The Employer Brand: Bringing the Best of Brand Management to People at Work

Appendix 1: Reuters Case Study

Following the announcement of its first ever year of loss in 2003, Reuters embarked on a three-year process of transformation called Fast Forward. The people-focused workstream within this programme, dubbed ‘Living FAST’, sought to redefine employees’ perceptions of the organisation and drive a new way of working. While not referred to by Reuters as such, we believe that Living FAST bears all the hallmarks of an effective employer brand programme, with a focused employer brand proposition, core values, integrated delivery framework and consistent brand management.

History

Reuters is one of the few high technology communication companies that can trace its origins to the mid-nineteenth century. Julius Reuter launched the business in 1849 to transmit stock prices between the German town of Aachen and Brussels in Belgium, using the most versatile long-distance communication device of the day – the carrier pigeon. Despite being better known to the public as a news agency, 90% of Reuters’ revenue is derived from its financial information and transactions services rather than its supply of news and pictures to the world’s media. With 15 000 employees working in almost 100 countries, Reuters supplies information, analysis and trading tools to nearly half a million people in the financial markets worldwide.

The Business Context

Reuters experienced significant growth through the 1980s and 1990s on the back of stock market deregulation around the world. ...