When launching an Employer Brand Strategy, not aligning the recruitment and onboarding process to your Employer Brand and Employee Promise is quite often the biggest mistake an organization can make. It is concerning when we see organizations invest large portions of HR budget to the Marketing piece (the “shiny things”) of employer branding (careers page refresh, campaigns, social media channels, videos), yet have not researched and developed a strategy to ensure that the candidate experience aligns to that brand message and promise in their first year of employment. This critical first year is the period with the highest voluntary turnover, often due to a perceived culture fit and onboarding issues.
What is the Job Seeker or Candidate Experience?
Many organizations embark on employer branding with little to no understanding of what the candidate experience is with the company. Can you say with confidence what percentage of candidates had a positive experience researching, applying and interviewing with the organization? Common assumptions are that A) any candidate that did not get through the process was not a fit, therefore the experience is not a significant concern to the organization and B) for those that accept the offer, the overall experience must have been positive. Blu Ivy Group research with candidates and job seekers has uncovered that most workers are actually disillusioned with the black hole of careers page applications, gaps in communication with HR and recruitment, time lags that can be months after having applied to a posted job, and unprepared, rushed interviews. Is it any wonder then, that the reasons that candidates often cite for having accepted their current roles are limited to, “compensation, job function, and job stability.” Few actually will identify what the company is trying to achieve, or develop a passion for the corporate vision, values or brand. This is a huge gap when we know that hiring talent that want to help the company achieve its mission, is critical to productivity and success.
What Happens When They Become an Employee?
Research conducted by SHRM about onboarding of new employees uncovered the following:
- Nearly 4 percent of new employees leave their new jobs after the first day.
- A significant percentage of new employees quit their jobs within the first 6 months.
- Half of all new hires in leadership positions last less than three years.
- New employees decide within the first 30 days whether they feel welcome in the organization.
- Fewer than one-third of executives are satisfied with the onboarding process – calling it below average or poor.
HR onboarding programs, training and development, desk, administrative payroll and benefits set up are all critical to have, but it doesn’t stop there. More critical to the employee onboarding experience is the hiring manager and team. Management and leadership must deliver consistent and branded experiences for new employees. Unfortunately, today most people managers also act as functional experts, are overbooked in meetings, and have a multitude of deliverables that take priority over delivering an onboarding experience that aligns with the employer brand and employee promise. Statistically, 25% of the new hire workforce leaves organizations in less than 18 months. This is not only a tremendous financial impact to business and profitability, but also a significant impact on your employer and corporate brand reputation in your markets. An article in the Globe and Mail on May 22, 2015 titled “My Job Is Nothing Like What Was Promised To Me” emphasizes just how negative the perceptions of an employer can be when the new hire experience is not a consistent positive experience. In this case, the employee’s emails are not responded to by the manager, meetings are cancelled, and, with a lack of an understanding of the longer term vision of his role, this makes the employee feel he has been sold a false employer promise. This occurs when a leader is trained, measured and rewarded on project deliverables and not on delivering your employer brand promise. Think of the Agile Methodology, often applied to key projects, being applied to your biggest asset (your people), and their onboarding experience. How would the executive leadership team of your organization respond if newly acquired customers did not receive the experience promised within the first few months of becoming a client? Not only was there lost productivity in the selling, marketing, sales commissions, and onboarding, and lost long term wallet share, these dissatisfied customers are often the most vocal and negative hit to your company NPS. The same can be said for your candidates and employees (often also existing or potential customers.) They are influencing your employer brand, your market share growth and corporate reputation.
What’s the Key Lesson?
It is simply not enough to focus entirely on the external talent audience with employer branding. You cannot ignore the employer brand experience of you current employee population. Employer brand strategy must align the desired candidate experience (i.e. external audience focus) with the employee experience (i.e. internal audience focus). Deliver to your employees what you promise to your candidates. Especially new hires, they just decided to spend 32% of their waking hours working with you because of that promise you made.
To quote the leader of one of the strongest global employer brands, “We built Starbuck’s brand first with our people, not with consumers. Because we believed the best way to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers was to hire and train great people, we invested in employees” Howard Shultz
The Numbers
Employer branding is a core strategic imperative, but if you only commit budget and resources to building shiny new websites, recruitment marketing material and fancy social media strategies, you will have a limited ROI over the long term. When organizations integrate their employer brand strategy and employer promise (the differentiated experience you will deliver to all candidates and employees) into the early stages of the employee life cycle, significant financial and business results can be measured. A 10% reduction in voluntary turnover during the first 18 months, as much as a 50% reduction in cost per hire, and as much as a 30% increase in productivity for a highly engaged employee.
Include your employees in the process from the get-go, be true to who you really are, and deliver what you promise.
An interview and offer experience aligned to the Employer Brand will not only attract more candidates, it will create more fans of your brand AND ensure those that you do hire have joined the company for the right reasons.
About Blu Ivy Group
Blu Ivy Group is a leading employer branding and employee engagement consultancy that aligns your organization with contemporary workplace paradigms. Blu Ivy Group’s mission is to help client’s build award-winning people practices, inspire extraordinary employee engagement, and cultivate unique and desirable workplaces.
Blu Ivy Group provides integrated solutions in employer brand and engagement research, strategic consulting, employer brand integration, creative and talent communications.
Blu Ivy Group is a trusted partner to many of North America’s most respected employer brands. For more information, go to www.bluivygroup.com