Anyone thinking about employee retention cannot avoid dealing with the entire employer branding process as part of an all-encompassing branding strategy. An authentic employer brand with rough edges, which is not only accepted by employees but also exemplified, is a perfect basis for all measures designed for employee retention.
Too many B2B companies still confuse employer branding with recruiting measures that are operationally and rather selectively oriented and often quickly fizzle out as a short-lived effect. In clear distinction to this, employer branding is strategically designed. Employees first - this is about positioning your company as an attractive employer and not only achieving greater awareness and image, but also retaining employees. To do this, you should focus on the right values in your communication. Why is it tempting to work for your company? And why do existing employees feel comfortable? The decisive factor is not so much a shiny appearance, but credible, authentic and consistent statements that pay tribute to the values of your company.
There is no one-size-fits-all-recipe for good employer branding. Every company is unique and has a different corporate culture. Strategies can be as individual as people and companies can act as a community. But for a strategy to achieve its goal, it should always contribute to employee identification, provide orientation for applicants and guide the organizations involved in terms of content. In the various fields of action, internal communication is one of the levers to optimize the employee retention index. If internal communication is prioritized and consistently managed, employees' expectations and perceptions can be shaped and trust anchors can be set. Even in groups, whether large or small, these impulses can trigger changes in attitudes and reduce the group of sceptics and increase the group of supporters.
The statistics alone speak volumes and are a clear call to promote internal communication with professionalism: Only 50 percent of employees in German companies are satisfied with internal communication. And in Austria, unfortunately, the situation is no better! This inevitably leads to resignation, increased fluctuation and enormously increases recruiting efforts. After all, satisfied employees are 22 percent more productive than their dissatisfied colleagues.
That´s a good reason to take a serious look at your own employer branding process: The note on the notice board, the periodic newsletter and the annual Christmas party are no longer sufficient! Anyone who expects employees to inform themselves via the internet for every situation has not yet understood the signs of the times. What is needed are ongoing, dialogue-oriented communication measures.
"Internal communication is not a one-way street and must function bottom-up and top-down at the same time. That's why it is one of the most important management tasks and should be taken care of," explains Gerhard Preslmayer, CEO at SPS MARKETING.
He is an Employer Branding Manager, certified by the German Employer Branding Academy in cooperation with the TU Munich and the WU Vienna. With his know-how, he has been supporting companies in the development of a strong employer brand and in multi-channel recruiting campaigns for over 10 years.
As a central communication platform that is available 24/7 and mobile, an employee app provides an extremely relevant building block for internal communication, because it offers a direct line to all employees across all hierarchical levels. With the hAPPydo® solution developed by SPS MARKETING, extensive goals can be achieved: Communication works across all levels - from the production employee to the sales department and right up to top management, regardless of the company computer, smartphone or intranet. The latest internal company information can be made available and additional functions such as push messages, surveys, event calendars with registration and access to the current issue of the employee magazine and other services round off the offer. The app, which is based on the content management system hAPPydo® and a license model, can be easily maintained centrally or decentrally.
Linking internal communication with an ongoing recruiting campaign is also a perfect opportunity to create momentum for employee retention. Global player Greiner Bio-One, an Austrian-German medical technology company whose current employer branding campaign includes posters, a branded tram, displays at Linz Central Station and a number of other measures, combined its campaign with an internal competition: employees were asked to submit original photos of the campaign posters, the tram or the other measures - the best are awarded prizes. It often just takes good ideas and not necessarily huge budgets to get employees involved!
Although employee appreciation has now arrived in most companies, there is still a lot of room for improvement. One of the challenges here is the message, because: Said is not yet heard, heard is not yet understood, understood is not yet agreed. Yet agreement is the key to the secret. If the employees agree with the behavior, the corporate culture and the promises, they live the corporate values and automatically become testimonials.
As a prelude to such a process, a cultural analysis in the company is recommended. At SPS MARKETING, we accompany such processes with structured workshops that are individually tailored to the respective company and use focus groups to evaluate content and values, which we use as a basis for strategy development. We have provided Praher Plastics Austria GmbH, an international specialist in the development and processing of technical plastics based in Schwertberg, with a good foundation and rolled out the employer branding strategy internally. A personally addressed letter to all employees included a concise presentation of the strategy, a sincere thank you for the cooperation and an invitation to a joint summer party. At this summer party, Praher presented the promise "Together we are downright good" as well as all motif worlds. The backs of branded postcards were filled in by employees and in a joint action the postcards were tied to balloons and released. A beautiful, effective symbolic act for a joint start into the future.
Admittedly: Most companies today lack the courage and time to deal intensively with the question of who they really are as an employer or who they want to be in the future. For companies, this also means knowing their own limits and not hiding them. Unrealistic promises lead to disappointment and do not result in a high employee fit. Employer branding is clearly one of SPS MARKETING's core competences - so that your corporate values are lived out vividly from within. Because you will hardly find a better external image than satisfied employees.
Do you know who you are as an employer? My team and I help you to optimally highlight your individual employer profile. We will make your corners & edges unmistakable.
