Employee Survey Reveals Difficulty Of Brand Engagement

Posted by Abe Sauer on December 23, 2009 10:55 AM

What do Gibson Guitar, United Airlines, DHL, Hertz, and AutoZone have in common?

They are in the top ten of the 25 lowest-rated companies according to a survey of employees conducted by Glassdoor, an organization focused on transparency in the workplace.

The survey targeted eight key workplace factors: Senior Leadership, Communication, Employee Morale, Career Opportunities, Work/Life Balance, Compensation and Benefits, Recognition and Feedback, and Fairness and Respect. The results also address CEO approval ratings. Take this comment, for example:

“Good people overall…[but] An absolutely bizarre culture that top-to-bottom seems to revolve solely around trying not to upset the CEO.” – Anonymous Gibson Employee

Or this one about United Airlines:

“Job security is always an issue and stressful to one’s life and home life. Extremely dysfunctional pay scale system. Most of the employees have placed their heart and soul in to this company only to have their face slapped for doing so.” – United Airlines Supervisor Airport Operations

The full list can be read here, and includes Kmart, Radio Shack, Forever 21, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

The issue of brand engagement has been discussed at length on brandchannel as industry experts highlight how important it is for brands to have informed, engaged, and happy employees, yet this common sense observation appears difficult for many brands to put in practice.

An earlier study by Glassdoor on the best laces to work revealed Southwest Airlines, Google, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, and Apple to be in the top 25 -- all strong brands.

What are these successful brands doing that the others aren't in terms of brand engagement?

More about: Gibson Guitar, United Airlines, DHL, Hertz, AutoZone, Kmart, Radio Shack, Forever 21, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Southwest Airlines, Google, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, Apple, Glassdoor

Troy McQuillen says:

While employees should be trained to live and breath the brand, they usually are not. Nor do they care. Employees are people...highschoolers, college kids, actors, workers...most of whom have no interest in the company nor job they're working in. Therefore, the brand suffers. In my area, DHL is run out of some dude's house. What's up with that? Study the brand-to-employee-to-consumer issue all you want and the number one problem with brand disconnect is employees who are just filling jobs. Add a sluggish economy, lower wages, job hoppers, regionalization of thick labor pools (and no labor pools) and there's no brand left. Just items people may or may not want to buy. You've heard of Sear's Blue Crew? The folks in blue that are experts and will help you to no end...you've seen the TV commercials. My local Sears' Blue Crew dude approached me the other day wearing a dirty hoodie (probably "Holister" brand), cargo jeans and a two-foot lanyard hanging from his waist. Hey, that's not what I saw on TV!!! Bottom line, if companies want employees to live the brand, there needs to be separate pay grades for that and job performance reviews must be centered on brand position.

December 24, 2009 10:14 AM #

Jim Signorelli says:

Successful brands stand for some well-defined belief or human value that is bigger than the company.  The importance of achieving performance  goals (Nike), the joy of discovery (North Face), creativity (Apple), flying should be fun (Southwest) ..these are just a few themes that have become part of successful brand stories.
And the reason for success is that the value was embraced beyond the marketing and advertising departments, or some hallow brag-and-boast, over-promising, bullshit theme line.

Oftentimes the operations people get left out of the meeting about "who we are."  Or when they do attend, they aren't asked how to manifest the brand theme through employees and with customers.  Instead they are asked how to make certain that  standard service expectations are delivered, mistakes are eliminated, and people show up on time.

To Troy's comment above:  Unfortunately what you say about DHL and Sears are the rules when they should be the exception, especially in this economy.  One would think that the labor pool would be such that brands could be more selective and employees would work harder support their companies.  But no matter, until the leadership of the company clearly defines, embraces, and practices what the brand stands for and until the people working for him or her KNOW what that value is and are directed to support it,  you're going to see more service people in hoodies.  (BTW, was it at least a blue hoodie?)

December 25, 2009 08:43 AM #

Arun Panangatt says:

I think it all boils down to an issue of trust - how much do employees trust their leadership and the company that they work for ?

Trust is very difficult to foster in an environment
-where employees who are perceived to be smart by the leadership ( seen as aggressive & cunning by their colleagues) get all the roses
- employees who empathize with customers are perceived to be irritants
- Leadership themselves are not above board in their dealings and conduct

By and large most companies are driven by bottom lines ONLY. In spite of having hunky dory policies on paper , what drives most corporations is short term gain. This is suicidal in the long run and most companies are aware of that. But most senior executives nowadays do not see beyond 5 years. It is imperative for businesses to be profitable to survive - but how this profitability is achieved is the question? Do you achieve this by fleecing the customer for whatever he is worth right now OR do you build a relationship investing time & money ? A tough choice I guess

December 28, 2009 05:05 AM #

laszlo kovari says:

One often missed point that results in a lot of discrepancies between the brand (promise) and the organization that should deliver on it is that

the brand should be the reflection of the organizational identity. In other words, the brand should come from inside the organization. This view is in polar opposition of conventional views.

In lack of an organizational identity the so called brand is nothing more than an abstraction in which case it's not a surprise that there is no employee engagement; in fact all employee engagement initiatives are non-sense.

The best/common practice of implementing / enforcing "brand initiatives" on the organization (from the outside-in) is a logical and practical impossibility. Examples may range from trying to align the organization to the brand, to trying to reinvent the brand and then selling it to employees and "audiences".

December 28, 2009 09:13 AM #

Robert Becker says:

There seems to be some confusion here about what a brand is. The research claims to report on "brand engagment" across eight dimensions that have nothing to do with a brand:

Senior Leadership, Communication, Employee Morale, Career Opportunities, Work/Life Balance, Compensation and Benefits, Recognition and Feedback, and Fairness and Respect.

My friends, a brand is a promise to customers. It is not a human resources policy. Employees could rate all of these dimensions high and still have a creepy brand (Goldman Sachs). And clearly, since the article focuses on the negative, they can rate them low and have a great brand (Coca-Cola).

December 29, 2009 06:44 PM #

Louis Vuitton bags says:

louis vuitton handbags is a popular brand with bags, wallets, and handbags as their main product.

January 2, 2010 09:47 PM #

Lida DaiDaihua Slimming Capsule says:

http://www.lida-slimming-capsules.com/

January 3, 2010 03:27 AM #

Dvd BoxSet,Replica BRM Watches says:

I am willing to give you a big surprise: <a href=http://www.replica-brand-watches.com title=replica brand watches>replica-brand-watches.com</a> is <a href=http://www.offerreplicawatches.com title=offer replica watches>offer replica watches</a>. I bought an <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-iwc-watches_g1179 title=replica IWC Watches>replica IWC Watches</a> a week ago from this site. They sell a wide range of <a href=http://www.replica-brand-watches.com title=replica watches>replica watches</a>, such as <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-chanel-watches_g1138 title=Replica Chanel Watches>Replica Chanel Watches</a>, <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-brm-watches_g1172 title=replica B.R.M Watches>replica B.R.M Watches</a> on sale, <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-rolex-watches_g1190 title=replica Rolex watches>replica Rolex watches</a> for sale, <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-omega-watches_g1184 title=replica Omega watches>replica Omega watches</a>, buy <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-christian-dior-watches_g1769 title=replica Christian Dior watches>replica Christian Dior watches</a>, sell <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-gucci-watches_g1682 title=replica Gucci watches>replica Gucci watches</a>, <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-cartier-watches_g1174 title=replica Cartier Watches>replica Cartier Watches</a>, <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-richard-mille-watches_g1189 title=replica Richard Mille Watches>replica Richard Mille Watches</a>, Wholesale <a href=www.replica-brand-watches.com/Replica-ebel-watches_g1176 title=Replica Ebel Watches>Replica Ebel Watches</a> and so on. And I also hear that they also <a href=http://www.lovedvddisk.com title=sell DVD Sets>sell DVD Sets</a> which are mainly new and existing. Now, many companies are promoting their products. The more important, their price is very reasonable. If you want to buy the watches and <a href=http://www.lovedvddisk.com title=DVD Sets>DVD Sets</a> now, it is not a bad choice for you to buy from <a href=http://www.replica-brand-watches.com title=replica brand watches>replica-brand-watches.com</a> and <a href=http://www.lovedvddisk.com/ title=dvd box set>lovedvddisk.com</a> on 99172381231231128

April 6, 2010 03:46 AM #

replica handbags says:

2222 now, it is not a bad choice for you to buy from <a href=http://www.replica-brand-watches.com title=replica brand watches>replica-brand-watches.com</a> and <a href=http://www.lovedvddisk.com/ title=dvd box set>lovedvddisk.com</a> on 99172381231231128

April 12, 2010 11:30 PM #