Unilever beats local blue chips in preferred employers’ survey

Multinational Unilever Sri Lanka has edged out premier blue chip John Keells Holdings (JKH) and few others to top as the most preferred employer in the country.

In the country’s first ever Employer Branding Study done by specialist TNS, Unilever has been ranked as the most preferred employer of choice followed by John Keels, Brandix , MAS and Virtusa in the top five.

TNS said not a widely explored area in Sri Lanka, the Employer Brand of a company is the image it has in the minds of its internal and external stakeholders including current and future employees. The Employer Brand is therefore critical in attracting the right talent.

TNS Lanka Country Manager Kunal Sharma said: “At present, there are no formal tools in Sri Lanka to indicate whether the efforts by organisations to promote and enhance their image among prospective employees are working or not. The TNS study hopes to scientifically measure and help enhance the Employer Brand of companies.”

The Employer Brand study seeks to understand the needs and expectations of prospective employees, to measure and rank where companies sit against these expectations as well as to leverage the areas of strength and bridge the gaps.

The study categorised the employees’ expectations into four heads namely “Hygienic”, “Potential Savers”, “Motivators” and “Hidden Opportunities”. Some of the choice drivers under these heads included freedom to make decisions, flexible working hours, work environment and reputation of the company.

Comprising of quantitative as well as qualitative modules, the study covered over 500 undergraduate students from the top universities in the country including University of Colombo, University of Sri Jayawardenepura , University of Kelaniya , University of Peradeniya , University of Moratuwa as well as foreign affiliated universities such as Royal Institute, APIIT, SLIIT, ACBT and Informatics Institute of Technology.

The Employer Branding Syndicated Study has been launched in 2011 in Sri Lanka and is planned to be conducted on an annual basis. The 2011 report is now available for subscription to clients.

TNS is the largest customised research agency in the world. TNS is a part of the Kantar Group, the world’s second largest research, insight and consultancy network.

Through its offices spread across nearly 85 countries, TNS conducts research projects in more than 120 countries.

TNS is a global leader in the area of stakeholder management, conducting tens of thousands of interviews annually among employees, customers, shareholders, business partners, government and environmental stakeholders among others.