In employer Branding, Experience is everything

People are continuously exposed to brand experiences throughout their day either as a consumer, employee or candidate. The reality is that these experiences are rarely distinctive, consistent or deliver what is expected based on the perception people have about the brand.

At its worst, the impact is loss of business (customer), accepting another job offer (candidate), resignation (employee) or poor reputation (potential employee and/or potential customer).

There are many examples of great brands around us such as Virgin, Apple, Starbucks and Chanel and one thing that is consistent amongst them is how they make us feel because of the experience we have when we interact with their products, services and/or people.

Value is created by satisfied, loyal, and productive employees. Employee satisfaction, in turn, results primarily from high-quality support services and policies that enable employees to deliver the experience (to customers) that has been promised by the brand.

When employees understand what the organization’s brand stands for and systems, processes and mindsets are aligned to support the delivery of a distinctive customer experience, the company also benefits through higher levels of employee engagement, reduced turnover and higher levels of profit.

The only true source of competitive advantage of any company is its people and the impact they generate within the organization and for their customers. Having high-performing employees committed to their work and the company who are able to generate and create value for customers is a critical factor for the sustainability of organizations.

The employee experience

Employee mindset and behaviour play a determining role in shaping brand experiences so it is important for organizations to thoughtfully and actively design and deliver positive employee experiences to support this.

Employee experience can be defined as “The sum of all experiences an employee has with an employer, co-workers, supervisors, leadership, work environment, customers and other key stakeholders during their tenure.” Experiences affect an employee’s cognition and affection and lead to particular behaviours that have a powerful impact, positive or negative, on an employee's engagement and consequently business performance.

Great employee experiences, just like great customer experiences don’t just happen by chance. When employees have positive experiences with employers they are more focused on creating positive experiences for customers. If that isn’t enough motivation for employers to design and deliver positive employee experiences, employers should consider social theories.

Social psychology informs us that our attitudes are shaped by our experiences, our attitudes subsequently shape our behaviours. Ultimately our behaviour influences the outcomes we achieve.

When you consider this in a business context, employees have a significant amount of influence on customers and on their own contribution to the organization. If we want to change behaviour and outcomes, we need to change experiences to change attitudes.

The Minchington & Morris Brand Experience ModelTM The Minchington & Morris Brand Experience ModelTM highlights an integrated approach to delivering differentiated customer and employee experiences by focusing on the Employer Brand Moments of Truth (EBMOT) in the employee lifecycle whilst being agile enough to adapt and respond to the challenges in the macro environment

EBMOT’s are the interactions in the employee journey which employees invest a high level of emotion in the outcome such as reputation and their relationship with their leader or supervisor.

Increasing leadership focus

Now more than ever, leadership teams are increasingly focused on the employee experience because of the ease and speed at which negative sentiments about experiences can be shared by candidates, employees and former employees through social media.

With a talent matching crisis taking place in many countries, companies cannot afford to overlook the importance of a positive experience not just in the candidate phase, but throughout the employment lifecycle.

Smart organizations will adopt a long term strategic focus on employee experience - shifting mindsets of leaders empowered to manage the employee experience and broadening ownership outside of HR. Every employee and leader has a role to play in contributing to developing a culture with a core purpose of creating a distinctive employment experience.

Where does responsibility lie?

Marketing is generally responsible for managing the customer experience when traditional brand experience models are deployed. A critical part of managing the customer experience is educating employees on how to deliver the desired brand experience.

Employee experience assessment and strategy

The employee experience journey can be defined as, “The pathway a person takes from exploring an employer to work for to their retirement or rehire and the experiences encountered at each ‘touchpoint'. To design the ideal employee experience journey and evaluate its reality, an employee experience journey map can be a very effective tool.

Designed from the employee’s point of view, an employee experience journey map details each interaction or touchpoint within each stage of the employee’s relationship with the organization. Very simplistically, it’s a way to walk in the employees, candidates or alumni’s shoes to describe and understand what each are doing, thinking and feeling at each stage.

As candidates and employees evolve their relationship with an employer, they have distinct objectives with different needs and motivators at each stage. Mapping out the overall journey and the touchpoints at each stage aids with identifying any disparity between the ideals and practical realities of the experience

While the lifecycle stages can be represented in different ways, a comprehensive view explores the overall relationship the employee has with the organization throughout their employment lifecycle. The stages include:

?1) Explore and Apply

2) Join and On-board

3) Perform, Get Recognized, Learn and Grow

4) Separate

5) Reconnect and Re-join

Although the lifecycle is typically illustrated in a linear manner, the relationship can circle back many times.

Key challenges

Optimising the employee experience across the EBMOT’s presents a number of challenges and there are many stakeholders to be considered. The key challenges include:

?? A lack of clarity of employee expectations during their tenure,

? Lack of understanding which touchpoints have the most impact on the employees emotional connection with the organisation,

? Over investing in the touchpoints which are less important for employees and under investing in those most important,

? Over reliance on technology or automation to enhance the employee experience,

? Poor company culture,

? Lack of leadership training in how to deliver an ‘on brand’ experience,

? Lack of communication between leaders responsible for the experience,

? Not seen as a priority due to the company operating in a monopolistic environment,

? Lack of reward systems and processes to support the change required to enhance the experience,

? Inadequate financial resources to support innovative strategies,

? Out of date technology to support employee experience initiatives.

Employees that are engaged are more loyal, perform better and are more likely to stay with the organization even if offered an attractive package from a competitor. Employees who perform at higher standards help to ensure the overall business goals are being met.

They are also more likely to be a brand ambassador for the company by referring talent. Research has shown referrals are also more likely to be a good fit with the company and the best source of hire.

In today’s tough market for talent ensuring a positive employee experience is a key element in staying one step ahead of your competition.

Brett Minchington MBA & Lisa G. Morris