People often mistake employer branding as an activity solely tied to attracting the best talent to meet growth trajectories, especially in a buoyant and thriving economy. This is partially correct. But it’s important to remember employer branding is built from the inside out.

When the pandemic struck, many organisations were put to the test having to quickly shift their focus introspectively. Leaders had to migrate and manage their employees remotely, working tirelessly towards looking after their internal workforce’s well-being and engagement.

“The way your organisation treats key stakeholders, from employees to candidates and consumers, is critical in determining your employer brand credibility now and into the future.”

Josh Bersin, renowned thought leader and educator of Josh Bersin Academy, believes, irrespective of organisational industry, everyone is going through the four-phase pandemic cycle of “react, respond, return and transform.”

Are we there yet?

The dust is starting to settle as many organisations reopen, recruit and onboard employees back into the workplace. This was evident in one of our recent webinars, Steering Talent through a Crisis, where leaders reflected on their trials and tribulations to date.

Employee engagement is more important than ever as companies navigate through the recovery phase of redefining and building their workplace. Many organisations have worked successfully in keeping employees connected, engaged and spirits high through the thick of the pandemic; fostering all levels of remote culture building exercises.

However, these efforts need to continue across, what might now be, a split work-from-home and in-office working environment.

Personalising the employee journey

The COVID crisis exposed organisations’ underbellies and represented a dire need to pay close attention to the employee lifecycle and take targeted, individualised action.

Leaders had to take deliberate action in understanding each valued employees’ unique psychological, emotional and financial requirements. Every person experienced the pandemic setback differently with many organisations quickly realising they needed to take an individual, tailored approach with every employee.

Various reports, polls and studies demonstrated people experience high levels of anxiety, stress and fatigue; many confirm health is still, presently, a major concern for them.

Mastering the employee life-cycle is ongoing work-in-progress, especially within a disrupted workplace, where the future is uncertain.

Hybrid work-from-home models

In many cases, there’s still some disconnection between employers’ workplace requirements and their shifted preferential needs. The transition into the workplace is “not all plain sailing”, as organisations test hybrid work-from-home and partial in-office working arrangements.

While employees are enjoying working remotely in their uninterrupted work-from-home environments, the desire to return to the office, employees and employers alike, persists.

Many people thrive on connecting in-person and enjoy the opportunity to hold scrum and project meetings, to continue building the team spirit they so sorely missed.

This being said, live webinar polls have confirmed an increasing number of employees are enjoying a hybrid working arrangement, where they can benefit and enjoy “the best of both worlds”.

Communication is topping agendas

Stakeholder communications across all operational levels are topping most workplace agendas, with many CEOs and leaders continuing with transparent and consistent town hall discussions with employees through this recovery phase.

Leaders continue with intimate and regular conversations with their team members, having to demonstrate trust, empathy and team collaboration.

Marketing and Communications have shifted a great deal of their attention from consumer marketing to internal communications about the well-being and safety of their employees.

It is imperative that conversations across all levels continue, especially while organisations have their workforce dispersed at home and on-site.

Reframing the workplace

The pandemic has resulted in many organisations having to reframe their staffing structures to future-proof themselves for our new world of work.

Certain roles are being terminated and others being newly created. Sadly, this gives rise to the possibility of further redundancies. Organisations now face the challenge of retaining employee engagement in the aftermath of redundancies.

Employees are being retrained and reskilled with organisations redeploying and realigning their talent to meet their future business objectives. Agility and resilience are now key focus areas for many organisations.

Ensure your organisation retains its focus on your internal talent, especially if you’re like other businesses undergoing big transformations during this recovery phase.

Employees, candidates and consumers continue to watch how companies are treating their stakeholders. This will determine your employer brand credibility now and into the future.

This African proverb couldn’t be more relevant:

“Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today!”

Celeste Sirin is the Managing Director of Employer Branding South Africa, a consultancy assisting companies to build and market their employer brands to attract, engage and retain talent. Having worked in the recruitment industry for many years, running her own recruitment marketing and response management agency, she has first-hand recruiter knowledge. 

Celeste’s mission is to define and drive the essence of employer branding and the fundamental importance of companies adopting it as a business imperative.

The post Reboot your employer branding response in 2021 appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

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.

The post 10 tips for using your employer brand compass to navigate uncertain times appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.