Employer Branding

Your Organization’s Response To COVID-19 Will Make Or Break Your Talent Brand

By on

It’s no secret, COVID-19 is top of mind for most people, regardless of political affinity or employment status. In fact, the most common question our clients are seeing right now during job interviews is ‘What is your company doing to protect its employees from COVID-19?’

And that question is completely understandable. Nobody wants to feel unsafe in their place of work.

So what does this mean for employers from a recruitment marketing standpoint? How your organization plans to and actively works to protect your employees can make or break your talent brand. The protective measures and safety protocols you put in place today will have lasting effects on your employer brand going forward.

In fact, appropriately marketing a leading-edge employee protection program could be a strategic advantage, especially for organization’s who have traditionally lagged in the employer branding category.

So what can your organization do to stand out?

Stand up a committee tasked with revamping onboarding

If you are still hiring new team members, stand up a stakeholder team focused on revamping your onboarding experience. Remember, nearly 70% of employees typically stay at a company for 3+ years when they have been impressed by an onboarding experience.

If your company has employed a remote working arrangement for the near future, aspects of onboarding such as showcasing culture and impressing with company perks and offices are no longer viable.

As a result, new measures need to be taken during the employee onboarding period to ensure you are still ‘wowing’ your new hires. Establishing a committee tasked with building out new, fun, and interesting initiatives that are on-brand and assist with onboarding can be invaluable.

Highlight all safety protocols your company is implementing on company assets

New hires and candidates will do their due diligence on your organization whether they ask you upfront or not. Make sure you have a centralized location where candidates and employees can see all the thoughtful measures you have put in place to protect your staff from COVID-19.

Link to this page wherever possible throughout the candidate application experience, making sure that your hiring committee is unified in getting the message out.

Showcasing the measures you have put in place is key, as other firms (who may have fewer tactics in place) can use their protective measures to stand out if you are not standing at the top of the hill shouting about your work too. This is not the time for modesty – shout loud and proud about the health measures you have put in place now.

Remember, your organization’s response to COVID-19 will make or break your talent brand. You do not want to be externally branded as the firm that didn’t care enough to implement thoughtful protective measures for your current and future staff.

0

Employer Branding

Avoid Distractions & Build For The Long-Term

By on

- Employer Branding

While it can be tempting for marketers – especially those in charge of branding initiatives – to jump on the health crisis bandwagon today, it is particular important not to forget the end goal of your marketing efforts.

With demand sucked out of the market for most industries and sectors right now, many marketers will fill the time by building campaigns and initiatives that are designed to capitalize on the current market conditions.

But remember, branding, especially your employer brand, is a long-term game.

Don’t change who you are today, to capitalize on something that is a momentary pain, if it adversely affect who you will be tomorrow.

Continue to build sustainable, long-term infrastructures and programs – and continue to invest time and resources into the programs that enable your organization to continue moving in the direction you established, strategically, before this health crisis.

At the end of the day, anything you build today – for today – only has value for a short period of time. When this crisis is over – and it will be over sooner or later – you will want to look back at the time fondly – having invested in the things that actually help your organization in the future.

0

Daily Insights

A ‘Bainie’ Never Lets Another ‘Bainie’ Fail

By on

- Daily Insights

Bain & Company, one of the Big Three management consultancies and headquartered in Boston, has been widely praised for its employer branding strategies.

Bain & Company is the only company to be ranked to Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work as #1 in four different years, achieving the feat in 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2019, finishing just shy of #1 at #2 for 2020. Bain & Company has a great number of awards for its employer brand strategy and corporate culture.

Bain first captures potential employees on its career page. Instead of taking the stance where employees work for Bain, the company starts by saying “If you’re ready to do more than you think you can do, take a bold step toward Bain and we’ll walk that path with you” promoting a supportive work environment.

Bain & Company introduced Beyond The Bio, a people podcast featuring partners from its organization. Beyond The Bio takes a deep dive into the lives, careers, challenges, and triumphs of some of the extraordinary people at Bain & Company.

Bain allows its consultants to attend a global training session every 18-24 months to learn from worldwide managers and partners and share perspectives with colleagues worldwide, further developing their expertise. Employees get the chance to travel to cities such as Hong Kong, Rome, and Los Angeles for these training sessions.

Bain & Company offers a myriad of programs to create flexibility for its employees. Bain allows the opportunity for externships, global relocation, generous parental leave, extended breaks of two months off work for eligible Bainies, sabbaticals, leaves of absence, and flextime.

Bain & Company holds an annual Blacks and Latinos at Bain summit for its BABS (Blacks at Bain) and LATBA (Latinos at Bain) affinity groups, promoting diversity, inclusion, and collaboration. Bain also hosts a “people” page, where potential candidates can click and read the stories of some of its 8,000+ global employees from different regions in the world, on top of offices pages where candidates can see who the profiles of the people they will be working along with.

Fortune Magazine has described Bain & Company as a person, where “it would be articulate, attractive, meticulously well groomed, and exceedingly charming. It would exude Southern gentility. But it would also be a shrewd, intensely ambitious strategist, totally in control.”

Bain & Company takes an unorthodox approach to employer branding strategies that creates a personal brand where potential employees can gain a relationship with the firm and its employees before the application. Allowing potential employees to visually see life at Bain and how Bain treats its employees has created an employer brand built to sustain time as Bain & Company continues to enjoy success in hiring top consultants.

0

Daily Insights

Building The Foundations Of A Great Employer Brand

By on

- Daily Insights

In-N-Out Burger, an American fast-food restaurant chain primarily based in California, has built a monstrous employer brand ranking it amongst companies such as HubSpot, Google, Facebook, and Bain & Company.

In-N-Out Burger has consistently ranked on the Best Places to Work list for the past decade, ranking at #4 for this year, #3 for 2019, #4 for 2018, #7 for 2017, #13 for 2016, #8 for 2015, and #9 for 2013. In-N-Out consistently leads all fast food restaurant chains as one of the best places to work in America.

In-N-Out has become a powerhouse in employer branding, offering its employees a free burger per shift, in-house opportunities for advancement, employee support, paid vacation, a competitive salary, flexibility, tuition reimbursement, and associate discounts.

In-N-Out Burger has two foundations known as the In-N-Out Burger Foundation and the Slave 2 Nothing Foundation. The In-N-Out Burger Foundation helps fight issues such as child abuse while the Slave 2 Nothing Foundation opens paths of freedom to who are enslaved by another person or substance. In-N-Out gives 100% of the money raised to these foundations back, showing the image of a company that not only cares about its employees, but issues in society as well. In-N-Out Burger also has a merchandise store where you can buy In-N-Out clothing and accessories.

In-N-Out continues to chop the charts of employer branding and great food. In-N-Out Burger consistently finds ways to separate itself from competitors through a strategy geared towards promoting the best benefits possible which maintaining competitiveness in digital branding and marketing.

0

Daily Insights

The Case For Making Celebration A Core Competency

By on

- Daily Insights

CDW Corp., headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, is a provider of hardware, software, and integrated IT services for business, government, healthcare, and education customers.

CDW-G, a secondary division, devotes itself to U.S. government entities such as educational institutions and non-profit healthcare organizations. This year, CDW-G was recognized as the 10^th Best Large Company to work for by Hartford Business. CDW-G has built an attractive employer brand as recognized by Glassdoor, being named to the Best Places to Work list for this year and 2018 for putting culture and mission at its core.

CDW provides an annual President’s Club trip for the company’s top performers, a CelebrateIT program to allow its employees to publicly give praise and recognition to others, and Emerging Leaders program where CDW demonstrates its commitment to the continued professional development of their workers, a Six Sigma program led by an executive coach, a telehealth program, annual wellness screenings, and many more benefits and perks.

CDW captures candidates with its “Life at CDW” page where it promotes team spirit, diversity, employee testimonials, and statements speaking to its employer brand such as “WE WIN. TOGETHER.” And “WE HAVE FUN.”.

CDW has created an innovative, sustainable employer branding strategy to grasp the attention of potential candidates through video storytelling and creative benefits & perks to drive top talent to its brand and slogan “People Who Get It”.

0

Daily Insights

Developing A Workplace With Heart Is Profitable

By on

- Daily Insights

HubSpot, a leading developer and marketer of software products for sales, customer service, and inbound marketing for customer relationship management, social media marketing, lead generation, web analytics, and other marketing services was voted #1 as the Best Place to Work by Glassdoor in 2020.

HubSpot has numerous awards, being named to the Best Workplaces for Women in 2019 list, named the #1 Company for Employee Happiness by Comparably, and named to the Best Workplaces in Europe in 2019.

HubSpot created The Culture Code, a slide deck that is updated periodically. HubSpot titles it as “Culture Code: Creating a Lovable Company”.

HubSpot describes its employees as having HEART: Humble, Empathetic, Adaptable, Remarkable, Transparent. The Culture Code explains what culture is, why HubSpot obsesses over culture, and why culture is important in running a great organization.

HubSpot places a value on transparency with its employees and providing opportunities for growth for their employees. Everyone in the office shares information, knowledge, and ideas, including the C-Suite. HubSpot speaks of the importance of diversity, respect, family, and working autonomously.

One of the biggest perks that HubSpot is known for Is the allowance of remote work for its employees, non-traditional work hours, and unlimited vacation days. HubSpot wants its employees to understand that personal and professional growth are just as important as business growth, and does so through a strategy that respects the time and values of its employees.

97% of HubSpot’s employees recommend HubSpot as a place to work, and the company boasts a 4.8 star rating based on feedback and employee reviews.

HubSpot’s strategy is a people strategy, one that is open to feedback and putting the employee first before business. As a result, HubSpot has enjoyed great business success, and, if sustained, will continue to attract top talent to its brand.

0

Daily Insights

Creating a Hospitality-Driven Employer Brand

By on

- Daily Insights

Hilton Worldwide, a global leader in hospital with luxury and full-service hotels and resorts across the globe ranked this year as the best company to work for in 2020 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2020 list.

One of the biggest initiatives that Hilton’s culture thrives on is allowing the opportunity to travel for its employees through its Go Hilton Travel Programs, offering tremendous discounts at Hilton hotels across the world. Hilton is one of the few companies to offer employees a sabbatical through its Hilton’s Thrive Sabbatical Program, where employees can have a chance to “recharge, grow and make a meaningful difference.”

Research has shown that organizations benefit when employees take sabbaticals allowing the space for new ideas and innovation to boost overall confidence.

In terms of growth and advancement, employees can step into leadership through Hilton’s Lead@Hilton Development program designed to develop team members at every step of their career, creating the opportunity for employees to enjoy lifelong learning and professional development.

According to Comparably, Hilton ranks 4th against their competitors for overall culture score, trailing behind only Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG. To thrive in the hospitality industry, it is not only important, but imperative that companies follow suit behind Hilton in providing hospitality to their employees as well as their guests through work culture.

0

Daily Insights

Consigli Is Constructing A Positive Employee Experience

By on

- Daily Insights

Consigli, the Massachusetts-based construction company and general contractor, has developed numerous impressive employee initiatives that have become the building blocks to establishing an employer brand designed to attract and hire top talent, while hanging onto the company’s robust workforce.

Consigli has been able to attract top talent to its organization by offering a hard-to-beat, best-in-class benefits package – all in an effort to drive trust and confidence in job seekers and candidates.

Just recently, Consigli introduced an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to all of its full-time employees with at least 1,000 hours under their belt that allows them to gain an ownership stake in the company. In addition, Consigli offers all of its employees health and wellness services, a 401k plan with company match and Roth option, 529 College Savings Plan, company-sponsored life insurance, amongst many other benefits and perks. Employees enjoy half-days on Fridays through the summer and PTO for volunteer work, vacation/sick/personal time, as well as paid holidays and maternity/adoption leave.

One of the most beloved perks of working at Consigli is the company offers its employees reimbursement for all parking expenses and a parking pass. Additionally, Consigli University was announced as a winner in Training Magazine’s Training Top 125, a worldwide ranking of organizations that excel at training and human capital development in corporate training. Consigli University offers more than 10,000 hours of training through over 150 classes from subjects such as OSHA certification and safety protocol to LEED accreditation, estimating, and software training, offering the latest in software tools and trends.

Consigli understands that employer branding has taken a new meaning in today’s workforce as top talent tends require a comprehensive benefits package in addition to a competitive salary. Investing in employee initiatives and creating effective ways to attract talent through a well-designed benefits program will ensure the placement of high potential employees, creating a healthy environment for growth and furthering the overall mission of the organization.

0