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 to people.”
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.”

Universum’s rankings which represent the most attractive employers for students and young professions indicated that Siemens was still doing well in many markets. However, it was around this time that Siemens started showing the first signs of global decline in popularity in the rankings. The employer brand decreased slowly but steadily – a development which deeply concerned Siemens.

Riera explains, “We were convinced that we still had a great offering for the labor market – as our products make a true impact on society as a whole and help many people. The effects our solutions had were enormous, but the talent market was not aware of this. In the past we didn’t manage to convey this effectively in our story telling. We wanted to change this moving forward.”
Over the last 13 years, Roger Manfredsson, Vice President of Global Sales & MD of EMEA at Universum, has advised the biggest companies in the world on how to become a relevant and highly attractive employers. Describing working with Siemens towards the creation of their new EVP, Manfredsson said “Siemens has used an approach to Employer Branding that is world-leading and cutting-edge. They have connected all the necessary dots, to truly succeed with the quest of becoming a very attractive and relevant employer, for top-talents around the world.” He continued “You can find all the processes, actions and decisions they have made in this case study.”

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About Universum

Universum, part of the StepStone Group, is a global thought leader in Employer Branding. With over 30 years of valuable experience in the field of employer branding, we have established ourselves in 60 markets globally, and our diverse workforce is physically present in 20 countries. We are uniquely positioned through our talent surveys to deliver key insights to recruiters about what future talent is looking for in a company. Our data-led, human and meaningful output has attracted more than 1,700 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, as well as global media partners that publish our annual rankings and trend reports. Find out more at www.universumglobal.com.

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.