In boardrooms and leadership huddles across Global Capability Centers (GCCs), one theme is echoing louder than ever: How do we attract and retain the right talent in a market that’s both global and hyper-local?
As GCCs continue their upward trajectory—evolving from support functions to core drivers of innovation, product engineering, data strategy, and AI-led transformation—HR and Talent Acquisition leaders find themselves at a crossroads. The challenge is no longer just filling roles; it’s about crafting a compelling employer narrative and ensuring that the experience lives up to the promise.
Today, employer branding and employee experience are not just nice-to-haves; they are strategic imperatives that directly influence capability, continuity, and competitiveness.
The Brand Within the Brand
For many GCCs, especially those operating under the umbrella of large global brands, there’s a duality that’s often misunderstood. The parent company may enjoy global recognition, but the local GCC needs to build its own identity—one that communicates its purpose, value, and opportunity within the broader enterprise.
A powerful employer brand helps bridge this gap. It allows the GCC to speak directly to its talent market, showcasing the kind of work being done, the technologies being used, the culture being built, and the impact being made—not just on cost metrics, but on product innovation and strategic outcomes.
When your employer brand is well-defined, it becomes easier to answer tough candidate questions: “What’s different about working here versus a startup or a unicorn?” or “Will I be working on global products or just maintaining code?”
Authentic storytelling—from leaders, managers, and most importantly, employees—becomes a magnet. And in a market flooded with options, that magnetism matters.
A study by LinkedIn showed that companies with a strong employer brand see a 43% decrease in cost per hire and are able to attract 50% more qualified applicants. The math is simple—what people say about working in your GCC matters more than ever.
Experience Is the New Differentiator
Once the brand promise brings a candidate through the door, it’s the lived experience that determines whether they stay—and whether they thrive.
Employee experience (EX) is no longer about occasional engagement surveys or token recognition. It’s about designing moments that matter across the employee lifecycle. From a seamless onboarding process that doesn’t just dump compliance documents, to career conversations that go beyond checkboxes, experience needs to be intentional, consistent, and human.
GCCs often operate in high-pressure, high-performance environments. Talent is expected to deliver at global standards. But if the support structures, recognition mechanisms, and leadership behaviours don’t reflect care and growth, talent—especially top talent—won’t stick around.
The link between poor experience and early attrition is well documented. A misalignment between what was promised during hiring and what is delivered after joining is one of the fastest ways to lose a great employee. And in the GCC context, with long ramp-up cycles and niche skill requirements, attrition is more than just a metric—it’s a business risk.
The Stakes for HR and TA Leaders
For HR and TA leaders in GCCs, this is a defining moment. The global market is watching India, Poland, the Philippines, and other GCC hotspots not just as cost centers but as innovation engines. The pressure is on to hire fast, hire right, and retain better.
But this requires a mindset shift—from transactional recruiting to strategic talent branding. From measuring employee engagement to deeply understanding experience drivers. From crafting job descriptions to curating career journeys.
GCCs that get this right are already seeing the dividends: shorter time-to-hire, higher offer-to-join ratios, better internal mobility, and employee NPS scores that rival their parent HQs. Those that don’t are often caught in an endless cycle of hiring, attrition, re-hiring—burning time, money, and brand goodwill in the process.
So, What’s the Path Forward?
It starts with clarity. What is your EVP—your Employee Value Proposition? And does your workforce believe it? Can your hiring managers articulate it without a script? Are your Glassdoor and LinkedIn impressions aligned with your internal sentiment?
Next, shift the EX lens from one-size-fits-all to personalized experiences. Your early-career engineers may want visibility and rapid learning. Your mid-career talent may be looking for stability, purpose, and leadership development. The more nuanced your approach, the more magnetic your experience becomes.
Finally, don’t operate in a silo. Partner with Communications, Business Leaders, and your Global HR counterparts. Branding and experience are not HR problems; they’re enterprise priorities. You’re not just recruiting for roles—you’re curating capability for the future.
Final Word
In the race for digital talent, GCCs are no longer competing just with other GCCs—they’re up against global headquarters, startups, unicorns, and the growing allure of remote-first global employers.
A compelling employer brand and an intentional employee experience are your greatest weapons. They define how talent sees you, how quickly they join you, and how long they stay. They influence culture, performance, innovation, and ultimately, the success of your GCC’s global mandate.
So, the question is not whether to invest in employer branding and experience.
The real question is—can you afford not to?
