The FTSE 100ís most authoritative web ranking, issued today by online corporate communication specialist Investis, reveals the best and worst in corporate web performance and the impact that best practice – or lack of it – is having on business.
The Investis Quarterly (IQ) Corporate Website Ranking uniquely measures each of the FTSE 100ís corporate sites against almost 200 individual, objective criteria in eight different categories, including recruitment. Companies are benchmarked against HR criteria from a statement of culture to interactive features like video employee case studies.
The research reveals that the best companies for promoting themselves as potential employers are Royal Dutch Shell, Centrica and Prudential. RDS used some targeted tools including CV tips, a degree matcher, Q&A with employees and a global job search function. Meanwhile Morrison Supermarkets, Severn Trent and Cairn Energy scored badly when it came to promoting their careers opportunities, with little or no use of web 2.0 or multimedia tools and only the basics covered.
Commenting on the review Investis Director Al Loehnis says: ìIn this dynamic and volatile business environment, it has never been more important for companies to be transparent with business stakeholders. Reaching out to potential employees in an effective manner sends positive signals to a critical audience. Letís remember that current and potential employees can be the best advocates for your business.î
Overall, life insurance giant Aviva topped the poll with leading scores in every category and forward-thinking personalization tools and optimization of the site for the Blackberry. Food retail was the most successful sector with initiatives like Sainsburyís web-focused annual review and CR report trail blazing online corporate communications. The mining sector performed worst overall with four of the ten FTSE 100 mining companies in the bottom ten of the ranking. Bucking this trend amongst the miners, Anglo American was singled out for its innovative use of an interactive mapping feature across its website.
The review assesses content, usability and navigation, across categories including investor relations, corporate governance data, corporate social responsibility, careers and media. The results revealed a slow uptake in the use of multi-media tools – in sharp contrast to their proliferation in online newspapers - with more than 75% of companies scoring below 50% in this category.
The corporate website is now regarded as a primary disclosure medium by regulatory bodies including the SEC and usage of corporate websites has risen by 30 per cent in the last 12 months*. Despite all of this, the IQ Corporate Website Ranking highlights a trend away from best practice towards ëpeer practiceí, where companies only provide information in the same way and in the same depth as their competitors within the same sector.
The IQ Corporate Website Ranking will be updated quarterly, with future rankings including FTSE250 companies and constituents of major global stock market indices.
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