Building an employer brand that works as hard for employees as it does for candidates
Ideally, your employer brand honestly reflects what life is like for your people at work. It conveys the values that drive your employees, and the experience they have day in and day out. But too often, companies fall into the trap of creating an aspirational brand – one that looks great on LinkedIn – but that isn’t borne out by the reality that employees live through every day.
And if you’re promising all the good things to people lucky enough to join your business but those attractive promises don’t match the reality for current employees, that new employer brand could cost you even more in an unintended hit to employee engagement.
And we all know this. We know that if there is a gap between the experience you’re selling and your actual employee experience, it can breed cynicism and erode trust.
But how do you know where to start on that nebulous concept of ‘employee experience’? How can you avoid eroding employee engagement when you launch your shiny new employer brand to candidates when any disconnect is writ large on your socials? And of course, those new hires, seduced by the promises? If they find a reality that’s nothing like the expectation, they’re going to feel duped. Not a great start to the employee/employer relationship.
Here at Blackbridge Engage, we are working with clients who want an EVP that works hard with employees and with candidates. We’ve learnt three important things about an inside/outside approach. (And we’re still learning).
1) Developing an employer brand is an excellent engagement opportunity. Use it as an opportunity to talk to a range of people – the talent you want, the talent you’ve got, customers, and the colleagues responsible for aspects of the experience. Ask unexpected questions to get the lowdown on what it’s really like for your people at work, and better understand the experience you want to create for your people and your customers. And somewhere in between the reality and the ambition is an authentic promise to make to candidates, and employees, and clarity on what you are asking of them. And then sense check it with both.
2) Switch your focus. This isn’t about getting your candidate stuff all sorted, then launching your employer brand internally (although that can be useful). Your employer brand communicates your employee experience to potential talent. So start there. How are your employees experiencing life with you as an employer? Where is it brilliant for your people, and where – honestly – does the experience fall down? For example, how do you equip your customer service people to handle difficult calls? How do you support them after a stressful experience? These daily experiences matter. A new employer brand is a brilliant opportunity to identify and address parts of the employee experience which aren’t serving your people well – i.e., aren’t making it easier for them to serve your customers brilliantly (and deliver the brand experience you promise to your customers), or helping them to understand precisely what they get in return for their efforts.
3) The whole idea of employer brand on the inside can feel like you’re looking into an ever-expanding vat of worms – that experience? It’s everywhere! It’s everything! You need to do this with your people. Of course, communications play a role, this is about the behaviours, opportunities, benefits, tools, processes and pain points (it’s everything!). So, work with teams on the ground to work out the aspiration you have for the employee experience – now, and over time – and give yourselves clear criteria for working out how you will prioritise what to tackle first. Employer brand on the inside is not a ‘one and done’, it’s a process. And one that will be best served by collaboration with the people who can tell you what needs to change, and with the people who can make those changes happen.
In many businesses, talent acquisition sits out on a limb, divorced from the people responsible for the employee experience on the inside. But a strong employer brand is as true on the inside for your employees as it is on the outside for candidates. And then you’re investing not just in an attraction tool, but in a tool that helps you to create an experience which builds engagement and delivers the brand experience you promise to your customers. It’s an excellent opportunity. Don’t waste it.
At Blackbridge Engage, I lead the employee engagement practice, where we use creativity, our content and channels expertise and applied psychology to create effective employee communications that move people to do things differently. If you’ve got aspirations to have an employer brand that works beyond talent attraction, get in touch and let’s chat.