANI held on August 26, 2010 with lots of energies and enthusiasm. The discussion was to offer their personal and professional reflections on “Employer Branding- Effective Recruitment and Retention”. 

Mr. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions Pvt. Ltd welcomed all the participants and started the discussion on the topic after individual introduction. The major highlights of the program are summarized as below.   

Organizations are well recognized for the product branding they have created. Company’s logo, color combination, naming creates a unique image among end users. Everyone feels proud to be associated with the branded products and services such as of Mega Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, NCell etc. However, HR has always been ignored from management perspective in branding context.  

It is now time to focus on the employer logos and the name of the organization for the purpose of recruiting prospective employees as well as retaining the qualified employees. If the prospective candidates are well aware of company’s features, its values, vision and mission, then they would be more interested / motivated to apply for the position. However, it is possible only when company initiate their activities towards employer branding. The leaders, employees’ benefits & facilities, resources, workspace, pay scale, office interiors, organizations’ websites and even location would attract them to join and motivate them further.  

It is seen that company won’t disclose their name and logo while announcing job vacancies. The lack of organization’s visibility in HR policies and other extra visible point do not attract the competent candidates. Though it is best way of employer branding for effective recruitment, HR really ignores such parts due to external and internal pressure. The participants emphasized that management should invest in employer branding in order to attract competent candidates and motivate the  employees.  

The college recruitment can be started in order to get the competent candidates. This activity of HR would make the prospective candidates aware about the requirement of prospective employer. Similarly, it could be a medium to recognize prospective employer and prospective employee. Moreover, college placement, industrial visit, interactions, feedback session etc can be another way of employer branding for effective recruitment.  

It is not only monetary factor that attracts and retains employees. Small things in the organization such as canteen, well organized smoking zone, values given to employees or prospective employees etc matters a lot in retaining/hiring employees as well. The continuity and consistency in these activities are the major concern for HR. Similarly, HR has a challenge to maintain the credibility shown during the recruitment in later days. If the expectations of employee set during recruitment are not met in coming days, it would affect the retention part of the organization.  

The performance of an organization has a strong correlation with employee engagement. Employees’ involvement in organization’s CSR activity, knowledge sharing series, etc are an example of employer branding. An engaged employee’s word of mouth creates a positive image of the organization, thus attracting quality talent to the organization.  

The participants emphasized that HR personnel need support from top management to conduct employer branding and any other HR activities to make it successful. The organization should give importance to its logo, design, communicating its strengths etc towards the best place to work at and to attract competent people for the organization and retain the employees.   

All participants were positive towards making HR activities different and impactful. The program ended with commitment to learn from each other, make HR recognized and develop HR KURAKANI, a valuable platform for HR.   

Objective of HR KURAKANI 
1. To discuss latest HR trends, technologies and practices by HR professionals.To develop the network among HR professionals from different working groups. 
2. To develop the network among HR professionals from different working groups.