Keep your keepcup photo to yourself!

I find these days culture is the number 1 factor candidates talk to me about when considering a new role. Understandably they are keen to know how they will be treated, and lockdowns have certainly accentuated this. Candidates are putting day to day happiness above previous most important things (such as salary and job title) and I’m all for it!

However, with this shift I am witnessing more and more companies trying desperately to demonstrate their culture on LinkedIn. Which I am wary of.

It is as hard to see culture as it is to promote it, and you certainly can’t prove it with a post on LinkedIn.

It’s often the companies that are screaming from the rooftops about how great their culture is, that have a culture problem. Which makes sense, they see a high staff turnover and think how do we attract more candidates? I know! Let’s post on LinkedIn about how great it is to work here.

As a Recruiter, I see both sides of the fence too, and I see firsthand the businesses with poor retention rates tend to do most of the “it’s great to work here” posting.

Which is ok, sometimes. But here are things I see too often:

• The classic new employee picture! Look a branded keep cup! Alongside branded pen, workbook, water bottle. It’s nice, it also costs pence and is mass produced and unpersonal. Plus, I’d expect this, you need to write and drink water to do your job right?
• A company day off! I’m not denying these are good to have, but culture is about relationships IN the workplace. The goal is to be happy at work, not unhappy and offered extra days off to compensate. I’ve recently spoken to a candidate in Auckland who had a company day off, but his team had to work on the Sunday to complete the billable hours for the week. Of course, the LinkedIn post didn’t mention that.
• Team lunches! Again, nice to have, but a picture of the team drinking champagne doesn’t tell me anything about the culture. Is everyone bolting their food down because they’ve got a back to back afternoon? Admittedly I’ve been in that picture before. ?
• A coffee morning! Great, but having a coffee with colleagues is almost an everyday occurrence? Well at least I hope it is.
• The classic work from home picture! It’s 2022 and this is just not a benefit anymore I’m afraid. Between Covid-19 mandates and general health and wellbeing, being able to work from home should be a given in professional industries.
• Confectionery! Recently I have seen a business in the UK posting about a chocolate bar they were all given. For the sacrifice you give your employer, does a chocolate bar say much in return? Is it really a benefit if it creates more work for you (posting on LinkedIn takes time!)

I appreciate I’m sounding cynical here. I guess there is nothing wrong with celebrating on LinkedIn (#positivity.)

It just feels to me that these posts are too often forced and not genuine. They don’t feel authentic. They scream ‘My Marketing team told me to post this with the hashtag #companyculture’.

So how do you promote your culture? I have one idea.

Actually HAVE a good culture! Appreciate your employees. Genuinely. Listen to them, be adaptable to what they need as individuals.

Then your culture will advertise itself through much more organic methods:

• Word of mouth. A powerful tool! Reputation is everything, especially in recruitment
• Tenure. Maybe the biggest one. Tenure is a rarity, especially now. If half the employees have been in the company over 10 years, it speaks louder than the branded keep cup
• Genuine posts from employees. I think these are easy to spot, they are unique and not a copy and paste from the masses
• Personalised benefits that suit each person, not companywide. For example, rather than “Company Day off 2021” how about “I got given a day off to watch my son’s cricket final”
• Non work-related social activities. If team members are hanging out at weekends, or even holidaying together, it says more to me about the culture than the coffee morning picture on a Monday

Look after your employees, and your company culture will look after itself (and you won’t need the hashtags.) They will talk to their family, friends and recruiters like me about how great it is to work for a company that really values and appreciates them.

So, although it is important to have a keepcup (#sustainability), maybe keep the photo to yourself. The real lesson here, is if you truly value and appreciate your employees, they will promote your company culture for you!

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