Measuring the effectiveness of an employer brand can be apparent soon after its launch. Why so early? It’s essential to understand that an employer branding project is often far-reaching. It starts with research involving hundreds or even thousands of employees discussing their work life, what they enjoy, and their lesser-liked aspects. This process touches on sensitive topics as employees share issues seldom discussed with colleagues from other departments.
When the research phase ends, they are rarely aware of the next steps, such as creating the employer brand and devising the activation plan.
Their next “contact” with the employer brand is typically at the launch, often several months later. This phase is critical to keep employees informed and, more importantly, to make them feel proud and satisfied with the forthcoming actions to enhance their employee experience and daily life. This is why the launch is so significant, and why the success measures taken at this stage must be compelling.
How to Measure Them?
Initially, it is crucial to note that the KPIs for a successful internal launch of an employer brand will be more qualitative than quantitative. It’s primarily about feeling and perception. And needless to say, perception is the crux of the battle in employee mobilization and, more broadly, in employer branding as well as in corporate performance.
Most of our clients’ employer brand launches have been successful. Others, unfortunately, have failed. A common denominator in failed launches is often the upper management’s lack of understanding of employee expectations. Discussing the impact of free trade agreements on aluminum sales with production employees at a mining plant is fine, but communication should not strictly be on a business level. It should also be a time to energize teams by showing appreciation and speaking to their realities.
When the communication is inspiring or even touching, the feeling is incredible! I’ve seen people cry at launches, others stand up to applaud, and even ovations have occurred! Quite a KPI, right? After a successful launch, even bad news is better received. A broken machine? No problem, collaborators redouble their efforts to minimize production impacts, knowing that management or their supervisors have their backs and will find a way to fix the issue. Another possible transformation: employees defend their employer on social media against negative comments. In short, the results can be numerous and are not always quantifiable in an Excel spreadsheet.
In addition to proving to talent that management values the results of the engagement survey, the goal should also be to improve upon these results in the progression survey (a survey we usually recommend conducting periodically between 6 to 18 months after the project launch). Obviously, all stakeholders must understand that improving survey results doesn’t happen overnight. It happens bite by bite, daily, by proactively addressing the negative aspects of the employee experience reported in the initial survey. Everyone must make efforts to ensure that work life is positive, from upper management and supervisors to production staff. It’s a team effort, and although launching the employer brand is one of the best ways to initiate change and transformation towards a better work world, doing a smoke show and then failing to continue improving the employee experience will only worsen the HR situation in an organization. We’ll talk about metric KPIs another time. At this stage, add the human pulse to your indicators; it’s powerful.
Next article
