Philippa Lamb talks to Rebecca Clake, CIPD Adviser involved with the research about brand, the effect of a merger on your brand and maintaining the trust and engagement of your employees during a merger.
CIPD commissioned Helen Rosethorn, CEO of the Bernard Hodes Group to carry out the research.
Martyn Worsley, is our third speaker: he is Managing Director Global Talent Development at Bank of New York Mellon and has seen through the merger of two large banks.
Rebecca talks about the research on mergers and acquisitions and the impact on employer brand and the employees’ reaction to the news of the merger. You can find the link to the research report listed below.
Martyn tells us how the employee’s fears were addressed during the merger of two very different banks with global interests. Later, he talks about retaining values and making the two halves of the merger fit together, both for clients and employees. Helen points out that the head of Mellon bank was still very new. Find out why this was an advantage in the takeover situation.
Brand management is the subject of a book by Helen Rosethorn. She explains how important it is to look forward not back, to build the brand; she gives examples from her case studies. Rebecca wonders about merging organisations of different sizes: can the smaller one retain their values, culture and brand.
Rebecca explains that the research commissioned by CIPD looked at the whole story during the merger. Careful attention was paid to finding out what it was like for the staff at the bank, not just the team empowered to carry it through. Hear her sum up what was really important to employees and how Martyn’s anecdotal evidence ties in with this to achieve a successful merger.
Philippa remarks that there is a key role for HR even when their own jobs may be uncertain. Helen agrees that HR is key to keeping lines of communication open and says she is developing a toolkit to address some of these problems; particularly the mis-match of perceived timetables and sense of premature finality observed in many of the report's case-study mergers.
The speakers are asked whether brand authenticity is a myth. Helen is the first to answer this big question. Martyn expects more changes but not to authenticity of his brand.
Related links
The impact of mergers and acquisitions on employer brands: research summary.
Mergers and acquisitions place unique pressure on the deal between individuals and their employer. CIPD commissioned Bernard Hodes Group to investigate the impact on the employer brand of the process of change brought about by a merger or an acquisition.
CIPD has a subject page on employer branding
This link goes to a list of resources on this topic.
Find out more about the Next Generation HR work that Rebecca mentioned
CIPD has a factsheet on employer brand
You can find a previous podcast on employer branding – No 18
There's a new CIPD podcast every month. Coming soon.. Creating a creative reward strategy.. and more..