The term ‘quiet quitting’ started as a whisper in the corporate corridors, yet as a trend it has quickly become too loud to ignore. What started out as an idea on TikTok, has sparked a larger discussion about employee wellbeing, burnout and work-life balance. Is this a fad retreading old work frustrations, or is there change in the air?

Employees coasting in office jobs isn’t a new concept. Ever since humans first began working at a desk, there have been those that are dissatisfied with it for one reason or another. Depending on the setting, there can be a number of reasons why an unhappy employee decides to ‘quiet quit’ instead of quitting outright. Is there a difference between coasting and ‘quiet quitting,’ or is this simply a new term for the same dissatisfaction and absence of passion we are already familiar with?

What is ‘quiet quitting’?

Despite its name, ‘quiet quitting’ doesn’t actually involve quitting at all. Instead, it’s an active decision to stick to strictly fulfilling your work duties as described in your job description and contract – while otherwise disengaging from any extra tasks outside of it, and the associated overtime. The idea behind it, in short and simplified terms, is to fly under the radar as much as possible, while still showing up to work to perform your duties in a normal fashion. Beyond this, the quiet quitter has no interest in going above and beyond in pursuit of growth, promotions or bonuses.

To understand ‘quiet quitting’ in our current setting, we first need to go back to the pandemic. With everyone having their lives forcibly slowed down by lockdowns, it naturally gave people a lot more time to think and reflect. With work being such a big part of our lives, and with many people feeling burnt out even before the pandemic hit, it comes as no surprise that people spent time thinking long and hard about work and how it affect’s their lives.

The Great Resignation

All this contemplation resulted in what has since been coined ‘The Great Resignation,’ with unhappy and overworked employees quitting their jobs in droves. Some quit in favour of following their dreams and completely new career paths, while others found similar jobs with companies that offered better conditions, salaries and company culture. Already we have answered one of the burning questions around ‘quiet quitting’; ‘why don’t they simply quit their jobs outright?’ The answer is they did, or at least a large portion of the ones that had the option did. 

The ones who don’t see quitting as an option may stick around due to being bound by contract, their financial situation may be too uncertain to quit at the current time, or they believe that the situation would be the same with a different company. In some cases people may choose to stay because the salary is good, but they are ‘quiet quitting’ in response to a work environment or culture that is otherwise demotivating or toxic.

What drives employees into ‘quiet quitting?’

As humans, we have a natural drive to desire and pursue happiness. Finding this happiness is a long journey with a number of factors and measurements, that for most of us involves a certain measure of fulfilment through work. One of the main factors for how fulfilled we feel in our job positions is salary. However, individual differences will influence much weight it carries for us among the other factors of our work life. Simply put, some people value a good salary more, while others think it’s more important to find real meaning in the work itself.

The part where this gets complicated is when we introduce the employer, work environment and expectations. It’s only natural that an employer has expectations for the people who work for them, but it’s just as natural that the employee has some for their employer as well. This is why we have contracts – so that they are clearly set both ways. In theory this should make it all very clear-cut, but the waters are quickly muddied by hustle culture, crunch time and chasing bonuses and promotions.

Work-life balance and clear boundaries

While most countries have labour laws that stipulate the number of hours you’re allowed to work in a week, hustle culture – the idea that if you’re not always giving 110% at work, you are underperforming – is still prevalent in many countries and companies around the world, and it will often run contrary to these laws.

There’s nothing wrong with putting in extra effort here and there if it can make a difference, and your hard work is justly rewarded. A bonus or a promotion has to be earned fairly. It should be said, however, that when working overtime and taking on extra tasks outside your job description becomes a regular occurrence and the new norm, the path to burnout becomes short.

As recently as April 2022, 51% or workers in the US surveyed by The Harris Poll said they continued to feel burned out after the pandemic. In addition, while many Americans who have worked at home during COVID prefer the set-up, it can also make burnout worse by coaxing them to do tasks or answer emails or calls at all hours, and make it harder to switch off outside working hours. On the other side of the Atlantic, the annual 2022 Pulse of talent report by Ceridian found that as many as 79% of UK staff have gone through burnout, with the top three causes cited being increased workloads (49%), mental health challenges (34%) and pressure to meet deadlines (32%).

While there can be more factors that can influence employees into ‘quiet quitting’, there’s a clear indication that burnout and a lack of appreciation and reward for hard work is a major contributor to the dissatisfaction that leads to quiet quitting. This isn’t just about being passed over for a promotion or a bonus, but also having good ideas shot down in favour of sticking to things as they have always been. Being constantly stressed and never getting ahead of the workload due to understaffing or impossible expectations will also have a major impact on an employee’s decision to disengage.

Numbers from a Zenger Folkman analysis – highlighted in this Harvard Business Review article – point a heavy finger at bad managers as being another major cause, dismissing the notion that ‘quiet quitting’ is a matter of insubordination, laziness or revenge for overwork.

Work life will never be without its fair share of stress, frustrations and challenges – you need look no further than the funny pages in your local newspaper to find cases of humans joking about and laughing off common work life frustrations to cope with them. But there is a line somewhere between cracking jokes, heaving a sigh and saying “it is what it is”, and the formation of online communities like the infamous Anti-Work subreddit, and physical movements like the Lie Flat movement in China.

From these scathing numbers highlighting burnout and poor management, it seems that ‘quiet quitting’ may be a justified, silent rebellion to regain control of one’s work-life balance and the rejection of a long-standing, unhealthy and counterproductive hustle culture. Having seen how it causes unhappiness and burnout in the generations before them, younger generations like millennials and Gen Z are sending a message – that they refuse to follow the same road, and expect a more balanced work culture and professional life.

How can employers prevent ‘quiet quitting?’

Knowing that ‘quiet quitting’ is a symptom of a dysfunctional or unbalanced work relationship, and a poor employer brand, there are a number of steps you can take to help your employees stay positively inclined to the work they’re doing, and the company they are working for.

As a manager discovering or suspecting ‘quiet quitting’ in your team, you may be tempted to take a hard stance and crack down on it with disciplinary measures. Keep in mind what we mentioned previously – that in the vast majority of cases, ‘quiet quitting’ is not about laziness or insubordination. Taking the iron fist approach and pulling employees into meetings for stern words is actually likely to make the problem worse and vindicate the ‘quiet quitters’ in their decision to disengage.

Realign and clarify expectations – provide training and reward hard work

With overwork and drifting responsibilities being among the main causes of ‘quiet quitting’, it’s possible you may have to take a step back and reconsider what your expectations are for the individual roles. Make sure that they are clear cut and not vague, so that employees have a clear understanding of where their responsibilities begin and end.

You may not always have the budget to take on new hires to meet expanding needs. If you have to rely on your current employees to handle new responsibilities, make sure you provide them with proper training to set them up for success as much as possible. This includes educating them on your brand identity. You may also want to consider a monetary incentive here in addition, keeping in mind that it’s still less costly than a new hire.

Regardless of the reasons and situation, there’s no way around rewarding hard work if you want to keep your employees engaged and motivated both short term and long term. A bonus scheme may seem like the obvious solution, but you should also consider setting a clear internal mobility strategy. Establishing and maintaining a clear path to climb the ladder internally will go a long way to both keep your employees motivated, and strengthen your employer brand overall.

Empower your people to work smarter, not harder

It’s not unheard of to have a lot of tasks that need doing, and not enough people to do them. It’s the nature of business that keeping up with the market takes hard work, but if your team is constantly trying to catch up and never quite getting there, it’s a clear indication that the current process isn’t working as well as it could.

Hiring new people to handle the extra workload might be the right decision in some cases, but hiring and training new employees is costly, and may be overkill depending on the situation. Before considering the recruitment option, you should look into whether your team could benefit from better technology solutions that help them streamline repetitive tasks and remove bottlenecks that slow everyone down. It even provides better room for your employees to be creative in their roles, and help them feel like an active part of the company.

If you feel that you don’t have the budget to invest in tech right now, keep in mind that reducing your time-to-market and increasing the cost efficiency of your marketing team can make a big difference for your bottom line.

Revisit your Employer Value Proposition

The pandemic has had a significant impact on how we approach and structure our work life, and companies will benefit a lot from showing willingness to adapt and adjust to our new sensibilities. You won’t have to throw out the whole book, as the basic principles of EVP remain mostly the same as before, but it’s well worth the effort to revisit it and see what you can do to adapt it to the new ways.

Flexibility in the workflow

The employees that are the most passionate, productive and motivated, are usually the ones who are given the right amount of freedom, trust and flexibility. They have the room to explore new ideas and apply creativity to solving problems or finding new directions. When employees are given space and trust, they will feel that their expertise and contributions are valued – which helps to give them a sense of ownership of the work they carry out, again leading to a greater sense of fulfilment.

Fulfilment is an important aspect of our mental wellbeing. Not every job can be amazing and fun, as someone has to do the boring stuff – whatever it may be for any given company – but if the work itself is very dry and routine, it’s important to have it contextualised with the value it provides.

Flexibility obviously doesn’t mean an absence of structure. You can and should still have clear deadlines as part of the workflow. Yet adjusting how you measure performance to focus on results instead of hours can make a big difference on the pressure your employees feel.

We must keep in mind however, that trust is a two-way street. Depending on the state of your current company culture, there may be some work involved in building and reinforcing a culture of mutual trust with the right balance of give and take.

Flexibility to accommodate life

Work naturally takes a high priority in our everyday lives, but sometimes life throws us a curveball and other important things have to take priority over it. Whether it’s a family member falling ill or the car breaking down, giving your employees the flexibility they need to tackle untimely problems will make them feel far more safe and at ease both on good days and bad. If your employees feel like they are taken care of and met with empathy when the going gets tough, they are likely to be far more productive in general, and willing to give back.

Support your employees’ mental health

Good mental health is essential for maintaining productivity. While better flexibility will go a long way to help your employees keep a healthy and balanced mind, there are other ways you can support them as well. Rooting out toxic behaviour in the workplace and promoting a positive culture where people help each other instead of stepping on each other makes a world of difference for employee wellbeing. It can also be a great idea to include benefits that directly support the mental health of employees who may be going through rough times.

Provide employee benefits with real value

A ping pong table isn’t a proper employee benefit, or a positive contribution to company culture. Stick to benefits that can actually make a positive difference for your employees. You could consider contributions to bus passes or gym memberships, or other opportunities that your business niche allows for. Maybe your company has a client that deals in sporting goods or electronics and you could negotiate an employee discount?

“Only the rich get richer” 

Subvert this demotivational idea with things like LTI programs or stock options that give any employee the option to invest in the company and its success if they want to. Being personally invested is a great source of motivation, and provides lower level employees a reason to smile along with the boss whenever the company experiences success and growth.

Empower your employer branding team with brand management by Papirfly™

Investing in your employer brand may be the smartest decision you can make for keeping your current employees switched on, actively engaged and motivated to stick around. In addition, by becoming a more attractive employer, you’ll see a greater influx of stronger candidates in your long term recruitment.

Some of the world’s most notable employer brand teams make use of brand management to bring their employer brand to life, and keep a firm grasp on their EVP every step of the way. Read about them in our brand stories and hear directly from them how our solutions have made a difference.

Discover how Papirfly’s brand management platform makes it easy to digitise and deploy your employer brand and book your demo today.

In any organisation, the feeling of losing good employees is one you have to get used to very quickly. People quit their jobs for a wide variety of reasons – some of which are completely out of an employer’s control.

Nevertheless, while employers must become accustomed to the feeling of losing employees, they should never become comfortable with it. Because in many cases, their decision to leave is something that could have been prevented.

Now with phrases like “The Great Resignation” gaining traction, and a global Microsoft report revealing that up to 41% of employees contemplated quitting or changing professions in 2021, it seems an appropriate time to examine the standout reasons why people walk away from their employers – and how a strong, protected employer brand can keep them around.

Source: The Work Intitute

Citing ‘poor benefits offering’ as a reason for leaving jobs has increased over 100% since 2010

4 reasons why employees quit

1. Lack of growth and development opportunities

Most people do not aspire to be in the same role for decades. They want to know that there are opportunities to grow and progress in their career. If they cannot see these possibilities in their organisation, they will look elsewhere to find somewhere that will empower them to realise their true potential.

If employees feel unchallenged by the work they do, boredom can quickly set in – and boredom breeds demotivated, uninspired workers. In time, too much monotony will spur them to seek a fresh challenge somewhere else.

Source: The Harris Poll

1/3 of workers quit their former job because they didn’t gain new skills or improve their performance

2. Lack of meaning or purpose

Similarly, if employees feel like what they do lacks purpose, or isn’t contributing to their organisation’s goals, this can quickly dissuade them from sticking around. This is particularly possible when employees don’t feel connected to their company’s mission statement, values or objectives. Without this connection, it is much easier for them to disengage from their employer.

Source: XpertHR

More than 50% of organisations have seen a rise in employee requests to work more flexibly

3. Poor relationships with management or coworkers

Employees’ internal relationships are a major influence on their happiness and motivation. If they do not feel like their work is appreciated by management, or that they are constantly being berated by those above them in the pecking order, that is a sure-fire sign that they will not stay with the company long.

This extends to co-workers as well. If an employee feels isolated at work, or struggles to form good relationships with their colleagues, this again could spur them into leaving. The more passionate someone feels about their co-workers, the less likely they are to leave them.

Source: Career Addict

79% of employees consider bad leadership a factor in their decision to quit… and 40% would return to their old job if the boss was replaced

4. An unappealing corporate culture

In the same vein, if the corporate culture within an organisation is unpleasant or stagnant, it is likely to frustrate the employees trying to work within it. Especially for younger generations, a rigid or overwhelmingly negative atmosphere will actively encourage them to find one that is more suitable. 

Source: Deloitte

72% of employees would leave their existing employer for one with a more inclusive culture

Attract and retain the best talent with a brand management platform

In many cases, employee turnover can be addressed and minimised. By placing a firmer focus on the quality and consistency of your employer brand, this can convince your most talented team members to be with you for the long haul – and your company will reap the benefits of a more established, motivated workforce.

To help spread your employer brand across the entirety of your organisation, Papirfly‘s all-in-one brand management platform is a powerful ally to have on your side. As well as accelerate the rate in which you create employer brand materials – taking production completely in-house – our solution also enables you to:

• Contain all brand guidelines, onboarding materials, training videos and more into one brand portal
• Organise all campaigns through a streamlined, effective campaign planner
• Store and share all approved assets with your teams globally through a comprehensive Digital Asset Manager (DAM)

Discover how a brand management platform can supercharge your employer brand like never before – get in touch today, or arrange your personal demo.

The graduates of today are the future leaders of tomorrow. So getting your company noticed at a pivotal time in the careers of these bright young prospects is crucial.

Gen Z and beyond have experienced turbulence much like any other generation. But when it comes to the outlook on careers, the environment and the future, they have been exposed to a much thicker wall of negativity, which employers will have a partial responsibility in helping them break through.

Employers need to not only work hard to bring their employer brand to this new wave of prospects – they need to inspire this generation into believing anything is possible once again. It’s a big challenge, but it’s a vital one to ensure that the right talent is nurtured, retained and driven in the right direction. 

Overcoming challenges with graduates

There are typically two main scenarios employers are finding themselves in with graduates.

• They are inundated with applications for certain roles
• For more specialised roles, there is a smaller pool of talent and competition is high

First let’s look at the most common situation: receiving too many applications.

This can be a problem for a number of reasons that will affect your ability to recruit quality graduates…

Problem…Too many people with similar skill sets are applying and it’s difficult to distinguish who might be most suitable based on their application alone, suggesting there’s a flaw in the application process.

Solution…If you are using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), there should be options available to introduce more detailed screening questions. These answers should give you insight into an applicant’s personality, communication skills and general motivations for the role before considering their skill sets. 

Your team should also set some common rules for what a good applicant looks like. For example: they must include a cover letter, they must have tailored their cover letter to your company, they must have a nicely presented CV – those kinds of things. This sets parameters that can help you weed out those who haven’t made the effort. 

Additionally, ensure your employer brand’s mission and purpose are coming through enough on your job creatives – give candidates an accurate feeling of what it’s like to work for your brand, and they will likely deselect themselves if they don’t feel they are a good fit.

Problem…Too many applicants are under-qualified for the role they’re applying for – this may mean the application process is too easy or the information provided is misleading.

Solution…If you’ve been a victim of the ‘Indeed effect’, where applicants are just clicking apply to your role even if it’s not aligned to their skills, you can consider the following ways to reduce the amount of unsuitable applications you are receiving:

• Consider promoting your roles on more specialist jobs boards, as this will prevent the vacancy from being accessible to anyone and everyone 
• Review your advertising creatives – are they giving out the wrong message about the roles? Is the company’s expertise shining through? 
• Make sure the essential skills, experience and qualifications are clearly defined in the job description or landing page 

Problem…There’s no time to view the volume of applications coming through with any kind of detail – leaving you missing out on talent and those who don’t hear back feeling disconnected to your employer brand.

Solution…Again, this is where putting in some key filter questions can come in handy. You can use the answers to help determine the quality of the application before committing to reading the CV cover to cover.

For more high-level roles, you may ask the candidate to include a portfolio or include a short task as a first or second stage of application. Make sure this is clear in your job description, as plenty of people who don’t have the skills you need won’t want to proceed based on that request alone.

Lastly, ensure your ATS is set up to give automated responses to applicants. Make it clear that if they are unsuccessful they will not be contacted (providing that there’s no time to respond to each individual), but be sure to encourage them to apply for future roles again after 6 months, a year, or whatever time frame you choose. 

Next, let’s explore scenario two: small or hard-to-reach talent pools for specialist roles. 

This can also create an equally overwhelming amount of problems for your team.

Problem…Your specialist roles aren’t being filled because your offering isn’t strong enough. 

Solution…Graduates in niche industry areas are likely looking for the role that’s going to benefit them and their careers the most.

When looking at your employer brand, think beyond just the salary and benefits. What are the candidates actually going to benefit from by being your employee as opposed to another brand? 

Candidates need to feel excited about the future, not just the initial role they’re taking. Financial security and a decent roster of benefits are an expectation for many and alone are often not enough to inspire a big career move. 

Problem…You may be losing talent to competitors. 

Solution…When an applicant turns down your job offer for another opportunity elsewhere, it’s important to keep the window of opportunity open.

Ask them politely what your company can learn from their experience and what they could be doing differently, and add them to future candidate pools. Teams can then follow up in 6 months or a year via LinkedIn to make them aware of any new roles available. 

Problem…You are not receiving a decent quantity of applicants.

Solution…Reviewing the media placements of your employer brand advertising should be your number one priority. Are your teams promoting the roles in the right places? Are they targeting aspiring developers with ads on Facebook instead of Reddit? Or hiring for a remote role in very specific locations?

Consider putting out an incentivised survey on LinkedIn or appropriate channels to gather first-hand insight into where someone might look for a specific role. 

Problem…You are struggling to find the exact skills needed for your specialist roles.

Solution…Graduates aren’t going to come with the exact skills needed to join your organisation and hit the ground running from day one. In the longer term, it’s worth really thinking about how important these skill sets are to the business. Do they warrant creating a company-sponsored degree? Or an in-house training programme? 

These kinds of opportunities help to mould prospects into the kind of employee your brand needs, and give them on-the-job training and experience. It’s a very time-consuming commitment, so you need to be sure that the investment is worth the outlay and disruption. 

What are the priorities for graduates?

Depending on the industry and the individual, priorities for graduates will vary from person to person. A recent study by Bright Network did help to shine a light on what graduates as a whole are prioritising, some of which we’ll explore here…

They want to be upskilled

95% of members want to be upskilled directly by employers. Having a clear path of progression and training allowance can help graduates understand how your company can take their career to the next level.

They want a genuine commitment to inclusivity and diversity

Many employers preach about inclusivity but fail to live up to the reality. Having HR provide training on important subjects such as unconscious bias, celebrating a wide range of holidays, a commitment to fair pay and having dedicated strategic training programmes are all small steps every company can take towards becoming more inclusive and diverse. But a few gestures aren’t enough – the commitment must be ingrained in your employer brand.

They want to know that employee mental wellbeing is a priority

53% of Millennials were already burned out from work pre-pandemic, up to 59% today. Gen-Z is a close second, with 58% reporting burnout post-pandemic, up from 47% in 2020. While working from home orders and more flexible working have been introduced because of the pandemic, it doesn’t mean the workload has reduced in any way. Having a company show they put people before profit and prioritise mental health will be a key driver for many graduates.

They want to work for a company that’s actively reducing their environmental impact

If graduates are painstakingly separating their recycling each week, using metal straws and reducing their carbon footprint, they want to know that the company they work for is doing their bit, too. It’ll take more than an annual beach clean to impress candidates too – the products, services and practices your brand undertakes need to work hard to reduce short and long-term impact. This is increasingly becoming a dealbreaker for candidates. 

Does your employer brand need to work harder to accommodate graduates?

With only 42% of students saying they feel prepared to enter the world of work, being there for them at this confusing time can help them build a stronger connection to your employer brand.

Make sure the application process is clear and uncomplicated. Don’t avoid questions about salary and progression. Have your company’s mission dominate your employer brand. They are the talent of the future, and in many cases the talent of right now too. 

How you communicate your employer brand is vast – social media, emails, videos, adverts and more. Staying on top of your messaging and adapting your creatives with a constantly moving market can be a challenge – but BAM by Papirfly™ can help you digitise your employer brand, simplify your processes and help teams create infinite promotional materials every month. 

Find out more or book your demo today.

Why is employer branding important?

One of the biggest mistakes in employer branding is that it can easily become disconnected from what drives it in the first place — the core mission and values of your business. This is what defines your company and should come through in everything it says, does and creates.

When constrained to your HR department, or only associated with superficial perks, your employer branding is missing its potential to create a company-wide impact on everything from your talent attraction and employee retention, to your output and – ultimately – business revenue.

A positive employer brand is something your company should be shouting about, and not just in the office. As well as being a way for potential candidates to get an insight into what your work environment is really like, it gives consumers a chance to see the human side of your brand and what it really stands for. 

Your employees will thank you too. By communicating with your staff to understand the things they love about their work, how you can make it even better for them, and what drives them day-to-day, you can put them at the centre of your employer branding and foster a positive company culture. The benefits of a people-first employer branding strategy include better staff morale, more chances to improve their skills within the company and a better chance of creating advocates for your brand.

Establishing strong brand governance is the first step to getting everyone in your company on-board with your employer brand and become brand ambassadors — from C-Suite execs, to new interns.

What is brand governance in the context of employer branding?

Brand governance is integral to achieving this level of consistency at scale and across local markets. At its core, brand governance is a way to make sure everything that’s produced by your brand is aligned with the same consistent thread that encapsulates the look and feel of your brand, the way it behaves and what makes it unique.

While successful employer branding needs to be governed and embodied by senior leadership teams, the same core values, mission and sense of purpose need to reach everyone in the company, even if they are based in multiple locations.

Below, we’ve outlined the top considerations for making your employer brand shine with watertight brand governance.

6 steps for governing your employer brand

#1 Understand cultural nuance

If your company has employees working in different locations, then your employer brand strategy needs to go further than just one office. Without taking cultural nuances and work practices of each market into account, you run the risk of your messaging completely missing the mark, or worse, actually offending your audience and harming employee engagement. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that your messaging translates word for word in every country, or that your images will be received the same way. Your company culture has to translate for the local culture.

Taking an employer brand campaign global isn’t just a case of switching the languages. To avoid any embarrassing miscommunication from your employer branding activities, you need to find a way to align the central values and purpose of your company with what resonates with employees, candidates and consumers in specific locations.

#2 Accommodate different candidate pools

Across the board, organisations with a diverse workforce benefit from faster growth, a boost in reputation and a large global impact. If you only seem to attract the same kind of talent, then it’s probably a sign that your employer branding only resonates with a small talent pool. 

Again, this is a case of working to better understand your audience and the different motivations, concerns, challenges and priorities within them. To attract and retain a truly diverse range of candidates, you need to think beyond the obvious categories and make sure that each is represented in your employer branding strategy.

It’s then important to communicate with authenticity, using messaging that you can back up with the way your company behaves.

#3 Get organised. Get a DAM.

When your employer branding is on a roll, and you have watertight brand governance to ensure global consistency, your teams are ready to produce assets to their heart’s content. Almost.

To avoid the chaos that can come with global asset production, they need somewhere to store, share and structure the materials they created using a Digital Asset Management system (DAM). Having a visual, well-organised filing system will make finding and sharing relevant assets quick and easy, and prevent your brand’s materials being misused.

#4 Keep your EVP consistent

For your employer value proposition to make any real impact on your brand it needs to land in the same way, anywhere your company operates. Without understanding how they translate in different local markets, your core values and purpose are at risk of being misinterpreted, or meaning something totally different depending on where you are in the world. Ultimately, you need to take steps to provide the consistent message your people need.

When you include teams from across the globe in your brand governance, they’ll have a clear understanding of how to implement it in their local markets.

#5 Simplify sign-off and approvals

In the midst of global talent recruitment campaigns, staying on top of approving hundreds of marketing materials accurately and in time for launch can be time-consuming, not to mention a stressful task for brand managers.

For the peace of mind that all your materials are consistent, accounted for and ready for market, having a streamlined approval process is essential.

#6 Get a hold of your assets

Avoid the unnecessary confusion of tracking down recruitment branding assets and materials by storing and sharing them from one location.

This can be made even easier if you can set permissions to ensure that individual teams only have access to assets created for their local markets and specific campaigns.

Tools for implementing strong brand governance

There is a wealth of branding software available that will make controlling brand governance a whole lot easier for you and your teams. In fact, the choice can often get a little overwhelming. Before you lose yourself in comparisons and reviews, here are the key features you need to look out for.

Template creation

Having a template is one thing, but making them bespoke is another. Smart design templates from a brand management platform make it easy to set predefined parameters to give your teams the freedom to be creative without veering off-brand.

Work from a centralised location

Through digital marketing brand portals, you can combine creation, management and storage. With one centralised location for everything that encapsulates your employer brand, your teams can align on guidelines, processes, approvals and more.

Make global brand alignment a reality

Through digital marketing brand portals, you can combine creation, management and storage. With one centralised location for everything that encapsulates your employer brand, your teams can align on guidelines, processes, approvals and more.

What’s the point of working so hard to define your Employer Value Proposition if your entire company can’t see it? 

Open up stronger collaboration with global teams with a tool that allows you to bring them to the same location to find your brand’s most up-to-date assets and brand guidelines.

Data protection

With so many brands already seeing the benefits of employee advocacy, having an up-to-date resource of assets and imagery featuring real staff is becoming of greater importance. 

Make sure your chosen branding software allows individual employees to sign off the usage rights for imagery in which they are featured to follow guidelines – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, or equivalent for your region.

DAM

There are lots of Digital Asset Management Systems out there, but without the extra features and capabilities needed to make your employer brand shine, very few offer an all-in-one subscription solution.

It’s a huge advantage to have creative suites, templates, planning and analytics features built-in. This keeps things simple, with everything your teams need in one place. Plus, there’s no need to manage multiple subscriptions. DAM alone won’t be enough to solve your problems, but alongside a brand management platform it’s a powerful tool.  

With the right tools for watertight consistency, successful employee engagement and easy asset management, you can put your brand’s best foot forward for attracting and retaining talented employees.

Global ​employer brand governance is crucial to attract and retain talent

The enormity of the tasks outlined in this article may feel daunting, but there are solutions out there that can make it all a straightforward reality.

At Papirfly, our dynamic brand management platform is transforming the way teams manage their employer brand through a centralised online portal. Teams get the tools they need to create, share and manage campaign assets across the world – and maintain total brand consistency.

Attracting top talent to a company is more important than ever in the current talent market. To fully realise the benefits these employees can bring however, it’s important to keep them around for as long as possible to drive continued success.

Retaining existing staff nowadays goes beyond providing a competitive salary and a few day-to-day perks – all of the elements of a workplace have to align in order to create an environment where talented people truly want to be.

Failing to meet these expectations makes it considerably more likely that staff will simply look elsewhere for their ideal role. After all, the average person changes jobs 12 times in their lifetime.

As a result, crafting an engaging and effective employer brand is critical in retaining top talent.

What is employer branding?

WAn employer brand is how a company presents itself as a place of work to existing teams in the office. As well as pay and benefits, an effective employment brand should encompass:

Although a ‘customer brand’ and an employer brand are often thought of as two separate entities, in today’s connected world, the two should be approached as different sides of the same coin.

The markers of a strong employer brand

An employer brand is a crucial tool in the fight to retain talent today. But how can you determine the effectiveness of your existing employee brand proposition?

While every employer brand is different, the following traits can help give senior marketers an idea of whether or not their employer brand is on the right track.

3 techniques for building an employer brand that retains top staff

Building an employer brand that staff truly value doesn’t miraculously happen overnight. It takes careful planning, the buy-in of managers and the aid of specific techniques.

1. Establish a strong EVP

An employee value proposition (EVP) is a unique opportunity for an employer to demonstrate how they’re different from the competition. From the pay on offer, to the company’s vision and values, these elements should be specifically crafted to excite and empower existing staff.

Creating a strong proposition is not a matter of guesswork or copying what ‘hot’ companies are doing. It’s all about spotlighting an enterprise’s unique selling point (USP) and acknowledging the wants and needs of those in the office. In the quest for a strong EVP, consider:

• Offering flexible work options
• Supporting the mental health of teams
• Backing cycle to work schemes and other incentives

A winning EVP shouldn’t just include the physical and financial needs of workers, it should also empower employees and get them on board with the company vision.

For a more comprehensive look into this vital part of your employer branding, read our article on crafting the ultimate EVP.

2. Create an employee advocacy program

A brand advocacy program is an internal process that encourages people within the office to talk about the company both online and offline to cast it in a positive light.

Whether this involves staff sharing ‘behind the scene’ photos from their workday, or teams engaging with content on social media platforms, both approaches can not only promote the employer brand further, but also help staff feel more involved in the business.

However, before giving teams the green light to post, a successful employee advocacy program must have a concrete process in place. A single typo, poorly worded post or inappropriate image associated with the brand could tarnish an otherwise solid reputation.

• Take stock of teams throughout the organisation
• Map out how best to utilise employees’ voice
• Educate brand ambassadors on the brand’s purpose and values

3. Build and distribute an employee newsletter

An employee newsletter is not just a useful document for keeping teams within the business up to date with the latest news and developments – it can also serve as another way in which an organisation can strengthen their employer brand.

Creating and circulating an employee newsletter helps keep teams in the loop and serves as a vessel for departments to share their wins with the rest of the company. By giving staff an occasional forum to express themselves and learn about their colleagues, people will feel more invested in the business and the work they do.

To support the creation of an effective employee newsletter, a dedicated brand management solution can help teams quickly and easily assemble a perfectly branded newsletter. With the use of intelligent templates, even those without design experience can create on-brand assets with confidence to feature within.

The benefits of employee branding

By taking steps to create the ideal environment for teams in the office, businesses can enjoy a number of powerful benefits:

Employee retention is improved

When a worker departs a company, it can cost between six and nine months’ salary to recruit and train a replacement. In the wake of multiple departures, an organisation could quickly be looking at a six-figure expenditure down the road.

By holding onto staff for longer, and improving employee retention throughout the company, time and resources that may have otherwise been dedicated to recruitment can now be invested elsewhere.

Staff productivity is boosted

Between ad-hoc chats around the office, inefficient processes and other distractions, the average employee is productive for 60% or less of each day. 

Taking steps to enhance an employer brand and engage employees can play a key role in improving productivity and work ethics. When people are united behind your brand values, they will be more motivated to put in the effort at work.

Worker morale rises

26% of employees in the UK are actively disengaged. Pair that with the fact that low morale correlates to an increase in negative behaviors such as absenteeism and conflict, and it’s easy to see how unhappy workers can bring forth a number of issues.

By building a strong employer brand and creating an environment where team members feel comfortable and happy, morale soars, workers attend their job more often, and friction between colleagues is kept to a minimum.

Activate your employer brand with Papirfly

Although employer brands are a huge benefit to talent retention, taking the steps to develop and implement a winning employer branding strategy is easier said than done.

Creating, managing and coordinating the content needed to nurture the internal brand alongside other marketing responsibilities can seem overwhelming and unsustainable.

Do you bring on new staff to fulfill the vision? Do you make concessions in one area to invest more into the employer brand? The correct answer is neither.

By using a comprehensive, all-in-one brand management platform, such as Papirfly, teams can streamline content production, coordinate resources quickly and deliver a compelling and consistent internal brand that retains team members longer.

To do this, our solution features a suite of tools specifically built to enhance employer branding. Some of these include:

Smart templates

Custom templates empower your employees to create infinite on-brand assets quickly and easily. With this accessible software, even those with no design experience can build compelling collateral with absolute confidence and no risk of breaking with brand guidelines.

Digital Asset Manager

The built-in DAM allows everything from brand guidelines to EVP videos to be shared with teams all over the globe in just a few clicks. Get everybody united in a single vision with ease.

Languages and localisation

Localise content swiftly and create crucial branding documents for teams in any region, all without the need for third-party translators or agencies. Take your internal brand strategy global with haste.

If you would like to learn more about Papirfly and how we can help enhance your employer brand, get in touch or book a demo today.

Working consumes the majority of our adult lives, and while not everyone is lucky enough to have a career they love, everyone should have the security of a job, and a work environment that supports their mental and physical wellbeing.

In the past, both large and small companies have been criticised for placing ‘profit over people’, resulting in poor working conditions and employees being overworked and underpaid. Thankfully, this appears to be a declining trend as workplaces become more competitive in their talent recruitment.

Although we are unlikely to see a world where the ‘profit over people’ mentality is completely absent in our lifetimes, we are seeing strong employer brands emerge. This powerful employer branding serves to realign expectations, drive change and create better opportunities for work-life balance within their organisations.

How to prevent burnout and stress

A company’s operational and organisational structure plays a key role in the level of burnout found within a business. Levels of stress are perpetuated by lack of planning, management, staff and organisation, and will impact your employee retention levels.

Preventing burnout and stress is an ongoing effort, but here are 3 powerful strategies for prevention: 

#1 Have regular project planning meetings. Attend these meetings with a full understanding of team capacity. When booking time in, ensure you leave room to allow for ad hoc tasks.

#2 Put regular task management reviews in place, alongside quarterly team structure meetings. Determine the full remit of responsibilities for each team member and ensure they are communicated, this way they can flag any requests coming to them outside of their duties. This will also help you identify talent acquisition needs.

#3 Create a culture of ‘working smarter not harder’. Encourage employees to find new and innovative ways to do their job to improve employee retention. This could be anything from investing in tech and software to hiring interns and this will go a long way to fostering employee engagement.

Flexibility and work-life balance

Trying to attain work-life balance shouldn’t be an extreme juggling act. Working weeks that consist of over 40 hours have long been seen as the ‘standard’ to earn a decent living, but this perception is changing.

While not everyone can offer reduced hours, offering flexibility in terms of when and where an employee works as part of your company culture could make a huge difference to their quality of life.

Remote work may cut hours off a commute each day. This could be the difference between someone seeing their child before they go to bed or not. Flexi-hours may also allow employees to leave for work later, creating space for some quality personal time working out in the gym before heading to the office. Flexibility at every level offers benefits to employees, and in the long-term will help enrich their lives and make them less likely to take time off due to mental or physical health issues, and will ultimately reduce employee turnover. 

Team leaders and management can help encourage a greater work-life balance by:

• Discouraging working at weekends
• Encouraging taking full lunch breaks 
• Ensuring annual leave is taken in full 
• Leading by example by adopting healthy at-work habits

Not only will teams be more happy, engaged and productive, they will begin to build an emotional connection to your company, which will help towards employee attraction, as they will become advocates for potential future hires

Financial security and benefits

Financial stress can affect mental and physical wellbeing on a range of levels.

Fair pay and performance-based increases will keep employees feeling appreciated and motivated. But financial security can extend far beyond this. Offering attractive employee benefits are another way employees can be supported, such as:

• Access to financial support and advice
• Share and ownership options
• Life assurance policies
• Health insurance for employees and their families 
• Assistance with retirement and pension planning

Relationships, workplace dynamics and leadership styles

The way colleagues interact with each other can have a far-reaching impact on the company culture, general happiness and day-to-day atmosphere within the business. 

For example, a secretive closed-door environment could encourage rumours to spread or end up ostracising employees, resulting in high levels of stress, low mood and the development of a toxic work setting. Strict rules and micromanagement could also see employees become stagnant, stressed or nervous when they come in each day.

Here are 4 ways to develop good workplace culture and how you can keep your employees comfortable with their working relationships:

#1 Foster a workplace culture where autonomy is encouraged by managers, and employees are empowered to make decisions within their remit. Anything out of a worker’s control should be highlighted early on in employment, with boundaries firmly set and understood.

#2 Open-door policies or regular one-to-ones give employees the chance to speak about how they’re feeling, and can help discourage gossiping within teams. By encouraging active conversations, problems can be listened to and addressed before they escalate.

#3 Communication should be frequent and ongoing. Regular team meetings and updates on the company as part of your company culture will help employees feel included and in-the-loop. 

#4 A clear, formal route for escalating problems to HR should be in place. If someone is being bullied, experiences inappropriate behaviour or has witnessed something immoral, they should feel safe and confident in reporting it through the official channels.

So how do you motivate staff and improve employee engagement

Money might help the world move but it doesn’t always take employees where they want to go. It’s so important for individuals to be seen as just that, themselves, and never just another cog in the machine.

With the right career development path and ongoing Continuing Professional Development, employees will begin to appreciate your interest in them and this will enhance your employer brand. Likewise, understanding their personal goals can help you build a better picture of their career path and what motivates them.

For example, if they want to buy a bigger house, the incentive of a pay rise will drive them. Or, if they plan to have a family, a more flexible work schedule would be more appealing for some.

In sickness and in health

While not every company can offer the best health insurance policy, it’s important that some kind of investment is made into employee wellbeing, for attracting and retaining talented employees. Whether that’s a basic health plan for all, an upgrade to safety equipment, the introduction of regular exercise clubs or free access to mental health therapy, as well as considering diversity and inclusion in your policies — there are so many ways organisations can support teams in these modern times.

Health, safety and wellness needs to be of paramount importance for employers. If it isn’t, employee turnover will be high – people will leave their positions in droves, in search of greener pastures with competitors.

Managing a strong employer brand with our brand management platform

The foundations of a strong employer brand lie within you, your team and what your company stands for. Ultimately, you can’t build a desirable company to work for if employee mental and physical health aren’t looked after.

Managing communications for your internal teams and externally to prospective candidates can be time-consuming, confusing and costly. At Papirfly, our all-in-one brand management platform is central to any employer branding strategy and helps to bring your employer brand to life. It puts the power of creation back into your hands, and gives teams autonomy to build all the assets they need – without needing to be designers.

So, whether you need to get a video promoting a role out in the next half hour, artwork created and printed for a recruitment fair or employee comms made and distributed urgently, you can do all of this and more with our brand management platform.

Find out more about Papirfly for employer branding teams or book your demo today to see our brand management platform in action.

Generation Z is doing a lot to shape the future of work. And for recruitment and employer brand teams within the Millennial category and beyond, it can be hard to pin down exactly what’s needed to nurture this current and future talent pool.  

In terms of generational shifts and experiences, they’re the most unique of the century, having grown up with internet connection as standard.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the mindset of Gen Z in the context of employment and recruitment. 

Who is Gen Z?

Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z aren’t the mystery that the media portrays. In fact, their motivations, wants and needs are very reasonable. They are also paving the way for raised workplace expectations and improved benefits packages for every generation. 

Gen Z’s ideal workplace looks vastly different to those of some earlier generations. Having a family isn’t the top priority. Work-life balance is key. Salary is only one of many other critical factors. 

They are the generation causing waves not seen before in the world of work, and now employers are having to quickly learn how to attract and retain this all-important workforce of the future. With Gen Z accounting for around 30% of the world’s population, they are predicted to represent 27% of the entire workforce by 2025.

What makes Gen Z different?

Working conditions across the world have greatly evolved over the years, reforming through both legislation and the needs of the global population. While many prior generations have been exposed to very distinct periods of time, and have seen the gradual progression of society and technology, Gen Z has been raised in a world that centres around technology in almost every aspect of life.

The older portion of Gen Z has been witness to the 2008 recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. Gen Z places salary as a lower priority than other generations, and are not worried about taking risks despite the financial turmoil of these events.  

Gen Z wants to be challenged, nurtured and pursue interesting work that means something to them. Unless they have the job of their dreams or are working for a company that has a mission to do great things in the world, without purpose, Gen Z is likely to move on from one role to the next, until they are able to find the right fit. 

They know they can’t undo the damage that has been done to the environment and the world, but by working for a company that has sustainable and ethical CSR and ESB policies, it can help to shine a positive light on their employer. 

Additionally, diversity and inclusion have become deciding factors of whether a Gen Z candidate feels comfortable working for an organisation, something that has had much less focus in older generations.

Insights on Gen Z attitudes

The unique circumstances that Gen Z experienced as they made their journey to the workplace have not only given them a distinct set of priorities but have also shaped their attitudes at work.

Their lives are wholly integrated with technology

To Gen Z, being connected to what’s going on in the world and the people they care about is a must. They are more likely to be receptive to new tools and software, and could help companies find more digital ways to reduce manual processes.

They are always learning

As one of the most formally educated generations to date, Gen Z thrives on learning new information in engaging ways. If they don’t know how to do something, they’re more likely to find the answers on Google or watch a tutorial on Youtube first than ask peers. 

If they’re not learning or bettering themselves, they can feel stagnant, restless and unfulfilled so it’s important to keep professional growth and gaining skills a high priority within their working hours.

They won’t stick around just for financial security

We’ve seen a seismic shift in the rights of workers over the last half a century. But to this day, there are still employees who find themselves stuck being unhappy in roles where they aren’t treated correctly. This is often because they are responsible for their families or have other financial commitments.

If a Gen Z employee is unhappy, they won’t stick around and hope that things will improve – regardless of whether they are in a good financial position or not. Their entrepreneurial spirit will carry them off to the next opportunity or they will start up a venture on their own in a freelancing capacity. It’s important that a company’s culture, values and mission align with a Gen Z employee’s expectations, as well as the perks and benefits.

What are Gen Z’s needs, wants and expectations in the workplace?

To capture the attention of burgeoning Gen Z talent, it’s important employers are doing all they can to satisfy the needs, wants and expectations of this savvy new wave of workers.

What does Gen Z need?

• To have interesting and fulfilling work 
• Financial stability but not at the expense of their mental health
• A supportive culture where work-life balance is appreciated
• Flexibility in how, when and where their work is delivered 
• To continually learn and grow, professionally and personally

What does Gen Z want?

• To work for an environmentally conscious company
• To have shared values and attitudes with their employer
• The opportunity to give back to their community or causes they care about
• Logical pay progression based on merit, skill and contribution
• Trust and freedom to earn more holiday or prolonged periods of leave

What are Gen Z’s expectations?

• Inclusion and diversity to be a priority for their employer, who can effectively demonstrate their commitment
• A personalised employee experience and journey, based on individual goals as well as their wider team’s 
• Incentives for pay rises, progression and improved quality of work 
• Transparency and openness within the workplace environment
• Having the option of hybrid working, but having the opportunity to regularly meet with colleagues in-person – face-to-face interaction is still important to Gen Z

How to recruit and retain Gen Z

While we can’t generalise an entire generation, recruitment experiences have seen the etiquette between candidates and potential employers change somewhat with the Gen Z population. Here we explore what this change could mean for your recruitment strategies…

Move fast, communicate often

They are keen to move fast and don’t want to be sitting around waiting for responses from interviewers. If your interview process is unclear, long or multi-staged, your Gen Z candidate will disengage and move on to the next opportunity. The key here is to keep communication clear, consistent and frequent.

Highlight support network

While one of the most educated generations, Gen Z is acutely aware of the knowledge and skills gaps they may need for roles. If the training and support they’ll receive on-the-job aren’t made clear from the outset, they are also likely to disengage.

Opportunities to go global

A desire to travel is something that has been strongly ingrained in most generations, but Gen Z is set to make it more commonplace than it has ever been before. If a global company firmly aligns with their mission and values, another big plus would be opportunities to transfer to other disciplines in different parts of the world – exposing them to new cultures as well as new areas of the business.

Put mentorship programmes in place

Training and routes for progression are valuable to Gen Z, but having someone they can go to with any questions or advice is invaluable. Gen Z has incredible gratitude for someone that takes the time to help them, so having a dedicated mentor will both be beneficial for them and for succession planning within the business.

Regular recruiter training

The employer brand experience starts with your recruiter, whether that’s an in-house person or an external company. If they aren’t receiving regular training or check-ins, there could be something going wrong at the very first hurdle.

Gen Z is the future – is your employer brand ready for the change?

Employer brand teams have a big mountain to climb when it comes to realigning recruitment strategies to meet the needs of Gen Z – though many are already making the changes. It’s important to get real-world feedback on your campaign ideas and approaches, whether that’s through market research or internal surveys with existing Gen Z employees.

In order to support an agile approach to brand content production, a tool such as BAM by Papirfly™ can play a big role in meeting the demand for marketing materials. It provides a central place for teams to create infinite digital, video, social, print, email assets and more. No design experience is needed and there’s no danger of assets going off-brand. 

Intelligent templates ensure teams stay totally aligned, and that marketing can be quickly adapted for different markets and cultures.

To learn more about BAM for yourself, view our dedicated BAM for employer branding teams page, or book your demo today. 

It may sound obvious to say that it pays to hold on to your best talent, but you may be surprised at just how big of an impact it makes. A recent study of more than 600,000 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and athletes found that high performers are 400% more productive than ‘average’ ones.

Over the last decade, there has been a widening skills gap across all sectors and a growing trend in changing jobs much more frequently. According to research by McKinsey, nearly a third of senior leaders cite finding talent as their most significant managerial challenge. Be sure to read our previous article, ‘Employer branding – how important is your employer brand?’ to gain some expert tips on navigating today’s unique recruitment landscape.

The gap in skills is largely due to a gap in experience. We are at a time when many baby boomers who have developed their skills at a company over a long period of time are beginning to retire — taking decades of knowledge and experience with them. 

On top of this, millennials tend to be less loyal towards their workplace. In their report, ‘How Millennials Want to Work‘, Gallup found that one in five millennials have changed jobs in the last year and two in five are currently looking for a new job.

What does it take to attract and retain talent in 2022?

Remote-friendly interviews and onboarding

65% of candidates say that bad interview experiences will make them lose interest during an application process. Hindered by technical issues, a lack of face-to-face interaction and not being able to convey the atmosphere of the office can make it difficult for employers to make the best first impression.

“Trust has to exist from day one. When you’re remote you don’t have the opportunity to lean into someone’s cubicle to see how they’re doing. You have to get creative about ways to nurture that relationship.”
Chloe Oddliefson, Head of People Operations at Dribbble
(via Miro)

How a company supports employees working remotely will also have an effect on how long they decide to stay at a company. This all starts with a well-thought-out onboarding process that accounts for the challenges of not being in the office. If you want to retain great candidates from the get-go, using a digitised version of your onboarding document and omitting anything in-office related won’t cut it.

When new starters aren’t able to meet their team in person, onboarding is even more important for sharing elements that will help them learn all they need to know to become a successful addition to the company. Depending on the role, a comprehensive onboarding process may last around three months and cover these five areas:

1. Pre-onbording by HR, line manager and recruitment team
2. Onboarding by HR, line manager and payroll team
3. Orientation by line manager, colleagues and senior management
4. Feedback on first tasks and assignments by line manager
5. Ongoing support into their new role by line manager and colleagues

Promoting health and wellbeing

For obvious reasons, health and wellbeing has taken the spotlight over the last year. After companies saw first-hand the effects of employees suffering from poor physical and mental wellbeing during the pandemic, this will be an important value in employer branding going forward.

Many companies already offer health and wellness benefits like gym memberships, cycle to work schemes and free healthy snacks. However, these make no difference when your employees are working unreasonable hours or are not getting the right kind of support.

More than creating a more enjoyable place to work, addressing employee wellbeing issues at their root cause will help reduce burnout, increase productivity and retain employees for longer. Consider initiatives like:

• Allowing flexible hours
• Organising social activities
• Regular employee check-ins

Empowering employee growth

Companies that leave their employees’ career growth stagnating have always been more likely to lose their most enthusiastic people more quickly. 

In fact, 70% of high-retention-risk employees say they’ll be forced to leave their organisation to advance their careers.

A focus on offering opportunities for personal and professional development will be a key factor in facing the current global retention crisis. These are especially important for retaining new talent at the beginning of their careers who are looking to learn fast and constantly improve. Some of these opportunities could include:

• Internal learning and development programmes
• Access to online courses 
• Room to grow within roles
• Mentorship from senior employees
• Opportunities and encouragement to put ideas forward

Internal comms is key

Internal communication is often one of the most overlooked areas of an employer brand proposition, yet it’s evident in the employee experience every single day. Part of making it a positive one is determined by building a connection and maintaining engagement. 

Too often, internal comms is kept to the bare minimum and lacks the personality and culture traits that a company’s employer value proposition is centred around. Focusing more attention on what’s relevant and interesting to employees helps make them feel more engaged with the goals of the business. This not only instils more purpose in their role, but builds more loyalty too.

If you are keen to tackle work-related challenges that might encourage team members to look beyond your company, download our handy checklist outlining what you can do to address these issues and make a positive difference to your employees’ experience.

While email, surveys and text messaging are an essential part of the day-to-day running of a business, there is nothing stopping you from exploring other channels for more engaging communications. Video, social media posts, podcasts and blogs are a great way to share information, invite discussion and garner enthusiasm about what’s going on in the office and the wider business.

With a brand management solution you can streamline your internal asset creation with easy-to-use templates that help teams produce studio-quality materials in minutes. It also gives you a bird’s eye view of your campaigns and makes it quick and easy to share relevant and on-brand assets within your organisation.

Here are some great examples of companies that got it right:

The NHS
To make sure that all their employees were getting their flu jab, the NHS used the power of video to create these engaging posts for their social media channels.

Waitrose
UK supermarket, Waitrose, created a digital suggestion box to help all employees make their voices heard.

Pizza Hut
At the beginning of the pandemic, Pizza Hut acted fast to create a two-way conversation between staff, franchises and restaurant managers. Using the simple medium of WhatsApp, they helped employees feel valued in their role in feeding Britain during a challenging time.

Back to contents

How to revitalise your talent retention methods

Improve personalisation

A more personalised approach shows a company’s ability to listen to the individual concerns of their employees. To retain the best talent, companies need to ditch the ‘one solution fits all employees’ approach.

Develop retention strategies that…

• Understand the different visions and goals of their staff – both professional and personal
• Allows employees to make their voices heard
• Provides opportunities to take on new challenges and steer their own path

“Personalisation for millennials in the workplace is about them seeing their work and organisation as a projection of themselves, and that drives loyalty.”
Felicity Furey, Founder of the Professional Leaders Institute
(via The CEO Magazine)

Be more flexible

When workplaces were plunged into lockdown, some were more prepared than others to support their employees to do their jobs effectively from home.

The most successful strategies included…

• Adopting the hybrid working model
• Testing out the four-day week
• Investing in technology that makes remote collaboration possible

Go further than raises and bonuses

Higher salaries and monetary rewards are one of the first considerations for an employee thinking of leaving an organisation. But they aren’t the only deciding factor. While having a competitive salary is undoubtedly a good thing, it does nothing to make a company stand out from the competition.

Establish a remote interview processes

Even if you have no immediate plans to bring in new talent, having a remote hiring strategy in place is vital for future-proofing your turnover, which is likely to increase going forward in 2021.

What should the remote interview process achieve?

• Can assess a candidate’s ability to work independently
• Reviews their proficiency communicating via digital channels
• Highlights their ability to collaborate remotely

Discover more insights in our Ultimate Employer Brand Checklist — download for free here!

To learn more about how Papirfly’s all-in-one brand management platform can help you attract and retain the world’s best talent in 2021, and beyond, get in touch today.

The world of work has been turned on its head several times over in the last few years. The roles of HR, recruitment and talent acquisition teams have been especially challenging as they’ve worked to navigate the complex nature of the pandemic and other changes taking place across the globe.
While the basic principles of your EVP won’t have shifted miles from where it was, there will be new considerations and an element of realignment that needs to take place as part of your employer brand management.

Whether you are continuing in a similar vein to pre-pandemic strategies and trying to realign your team, or have completely transformed the way you work over the last couple of years, revisiting your EVP is an important step.

Why is an EVP 2.0 so integral?

The purpose of your employee value proposition is to align the company’s offering to your employees’ needs, wants and expectations. Employees and companies have seen some unprecedented events take place, but many have thankfully made it out of the other side. This leaves your recruitment colleagues and employer branding team with the following challenges:

• Understanding the mindset and priorities of existing employees
• Discovering what’s motivating top talent 
• Differentiating your EVP from others in your industry

Your EVP 2.0 essentials

Take your purpose even further

It’s one thing joining a company because of its values, it’s another taking action to support those values. As people become more personally purpose-driven, it’s important that the brand they work for matches this.

For example, if your brand is known for its green credentials and helping the world become more sustainable, there should be an internal scheme that rewards ‘green’ behaviour – it’s all about building a great place to work. This could be vouchers towards owning a bike to encourage people not to drive to work, an internal recycling scheme, or special funding for sustainability projects (with additional holiday allowance to accommodate this).

Whatever your purpose, ensure you create a good workplace culture that is reflected in everyday working life as well as your initial promises – this includes ensuring that your internal communications are on-brand to show you’re committed to delivering them. 

Benefits that go beyond just the individual

Family and personal goals are a key career driver, but often employees spend so much time at work that these goals can be hard to fulfil. Explore benefits that will build a greater emotional bond with your employees to foster a positive and supportive  work environment.

This could be providing private health insurance for immediate family members or a training allowance to help the employee achieve new skills.

Get more flexible than ever before

If working from home mandates proved anything, it’s that employees can be trusted to work when and where they want or need to. Many companies are taking this one step further, and we’ve seen a range of working options and employee benefits including:

• Working from home permanently
• Hybrid working
• Flexible start and finish times
• Early closures in the summertime 
• Unlimited holidays (providing that work is completed)
• Extended maternity/paternity leave
• Paid sabbaticals after a specified amount of years

Prioritise mental health support

A supportive company culture will help instil positive mental attitudes, but that alone isn’t enough to ensure your employees remain happy.

Create a forum that encourages open conversations – this could be through the acquisition of a digital mental health platform that employees can engage with as and when needed, regular mental health workshops, the introduction of wellbeing champions, and training for existing managers to effectively support someone who is struggling. There are lots of mental health awareness courses that can be taken, including mental health first-aid.

EVP 2.0: Company culture checklist

Ensuring all bases are covered

Our hierarchy of needs as humans is different in employment than it is in everyday life. Your EVP will be unique to your brand – hopefully including many of the initiatives mentioned already – but there are four basic boxes that your EVP 2.0 needs to tick. If lacking in one of any four areas, you could see your brand lose good talent to competitors and increase your employee turnover. To become an employer of choice, consider the following:

Physical needs

• Health incentives such as gym memberships or on-site classes 
• Partner with apps that can support sleep and wellbeing, such as Calm or Headspace
• Provide access to private healthcare or nutrition services

Emotional needs

• A supportive and open work environment
• Access to therapy tools if needed
• Offer coaching for high-stress positions
• Conduct employee surveys to understand how people are feeling and what improvements could be made
  

Social needs

• Regular meet-ups virtually or in-person to ensure teams feel connected
• Embrace diversity
• Encourage cross-department collaboration
• Encourage giving back and volunteering days in line with your brand purpose

Financial needs

• Offer employees access to financial advisors where possible
• Provide interest-free loans for medium-sized purchases such as annual travel tickets, holidays or cars
• Ensure peace of mind for employees’ families with life assurance
• Conduct regular pay reviews

Communicating your EVP with Papirfly

A creative brand management solution can help to support the good workplace culture you are aiming to build. The platform we offer at Papirfly is used by some of the world’s most notable employer brand teams including Unilever, Vodafone and more. Teams are able to own and control their EVP in every aspect of marketing.

This gives your employer brand team the freedom to:

• Create an infinite amount of on-brand digital, print, social, video and email assets in a matter of minutes – no design skills are needed. These documents are stored in a centralised system and you can manage all campaign
• Store, edit, find and share every asset created in a centralised DAM system
• Access all educational brand and employer brand documents 
• Manage all campaign timelines, briefs and assets from a single portal. On the go. Anywhere in the world. 

So if you need agile talent acquisition, a brand management platform can help you keep consistency throughout your campaigns.

Discover our brand management platform for employer brand teams, check out our customer brand stories or book your demo today.