New Year’s Resolutions are not exclusive to individuals. Every year, companies set out goals that they aim to quickly achieve. One goal that every company shares is to spread its good name among the crowds and potential employees in order to attract top talent. With current-day professionals expecting more from their companies in terms of adequate work environment, recognition and rewards, a thriving culture and more, companies should be reconsidering their employer brand and how to push it in the positive direction. Simply listing a mission statement or a vacancy announcement is not enough to win the best talent; your company should also be perceived as an ideal place for work and that can be done through stellar employer branding.
In order to have a winning employer brand, you need to cater to what professionals expect. Bayt.com, the #1 Job Site in the Middle East, presents you with four things you can implement to become a more desired employer in 2017:
1. Revise your brand identity
The oldest trick in the book is one of the most important; brand association. In order to create a brand that people associate positive things to, everything from logos and color schemes to fonts and mottos should be set and ready for the target audience. But beyond that, there are other things that you can take into consideration such as detailed and exciting descriptions of vacancies in job postings, the celebratory presentation of your staff on your website, and the harmonized vision, mission, values, and culture that are well articulated and supportive of your employer brand. One of the best ways you can do this is by signing up for a Bayt.com Premium Company Profile, which helps thousands of companies create a brand that stands out and attracts the right type of talent.
2. Offer non-traditional perks
Millennials will soon constitute the majority of the global workforce. Their fresh perspectives and unprecedented technology savviness bring something new to the table. Even their priorities and expectations do not conform to yesterday’s methodologies. For instance, good work-life balance and training opportunities top the list of loyalty factors according to Bayt.com Millennials in the Middle East and North Africa Survey. Many of them are even willing to sacrifice more hours from their personal life to go up their career ladder.
This is why companies should keep up with such values and expectations when structuring their employer brand. While salary is important, professionals are also looking for other perks, such as training opportunities, wellness programs (such as gym subscriptions and nutrition counselling), entertainment at the office, flexible work schedules, and so on. Such perks help create the environment sought after and will make your company more desirable to work for.
3. Digitize and humanize your branding
It’s no secret we live in the digital era. A single bad tweet can make or break your employer brand. Among the best ways to let people know about your work environment is by being active online and engaging with your audience. Humanizing the digital approach is essential to make potential employees as well as customers relate to your company. People want to reach out to you and be heard. According to the Bayt.com Social Recruiting in the Middle East and North Africa poll, 55% of the respondents feel that they are more likely to get hired if they engage with the company online.
Instead of utilizing your online presence only to pitch at your audience and market a product or a service, engage and spark conversations. Let your employees talk to your audience. It will bring back positive feedback to your employer brand.
4. Create brand ambassadors
We’re not talking about hiring people and paying them to represent your employer brand. This approach lacks genuine fondness of your brand and only works at face value.
Instead, create a great working environment, plan an engaging and strong marketing plan, run your social media channels in a humanized manner, etc. By taking such actions, the satisfaction and loyalty of your employees will avail, and automatically your employees will spread a good word about the company; whether by actually talking about the company, or documenting their work environment online. Hence, your employees become the best brand ambassadors, as they speak about your company out of good experience. Even your customers, partners, suppliers, and all stakeholders can potentially become your brand ambassadors if you adopt these strategies.
