We’re all feeling the impact of the current global uncertainty, especially as HR and business leaders grappling with managing the mental and financial wellbeing of our people and continuing business as best we can. With no playbook or compass to navigate these uncharted waters, many leaders are innovating and learning as they go along.
We’re being swamped with mixed communications, from free webinar invitations to opinion pieces about how to juggle remote working, and mixed news messaging, which can make it tough to determine what’s true and what’s not. This has an enormous impact on how we need to manage the perception and communication of our employer brands.
Employer brands never sleep and, if anything, they’re now in the spotlight! Employees, the talent market and consumers are watching what action organisations are taking to manage and accommodate their most valued resources through this pandemic.
Effective communication is key both internally and externally. In fact, it’s the glue that will preserve employer brands from fragmenting! HR is front and centre in this crisis.
The organisations that take deliberate action with consistent, relevant communication, interacting and engaging with their remote workforce will be successful in navigating this situation.
Employer Branding requires collaboration between leaders.
As I place an optimistic lens over our current situation, I highlight that now, more than ever, HR and employer branding leaders cannot be held solely responsible for their people driving business continuity and still preserving their employer brand.
Teamwork is essential. HR leaders must leverage critical partners in their organisations through internal communications, corporate marketing and communications, training and development, transformation officers, IT and the like. That being said, I’ve distilled the most fundamental priorities leaders should be paying attention.
1. Use ongoing, clear and constructive communication
In monitoring virtual teams, regular, concise, clear and constructive communication is of the utmost importance to building trust and sustaining employee morale. Recruitment leaders must utilise their internal communication partners to assist with the often confusing government and media communications, translating it appropriately to employees to help them understand how new changes will affect them personally, while simultaneously keeping them updated regarding applicable daily health and safety news.
2. Support hiring managers
If you are hiring right now, operational managers at the forefront are often peoples’ first point of contact. For hiring managers to recruit effectively, they need to receive ongoing up-to-date workplace policy changes, understand what support is available for their employees and be properly trained to communicate this effectively with their teams. Leaders don’t like to communicate if they don’t have answers. Therefore, partnering with them, giving them guidance and training assist them in fostering a positive employee experience.
3. Issue transparent communications on COVID-19 management
Conducting weekly update meetings through online video platforms like Zoom, Teams, WebEx is a given, especially if you have interstate or international offices. Communicating best practice and facts about how your organisation is managing operations in light of the crisis is essential, using the utmost transparency and clarity about how deliverables are being met.
4. Maintain employee engagement
Being proactive in delivering answers to employees’ questions regarding their health, wellness and finances, without them having to search for or ask will earn you brand credibility and loyalty.
5. Routinely focus on mission-critical issues
Leaders need to establish a routine and cadence when setting up meetings and stick to mission-critical issues, actions plans, deliverables and dates.
6. Obtain ongoing employee feedback
Welcome ongoing internal employee feedback and schedule real-time, regular pulse surveys. Proactively assess the “heartbeat” of your organisation to overcome the current challenges.
7. Gauge preferred communication channels
Be aware what communication channels your people prefer and test if they’re conducive to the current situation. Video channels, where your people can see and hear you speak, seem to be trumping emails and intranet. Decide what subjects should be communication through which medium.
8. Humanise remote work environments
To boost morale, change behaviours and maintain team collaboration by setting up virtual coffee sessions, sundowner virtual gatherings or fun quiz competitions. Humanise it by including kids, pets, etc., as many people miss face-to-face connection through phsyical distancing. For example, check out what Spotify is doing through reinforcing their values and prioritising wellbeing.
9. Remember, you don’t need to have all the answers
There’s no rulebook and you might not have all the answers. (For example, we’re witnessing company announcements, such as from Edcon, who admitted having limited liquidity.) Leaders need to be transparent, authentic and brutally honest when communicating with your people. You’ll gain far more support and understanding through honesty and transparent vulnerability.
10. Consider cost-cutting measures
News articles are highlighting how organisations are taking cost-cutting initiatives to maintain business stability without haemorrhaging layoffs (for example, initiatives from big brands such as Macy’s and Gap).These include:
- Requesting employees to take an unpaid leave of absence (the most common measure companies are pursuing). Reframe the stigma attached to unpaid leave by referring to it as a sabbatical
- Revising compensation structure and delaying increments (freezing salary-increases, bonuses, overtime, payments into other funds)
- Encouraging employees to seek part-time jobs to supplement their income
- Implementing short work weeks to save costs
- Leveraging training opportunities
- Identifying and optimising eager talent who are ready to step into new job roles and projects
- Creating a time bank where employees are paid for working reduced hours, but agreeing these hours will be utilised in the future;
- Implementing executive or leadership pay cuts and wage freezes to reallocate cash flow to prevent layoffs.
- Seeking government support.
Covid-19 has accelerated and shaped the new world of work. Many thought leaders have predicted we won’t return to our normal working environments. This will fundamentally shift how we position our employer brands and value propositions as we look towards the future and attract different roles and skillset (which we’re already witnessing via Glassdoor). We’ll need to revise our current workplace environment to engage and interact with our people differently and endeavour to retain loyal team members who have stuck by our sides as we navigate these extraordinary times.
Celeste Sirin is the Managing Director of Employer Branding South Africa, a consultancy that focuses on assisting companies to build and market their employer brands in order to attract, engage and retain talent. Having worked within the recruitment industry for many years, running her own recruitment marketing and response management agency, she has first-hand recruiter knowledge, having to recruit best-in-class talent across various industries. A recent contract saw Celeste engaged with the SA Team of Universum Global, a data-led employer brand research company, in sales, facilitation and marketing to national and multinational key accounts.
Celeste’s mission lies in defining and driving the essence of employer branding and the fundamental importance of companies adopting it as a business imperative.