Why do one at all?

When we suggest an employer branding survey, we often have clients ask us why they should invest the time, energy, and money.  And it’s not just a question of limited resources, there’s the issue of survey fatigue – there are already too many surveys being conducted at work, whether they’re on employee engagement or looking for employer feedback.  But when you’re thinking about your Employer Value Proposition (EVP), there’s a huge difference between all the usual surveys and this one.

An employer branding survey is completely different from other internal surveys, and will provide you, not just with completely different results, but with unique insights into your employee population – insights that would never be revealed in other exercises, for example performance reviews or off-site team-building.

An employer branding survey will let you know why your employees are joining your organization – and why they’re leaving it.
– Stacy Parker, Co-founder & Managing Director

It will empower you, as an employer, to uncover what some of the biggest threats to your business are, revealing gaps in your employee experience that may be damaging your reputation.  That’s some pretty valuable information.

Most importantly, when employees are given a chance to weigh in on what they love, and don’t love, about their workplace, and how they feel about current and proposed initiatives, you’ll have their support and buy-in far beyond what you would have without engaging them up-front.  

An employer branding survey is the best way to get your workforce to become ambassadors for your organization, your brand, and your vision.
– Leandra Harris, Co-founder & Managing Director

What does it entail?

Conducting an employer branding survey is not as complicated as you might think.  It should take no longer than seven to ten minutes to complete, and, statistically speaking, if you have a 50% response rate, you are doing well, unlike a more traditional employee engagement survey which requires a response rate of 80%.

Optimally, an employer branding survey should not be a one-time exercise.  You should be checking the pulse of your workforce at least once a year, and a best practice is a quarterly “pulse-check” – once you’ve gone through a couple of iterations, it will seem automatic to you, and you’ll find yourself looking for the results every quarter, to ensure you’re staying on course and getting the feedback, on both employees and their managers, that you need.

We help our clients to design and write a well-written employer branding survey – which means that the survey has a strong, well-articulated brand voice related to the employee experience, rather than just marketing language.  The language you use, and the way you represent your brand in the survey, can make all the difference to the results you get, and we find that getting a little support up front in the design stage is well worth it.

What can I get out of it?

A properly-implemented employer branding survey will reveal the common themes currently running through your workforce, organized by whatever demographic cut you need – age, role, seniority, time-on-job, location, and so on.  This rich data will also provide you with, the top threats you are currently facing, and any differences between employee and leader perspectives on the state of things. This survey is not just about a drop-down box of predetermined options; it allows for open-ended questions and answers, to allow people to tell their stories, and for those stories to be heard.  When we design your survey, you will also get an employee net promoter score – would your employees recommend you as an employer brand? Are they interested in being active ambassadors for your brand? And if so, why?

Internal vs. External Surveys

So far, we’ve covered the value of internal employer branding surveys.  But there is also a lot to learn from going external. We conduct external surveys with many of our clients because they want to attract new talent, and learn how to retain it.  The employers we work with often want to attract new demographics that the company isn’t as familiar with as their existing cohort.

The research that goes into an external survey targets employees who have specific skill sets, job roles, and even locations (if you’re trying to connect with a different region or culture) that your company needs in order to grow.  It’s extremely valuable to know how those sectors perceive you as an employer, what they consider to be an ideal employer, and what matters to them when they look for work.

No Better Time Than Now…

…to find out what path your leadership team should take, now, to get where you want to go.  More often than not, our clients are surprised by the participation and comments they see in response to both internal and external employer branding surveys, not to mention how passionate respondents are.  People really care about where they work, and where they would like to work.

At Blu Ivy Group, we’ve been designing employer branding surveys for six years, enabling Fortune 500 companies around the world to learn about their internal and external brands in multiple languages and in more than twenty countries.  

We understand the value that surveys like this can bring, and we’re always excited to uncover what builds pride at the heart of your organization and what people are really passionate about. We’d love to help you uncover your own stories and build an action plan to align the leadership team and employees with the why of your brand. 

In this fast-paced and constantly changing world, getting to the heart of your brand and your workforce is more valuable than ever. Call us today at 647-308-2352 to learn more!