In this post-COVID world, employers are feeling the pain of attracting, hiring, retaining and engaging team members more than ever before. The last couple of years have seen a monumental shift in the working preferences, influences and motivations of employees. So how do you get ahead of this shift? It starts with a strong Employer Brand.
Today, attracting a high performing team member means not only understanding the hiring landscape but understanding the needs, motivations, flexibility requirements and deal breakers of your target employee demographic.
Failing to get this right can be incredibly costly to your business, either in damage to your culture by hiring misaligned team members or a reduction in productivity due to staff turnover.
To be competitive in 2023 and beyond, company leaders must be able to passionately articulate the following:
- Your purpose – Why do you do what you do? What is the underlying “cause worth dying for” that you and your team are striving towards?
- Your vision/mission – A vivid, detailed and measurable picture of a near future state which moves the world along the path to achieving your purpose
- Your values – What positive attitudes and behaviours unite your team and drive you closer to your goal? What are the stories that demonstrate these values being lived?
Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
In addition to engaging and meaningful work, you need to be able to clearly communicate the combination of rewards and benefits that your company can offer your employees in return for their performance in the workplace. While over the top ‘perks’ wont prevent a team member from leaving if their fundamentals haven’t been met, these nice-to-haves just might be enough to sway their decision making between you and a competitor.
Your EVP is typically a combination of the following:
Fundamentals
- Meaningful/impactful work
- Compensation (salary & bonuses)
- Employee growth opportunities
- Flexibility (see below)
- Internal reward and recognition programs
Flexibility
- Remote working options
- Flexibility in working hours
- Bonus leave
- Compressed work week (e.g. 9 day fortnight)
Facilities
- Modern office facilities
- Location
- Food & snacks
- End of trip facilities
- Parking
- Travel / relocation opportunities
Support & Wellbeing
- Strong DEI culture
- Employee assistance programs
- Gym memberships
- Healthy living challenges / programs
Connection & Celebration
- Team social events
- End of year / end of quarter celebrations
- Team off-sites / retreats
Employer Branding
Once you can clearly articulate your purpose, vision, values and EVP your next step is getting that information in front of the right people in a way that engages them. This external reputation is your Employer Brand.
While a 12-page powerpoint might be sufficient for your leadership team, it’s likely you’ll need to put more effort in to truly engage the rest of your existing team and your wider community of potential employees.
So how does your customer/client facing brand differ from your employer brand? There’s a lot of overlap, but put simply it’s any time someone has an experience which influences their opinion of your company as an employer. This could include:
- Your website – particularly your About and Careers pages
- Your company Linkedin profile
- Your other social channels – your posts as well as comments from your community
- Employer rating websites like Glassdoor
- Any events you host
- Any interactions with existing team members
- Your job ads and hiring process
Your challenge as an employer is to have a strategy which creates a cohesive and consistent narrative across all of these channels with the goal of giving potential team members an authentic preview into what it’s like to work for the company.