People Power: Why Employer Brand is the KPI for Millennials

In October 2014, the First Minister of Ireland, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, officially announced the creation of 400 new jobs at CarTrawler. It was a significant milestone for the company, but with it came a challenge that many business leaders face today – how to protect the culture that has been a driver of growth when employee numbers soar and they are drawn from all corners of the globe.

A company’s cultural values and employer brand can sometimes take a back seat to its customer brand and financial performance. However, people have never enjoyed as much choice regarding where and how they can work. As a result, an employer brand has never been as important if companies want to attract the best talent with the best cultural fit to integrate with their existing team.

Gone are the days when people stayed at a company for life. Now, they want to know what a company can do for them in a personal and professional way, because if it isn’t the right fit, they will simply leave for something better or, worse still, few will want to work there in the first place. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 91% of millennials between the ages of 18 and 38 expect to stay at their job for less than three years, and will probably undertake 15 to 20 jobs in their lifetime.

An employer brand underpins a company’s stature and credibility in the jobs marketplace. It is about marketing a company to potential candidates. It is about letting people know why a company is different and why the experience of working there will be a rewarding one. It is also about reaffirming to people within the company that it is intent on investing in their development as well as that of new staff.

“Having a strong employer brand is absolutely crucial,” says Gillian French, Chief People Officer at CarTrawler. “The most important part of developing it is to speak to employees, ask them what it’s like to work here and have an open door policy. Fundamentally, you have to be selling what the reality is when people come in here.”

So how do you build an employer brand?

“We started out with a very simple concept that we feel embodies our core values,” says Gillian. “At CarTrawler, we know that technology matters, but that people matter more. That’s the thinking behind our employer brand statement, ‘We’re people, not robots’. What better way to illustrate that message than by showcasing the people who work here in our ad campaign? The challenge for companies recruiting in a highly competitive marketplace is to stand out with a credible message that they can back up, not just something any good ad agency could come up with.

“It’s all about playing to your strengths,” she says. “For example, we have great offices, so we threw open our doors and invited candidates to take a look around and join us for pizza. The initiative attracted almost 2,000 people over two events along with lots of media attention. Companies need to recognise what makes them great and show it off. The open days were just another example of who and what we are – it was the best kind of advertising because it happened right here in our working environment,” says Gillian.

So what are the benefits of having a strong employer brand? Research conducted by John Hopkins University shows that 95% of job candidates believe that culture at a company is more important than compensation. “It’s about attracting the right kind of people with the right attitude as well as talent,” says Gillian. “If you have the right employer brand and cultural values to back it up, then you’ll be saving time by having to replace fewer people, and consequently spending less on re-hiring and re-training those new additions. Most importantly, you will have an engaged and passionate workforce that is willing to go the extra mile for the customer.”

“We hired 190 people last year, almost doubling our headcount, but even still our mantra has always been ‘hire hard, manage easy’,” says Gillian. “We take our time at the recruitment stage. We won’t settle for people who we don’t believe are the right cultural fit,” she says. “We’re guardians of the culture here and that represents a vital part of the company.”

Culture is something that goes beyond individuals; it can help foster a community spirit among people. CarTrawler is representative of many global organisations; it employs people from 39 different countries, who between them speak 34 languages. “Something as simple as open-plan seating makes a huge difference to building that sense of community,” says Gillian. “If you’re not living it, people won’t buy into it. The Leadership Team especially has to be demonstrating our values so we treat employee engagement and culture the same as any other commercial KPI.”

A company’s investment in personal and professional development is another key foundation of a strong employer brand. “If companies invest in employees, the result will be increased loyalty and commitment, as well as supporting succession planning and growth management. When done well, this can be yet another attractive proposition for potential candidates,” says Gillian.

“These days, employees and candidates want to know what you can do for them. Twelve per cent of our workforce is currently pursuing some form of third-level education that we fund, and we facilitate over 6,000 training days per year. You can’t just talk about it, you have to do it,” she says.

“The biggest challenge is to keep people culturally motivated,” says Gillian. “They are the engine of our company. Once we attract the right people, we do everything we can to make sure they get the recognition, the surroundings and the development they deserve. It may sound obvious but no matter how big or small your company is, we believe that people need to feel like they are being treated like people, not robots. They need to know that their employer cares. That’s the secret of making culture work, and building a high-performance workforce.”

To find out more about CarTrawler, see its careers section and its Facebook page. Connect with Gillian French on LinkedIn or sign up to the newsletter here.

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