We spend over a third of our lives working so it’s no wonder that when we go in search of a career, we want to make sure the company we work for is the right fit. Not just in terms of the career itself, but also what they stand for, the employer benefits, reputation, and work-life balance – amongst other considerations.

We have compiled the most common factors when deciding whether a brand is an employer of choice. 

Salary, compensation and benefits

While money isn’t everything to everyone, it is usually the first and most important consideration for most candidates. If the salary doesn’t meet or exceed the industry standard or the candidate’s personal expectations, they may deselect themselves without investigating any further. It’s important to stay competitive to attract the right people, but also remain realistic.

On top of salary, candidates are attracted to other financial incentives. This could be anything from discounts at particular retailers, right through to a structured bonus scheme or shadow shares. If your company isn’t able to offer a great candidate the salary they want, having a clear path to progression and a pay review in place after a set number of months could be enough to entice them on board – coupled with other areas that make you an employer of choice.

Creating a strong culture and working environment

The ‘culture’ of a company is often something that’s formed and solidified over time. It’s usually made up of the types of behaviours and values that are expected to be upheld by employees.

For example, a branding agency in London may have a more relaxed approach to work, encourage flexible hours, have regular extended lunches and frequent social events. They may promote an open, informal environment. A more corporate culture may be found at a financial firm, looking to keep hours fixed, only encourage social outings at set times of the year such as Christmas, and require all issues to be raised formally.    

These are very broad generalisations, but no matter what type of company and brand you are, expectations on culture are changing across the board. High-pressure, stressful and formal environments are having a largely negative impact on employer reputation.

Striking the right cultural balance isn’t just about this though – while the best talent does often want to have a sense of autonomy and agility in their everyday life, they also require a level of structure for their progression. The lighter, fluffier stuff is what attracts people in the first place; having a clear path to success is a benefit to retain employees.

Reputation, values and employer brand

No matter how great the perks are, there are very few people who would be willing to work for a company with an abysmal reputation. While word of mouth is powerful, you can’t always trust what you hear second-hand, so many candidates will either still continue with their interview to make an informed decision for themselves or explore what people are saying online.

Review sites such as Glassdoor or those shared on Indeed are a digital window into what current and ex-employees really think about an organisation. While these sites are monitored, some unfair depictions of a workplace may still make it through the net.

Having some bad reviews isn’t the be-all and end-all for candidates; they will understand that different people have different needs and each company will have varied employer attractiveness to different types of people. However, how a company reacts to these reviews will help them form their opinion further.

Becoming an employer of choice isn’t something that happens overnight. There are many learning curves to endure, and unfortunately, negative reviews come part and parcel of this.

What you should do is:

• Respond calmly and constructively while keeping a cool head
• Ensure points raised on bad reviews are recorded and discussed
• Investigate any recurring themes and take the appropriate action
• Accept that some people will hold negative opinions and only report the reviews that go against the site guidelines

Building a positive reputation that puts you on the path to becoming an employer of choice is achieved through having a strong employer brand. While many companies complete work piecemeal on their employer brand, others dedicate entire teams and departments to this incredibly important marketing strand.

Having a global presence is all very well and good, but for any growing company, talent is at the heart of everything. Attracting and retaining good people is critical to any brand’s ongoing success. Having a dedicated team creating localised campaigns to attract the right type of talent across the globe is an invaluable resource. 

Creating a positive candidate experience

While this will form part of your wider employer brand strategy, it’s important to give special consideration to the overall candidate experience – whether they are offered the job or not. Your company’s reputation is important and during the recruiting and onboarding stage is when first impressions will count and opinions will be formed.

Here are some things you can do to ensure a smooth candidate experience:

Communication leading up to the interview

Ensure you provide information to the individual on what to expect. While it’s important for them to show they can think on their feet, intentionally withholding information could jeopardise what would have been an otherwise successful interview. Being purposely ambiguous could cause unnecessary nerves and give them a bad first perception.

Perfecting the interview 

If the interview doesn’t take place virtually, it’s important to use a space that’s representative of the working environment. Offer the candidate a drink upon arrival, introduce yourself and any accompanying interviewers and, if the interview room is not yet ready, find a comfortable spot for them to wait in.

Post-interview, ensure you follow-up, even if they were unsuccessful. Not hearing from a company after the interview can leave a sour taste in the mouths of candidates and cause them to vent their frustrations online.

First day and welcome pack

There’s nothing worse than being ‘left to it’ on your first day. If the team is too busy to complete a comprehensive induction, make sure you assign the new recruit a ‘buddy’ to have lunch with and who can answer any questions throughout the day.

Many companies that have a strong employer brand ensure new recruits have some kind of branded welcome pack. This usually consists of a notebook and mug or similar. This helps to instil employee brand advocacy from day one. 

Learning and development for employees 

One-to-ones and development plans come in many different forms but, however you choose to progress your employees, it’s important they have access to consistent communication in regards to their development.

Staff can become complacent or unsettled if they feel they aren’t moving forward. Likewise, making tools available within your perk package can provide a much-needed boost. For example, you may install a physical book library, or allow a training budget each year.

Becoming an employer of choice in your industry

While you can’t always become the best employer of choice overnight, there are many strategies you can implement both right away and in the longer term to make great strides. Having an all-in-one brand management tool like the Papirfly Platform puts you in great stead for becoming an employer of choice. With access to a suite of creation tools for quick, on-brand marketing assets, your team can deliver on time, every time regardless of skill level. With a dedicated education section, your team has access to all the guidelines, documentation and assets they need to understand your employer brand and offering. Users can also manage campaigns with a range of tools and store and share assets within their dedicated DAM. Tailor access for files to countries, regions, subdivisions and sub-brands. Discover the power of a an all-in-one brand management platform and start your journey to becoming an employer of choice.

Great talent is hard to come by. Likewise, great employers can be hard to identify. Behind the fantastic perks and benefits lies the essence of a company – what it is they stand for and the kind of people they are looking to attract.

Having a proposition that helps define the two-way narrative between a brand and its employee is a great way to inspire, educate and create a working environment that is truly aligned to the same values, goals and future vision of the company.

Think of it as a mixture of what potential employees might want to see and what you want to communicate to them. What can you offer them and what attributes do you expect them to uphold in return? It’s a mutual understanding and direction for both parties and a single set of statements or documents that help keep your global brands on the same page in terms of offering.

How to build a solid employer value proposition

A strong employer value proposition (often referred to as an EVP) should deliver 3 core outcomes:

• Excite and engage existing staff members;
• Differentiate you from competitors in and around your industry;
• Help candidates self-select in or out of the application process. If what you’re saying doesn’t resonate with them, then they are unlikely to proceed with applying for an advertised role.

Your EVP will be unique to your business, but there are several steps you can take in helping to establish it. If you have a dedicated employer branding team, they should ensure they carry out the following exercises, being sure to include both high-level decision-makers as well as a cross-section of opinions from various departments.

This is because it’s easy to become subjective when you’re embedded into the employer branding team – people who help deliver the work every day should be able to provide an authentic insight into what it means to work there.

Define your mission

Your mission is your reason for being as a company. While it needs to remain true to what you deliver each day, try not to get bogged down too far in the technicalities of what you do and think about the wider impact your brand has.

For example, if we were to take a company that sells hair dye, their EVP mission isn’t to sell as much hair dye as possible, but it might be to continue spreading positivity by ensuring everyone in the world can express their individuality.

If you are struggling to get to the bottom of what your mission is, use these questions as prompts:

• Why are you different as a company?
• What makes you stand out amongst competitors?
• What’s the single thing you admire about the company as an employee?
• If your company could be responsible for achieving one thing in 50 years, what would it be?

What’s your vision?

Your vision is a source of inspiration for your employees. It’s a common long-term view that outlines exactly where your company is heading, and hopefully makes them want to stick around for the journey. A vision statement tends to be emotive and thought-provoking, so try not to include too much corporate-speak – keep your audience in mind at all times.

Refine your values

Most companies will already have their values determined from the outset, but ensuring these are reflected in your EVP is integral for showing people what it is your company believes in. Take a look at these values (usually between 3 – 7) and really scrutinise whether they are upheld. If they are – how? If they’re not – why not?

Once you are happy that your values are an accurate reflection of who you are, look to refine these to appeal to a broader audience. Your values are essentially your ‘guiding principles’, and anyone who you look to hire must share these in order to make it at your company.

Outline your strategy

Your strategy talks about how you intend to achieve your goals and objectives. It can sometimes be called a road map, and details your individual tasks and action points to reach your vision. In its simplest form (and if you have limited time and resources), you can just create bullet points. This strategy is usually part of your 3 to 5-year business plan, and helps new recruits, as well as existing employees, understand what they are becoming a part of.

Create your EVP

Now you have laid the foundation and scratched much deeper than the surface of your company, you can look to create your EVP. This can be a statement or a fuller document that delivers the following things:

• The expertise, expectations and experience any employee should bring to the company
• Focused on talking to employees while being sympathetic to wider business strategies
• Drive high-quality employee attraction and retention
• Tells people why they should want to work for your business 

What does an employer value proposition look like?

Some companies have an EVP that is a few sentences, others have full booklets dedicated to explaining every facet of their employer branding.

While an employer value proposition will incorporate a number of key things, how this is communicated and presented will vary greatly depending on your company’s budget and the importance it places on exercises such as these. Ultimately, as long as your EVP communicates why someone should work for you in a clear and concise way – you’ve nailed it.

How does this differ from an employee value proposition?

An employee value proposition is purely focused on the individuals they are aimed at. An employer value proposition aims to bridge the gap between what the employer wants from the employee and vice versa. It helps to communicate internally and externally while differentiating you from your competitors.

What’s next?

Now you have your EVP in place, it’s important to make sure this is communicated effectively across your countries and territories. If you can afford to, taking a day to re-educate employees on the newly aligned employer value proposition will really help to embed it into your culture, as well as prepare employees for any recruitment activity moving forward. Investing in a DAM can help you keep all documents accessible to teams anywhere in the world. BAM by Papirfly™ gives you the power to create printed and digital assets using smart templates, educate teams with your branding documents, guidelines and assets, and allows you to store and share absolutely any digital file.

To align your employer branding across the globe, get in touch today. 

Your global employer brand is the core of how you attract, recruit and retain top talent worldwide. It is the message, value and vision that tell your target audience why they would want to work for you over your competitors.

For the top global companies, developing an effective employer brand strategy is essential in connecting with potential recruits and your existing team members on a global scale.

With so much choice of workplaces available to today’s skilled employees, having a global employer brand that truly connects and resonates with your preferred target audience is how the best global brands reap the most talented recruits.

Take Vodafone for example -nan organisation we’ve been proud to work with for several years now to deliver greater, more consistent employer branding. One of the most recognised brands around, they have devoted a lot of time and effort in crafting their global employer brand identity to appeal to their ideal employee persona.

From transparency over their vision as a company to creating aspirational employer branding materials, Vodafone recognises the advantages  clear strategy gives them in how they acquire talent. And this also takes into account how they interact with their local markets. 

A global employer brand is not one-size-fits-all

Unquestionably one of the greatest challenges facing top global businesses is communicating and disseminating their central brand and identity to their employees and prospective recruits worldwide. Crossing boundaries means new cultures, new languages and new customs.

Employees are individuals, and never is that more apparent when you move from country to country. Brands that take a “one-size-fits-all” approach to their global employer brand strategy risk alienating individuals whose needs, motivations and cultures differ from the messages they are putting out there.

Nowadays, job seekers need to be treated like consumers, and the cost of an employer brand that doesn’t consider their distinct customs and traditions will:

• Restrict your ability to attract the highest-quality candidates
• Result in higher costs in attracting top talent, as well as employee retention, over time
• Lead to drops in employee engagement across your teams

While the essence of your brand values shouldn’t change from location to location, as this will undoubtedly cause confusion as to what your global employer brand stands for, it needs to have been framed in a way that engages your local audiences. 

For instance, say part of your company’s core values is an approach that’s incredibly team-oriented and encourages collaboration. That might be more significant to your market in one country than in another. Instead, you should  adapt your messages to champion a different core value that is more relevant to that specific audience – that’s part of a good employer branding strategy.

Your global employer branding team should be given time to develop a clear understanding of the local markets that you operate in, performing whatever external surveying work and analysis necessary to understand what they want out of a workplace culture and how your brand can accommodate this.

How to translate your global employer brand to your local markets

As mentioned, thorough research into the individual markets you operate in is essential to discover the cultural considerations affecting the area. This will take time, but it’s vital in identifying elements that your target audiences consider crucial in the work environment of an employer of choice.

Think of the employee experience

Remember, your global employer brand strategy towards your local markets should begin and end with the employee experience. Most employees will look to have their own individual needs met, and an appreciation of a market’s culture and society gives you a greater chance of meeting their requirements.

Take time to break down the persona of your ideal team member:

• What goals/motivations do they have?
• What are their key demographics?
• What personality traits do they demonstrate?
• What challenges do they face?
• What would they want out of your workplace experience? 

Once you’ve determined a top-line understanding of this through interviews with staff members and qualitative research, go to the extra level in referencing the various cultural nuances and features that distinguish one location from another.  That way, you will be able to attract talent in a much more effective way. 

Encourage employees to be brand advocates

Next, the best global brands will utilise their existing employee base as brand ambassadors to connect with local audiences in an organic, natural way. Content shared by employees typically receives 8 times the engagement of content on a brand’s official channels, largely because it feels more personal and credible.

Global businesses with the best employer branding –  encouraging and rewarding a company-wide culture of employee advocacy –  stand to receive the greatest benefits when appealing to other team members and prospective recruits across their local markets. As your employees promote and interact with others in a meaningful way, others will gain a stronger appreciation for your identity and values.

Whether this is achieved by an incentive programme or by adjusting your marketing strategies to incorporate more “team-focused” content, inspiring your current employees to spread your brand’s message can be a  powerful way of attracting candidates.

Harness technology to stay consistent and constant

Brand consistency and frequency are also key to translating your global employer brand to your local markets. While you will likely need to make alterations in terms of language and imagery used, the essence of your brand identity should never waver. Honesty and transparency are important in developing a genuine connection with your target markets.

Therefore, the ability to create and share marketing materials that consistently communicate your brand’s personality to each of your local markets is crucial. Having access to a sophisticated brand management solution makes a real difference in maintaining the core elements of your brand’s identity across all locations, with the function to tailor the imagery, language and layout as necessary to a specific audience (something our systems at Papirfly are capable of providing).

This branding software will also ensure that your local teams can frequently craft and create collateral from the ‘single source of truth’ found in your brand guidelines. This is vital in maintaining regular engagement with your audiences – not just to those you are interested in recruiting, but in reinforcing the shared familiarity with your brand among your existing employees. If these communications are not actively maintained, you risk missing out on attracting top talent and reducing your employee retention.

Essentially, when it comes to protecting and maximising your global employer brand, it is a case of think globally, act locally. By taking the time to address cultural nuances in each of your markets and adapting your marketing to appeal to these, as well as harness the power of your existing employees to reach these groups, you place your organisation in a much better position to attract, recruit and retain talent against other top global companies.

Top global brands reaching their local audiences

So, how are some of the best global brands appealing to their local markets? Here are some examples that might inspire your approach:

Vodafone

As highlighted earlier, Vodafone in recent years has placed a deeper emphasis on pushing their global employer brand as a means of attracting top talent. After conducting extensive research, they identified eight ‘proof points’ that give people worldwide a fundamental picture of what it’s like to work at Vodafone. From there, this core message is adapted to each market to effectively translate the message, with the company utilising our own brand management solution to create and disseminate this material. 

Unilever

Utilising a hero campaign on being ‘more than just your job title’ on a worldwide and local scale, Unilever’s global employer branding team work closely with their local outlets to tailor their messages most effectively and inspire their current staff members to push their identity out on their own personal channels. 

L’Oreal 

L’Oreal’s innovative approach to a transparent, consistent and candidate-driven recruitment strategy allows them to compete with the top global companies in securing talent. They present universal employee value proposition pillars to their markets worldwide with an appreciation of the cultural disparities.

Dell

Dell has committed to recruiting to recruiting an employer branding team, with leads in each of their regional markets, giving them a clear indication of the cultural nuances, trends and events that will inform how their materials will work in those areas. By receiving this insight and experimenting and analysing their campaigns, they are constantly refining how to tap into their local audiences.

Verizon

Finally, Verizon’s employer brand marketing takes an unwavering approach to championing the achievements and happiness of team members in all local markets, to present everyone in their organisation is engaged with their brand. This magnification of their brand presence through organic, employee-driven content and diverse, current-event messages helps them stand out among the best global brands for prospective job seekers.

Adding a local edge to your global employer brand 

We hope this article has helped you recognise the value of adapting your global employer brand around your local markets. While we live in a world that is globalising more and more each day, being able to adapt your message to appeal to the specific cultures, languages and traditions of each market will give your organisation added impetus in your mission to acquire talent and improve employee retention.

Your global employer brand is an investment in your company’s future, and it’s crucial you give it the capacity to fully engage your existing and prospective employees. With our brand management platform for employer branding teams, we empower your teams to go after their local markets frequently, consistently and successfully, with the option to tailor each message for each audience. All with no specialist expertise.

Start empowering your workforce and connecting with your audiences across the globe today.

When you’re in charge of a business, regardless of size, industry or location, a feeling that you quickly get used to is losing good employees.

Research has shown that 43% of all Millennials in employment plan to leave their current role within 2 years, while only 28% plan to stay past 5 years. With future generations expected to share similar tendencies, the employee turnover trend shows no sign of slowing. 

Of course, it would be naïve for any company to believe that they can achieve a near-100% retention rate; statistics collated by LinkedIn in 2018 suggest that a 10.9% turnover rate is approximately the norm (although this varies from industry to industry and role to role – e.g. the hospitality sector experienced a 90% turnover rate in recent years in response to Brexit). 

And, in many cases, these are the result of reasons not caused by their company itself:

• A change in their personal life
• They are looking for a different challenge
• They received a better offer
• They feel they’ve achieved all they can in your team

Again, losing talented employees is something that will happen invariably. However, numerous reasons behind top talent quitting come as a direct result of them being unhappy with aspects of their work.

If you are concerned that your company’s turnover is unwantedly high, here are 14 notable causes why you may be turning off top talent from staying with your organisation.

Why companies lose good employees

1. Lack of trust/autonomy 

Few people enjoy being micromanaged or working in a restrictive environment due to management’s lack of faith in them. Top talent will typically thrive in atmospheres where they feel trusted to deliver their work to a high-quality standard. Placing too many oversights and barriers in the way of their autonomy is a dangerous path to a high turnover of staff.

2. You lack a competitive offer

While money isn’t everything to all employees, it will likely be a key factor in their decision to stay or move on from your company. Employees need to know that they’re valued for their hard work, and whether it’s an increase in their salary or other incentives, if you fail to give them compelling reasons to stay, they may have their heads turned by your competition.

3. You don’t have an onboarding strategy

The process of retaining employees to stay starts from day one. If you don’t have an established onboarding strategy or process, it can result in new members of staff feeling disorientated and unwelcomed immediately. First impressions count as much for the hiring company as they do for the person just hired – leaving a bad taste in the mouth from the get-go could leave people thinking about the exit in a couple of months time.

4. They feel underutilised

If your employees don’t feel that their distinct skills and expertise aren’t being put to good use in their current role, they will start to look for a company that will. The moment they feel they are not being utilised effectively is when good employees stop caring, hurting your productivity and increasing the likelihood of high performers leaving your team.

5. They feel underappreciated

If your best talent produces great work, it’s important that you tell them. Employees whose work is hardly (if ever) recognised will feel more disheartened and disillusioned in their role. It will potentially lead them to question why they’re working as hard as they are if they will never receive recognition or reward. By failing to appreciate the great talent available to you, you risk losing them over time.

6. They feel disrespected

Similar to the above reason, your employees don’t want to come to work and feel that they aren’t respected or valued. This extends to their good work being recognised to the overall workplace culture – if their fellow team members are not treating them fairly or kindly, this will motivate them to find somewhere else to work for the sake of their own wellbeing.

7. They are poorly managed

Over a third of UK workers plan to leave their company imminently due to not feeling any kind of inspiration or motivation from their employer. Poor management is a powerful indicator of dysfunctional employee turnover – without clear direction, guidance and encouragement from the top, employees will lack the structure and impetus to perform effectively and progress in their career.

8. There’s little communication

Communication is key to whether you lose good talent or not. Employees will want to feel comfortable bringing issues to their manager or co-workers and receive a fitting response. If that communication is lacking or is practically non-existent, your talent will feel unsupported and that their suggestions aren’t meaningful. When people spend much of their day at work, most would prefer not to spend it in silence.

9. An unhealthy company culture

A poor company culture will quickly turn away your top talent. Whether that is a structure that is too rigid, one that lacks drive and passion, or simply an atmosphere that is overwhelmingly negative and toxic, if an employee doesn’t feel comfortable or welcome in their workplace, they will be encouraged to actively find one that is more suitable. 

10. They don’t connect with your company values

Your employer brand plays an increasingly powerful role whether you retain or lose good employees. A brand that is consistent, authentic and built on strong values will minimise the risk of employees quitting. Conversely, if your workers don’t buy into your goals, missions and principles, they won’t form a connection to your organisation and won’t feel a compulsion to stay when another opportunity comes along.

11. There’s no room for growth or development

One of the core reasons people look at alternate job opportunities is to advance in their career. If your company does not present a clear path for promotion or development, your good, ambitious talent will find chances to take on more responsibility somewhere else. Leaving little room for career progression within your workforce loses engagement, loses motivation, and eventually loses talented employees.

12. They feel overworked

Stress is something that comes in most workplace environments, but an excessive amount can be a strong motivator to leave. If your top employees feel like they are being burdened with too much to do with little support or recognition, work will become incredibly uncomfortable for them. At that point, they might decide to choose their own wellbeing over their employment, and look to find somewhere more conducive to their needs.

13. You don’t consider their work-life balance

Did you know 22% of UK workers have changed company or departments in pursuit of better flexibility? Especially as employees become older and develop responsibilities outside of work, priorities shift towards a better work-life balance. If you lack the flexibility to accommodate their wider needs or operate in an “all work, no play” culture, you will lose top talent looking to avoid burnout.

14. They see other good employees leaving

Finally, witnessing other talented employees leave your company can make people question their own position and happiness in your organisation, often regardless of the reason behind their departure. Losing talented employees can damage the overall culture and atmosphere in your workforce, and cause others in your team to consider their own future. If you already have a high turnover, this can be an even more pressing concern.

What is the cost of losing good employees?

While the answer to this question varies from company to company, a great deal of research has gone into the costs of losing employees. Studies by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) predict that it can cost anywhere between 6 and 9 months’ salary of the departing team member to replace their role. 

For example, let’s consider someone earning the average annual salary, estimated to be £27,271. To replace an employee on these wages would cost between £13,600 and £20,500, a significant amount for any organisation to dedicate to recruitment.

Considering that 41% of employers have reported difficulties in filling vacancies over the previous year in CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook Report (Spring 2019), the cost of losing good employees can be even dearer. 

And that is only the immediate financial impact. Losing top talent in your workforce would cause any business to struggle short-term without their expertise, input and familiarity with your company, and longer-term if they bring their skills to support your competition. 

Having too many experienced employees walk away can damage your productivity and overall company culture in a significant way, and require a substantial investment in time and money to train people up to fill the void left by these departures.

How to retain a good employee who wants to leave

Now you have greater clarity over some of the key reasons why good employees leave companies, your next step is to implement techniques and approaches that heighten your ability to retain your top talent and prevent them from moving to your competitors.

Here are a few initiatives you should consider incorporating: 

Regularly check your employees’ wellbeing

Whether this is through frequent employee reviews or discussions with their supervisors, regular communication with your employees helps them realise they are connected and supported at work, and allows you to spot and address any signs of discontent early.

Encourage their desire to learn and grow

For good talent that wants to develop and harness their skills at every opportunity, provide them with the chances to improve both inside and outside of work. And, when they do excel and show signs of progress, recognise it and celebrate it.

Provide a flexible working environment

Flexible working is quickly becoming the norm, and those that don’t adapt to these circumstances risk losing a high turnover of staff. By giving your workforce flexibility, they will likely be more productive and reassured, as well as less likely to suffer burnout.

Work on your employer branding strategy

Your employer branding strategy can play a big factor in not only the way you recruit new talent, but keep your existing team members around. Foster a collective culture behind your company’s values, one that allows your workforce to develop a deep, meaningful connection to your brand and its unique identity.

Train your management teams effectively

As a bad relationship with management is a primary reason why employees choose to leave their company, take time to develop your management team to welcome and support new and existing talent. This minimises the risk of culture clashes and encourages employees that they are being supported.

Demonstrate clear paths to career progression

Finally, with most employees not content to stay in one place or role for their whole lives, you need to illustrate that your organisation can support their ambitions beyond their current responsibilities. For high-performance employees, this will motivate them to climb the ladder in-house rather than seek greener pastures.

Avoid losing good employees with strong employer branding 

Working with Papirfly directly supports your organisation’s ability to retain and recruit top talent. Whether it is empowering team members to take initiative and produce high-quality marketing materials with little training, to help producing effective employer brand assets and communications that project your company values across your global teams, we help you maximise the power of your employer brand.

Discover BAM by Papirfly™ today and unlock your ability to create, educate, manage, store and share your brand like never before.

As a company, you’re always looking to uncover, recruit and retain the best talent out there. People who will work to achieve your goals. Fit into your culture. Have that drive for success.

But there’s a problem – your competitors have the exact same aspiration. And with the reputation of a company more visible than ever before, be it through a jobseeker’s Google search or reviews on comparator sites like Glassdoor and Indeed, presenting a powerful, compelling employer proposition is more crucial and more challenging than ever before.

With a finite pool of truly exceptional individuals that can make a difference to your organisation, it is essential that you can stand out from the crowd in attracting the talent that’s out there, as well as keeping hold of the people you already have.

That is where your employer branding strategy comes in. It sets you on the journey to locating prospects that fit with your organisation’s ambitions and clearly demonstrating why they would feel right at home in your teams.

Here, we’re going to delve into greater detail on what your employer branding strategy is and outline thirteen critical steps to developing one that connects you with the best talent available.

What is an employer branding strategy?

At its core, the definition of an employer brand strategy is a documented, universal approach to translating your organisation’s values, approaches and personality to your audience. It’s a comprehensive offering of everything you have to offer as a workplace to benefit your most important asset – your employees.

It’s how you project your employer brand – how you are viewed by your current workforce and people you hope to one day recruit. Your employer branding strategy needs to transparently and consistently promote these aspects to both your existing team and those you intend to recruit in order to achieve three salient goals:

• Positively distinguish your offering from your competitors’
• Demonstrate why someone would want to work in your organisation
• Illustrate how your brand is developing and strengthening over time

Not all employer branding strategies are created equal, and creating one that ticks all the right boxes requires clear thinking, total buy-in from your team members and refinements over time. By utilising the following best practices, you’ll find yourself in an ideal position to attract the talent that can drive your brand forward.

How important is an employer branding strategy?

As mentioned earlier, Glassdoor and Indeed are just two examples of platforms that highlight your company’s culture and processes. There’s your website and other marketing channels to consider, and word of mouth from employees spreading on forums.

If your negatives outweigh your positives, or you are not dedicating the same attention to your employer branding strategy as your competitors, you stand to miss out on top talent, and even losing current team members in the process.

Developing a brand that appeals and connects with today’s increasingly web-savvy job candidate is vital, and can result in numerous benefits, including:

• Improved employer attractiveness to talented individuals interested in working in your industry
• Greater motivation among your existing employees by feeling more connected and in-sync with your brand values
• Tangible drops in the costs associated with hiring new talent and retaining them long-term
• A workforce that actively advocates and promotes your brand, extending your reach to other candidates and customers
• A clear, unified vision for your organisation to move towards, with all people associated with your company pushing it in that direction

13 steps to best practice with your employer branding strategy

Effective employer branding strategies can be the difference-maker in an ideal candidate’s decision to join your organisation over the other options available. Following these best practices gives you greater control over the messages you project, and the ability to influence how these individuals see your brand.

1. Audit the perception of your brand

Before developing your employer branding strategy, it is important you have a clear understanding of how people view your company initially. Otherwise, how will you know what adjustments are required?

A thorough audit of your current brand perception, both through the eyes of your employees and your external audiences, lets you understand if your current messaging and reputation is projecting the values and attractiveness you are aiming for. Especially in organisations with teams spread across the globe, it is easy for your values to be mistranslated, or be in needing refinement to connect with local audiences.

There are a host of places you should be examining, including:

• Employment review sites – most candidates will be researching these in detail before making a decision on their next employer. What are people saying about your company’s processes and culture? Do you get rated five stars? Do you come across as an attractive brand? Are there negative reviews? If so, have you addressed them effectively?
• Social media – investing in social listening tools can help you track mentions of your organisation over social media, so you gain a deeper insight into how people view your brand.
• Employee feedback – conducting internal surveys or having open meetings with your teams helps you identify problems that might be affecting your ability to attract and retain talent, so they can be rectified as part of your unified employer brand strategy.
• Google alerts – like on social media, it is important to closely monitor the reputation your brand is presenting on Google and other search engines, and determine if this is in line with your objectives.
  
  

2. Build your employee persona

Who is your ideal candidate? Without a clear answer to this question, you are in no position to effectively develop an employer branding strategy that targets a person with the personality, aspirations and skills to seamlessly join your teams.

Dedicate time to breaking down the qualities your target audience possesses:

• What are their main personality traits?
• What causes do they care about?
• What motivates them day-to-day?
• Where do they research for information?
• What roles and responsibilities do they want?
• Who influences their decisions?

This is just a sample of the line of questioning you should be asking about what constitutes the right employee for your brand. Of course, these qualities will differ according to the specific staff role and location you are marketing to, but at a fundamental level there must be a template that helps you craft branding that appeals to the right candidate.

Furthermore, by clarifying your ideal candidate, it is more likely that their transition into joining your team and growing within your organisation will be more satisfying and fulfilling.

3. Establish your company’s differentiators

Knowing what makes your company unique goes a long way to crafting your brand story.

It’s your organisation’s mission statement. Its values. Its social responsibilities. Its culture.

This feeds into your employer branding strategy by determining why someone would choose to join or stay with your company over X competitor. To effectively establish your differentiators or USPs therefore, it is important to reassess your own values and compare these with potential alternatives for recruits.

What issues do you stand for that others don’t? What aspects of your work culture can you promote that others aren’t? Where does your brand excel and stand out against what your competitors can produce? The answers to these questions will define the unique characteristics your company has to boost your attractiveness to recruits.

86% of HR professionals believe recruitment is now on an equal footing with ‘marketing’. In the same way your marketing efforts are geared to set your products and services apart from the crowd, your employer brand strategy needs to working just as hard to keep you in the minds of candidates and improve your current teams’ sense of belonging.

4. Determine and utilise your primary marketing channels

How are you going to reach your prospective recruits, or best engage with your existing employees worldwide?

As part of establishing your audience persona, you should have a clearer understanding of what channels are going to connect with the candidates you’re seeking. But it is vital to have these defined as part of your employer branding initiatives, and that consistency is maintained across all platforms you choose to utilise.

By choosing the most effective channels, be it through a careers page on your website, paid media campaigns, or taking your employer branding to social media, you are in a position to tailor and target your audiences far more successfully. Ask employees how they first encountered your brand. Research the most popular platforms and forums for people working in your industry.

Once you’ve identified where you will engage with, use these platforms to frequently translate the inclusivity, vision and development of your brand and your employees. These images, blogs, testimonials and more across the most popular channels for your audience will drive a clear connection with what your brand stands for.

However, it is essential that your collateral feels in no way forced or fabricated. Authenticity is essential in truly appealing to your target audience. Without this genuine aspect, people will see through your attempts and will likely distrust you going forward.

5. Create your Employer Value Proposition

Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is your promise to current and future employees. It’s what you offer that will make them passionate about being part of your team, and as such is a lynchpin of your employer branding strategy.

At the centre of your EVP should be your employee – their motivations, their interests, their goals. Ideally your proposition will cover everything they are looking for to connect them to your company in a positive, fulfilling way. To this end, you should consider what matters to staff:

• Professional development?
• Holiday allowance?
• A thriving workplace culture?
• Healthcare benefits?
• Flexible working opportunities?
• A strong work-life balance?
• Bonuses?
• A comfortable environment?
• Unique perks like gym memberships and social outings?
• Charity work and corporate responsibility initiatives?

Most employer branding strategies should contain an assortment of these. But on top of these perks, you also need to consider the core values of your business. How highly your employees are valued. How committed you are to being the best in your industry. How much you care about supporting your customers.

Your Employee Value Proposition is central to how attractive your brand is to recruits, and how effectively you can retain the staff you already have on board. It should be kept transparent and in easy reach of any member of your organisation at all times to reinforce these messages, which is why our BAM by Papirfly™ solution’s capacity to ‘educate’ employees allows our clients to house core brand documents that can be accessed at any opportunity.

6.Develop your brand guidelines and assets or review your existing ones 

Your company already likely has overarching brand guidelines, assets and logos – but what about your employer brand? Has this been properly defined?

In order to effectively implement your employer brand strategy, you need to have assets in place that sets your employer brand apart and the resources available to create and complement your campaigns.

This includes anything from country-specific guidelines, culturally appropriate imagery, colour palettes, logo variations, audience breakdowns by country, dos and don’ts for different territories and anything in between.

7. Invest in your current team’s development

One of the core reasons behind bad employee retention is a lack of career development and learning opportunities. Without a feeling of progression or investment in their growth, it is likely a member of your team will seek greener pastures to achieve their aims.

Remember, employees who feel they’re progressing are 20% more likely to still be at their companies in a year’s time. By presenting these training and development opportunities to your team, you’re demonstrating you’re committed to helping them realise their ambitions as part of your brand. This not only provides you with a more highly-skilled and motivated workforce, but a workforce that is engaged and appreciative to your organisation.

On top of this reduction in workplace boredom and increase in motivation, staff that feel more in-tune and connected to a brand are much more likely to become brand advocates. They will share your marketing materials on social media. Tell friends and family about how positive your environment is. Actively encourage people to join when vacancies become available.

With that, you are in a position to harness powerful employee branding that increases your trustworthiness and attractiveness to both potential recruits and customers.

8. Internal review and alignment

Anything you plan to implement in terms of strategy, particularly initially, should have buy-in from all appropriate stakeholders. This may include HR professionals in the business, internal recruiters, management and more. You may also want to get opinions from existing or new employees to make sure what you have developed fits in with internal perceptions.

Likewise, you may pick up on an insight internally that you may not have had access to without holding these conversations. Once everyone is happy on the direction you are taking for the employer brand strategy, you can begin developing the tools and resources to educate the wider teams and make sure everyone is on the same page moving forward.

9. Assess your strategy’s success

Finally, once you have your employer branding strategy in place, it is important that you are regularly assessing, fine-tuning and adapting it as your business and your industry landscape evolves. It is rare anything this important is nailed first time around, so it is critical that you over time analyse the results of your efforts and see where improvements can be made.

Examine the success of your employer branding initiatives against your pre-defined KPIs, which may include:

• Time-to-hire
• Cost-per-hire
• Number of applicants to each vacancy
• Improved brand reputation
• Frequency of employer brand marketing

If any of these are falling short of your aspirations, it is time to reassess, correct the course and tweak your approach until you see the results you’re looking for. Your employer branding strategy should never feel set in stone – as your overall business strategy changes to reflect new trends, patterns or requirements, your employer brand strategy should follow suit.

10. Talk to employees regularly

An employer brand strategy is never completely finished. This is because not only does the internal workforce demands evolve so rapidly, but as a brand grows so does what it’s trying to portray.

By having regular meetings or focus groups with a select few people you can ensure you don’t become subjective and stay rooted in what really matters to employees. Particularly if you are responsible for campaigns overseas, don’t rely on conversations with employees in your own location.

Ideally, teams would be looking after their own materials in their own country, but this isn’t always possible, so ensuring you get relevant, on-the-ground insight will be critical to your success.

11. Invest in video

Whether it’s for organic or paid for advertising, video is a powerful medium to get across your company’s true values. Potential candidates can read handbooks and website pages until their hearts are content but the truth is only video or a face-to-face visit can truly convey the experience of working somewhere.

This is particularly important for larger businesses, whose success has seen them become so vast that potential candidates may perceive them as a faceless corporation. Hearing from real people with real stories helps to humanise your brand in ways that written content can’t always achieve.

12. Create advocacy internally

If your existing employees don’t believe in your employer brand strategy, how can you expect prospective candidates to feel anything? Having members of the workforce on board is one thing, but having them actively promote your brand and company as a positive place to work can be more powerful than many other methods.

There’s an element of authenticity that candidates connect with. As long as your content isn’t forced or dishonest, the genuine passion should shine through. And if it does, you could be on to a winner.

13. Work out the logistics of your localisation

Working across multiple territories can be a nightmare to navigate. Having processes in place to ensure that any culturally sensitive content or translations are up to scratch is important for maintaining consistency and retaining a decent reputation, both internally and externally.

Anything deemed insensitive would not only ruin your chances of a successful recruitment campaign but also demoralise employees working in that region. It’s important that no matter in the world where they are, they feel connected and represented as part of the brand.

6 companies that have nailed their employer branding strategy

We’ve discussed the key steps to building an employer branding strategy, but what do these mean in practice? Below we discuss several companies across the globe that are maximising their potential to attract, recruit and retain the best talent available through their messaging, and what lessons you can pick up from them.

Vodafone

Vodafone is a prime example of a brand that felt it was doing everything right, but after careful analysis determined they were lacking in some areas. They quickly rectified this by conducting a thorough survey across 40,000 people to find out how people felt about the Vodafone brand.

This feedback became the heart of a new employer value proposition, which has proven far more effective in appealing to new and existing talent. At the core of this is something called the “two-way deal”, which promises team members that they will get as much out of their career at Vodafone as they’re willing to put in.

We’re proud of the role that our BAM solutions have played in supporting Vodafone’s employer branding strategy, helping them deliver greater campaign materials on a global scale.

Unilever

Another of our clients, Unilever, has built the strength and success of their employer brand through their status as a leader in their industry. By focusing on materials that emphasise their notable reputation in their employment brand strategy, they present an aspirational image to potential recruits, as well as improve the motivation of their existing employees.

Plus, Unilever in recent years adopted an approach of responding to every testimonial left for their company on Glassdoor, positive or negative. This willingness to respond to employee concerns and use their reviews to improve conditions has consistently kept the company among the “Best Place to Work in the UK” rankings.

L’Oréal

L’Oréal back in 2013 demonstrated the value of placing your employees at the centre of your employer branding strategy. After passing 300,000 followers on LinkedIn, they used this as an opportunity to highlight the stories and skills of their team members across the globe, emphasising the opportunities available at their business to potential jobseekers.

As it’s well-established that people trust other people over brands, L’Oréal’s approach was an effective way to build confidence in their brand through the voices of their own employees.

Zappos

While many fashion brands utilise their social media accounts for their products, Zappos pairs this with content demonstrating the benefits of joining their team. On Instagram in particular they share a substantial amount of CSR work, employee stories and company-wide events to help their brand feel more appealing to both jobseekers and the wider public.

Furthermore, their Insider Program has been a great innovation for their employer branding strategy. This allows anyone interested in joining their team one day access to information relevant to the company, allowing Zappos to source from the best available talent.

Hubspot

When Hubspot came under increased scrutiny after being named one of the Best Places to Work in 2018, this investigation simply shone a bigger spotlight on their commitment to listen to their employees and take their feedback and suggestions on board.

This extends to Hubspot’s social media presence, where they have regularly encouraged followers to leave comments that can act as jumping points for future content. It also champions its dedication to a fun company culture, with flexible work hours and tuition reimbursement.

Heineken

Pushing a strong visual element to their employer branding strategies, Heineken in early 2019 launched their “Going Places” campaign, focusing on celebrating the stories and development of 33 of their employees across the globe.

After conducting research into the values their brand represent, the company honed in on three pillars: authenticity, transcendence and longer-term brand management. These were combined into the campaign, inspiring their existing workforce and encouraging prospective employees about the potential they can unlock at Heineken.

The future of your employer branding strategy

We hope that this insight into the best practices of employer branding strategies will help guide your way to presenting a more attractive, comprehensive proposition to prospective candidates, as well as keep your current team members engaged with your brand.

The importance of employer branding can never go understated in how it drives the future of your organisation, and establishes a workforce that is motivated, committed and inspired to be part of your company. Achieving this on a global scale is far from straightforward, but through our market-leading BAM software, your team is able to efficiently execute your employer brand strategy.

Start empowering your team with BAM today.

Building a multi-generation workforce can be a powerful advantage for companies across the globe. But with different motivations, goals and expectations driving each generation, there’s mounting pressure and expansive ground to be covered by employer branding teams.

The only way to effectively recruit multiple generations is to have an in-depth understanding of who they are and how they differ in the first place. While the profiles and personas we outline below will help to guide your marketing and communication efforts, it’s always worth remembering that even if candidates fall into one of these categories, each person is an individual. It’s important not to generalise, alienate or make presumptions in your messaging, but instead use this insight as a steer to your various recruitment techniques.

Above all else, your recruitment campaigns and materials should be an honest reflection of what candidates can expect from your brand, your company and their future if they join. No matter which generation you hope to recruit and retain, they will not only want to bring something to your company, but understand what you’re going to do to keep them there.

This is not just about attraction with things that can’t be followed through on; the brand ethos and values needs to run through everything from the job posting itself, the campaigns promoting it and when the successful candidate gets recruited. People want to know what was ‘sold’ to them is going to be consistent and is authentically carried through to the stage of them being an employee, and this extends across multiple generations in the workplace.

With over 10,000 people retiring every day, companies need to ensure their employer brand team can find creative ways to attract employees. Here we provide some guidance when it comes to recruiting the next generation and what you should be considering to reap the most returns for your efforts.

How to recruit Baby Boomers

(Born between 1946 and 1964)

Most articles you’ll typically read discussing baby boomers and recruitment techniques will be talking about ‘how to replace your workforce when baby boomers retire’. But if we’re going to accurately identify how to recruit multiple generations in the workplace, it’s important we’re thorough.

Besides, the assessment that baby boomers are on the way out is an oversimplification. Remember – there are over 14 million baby boomers in the UK currently. Recruiting this generation can provide a number of qualities to benefit your workforce, namely:

• Experience
• Leadership skills
• Unique perspectives
• Interpersonal skills
• Stability
• Credibility

Structure and direction

As a general rule, baby boomers will not shy away from speaking their mind on ways a company can improve structurally. They have likely experienced numerous work environments and can offer valuable insight into the best ways to work they’ve encountered. As such, your recruitment techniques should illustrate that you prioritise two-way communication, and their ideas will be taken on board – perhaps offer opportunities to mentor your younger members of staff as well.

Flexible hours

With 49% of baby boomers dissatisfied with their work-life balance, being able to sell your recruitment on a more flexible timetable will appeal to candidates of this generation. While personalities in this group remain driven, in their later life they will typically tend to prioritise time outside of work. Presenting that as something your brand prioritises will help you stand out over your competitors, either through flexible hours or part-time opportunities.

Stability in the workplace

Baby boomers are especially brand-loyal and team-oriented, and are therefore less likely to move on compared to their younger counterparts. So, if you can present through your recruitment process that your company is moving in a positive direction and you create a positive atmosphere where employees feel motivated and respected, you’ll appeal to this generation’s desire for stability.

Post-work incentives

Money may not the be-all-end-all for baby boomers that it is for the younger generations. Often they are looking for a new experience that they’ll enjoy, and will set them up for a comfortable retirement down the line. Being able to offer good incentives and training opportunities so they can continue to learn and feel wanted could prove more effective in your recruitment strategies than prioritising the salary package.

How to recruit Generation X

(Born between 1965 and 1976)

Offering a high level of experience and expertise, Generation X candidates remain a firm focus for organisations, especially those seeking managerial experience. Among the multiple generations in the workplace, Generation X will often carry the independence, self-reliance and critical thinking necessary to confidently push a company’s trajectory, as well as provide much-needed guidance to the younger recruits in your workforce.

An important note here is, while the online knowledge of baby boomers is often wildly under-appreciated, with 76% of Generation X using online platforms as their first port of call for finding job opportunities, you’ll need to adapt what channels you use to communicate with this group.

With useful abilities like adaptability, problem-solving and leadership available to support your team, how can you convince Generation X talent to join your ranks?

Emphasise a work-life balance

Among all workplace perks, many consider flexibility as the most highly valued among Generation X. Employees at this stage in life will likely need to balance multiple professional and personal responsibilities. It is no surprise that nearly half of all freelancers in the UK are in this age bracket. Demonstrating that you can provide them with this balance through remote working or other flexible incentives, you are in a better position to recruit and retain these team members.

Have a clear direction, but be open to change

This generation not only wants to know where you are now, but where you’re going and how you’re planning to get there. They are wilier and more sceptical than the more idealistic later generations, so you need to be able to demonstrate the path your company is on to convince these recruits to get on board. But, make sure these don’t come across as too rigid – Generation X workers will want to feel they can contribute and suggest changes in the pursuit of your company’s overarching objectives.

Offer growth and learning opportunities

From internal training on key skills to education funding, being able to put these front and centre of your recruitment techniques will help you stand out to these employees, who are often driven to learn as much as they can. They want to know how you will support them on their career path, and reassurance they can achieve their personal aims as part of your organisation. Convince them of this and you could be onto a winner.

Recognise and reward results

Generation X workers are incredibly result-driven and place importance on efficiency. Highlighting your reward programmes and how you celebrate achievements will likely go down well in attracting employees of this generation. All generations like to receive incentives to do well, but this is particularly important to more experienced workers looking to boost their own CVs and climb the ladder.

How to recruit Millennials / Gen Y

(Born between 1977 and 1997)

Of the multiple generations in your workforce, it’s arguable none have been written about more than Millennials, both in a positive and negative light. It’s easy to fall into traps when talking about recruiting Millennials over their naivety or lack of experience in comparison to the older generations we’ve spoken on. But this is far from the reality.

Tech-savvy, achievement-oriented and with a powerful desire to learn, recruiting Gen Y candidates requires a lot more thought and consideration. They expect a lot from brands, but if you deliver on these, you can recruit and retain team members that will carry your company forward for years or even decades.

So, what do Millennials in the workplace look for in an employer?

Encourage diversity and collaboration

Millennials in the workplace tend to place more emphasis on a brand’s values and identity than those in the older generations. Present through your recruitment techniques that you place a firm emphasis on diversity and equality, and that recruits will be part of a collaborative, motivated team that will fulfil their desire to learn and grow. That will speak to them in a far stronger way than salary rates and other traditional incentives.

Concentrate on the here and now

While Generation X workers place a focus on where your company is going, Millennials tend to be only interested in the present day. That’s due to a desire not to be tied down immediately – presenting your 10-year plans as part of your recruitment techniques could scare them off! Instead focus on work-life balance, skills and experience they can gain with your company in the first years with the company to pique their interest.

Present flexible work arrangements

However, like Generation X workers, recruiting Gen Y requires a focus on flexible working hours and conditions. It is of course important to maintain traditional financially-driven perks and benefits, but Millennials’ greater familiarity with technological innovations means that they are more likely to demand remote working opportunities. Your recruiting techniques should illustrate the overall experience your workplace will offer them, beyond the nuts and bolts of the role itself.

Highlight your causes

Finally, it is no secret that Millennials place a much higher value on a potential employer’s CSR values. When they think of perks, they consider employee wellness plans, company charity initiatives, social outings, environmental impact and similar aspects. Appealing to these elements of your brand identity in your recruitment materials gives you a far greater chance of engaging with this generation.

How to recruit Gen Z

(Born after 1997)

The newest of the multiple generations active in the workplace, recruiting Gen Z workers to your team is something all organisations will need to start prioritising.

This generation is as digitally-driven as it gets – it is the first generation that can’t remember life before the Internet was widely available. As such, they are hypervisual, resilient and less entitled than prior generations. They find it more difficult to see the distinctions between the digital and “real” world, and subsequently between work and home.

As this bracket encompasses a big part of the future workforces of all companies, how do you go about recruiting Gen Z?

Highlight your meaningful work

Generation Z carry a powerful, impressive work ethic, and want to know that the work that they’ll do as part of your team is both rewarding and meaningful. Many Gen Z workers would be interested in taking on multiple roles under their employment, due to their desire to learn and grow quickly. Focusing on the ways they will be challenged and how their work makes a difference will be a strong motivator for joining your team.

Present employee experiences

Like Millennials, recruiting Gen Z workers requires you to emphasise perks beyond the traditional workplace incentives. Their demand for a more custom, personalised candidate experience and interest in a brand’s social responsibilities need to be considered as part of your recruitment process, so you can connect with them on a deeper level than simply financial. An inclusive atmosphere is also essential to promote.

Offer training opportunities

Robust professional development opportunities are essential to Gen Z. They are the YouTube generation – they are always looking for ways to feed their craving for on-demand learning. Being able to demonstrate your CPD processes and perks like education-based reimbursements will set your brand above your competitors, so they can fulfil their desire to always learn and grow as part of a workforce.

Focus on flexible working

For Gen Z, the traditional borders between work and home don’t apply as they have in the past. Today, the next generation of recruits are elevating flexibility over stability in their priority list, and your recruitment techniques need to demonstrate that to meet their goals. Being digital natives with a strong appreciation of remote working, this is something that will encourage them to align with your organisation.

Dealing with multiple generations in the workplace

Avoid conflict by understanding and being accommodating where possible

We’re sure the people you hire will have at least a basic level of human respect, regardless of generation. But should you notice surfacing issues or legacy employees creating problems, it’s important to nip this in the bud before it escalates. People won’t always be honest about their internal gripes, so it’s essential to give them a confidential platform to air these frustrations.

Let’s take a hypothetical scenario as an example:

Some millennials in the workplace feel frustrated by the older employees refusing to adapt to new technology or them shutting down what the millennials consider to be ‘better ways of working’.

You need to consider a number of factors in this situation:

• Are the millennials frustrated by the situation, or the way the person is handling the situation?
• Are the claims justified or an overreaction?
• Is there a lack of respect from the older employees, and the way they are addressing the younger employees’ suggestions? Conversely, is the younger employees’ approach in line with how you think it should be?
• Could the new technology and ‘better ways of working’ save significant time and money? Or is the way the older employees complete the same tasks sufficient?
• Do the benefits and skills of having the older employee on your team outweigh this single example of a ‘stuck in their ways’ attitude? And if so, is it worth increasing tensions?

If your verdict is in favour of the millennial employees, then you need to understand why there is resistance from the older employees. Perhaps they don’t fully appreciate that they are qualified to make these kinds of suggestions or just how much time it will save them in the long run. They may be reluctant to learn a new skill because the way they’re doing it works just fine, but perhaps a collaborative, top-down discussion could help them see the light.

Ultimately, if neither parties see the other’s point of view with any clarity, there could be overarching communication issues. It’s important to encourage mutual respect and nurture team dynamics where possible, whether that’s through team-building days, mentoring, CPD sessions or creating unlikely but successful pairings for projects. If problems continue to arise with the same people, you should consider whether it’s actually a generational difference or a case of an employee being difficult for the sake of it.

Break down stereotypes

While we have provided broad personas and attributes of each generation, when it comes down to it, be it baby boomers or millennials in the workplace, not everyone can be tarred with the same brush.

Try to highlight what people have in common, and create initiatives which all generations can thrive and take part in. This might include an internal points leaderboard, giving different people responsibility in planning social events, and creating knowledge sharing sessions where different generations get an opportunity to talk about their experiences and expertise within the industry.

These will all work to melt away barriers and help people start to see their colleagues as equals, as opposed to the things that make them different.

Encourage cross-generation learning and mentoring

Different generations bring with them a vast and far-reaching range of skill sets. Introducing CPD sessions or mentoring partnerships will not only open employees up to new ways of thinking and learning, but also build relationships and help different ages see things through the eyes of their counterparts.

Don’t alienate through the wrong communication channels

Earlier in this article we outlined the various communication methods each generation is more likely to engage with. While it’s important not to generalise, there are different ways you could help accommodate this in your organisation.

Firstly, you could send out a survey to see which methods people prefer, or speak to them in person to gain a general consensus. Once you have this, you can pick the 2 or 3 most popular methods and make sure your team communicates how and why you have chosen to send company updates in this way. They can also be responsible for making sure all specified channels are used to send messages of importance.

Don’t be afraid of mixing generations when building teams

Of course, having the right skill sets in the right teams will take priority over anything else, but should you find yourself unsure about how to split teams, striking a balanced mix of age groups is something that could be beneficial.

Different ages bring different experience, expertise and viewpoints. Broadly speaking, where millennials in the workplace may suffer from a weakness, others may have this as a strength, and vice versa. Seeing mixed-generation groups as an opportunity for growth as opposed to conflict is an important mindset to adopt.

Ask for feedback if things aren’t working

You can bend over backwards and tick all the generational boxes until you’re blue in the face but the reality is that every team is different and you can’t always get it right. If your efforts have become futile, admit defeat but don’t throw in the towel just yet. Speak to a cross-section of employees about the issues that have arisen and the ways in which they could be resolved. Create an open forum of suggestions and encourage peer feedback where possible.   

Attracting multiple generations to your workplace

Hopefully this has offered you a useful breakdown of the different generations of workers currently in the job market, and what your brand should be doing to appeal to them. As noted earlier, while this provides a guide across current trends and behaviours, it’s vital to remember each potential recruit is an individual, and will be looking for different qualities in a preferred employer.

However, no matter which generation you are targeting and what benefits you present, one characteristic that must be present across your recruitment techniques is consistency. While your employer branding will be tweaked to address the specific concerns facing every generation, they still need to drive your brand’s vision, personality and objectives authentically and effectively.

Our brand management solution empowers your employer brand teams to create high-quality assets that never compromise on your values, educate members of your team on what the essence of your brand is, and store & share assets to your team members across the globe. All without the need for specialist support.