Content We Love: Pay Rise Beyond Its Face Value

January is not only when people set New Year’s resolutions, but also when most expect to receive year-end remuneration for all the hard work they put into the company over the past year. The press release from JobsDB with the headline “90% of employers plan to offer a pay rise, average adjustment 4%” may have given us a positive outlook for 2015. However, it’s a projection that may not eventually be realized. Actual good news comes from a similar press release sourced to the Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited (HKBN): “HKBN Increases Employee Salary by 5% and 10% in Hong Kong and Guangzhou Respectively.”

The structure of the HKBN release could not have been simpler. There are three paragraphs — each clearly conveying a message. The lead paragraph introduces the pay raise along with other new benefits HKBN is offering to its employees, as well as explaining the talent management belief driving all these benefits. Figures are used throughout the release but not overwhelmingly; releases reciting number after number are not necessarily bad, but are often too much for readers to digest. The next two paragraphs elaborate on the first; the second paragraph explains how the new “Bonus-leave Scheme” works, and the third is a direct quote from the Director – Talent Engagement and Co-Owner of HKBN, explaining how the company believes the benefits help its employees achieve work-life balance.

As a general reader – not a journalist or HKBN employee – the first questions I asked myself after reading this press release were: Why does this matter to me? What is the purpose of this release? Often, corporations use press releases to announce important business news, such as new personnel arrangements, sales results, and product launches. They also use press releases to maintain their corporate profile and promote a positive corporate image to the general public and I believe the press release from HKBN serves the purpose.

To corporations, corporate image is an intangible asset that, if properly promoted, can generate great, tangible, value for the company. However, companies have little control over how we, as consumers, perceive the company. A company may have done all the right things, yet we may still hold no positive impressions towards the company. Corporate image is both directly and indirectly constructed. There are so many products and services in the market that we have neither the time nor the resources to try them all and form a direct evaluation of the products and the company. Rather, indirectly, even unconsciously, we evaluate companies through information we obtain from other media channels, as well as friends and family.

Bragging about yourself may not earn you credit, and this is why subjective and promotional releases without newsworthiness are deemed low quality content. I have seen releases describe at length how the source company was established and how many hardships the founders underwent. If the release itself is nothing newsworthy, the headline vague and not to-the-point, readers simply regard it as spam and scrap it right away. Attempting to build a positive corporate image through self-promotion is done in vain.

Press releases promoting the source company’s commitments to support public affairs and recognition of corporate social responsibility are all the rage in recent years. HKBN’s press release may not fall exactly into this category but it has certainly left a good impression on me, not only because it is an objective, clearly written release but also because its efforts in helping its staff to maintain a work-life balance are impressive and should be encouraged.

By Abby Tsang, Associate Editor of PR Newswire.