OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2011.  i-Free, a market leader in mobile content services in Russia and the CIS,* is high in the running for the Grand Prix in HeadHunter Group’s annual “HR Brand of the Year 2010/Best Employers in Russia” Awards. i-Free got the nomination with its i-Free-Events, a project to retain employee loyalty in times of corporate change.

i-Free has excelled at the HR Brand of the Year Awards before, winning the “IT, Internet, Hard & Software – Region” category and the Grand Prix for Best HR Brand Management in 2008. Two i-Free HR cases were included in How to Build Your HR Brand, a manual published by HeadHunter in 2010.

This year, i-Free is vying for the Grand Prix in the “Northern Capital” category with i-Free-Events, a project mainly designed to keep up employee loyalty in times of corporate change.

i-Free stages several corporate events each year, and employees always love them. But now the company’s Department of Corporate Development and HR has come up with an event matrix guaranteed to produce an all-round positive effect.

The matrix addresses several critical HR needs at the same time. It broadens informal communication inside the company, encourages employee networking between departments and levels of the corporate hierarchy, identifies the informal leaders and cements their loyalty. The model also makes the company look more attractive to potential employees.

The key tools utilized in the i-Free-Events project was employee involvement in the staging of corporate events, and the use of multiple communication methods and media channels in the run-up to the event and to cover it. All these tools synergize to make the positive feeling about the event last longer.

i-Free used both internal and external communication media to promote and cover the events: the social utilities VKontakte, Twitter and Facebook, blogs, forums and specialized HR portals, as well as its own website, Intranet paper, Intranet portal, corporate newspaper and email.

The script of each event had its own theme, star characters and there was always a degree of intrigue. Teasers, ads and poll questionnaires were mailed out and published before the event. The main characters created accounts on social networks, and there was correspondence going on between them and the rest of the staff.

Following the event, the Intranet paper would carry participant interviews, behind the scenes stories and amusing statistics. The “hard copy” newspaper would feature extensive photo reports and employee feedback. At the end of the year, a corporate event calendar was produced, featuring the best photos from the events.

One important outcome of the i-Free-Events project was that psychological tensions were eased among employees and they remained loyal during a challenging phase the company was going through. Only 9% of the staff left the company in 2010.

Another great outcome was that employees from different parts of the company had clearly learned to work together more successfully. An internal poll held in December 2010 showed that 95% of the i-Free staff had no problem seeking help or advice from any other staff member, and 91% said they believed that friendship with co-workers was conducive to better work.

The project clearly inspired employees to take corporate event planning into their hands. Between 60 and 160 staff members contributed to each event. And last but not least, the company saved between 7 and 8 million Rubles on corporate events last year.

“This corporate event matrix we have devised is really great for internal and external public relations, and it saves big money for the company,” said Faina Lerner, who heads the Department of Corporate Development and HR at i-Free. “The sprawling communication and information network gives each event a lingering feel, while employee buy-in helps take the most controversial issues out of the smoking areas and nooks and onto the stage. This works miracles for the internal climate and corporate image.”

Forty five other companies from different industries and areas of business have won nominations for HR Brand of the Year 2010/Best Employers in Russia Awards. The winners will be named at a ceremony due to take place at Moscow’s Youth Palace on 10 February 2011.

More information on HR Brand of the Year 2010 Awards can be found on www.hrbrand.ru.