Employee advocacy: How to successfully integrate your employees in the recruitment process

Employee advocacy has been gaining popularity over the past few years. Many companies launch programs to involve their employees in business support. Recently, the case of Cisco, which trained 84,000 employees on LinkedIn to become social influencers, has made headlines.

Now, every company can invite external "stars" who help it solve different business problems and grow its own. Companies like Coca-Cola, Heraeus, or Nexign actively engage their employees in various tasks.

Interesting fact:

50% of employees share videos and photos on social media about their work. A third do so without any request from their employer.

*Weber Shandwick, in partnership with KRC Research, conducted a global online survey of 2,300 employees in 2020.

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What talent acquisition challenges do employee ambassadors help you address?

1??The first and essential task that employees can contribute to is promoting the employer brand.? A high level of trust in the average person working for the company helps to create warmer and more human communications.? As part of the solution to this task, employees-ambassadors can share their positive experience of working in the company, their success and achievements. Also, the first-person storytelling format allows companies to show their inner life in the famous "new sincerity" style. Another focus of interest is the activity of employees on niche industry platforms and communities. If a person has a circle of acquaintances there, it is direct access to the target audience and an opportunity to deliver information about your company through their lips.

2?? Participation in job postings and referral programs. If an employee who supports your company publishes a vacancy for his network of contacts, it can have a significant effect. Of course, we are primarily talking about positions in the field where the employee works. As a rule, IT specialists have their circle of contacts in this area. Things are similar for employees in other areas: marketing, sales, logistics, finance, etc.

Also, employees of ambassadors are usually more active and involved in the company's referral programs. And they can be directly asked for help.

3?? Another essential task that employees-ambassadors can solve is their participation in the selection process. Some companies organize the process so that not only the recruiter and the employee's immediate supervisor evaluate but also "sell" him a job in your company. But ordinary employees and future colleagues from the function perform a similar role at one of the stages. Of course, it is crucial to prepare a person here, starting from teaching interview skills and ending with how and what would be appropriate to tell the candidate.

4?? Another interesting move that companies use is to support communication with future employees during the pre-adaptation period. This is the time between accepting an offer and entering the workforce. Unfortunately, in-demand professionals keep getting new job offers during this period. And it's very frustrating for a recruiter who has already mentally checked the box for an open position to learn that the candidate turns down the offer a few days before the exit. To prevent this, you can connect future colleagues from among the ambassadors communicating with the candidate. For example, they can be friends on social media or act as mentors to help prepare for the new job.

?5??? Finally, another important topic for the recruiter - help and support during the onboarding. Another recruiter's nightmare is turnover during the onboarding period. The reasons may be different, and this process should be handled systematically. But sometimes the reasons can be trivial: the workload of the manager, insufficient information and lack of simple human support. That's why ambassadors can act as buddies: involve a person in corporate life, tell and show them, go to lunch together, and in every possible way help them to feel their own in the new team. It is no less popular to engage ambassadors as presenters of welcome training for new employees: their story is usually less formal and is received very warmly.

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How do you launch such a program in your company?

If you want to launch a similar program in your company, we recommend the following key steps.

1. Program Goals:

??Identify the primary goals of the Employee Advocacy program. Which objectives (from those listed previously) you would like to accomplish.

??Ensure the program goals align with your company's and your division's goals.

??Look at the key metrics that employee ambassadors can help you achieve and select the most effective formats.

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2.?? Criteria and procedure for selecting program's participants:

There are two approaches for this program.

??The first one is that we involve and engage all employees at once. It is more suitable for promoting the employer brand or for a small organization. Cisco did this: they teached all employees working in social media as company's ambassadors.

?? The second approach (we recommend it for medium and large businesses) is to form a dedicated group of employees to help you solve your tasks. Then, you will be faced with selecting those very people.

??Establish criteria for selecting employees to participate in the program.? These criteria depend primarily on the tasks the employees will be performing. Suppose they will be promoting the employer brand. In that case, they should ideally be active social media users, willing to be public, and have good written communication skills (and maybe video content creation). If you want to include them in an onboarding program, their empathy and ability to speak publicly will be paramount. But what is essential for everyone without exception is alignment with company values, accountability, and exemplary performance in their core job.

??Determine the number of employees who will be the company's ambassadors. Depending on your objectives, they may represent different departments. Pay special attention to those who can help attract candidates from the right areas (if there is such a task).

?? Formulate a selection procedure: Assessing future ambassadors' motivation and willingness to help the company is essential.

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3. Training and preparation:

?? Develop a training program for employee advocacy program. ?Its content depends on the tasks that these employees will perform.

?? Create a knowledge base available to ambassadors and a support system. For example, this could be detailed information about the recruitment system or the work and tasks of different company departments, about conducting interviews or presentations to represent the company. This should also include guidelines and templates.

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4.?Communication and feedback:

?? Think through the name and creative packaging of the program itself and a plan to promote it internally. If you can coolly "sell" the program to future employees, it will carry additional value.

?? Think through a communication system with ambassadors from the supervisor's side and between program participants.

?? Organize regular meetings or calls to discuss current issues, propose new ideas, and solve problems.

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5.??Motivation and incentives:

?? Develop an incentive system for ambassadors. For example, you could offer bonuses, incentives, awards, bonuses, or other forms of recognition and rewards for their contributions to the program.

?? Support contests where employee-ambassadors can compete and receive prizes for achievements. A full-fledged gamification program may be implemented.

6.? Monitoring and Evaluation:

?? Establish a system for monitoring and evaluating the success of the employee-ambassadors program.

?? Conduct audits or surveys to gather feedback from customers and employees about the program and its performance.

?? Regularly analyze the results of the Employee Advocacy program and compare them to established goals.

?? Make adjustments to the program based on data and experience.

7.? Celebrate successes and grow the program:

?? Share the successes and achievements of the Employee Advocacy program with all employees and stakeholders internally and externally. This can encourage other employees and enhance the company's internal image.

??? Analise feedback and results, make changes and adapt the program to meet the company's and its employees' needs.

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Following these steps will provide a community of people to help you meet your company's talent acquisition challenges.

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