Aon hopes Man U deal will lure talent, as well as customers
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As Manchester United strikes more goals, Aon hopes to win over the hearts and minds of more customers, and also of its current and future employees.
When the insurance giant signed a deal in 2009 with Manchester United – reportedly for 80 million British pounds over the four-year contract, or about Bt1 billion a year – to have its logo prominently displayed on the jerseys of the Premier League soccer team, obviously it wanted to gain more recognition from both football fans and the general public.
However, promoting its corporate brand is not Aon’s sole purpose. According to Rick Payne, a practice leader of the insurance group’s consulting unit Aon Hewitt, through aligning itself with the winning sports team, Aon also aims to attract and retain the best human resources.
“A company needs to align its employee brand with its customer brand. Through the sponsorship with Manchester United, everybody knows our values such as serving communities, engaging employees, delivering client value,” he said.
To attract and retain talent, companies need to establish reputations that resonate with prospective employees and also with the broader community.
“It’s not good enough to be known among employees and potential employees. Because the best employees will want to work for companies with a good reputation. Employee branding goes beyond the perception of employees,” he said.
The practice leader for talents and rewards in Asia-Pacific was giving an interview to The Nation on the sidelines of the consultancy’s breakfast roundtable series, “Building an Employer Brand Through Engagement” held in Bangkok last week.
Payne said a key point was that while companies need to live up to and sustain their brand promises, most employees do not believe their leaders and managers follow the values that they preach.
“Our survey shows only 45 per cent of companies believe their leaders and managers follow the values they state. However, among the ‘best employers’, more than 70 per cent of them have been found with leaders who are following their companies’ values.
“So, this alignment critically differentiates ‘the best’ with the rest [of the companies],” he said.
Luis Danai Kristhanin, practice leader for leadership at Aon Hewitt Consulting (Thailand), said McDonald’s was another example of companies that have brought their “3Fs” – flexibility, family and friends, and future – to both their customers and staff.
“Even though most of their employees are part-timers, McDonald’s has differentiated itself from other fast-food companies and has drawn in a lot of talent because of its ‘future’ employee value proposition that it has communicated both internally and externally, that promises future career growth for their staff,” he said.
A Bank of Thailand official told the roundtable session that while the central bank could attract many stars, it faced some difficulties in retaining some who were job-hopping since it could not offer salaries as high as private banks.
“That’s why we’re heavily emphasising [staff] engagement at the Bank of Thailand right now. We’re trying to make employees feel if you work with us, you are proud, you do it for the country ... besides the salaries we give to you,” she said.
