Give & Get

GIVE & GET EMPLOYER BRANDING: Repel The Many And Compel The Few With Impact, Purpose And Belonging, by Bryan Adams and Charlotte Marshall, Houndstooth Press 2020

Like the supply chain blockages and assorted production drops, the problem of finding and hiring the right people has become a frustrating problem in the U.S. workplace.  In fact,  the Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that in November, the number of "quits" - voluntary departures -  rose to a record 4.5M workers.  And many of these workers have yet to be replaced - industries affected include accommodations and food services, up 159,000, healthcare and social assistance, up 52,000, transportation, warehousing and utilities, up 33,000.  Areas particularly affected by these increases in labor shortages are the Northeast, the South and the Midwest, one more challenge from the pandemic.

Clearly, the usual hiring methods aren't working here.  Employer brand experts Bryan Adams and Charlotte Marshall show how traditional branding that pitches a company's strengths won't succeed now in our contrarian economy.  Despite web searches and on-line recruitment tools, HR professionals face big challenges when they try to find and keep the best candidates while they eliminate the lost time from weaker candidates and bad fits.  

High performing organizations don't want or need more candidates - they want more of the right candidates.  Adams and Marshall

A  good part of the hiring process, say the authors, is covering the candidate's emotional experience.  Hiring organizations want to attract and retain candidates who are in fact a good culture fit, who will become committed and happy there. It is not enough to locate and interview, for example, an engineer with the right IT background.  For that candidate to hire on and stay, a long list of checkpoints must in fact meet the new hire's emotional satisfaction and comfort level.  Anything less than a good fit on his/her daily work pattern and future career, say the authors, leads right out to the street.

Let the data lead you.  Dorian Shainin

In their section called "Metrics that Matter" the authors list 35 priorities that can be included in the candidate and the hiring organization's strategy, ranging from Glassdoor rating (high priority), to Facebook following (low).  Of these 35 priority rankings, employers will want to focus on the few relevant rankings; the bounce rate, or time on site, for example, may prove to be good data points, but without careful attention to the right trend numbers, employers may still be shooting in the dark for appropriate candidates.  Their recommendations for strategic decision points around employer branding are eye-opening and, hopefully, cost saving approaches to building a committed workforce.  

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers,  patriciaemoody@gmail.com