Oct 19th, 2009 - Give me a dollar for every time I've heard that now hackneyed phrase 'the credit crunch' and I would probably have enough funds to pay off my many creditors. Undoubtedly the impact of the global financial melt down has been far reaching, not least of which is the impact on many organizations looking seriously at what they previously termed their ‘talent asset’ but have been viewing more recently as their 'employee overhead'. An overhead that in many cases has had to be cut.

The effect of all this turmoil and uncertainty on the working culture of such organizations, and moreover, their brand as an employer, is profound. The 'culture crunch' may well have a long lasting impact on such organizations’ ability to re-engage their employees, motivate them behind a common goal and strive together as a cohesive team, as they now re-emerge from the 'downturn'.

Recognition of this critical challenge and realization that together we had the potential to benefit many businesses, led Hodes in Hong Kong to partner with our Omnicom partner firm, Fleishman-Hillard, to offer new solutions in employee engagement communications.

As a leader in the field of employer brand building we have increasingly focused our creativity in employment message development and channel strategies onto internal employee communications challenges. Fleishman for its part has a dedicated internal communications practice delivering powerful solutions in communicating cultural and organizational change to global workforces. Here's what my colleague Rachel Catanach, General Manager of Fleishman-Hillard Hong Kong had to say: “The synergy between our two offerings here in Hong Kong seemed more and more apparent and given current market conditions, we believe that there are a lot of organizations out there right now in need of a structured, strategic approach to managing their talent asset, hence our brand for the joint offering of 'Talent Asset Impact^®'.

By applying and following a proven protocol and approach to employee communications through a logical matrix of analysis, activation and execution, Talent Asset Impact® considers all the issues surrounding the mass and individual communication of a company’s business strategy to combat current economic challenges, enabling clarity of thought in delivering employee engagement behind future business strategies.

In my view genuine employee engagement is critical - you can't just give the employees the T-shirt, you have to make them want to wear it. It's not merely about defining the messages you want to communicate internally but being creative and innovative about how these are cascaded down from senior management in a convincing, believable and persuasive way. That's where our pedigree in developing and communicating powerful employer brand messaging comes into play. Aligning this with Fleishman's proven expertise in organizational and change management strategies and consulting, makes for a very powerful solution.

Check out the details at: www.talentassetimpact.com

For more information email me on cplowman@hk.hodes.com

Chris Plowman Regional Director, Bernard Hodes Group APAC