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LSE & 3i : Precision and Content Combined | FTSE 100 Website Reviews

My eldest son, having reached the dizzying age of 11, really kinda worries me.  He doesn’t want to be top of his class and, I have a sneaking suspicion, he deliberately sabotages various tests to ensure he’s not.

Why? Because he’s afraid of being labelled as a nerd.  It’s OK to be in the top class you understand, and he gets rather upset if there’s any suspicion that he’s not.  But not top of that class; that just makes you a social pariah.

Eh. We’ve all been there in our school and professional days I guess, hiding our true thoughts under the bushel for popularity reasons, pretending we’re not quite the person we really are.

Me? I have no such issues anymore and I’m happy to admit to getting rather nerd-ish about companies, their websites and their Sustainability Reports.  Perhaps it will catch on? Who knows…

This is why two websites have caught my eye within the financial sector of the FTSE 100.  Not because they’re outstanding in any way, but because each has its own little nuances which makes it an intriguing site to have a look at.

See. I told you I was a nerd didn’t I?!

[Read more…] about LSE & 3i : Precision and Content Combined | FTSE 100 Website Reviews

Bringing transparency to CSR reports

In those far off, misty days of University, one of the terrible misconceptions I used to labour under was that I could play the drums.

My few remaining friends from those days are still trying to convince me of my lack of talent on the piano and guitar as well.

No one mentions singing.

ANYWAY…

One of the drums I keep on banging today is to do with transparency as a foundation of a company’s sustainability, and it’s not just me this time either.  The reason for this is because as regulation has become looser accountability has to be strengthened, and the only way accountability can really be implemented is through transparency.

But how do you do it?  After all, publishing every minute of every meeting ever held will just be a data overload, and while businesses need to move away from secrecy as a default no one’s suggesting the end of commercially sensitive material.

An interesting solution comes from the Netherlands, where the mandatory examination of CSR reports for transparency has been going on for several years now. [Read more…] about Bringing transparency to CSR reports

Promoting apprenticeships on the corporate site

Are you focused on Valentine’s Day or apprenticeships this week? In case it had passed you by in the all-pervasive wash of hearts and flowers, I’ll just point out that this is Apprenticeship Week here in the UK, and apprenticeships are back in fashion.


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Providing apprenticeships is a great way of demonstrating social responsibility in action, by providing training for the young, the future workforce. A few companies explicitly draw this connection out, such as Mulberry and Rydon, who do so on their corporate websites, and Asos, where the Head of Corporate Responsibility commented in a press release on their new apprenticeship programmes.

With reportedly 280,000 Britons joining apprenticeship schemes last year, and another 100,000 places anticipated over the next three years, I thought I’d see how well this was typically conveyed on the corporate website, starting with those of companies reported in the press to be increasing their apprenticeship options this year.

I looked at a range of corporate websites, including several of those identified in the news as providing apprenticeships; disappointingly, some didn’t capitalise on the publicity by providing information about apprentices on their site, still less on the home page.

I also did a Google search to see what came up in the UK if I searched for ‘apprenticeships’. The top result (at least for me) was to the Apprenticeships site, a helpful site covering apprenticeships in general. The first corporate to come up was BT.


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The Google result was for BT’s corporate site, but in fact this is a single page, leading to a separate dedicated minisite about apprenticeships, BT4Me. This site has a very different design style to the main corporate site, as such recruitment-minisites often do, and includes video diaries and other films. Unusually, this site leads to a Facebook page for BT Apprenticeships: a good place to promote apprenticeships.

A very different approach is taken by BAE Systems, which headlines Apprentice Week on its home page (they’re training over 1,000 apprentices in the UK), and the link on the hero image goes to a dedicated multi-page section within the corporate site.

This section contains an extensive range of content, from a foreword from a senior member of staff and details of the apprentice programmes, to profiles of apprentices, benefits and how to apply. It’s well done, and mirrors the quality and quantity of material usually assigned to a graduate section, with strong impact. BAE Systems clearly take the apprenticeship option seriously.

Jaguar Land Rover (also focusing heavily on apprentices) has a separate careers site, with a dedicated Apprentice section within that site, with videos about the apprenticeships and lots of information about the programmes, benefits and application process, including hints and tips and FAQ explicitly for apprentices. Here the design of the apprentice section mirrors that of the site as a whole (unlike the BT minisite), so looks more corporate. Look out for the video filter, which means the visitor can identify the apprentice videos out of the entire set of careers videos: a neat little extra.

The Tata Steel (UK) website has a dedicated apprenticeship section within the corporate site, with the same type of explanatory information about the programmes, benefits and so on – but also has some older employee profiles, not just recent apprentices, showing the career progression for those individuals after their apprenticeship, which could be reassuring to prospective employees.

Rolls-Royce have a dedicated section too, on the corporate site, at the same level of hierarchy as graduate programmes and general careers. The landing page for this section includes a persuasive quote from an apprentice, explaining the benefits of an apprenticeship over university study. An extensive range of programmes are explained, along with details of benefits, profiles of apprentices and video diaries, and details of how to apply. Most apprenticeships seem to be in the technical industries: this was the first site I looked at where business and finance apprenticeships were offered.

Of course, it isn’t all technical apprenticeships: McDonalds (UK site) has an apprentice section – and I expect that if you’re UK based, you’ll have seen adverts for the McDonalds training. And just below BT on my Google search results page was the NHS, offering a range of health-care, hospitality and catering apprenticeships. Tesco offers apprenticeships in retail. And of course there are apprenticeships in many other fields of work – including new media.

In summary, I’d say that if you are offering apprenticeships, these should be given the same weight as any other type of candidate in your corporate careers section – and certainly, it should be possible to find some information about them, and the more the better. These sites listed here all have good ideas about how to attract potential apprentices, and what information they need to provide.

But the site of the week award has to go to BAESystems, for including a link from their home page in this, Apprentice Week.

A Nice Place to Work . . .


Last week Katherine Ratkiewicz, a Senior Research Analyst at the Human Capital Institute, published a thought-provoking post on one of the HCI blogs.  Ratkiewicz recaps recent events in the U.S. that have prompted a national discussion about civility, and suggests the discussion should extend to workplaces as well as political institutions.

Office politics can be just as intense as any election campaign, and there’s no doubt that once toxic talk gets started in an organization, it can easily spread.  As Ratkiewicz points out “nothing is worse for an organization’s productivity and effectiveness than toxicity”–yet all too often there is no plan in place for recognizing and reshaping problematic situations.

For example . . . what happens when a project is behind schedule, or a particular unit is underperforming?  If the response is blame-shifting, finger-pointing, and/or scapegoating, the result is likely to be harmful to morale, and not particularly productive.  When this is the norm within an organization, there will be a lot of unhappiness.

These days, social media can alert job-seekers—and desirable passive candidates—to toxicity in organizations.  If there is negativity in the company environment, HR may or may not be able to surface the problem, and may or may not be able to foster a solution.  But if your company has a positive environment . . . how can the Careers website communicate that?

Just proclaiming that you have a happy workplace may not carry much weight.  Even employee testimonials, video diaries, event snapshots, and similar online promotions won’t convince most visitors that your company is a little slice of Eden.  In fact, it’s important to avoid the impression of overselling the environment, lest it appear there is something to hide.

A better strategy is to ensure that everything on the Careers site maintains a pleasant, respectful tone.  And design also sends subtle signals—a frenetic look (too much color, needless motion, etc.) can suggest a nervous environment.

For more thought-provocation about workplace communications, check out a new book from experts Vincent Waldron and Jeffrey Kassing: Managing Risk in Communication Encounters: Strategies for the Workplace. Despite the somewhat daunting title, this brand-new text is practical and readable—and it covers territory that is often left out of happy-talk manuals.  The focus here is “risky interactions that threaten identities, relationships, and sometimes careers, including voicing dissent, repairing broken relationships, managing privacy, responding to harassment, offering criticism, and communicating emotion.”  Worth a browse!


(Thanks to the Yorck Project for this image of Giovanni di Paolo’s fifteenth-century painting Paradise.)

Social Media Engagement: 4 Ways to Launch an Effective Campaign

Effective corporate media relations is a multi-step process for any online business who wants to enjoy success and productivity. A successful branding campaign takes time, effort, diligence and careful planning. Corporations don’t build their brands overnight, and nor should social media be expected to sprout in a small matter of time. Many heads of corporate media relations spend the bulk of their time solely on building their brand online and creating a presence. A lot of thought is placed into this effort because they want to maximize their exposure.

How can social media benefit your organization? The main answer you will always hear in response to this question is exposure. The one way that you can drive interest to your product, cause or service is through exposure. With online activities of many organizations becoming the standard, exposure in its basic, pure form is ideal for the corporation to embrace and maximize its usage. Using and maintaining social media is just the beginning of what corporations can use to enhance their online presence.

Ways to Campaign in Social Media

To launch an effective social media campaign, there are four key components that should be implemented for total effectiveness. Try incorporating these into your business model for maximum results and client attraction and retention.

1. Target

Your corporation should identify the target market that they wish to attract. Whether they will attract their audience by using standard marketing efforts or social media engagement must first be decided before any action is taken. Decide which of the many social networking tools works best for what your corporation offers. Is the organization a proponent of education and enlightenment? Or, do they have a hard product that they want to sell direct to customers? Knowing to whom you are selling and marketing can make your target attempts more valuable and more precise.

2. Strategic Placements

What works best for your product or service? How can you better cater to your audience? Developing a systematical, methodical plan of approach is what works best here. Nothing should be done as an aside; careful strategic planning is necessary. Some of the biggest, most productive corporations on the planet have teams of strategists that work especially with target markets and analyzing trends. Although these types of resources may not be available to the average online corporate business, the same principle does apply. Research thoroughly and see what areas are conducive for your product or service. Develop a succinct marketing plan targeting that group and engage them through the most effective acts of social networking.

3. Engage

Use every available avenue of engagement to work with your audience. This includes social networking on standard sites like Facebook and Twitter. A very good article at steinarknutsen.com thoroughly discusses the ways to use corporate social media to drive traffic to your company’s website.

4. Maintain

It is just as important to maintain all forms of social networking once you have implemented the preceding steps. To neglect maintenance essentially undoes everything that has been put into action. Maintenance doesn’t have to be involved or complicated. Simple dedicated attention to the systems that have been put into place should be sufficient.

It may be necessary to tweak those areas that may or may not apply to your organization. Your marketing department director or staff can certainly identify any areas where changes can be made but yet keep the basic principles of the marketing effort. Another excellently written article at The Globe and Mail talks about how to build up and maintain your standing in any social media environment. Involving these basic criteria can have a positive effect on any marketing campaign.