While Nestle India the big food maker is battling its biggest crisis in India, it has asked its employees and all their families and friends to become “valued brand ambassadors” for the company in midst of the company’s battle regarding discussions in the public domain on monosodium glutamate (MSG) in Maggi. In an email to employees, chairman and managing director Etienne Benet, a Swiss-French national who is hardly seen in public, said their role “at times like this is more important than ever……”

The point is why only in crisis, even in peaceful times a company can rely strongly on their loyal and engaged employees instead of hiring expensive brand ambassadors for image building. If a company wants to get extraordinary loyalty from its employees, it needs to take initiative in creating a mutual sense of that relationship. After all, engaged employees build stronger brands. No two thoughts on it.

Though, most companies focus all their branding efforts on marketing activities such as advertising campaigns, corporate communication, attractive packaging etc, yet one of the most powerful assets a company has is – its people. This is regardless of which industry the company is in, for building a strong brand requires that all employees feel connected to the corporate brand and understand their role in turning brand aspirations into reality. The earlier this is understood, it is better for the company. It should aspire to motivate its talent pool into turning brand ambassadors for its business health because employees rank higher in public trust than a firm’s PR department, CEO, board of directors or Founder. Employees are the most credible source of information regarding the organization. The frontline staffs give a glimpse of the organization’s culture and integrity. When a customer interacts with one of the frontline employees, or with the work produced by behind-the-scenes employees, everything the company’s PR and marketing departments have done will be put to the test immediately.

To build a strong corporate brand, the company must invest in its employees who are thoroughly engaged, connected and committed. Scarlett Surveys is the global provider of the best-practice AER Employee Engagement Survey System used by hundreds of organizations to intelligently manage employee engagement.

Scarlett Surveys International defines Employee Engagement as “a measurable degree of an employee’s positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organization that profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work.”

This is where leadership comes into picture. The leaders must lead by stetting examples and embody promises made. When customers deal with an organization, they deal with a mix of employees from various ranks and cadre. A customer anticipates doing business with a company only when the employees look confident, happy and positive.

Attrition is not good for any company’s health. If a high number of employees are leaving then something is wrong; the question is what, and what can be done to improve it. Organizations must foster good work atmosphere because employees who genuinely love, enjoy, and feel connected to their jobs are the ones who best represent the company they work for.  I hope this makes sense, doesn’t it? You will see those employees are the most engaged, the ones who like coming into work every day and are the most likely to say positive things about your company on social media. This is why it’s important to leverage these engaged employees as ambassadors for a company’s brand.

However, in the age of social media, nothing is hidden; hence, it’s not uncommon to see employees badmouthing their organizations – sometimes subtly and sometimes openly. So why do loyal and engaged employees make the very best brand ambassadors? Quite simply, the visibility that engaged employees offer when talking publicly about the brand they represent is something that can’t be imitated emotionally and genuinely by best of the hired models or any outside source. Consumers can tell when employees are being sincere about their passion for what they do and for their company.

Engaged employees sincerely love the company they work for so they are more likely to spread that love on social media. They can organically increase brand awareness on social by sharing news and updates with their friends, fans, and family. They love their company brands so much that they can easily answer customer questions and comments on social, acting as your first line of communication. They provide a relevant, human face for the company they work for, and hence, they can create authentic, compelling content that drives traffic and increases social engagement.

At Starbucks at a point in time, some of their executives visited their coffee shops and noticed that good employees were losing their poise when faced with agitated customers. Instead of coming down on the individual employees, they developed new training material that eliminated the stress of these situations. The executives at Starbucks found that when they empowered their employees with tools they needed to serve customers happily, their employees gained their smiles back.

Do you know friends that Eastman Kodak is one such company in world which has the longest average tenure for employees at 20 years?  This Centurion old company gives the excitement of a strong core business and brand that is recognized and respected in virtually every country around the world. It enables its employees an effective organization, with strong leaders, engaged employees and winning culture.

The key to employee engagement lies in providing growth opportunities, varied roles and empowerment. In India, ITC is one such organization, in which, its senior executives hardly ever quit. Attrition at senior levels is less than five per cent and for frontline staff around 10 per cent. Naturally, ITC and its Agro Tech rarely hire from outside, preferring to promote insiders. ITC also backs employee initiatives. The company allows people to incubate businesses. The team in charge of the paper business suggested getting into greeting cards. A few years later they realised they were not getting anywhere and came back with a proposal to enter office stationery. The company placed a second bet on them. This time it hit the jackpot. In four years, office stationery has grown into Rs 500-crore business for ITC.

A great company culture breeds happy people. Those happy people who connect with their roles and the company become engaged employees. Let us not underestimate role of each employee in an organization from the sweeper to the CEO each one has a big role to play.

Organization must deliver the promise to employees. “When employees feel that the company takes their interest to heart, and then the employees will take company interests to heart,” says Dr. Nelson, a clinical psychologist, bestselling author and business trial consultant. She mentions in her book an example: in 2011 after wrapping up a record-setting year, new Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook rewarded employees by giving them paid vacation through the week of Thanksgiving. In a memo to employees Cook wrote, “In recognition of the hard work you’ve put in this year, we’re going to take some extra time off for Thanksgiving. We will shut down with pay on November 21, 22 and 23 so our teams can spend the entire week with their families and friends.” This act of Cook motivated the employees to no limit.

Similarly, Proctor & Gamble also pays back company success to employees through extra paid days off. “It ate a little bit of their bottom line, a little bit from the stockholders, but oh my God what it bought them in employee loyalty and productivity,” says Dr. Nelson. She writes “If you’re doing well, share. And for God sake, don’t let your executives walk out with a bonus if the company is not doing well. People don’t mind that execs make money, they mind if it’s exorbitant if the company is not doing well.” She says in her book that even when the company is not doing well the information should be shared with its employees. Employees accept realities than being kept in dark.

Make your employees your brand ambassadors.

A lot is said and written on how to answer interviews, how to dress up, how to greet and how to answer (all this for the interviewee) but, what about the interviewer? I think that interviewing is a skill which rarely is correctly practiced. I have been on both sides of the table; and having the experience of interviewing some intelligent, friendly, bright, timid, shy, unripe candidates which has really helped me become a better person. As an interviewee, I must mention that I have rarely seen an established, well-mannered, polished and mature interviewer.

The world depends most heavily on the least reliable, yet, most expensive method in hiring employees and that’s the interview technique. It is the most expensive process.  I call it expensive because it begins by inviting the so-called ‘experts’ which is often absurd.  Some of the panelists think no end of them and demand high fees for conducting interviews. Then it all depends on how sincere they are, how enthusiastic they are and whether they are geared competitively to ask questions. Friends, many interviews become a waste of time when wrong people are invited on the panel. Some half-baked experts get intimidated when a bright candidate is better informed and in fact gives the right answers. When the panelists are not well informed, are not really ‘expert’ in the chosen field of interviews their egos get hurt, and they turn out the real suitable candidates from the process of selection. I have seen so far in my life some most callous, unfriendly ‘quacks’ conducting interviews. Thus interviewing is one of the least accurate steps in the selection process.

Another fact is assessing candidates is highly subjective, and is based on whatever assumptions (prejudices) the recruiter and the interview panelists have; there is a mismatch between the mood, and the chemistry between them and the candidate. Even factors such as physical appearance, dressing, tone of voice, or time of day can impact the interview. Please give this a thought – if there are two candidates with same qualifications and experience, one panel turns down one of the candidates, but if that candidate is made to take interview with another panel  he/she has bright chances of getting selected. Please try it, and you might get amazed.

In my opinion written tests are ten times more accurate than interviews. You get all types of computerized tests or you can prepare them depending on the requirement. Through computerized tests you can assess the IQ, EQ, SQ, RQ, compatibility, knowledge of the area all of these and many more factors. The most accurate hiring procedure is use of ability-merged tests that measure aptitude, motivation and competitiveness followed by a trial period, a review of the resume and, of course reference checks and experience etc. But, sadly we all depend heavily on the interview technique. Perhaps, it is because, it allows to gauge a candidate face to face.

Research has consistently shown that the typical unstructured interview is pretty unreliable. It does not consistently ensure that the most qualified person gets a job or that the person will perform any better than another candidate chosen with less care. The validity of choosing candidates by only using an unstructured interview process is about the same as simply picking someone at random. But recruiters and their HR managers love interviews. I suppose they like it because it satisfies their ego, need for power and control; all powers are vested in the interviewer to select a candidate.

Interviews are rarely done consistently; after five or six candidates the panel gets bushed. It becomes a rote question-answer session. After the first two or three candidates the panelists experience the ‘economies of scale’ from interviewer to interviewer or from candidate to candidate. Yet, we typically consider all the interview inputs for a candidate as if they were done in the same way. Therefore we are comparing grapes to apples, and apples to oranges; the hairs we split and the time we spend distressing over a small detail or a particular answer to an interview question is a white wash.

Carefully constructed interviews, where the questions are directly related to measurable skills, competencies, or past experiences, take a lot of time to prepare and, to be most effective, have to be delivered in a similar way to each candidate for the job. It requires lot of detailing and scientific measures. From my experience as a recruiter, I can say it is time consuming and requires real expertise.

What happens when a person is already chosen for a job, and interviews are conducted to ‘show the world’ that the concerned person is chosen through a process? I have experienced some rambling, incoherent, and amorphous interviews which are a sheer waste of time for both – recruiter and candidate. The interviewers look into the resume of the candidate and ask questions randomly ranging from funny questions why something is his hobby and why something else is not his hobby? Or why he left a job, when the candidate starts answering and the panel is weary the candidate is asked to cut short, and is asked to validate something they already expected and wanted to hear. A well-versed, experienced candidate (one who has given many interviews) can game the system in many ways to incline the deck in his favor. No wonder that most candidates often roll their eyes at the absurdity of the interview process.

The mistake most companies make is they are not ready with the checklist while they hire people; they should be prepared with the requisite skill sets for the position – such as enthusiasm, courtesy, honesty, warmth, sincerity etc. Also recruiters need to check attitude, aptitude, social skills, and personality traits. The fact is these are inborn traits and cannot be taught. List the job tasks, along with the qualities, education, experience and training a person needs to do the job. Then it needs logical processing of identifying how to determine whether a person has all of the qualities that has been listed. Reference checks, background investigations and other sources also are equally important.  Compatibility is the most important factor, and the smaller the organization, the more important it is. Compatibility is where most problems occur, and it’s the hardest to check. While hiring a candidate it most important to check whether the applicant shares same values as the organizations’.

A person could have a terrific aptitude for the job, is motivated, has lots of experience, education and training for the job, but if he/she does not fit in with everybody else, the candidate will create problems. He/she will eat up much of management’s time every now and then for trivia. Compatibility can be gauged by comparing applicants’ test results with results obtained from testing an organization’s best and worst existing employees. After short listing the final candidates, ask them to carry out a practical task, such as solving a case study, doing a presentation or preparing a report. This is a great way to show whether their bark is bigger than their bite, in other words if they really do have the goods to deliver. Although the style of their presentation may not fitting, or they might not be polished and astute or they may not exhibit perfect knowledge but look out for that out of box thinking, look out for the attributes to cope in a high pressure situation.

Finally, let me tell you, there are complex reasons for why people do what they do. And a mere interview of some minutes or hour cannot reveal the precision of a person.

Since the 60s the idea of single monoculture is on a slow extinction.  It has given way to pluralistic society that continues to evolve through cultural integration and influence.  These changes are evident in fashions, dietary habit, entertainment, music, literature and sports.  Diversity adds spice to life.

Distinguished management experts have asserted that diversity in organization is a good thing because it forces teamwork, because people know that they must cooperate with each-other to get results, and for a cohesive work culture. Designing and maintaining a consistent workforce with diverse features is a tough managerial task.  Diversity in organization occurs when the organization hires people who have a broad range of background, when the demographics vary on a large scale with difference in age sex, culture and physical challenges.  Cultural ethnicity is one major issue, which needs to be handled with care.  When the pool of resource is large and diverse in nature maintaining equality is a hurricane task.  The reality of globalization is that the boundaries of nations have shrunk, communication speed has increased and the entire world has become a global village.  It is important therefore we respect, accept and celebrate diversity.

Chester Bernard, author of the management classic ‘The functions of the executive’ has described informal organization as any joint personal activity without conscious joint purpose, even though contributing to joint result.  Thus the informal relationships established in-group of people during various celebrations like a dance party, a birthday celebration or a wedding anniversary may aid in achievement of the organizational goals. Globalization, migration and communication challenge organizations to develop broad perspectives of management.  Organizations have to mix and merge people from different parts of world for various operations.  People accept change in cultural diversity if it is a non-issue.  Organizations should constantly but subtly   coach its people to accept change in and around them.

Progressive companies all over the world recognize the advantages of integrating worker from culturally diverse backgrounds. These companies view diversity as a business plan as in today’s global marketplace companies interact with different clients with cultures and different code of conduct.  In the early stages, International business was conducted with an ethnocentric outlook that means the orientation and type of operation was based on the parent company.  The modern multinational corporations have geocentric orientation. The total organization is viewed as an independent system operating in many courtiers.  The relationships between headquarters and subsidiaries are collaborative.  Communication flowing from both directions encourages viewpoints of workers at all levels.  Furthermore, managers of different nationals occupy key positions.

In short, the orientation of multi-national corporations is truly international and goes beyond a narrow nationalistic viewpoint. MNCs have recognized the business opportunities in many different countries.  It can raise money for its operations throughout the world.  Moreover, multinationals firms benefit by being able to establish production facilities in countries where their products can be manufactured more effectively and efficiently.  Companies with worldwide operations sometimes have access to natural resources and materials that may be available to domestic firms only.  Also a large MNC can recruit management and other professionals from a worldwide labor pool.   Companies have recognized the various pros of diversity.

 Increase in Creativity: When different people are put together towards a common solution there is no one best answer to any question because the organization can obtain more and more ideas.  Different cultures of the employees can offer insightful alternatives to a problem.

 Increase in Productivity: When people of variety of culture and variety of backgrounds are made to work together it increases their productivity exponentially. This happens because it kills monotony of work culture, brings freshness in work atmosphere.  Different people have different styles of performing work.  Every employee motivates the other with his difference of style.

Negotiation skills: Negotiating is a part and parcel of life.  Everyone is busy negotiating on some or the other matter.  Every culture has it own philosophy on negotiation.  Americans hate negotiating, they rarely negotiate; you will find them negotiating except for buying a car or a home.  But when Americans have to work with different cultural backgrounds of co-workers they realize the art of negotiation.  Negotiation should always be a win-win situation.  There should be a common ground for negotiation; it should not leave a feeling of hurt on any party.  Germans are called tactful negotiators.  So this can be learnt when diverse people come together to work.

New Business Processes:  Diverse people have diverse attitudes to business.  Companies need to adapt newer business skills and newer processes.  The cross-cultural workforce can bring in better and newer work processes.

New language skills: People can learn new languages while working in organization from their co-workers.  By learning each other’s language the barriers can be reduced.  The companies pay a high sum to language interpreters.  By motivating people who love to learn new languages, companies can curtail expenses.  By learning new languages people can get insight of other countries.  They can improve their communication skills.  After all multi linguistics are always preferred by an organization.

But, Prof.Stephen Bainbridge of University of Illinois Law School argues that homogeneity should be maintained at the workplace as it increases productivity and profitability.  He further states that people feel at home while working with people like them therefore they work more effectively.   He recognizes that people have problem communicating their idea and emotions to people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.   It is a waste of time and energy to work on diverse workforce he comments.

 Prof.Ron Burn a Professor of Sociology and Strategy at the Chicago Graduate School of Business has published several papers on diversity.  He is of the opinion that diverse workgroups are more innovative as they not only have more variety in experience but they are also connected to different source of information in their environment.

Kent State University located in the heartland of America allows students, faculties and staff to learn about variety of cultures from around the world.  Dr.Sheryl Smith – an Associate Dean of students and Director of Campus Life says that the university environment encourages students to explore and understand and appreciate the difference and similarities among cultures especially with diverse student organizations   through events sponsored by these groups.  Students, faculties and staff can experience food, music, dance and sports from wide variety of culture.  The philosophy is simple: students will have to work some day with people of different culture and they will encounter differences.  They should feel at ease and poise when they enter their professions.

Managing cultural diversity is simple.  We all need to address the myths, stereotypes and cultural differences that interfere with our daily chores.  The age-old gender fact that only male and females exist in organizational workforce has lost ground; today we have gay and transgender individuals making vital contributions to our economy. Nations and workforce are both becoming more diverse. The share of people of different color, cast, creed, religion, tradition, language, diction, practice, and ethnicity is part of organizational workforce.

 We are witnessing more women entering the labor force; while taking increasingly the forefront. They are occupying vital roles and are the decision makers in more organizations. It is an open fact that businesses that embrace diversity have a more solid footing in the marketplace than others. Whatever color, black or brown or white.  That is it.   The word “global village” may appropriately describe the world we live in today.  The fiber optics, aerospace and computers link all that exists is a part of our lives. The geographical boundaries are shrinking day by day.   Let’s give up obsolescence and move on to improve productivity.