Employer Branding for Talent Retention

Employer Branding for Talent RetentionA David Group Webinar, March 22, 2016

HR’s ad agency.

Today’s Webinar

Employer Branding for

Talent RetentionFacilitated by

N. Robert Johnson

Practice Leader

Workforce Communications

2HR’s ad agency.

HR’s ad agency.

We apply advertising and marketing

practices to help organizations attract

and retain talent.

The focus of The David Group’s

Workforce Communications Practice is

to strengthen employer brands,

engage people and cut the cost of

talent.

3HR’s ad agency.

Agenda

1. Connect the dots between

employer brand and mission,

culture and values

2. Talk about the emotional

connection to work

3. Look at the drivers of retention

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Lifecycle

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Our Talent Communications Model

Employer brand for attraction Employer brand and employee communications for retention

• Social Media

• PR/Publicity

• Employees

• Customers

• Careers site

• Talent

community

• Special

events

• Corp. site

• Mobile site

• EE Stories

• ATS

• Mobile site

• Recruiters

• Hiring Mgr

• Process and

updates

• Offer

• Alignment

experience

• Collateral

• Initial

engagement

• EE comm

• Leadership

comm

• Rewards

• Engagement

drivers

• Exit interview

• Social media

• Special events

Connecting the Dots

Why Retention?

Voluntary turnover erodes culture and is

extraordinarily expensive. In addition to

pressures of job knowledge transfer,

turnover …

• Increases recruitment spending and

• Decreases productivity and

engagement (both within individual

role and throughout the unit/group).

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Connecting the Dots

Why Retention?

The average cost of turnover is between 90% and

200% of exiting employee’s base salary and

represents 12% of a company’s operating budget.

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Connecting the Dots

2016 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®

Why Retention?

The number of Americans who voluntarily quit their

jobs, per month.

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Connecting the Dots

2013 2015

2 million

3 million

An unfriendly trend


Why Retention?

But, here’s the good news: On average, the Fortune

100 Best Companies see ½ of the voluntary turnover

of their industry peers.

(Now, that’s a true competitive advantage.)

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Connecting the Dots


Enter Trust and

Purpose There is a direct connection between trust,

purpose and retention. Research shows

that employees feel a great workplace is

one where …

• There is trust between employees and

employer,

• Employees take pride in their work, and

• Employees enjoy the people they work

with.

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Connecting the Dots


Enter Trust and

Purpose Employees who want to stay for a long

time report:

• My work has special meaning, it’s not

just a job,

• When I look at what we accomplish, I

have a sense of pride, and

• I feel I make a difference here.

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Connecting the Dots


Enter Trust and

Purpose Why executives love their jobs:

47% Workplace Relationships

21% Company Culture/Values

18% Growth Opportunities

4% Pay/Compensation

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Connecting the Dots

Korn Ferry Hay Group, 2016

Nearly 70% say that

working for a company that

is aligned to my values

would dramatically improve

their feelings about their

job.

Section Take Aways

1. People are looking to connect in a

deeper, more meaningful way with their

employers.

2. They will connect when there is alignment

between mission, culture and values.

3. This puts pressure to define and

articulate culture, mission and values.

4. Reducing turnover and improving retention

pays off.

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Connecting the Dots

The Imperative

High-performers will use validated employer branding messages and

practices at the “front-end” to better align culture and values to identify

better fitting candidates and then …

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Connecting the Dots

continue to use and reinforce those messages throughout an

employee’s employment lifecycle to keep alignment and

engagement strong.

Section Action Steps

1. Use employer branding to define and

communicate your mission, culture and

values throughout the employee lifecycle.

2. Focus on the stories of employees/peers as

that builds stronger institutional trust.

3. Pay particular attention to on-boarding

messages and reinforcements.

4. Become active listeners and accept the

principles of “all-way” communication.

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Connecting the Dots

Levels of Trust

A technical expert 67%

A person like me 63%

Another employee 52%

CEO 49%

Eldeman Trust Barometer, 2016

The Emotional Connection to Work

Facts vs Emotions

As HR communicators, we have to

disseminate a lot of information.

• Total rewards

• Retirement

• Health care

• Safety

• Talent management compliance

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Transactional

Outcome Focused

Communication

Facts vs Emotions

But, we’ve just discussed how people

are looking for alignment to words, and

thoughts, like …

• Mission

• “Special meaning”

• Pride and purpose

• Trust

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The Thought

Appeal to customers’ reason and they’re yours

for a day.

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Appeal to customers’ emotions and they’re

yours for a lifetime.

Lippincott, The Happiness Halo, 2015

Attraction = Retention

Retention communications – having them

for life – can be found in the promise and

attributes of employer branding.

• Mission, culture and values

• “A day in the life” storytelling

• Employee value proposition

• A vision of a new adventure and new

lifelong career path

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Emotion-based

Communications Where do we place emotion-based

communications after recruitment?

• On-boarding communications

• Mentoring and team-building

programs

• Leadership communications

• Learning and development initiatives

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Section Take Aways

1. Transaction-focused HR

communications play a critical role

but …

2. People are connected, engaged and

will stay longer through the

emotional themes and imagery often

found in recruitment communications.

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The Imperative

Don’t “silo” the emotional elements of your recruitment

communications to just the candidate attraction phase of the

employee lifecycle. Use these elements in every lifecycle

phase or talent communications touchpoint.

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Section Action Steps

1. Review “emotions” communications to infuse

keep-them-for-life messaging found in your

attraction/recruitment communications.

2. Think like a brand manager: use advertising

principles and practice – including employer

branded copy writing and creative imagery –

to create an engaging narrative, but …

3. Remember that themes and messages need

to be validated with everyday employee

experiences as authenticity counts.

25HR’s ad agency.


Drivers of Retention

Top Retention

Drivers – Why? Understanding the drivers of retention is an

important step in internal and in employer

brand communications.

• Internal Communications: allows for

segmentation/tailoring of messages to

what’s important to each audience.

• Employer Brand Communications: helps

the alignment to employment promises and

unique selling points.

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Top Retention

Drivers – How? Ways to get drivers of retention might include

such actions as:

• Annual employee engagement surveys

• Regular pulse/stay surveys

• Focus groups and employee representatives

feedback

• Active listening programs

• Exit interviews (what competitors are

offering)

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Top Drivers

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Employee View

1. Base pay/salary

2. Career advancement

3. Trust and confidence in leadership

4. Job security

5. Length of commute

6. Relationship with supervisor/manager

7. Work-related stress

Employer View

1. Base pay/salary

2. Career advancement

3. Relationship with supervisor/manager

4. Work-related stress

5. Learning and development

6. Short-term incentives

7. Challenging work

Towers Watson, 2014

Top Drivers

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Towers Watson, 2014

Rank <30 30-39 40-49 50+

1 Base pay/salary Base pay/salary Base pay/salary Base pay/salary

2 Career advancement Career advancement Career advancement Trust/confidence in

leadership

3 Length of commute Trust/confidence in

leadership

Trust/confidence in

leadership

Career advancement

4 Work-related stress Relationship w/supervisor Job security Job security

5 Trust/confidence in

leadership

Length of commute Relationship

w/supervisor

Relationship w/supervisor

Section Take Aways

1. Every organization is different and unique

but there are universal drivers of retention

that can be used to customize segmented

communications.

2. There are a variety of tools available to

determine the drivers of retention in your

organization.

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Resources Employer Brand Dimensions, Talent Solutions, The

David Group

Employer Brand Readiness Checklist, Talent

Solutions, The David Group

Our Approach to Employer Branding, 2015 White

Paper, The David Group

All of these items can be found at:

www.davidgroup.com/what-we-think/downloads/

32HR’s ad agency.

ContactN. Robert Johnson

The David Group216.685.4486

216.410.5258 (cell)

[email protected]

http://www.davidgroup.com/what-we-think/downloads/

mailto:[email protected]

Employer Branding for Talent AttractionApril 19, 2016 - 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm ET

HR’s ad agency.

Part 2 of this series

Business

Employer Branding for Talent Retention