Successful companies recognise that good brand relationships with their employees are more important than good brand relationships with their customers. They understand that corporate brand loyalty starts with employee happiness.

In the 21st Century great companies will figure out how to tap into people’s hearts—their passion and their desires to make a difference through their work. Those companies that link these passions to the generation of innovative ideas will have the capacity to sustain their growth for decades.” - Bill George

The link between employee engagement and company performance
This article proposes a holistic personal and corporate branding model that is in harmony with the vision, values, competencies and uniqueness of both the employee and the company, for the purposes of employee engagement and creating a challenged and happy workforce (Rampersad, 2009).

This is needed because employees do not expend energy on something they do not believe in. If there is an effective match between their interests and values and those of the company, they will be engaged and will work with greater commitment towards realizing the company objectives. Identification with the corporate brand is the most important motive causing them to dedicate themselves actively to the corporate objectives and to maximize their potential.

When your personal brand is compatible with your corporate brand and combined in the best interest of both parties, the results will be higher brand equity, brand loyalty and happy stakeholders. Doing work related to your personal and corporate brand that is interesting, exciting and provides learning opportunities has become a key personal driver. The emphasis here lies in intrinsic motivation, which arises from within; most people do something because they enjoy doing it. People work better when they perceive that they are treated as human beings and when they do interesting and challenging work.

Aligning personal brand with the corporate brand has an impact on the organisational bonding of the employees. This energizes them and gives them the proud feeling that they are appreciated and that they make a valuable contribution to the organisation. Employees are stimulated in this way to commit and focus on those activities that create value for clients. This will create a strong foundation of peace and stability upon which creativity and growth can flourish.

Life within the company will become a more harmonious experience. This has an important impact on employee engagement. Lack of engagement is endemic and is causing organisations all over the world to incur excess costs, under-perform on critical tasks and create widespread customer dissatisfaction.

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