Benefits are okay, but development is better. Get the tips to perfect your employer branding by focusing more on the employee journey and CSR.
A strong company brand is not its product only. The employees who work for the company are part of it too.
They need focus, care, and consideration. And they are the key, if you want to improve your employer branding.
However, to attract and retain talent you can not only give your employees benefits as a fitness subscription or a massage. It is nice, and it is better than giving them nothing at all. But if you want to improve your employer branding, you need to do much more.
Improve Your Employer Branding
Optimize Your Employee Journey
Your employees take many steps through your company. From they apply to they wave goodbye. Let your employer brand shine and work on your employees’ impressions of you as an employer – through the entire employee journey. They are your company brand ambassadors. If they are happy, they will stay at the company and their word of mouth will ensure that the talent will flow in your direction.
The Employee Journey Steps
Preboarding
Preboarding takes place prior to the first day at the job. Imagine the last time you accepted a job offer: We’re you excited to start? And did you get second thoughts even so? It is quite normal to feel doubt about the new. And sometimes it can lead people to stay in the old job, because it feels more safe.
Prevent this and take the time to preboard your new employee. For example, invite them for a casual lunch so they can meet the team or send them digital learning about your company mission, strategy, etc. By this, you can show your new employee that you are looking forward to see them and letting them become a part of your team. At the same time, they will feel a sense of belonging with you faster. Remember, they are already excited to start – feed that feeling.
Onboarding
Onboarding starts when the new employee enters the door the very first day. It will get your new employee into their daily work tasks in a good pace, as well as letting them be a part of the company culture. Onboarding is not just about handing your new employee a bouquet of flowers and say: “Let’s find something you can do.” No. This will leave a bad impression (affecting your employer branding), and can, ultimately, lead to both of you going your separate ways – way too soon. In fact, 25 % of all new hires quit within a year. Prevent this with effective onboarding, which also increases time-to-performance.
Reboarding
Reboarding takes place when an employee returns after a longer period of absence, or if an employee starts in a new role in the company. Reboarding shows your employee that he or she is not forgotten. They are still of great value to the company and they have surely been missed. It is the same case with the employee starting in a new role. You show him or she that you take them seriously, and you want them to succeed in their new role, as well as they did in the old one. You can also give reboarding to existing employees to bring them up to speed. Maybe, a big organizational change happened, and some could use an extra brush-up about the new structure and strategy. Put it in to digital learning and send it out to employees who need it.
Growth and Development
Growth and development is a stop on the employee journey, which pops up again and again. People need to grow, handle their daily tasks more efficiently, and they want to be a better version of themselves. 94 % of employees say they will stay longer in a company, if they invest in their development. So, this is a place where you can really accelerate in relation to employer branding.
Don’t just hand your employees a course catalogue and give them a free choice to learn more. If they afterwards don’t know how they can use what they’ve learned, they will probably go somewhere else where they can. Think: What is your company’s vision and mission? And how can the specific employee contribute? Motivate the employee to learn according to the mission, but make sure, at the same time, that the employee has an actual interest in the subject.
Offboarding
Offboarding is when you say goodbye to an employee in good spirits. This is the last impression your employee will have of your company, so this is an extra important step for employer branding purposes. Make sure to make an exit-interview to find out where to improve, communicate with the rest of your staff to prevent panic or a grey atmosphere, add the departing employee to your alumni community, and - of course - value their contribution.
CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility is a game changer these years. Sustainability, climate, and diversity are here to stay. People want to go to companies that do something with a purpose. Something that makes a difference for a better world. Reach out to your PR Associates in your company and find the good CSR stories about your company, that you can share with the world to attract and retain talent. Furthermore, you need to take a step back and think sustainability to even create the stories if lacking. You can, for example, send out digital learning about UN Global Goals and Climate for your employees to promote sustainability in the workplace, change the mindset, and daily workflow to start moving towards a better world.