Engagement is an Art at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services

There are more ways for companies to make employees feel valued than offering on-site massages, pet-day-care subsidies and an on-premises single-cup coffee maker.

Take Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, for example. The company has chosen to display fantastic modern art -- "colorful, bold and not so simple to interpret" -- at its Farmington Hills, Mich., headquarters, according to the online publication OaklandCountyProsper.com.

Produced by students of the famed Cranbrook Academy of Art in nearby Bloomfield Hills, the paintings, sculptures, metalsmithing, photography and other pieces adorn hallways, cafeterias, elevator lobbies and conference rooms under a 12-year partnership between the German luxury-car brand and the school.

But Mercedes-Benz goes way beyond static displays: The company uses art to inspire and engage its employees in a variety of other ways, ranging from staff mentorship of art students in local elementary schools to an annual employee art show in the cafeteria where temporary gallery walls are installed.

All of the employees in the building are invited to submit art, the publication said, and last year 15 of them -- none of whom function as full-time artists in their daily jobs -- did exactly that.

"It brings to light the creative interests, talents and skills of people that we work with on a day-to-day basis that oftentimes people don't know about," said Leila Matta, manager of brand identity, design and the art program for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

"It's about developing inner skills, listening to each other, and understanding where different people are coming from."

For Effective Brand Ambassadors, How About Employees?

Companies invest heavily in creating "brand ambassadors" out of a handful of loyal customers who can generate buzz and sales because of their singular devotion to a brand.

But brands could be even more effective if they would cultivate their own employees as brand ambassadors to spread positive word of mouth about their products and services. And yet relatively few enterprises are executing a strategy for doing this.

"A company's brand reputation, whether employer or corporate, is a direct reflection of the culture and values of a company," notes Mike Schroeder, CEO of TNS Employee Insights, which recently conducted a joint study with LinkedIn of nearly 11,000 employees about such topics. "The best way to increase awareness is through your employees."

We couldn't agree more. More companies are understanding the need for employee engagement in general, and reaping the benefits of engendering the enthusiasm, loyalty and resulting greater effectiveness of their staffs -- at least internally.

But leaders have been relatively slow to tap into the potential of proactively turning employee enthusiasm outward. Sometimes, this neglect can be as basic as helping employees to understand their brand and the importance of it.

Asked about their previous employment in a TNS-Linked In study, fewer than half of employees understood the behaviors that were required of them by the promise of the brand they represented.

TNS recommends five top drivers of employee brand ambassadorship:

• The company brand experience sets us apart.
• I trust senior leadership.
• Work gives me a feeling of accomplishment.
• The company is environmentally responsible.
• I feel valued as an employee.

We might add a few more drivers to this list, such as an active employee-engagement program.

But you get the idea: Engaged, enthusiastic employees can be the best way for brands to create more engaged, enthusiastic customers.

Chevrolet, New Tagline Embrace Employee Engagement

The drive for greater employee engagement is sweeping the U.S. auto industry, and just today Chevrolet became the latest brand to embrace this imperative.

GM's largest division has announced that it is aligning its engineering, design and retail operations behind a single vision and communications platform for internal as well as external purposes around the globe.

In fact, "Find New Roads" already has become an internal rallying cry even before it is rolled out for external communications purposes -- replacing the brand's "Chevy Runs Deep" tagline -- during the first quarter.

"What we need to do is bring this to life, and it needs to become the thrust of the brand," Alan Batey, GM's interim CMO and its vice president of U.S. sales, service and global marketing, told Brandchannel.com. "That's why internal alignment is the starting point."

Mary Barra, senior vice president of global product development for GM, said in a press release that "as we develop new products our designers and engineers will be empowered to find smarter solutions to address customer needs and make their lives better." Chevrolet already had launched a program to train dealership personnel to approach every aspect of their business differently to improve the retail experience.

The new positioning was under consideration for six months. "We needed to make sure we could make it truly global and well thought out and that it delivers the message we need to deliver and that it can be something that inspires our people," Batey said. "And I'm confident that it does all of those things."

While Batey told Brandchannel.com that Chevy wasn't inspired by competitors in its effort to ignite internal engagement, the brand's initiative does resemble at least in its sense of mission Ford's new "Go Further" branding campaign, which began with internal engagement before going external.

Meanwhile, Chrysler and Audi of America are among other U.S. auto brands that have been proactively introducing initiatives to foster employee engagement.

In one of the world's most competitive industries and perhaps its most competitive single geographic market, more players are understanding that the way to win is employees' will to win.