How can you use brand culture to attract and retain top talent?

Brand culture is the degree to which the brand inculcated its philosophy into its values, standards, KPIs, motivation. Brand culture is the subtle accepted principles of how a company works. It’s not training courses, dictates, it’s sharing a common vision of how the company works, to its internal dialogue and results measures. I’m a time of commoditisation, it’s the only real way employees have the freedom to excel and remain on top

Leveraging your Employee Value Proposition (EVP), what talent values most about your organization, in your talent attraction, engagement, and communication strategies is a great way to align your brand with your culture by remaining authentic. By doing so, you not only help communicate what is compelling about the employee experience, but you help boost pride, engagement, and loyalty, by creating a workplace and brand that is aligned with what talent values most about your organization. Rather than thinking about this as purely a brand strategy, view it as a holistic engagement strategy that can not only communicate but help shape brand and culture for the future. When done well, your EVP can also service as a catalyst for change.

Your approach to aligning employer brand and brand culture is indeed sound and aligns with my extensive experience. Consistency, authenticity, and transparency are foundational. Clearly articulating your brand culture through your vision, mission, values, and stories is vital. Integration into recruitment and onboarding processes is key for attracting like-minded talent. Continuously reinforcing brand culture through policies, rewards, and training is essential for sustaining alignment. In my 10 years of expertise, I've seen these principles drive long-lasting brand success.

The most important thing in fostering employee engagement is to empower then and make them feel they are part of a team and NOT just some cog in the machine. They need to know that they can freely offer input into any area, even those outside of their normal duties. They should know that their persepctive, even if not used for a point now can be the thing that makes all the difference in something else in the futre. Empowering them gives them a sense of ownership, even if they do not have direct owmership. All this will enable them to become geniune Brand Ambassadors to the outside world

Data has always been a strong indicator of success or lack of it. However, since the aim is to show the company culture with a mission to retain employees and attract new ones, measurement should happen at a much deeper level. E.g. Let's pick the primary audience - the current employees. Various reasons come together to make an employee spend his/her valuable time at an organization (team rapport, pay, skillset etc.). Out of these, employee brand management can be one of the many. Thus, the effect of a brand management campaign on employee retention should one part of the equation. It may be a tool to help remind employees about the culture of the company but if the culture is strong enough, it should truly be experienced by the employees.

Culture goes well beyond posters on walls or platitudes from executives during milestone events. Employees will see right through any artificial constructs or “say one thing, do another” approach. Authentic, genuine cultures are developed through a consistent application of principles, means of engagement, and communication standards. Organizations need to build this brand and culture into their employee hiring processes, hiring only aligned to that culture. Once employees join, all communication and engagement should be aligned. And all performance management - and measurement - should align also. Brand and culture are not defined by single posters or moments in time, but an end-to-end. / start-to-finish approach.

- Clearly define your company's mission, values and vision. Aligning people's work with a higher purpose enhances meaning and satisfaction. - Promote from within where possible. Top performers want to see a clear path for career growth - Offer competitive compensation and benefits appropriate for the industry/location. People want fair pay for their contributions. - Encourage work-life balance. This improves well-being and loyalty. - Recognize and reward high performance through public and private channels - Foster community through social events, volunteer activities and team bonding experiences. - Survey employees and act on feedback to continually improve the culture. People like having a voice.

Every time someone talks about culture, the Sikh Community of India comes to my mind. Their culture is deeply rooted in their belief - service to humanity. Their honesty, compassion and willingness to sacrifice for others is incomparable. Whenever or wherever there's any disaster, you'll see the Sikh community reaching there and extending their help even before the disaster management teams reach there. I always wonder how such a small community could have such a fantastic culture. I guess, such a culture can be built when a common goal for which all the individuals are coming together, is beyond any individual. Beyond 'self'. It is the willingness to do something that leads to greater good. And nothing else.