Attracting high-caliber employees doesn’t happen by accident. Do the attributes you look for in an employee align with your company’s core values? Like every facet of a company’s communications and marketing plan, articulating a clear, core values-driven message to potential employees will help ensure the people who apply to your company already understand and believe in the culture and mission of your organization. And, those potential employees are naturally inclined to uphold your values, becoming near-instant brand ambassadors.
Here are four simple ways you can encourage a shared, values-aligned employee culture:
1. Share your employees’ experiences and stories to reinforce your company’s culture.
Capture the culture of your company through employee experiences and stories. Use images and videos from current employees (with their permission) that represent the brand well and share them on social media, in employee newsletters and at meetings. Consider a daily, internal “good news” email in which one small nugget of positive energy is shared with everyone.
2. Communicate the good, but don’t sweep the bad under the rug.
When employees feel their input and feelings are valued, they’ll shout your praises from the mountaintops. Plan for events and experiences to help your people celebrate company successes and milestones. Be generous and show your workforce you’re grateful for their hard work and contributions. If you’ve done this well, employees will band together in tougher times, loyally solving crises large or small. Cultivating this genuine form of engaged loyalty is invaluable, and simple to do. It all boils down to authenticity.
3. Give your current employees a brand identity toolkit.
Your brand has an identity already. The trick is understanding it, fine-tuning it as needed and articulating it consistently in every communication or interaction with employees and the public. When messaging is clear to employees, and their values align with your company’s, they will articulate it in brilliant, authentic, organic ways you never imagined. One way you can guide brand identity is through the use of values. Your leadership team can work to identify what’s most important. Then, make sure that’s documented somewhere your employees can reference easily.
4. Internal and external communications both must align with your company’s core values.
If the message you’re sending out is as authentic as the messaging you’re sharing internally, you will attract the right people and they will do right by your company.
These steps are straightforward, yet multi-faceted. To fully implement them, you’ll need a thoughtful, comprehensive plan; measurable, actionable steps; clear articulation of who among your team is responsible for each step; and tactics to measure your progress.
Attracting and retaining employees whose core values align with your company’s and who understand and share your mission will add exponential value to everything your company does. To learn more about the Employer Brand, be sure to check out Paycom’s on-demand webinar with Sarah Sears, Discover Who Owns Your Employer Brand.
Blog Author: Sarah Sears
Sarah Mason Sears, founder and principal of the Oklahoma City-based S Design Inc., is an award-winning branding and design professional and national AIGA Fellow. Before opening the firm, Sears was a professor of typography for nearly a decade. A fine arts graduate of the University of Kansas, she continues educating the public about design through a series of seminars on such topics as increasing brand value and maintaining brand identity.