You never really know what a person is like until you live with them and you never really know what it’s like to be an employee in an organisation till you work there. I have worked in big organisations and small organisations I have applied for many, many jobs been interviewed for a lot of them. They all produced attractive and informative candidate information packs which stated their mission, their values and their commitment to EDI. This was very useful for preparing for an interview because prospective employers like to think you have done your homework work on the organisation.
However it was the Person Specification that was scrutinised most carefully to ensure I fitted the essential criteria. It was the post that attracted me not a specific organisation. In fact since I was most often applying to an organisation in another part of the country I had no idea of their reputation locally. In one case I applied for a post in the full knowledge that the organisation had serious problems in the area of business I was interested in. My thinking was this was just the type of organisation to make an impact, improving their services would enhance my own reputation/career prospects . Unlike many organisations they recognised their problems and the board was willing /determined to address them. So the omens were good.
Received wisdom is that one of the best ways to determine whether an organisation is a good place to work is to ask someone who works there. However it is well known that that the main factor in determining an employees experience is their relationship with their line manager closely followed by that with team members. Which is why we say people leave managers not organisations and why HR spend a lot of time dealing with grievances ( bullying, harassment, and personality conflicts).
It’s often not until an individual falls foul of the organisation that they can determine whether the organisation is as it claims to be , fair, ethical, strong on customer care and genuinely committed to the health and wellbeing of employees. There are many example of large well established organisations who in the face of whistle blowers have shown them selves to be more concerned with the organisations reputation than the quality and service experienced by customers. Some organisations have been well known in the past to make extensive use of No Disclose Agreements (NDA’s) as away of paying off employees for their silence.
In other high profile large organisations they have refused to recognise Trade Unions claiming they are not necessary or not wanted by employees who are happy with the organisations current arrangements for consulting employees. This all points to the real culture of the organisation which like salaries and bonuses is neither open or transparent.
How does an organisation get and keep a good reputation/live up to its brand?
I worked for two very different organisations in their approach to their employer brand . One spent a lot of money marketing the organisation the other on marketing the service. One had a very hire and fire approach. If legal advised the individual had a reasonable case for unfair dismissal they and HR came up with a figure to ensure the individual didn’t go to an employment tribunal and signed an NDA.
The other organisation dismissed employees for gross misconduct and always defended their actions at a tribunal. One organisation did not recognise trade unions the other considered TU’s as useful in maintaining good industrial relations and an effective way of consulting the majority of employees in a large organisation. It is easy to identify which organisation was on brand .
