Joanna Grzegorzewska, Talent Acquisition Manager at Arla Global Shared Services in Gdańsk
Video We are Arla GSS with corporate cows in suits is slowly becoming a classic. We meet with information about the analysis of our first campaign at universities or in the students thesis. Recently, a candidate told me during an interview that an example of our actions is described in a book about EB, which he is reading. In the submitted applications, the candidates write: You muuuuust to get to know me or they pass a photo in a cow mask in their application. And this is something cause it shows that the EB campaign brought the effect.
Our first campaign drew attention to our centre, made candidates aware that Arla is not only a producer of great quality food and dairy products, but also a mature service centre for Arla globally. We wanted to highlight how sector of the SSC / BPO sector works. What’s more – the campaign was not a pretty picture created for the need of branding actions, but it was based on the opinions of Arla’s employees, collected from them during the focus groups on why they value Arla as an employer. This made the message credible, and additionally, it strengthened our employees identification with the Arla brand as the employer of choice.
But it’s been a while since 2018, and this was the year we launched a huge project of insourcing IT roles into the organization. The work carried out by external IT consultants in Denmark for Arla was to be transferred to employees employed in Gdańsk. In addition to the project of recruiting over 100 people to the company, the HR Service Delivery service was developing, Procurement started further development of Ariba and tightened cooperation with purchasing team from Denmark, Finance introduced automation and robots. There was a lot happening in Arla Gdańsk! We had and we wanted to tell about it! That we have various business functions, that we are advisors for the business, that we operate according to the latest standards and trends in the sector.
We deal with business the Scandinavian way
Scenario of action and preparation – similar. First focus groups with a broader scope, engagin each function (in 2017 only finance), and at the same time a comparison of Arla 2017 with Arla 2019. Feedback – so valuable – was presented to HR BP and management so that they were aware of what we need to work on. For the Talent Acquisition and EB Team – the report was the basis for revision the previously selected attributes of Arla GSS employer brand. As in the previous campaign, we remained faithful to the following characteristics of our employer brand: good working atmosphere, development opportunities, no dress code (be yourself), flexible working hours. However, this time we wanted to adopt a form that was easier to implement and used in social media. It was September 2019 – we could not even expect how much the series and focus on online activities will turn out to be the answer to the surprises of 2020.
One-minute episodes arranged in two seasons were available weekly on Instagram and Facebook, started at the end of 2019. First, short announcements such as unwrapping Arla’s gifts or wishes for a successful Christmas 'break’ (you need to watch it to catch the joke). Starting with first episode about stability of the workplace – who would have expected to be so valid in 2020?
Both seasons are available on our YouTube channel. Our favourites relate to:
And then the March came … We observed what was happening on the market, at the same time run recruitment projects, going online also with entire onboarding of new employees. The material that was supposed to promote home office opportunities and flexible working hours was used to create a video that perfectly suited the time of quarantine and the need to develop new work habits through electronic tools and remote communication.
The next episodes of the second season (4,5,6) referred to working from home, to the longing for the office. The final long episode with recordings from behind the frame touched the most sensitive chord in us, we missed each other even more.
In order to cheer up employees and observers of our profiles, we established cooperation with Andrzej Milewski (Andrzej Rysuje), who kept the Korpokrówka persona in his graphics, commenting on current social and political events, be it an order to wear masks or elections, as well as referring to improvements in Arla’s production processes around the world (introduction of cow poo-powered trucks :-D).
Although the campaign officially ended with the last May episode, in autumn, we prepared a video – primarily for employees, in which we signal that our office misses them. Empty spaces, views of desks, a coffee machine, and beautiful sun touched all of us.
Our efforts and ideas were appreciated – at the end of November Arla Gdansk won the prestigious Polish Puls Biznesu award, “Siła Przyciągania” (Power of Attraction) for the Best Employer Branding Campaign 2020!
