This article is part of the special “Employer Branding Best Practices” published in the January 2024 edition of Human Resources, within the Employer Branding Conference 2024, promoted by Talent Portugal.
make the El Corte Inglés a place where everyone feels happy, motivated and fulfilled is part of our priorities.
Filipa de Oliveira Alves – Employer Branding Manager
In 2020 the El Corte Inglés created a department entirely dedicated to Employer Branding. Since its creation, this area of the company has gone through several phases, and in the first year, the big focus was on internal communication. According to Filipa de Oliveira, Employer Branding manager, it was at that time that, «together with the Department of Communication and Institutional Relations, we created the NEXO, a Portal and an app, the aim of which is for employees to have access to news about the most varied areas of our company, consult important documents (such as Standards and Regulations), among others».
At the end of 2021, and during 2022, the company felt the need to divide the department into two areas: attracting candidates e employee retention. «We then began by defining, for the first time, our company's EVP; we planned and created monthly content for LinkedIn (our day-to-day dynamics; sharing benefits; testimonials from our employees; celebrating anniversaries, among others); we were more present at job fairs; we created merchandising for events and/or job fairs; and, finally, we planned and carried out recruitment campaigns for various areas (which, until then, was not a very common practice)», he says.
In addition to all this, that same year, the company wanted to align communication with candidates across all touchpoints (from the moment they apply for a job until the point they leave the company). The aim was for the image and communication were more uniform e subsequent, regardless of whether management is carried out by different areas. The manager of Employer Branding do El Corte Inglés adds that “we also contribute to other HR areas by creating Kits for various programs”.
In 2023, in addition to the continuity of all these dynamics in the field of attraction, the department consolidated its work with regard to employee retention. «In this sense, for example, the following emerged: ECI Talks (a space where two or three times a month an expert is invited to speak on a specific topic, such as health and well-being, financial literacy, diversity and inclusion, or education, among others, and where we give all our employees the opportunity to watch live, or via Teams, for an hour, the debate on these topics". Filipa de Oliveira adds that, "last year, we also started our Team-Buildings (a practice that we believe brings the various teams closer together). We celebrated themed days and organized the usual corporate events. We also launched our Welfare Committee (which will gain more strength this year) with a set of initiatives that will promote health and the well-being of our people. Finally, and among other things, we have listened to our employees on several occasions, through questionnaires, on different topics, and at this point we would like to highlight our Annual Well-being Questionnaire, which is so important for our company, as it provides us with important information to help us define our strategy and plan for the following year.”
A solid proposal
Within the scope of this new department of Employer Branding, El Corte Inglés became one of the first companies in Portugal to create and publish its EVP. This instrument is the basis of the entire strategy of Employer Branding, “is what sets us apart as an employer brand and allows us to attract and retain the best talent. With our first EVP, we intend to portray, through a set of testimonials, our identity, our culture, our purpose (which involves the mission and vision of our company), our practices, our growth opportunities and a set of benefits that we have available to our employees. Making the El Corte Inglés um place where everyone feels happy, motivated e performed is one of our priorities. As the video we made in 2022 was a bit long, in February 2023 we felt the need to create another video, shorter, but which demonstrates, to the same extent, our practices, our culture, what we value and, essentially, our benefits (especially the flexibility we offer between personal, family and professional life and the help we provide our people to manage their health and their emotional, physical and financial well-being)”, says Filipa de Oliveira.
As a result of this commitment to developing its EVP, the El Corte Inglés is receiving not only more applications, but also candidates who are more aligned with the company culture. The increase was recorded in the last two years (2022 and 2023) and, according to the manager, it was also noticeable «the greater presence of candidates at our stands, at job fairs; the growth of our professional network LinkedIn; and, finally, the award we received this year from Randstad – Top 3 as one of the most attractive companies to work for, in the Retail sector. Regarding employee retention, we have felt that our people have been much more “receptive” to the initiatives we carry out (ECI Talks, team-buildings, participation in filling out questionnaires, participation rate in corporate events, among others)».
On the other hand, the company carries out a very broad range of work in the area of Diversity and Inclusion, with a department entirely dedicated to this topic. “What we do, as an area of Employer Branding, is to communicate what is done in this area (both internally and externally). Over the last few years, we have shared testimonies from people with disabilities to demonstrate how the opportunity to come and work for the El Corte Inglés (which may help other people), how our company had to adapt (depending on the employee’s disability) and how they feel integrated and welcomed, despite their limitations. In addition to these testimonies (which are often made in the form of videos or images), we also address various topics of this nature through ECI Talks. Regarding the motivation of our people, we consider it important to listen to them and be able to put into practice many of the things they address themselves. We also believe that the close communication we have with our employees, as well as the dynamics we carry out throughout the year, motivate our people”, explains Employer Branding manager of El Corte Inglés.
In conclusion, Filipa de Oliveira states that “we believe that the EVP we launched, the content we publish monthly on LinkedIn and the work we have done with schools and universities have contributed greatly to our employer brand being increasingly valued. In fact, the purpose of our area is to work hard, and increasingly harder and better, so that our organization is recognized as a “one of the best companies to work for”».
