Last week we launched a discussion starter, proposing that the CMO should lead HR (or at the very least have a seat at the table), and the responses have been amazing — ranging from absolute agreement to arguing that we are totally off the mark. This week, we want to look at some data.
According to a recent poll, 72% of employees believe that HR is management’s pawn. Moreover, only 7% believe that HR looks out for employees’ interests. That means that 93% of those surveyed believe that HR does not look out for employees. Said differently, only 1 person out of every 14 believe that HR acts in their interest… you get the point.
What this data reflects is significant and should not be ignored: HR has a really bad branding problem. Who better to help build the brand of HR than Marketing? With HR having to execute the day-to-day tactical operations of employee management one could argue that the CMO and the marketing team have an important role to play. Additionally, one could argue that the Marketing department is trained on the tools that are needed to execute a well-rounded campaign to build the brand (and by proxy trust) of HR and, by extension, the company’s brand and culture at large.
A recent survey of over 300 HR professionals shows that the department is failing to use social media tools to drive employee engagement, regular communication and teambuilding – core activities that would drive trust and overall brand perception.
Q: To what extent do you use social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, company page, etc.) in the following activities?
If 75% of HR departments are not using social media to help build teams, and only 11% are using it to communicate with employees, of course they have a brand problem – they only time that employees have contact with HR is when they are hired or fired; in between is filled with silence.
Still want to argue against CMO + HR?