Talented employees are hard to find. You post job listings on a dozen different job boards (including LinkedIn). You post “now hiring” signs outside your building and banners on your website. You go through seemingly endless rounds of interviews. All in search of that one perfect candidate.
And once you find them, keeping them can feel even harder. Your turnover feels out of control, and you don’t know what’s causing it. Why are all your employees leaving?
Attracting and retaining talented employees gets much easier once you realize that people’s connection with brands goes deeper than their purchasing power.
People want to connect with brands at work, too. In fact, branding is one of the best ways to make the never-ending struggle to find top talent easier. So if you’ve wondered: “Why do companies rebrand?”, attracting and retaining talent is certainly a great reason!
Today, we’ll dive into 11 tips for attracting and retaining talent using your brand.
11 ways to attract and retain top talent
Attracting and retaining top talent starts with realizing that today’s employees are looking for a give-and-take relationship with their work. Days of “hustling” and “climbing the corporate ladder” are becoming a distant memory.
So how does attracting and retaining talent look in today’s workforce? First, remember that those top employees see hundreds of job openings when they’re looking for work. They’re just as tired as you are of chasing opportunities that never quite work out.
The clearer you can be about what you have to offer, the better chance you have of attracting and retaining talented employees.
Here are just some of the things you can do to make attracting (and retaining) top talent easier:
1. Listen to your employees
How do you know what you have to offer from an employee’s perspective? Ask your employees.
Survey employees at every level of your company. What do they love about working for and with you? What could stand to be improved? Why? Importantly, ask them if they know what your company stands for. Is your internal branding strong enough that every one of your employees understands your mission and vision?
The more you listen, the easier your job will be. The people who are with your company right now are there for a reason. Once you know what that reason is, you’ll be able to refine and amplify it, both internally and externally.
Attracting and retaining talented employees starts with retaining the talent you already have. Giving them a voice and showing them their feedback matters is a great place to start.
2. Consider a brand update
Yes, company rebranding is usually done for your customers. Undergoing a rebrand or a brand refresh is often an external project, but not exclusively. A brand update can also help in attracting and retaining talented employees.
In general, updates are typically a good idea every few years to maintain the integrity and freshness of your brand. Starting a rebranding project with hiring and retention in mind is a powerful way to create internal branding that resonates with your employees. This is particularly important if there have been major structural changes to your company, like a merger or acquisition. Updating your brand with a focus on internal branding can help you increase efficiency and strengthen company culture.
You might already have a strong internal brand, or you might have no internal brand at all. Either way, now is the perfect time to audit your brand and see exactly what you’re working with.
3. Create (or improve) your employee value proposition
Your employee value proposition exists to answer one question: “Why should a talented employee choose to work in this position with you instead of with your competitors?”
You may never have delved deep into this question before. Or, like your brand, maybe you haven’t reviewed it in a few years, and it’s time to look it over again. Bringing in an outside party can help you get a clear, fresh view.
During your work with a rebranding agency, you’ll put your brand under a bright light and look at every part of it. This, and the employee surveys you complete, will help you put together an employee value proposition tailored to attracting and retaining talented employees.
4. Review your pay and benefits
It’s not as “cool” as some of the other things on this list, but pay and benefits are important to talented employees. In fact, 7 in 10 job seekers consider salary the most important part of a job listing – and are more likely to apply to a job that shows a salary range.
If you’re struggling with attracting and retaining talented employees, take a moment to make sure your salary and benefits are competitive. And it’s not just when you’re first hiring, either. Review pay and benefits for all your employees annually to account for performance, cost of living increases, and changes in responsibilities.
5. Double down on creating company culture
Your employees work for a paycheck, it’s true, but they don’t work for just a paycheck. Creating company culture is an important step in attracting and retaining talented employees.
Your culture is the way that your teams interact with each other.
When you revamp your culture as part of an internal rebranding project, you might worry about alienating existing employees. You might lose some employees during this process, but they will be people who don’t believe in your mission or the positive changes you’re trying to make.
At Flux, we believe that strong brands take a stand. The clearer you are at what you’re taking a stand for, the easier attracting and retaining talent will be – even if you lose people who don’t stand for the same things you do.
6. Put your job descriptions to work
Job descriptions are more than a bulleted list of duties with a salary range tacked on the end. Or at least, they should be. When it comes to attracting and retaining talented employees, your job description is like an online dating profile. That is, it gives them a taste of what you’re really like so they can decide whether you’re a good fit.
Your job descriptions should have a pop of personality – are you serious or fun? Are you dreamers or do-ers or a mix of both? Well-written job descriptions will help weed out candidates that don’t mesh with your culture before you even have to review a resume.
7. Show up on socials
Your top talent isn’t just on the job boards. You can find them on social media, too. And showing up on socials means that you can catch the attention of talented employees who aren’t actively job-seeking.
A great social media presence should be part of any brand’s marketing efforts, and just like every other part of your brand, you can leverage that internally, too. Use social media to spotlight star employees, proudly talk about your brand’s values, and discuss open positions.
Attracting and retaining talented employees through social media is easier the stronger your presence is, so make it a key part of your content strategy.
8. Conduct thoughtful entrance and exit interviews
Interviewing can be a tedious process. It takes a skilled interviewer to get to the heart of what will make an employee a good fit, but a strong brand can help. Use your employee value proposition, company culture, and brand values to create thoughtful questions that help you determine how compatible you are.
And don’t forget exit interviews! Exit interviews are often overlooked, but they can be a gold mine for improvement. Why is this employee leaving? How can you use that information to improve the experience for your current and future employees?
Attracting and retaining talented employees requires consistent improvement, and exit interviews can guide this process in the long term.
9. Watch out for burnout
Burnout is rampant in today’s workforce since great work is often rewarded with…more work. This does make sense though. Of course you’d want to give important projects to trustworthy employees! However, that attitude won’t help in attracting and retaining talented employees.
Remember that even your most productive, talented employees can and will get overworked. When necessary, consider hiring permanent or temporary support for the role or passing along tasks to other members of the team.
10. Provide opportunities for growth
No one likes being bored, especially not at work. Talented employees are bursting with potential, and they want you to help them uncover it. Give your employees the opportunity to train in different areas, continue specializing their skills, or learn how to be effective leaders. Showing your team that you care about their growth goes a long way in attracting and retaining talented employees.
11. Keep evolving
They say change is the only constant, and that’s certainly true of brands. Attracting and retaining talented employees looks different from month to month and year to year.
The most successful internal rebranding examples come from companies that embraced the need to change and improve over time.
Attracting and retaining talent with branding
Internal branding is the unsung hero of low turnover. Successful brands give people something to believe in, and internal branding carries that belief over to your team. Teams who believe in your brand will advocate for it, bringing with them even more talent. When people have a reason to show up, they also have a reason to stay. Strong brands ensure employees believe in what they’re doing, and empower them to feel they’re part of something bigger than themselves.
If you’re unsure how to create successful internal branding on your own, don’t worry! A brand identity agency can help you craft a brand for attracting and retaining talented employees that fit your company like a glove.