Your Employer Brand: in good times and bad?
The last several weeks have been a ‘proving ground’ of sorts for organisations to put their Employer Brand toolkit to the test. These tools have been an effective cornerstone and communication shorthand to keep people engaged, connected and united – even while they are apart. For organisations with a strong, strategically crafted Employer Value Proposition, there’s even more value to be found.
The pillars of great business
The foundations of any good EB should come from robust, insightful pillars that drive every interaction and decision you and your people make.
At We Are Unity, we’ve spent much of the last few weeks working with our clients to navigate large-scale change and shifting priorities. For one of our clients, the future seemed particularly uncertain as they dealt with operational restrictions and pivoted to a new, unfamiliar business output. Working with them to navigate an unprecedented degree of change, it became clear that their Employer Value Proposition – the inherent contract they’d made with their people – was a shining constant that could guide them forward. With that in mind, we developed some useful tactics for using your EVP to inform business strategy throughout the crisis – and beyond.
Leading change with your EVP
Reconnect with your roots
Your first goal is to bring to the surface the most fundamental, timeless and universal qualities that define who you are as an organisation, and what you do.
Start by re-examining the foundational pillars of your EVP, including the research and insights that helped them come to life
Identify the key words and simple phrases within that truly get to the heart of your organisation.
Apply a new lens
With a clearer understanding of the foundations of your Employer Brand, you’ll uncover the built-in stretch and flex your EVP has to adapt and provide guidance in any situation.
Filter the sentiments of each pillar through the lens of the current situation. Ask yourself ‘How do these apply today?’ and ‘How can this support or inform our current strategy?’
Now rewrite your pillars to ground them in the ‘now’. You should find you don’t need to change the meaning – but rather to reveal a new dimension to the original. If one of your pillars was about ‘making human connections’ for example, you might rebuild it as ‘connecting from a distance’ or ‘together, apart’.
Note: Your intention here is not to replace your EB in the long term. As the unofficial ‘give and get’ contract you make with your people, this exercise is adding a new dimension to your EB so that it can guide both employees and leadership through times of change or uncertainty.
Activate your new dimension
With your refreshed EVP ready to go, it’s time to activate and embed it across your organisation.
We recommend ‘re-launching’ your refreshed EVP back in an organisation-wide communication that motivates and re-engages your people around the timeless relevance of what you all stand for.
Reinforce your EB and EVP through all your people communications at every opportunity.
When making decisions, developing strategies or inspiring creativity, use each EVP pillar as a springboard for ideas and inspiration. In fact, consider reinforcing each pillar throughout your organisation with its own creative execution.
Plan for what comes next
You may not be able to predict what the future may hold, but understanding the role and the value of your EB will help you prepare for the unexpected.
With change management fresh in mind, practice using your EB to respond to different hypothetical situations.
Think about what you want your work to look like in 1/5/10 years. How will your EB help inform that? For example, if you are in the automotive business, how will your EB navigate the future of electric cars, driverless cars and innovative public transport?
Not all EBs are created equal. The strength of your brand as an employer requires an insightful understanding of what you stand for – backed by robust research. If you feel like your EB or EVP is lacking flex or feeling outdated, or if you’d like to know how to get more value from it, get in touch at hello@weareunity
