Havas People

Employer branding undoubtedly plays a significant role in attracting and retaining talent. And, over the years, there has been a radical shift in how an employer brand influences the workforce, especially owing to the emergence of the gig economy. As the number of people working remotely increases, organizations find it challenging to create loyalty among employees and potential candidates, who would like to have more flexibility in work and freedom to spend time on their personal projects. “In the past few years, the way people work including the decentralized workforce has changed significantly, and organizations need to find a way to attract them and maintain a work culture that they can resonate with,” says Rupert Grose, CEO of Havas People, a team of specialists focused on building connections between brands and workforce. At a juncture when an influx of Gen Z professionals has introduced a challenge for organizations to accommodate them as well as retain the previous generations, Havas People enables organizations to connect with talent through unique branding strategies.

A part of Havas Group—one of the world’s largest advertising and communication networks—Havas People offers services such as employer marketing, internal communications strategies, student and recruitment marketing. It helps businesses find answers to questions such as ‘how can we attract the young Gen Z and the upcoming generations to our brand’ and ‘how to create an authentic and transparent work culture which is inclusive as well’. Havas People engages with its clients to understand their challenges and utilizes a unique brand methodology to devise strategies. Based on a proprietary research model, the methodology named ‘Meaningful Brands®’ helps in identifying the core values of a brand and how they affect people.

This also provides deeper insights into the candidate experience and expectations regarding the career and purpose they seek. “It is about identifying what brings meaning to people’s lives through a brand and by leveraging our unique methodology and bespoke strategy, we create meaningful brands that employees can resonate with,” remarks Grose.

While explaining the value proposition of the company, the CEO recalls an instance where Havas People assisted a large pharma company to develop an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) when the newly launched employer brand failed to resonate with the employees. Being a global organization, the client required the brand culture to be tailored according to the different cultures and values of each country they were operating in. Realizing the same, Havas People initiated global research to analyze the client requirements and provide insights into the employees’ aspirations. It revealed that they valued having a purpose but were concerned about being lost in a huge business. The client’s existing culture had untapped internal brand equity that focused on the internal and external workforce to align with the culture and EVP. Havas People built a messaging equalizer and conducted training with key stakeholders to educate internal professionals on EVP’s key pillars for instance, ‘Lunch & Learns’ along with training for HR, talent acquisition, and recruiter teams to promote their employer brand externally. The rollout and EVP proved to be a success, ensuring positive results. The client acquired over 91,000 Facebook followers and 1,000 Instagram followers in 3.5 weeks of launch and the recruitment campaign. The brand also witnessed an increase of 44 percent in candidates for the recruitment campaign.

With over 100 employees spread across the globe, Havas People differentiates itself from the rest in the industry with its strategy-led approach. “We analyze our client’s challenges and work with them to find solutions by using the experience gained over the years,” explains Grose.

The real strength of Havas People lies in its deep expertise in fulfilling the needs of multinational companies. Capitalizing on the same, the company plans to expand its presence in North America. Moving ahead, the company aims to create a transparent and inclusive brand culture for the upcoming generations.