Your Guide to Employer Branding: Part Two

Earlier in this series, we looked at the pitfalls of leaving your employer brand unattended. But once you’ve launched your EB, how do you make sure it’s a true, authentic reflection of what really happens? It’s time to talk about the proof in the pudding: your employees’ experience.

What exactly is employee experience? Look at it this way: your employer brand makes a promise, but it’s your employee experience that delivers on it and turns your words into action. Get it right, and it’ll turn your people into brand advocates – wherever they are on their journey with you.

Employee experience is a constant

Covering everything from brand perceptions (before a candidate is an official employee), through to their last day, your employee experience is the journey they go on. Once they’re an employee – on the inside – it’s the key moments and experiences connected to diversity and inclusion, reward and recognition and wellbeing. But it doesn’t stop there. Remember those GlassDoor reviews from previous employees? When someone leaves your business, you have a big opportunity to make them a brand advocate, influencing the way they talk about your brand to others.

From your colleagues’ first perceptions of you to their last day at work, weave in your employer brand promise at each touchpoint and make it a reality. 

Colleagues are looking for more meaning

Maybe it’s a consequence of what’s happening in the world right now, or maybe we’ve really never asked the question before, but either way, people want to do more meaningful work.  Today, 9 out of 10 people are willing to trade a percentage of their lifetime earnings for greater meaning at work. Yep, you read that right. A whopping 90% of employees would give back some of their money in return for more purpose in their day-to-day.

But it’s not just about your businesses’ wider purpose, the reason why you do what you do. For colleagues, everyday recognition for a job well done gives greater meaning to what they do. Whilst award ceremonies, recognition programmes and big campaign initiatives are brilliant at instilling pride and engagement, it’s sometimes the little things – like receiving a ‘thank you’ from your manager, getting support when you need it or receiving a birthday card – that really matter. 

Tapping into these little things will ensure you play a meaningful role throughout a colleague’s whole life with you. For your employer brand to truly be people centric, it needs to recognise the real human moments we experience. The moments that matter not just to you, but to them too.

Creating a journey? First things first, you’ll need a map

Here at McCann Synergy, we have the whole employee journey mapped out.

To stay on the right course, follow these simple steps when plotting out your employee experience.

1. Map out a consistent framework
   Set out what your candidates and employees want at each stage of their employee experience and detail the role your HR/Comms/Employer Brand teams play in delivering it.
2. Identify your (employees’) priorities
   Understand what your people want at each stage and focus on what’s most important to them. Then, the elements of your employer brand promise can be dialled up or down depending on the needs of your people.
3. Set the metrics for success
   Decide what you’ll measure at each touchpoint. This stage is all about creating an opportunity to show the impact your employer brand is making on your people and the business.

This framework connects the dots and aligns your employer brand with your employee experience, as well as giving you the structure and consistency to take a people-centric approach.

But, wait there’s more

Read our Part Three guide to employer branding as we explore the truths all businesses need to know when thinking about their employee experience. In the meantime, if you have any questions, get in touch with us via hello@mccannsynergy.com.