As part of the strategic toolkit contributing to bottom line success, your company’s employee engagement and employer branding initiatives can be a topic of interest to your stakeholders reviewing annual reports, sustainability reports, or other year-end reviews. These reports are also another opportunity to represent your company’s employer brand to interested candidates, who will use them as part of their research prior to an interview or completing an application.
Philips includes employee engagement metrics and people development strategies as part of its annual reports and sustainability reports. This demonstrates commitment from the board of directors and senior leadership to these activities and increases transparency on employee development investments. It also gives analysts an opportunity to see the effectiveness of these investments when comparing year over year results. Finally, interested candidates can see their potential for growth in the organization as reflected in reported initiatives, while existing employees can see how their involvement in these initiatives contributed to company success.
Key considerations for companies looking to effectively communicate the results of employee engagement and employer branding strategies in performance reports include:
- Reflect
Reflect on initiatives taken throughout the year. Clearly tie those activities to company objectives, high-profile organizational changes (like mergers and acquisitions, rapid growth, or restructuring), or planned actions as a result of previous years’ findings. Note new activities, like a large scale recruiting initiative, adjustments to the employee experience, or the implementation of a new training program. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your organization’s commitment to continuous improvement in talent strategy and the employee experience.
- Quantify
Use good metrics to strengthen your reflection. As opposed to strictly acquisition based metrics, employer brand ROI will increasingly be measured on employee engagement, employer brand awareness, share of voice, net promoter scores, social talent acquisition metrics, customer satisfaction, productivity and revenue growth. Measuring the effectiveness of your employer branding program is a calculation unique to each organization, especially as objectives for employer branding are tied directly to your overall business plan. An employer branding partner can help you determine and assess the most informative metrics for stakeholders in collaboration with functional divisions within your business.
- Celebrate
Present your qualitative and quantitative results proudly. Encourage your reports to be read within the organization. Your employees will be able to see that they were heard and that their recommendations have been followed through. Externally, link to the reports on your career website, social media, or other communication channels by highlighting interesting initiatives, and metrics demonstrating improvements and new successes. This can demonstrate to interested talent a progressive working environment that is committed to growth and development.
Your company reports offer a great opportunity to strengthen your employer brand story – take advantage of them by ensuring that they clearly reflect your employee experience efforts.
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, visit us online at bluivygroup.com or contact Stacy Parker at sparker@bluivygroup.com