🧪 Employer Brand Headlines #156: The "Someday, Someway" Edition
🎂 It's our third birthday, but you get presents! 🎁
Written by James Ellis. »» Say hello! ««
In this issue…
🎉 Happy birthday! 🎉
When what employees want isn’t what leadership wants
Will workplace culture about to lose its chill?
People follow people, not brands
Did you know that this is Employer Brand Headlines’ 3rd birthday? Yup, the first issue went out July 28, 2019 to a (very) small set of friends I thought would appreciate it.
Since then, I’ve moved platforms twice, evolved the format repeatedly to be more useful to you (I hope), and grown organically to almost 2,500 people. I mean… wut!?
So as a thank you to everyone for subscribing, I challenged myself. Could I take the 80,000 words that make up Talent Chooses You and turn it into a 15 minute podcast? I thought of it as a way to finally put the project to bed (after all, you’ve been able to buy it on Amazon for two years and I made it free and open source last year, and then updated it as a audiobook/podcast). And I think I did it.
Talent Chooses you (in 15 minutes) is the perfect thing to share with someone who wants to “get” employer branding in a hurry.
Also, I figured you’d want to know that I am about to launch my new project: Employer Brand Labs. Its goal is to provide great employer branding training and support to businesses who don’t think they need or can afford it.
The first deliverable is a video course: Employer Branding for Recruiters, a class that helps your recruiters use your branding work as a force multiplier. The course is in final post-production and I expect to have it live next week. Reply to this email if you want to be among the first to know about the course.
And don’t forget my free ebook to help you activate your brand on the cheap.
Let’s get on with the show, huh?
This week The Verge dropped a pretty deep evaluation of Meta, who is in a bit of a pickle. Apple hit their (way too intrusive) ad business where it hurts, user metrics are down, everyone’s mad at Instagram for trying to be Tik Tok, lawsuits swirl, and Zuck keeps doubling down on tech that means “getting” to attend work meetings in virtual reality.
But here’s the interesting quote:
Meta’s own analysis of morale tracks with its stock price: in a recent internal employee “Pulse” survey that the company takes seriously, only 39 percent of respondents reported feeling optimistic about the company’s future. Just 42 percent expressed “confidence in leadership.” Both are the lowest numbers ever. The sunniest stat: 77 percent said they’d still recommend working at the company.
So think about that. 61% aren’t optimistic about the company’s future, 58% don’t have confidence in leadership, and yet a vast majority want to stay and would recommend it.
Why?
At any other company, this lack of confidence and optimism would be a death knell to their employer brand. Who would join a company where most people who work there think it’s almost a sinking ship?
But if you read the rest of the article, you hear about staff who work hard, but expect an insane amount of perks: top-of-the-market pay, extra days off, work from wherever, cash bonuses, stock, food, etc etc. This is a company who has spent the last decade getting rated as a top place to work by buying loyalty.
Suddenly, the company feels a long way away from “move fast and break things,” as it looks to get leaner and meaner. How would you re-think your brand where twin pillars of “we do what it takes to win” and “reward everyone handsomely” (my interpretation) suddenly don’t feel strong? What happens when what employees want isn’t what leadership wants?
Your employer brand can’t be one or the other: it must reflect what employees see and want as well as leadership’s vision of the future and the means by which you get there.
And as the market cools, we’re going to see a LOT more of this kind of situation in more and more companies. What happens when the company built on attracting a generation of talent by offering mountains of benefits can no longer afford them?
See also: Is your workplace culture about to lose its chill?
Here’s the other side of the question: There’s Power When Employer and Employee Values Align. And We’ve Got the Data to Prove It.
Quick Links
Candidate Survey Shows Dissatisfaction With Hiring Processes
Why an Employee Value Proposition is More Important Than Ever During an Economic Downturn
“Man, sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself.” - Miles Davis
This newsletter now has more than 2,400 subscribers. Thank you!
Keep sharing issues!Search the 1,500 links referenced in the newsletter archive.
Read Talent Chooses You for free from this open source Google Doc.
Here’s the 2022 version of The Employer Brand Manifesto.
If you have a question, reply to this email. It comes directly to me.
Cheers and thanks!
-James Ellis (LinkedIn)
Where the subject line came from:
Marshall Crenshaw - Someday, Someway
The name may not mean anything to you, but 40 seconds into this classic and you’ll get it. This is perfect power pop, built simply by a master craftsman.
If you are enjoying the music, congratulations, you’re old! Just for you, I made a Spotify playlist of all the subject line 80’s songs I’ve referenced over the last year and a half. You don’t even need hairspray to enjoy it:
