(Gov Exec's Tom Shoop interviews John Sepulveda,

CHCO, VA, and Robert Buggs, CHCO, Education.

Picture is from ClearanceJobs.com, one of our

fellow underwriters for the Press Club event.)

On Tuesday, I heard two top Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCOs) confirm what we have been sharing with our clients as the way ahead in 2012: Even amidst budget issues, agencies and their workforce need to get the story out about their value. In fact, with government employees being slammed as under-worked and over-paid, the present is the best time to show taxpayers the ROI on their taxes and government leaders the ROI they receive from investing in employees. Employees can then genuinely believe their own management finds them worthy of enhancing skills through education and training.

The occasion was a Government Executive leadership briefing at the National Press Club on human capital challenges, co-underwritten by TMP Government. Both John Sepulveda, Assistant Secretary for Administration and CHCO at Veterans Affairs (VA) and Robert Buggs, CHCO at Education, acknowledged that retention and recruitmentneed a boost from branding.  Mr. Sepulveda noted that getting everyone on board for this effort remains challenging as many in government still feel alien to branding. Yet with retirements happening and possibly fewer high quality applicants (see the recent NACE survey), government has to get across the significance of critical work, e.g. reducing homelessness of veterans.

Mr. Buggs mentioned that the two strongest statements of federal branding he knew were President John F. Kennedy's first inaugural address with its call: ""Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" The second was the U. S. Army's "Be All You Can Be" brand, which ran for 21 years and came from legendary N. W. Ayer copywriter Earl Carter. This latter brand was based on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which has influenced the TMP approach to employer value propositions. Maslow saw that once people have satisfied basic physical and psychological needs, they sought higher fulfillment in becoming the person they "were meant to be," e.g. a calling.

In our branding process, we parallel this self-actualization need, with the self-expressive aspect of a value proposition, when a person aligns their personal goals with the agency mission. It follows that the best way to get and keep people is for them to feel genuinely that they are achieving their highest potential while working for your aims. The Kennedy line reinforces that this ideal employee is sufficiently self-actualized to be able to "put service before self."

Of course, enunciating a value proposition is only one step in creating brand salience, i.e. ensuring that job seekers will remember you at the time they apply. Current government employees are extremely influential in shaping attitudes, and, as Mr. Sepuveda said, they have been "punching bags" over the last few years. These employees need to see that they are valued and worthy of investment.

Hence, the CHCOs pointed out the need for training and additional retention measures. The hiring process needs to have its value affirmed, too. At the top end, CHCOs need to assume a strategic advisory role with agency heads to help them understand the staffing demands of incipient programs. On the tactical level, hiring managers had best speed up processing applications and reduce the still unfavorable time-to-hire that loses prospects to the private sector. 

We'll add that both need to be able to articulate who you are, how you benefit the American people, and what you offer your workforce.

The lead article in the January Government Executive magazinetackles recent attempts by non-profit associations and unions to create more favorable view of federal employees. For example, with trust in government at a low, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is running a campaign, called They Work for U.S. Through real-people-type testimonials, representing citizens, it shows Americans how much they depend on government for health, safety, protection, and overall well-being.

In the article, compensation expert Howard Rishercomments that much more is needed to turn the federal brand around:  "The Marines understand branding. It's more than PR - and it's certainly not defensive. The question is, why would someone find a career with [an agency] an exciting prospect? Each federal agency needs to develop a 'rocket to the moon' answer." Of course, agency's that don't have NASA's mammoth achievement wonder if they have such an answer.

My experience has been that they do. Our clients government agencies respond well to Mr. Risher's approach, i.e. finding what ad man Leo Burnett called inherent drama: discovering what most moves or excites your audience about what you're selling. Burnett's Chicago agency (where I worked in the 1970s)  translated those emotional attributes into compelling archetypal images like the Jolly Green Giant, who expresses the bounty of the earth.  The CNBC Titan Series, aired this past summer. honors Burnett along with leaders like Steve Jobs and Jack Welch. The program is available for instant download on Amazon.

As I pointed out in my last post, now may be the best time to shape up and tighten down all aspects of your HR programs, and particularly your approaches to retention and recruiting. In the days to come, agency HR is likely to face challenges on all fronts—from Congressional measures to limit the size of the government workforce to aggressive competition for talent from corporations emerging lean and hungry from the recession.

Our team at TMP Government has been wrestling with the implications of this long view, and we have identified several areas where your agency can get the most bang for the buck in holding steady amid the disruptions to come..

Let your workplace culture shine. Of course you want to attract the best and the brightest with your employer value proposition, but you should also make sure that the work environment you provide has comparable staying power with the top performers you already have on board. Don’t be naïve: other agencies, pressed by attrition and scarcity on the recruiting front, will be looking to poach not only your stars but your supporting players too. Take pains to keep all your valuable performers satisfied that your agency’s culture meets all their needs for support and personal development.

Fortify your employer brand. What’s the net recruiting value of making the top tiers in the Partnership for Public Service’s “Best Places to Work” ranking? It’s certainly high today, and will likely skyrocket amid tomorrow’s inter-agency competition for the best talent. Qualified students and other potential recruits who are inspired by the public service ideal are still out there, although admittedly not in the high numbers of a year or two ago. Ask yourself how well your agency stacks up against others as a potential employer in the eyes of an intelligent and discerning candidate. Then let a frank assessment of your existing brand guide you in a good faith effort to refine it—i.e., to make the reality of your workplace match the promise of your branding.

In recruiting, engage the most promising individuals at the right moment. Although ‘targeting’ may sound a bit harsh, it’s exactly the right idea when it comes to identifying the segments of candidates most likely to advance your agency’s mission and at the same time thrive in your culture. Smart ‘audience’ research is the key to productive engagement; the more precision you achieve in this task, the more successful and cost effective you’ll be in engaging and on-boarding recruits likely to stick around for the long haul.  Focus the same precision approach on choosing outreach events and media. Not all online and/or social sites will be equally productive for all agencies or for all circumstances. Study and refine your results on the fly. Don’t just shoot from the hip.

While you have time, spend it on supercharging the efficiency of your HR processes and systems. Chances are that the next few years will be marked by shrinking resources in government HR departments. The agency that can make the most of what it already has will have the advantage. Focus right now on getting your systems and processes up to snuff. Agencies that can bring successful candidates on board quickly will have an edge. Increased online communication and interactivity among recruiters—and among recruiters and interested candidates for that matter—will help the best HR departments keep a handle on recruiting quality individuals as fiscal and operating restraints tighten.

Not one of these countermeasures is in itself a solution to the challenges you face, but, implemented together, they should help you steer a straight course through the gale warnings on the horizon. 

Considering looming trends in Congress and attitudes reported to be widely held among Americans, it makes sense for Federal HR strategists to start right away with contingency planning for a significantly altered recruiting and human capital environment. And I don’t mean Band-Aid solutions. The atmosphere that’s taking shape is likely to impact recruiting in the government for the next several years at least.

The political trends—not to mention the drift of public opinion—are clear. Certain current and incoming members of Congress have put the size and salary structure of the Federal workforce on the legislative agenda. Recent (and mutually contradictory) surveys on government compensation compared to that of the private sector—characteristically amplified by the media—have raised the visibility of both the salaries and the sheer numbers of Federal workers in the public eye. And let’s be honest with ourselves: the salad days of high enthusiasm for government service among young job seekers—approaching a peak barely two short years ago—appear to be gone for a while.  What’s more, the dreaded retirement exodus—admittedly overhyped in the press for a decade—can still exert some destructive force on the Federal workforce and on the embedded experience and know-how your current agency team embodies.

The impact of these and other emerging conditions on how your team manages the work of your agency can be substantial and, in the worst case, disastrous. So, as I said at the top, it’s not unwise to plan for the worst case—i.e., a shrinking workforce and parallel restrictions on compensation and on how many recruits you can bring onboard to handle your agency’s mission. Given these impending threats, your future could be all about competing to attract and retain the best talent available, and doing so with limited resources. And remember, you will be competing on two fronts:

• First, with a corporate sector emerging from a recession and playing human capital catch-up, and then
• with other Federal agencies that need to retain and replenish their workforces under the same bleak conditions that you will be facing.

All this seems to promise a bumpy ride for Federal recruiters, managers and planners alike. So get ready. In my next post, I’ll bring forward a few suggestions about dealing with this potential nightmare for the agency manager and human resource specialist.

Central to the identity and appeal of TMP Government (and of course of our parent company, TMP Worldwide) is its position as “the Digital Brand Authority.” Followers of this blog might benefit from my discussing exactly what this short tag implies for TGov clients.

At the obvious level, this term succinctly underscores our knowhow in two intersecting realms: branding and digital engagement. As you yourself may have discovered, a productive blend of these two expert disciplines is not particularly common, especially in our Washington, DC market.

When we state that we know how to brand our clients—either as employers or as “corporate” entities—we’re making a pretty far-reaching assertion in our own right. For starters, it implies that we can deliver on the analytical front—specifically that we are accomplished at discovering the full implications and nuances of a given client’s…

1. Identity (both self-declared and widely perceived by folks on the outside)
2. Competitive position/share of mind in the Federal arena and/or talent marketplace
3. Complex relationships with stakeholders and targets of influence (including, as relevant, potential recruits)

That’s the first qualification…knowing how to identify, sort, and balance all these underlying factors in the brand. The second? The insight to fine tune, revitalize, or even alter these elements substantially to accommodate real-world conditions or—when change is on the agenda—to match the client’s “aspirational” goals. In step three, the icing on the cake, we develop a resonant and memorable creative expression that embraces and focuses the evolving brand.

So far I haven’t mentioned the “digital” part. Here’s where TGov lengthens its lead on the competition. Clearly the creative “engine” behind a client’s brand has to leverage online, electronic, rich media and mobile knowhow (all these fall under the digital mantle). Anyone who knows our work has at least sampled the full spectrum of digital creative products—from websites to online games to video to social media—that we have produced for Federal clients. Ensuring that these digital products—usually the mainstream output of our efforts--are brand-authentic is the culminating component in our work.

Even so, this doesn’t convey the full picture, digitally speaking. We live in a digital world. For the most part, our clients’ key audiences are digitally savvy. To clarify what I mean, let’s rewind to my comments on the analytical aspects of brand-building. The constraints and possibilities of operating in a digital world have to be astutely considered and factored in during all our early-stage “discovery” activities as well. Make no mistake: the complexities are legion, and the experience and training it takes to do this with style and smarts are not easily earned.

And that, in short, is why we can honestly call ourselves the digital brand authority. In our government market, who can compare?

Judging by their efforts, the most pro-active practitioners of social media outreach in the government are turning enthusiastically to the mobile web, Facebook, and other Gov 2.0 modes as they strive to expand their respective agencies’ prestige and audience reach.

For those of us who are focused on recruitment, it’s a little surprising that most of these initiatives don’t begin with the intent of attracting new hires. Still, these leading agencies are building their brands and that, done well, results directly in more informed and enthusiastic recruits.

Here are three examples of federal organizations that are demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of the power of social media, although each emphasizes a different aspect of the challenge:

• the U.S. Army’s IPhone application,
• the White House’s use of video on its Facebook page, and
• the EPA ‘s development of guidelines for its employees’ use of social media.

The Army has released an IPhone app that allows access to a vast store of materials, including content from the Army’s Facebook and Flickr pages, as well as all the video products on its Web site. Released in mid-December, the app achieved more than 20,000 downloads in its first month alone, soaring to a Top-25 ranking for free news sources at the iTunes App store. Take note of its Find a Recruiter facility if you need evidence of the app’s more direct contribution to recruiting. You can find out how to download the app at www.army.mil/mobile/.

Best Practies case number two is the White House, which recently posted a seven-minute video on its Facebook page. The video is a professionally produced mini-documentary about the White House advance team’s trip to an Ohio town to prep for a presidential visit. From a branding standpoint, this slice-of-life coverage, complete with jiggly hand-held camera work, reinforces the authenticity and appeal of everyday activities by the team. Other agencies—particularly those with a more urgent mission to recruit employees actively—can find a polished model here. This is exposure to on-the-job reality at its best, an indispensible tool for reinforcing the appeal of an agency to the community of potential recruits, which is almost always more expansive than agency human capital planners imagine.

My last case is not flashy in any way, but underscores an emerging need in federal social media use: how to ensure that overenthusiastic employees don’t go overboard with the tools at their disposal. EPA’s guidelines are judicious and prescient. Among agencies that encourage informed employee/brand ambassador use of social media, this is a first. In the hope that other agencies will emulate it, I’m reprinting EPA’s handy flowchart below.

Although employer branding has been around for years (Simon Barrow of TMP Worldwide’s UK subsidiary defined the term back in 1996), it hasn’t quite received presidential attention. In fact, government agencies, however, in spite of encouragement from OPM, have been slow to make it a priority. But all that’s about to change. In October, Harvard’s Kennedy School along with University of Maryland and OPM held a closed door meeting with members of the administration and Congress. OPM Director John Berry is taking key ideas garnered from the gathering to the president.  As reported by The Washington Post, one of the hot topics is that “Uncle Sam should do a better job branding and promoting his work. “

Agencies have their own reasons for being and need their own unique brands. The Post article states it well: “The Army and the Marine Corps know how to do it. Certainly money is a motivating factor for recruits, but the military, in part through TV commercials, has successfully branded itself as a place where young men and women go to become mature adults with a clear sense of mission. You can't say that about your average civilian agency.” [Emphasis supplied]

How frequent is it to see employees of a company "sell" themselves purely on the fact that they work(ed) there?

How many companies do add enough value to a resume for someone to brand himself with it's name (and rely on it to find a job)?

Well, give a look at www.pleasehire.us, a website developed by the interns at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (one of the coolest ad agency around, Agency of the Decade according to Ad Age).

Who said employer branding was something that had to happen from the inside out?

Read an entertaining piece on Yahoo! the other day about how out-of-date certain terms are in relation to describing the Internet. Most were what you would expect, like Weblog (for blog), World Wide Web for Internet, and “surf” (which was ridiculous the minute it was first said out loud. “Hey, look everyone – I’m surfing the Internet!” No. No you’re not. You’re sitting in a chair. You’re barely even moving. And take off the wet suit.)

I’d make the argument that the same thing has happened with the employer brand. There’s an entire lexicon that has developed around the concept, which is fine as far as giving people a common framework. But I think it also tends to complicate efforts.

Rather than seeking a basic, concise understanding of what’s going on in the workplace, how to communicate it, and how to improve it, we put our efforts into crafting the “employee value proposition.” (Just saying it makes it seem important enough to talk with anyone about it. You know, like the CEO. “Oh, I thought you just wanted to hire and keep employees, but now that I know you want to create an employee value proposition, that’s different. Come on over to my house for a barbecue. How about some stock options?”)

Let me offer up something a little more direct. Something, that in it’s simplicity gives us the focus and objective we really need.

Here’s the scenario.

Two friends are talking.

Sooner or later, one of them is going to ask the question “How’s work?”

Whatever the answer, it’s going to leave an impression. And someone is going to walk away with an idea about an employer, maybe even your company.

These conversations are happening everywhere, every day – through professional networks and on social networks, in back yards and in front offices. And they’re conversations we all need to affect.

And we need to affect them not with academic jargon that raises eyebrows, but with conversation that creates interest, the kind of conversations that people really respond to.

So, how’s work?

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It looks like the Beltway will be tightening its belt. President Obama has pointed out that just as American families are making sacrifices so must those who serve government. With a new initiative holding programs and projects to stricter standards, agencies as well as contractors must show the value of their contributions to the American people.

“Mission statement” rhetoric will not cut it. What a company might proudly view as its heritage may soon be seen as habit. Instead, contractors must perceive and communicate the genuine, immediate and long-term value of their offering. Enduring organizations tend to invest in discovering how their value proposition remains applicable as circumstances change. And waves of change are now surging throughout the government community.

The President’s challenge to the government community. March has roared in like a lion in Washington. As the snows were melting from the Capital’s first major snow storm of the year, the President, joined at the White House by his campaign rival Senator John McCain (R-AZ), came through on an election promise. On March 4, 2009, President Obama vowed to change how things get done in government. In his news conference, he gave a rationale consistent with the events of the past few weeks: "As we get our economy moving we must also turn the tide on an era of fiscal irresponsibility so that we can sustain our recovery, enhance accountability and avoid leaving our children a mountain of debt."

Now he has targeted what he considers the abuses of contracting: "The American people’s money must be spent to advance their priorities - not to line the pockets of contractors or to maintain projects that don't work."

The White House Memo, entitled "Government Contracting" not only calls for a review of all existing contracts, but for the establishing of contracting guidelines going forward. By July 1, 2009, the Administration will issue government-wide guidance to "identify contracts that are wasteful, inefficient, or not otherwise likely to meet the agency’s needs, and to formulate appropriate corrective action in a timely manner." By the close of FY 2009 at the end of September, OMB Chief Peter Orzag must indicate new guidelines governing key areas of procurement for each agency.

A shift in the role of government. The memo further raises the fundamental question of what work is "inherently governmental." Hence it challenges agencies to delineate the ground rules for outsourcing. The burden of proof has suddenly shifted from the recent implementation of Circular A-76, in which agencies have been under pressure to show how they can beat out private sector rivals. Now the agency must prove why it is outsourcing and give additional proof if it will use a non-competitive or cost-plus vehicle. The memo explicitly states that "contractors may be performing inherently governmental functions." And it asks for the lines to be redrawn.

Good news for small business. Even as the President called for stringent scrutiny of major contractors, he opened doors for small businesses. Interestingly, in the news conference, the President linked this issue with outsourcing: "We will stop outsourcing services that should be performed by the government and open up the contracting process to small business." The new hierarchy of contracting gives greater emphasis to small business side by side with a return of "appropriate work" to government. Branding, of course, is important here as many set asides and small businesses have very low profiles.

Agreed: more contracting officers. A few weeks ago, TMP had the opportunity to discuss employer branding with recruiters of greatly needed government contracting officers. Consider that government spending has increased over the last nine years by about 155 percent to almost $532 billion. But the acquisition workforce, e.g., contracting officers and specialists, has increased only 10 percent. Meanwhile to the President’s chagrin, there have been fewer and fewer full competitive contracts (a trend that began with the Clinton administration).

Not surprisingly, George Washington University legal professor and acquisition expert Steven Schooner told the Washington Post that the most important review ordered by the Memorandum is to evaluate “ability of the federal acquisition workforce to develop, manage and oversee acquisitions appropriately.” That’s where we need a stronger contracting workforce to help ameliorate what the President sees as a "broken system." And that calls for an employer brand appealing to business-minded young people on par with other opportunities: http://www.fai.gov/FAIC/Default.asp