STORES Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 32)

EXECUTIVE SUITE / COVER STORY “LOVE WHAT YOU DO” ecruitment strategies, training programs and retention plans are essential tools for competing in a tight labor market. But Bart Weitz, executive director of the Miller Center for Retailing at the University of Florida, cautions retailers about overlooking the importance of employment branding as a means of differentiation. Executed correctly, he says, employment branding can attract the right candidates — and weed out those who wouldn’t be a good fit — long before their resumes land in the HR inbox. Employment branding is a value proposition intended to manage the perceptions of employees, potential employees and key stakeholders as they relate to a company. In so doing, it sets the stage for recruitment, retention and productivity. By creating a specific perception of a retail company and ensuring that it is demonstrated in the store experience and overall business practices, experts say employment branding can provide a R competitive edge. “Strong employment brands provide value to both retailers and their potential employees,” Weitz says. “For retailers, it provides a means to attract candidates, build loyalty – even facilitate entry into new markets. For potential job seekers it holds the promise of a consistent experience, helps to simplify the job-choice process and reduces the time and effort someone might spend searching for information about a retailer.” JCPenney uses the tagline, “JCPenney & YOU A Perfect Fit.” At Home Depot, it’s “A Team. A Future. A Career. What Will You Build?” At Southwest Airlines, the theme is “Feel Free to Actually Enjoy What You Do.” Weitz considers Starbucks (“Love what you do”) a poster child for employment branding. Along with an intense training program, the coffee giant has a strategy that includes printing the company mission statement on the back of business cards, hosting an internal Facebook community and providing employees with the opportunity to pursue a “masters” program in coffee tasting. It’s been reported that the company spends more on recruitment and development than it does on advertising. Another key to luring talent may be tying employment branding to social responsibility and/or activism. Gen Y is idealistic and has proven to be committed to social causes, particularly the environment. Employment branding can work to attract a portion of this workforce – provided the messaging is in line with what they actually see and experience. Wal-Mart was rated the second-most socially responsible company in the United States in a recent Harris Worldwide survey of college students (Ben & Jerry’s was No. 1). Three-quarters of the students surveyed cited “fair labor practices” as the issue most important in determining a company’s social responsibility; two-thirds said being “ecofriendly” or “green” was most significant. resources and administration officer for JCPenney, believes that filling the pipeline with talent takes a multi-pronged approach. Penney maintains visibility on college campuses throughout the nation, runs an active internship program and invests time and money on college recruits. “Ours is a very structured, project-driven program with senior management involvement,” Theilmann says. “We believe in providing our interns meaningful and challenging opportunities with exposure to the business. … If we recruit someone out of college, we bring them into one of three training programs” for up to seven months. Theilmann believes in having executive management teams on campuses and insists on seeking out specific talent. “We like to pick the right people, give them the right exposure and the right training and be sure that the boss they’re working for has a vested interest in their development.” Retention rates are high: Since the first program in merchandise training was put in place five years ago, approximately 80 percent of the recruits who go through the 32 STORES / JANUARY 2008 program step into jobs at the company. At Macy’s, the training is comprehensive and considered by some to be the industry vanguard. The programs are broken down into four areas – executive development, store management executive development, buying executive development and planner development – and CEO Terry Lundgren is as hands-on as time permits. Begin at ground level o ensure that Macy’s will have the talent it needs to be able to deliver on future strategies and goals, Lundgren believes you have to start at the ground level. In addition to his involvement with the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona, he is on the retail development board of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has recently spoken at Dartmouth, Columbia and the Fashion Institute of Technology. “The personal involvement helps us attract the really good graduates,” Lundgren says. “I’m able to convey some of the passion we have about the business T WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2008

STORES Magazine - January 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Build a 'Bot Sneak Peek at Fashion Trends What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Fishing for Talent Retail CEO Compensation Research Concept2Watch E-Commerce Payment Solutions Online Merchandising POS LPInformation LP Vantage Point Newsbeat Industry Watch Cover Story: Making LP PCI-Compliant Mall Security Video Surveillance Industry Perspective Forum RFID Business Intelligence Data Management Logistics Turning Green into Gold Love of – and for – the Outdoors Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - January 2008

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