Do you have an employer brand? Yes you do! ~ By Christina

Finding and hiring employees is the biggest pain point for all employers whether you're small, medium or large. 83% of CEOs in a recent PriceWaterhouse Coopers CEO survey said that changing their approach to talent management is their number one priority. The current system they are using is what we call “post and pray.” You post a job maybe on LinkedIn or maybe on Indeed and you cross your fingers that ideal candidate will apply – you sit back and hope for someone to walk in the door. But the approach does not need to be so accidental, it can be more strategic.

What is Strategic Talent Management?

A strategic talent management system is purposely finding and retaining people to work in your organization. The whole cycle is kicked off with your brand as an employer. The idea behind employer branding is to find and retain ‘human capital’ AKA: fantastic employees who are assets to your organization. For more on Human Capital check out my video: https://youtu.be/3URMCqzYN7I

Employer Branding

With employer branding you are enticing passive candidates (potential employees) through your external communication. You are filling your pipeline before or when you need someone; essentially you are engaging people in your business for the possibility of working with you. Similar to customer marketing in that you are hooking people in but in this case its to work with you instead of to shop with you.

Every organization that has ever existed has had an employer brand, a perception of what it means to work at their organization. Employer brands are shaped by the experiences of current and past employees, candidates, and even customers. Anyone who has engaged and interacted with your organization has the opportunity to contribute to this perception whether it is through word of mouth, social media, or through a review on Glassdoor. It is this same perception that sways a candidate to either continue with their application process, accept an offer, or run for the hills. 

Employer branding, on the other hand, is the art and science behind amplifying and/or influencing that perception. It encompasses everything from consistent messaging, communication, and visuals that help tell an organization’s unique story and Employee Value Proposition (EVP), to how and where you advertise your organization’s openings. It is important to keep in mind that your brand is what it is, change is not always the goal, and changing a brand is impossible without changing your company culture. You can, however, emphasize the most important, positive brand attributes in your communications. 

Creating an employer branding strategy is not as easy as putting pen to paper or posting a job on your favorite job board. It takes time, thought, and a little creativity. However, the starting point always begins with your employees. It’s about the common attributes of your successful employees, what it means to work for your company as a whole, or within an individual department. These factors become the basis of your Employee Value Proposition – the most compelling value you offer to prospective employees. It could be “High pay, free food, and a competitive environment.” Or it could be “Positive social footprint, internal advancement, and fanatical focus on customer satisfaction.” The key is to honestly look at your organization, get lots of input, and define a concise strategy that can be easily understood by your target candidates. 

Looking to get some answers about what your brand is? A good way to get started is by interviewing your current employees. Ask any combination of, or all the questions below, remembering to treat every conversation as an opportunity to learn more about the current state of your employer brand. A fair assessment will include employees from all departments, career levels, and geographic regions. 

Employment Experience

·        Why did you join our company?

·        What keeps you here?

·        Why do you enjoy working here?

·        What about your immediate team do you like the best?

·        What outcomes do you want from your work?

 Company Culture

·        What is unique about us?

·        Describe the kind of person who succeeds here

·        What is the common thread that all our employees possess?

·        How do we achieve our goals?

·        What four adjectives best describe our team?

Once your brand is defined, this messaging is ready to be shared with the world through your career site, social media networks, job ads, email messages from recruiters to candidates, and so on. No more post and pray for you. Now that you have your employer branding every external communication is an opportunity tell the world why you are an awesome place to work.

Attraction Plans Made Easy ~ By Christina

Let's talk about attraction! Employers: Have you heard of attraction? It’s the stage that comes before actively recruiting in order to fill open positions. It’s about how you attract those future superstar employees into your organization and how you get them interested in working for you before you even a have a role to fill. A sound attraction plan will set you up for success to entice those future fantastic employees into becoming interested your organization once there is an opening.

There are a few steps that you need to take.

First, you need to look inward. You need to ask yourself: “What is it that I offer?” Think about what a job seeker in your industry and in your community is looking for in their work. Then come up with a list of all the things that an employee might be attracted to in your organization. For example, do you reward and recognize employees with trips to Las Vegas? That’s definitely something that an employee is going to be interested in. Do you offer Netflix memberships or gym memberships or flexible working hours? Any of the things that a job seeker is going to look for in an organization are the things that are going to attract them in.  Come up with a list of the things that you yourself do as an employer. Remember it doesn’t have to be fancy. Do you pay fairly? That's definitely something that a job seeker will be attracted to.  Are you on a bus route that makes it easy for people to take transit? That can be a huge plus for some employees.

Here are a few more ideas to get you thinking:

·         Pay for Performance

·         Pay at or above Market

·         Reward & Recognize good performance

·         Show Clear Career Paths

·         Give Opportunities for Improvement

·         Frequent Feedback and Reviews

·         Offer Flexible Working Hours

·         Ownership Shares

·         Provide Wellness Opportunities

·         Develop into Leadership

·         Company Retreats

·         Time with the Boss

·         Career Planning and progression

·         Training, Coaching, and Development

·         Benefits

·         Stability

·         Significance in their work (are you saving the world with your business? – employees will get excited by that! But even if you are just offering spectacular customer service – employee can get excited by that too!)

Second, now that you’ve got your list, it isn’t going to do you much good unless you tell people. So, let everybody know. Start incorporating your list of attractors into all your recruitment efforts. Putting them in job postings is non-negotiable but it goes beyond that. Make sure it’s on your website, remind current employees (who are a great source for future employees!) about all the wonderful reasons they should be happy to work for you. Are you speaking in a podcast? Talk about what you offer employees, are you blogging? Share it in a blog or a vlog.  Look for opportunities to let the world know what sorts of reasons a person would want to wok with you. Sharing your list on your social media channels is a wonderful way to get the word out. You should be sharing information about your employees and who you are as an employer at a ratio of about 10 to 1 – 10 posts about other things to 1 post about employment. So, drop an occasional photo on Instagram that speaks to your attraction strategies. You never know who might see it and be enticed to apply a for role with you down the road.

Third and finally: Always be Attracting! You never know when you’re going to need to fill a vacancy, so continually be looking at your list of attractors, adding more, and sharing them with the world!

Foundational Best Practices for Employee Retention ~ By Christina

A recent study shows that 49% of Canadians are considering leaving their jobs. The number one reason is that they feel overlooked. If you want to keep your employees that you’ve worked so hard to find and train you need to put effort in to keeping them.

So, let’s get back to basics.

1: Pay Fairly. Employees don’t work for you simply because they love you and believe in your service or product. Like it or not they work for money (unavoidably, we live in a capitalist society and money is a fundamental.) As a recruitment firm we simply wont work with employers who don’t pay enough. We turned down a large multi-recruitment contract because the employer wanted to pay the supervisors 25 cents more than minimum wage (which is what the front-line staff were making) and the managers only 25 cents more than the supervisors. I’m still scratching my head on that one! This is an extreme example, but it does demonstrate how essential it is to do your research and figure out what the role is worth. Yes, you must look at your own budget but you also need to look at the value the employee provides to you in terms of their skills, experience, knowledge, time and energy that they give to you in return for a pay cheque. Paying fairly in exchange for all they give you is table stakes and the foundation on which you build a reputation as a great employer. 

2: Care about Your Employees. Employees need validation. When they are validated by their leader they become loyal and are five times more likely to stay at their current organization. Whereas employees who don’t feel recognized are two times more likely to be job hunting. (And PS: Turnover costs, at minimum, 33% of an employee’s salary.)  So how do you care and validate? That depends on the employee. Some employees just need you to say “great job” to them directly, others like to hear it in front of the team, others like to see it in writing, any many want it to be acknowledged in performance reviews. If you don’t know – ask your employee. They’ll be sure to tell you how they like to be acknowledged. This also goes beyond a pat on the back when the work is good; it’s also acknowledging them as people in everyday situations. Ask about their families, be curious about what hey are up to over the weekend and then follow up on Monday morning. Caring about your employees starts by actually considering them and their full lives. 

3: Provide Purpose over Profit. Gallup research shows that employees who are engaged and thriving are 59% less likely to look for a job elsewhere. And the number one way to engage employees is to give them something to work toward that serves a greater purpose than simply making money for the organization. Working with a team toward a specific mission and vision is an experience that employees can attach themselves to. All companies with high employee morale and job satisfaction show their values through a core mission statement. That mission statement isn’t just sitting on the website – it’s embedded in the work they do and they way they treat their customers and their employees.

These are straightforward ideas to set yourself up as an employer that people want to work for.  I’m not saying it’s simple or easy – but these are definitely foundational requirements if you want to keep those team members that you value.