Note: the following blog is an adaptation from Blu Thread Conversation podcast where we weave a powerful narrative at the intersection of people, culture and performance.

To listen to this conversation as podcast please visit us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music / Audible, or Google Podcasts.

James: Welcome to today’s episode of Blu Thread Conversations. My name is James Powell and I have the pleasure of being your host for today’s episode. Today I’m joined with Stacy Parker and Leandra Harris, the managing directors and co-founders of Blu Ivy Group, one of the world’s leading employer brand and recruitment marketing agencies. Stacy Parker founded Blu Ivy Group utilizing her previous CMO lens where she recognized that employer branding has the power to simplify and transform talent communication and become the catalyst for improving workplace culture, recruitment marketing and bottom-line business performance.

Leandra Harris founded Blu Ivy Group from her previous position of CHRO where she witnessed the positive correlation between connecting the people promise to human-centered cultures and high-performance business growth. Together, Stacy and Leandra have expertly weaved and created employer brand and culture strategies for over 200 companies around the world, working with some of the most recognizable brand names in retail, financial services, energy, health, hospitality, and technology as they work towards their vision of creating a world of human-centered and high-performance workplaces.

As we kick off 2024, we’ve asked Stacy and Leandra to join us today to share their expert insights as employer brand and culture leaders for what they see coming in the year ahead and how CHROs and C-Suite teams can use their employer brand and the EVP as a strategic framework for business impact.

Stacy and Leandra, hello and welcome to Blu Thread conversations. It’s great to have you both here.

Leandra: Hi James, we’re happy to be here.

James: Well, to get us started today, can you share with us a little bit more about your vision and Blu Ivy’s vision of building a human-centered and high-performance workplace? Why is that important to you?

Leandra: It’s important because we’ve all experienced or know friends or family that have experienced being in a job where they’re so unhappy. We spend more time at work than with our own family. It’s critical that when people are at work, they feel engaged and inspired and happy, because that impacts the community they live in, their family, and so forth. Stacy and I are just so driven and passionate about making work better.

James: What I appreciate about the vision that you’ve created for us is it’s that balance between human-centered and high-performance.

Leandra: 100%. I think people think they have to be exclusive, and that’s not true. I think it’s critical, you can be human, kind, and real. In addition to that, you can also be making a tremendous impact on the bottom line.

Stacy: To your point, Leandra, that human centricity, the importance of getting talent really engaged and excited, that’s what drives productivity. And we’ve seen over the course of the last few years, as talent gets less engaged, more burnt out, productivity across the board has started to wane. So now more than ever, this methodology, our approach is so important because we need to rally talent. We need to excite them. We need to give them hope for what they’re doing and why they’re doing it and what it’s going to mean for their futures.

James: And we’re here today to talk about trends and predictions and what you see in 2024. But before we get into that, can you help level set on the past year and maybe define some of the differences between employer brand and recruitment marketing.

Stacy: Employer branding is really the perception of an organization as a place to work. And that perception is by employees, employee’s friends and families and what they hear, and outside talent. I liken your employer brand to the corporate brand. It’s a strategic output, that impacts every part of the business to shape how people see a brand. Employer brand is every part of the business that helps shape talent’s view of the workplace.

Recruitment marketing is about telling that story to help your recruitment funnel, to attract talent, to connect with personas. They are two separate things. Think of recruitment marketing as that product marketing, connecting to a persona about why they want to buy a product. I think what’s really great over the last few years, between 2019 to 2022 we saw this massive explosion in employer brand. It was driven because of growth, because there was hyper growth worldwide and the need to fill jobs was so intense that, that recruitment marketing lens is what really drove a lot of the growth and investment in employer brands. So great in terms of the innovation that has happened, the adoption of parts of employer branding. The problem is that the impact that a lot of CHROs have hoped to see around engagement, retention, top of mind awareness and preference, those pieces still have a long way to go.

Leandra: When you look past this past year, the people that work in employer branding and across many roles, they’re tired, they’re burnt out, they’re expected to do more with less. The only thing they are able to put any time into is that kind of superficial work, externally talking about their brand and they don’t have time, although they see the value, is doing that deeper work. That’s really going to make the impact that they need to see. Things like rallying the troops, getting people inspired, connected to the purpose and the value so that they can increase productivity and see the impact that they need to see. They just don’t have the time in the past year to do that.

Stacy: And a lot of the departments were downsized, streamlined HR departments, marketing departments, employer brand talent gone. And so much of the investment, because it leaned so heavily into recruitment, so much of the investment and the effort around the employer brand is not being fully utilized right now in organizations.

The talent acquisition community has been such a beautiful driver and passionate advocate of employer branding. They really do understand it and its value. They only have so much power within an organization to stakeholder and advocate for the internal adoption, for leadership adoption.

And I think it was just a couple of weeks ago, James, when we were talking with Mattamy Homes, where Brent Carey has stated that the employer brand must be owned by everyone in the organization. And quite obviously over the last couple of years a lot of talent acquisition and employer brand leaders have felt like it really is solely the responsibility of HR to lift it.

Looking back at 2023

James: Before we get into looking forward, we want to acknowledge some of the challenges and struggles that the employer brand community and that really the world of work has experienced because it’s been a tornado over the last few years.

Leandra: Yeah. And I think number one, is the loss of trust. The economic downturn resulted in a lot of restructuring last year. That has been a crisis in the world of work. That loss of trust due to people seeing their friends, family being let go from organizations that they were a part of. And due to that, people having to do more with less. So really HR or employer brand leaders having to work by themselves and to do so much in such little time. I think that has influenced quite a bit the trends that we see for 2024.

Top 10 Employer Brand & Culture Trends for 2024

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James: Let’s look ahead, and with your ten years of experience in helping organizations around the world to build their employer brand, to build their culture strategies, what are some of the trends and opportunities you’re seeing for 2024 and beyond?

Trend 1: CHRO and C-Suite Stakeholders as active executive sponsors

Leandra: I’ll start with the team for sure. James, to build a strong employer brand internally and externally, you have to have the right people at the right table. Stacy, I love that you talked about Mattamy Holmes. The employer brand is not owned by one person. This is how we founded Blu Ivy Group, Marketing and HR coming together along with Communications and IT. You really need a diverse, well-rounded team who’s all in to make the impact that they need to make. To attract and retain top talent. Number one, it starts with having the right players at the table to develop a really effective employer branding strategy.

Stacy: Yeah, I totally agree. I think of some of the global organizations that we’ve launched projects with the greatest success, and they’ve had executive stakeholders across the board, because it’s not just about the team that is building and doing the work and getting ready for it to launch. It’s the executive stakeholders that are going to get the support, the buy in the alignment that really helps it be a change process.

James: I think it goes back to what you were saying at the beginning of this conversation, the difference between employer brand and talent recruitment marketing. When you look at talent recruitment marketing, it’s easier to put it in that HR box. But when you look at the brand part of employer brand, it needs to be owned by everyone. And you can’t keep that constrained to a small corner of the organization with limited budget and expect to have the impact of it changing your entire organization.

Who, ideally, when we’re working on an employer brand project, who would be involved? What are the stakeholders that would make that successful?

Leandra: Well, because my favorite business partner and only business partner is in marketing. Marketing has tremendous, insight and expertise and knowledge that HR leaders can learn from. And vice versa, Marketing can learn so much from HR. We’re also starting to see IT people show up on the project team because they’re innovative. These are the people that know about AI and some of the tools out there and thinking out there, so you can add innovation to your employer brand, Communications, that expertise is critical. And regardless of the team, having an executive sponsor is critical. You need someone at the C-Suite level who’s all in, who is going to support this team.

Stacy: We’re seeing more and more Heads of DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) at the table, so that we’re not working with DEI, as a bolt on. We’re really integrating DEI into the entire employer brand strategy and employee value proposition. And more and more, the Head of Organization Design, because we want to make sure that as we’re doing this work, we’re not battling about what’s the difference between my EVP and my competitors EVP, and how have I changed the copy to make it unique. But we’re looking at the programs, how the artifacts that we have as an organization elevate and prove that we’re further invested in that promise than our competitors. So it’s important to have Org Design there as well.

James: From what I’ve seen, it’s when the CHRO, the CMO, the CEO, and the Chief Operating Officer come together and say, ‘we want to make a culture shift’, ‘we want to make a concerted effort to really show the impact’ versus, ‘hey, we’re doing an employer brand project over here’. It’s when those power players come together and can strategically say, we’re going all in for this, and it’s an organizational objective versus a talent objective only.

Trend 2 – Consistent and ongoing employee listening

Stacy: I’ve seen more and more asks over the last few months for more consistent employee listening and talent listening. I have observed is that organizations may have over-rotated in the last couple of years with not wanting to bother or impose surveys on talent, because everyone was so busy, they wanted to really limit. Often pulse surveys have been stripped down to just quantitative questions, or that employee listening with workshops was limited. And what a lot of organizations are now struggling with is having meaningful insights to make the changes that need to be made. They might know what they’re not doing well, but they don’t know how to improve on it, how to build the strategy on it.

Leandra: Like having your finger constantly on the pulse of the organization and understanding how employees feel ongoing. I’ve also seen organizations use social listening, listening to what people are saying about them online; customers, candidates, employees, and using that to inform key messages internally and externally. Because the world of work is changing so rapidly, and it’s just better being better connected to the talent you’re trying to attract and to your own employees so that you can personalize your messaging and what you talk about in an authentic, real way that’s really going to resonate and connect with what employees want, in today’s workforce. When you’re actually listening to feedback and collecting that ongoing feedback, it’s quite powerful and I think it helps leaders stay focused and really make an impact.

James: A very important word that you just used, Leandra, was ongoing feedback. And I think that’s one of the things that I’ve seen change over the past few years, is that listening is not a ‘one and done exercise’. What someone says one year can be very different from what they say, what they need, what attracts them, and keeps them in a role the next year.

What I’ve seen with some of our clients that I really respect is how their listening is cyclical. They’re also going deeper into different levels in the organization. And I think this is where we start to see DEI flourishing, is when they’re listening and asking questions into employee service groups (ESG). Have you seen that come up a lot?

Trend 3 – Increased focus on managers & leaders

Stacy: Another trend that I think we’re going to see much more of is listening with managers, managers, directors. They’ve almost been a bit of the lost group in employer brand. So much of the work and methodology that many in employer branding focus on is talking to the top of house and talking to talent. There’s a lot of conversation about making sure you can hyper-segment and personalize by technology roles or front-of-house roles, and we do a lot of work in that area. But the people that you often join an organization for, the people that you leave an organization for, are those managers, the middle management, the directors, and they tend to be also the most actively disengaged right now. Listening there is going to really amplify this year.

James: That also tracks back to the conversation you had around talent recruitment, marketing, and employer branding. When you’re looking at the organization as a whole and how do you impact the entire organization? It’s not just about frontline talent and who you want to bring in. It’s who’s there, how are they doing? How are they thriving? What are their desires? How do we keep them engaged? And you’re right, I think so many projects do focus on what do senior executives see, what’s their vision and what does frontline talent, who do we need to recruit? And you’re right, I never thought of it that way. But that middle chunk is sometimes forgotten.

Stacy: I love that. And I think so many have, talked about the importance of embedding the EVP into the employee experience. But we need to connect the leaders again, those managers, they are the ones that are delivering so much of the employee experience, not just the programs. It is those people, and we really need to make them a part of it. And in fact, I think we’re going to see more of them also taking the lead as part of the brand storytelling, building their brand profiles. Like, you’ve talked a lot about that, Leandra, as the power of branding the management, directors, leaders profiles, making them part of the brand ambassador, take it to that level, as opposed to just the individual contributors.

Leandra: Two out of five or one out of five managers don’t want to manage anymore. They’re done. I think that’s a real opportunity and challenge for HR leaders is to reconnect with our managers, simplify their responsibilities, which the EVP is key to doing so, and reengage them and give them love and convince them as to why it’s a great opportunity, to be a leader for those that want to lead. I think there’s a huge opportunity there.

James: A lot of brands, from what I’ve seen in organizations, they shy away from that kind of listening, or they kind of put it into a quantitative part. And yes, it’s more work on the upfront to do the qualitative part, to listen, to find themes, to ask questions. But the benefit that you get from that is that you’re enrolling leaders in ‘how do we create solutions to make this a better place, to make this a space for you and your team to thrive?’ When we’re just focusing on quantitative listening, you don’t get that. You just get the metric, but you don’t get anything to help move the organization forward and to create the impact that you’re looking for.

Stacy: Well, and that’s why you created so many of those beautiful design thinking workshops and co-creation workshops, to get leaders, as we start to roll out the strategy, to get leaders involved in being a part of how this is activated, how they can live it, how the companies can support it, so that it’s not just a playbook to put in their hands and say, here’s the message that you’re going to give to talent when you’re recruiting them or to employees at your next town hall, it’s a lot more.

James: I think that’s where sometimes HR leaders get a bit of an unfair expectation put on their shoulders, where the EVP is almost looked upon from others in the organization as a IKEA instruction catalog, where it’s like, ‘okay, give us what we need to do, give us the pieces and we’re going to go and take it away and build it’. And then there can be some finger pointing back saying, well, this didn’t work and it’s not about that. And those design thinking workshops are designed so that you, in your functional areas, need to help create those instructions because HR team members aren’t in your day-to-day role, they’re not in there. And we need active involvement throughout the entire organization to create this change.

Trend 4 – Active and ongoing measurement of employer brand impact

As we talk about impact, what are some of the ways that you’re seeing in 2024 on how we measure impact around employer brand and culture?

Stacy: It’s time to do that more effectively. Over the last few years, budgets are increasing in employer branding and there’s been little consistency internationally in terms of how you measure the impact overall. Oftentimes it seems it’s been measured by almost from a campaign perspective. If you did some recruitment, media advertising, which is an important element, but it talks about, a moment in time: how many candidates applied, how many visits to a career site, what’s been the social interaction? But the bigger picture, again, if we’re thinking about it from a strategic brand perspective, is about engagement. It is about advocacy, net promoters, it is about internal awareness from managers, leaders, employees across the board, and then awareness outside. It’s not just about applications, it’s about that awareness outside. If companies want to be like Google because they know they’re top of mind, we need to measure it from that same lens of top of mind, not how many visits I had on my career site.

Leandra: As HR leaders, we can create all sorts of amazing programs and practices, but it will never have the same impact, as having strong, inspiring leaders who are truly passionate about creating human-centered and high-performance cultures. That’s the impact. That’s where the magic happens.

Stacy: A huge area of focus for organizations in 2024 is measuring that impact on an ongoing basis. To realize that measuring, managing, adjusting with the tides of the markets, real time are so important. And that’s why we’ve built the Employer Brand and Culture Index dashboard so that organizations can have that live real-time measurement both inside and outside, and listen to what talent are saying on social media, on newsfeeds, how your reputation is really shifting and react in a more efficient way.

Leandra: I feel right for our clients or people out there that own employer branding, because there’s much more scrutiny right on the money that we spend in HR and employer branding. And I know that many of the clients that I’ve worked with, when they try and measure the impact, they are dealing with multiple systems and tools. And once again, they have so much on their plate, a long list of things to do. And then on top of that, to measure impact, the only way they can do it is gathering data from just a multitude of sources. We need to simplify not only the way we communicate our employer brand, but the way we measure it.

Trend 5 – Hardcoding DEI into employer brand strategy

James: Where are your thoughts on where DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) sit with an employer brand? If we look back into the not-too-distant past, we see an explosion of DEI in the employer branding space. Where do you see that fitting, in or working through the process as we move into 2024?

Leandra: DEI has to be integrated to make the impact. It can’t be this bolt on. ‘Okay, we’re going to bring in our DEIB leader to get their perspective’. They have to be at the table from the beginning. And that DEIB lens, it’s got to be there from the beginning of the project to the end. And when you look at your strategies, programs, you constantly have to have that DEIB lens when you’re developing those programs and practices. So that’s what I would love to see is just integrated as part of your overall employer branding strategy, including measuring the impact too.

Stacy: We were talking about listening earlier, making sure that you’re really listening for belonging based on the unique perspectives of the demographics you have within the organization. And when we talk about personalization, if you see opportunities, really personalizing to help create belonging, but it’s going to increase in terms of expectations of the impact. Gen Z is certainly going to be taking over in terms of the largest population employed over the next five years. And they’re expecting organizations to have a very clear lens on DEIB, on ESG, social and community, commitments. And we’re going to see more and more of that deeply integrated into the employer brand strategy.

James: And I think it needs to be integrated at all stages. Like you said, integrated at listening, integrated at building of the strategy, integration at communication, how we put that inward and outward and then how we activate that and bring it to life.

We’ve seen certain clients that come and say, ‘we need a diversity and equity activation plan’. But if you haven’t done the listening and integrated DEI into your listening, you’re at a bit of a loss when it comes to activating because how do you activate if you haven’t listened? And so that’s where I think it is so important that it is embedded into every part of the employer brand cycle.

Leandra: Years ago when we would ask talent, what are some of the barriers that would prevent you from applying to an employer? DEIB wasn’t listed. It is today. And now you’re seeing some organizations the content that they put out on their social media it’s more than 50% talking about DEIB. And it’s because to your point, James, they’re listening. They’re listening to talent who are saying, this is a non-negotiable and it’s been really fun to see. Okay. Some of the banks particularly are just doing an awesome job. You look at their content and it’s over 50%. It’s talking about DEIB and the stories that they have internally that talks about that. Yes, we do believe in this, and these are the stories that support it.

Trend 6 – Employee generated content

James: We’ve talked about a little bit of content, you brought up Google, we talked about having IT members part employer brand projects. Where do you see things like user generated content and SEO and AI, all of that tech stuff that maybe just a few years back wasn’t on the front burner. Where do you see that coming in 2024?

Stacy: I love you asking that question. From a user generated content perspective. I think there’s going to be a lot more in hand for clients having their leaders again telling stories real time, making it more internal activations or campus activations. When you’re on campus, you have this opportunity to capture an experience with the students that are there, with the professors that are there to capture that real time and include them in generating the content, pushing out the content for the organization, as opposed to that singular message from your website, that testimonial of a piece of content. I think of town halls, big launch events, HR community events, where you can create activations, where you’re filming and capturing from the beginning to the end, when employees are involved in their community outreach, again, this beautiful opportunity to not just have your employees telling the story, but the communities that they’re with to promote that, because that’s a part of your employer brand as much as your corporate service.

Leandra: And are you also seeing in some organizations, HR and marketing, working really closely together on their content strategy and looking at it holistically? Not, ‘okay, on Tuesdays and Thursdays we’re going to talk about our employer brand’. Instead they’re looking at content holistically, what’s really important to our customers and the people that we’re trying to attract? Because in some instances, customers want to hear about what you’re doing in the community. It’s repurposing the content and having more of a holistic strategy. And I’m seeing that’s very powerful when organizations do that 100%.

Stacy: It goes back to the idea that Gen Z, they are asking for not just the DEIB, but what’s your commitment to the community? How are you shaping the community? Because those are the companies I’m interested in working with.

Stacy: Just recently we were working with an organization in the retail space that only two years ago would never have integrated the employee stories with their corporate stories, because they just didn’t see that integration. And today the stories that they’re telling are about how their employees are shaping the communities within which they work. And that’s building pride for employees, that’s connecting to customers in a more profound way. So, yeah, I totally agree with what you’re saying. Companies that are starting to do that are making a huge impact.

James: It is also part of DEIB because it’s allowing people space to belong, giving people space to talk about their unique experience. And I wonder if that’s one opportunity for C-Suite teams to recognize that. And as you’re building out, OKRs or objectives, it’s giving time and space across the organization and recognizing how important that is. Because I think there can be a tendency for people to say, ‘that’s not my job, that’s marketing’s job, that’s HR’s job.’ But it’s everyone’s job to talk about what makes the workplace unique for them. What are they looking for? And we need to create those spaces for them to do that.

Leandra: I love that, James. We want to see our leaders feel comfortable and feel that they have the space and the time to be real online. And to share their stories and to take off their corporate hat and put on their human hat where they’re talking and connecting with people about what they really love about where they work. But they need time to do that and the space to do that.

Trend 7 – Boosting internal activation of your EVP

Stacy: The opportunities for more internally focused activation this year. Even if you have an employer brand and an EVP and you activated it in the last couple of years externally, take 2024 as an opportunity to activate it internally and create a new rallying cry and excitement for your team. Create it as a contest, an experience where every department gets an opportunity to tell their story, from the individual contributors through to the manager. Showcase those so that that can be part of a hashtag strategy externally, a part of an internal story to introduce departments that are working remotely with each other, that are working internationally or working with different brands. There’s such a power to giving your internal talent the opportunity to create these stories and share the EVP and the experience with each other internally.

James: That’s an important and powerful point. I’ve made my transition from brand marketing and brand agencies into employer brand marketing and employer brand agencies, that’s what I miss. Briefs coming into brand agencies are when your CMO partners with your CEO and says, ‘how do we bring this brand purpose to life? Yes, we need to talk about this product, but a big portion of this campaign is how do we bring our brand purpose to life?’ Looking back at some of our clients that truly understand the impact that employer brand can have, it’s those briefs coming in and it’s not tactical, it’ll get tactical. But it’s like, how do we really bring this employer brand to life? And it’s not putting it in a box. It’s not saying we need banners for LinkedIn, etc. It’s come back and I think we need some more of that blue sky thinking. And when I think of our creative teams, that’s where they’re salivating and that’s what they want to be involved with.

Leandra: Yes. And I’ve seen studies like from great place to work where organizations didn’t do anything new, they just communicated and just took that EVP and built storytelling campaigns, made sure that it was felt and experienced across that employee lifecycle. They didn’t create a new program; they didn’t launch something new. It just all came down to communicating really well what’s in it for employees, based on what we heard, based on what you’re telling us, and constantly reinforcing our commitment to you. That’s how you’re going to get them to live your values, meet your financial goals, live the purpose. That’s the key.

Stacy: And when we’ve done internal activations almost to a tee, every organization comes back and talks about how proud everyone was to be a part of that activation. We’ve heard stories of employee net promoter scores (eNPS) going up by 70 points within a six-month time frame from activation. So again, like you’re saying, Leandra, no new program, no massive talent strategy. It was engaging people in their own storytelling, making them feel like stars, making them feel like real contributors to that connection to purpose. The money that’s invested there is nominal compared to the impact that it has on productivity, on retention, on rallying talent, to the mission and purpose of the organization, and customer satisfaction.

James: We’ve talked internal communication. What about external communication? I remember the penny dropping when I was talking with one of our senior executive clients this year, and she was saying, well, ‘how come people aren’t understanding our EVP?’ And I asked the question, ‘how are you communicating it? And what money are you putting behind communicating it?’ And the penny dropped for her when she understood that, oh, we’re communicating our brand and we’re spending tens of millions on that. But when it comes to our employer brand, we’re just using internal channels, yet we’re expecting to have the same impact.

Trend 8 – External Media: Meeting key talent where they live

What trends are you seeing in employers and organizations reaching out and using external media?

Stacy: Well, I feel like there was a really expanding desire to use media, digital media in particular over the last few years since COVID. But, the problem was that budgets tend to still be limited for HR with media. And again, because so much of the driving force was around seeing what my measurable impact is on talent applications and career site visits, there was a lot of dialogue about programmatic job advertising. It’s top of mind for everyone. That’s where we’re going to put our money, because that’s where you’re going to get the best results. But those results are short term. The other thing is, over the last couple of years, as we were growing, a lot of us, as employers were looking globally to hire talent, not just in the location that we had our office. The budget was stretched so thin trying to attract and connect and, get talent internationally. In 2024, we’re seeing employers say, I want to hire closer to my locations. So we’re going to see more narrow community media spends and then more of that budget put towards top of mind awareness. So again, if you want to be a Google, Google is top of mind. So that means taking that budget to tell the story. James, use more video streaming. We’re going to see a lot more video streaming with the likes of, Amazon Prime, they’re going to be taking advertisement in 2024. There’s going to be an opportunity for organizations, with a nominal budget for advertising, to be able to tell their employer brand story on streaming channels. And I think we’re going to see more out of home, because as there’s been more return to hybrid, a lot of the talent that companies are trying to recruit are not the people that are sitting in front of their desktop.

James: That goes back again to that conversation at the beginning, the difference between employer branding and talent recruitment. And for employer branding, it’s asking ‘who are the type of employees you want and where are they showing up in their normal life?’ Many organizations scramble to figure out how to get on Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, the usual suspects, but that’s not where key talent spends the majority of their life. How will key talent know about your brand, until they’re actually looking? There’s so much more when you’re talking about top of mind awareness of, ‘oh, that looks like an interesting place, oh, that could be for me’. How do we attract key talent and pull them in? And I think we need to break through that paradigm that I think sometimes we get stuck in when we’re just looking at talent recruitment marketing.

Stacy: I think it is so important right now that we’re meeting talent where they’re at, not just focused on digital advertising. 2024 is the year for us, to meet candidates, regardless of, whether it’s digital or out of home, exactly where they are on their journey.

Trend 9 – Integration of AI tools

James: I think we’d be remiss if we don’t talk about one of the biggest explosions we’ve seen across the business in 2023. And it’s the use of AI. How will this change the EB landscape in 2024?

Stacy: AI is explosive. And Leandra, I know that your team is continuously working with new tools to help drive efficiencies. It’s part of our new Employer Brand and Culture Index, all of the listening and analytics we’re doing to get deeper personal insights. We’re seeing it with creative adaptation too. There’s a lot more efficiencies and speed that can be implemented with creative once you’ve got a really solid concept. But you know where I think we’re going to see a lot more efficiency, is on content marketing storytelling, SEO, the listening and adaptation on SEO is going to be huge. And media, the learning that can be done real time on media, the personas, the impact, there’s dramatic impact that’s, coming there.

Leandra: Stace, I agree with you. I’m so excited about AI and I just think it opens up so much opportunity for employer branding leaders. Once you nail down that EVP and once you nail down your creative concept, the opportunity to develop key messaging for your target segments, content, SEO and then there’s the even bigger picture when it comes to analytics and measurement and social listening. So it’s such a powerful tool that’ll help us become even more efficient in our role and allow us as employer branding leaders to focus on the strategy and less on the tactics. So much respect for people that develop content, but it’s a lot of work and as we know, the theme of last year is we’re all expected to do more with less. AI is going to be a tremendous tool to help HR and employer branding leaders, in the future.

Stacy: Something else that I think is going to be really important for people to think about for SEO is how many people are using voice generated tools like Alexa. So having longer format SEO considerations built in, as more people are using smart technology, that long format SEO is going to be important.

James: Yeah, that’s interesting and it’s one that doesn’t usually come up. I think we’re so trained in the short tail and kind of getting that side of SEO. So, that’s interesting. I’m glad you brought that up.

Stacy: Yeah, I’m excited to see where that’s going to evolve, and I really think we’ve barely scratched the surface for careers side of SEO, organizations are going to want to get a little bit more consistent with it as opposed know it being a project. Let’s optimize job descriptions and career sites. It’s really important, as you know, with all branding and marketing, it’s not a one and done, it’s an ongoing effort. So I think more partnerships there are going to be important.

Trend 10 – Outsourced partnership models

Stacy: One other thing I think we should talk about is what we’re seeing with, and hearing from CHROs, HR teams, some of our marketing teams, is what they’re dealing with from a workload perspective.

Leandra: Stacy, happy that you brought that up, because it’s been interesting the type of help that clients are asking for and how that has evolved. Years ago, they would be asking, ‘I need your help to develop, research and develop our EVP’ or ‘I need your help on an activation strategy’. Now it’s, ‘yes, I still need your help on those key deliverables, but I also am looking for a partner’. Some, they’re kind of in it by themselves. Some people are looking after employer branding at the side of their desk and they’re just really looking for that strategic partner, someone that they can collaborate with and bounce ideas off of. I’m starting to see a lot more clients asking for that type of partnership and relationship which we love.

Stacy: Again, talking about being able to do the strategic work, the stakeholdering, the big pieces to help them move EB work forward.

Stacy: Yeah, they’re all kind of struggling. That’s what I keep hearing is that they’re struggling, they know they need to do the work, they need to lift it, but investing in more full- time resources to do the work is not in the budget for the year. They’re concerned about how stable the markets are going to be, but they need to do the work. And that old RPO model that you think of for recruitment partners or the agency of record (AOR) model that you think of in the brand world. There’s this increased ask, I hear for that true long-term partnership that, is like you say, a lot more flexible.

Leandra: I would love to see more CEOs realize the importance of employer branding and the impact it can have on the customer experience and the bottom line. I think if everyone sees that connection, even Stacy and I have seen it as leaders of our own organization, we need to give the people that own employer branding strategy, the group, the time and space to strategize. And we love partnering with people in that role and collaborating with them, but they still need more time.

2024 Employer Brand & Culture Trend Summary

James: If we were to summarize all the trends that we’ve just talked about for 2024, what would that summary be to give a quick rundown for people?

Stacy: We talked about some pretty exciting things:

1. CHROs and C-Suite stakeholders as active executive sponsors: We’re going to see CHROs take on a stronger lead with employer brand this year, just because so much of the employer brand is going to be integrated into the culture, rallying the employee experience, making this more about a lived promise than a recruitment marketing message. And they’ll be bringing in the C-Suite to really own more of the employer brand experience.

2. Consistent and ongoing employee listening: Elevating and enhancing the employee and talent listening to understand how quickly things are evolving and what talent are looking for, what the unique demographic needs are and expectations. When we talk about hyper personalizing experience and messaging, we really have solid qualitative data to help inform decision making.

3. Increased focus on managers & leaders: We talked a little bit about the importance of, that lost segment, which is managers and directors that we really need to reengage. We need to hear what matters most to them, what they’re struggling with, their employee experience. So we can help reengage them and reignite them, then rebrand them, make them a real big part of the, brand ambassadorship and advocacy. Because that is why talent join. It’s who they’re connected to and who they’ll leave if they’re not actively engaged.

4. Measuring employer brand impact: We talked about measuring EB investments. Gone are the days where an employer brand can be measured by how beautiful the creative was and the checklist of what deliverables have achieved. It really now has to be about measuring impact and big holistic impact. Not just campaign-based visits to a site, but that holistic benchmarking, using AI, as Leandra was talking about, learning very quickly so that you can adapt.

5. Hardcoding DEI into employer brand strategy: We talked about DEI and how, no longer is that a side of desk project. It has to be embedded from the beginning. Bring DEI to the table at the outset of your employer brand project. Include them throughout the research, the strategy, the validation, and creative. Use the right creative so we’re really connecting to the people and the personas that matter to create that sense of belonging.

6. Employee generated content: Working with talent and leaders to create organic content that can be shared alongside of your corporate communication vehicles

7. Boosting internal activation of your EVP: Creating or reinvigorating a rally cry for your organization

8. External Media: We talked a lot about the importance of, meeting candidates where they’re at, using budgets more effectively this year, since you don’t have to put it all in job advertising, use it to build awareness, because when you start hiring again, those that have the awareness that have told a compelling story to the market, as opposed to just for recruiting talent, they’re going to win.

9. Integration of AI tools: Using AI to help with routine content creation and creative adaptation, SEO, and work on talent personas.

10. Outsourced partnership models: As we come out of the economic downturn again, as we were talking about looking at different models, some organizations right now are looking for more strategic employer brand partnerships. They’re looking for advisors and partners because they don’t have the resources to help them keep this lifted and stakeholdered and managed. And then some have a need for more creative partners and outlets because they don’t have perhaps a marketing team that they can lean on and they can’t invest fully in all of those resources, but they need somebody that can be at their side to help them continue, manage, and lift the work they’ve done to date.

Bonus Trend 11 – HR team wellbeing & simplification

Really simplifying and prioritizing and focusing on less but making sure that those three things that you focus at each year are really going to make a big impact. Especially with the limited resources, limited budget, really focus on what is the achievable goal we need this year. Simplify all of your efforts and focus them entirely on hitting those goals.

James: Leandra, as we close out, and as a former CHRO, what advice would you give current CHROs as they lead, stickhandle and stakeholder C-Suite teams and organizations to move their teams forward to create impact and elevate culture in the year ahead?

Leandra: I think it’s a great segue from simplifying and prioritizing. Number one, I think every individual has struggled with this and it’s making sure, particularly HR leaders, you have to take care of yourself first and foremost, because if you’re not well, then you’re not going to be able to make the impact and the contributions that you’re more than capable and that the organization needs from you.

Taking better care of yourself and aligned with that is making sure that you have the time to think and make sure that we’ve got the right people in our network to help us do that. Who are the best of the best. Make sure we have them on our team. And sometimes those people may not be within our four walls, but make sure you have a support system in place to develop that strategy. And make sure that you are simplifying your strategy and make sure you’ve got mechanisms in place to constantly measure and pivot if need be.

James: This was lots of fun. We need to do this more often. It’s been a pleasure having both of you on Blu thread conversations today. Stacy and Leandra, thank you for leading us forward at Blu Ivy Group and for your positive impact on organizations, cultures, and people all around the world. It’s rare that we take the time to have these conversations. Thank you for joining us today and for sharing your industry expertise. Both of you are pioneers in this space, and I love focusing on the bottom-line impact, that having and activating an employer brand can have for organizations. Now, for our listeners who want more information or have further questions for you, where’s the best place they can reach you?

Stacy: They can, visit Bluivygroup.com or by all means, Leandra and I are always eager and, accessible to talk to leaders. My email is sparker@bluivygroup.com

Leandra: I can be reached at lharris@bluivygroup.com. Would love to hear from anyone.

James: Fantastic. And once again, thank you so much, Stacy and Leandra, for joining us and sharing your vision and insights with us today. I’m looking forward to our next conversation.

Stacy: Thank you, James.

Leandra: Yeah, thank you, James. We appreciate you.

Thanks for joining us for our second Blu Thread Conversation.

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About Us

Blu Ivy Group is a global leader in employer branding, organizational culture, and recruitment marketing. We help organizations across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors build extraordinary employee experiences, magnetic employer brands and high-performance cultures.

Connect with us today and let us help you transform your organization into a workplace that inspires your employees, leaders, customers, and shareholders.

Contact: sparker@bluivygroup.com
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