1

Best Practice:
Siemens’ Development
of a new Employer
Value Proposition
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THE SITUATION PRIOR TO THE NEW EVP

Just like in many other companies, for a long time Siemens had pictured employer branding as a talent acquisition topic, with a strong focus on
recruitment. Due to the increasing strategical need for companies to be positioned as attractive employers to work for, Siemens realized that a
more inclusive approach was needed.

In 2014 Rosa Riera started working as Head of Employer Branding and Social Innovation and broadened the scope of Employer Branding
at Siemens. Rosa Riera explains, ‘to me employer branding is not only about recruitment, it also comprises a strong element of employee
engagement and employee identification. Besides that it underpins the “Master Brand”. It is a symbiosis of HR- and communication topics –
coupled with business needs.

Nowadays, many of Siemens’ regional CEOs view employer branding as a top priority. They realized that digital transformations, new
technologies, new business models and the shortened time span of market developments made it increasingly difficult to find experts quickly
and retain them after hiring. Despite Siemens being a strong brand: The effort needed to recruit specialists and experts for open job positions
has increased significantly.
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These new strategical changes caused the market to have a blurry picture of Siemens. Christoph
Knorn, Siemens’ Global Director Employer Branding, describes the challenges: ‘Somebody who
isn’t aware of what a company stands for will never have this company top of mind when thinking
of an employer of choice. We learnt that many students and young professionals, and even more
concerning a share of our own employees had no idea what Siemens really stood for as well as the
opportunities offered by Siemens. This is fatal when facing the future: If fewer and fewer people
know what a company stands for, the company will eventually become less and less interesting
In 2008, Siemens launched an employer branding to people.’
campaign, however as time passed the emphasis
on employer branding was overshadowed by a Universum’s rankings which represent the most attractive employers for students and young
strong focus on marketing communication. professions indicated that Siemens was still doing well in many markets. However, it was around
Since 2014, Siemens made a complete this time that Siemens started showing the first signs of global decline in popularity in the
transformation as a company. rankings. The employer brand decreased slowly but steadily – a development which deeply
concerned Siemens.
Not only did we have a new CEO, but
also had a new strategic approach Rosa Riera explains, “We were convinced that we still had a great offering for the labor market
that resulted in a new company set- - as our products make a true impact on society as a whole and help many people. The effects
up. Also our business models have our solutions had were enormous, but the talent market was not aware of this. In the past
evolved in many units. we didn’t manage to convey this effectively in our story telling. We wanted to change this
Rosa Riera, moving forward.”
VP of Employer Branding and Social Innovation
Siemens AG In short: the time had come for a new employer value proposition (EVP).
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In the past, the communication style that Siemens adopted could be described as let your
work speak for its self. Christoph Knorn visualizes this by saying: ‘Our employees were proud of
working for the company, but it seemed like that this feeling was buried under a layer of dust.
Our aim was removing that layer of dust and to begin expressing and communicating in a more
prominent manner about what we do.

The old and soft communication style of ‘whispering’ the news about our achievements is not
Objective suitable for today’s business world, especially as we need to compete with marketing-focused
companies.’ Rosa Riera adds to this ‘showing off will definitely never become part of our style.
In order to once again earn top positions in the But telling our story proudly is dear to me – as I really do have outstanding colleagues whose
employer rankings, the main objective was halting work I want to get recognized by the market.’ Obviously this also increases the chances to keep
and reversing the trend of Siemens’ slow but steady on attracting and welcoming exceptional talent to work for Siemens.
decline as soon as possible. The new positioning
and tremendous internal transformation of Siemens
generated great opportunities to communicate much
clearer what Siemens stands for today.

In Rosa Riera’s words Siemens is a unique employer,

‘it is true that we are a traditional company, but
at the same time our work is extremely modern "Our aim was removing that layer of dust and to begin
and visionary. People working for us can become expressing and communicating in a moreprominent
a part of this and make a huge impact.’ She still manner about what we do."
gets goosebumps when visiting the factories,
when following up on projects or just by listening
to colleagues working within R&D. Rosa Riera is
convinced that ‘Siemens allows people to work on
amazing challenges and topics. But we didn’t talk
about it often enough!’
The most important steps 5
Of course getting budget for internal research is going to be easier than outsourcing external research. However, bringing a new
process to the team can be quite the undertaking so you need to consider three things: knowledge, resources and time.

1 Analyze the external perception

At first it was key to understand how the market perceived Siemens as an employer. For instance, what do engineering students
think about Siemens? Which attributes do they associate with the company – and which ones are not being associated with
Siemens? Siemens received an extensive amount of data and support on these matters from Universum, and from there we were
able to begin to develop a deep understanding of the data itself and its fine nuances

2 Analyze the internal perception

Following step one it became just as important to create an understanding of the internal perception of Siemens. Universum
carried this out by organizing global focus groups. In total 700 people from six different markets (including members of the board and
management) participated in these focus groups. This provided Siemens with insights on what their own employees think of them:
Why do our employees like to go to work? What matters to our employees? Where would our employees like to see changes?
3 Identifying the EVP
With the help of Universum, Siemens was able to identify its EVP (including EVP-statement and key topics) based on the given data
and the newly generated insights. The dialogue with different regions and businesses was especially important for this process.
Rosa Riera’s experience is that ‘throughout the whole process it was extremely important to keep on including the perspectives
and perceptions of our businesses and regions on an ongoing basis.’ This involvement ensured and reconfirmed that the EVP
development was built upon relevant topics.
4 Localizing
Siemens provided its regions with the highest possible scope to localize their EVP. Despite the regions’ entitlement for local
adjustments all regions left the key components of the EVP untouched. Only smaller components of the EVP were adjusted to
local conditions, if adjustments were made at all. The consistently high approval of the final EVP is linked to the inclusive process
characterized by involving various opinions right from the beginning. ‘Due to this buy-in from the regions we obviously feel
confident about our global EVP,’ said Rosa Riera.
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Take-aways for a successful launch
Commit yourself from the start to working together with a strong partner!
‘…at least for the duration of developing one solid all-inclusive strategy -
this is worth its weight in gold! It doesn’t matter if you team-up with an
old or new partner, there is no right or wrong. We purposely decided to pick
a new partner who will look at our situation with an open and fresh mind.
When picking a new partner you need to invest more time in familiarizing
the partner with your organization, for us this effort paid off and was
worth it. Choosing a partner correlates a lot with what you value. For us it
was for example important to find a partner who is well experienced with Take enough time to generate findings from your data!
brand building and also familiar with digital transformations.’ ‘I’m convinced: you need a strong set of data to generate
important and relevant findings, which form the basis of
Christoph Knorn later discussions – and not the other way around. For us it
was extremely important to gather solid insights from the
market. This takes time and cannot be done in a rush, it’s
Find alternatives to classic pitches by agencies!
important to commit to this investment. Especially when
‘We believe that classic pitches by agencies aren’t the right fit for these the topics get more prominent and different businesses
tasks. Instead, we took three months to create think tanks with chosen and regions want to see immediate results, it can be a
partners with whom we tackled a number of different topics. This helped challenge to stay committed to a solid process.
us identify who can be of help to us and who suits us. Thereby the
human component plays a role as well: if the first meeting is filled with It was good that we took this time and were allowed to
dislike you shouldn’t risk going forward! On the other hand there is also carry out our job as originally planned. I can only advise
the professional aspect: In these kinds of conversations I realize very everybody: fight for having enough time to generate
quickly if somebody can engage me and make me progress – or if meaningful insights from the data!’
somebody hasn’t got anything new to offer.’
Rosa Riera
Christoph Knorn
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Ask for support! Balancing global vs. local is key
‘If you take employer branding seriously it will
In big centralized companies it is common to see guidelines being developed centrally
exceed the impact HR has on your company.
and then forwarded around the world: ‘Please apply this in practice.’ This may work
Due to this we’ve been working very closely
in specific cases – but not when working on an EVP. At Siemens, people were aware
together with our colleagues from corporate
of the importance to include local perspectives early on. Christoph Knorn offers an
communications and strategy. Right from the
example: ‘When I talk about respectful behavior the understanding of what this entails
beginning our EVP journey was a co-creation
in China differs for sure from the understanding in the USA. It is key to develop a general
among these three entities, which was
understanding which translates into the EVP. At the same time the EVP must entail the
very helpful.’
freedom to reflect local nuances.’
Christoph Knorn

Develop a central information hub!

‘From day one of this project all relevant material
with regards to employer branding, which had
previously been stored at different locations within
the company was relocated to one location on our
intranet. All applicable materials that had been It is key to find the right balance between global vs. local. Rosa Riera emphasizes that:
developed up to this point can be found there. At ‘from the beginning we knew that our team located at our headquarters in Munich cannot
the same time we stopped saving materials in know everything, as market insights can be very country specific. Though despite each
other locations and concentrated on collectively region’s uniqueness we still have a lot in common – and these common connections are
storing all new material in one place. If people the aspects we need to put forward.’ The prerequisite for a successful balance is putting
start engaging with employer branding it becomes in the hard work of having in depth communications with each of the different countries
frustrating to them if they cannot access and/or in order to understand how they define themselves so that you can find the common
find all the needed information.’ denominator for connecting all regions. This effort paid off, according to Christoph Knorn:
‘the more people you have onboarded at the beginning of the process the easier it will be
to roll out ’.
Christoph Knorn
The biggest challenges 8

Siemens has about 351,000 employees in more than 200 countries – given these circumstances
it can become very challenging to promote the importance of obtaining an EVP. According to
Christoph Knorn ‘given our long history some departments tend to think that everything is going
well as Siemens is a strong and well-known brand.’ Some struggle understanding that there is a
real need to communicate to potential employees as well as to some of the current employees
what the company wants to stand for and the purpose it offers. This in itself can present a big
danger. Christoph Knorn is warning, ‘if you cannot gain the understanding of top management,
you will sooner or later lose their support. Don’t fool yourself: developing an EVP within these
dimensions is a costly and complex task.’
A further challenge was to develop a common understanding of employer branding among
stakeholders from different entities. A communications department might approach the topic
from a branding and marketing perspective, while HR originally focused mainly on the recruitment
perspective. Rosa Riera explains that ‘it is necessary to present the topic holistically to show its full
potential – the topic asks for engagement and if carried out correctly it supports the master brand
and contributes to the long-term success of the company.’

Creating the understanding to approach employer branding holistically was conveyed in many
intensive dialogues. Rosa Riera sheds light on the process: ‘All conversations have to center around
the question: How do we understand employer branding? Debating these principles must be
allowed and even demanded to ensure that everybody is on the same page. Recruiters will then
understand why certain steps are necessary even though their benefits won’t be felt by them
immediately, as it will take some more time until the effects start benefitting them directly.’
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According to Rosa Riera the biggest challenge was the actual
realization and the regionally synchronized roll-out of the
project, ‘The project was prioritized – but as there are many
A strong partner - Universum
things that needed to be done, we sometimes had to give
way for more urgent regional projects. We really needed a ‘Universum’s global experience is one of the main reasons why we partnered
strong alignment and coordination. We deliberately chose with them. I need to be able to compare data from as many countries as
and believe in a collaborative approach which required the possible. Universum is the worldwide leader when it comes to this, and they
involvement of everybody – this created a co-creational provided me with sample sizes large enough to be able to do this. Universum
process which demands time.’ surveys more than one million people globally – so I know that I can trust
the validity of this data. Another aspect is being able to trust the data. When
Adding to this Chrisoph Knorn says that the work of I have the feeling that I can influence my ranking position by posting as many
developing their EVP hasn’t been finished yet – actually as possible ads in the provider’s publications, the results become unattractive
it’s just beginning. The key question is: How can we bring to me. That is in fact why we don’t participate in many of the other rankings!
the EVP to life? This is by far more difficult to execute You should receive support from your data provider and Universum does
internally than externally. ‘Within our company there that exceptionally well! The service which we’ve received was one-of-kind –
are an unbelievable amount of initiatives, each with especially when we requested them to prepare data for us on specific target
their own messages. Our EVP shouldn’t be just another groups at short notice. After we have put in all this effort we obviously wanted
message, but something that comes to life. Our to develop specifically targeted initiatives which will support us in improving our
employees should be able to identify themselves with ranking positions. Once a year it is very helpful to have a meeting with our contacts
our company – answering why they work for Siemens at Universum to discuss and analyze the current situation in order to assess
and why they are proud to be a part of it.’ which solution will be the most promising to generate a positive change based on
the data. I continue to receive great support throughout our journey.’

Christoph Knorn
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Golden rule Key success factor: support by management
Employees first! ‘Janina Kugel, who is our Chief HR Officer and Member of the Siemens Managing Board,
The employer brand belongs to the employees. always strives for very progressive, visionary ideas and has realized very early on that
So it’s important that you don’t surprise your employer branding is of absolute importance to the whole HR sector. Also Siemens’
employees. They need to believe and live your President and CEO, Joe Kaeser, is interested in the employer branding topic and follows
employer brand. Therefore, whenever rolling- our journey very closely. Without this support the whole process wouldn’t have been so
out an employer branding activity put your easy. The clear commitment by management also eases and fosters cross-functional
employees first!’ cooperation tremendously, meaning the close cooperation with colleagues from
communications, strategy or the business.’
Christoph Knorn
Rosa Riera

The employer brand functions

like a consumer brand!
’Though we are a B2B- and B2G-company our
employer brand works just like a consumer brand.
It is all about an individual’s choice – very personal.
Where one wants to work and why one goes to
work is a personal question. I’m proud that we
discovered this and found a suitable partner.’

Rosa Riera
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Findings
‘Our planning proved to be sound while we were also lucky that the company was supportive and ready to take on this project.’
(Rosa Riera). But obviously there are always things you would carry out differently if you were to redo a project. For Siemens’ EVP
team the key take aways are:

Support the interaction of countries

Regular phone conferences, a newsletter, etc. Whoever requires attention on a specific topic needs one thing the most –
resources. Retrospectively, Rosa Riera and Christoph Knorn would have loved to have facilitated the interaction among
countries at an even earlier stage. Countries can learn a lot from each other, ‘as soon as you bring together the countries you
can make use of the concept of creating and using synergies.’

Win over management

Never forget to get supported by your management. This helps to get a sense that you are heading in the right direction or
if there are legitimate concerns which need to be addressed. Rosa Riera is convinced that they did that, ‘however there is
always room for improvement!’

Don’t underestimate the project’s scope

Once you start working on your employer brand you will quickly realize that one thing leads to another - and soon your
project’s scope will turn out bigger than expected. For example, you might discover that your brand is being perceived as grey,
distanced and unapproachable so all of the sudden you are talking about new color framework. If you realize on the other
hand that e.g. your external and internal perception are not coherent you need to start thinking about how you can impact
this. At the end you might challenge your manager’s patience a bit more than anticipated.
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What Siemens did better The biggest challenges
Over the last 13 years, Roger Manfredsson, MD EMEA & Global ‘Due to our solid foundation and the ability to explain why we are doing what we
VP Sales at Universum, has advised the biggest companies in do, I’m convinced that the internal level of acceptance for our employer brand
the world on how they can present themselves as employers in is very high. The same holds true for the external acceptance for our employer
an optimal way. From his point of view, Siemens did many brand. I’m impressed by the level of enthusiasm. To conclude, I would say that we
things right when developing their new EVP. He was particularly managed to develop a modern and authentic employer brand which we feel very
impressed by the following three aspects: happy with!’ (Rosa Riera)
‘As most of our important markets were directly involved in this project it
1 The executive board could be involved at an early stage
inspired them to work on this topic. As the EVP is easy to adapt, also smaller
and an appropriate level of strategic importance has
markets are able to quickly benefit from it. For instance we had a case where
been attached to the project.
many IT-experts had to be hired at relatively short notice for a project in Portugal
and in next to no time our local colleagues created a beautiful and targeted
2 Siemens regards Employer Branding as a stand-alone campaign which was based on our EVP. Seeing the joy and success of our
branding topic, focusing on its branding aspects, colleagues working with this EVP based campaign is an amazing experience.’
and not only on its recruiting and talent acquisition (Christoph Knorn)
aspects eventhough a strong cooperation between
Talent Acquisition, Talent Marketing and Corporate ‘The new EVP does not only reflect how Siemens is, but also how Siemens wants
Communication was always in the center of all activities. to be. It is more ambitious and leads Siemens towards being a very modern
employer. It is true internally, but also highly attractive externally.’
3 Great emphasis was placed on involving different
countries and letting them co-create the EVP locally. Roger Manfredsson
“This is the best practice I have ever experienced”,
says Manfredsson.
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The EVP statement ‘We make real what matters.’

Our three key themes:

Success in Creating
Meaning: All Siemens employees contribute in the development of great products
and creative solutions which are loved by our clients and needed by the world. These
achievements are of use to everybody, though sometimes they remain hidden.

Growing through Challenges

Meaning: Siemens takes on challenging projects. In order to enable Siemens’ employees
to cope with these challenges, Siemens offers its employees on-the-job training and
professional development. Every project and every task offer the potential for personal and
professional growth.

Embracing Respect
Meaning: Siemens puts a lot of emphasis on values like respect, inclusion and diversity.
Everybody has the same chances and is treated fairly, even in difficult times. Individual
contributions are being valued just like different ways of thinking. To Siemens it does not
only matter that we reach our objectives, but also how we achieve them.
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About Siemens

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood
for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for
more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing
on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s
largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a
leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions
and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and
software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical
imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance
imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In
fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, 2016, Siemens generated revenue
of €79.6 billion and net income of €5.6 billion. At the end of September 2016, the
company had around 351,000 employees worldwide.

Read more About Siemens

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About Universum

Universum is the global leader in employer branding,

during our 25+ years, we have established ourselves
in 60 markets globally and our diverse workforce is
physically present in 20 countries. Our services include
actionable research, strategic advisory, data-driven
communication and social media solutions for talent
branding, sourcing, and analytics. A trusted partner The experts
to over 1,700 clients, including many Fortune 500
Rosa Riera is the VP of Siemens’ Employer Branding and Social Innovation
companies, as well as global media partners that
division and was in charge of the project’s strategic direction.
publish our annual rankings and trend reports. We
work with over 2,000 universities, alumni groups,
Her colleague Christoph Knorn is heading the department of Employer
and professional organizations to gather insights
Branding. He developed and implemented the strategy. ‘Without his input and
from students and professionals in order to advise
without his ideas and the way he approached the topic we wouldn’t be where
employers on how to attract and retain talent that
we are today,’ highlights Rosa Riera.
fits their culture and purpose. On an annual basis,
Universum surveys over 1,500,000 students and Roger Manfredsson, MD EMEA & Global VP Sales at Universum,
professionals worldwide. accompanied Siemens on the entire way towards their new EVP.
For more information please visit:
www.universumglobal.com