One of the topics covered this week in HRM501 has been the definition of a signature experience for an employee and its importance in supporting the employer brand strategy. A signature experience is the practice of hiring the right people to fit into an organization's culture. It is an overall employee experience that serves as a powerful symbol of that organization's culture (Erickson & Gratton, 2007, p. 1). Through the discussions, we have learned from various examples that a failure by an organization to provide a clear picture of its brand, its history and its culture could lead to hiring the wrong people, which could ultimately result in damaging its reputation. For example, if the nature of a business is fast-paced and requires multi-tasking, a failure to convey that message in recruiting efforts may mislead someone into thinking that he could get by working at the organization with just the proper training. He may not necessarily want to work in or be the right fit for that type of environment but he gets recruited due to a failure by the recruiting team to clarify its culture. He did not obtain the full picture. As a result, his inability to fit into the culture and help meet and exceed clients' expectations could lead to significant negative impact on the organization relationship with its clients.
An article by strategist and author Brett Minchington (2011) provides some clear insights on the importance of looking at the entire employee life cycle in order to provide an efficient signature (employee) experience. He stresses that by paying attention to the changes in employees' needs and motivators throughout their tenure, the organization would be able to create measures to address these changes in order to maintain employee engagement, productivity and profit.
Erickson and Gratton (2007) define the signature (employee) experience as a powerful symbol of an organization. It is created by a bundle of everyday routines that are unique to a company's culture and reflect its heritage.
Also on SHRM, my position on the signature experience has been that HR's role, as a capability builder, is to help employees find meaning and a sense of purpose from the work that they do. This sense of accomplishment can be a motivator that leads to increased productivity. It creates a signature experience that has the potential of attracting the right talent pool, according to Kibam Wilson's (SHRM) views. He also added that this right talent pool can help the company attain higher performance, which may ultimately lead to business expansion.
References:
Erickson, T., Gratton, L., (2007, March). What it means to work here. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2007/03/what-it-means-to-work-here/ar/2
Minchington, B., (2011, November 23). Delivering a signature employment experience. Retrieved from
http://brettminchington.com/free-resources/strategy/130-delivering-a-signature-employment-experience.html
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