Blu Ivy Group recognizes that in order for an organization to realize the true potential of its employer brand platform, three things must be aligned:
- Internal employee trust and engagement must be firmly in place
- Job seekers in your target demographics must see your organization as a preferred employer and perceive your company as one that is a most desirable place to work
- Employed workers and passive candidates globally, locally and socially must perceive your employment brand as an ideal environment to build their career
Like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, employee trust and engagement is a fundamental platform if you want to create and sustain a leading employer brand.
Unfortunately, research findings indicate that over the past couple of years employee trust has been eroding. One study found that 61% of employees do not trust senior leadership; an alarming and concerning statistic.
So what can organizations do to increase employee trust? It isn’t about the perks.
Awareness
To ensure a high level of internal employee trust within your organization you need to measure it. Great Place to Work (GPTW) has developed a Trust Index Assessment for organizations to assess employee trust and understand the key drivers that create a great workplace. We recommend that organizations use a myriad of tools and resources to ensure they have access to real time data on employee trust and engagement. Suggested tools and resources are:
- Surveys – i.e. GPTW Trust Index Assessment
- Pulse Surveys
- Stay Interviews
- Monitor employer ranking sites such as Glassdoor and Ratemyemployer
- Walk around – ask your employees how they are doing and listen to what they have to say!
Follow-up
Once you know what the level of engagement and trust is within your organization it is paramount that you follow-up with employees on the findings. Some best practices on follow-up are inviting employees to participate in the action planning and prioritizing 2-3 items to focus on, and complete, before moving on to other initiatives. Lastly, it is vital that you communicate your action plan with employees as well as provide regular updates. The intranet, town hall meetings, department meetings and newsletters are all good channels to use to keep employees updated on your action plan and ensure transparency.
Communicate often – your vision, business goals, employee value proposition
Communication is the best tool to build and sustain trust. What is the communication flow within your organization? Do all your leaders tend to stay in their office? How often is their office door closed? A best practice for any organization is to take an external view on how you communicate as an organization. Employees should be able to easily tell you what the company vision, values, business strategies and employee value proposition is as well as how their objectives contribute to overall goals.
Solicit employee feedback
What is your organization doing to engage its employees? There are some great tools available today that can promote an ongoing dialogue between the employer and employee fostering a transparent and innovative culture.
Not only is high employee trust and engagement critical for organizations to build and sustain a leading employer branding but it is good for the company’s bottom-line. Research has found that companies with high employee trust perform 3x better than the general market.