Partner: Mazars Kft.
Sector: Financial Advisory
Presence in Hungary: for 29 years
Nationality: French
Number of employees: 150
Location: Budapest
Project timeframe: March 2019 – December 2019
Integrated Employer Branding strategy and goals through the tool of storytelling
The aim of our collaboration with Mazars was to put employee values into the spotlight in a job market, which is overwhelmed by the Big4. However, we wanted to show what the real Mazars experience means from a professional and personal point of view through storytelling.
We asked 108 people during our research, which resulted in the following: employees value most that they contribute to the business on an individual level, and they take part in shaping the processes and they have an impact on the customers, and keep a professional attitude important, but employees can also work in an open and friendly environment too. Mazars emphasizes personal development, recognition, and support. Colleagues are considering the company a place, where they can have an impact on a professional and personal level. And this is how the program “Add Impact!” was born as well as that trusted corporate communication strategy, which has also been built on the values of Mazars.
We were focusing on the following areas of the “Add Impact!” program in the past year:
- Finding out what are the values and communicating about them
- Producing local content involving ambassadors
- Modernising and localising external communication strategy, aligned with company values
- Structuring internal communication strategy
- Introducing teams and business units with the power of personal storytelling
- Improving employee experience
- Building up the employer branding strategy for Mazars internally and externally
In addition to attracting the best talent, we put emphasis on retention and employee engagement as well. This allowed us to focus on both external and internal communication. Our goal was to communicate those values externally, which colleagues feel their own and can support with practical examples. Based on our research these three main values are as follows:
Meaningful tasks
„Professional challenge, continuous improvement and individual added value.”
Supportive atmosphere
“Advocating for each other and for each other’s interests. We always support each other, both professionally and personally. ”
People-focused leaders
“They treat you as a human being, not as a resource. The good atmosphere and humanity that makes Mazars different.”
How did we get there through storytelling?
April 2019
We asked the leaders about their needs regarding organizational diagnosis and experienced values, as well as what they expect from the strategy. Furthermore, we looked at how employer branding can support business goals. Both qualitative and quantitative research was conducted involving 108 colleagues. We talked to teams and also separately to leaders about the organization during focus group interviews.
June 2019- July 2019
Based on the feedback from our colleagues, we have created our localized employer value proposition, which makes us unique in the market. By emphasizing the company’s values, the slogan “Add Impact!” was born. Based on the results of the research, we built our annual employer branding strategy. We choose the focus points of the strategy based on the feedback from our colleagues.
We created the Mazars Ambassador community. With their help, we created new, localized job advertisements and internal content. At an Ambassador workshop, we listened to the ideas and suggestions of our colleagues about the strategy.
August – September 2019
In order to show the power of teamwork and the supportive community, we announced the “Mazars Add Impact! Challenge” among colleagues. The task was for each team to create a success scenario of their project, which has been recorded on video. Our internal goal was to activate our colleagues in increasing employer brand awareness. The external goal was to show the market that Mazars is less of an individualistic and power-driven community. In addition, we also aimed to increase commitment and team pride.
October 2019
Mazars + TE Storytelling day
The “Add Impact!” Challenge continued with a full day of storytelling training. During the program, we helped 49 participants to learn professional storytelling skills through storytelling and visual training. In the second half of the day, the teams worked with their pre-filled team stories and finalized their video script with the help of external consultants. Montages and art boards have also been created for the videos, to help produce creative videos along a unified concept. We wanted special videos tailor-made for the target group, hence we used a particular jargon and hashtags, which are understood only by professionals.
October 2019
After a long preparation period and finalising the video scripts from the storytelling training, We filmed 8 videos with 49 participants over two days. In the videos, we wanted to present the professional impact of each team.
Organizing the shooting required a huge amount of work from the HR team. We had to put 24-25 colleagues in front of the camera every day, considering everyone’s busy schedule and client meetings. We wanted the employees to be authentic in front of the camera, presenting content, which is valued and accepted by them. For this reason, we organised a short preparation and text practice before each shooting day. We were pleased with how the Mazars management took part in the project with maximum effort and also performed fantastically in the videos.
November 2019
As part of the challenge, we announced a contest with the aim of getting the biggest reach on social media with the team videos. An incentive trip to a foreign Mazars office proved to be a strong motivation within the organization for team members to participate. As a result of the competition between the teams and departments, the individual business units were brought together as one. The completed videos were launched on Facebook, on the Mazars in Hungary Facebook page. Social media reach was all achieved in an organic way, thanks to the colleagues, who actively shared the videos. Our goal, which was to activate and increase employer brand awareness, has brought the desired result. We managed to show our values externally and gain a stronger presence in a noisy market – all authentically, with the success stories of our teams and colleagues.
Results:
December 2019
As the final touch of the “Add Impact!” Challenge, we held a mini Oscars at the Christmas dinner. After screening the films, we awarded the winning teams (1-3), as well as our film stars in individual surprise categories. Prizes included travel, IMAX cinema and VIP cinema tickets.
The Mazars “Add Impact!” Challenge showed that storytelling has a community-building power.
As part of our integrated employer branding strategy, the program helped us activate our colleagues, engage our leaders and volume up the voice of Mazars’s employee experience.
The “Add Impact!” Challenge project received a silver award from the jury in the HR Komm Award in 2020 in the overall Employer Branding category.
