Employer Brand Strategy: COVID-19 and Beyond
In a recent episode of Shoff Chats, Borshoff had the pleasure of hosting an informative discussion led by Terra Doyle, Sr. Director of Talent Acquisition at Roche, focused on a topic that’s very top-of-mind right now for employers: maintaining or strengthening employer brands during the global health crisis. What should HR and internal communications professionals keep in mind as they examine their talent recruitment strategies and employee experience initiatives through this new lens? Here are three key learnings from our chat:
The War for Talent Isn’t Going Away
Unemployment is in the double-digits, but just because there is more talent out there seeking employment doesn’t mean employers can de-prioritize their efforts. Rather, employee value propositions will need to become even stronger. How did the company prioritize employees during COVID-19? More recently, how is the company responding on the issue of racial justice and equity? Candidates will undoubtedly use this criteria for determining which organizations are worthy of their talent.
Tactics are Driving Strategy in the Short-Term
Usually, your strategy informs tactical execution – if you’re doing things right. But right now, recruitment and hiring activities such as remote candidate screening, digital onboarding, and work-from-home protocols are driving talent strategy out of necessity. But for many organizations, these circumstances are resulting in tremendous and rapid innovation that will – in turn – eventually become strategic. Savvy organizations will quickly capitalize on what this unexpected period of innovation teaches us, and there’s good reason to be optimistic about what it means for the employee experience and organizational performance.
Collaboration is Critical
Together, the human resources and internal communications functions within companies can be seen as “torch bearers” for employer brands and the employee experience. Now more than ever, alignment between these two functions is critical to strengthen, refine, or even redefine employer brands, demonstrate how they align with organizational values and purpose, and ensure they authentically resonate with the employee experience. As ever, for this type of collaboration to work best, you must clearly define areas of accountability and ownership. Companies that already do this well will see the benefits sooner, and for those that don’t, now is as good a time as any to forge a path toward better, more intentional collaboration between IC and HR.
Contact Meg Marra to learn more about Borshoff’s Employer Brand practice.
Check out our Shoff Chats page to see our upcoming schedule. Want to suggest a topic or interested in speaking in a future chat? Contact Meg Marra.