Employer Brand Headlines Newsletter

It’s time to move past “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?”The real value of emotional commitment is that it gives you (and everyone else) permission to re-write the "rules." You know those things you've always done because that's just the way it's always been done? Set that on fire and re-invent, not because it's what your boss says to do, or because that's what the magazines say is "cool," but because you actually care about outcomes. Example? Reinvent your hiring process. Now, HBR isn't exactly coming up with cold fusion here, but when the they are willing to say that the way we interview flat-out isn't working, you know it's time to reinvent. But don't reinvent around a fad. Thing about what you and your company really care about in an employee (and what you reward) and build round that. Writing, games, role-play, improv exercises, whatever it takes to tap into your (and their) emotional commitment.

Plenty of management books burn paper trying to build leadership structures that mitigate a lack of emotional commitment, throwing around works like "matrix" and "agile" because they haven't figured out that most companies still treat their people like cogs in a machine: easily replaceable and bought from the lowest cost vendor. As this turns into a mini-rant, Tom Peters says that if you care about what I care about, I'll care about what you care about. And it is only in light of the pandemic that we see which companies actually seem to care about their people (and which don't, suggesting where engagement scores might go to die). EB has a role to play, because if people really believe the EVP/pillars you turned into a poster, they are more likely to feel emotionally committed. And if they don't, that suggests you need to go back to the drawing board.

Too much talk around employer engagement is about making people feel a certain way or (worse) hitting some "engagement scores" based purely on surveys. Is that somewhat dismissive? Yes, I'll own that. But I've gotten in trouble for saying things like, "no one comes to work wanting to be disengaged, so I wonder where the issue lies?" A lot of the issue is that we've lowered the bar on what "engaged" means, to the point where it feels like "not actively planning the company's downfall" feels like a win. In reality, engagement means giving a crap about the people, the purpose and organization. It means a level of emotional commitment in outcomes and processes.

The word "purpose" gets attached to so much of what we do, these days. Our EB should provide purpose for employees (which is crazy, as purpose comes from inside people) and that the key to successful companies is a shared sense of purpose (which is always framed in "we save the world" language rather than "we retire early" language). But as EB gets closer to corporate brand, and as corporate brand understands how to leverage the people to support the brand, the conversation around brand purpose gets louder, but mushier. Which is why I thought this article on brand purpose was a good read: it talked about how to think beyond "use some sense of purpose to get more out of your employees" blah blah, and instead use a real sense of purpose to breakthrough roadblocks and see new possibilities. (includes some nice examples)

Thinking about D&I a lot lately? Me, too. So I figured I'd get my friends Torin Ellis and Gabriel Hitt together to talk about how to re-think modern approaches to D&I using data. So yeah, you need to register for another webinar. Speaking of D&I, if you want your messages to "stick," you need to explain why D&I is important to your company (and don't assume everyone's already on board).

Virtual recruiting events are on everyone's mind lately, so here's how Google does it.

Do companies still balk at letting employees build content? I know for a long time it felt like there were companies who just couldn't let their staffs have that kind of freedom to talk (as if they need permission). If that's you and you need some ammo to make their case? Here are some stats on the power of leveraging user-generated content.

Still on the content marketing side, have you given any thought at all to building episodic content?

Here's a nice juicy article on how to write short stories in your posts to create more clicks and engagement. This article didn't feel at all like the usual run-of-the-mill listicle, but had some great new ideas that get your readers to really chew over your ideas.

As a followup from last week's post about the Facebook boycott, there's some skepticism that these companies have the most altruistic reasons for cancelling their FB ad buys. And while interesting on its own, I think it brings up some warnings about tying your brand too closely to corporate social responsibility. It's a bit more of a mine field these days, so step carefully.

I've pointed out that employer brand is the new go-to crisis PR move, but how do you manage your employer brand in a crisis? This article really conflates employer branding with employee engagement a bit, but the notes are still useful.

This one made me smile and groan at the same time. As hiring is so tight in the Bay Area, employees at top companies are selling referrals and references to their employers. That is, for $50, you can get someone at Google or Facebook to recommend you for a job at Google or Facebook. Because those companies get some many resumes/applications, they mostly only look at those with internal referrals, and thus a third-party black market sprung up. (Further proof that William Gibson was right when he wrote "the street finds its own uses for things.)

This is a great article on the seven trends in ecommerce for 2020, which are all applicable to any employer brand pro: personalization, digital savvy, and developing a real candidate experience STRATEGY (remember: if you invert your "strategy" and it isn't a strategy, you didn't have a strategy in the first place).

Universum’s Employer Branding NOW 2020 survey, now in its fifth year, shows best-in-class talent leaders are quickly adapting to the new-normal of Covid-19. STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, July 2, 2020 – Universum’s much-anticipated Employer Branding NOW 2020 study, conducted during the pandemic’s surge months in early 2020, shows the World’s Most Attractive Employers do not expect a hiring …

Second, Strategy+Business has a list of best business summer reading books, spanning from high level concepts around what humanity means, to building better experiments at work.

Author and employer branding expert James Ellis shares his 16 top employer branding book recommendations to take your branding to the next level.

If you're thinking about a CRM of some sort, here are the top reasons why people subscribe and unsubscribe to emails (and yes, they are VERY different lists)

A (brief) primer on setting up employee resource groups at your company.

"Learn more about how to shift and evolve your content marketing during and after a crisis, to speak to your community, get connected, and stay relevant."

Need some ideas as to what kind of content you should build? Look to your own social media metrics.

I have mixed feeling about this article on why every company should make professional development a core element of their brand promise. One, yes, many many many candidates and employees want development, but even when they want it, they don't want/value it the same way. Some want classrooms and certifications. Some want mentoring and coaching. Some want the freedom to experiment and fail. And yes, there are some great talents who don't look to their employer as a source for development. Over at the day job, we have lots of data that lots of people want development, but it is by no means universal. Development is popular among some talent, but to say that every brand should define their brand around it is a little myopic. That said, it's an area where many companies ignore to their detriment.

We have to face it: all "employee experience" conversations HAVE to start with a conversation around "are we doing enough to make our people feel safe?" That's why I thought this article was better than most of the "we need to make people feel valued and appreciated" conversations you get here (Maslow was right with that hierarchy stuff).

Let's talk Tik Tok! Or maybe we shouldn't! Just as the all-dancing, all-singing social platform starts to gain traction as a legitimate branding platform, it gets branded as a state agency intelligence operation. But when has a little espionage stopped "the kids" from singing? (That's the entire plot of Val Kilmer's Top Secret, btw.) So if you're ready to ignore potential Trump/Bezos bans of the social channel, here are so suggestions on how to do it right. My favorite? Think of it as an education platform first.

I really believe that the biggest mistake in company's employer brands is that they skimp on doing their competitive analysis. Sure, you can say that you're innovative, but if you're competing against SpaceX (Mars!) and Boston Dynamics (creepy robots!), the bar is a little different than if you're competing against governmental agencies or deeply regulated industry sectors. Just saying. So here's a good primer on doing your own competitive audit.

Allison Kruse has really carved out her own space on how to effectively use content marketing in employer brand communications. So when she writes a big ol' article on how to use content marketing thinking to address and overcome employee advocacy challenges, I have to share it.

Friend of the newsletter Alex Her pulled together some good examples of how companies are pivoting their employer brand communications now that it seems the “new normal” is here to stay.

If you don’t have time to read Robert Greene’s book on the 48 laws of power, here are the seven kinds of power one can have in the workplace. Know where you as the EB pro have power, and when you need to lean on a different kind of power from somewhere else.

This was a pretty solid list of resources around understanding, audits, and showcasing your brand. Aside some usual suspects, there are a few new ideas here.

More and more businesses are looking to their own brand purpose to create a stronger brand foundation as everything seems to change every second around it. If your company is thinking about purpose (or you’re starting to spark those conversations), it might help to understand how purpose works and how businesses can leverage purpose strategically (also, companies don’t have purpose, people have purpose, and you’re in the people business, remember?).

Is your brand memorable? Do you know how to make it more memorable? Here’s an interesting article suggesting focused visuals to command attention and create those brand memories that last.