ist magazine September 2022

Feature

We’re in a digital age where people can and do speak freely and want to know what they might be in for at work before they sign your offer.

4. Don’t waste your time on sanitized social media. Throwing money on the problem can’t fix a bad employer brand. If you have treated employees badly, you have a toxic culture or you re ward bad behavior constantly, no amount of money or campaigning will hide that. With the number of public and anonymous places for employees to post their experi ences, ask about salaries and offers, exchange horror stories and dispel myths you try to put out, this fluff is often an immedi ate flush of funds to nowhere. In not making it picture perfect, you may need time to make changes to improve the expe rience, and then the perception of your company. Candidates are far more willing to explore a role at a place that can

6. Encourage and trust your em ployees. The list started with giving employees a voice – we’ll end with giving them the space and trust to share that voice. Showing them you have confidence in how they show up for the company will produce the most authentic content; don’t do it if you’re not ready to give your trust. This means no retaliation for someone sharing an experience that was not ideal or revealing that the company has opportunities in certain areas. They may even say they’ve con sidered leaving. That’s not the point. The point is that you support authentic expres sion and you’re ready to do the work to address their feedback where you can – and that matters.

If you haven’t already, stop posting your sugar-coated posts gushing about how your most attractive “employees” (aka stock image models) love working at your company. Take a step back and read the environment – we’re in a digital age where people can and do speak freely and want to know what they might be in for at work before they sign your offer. Any sniff of a toxic workplace, a lack of support, or that the experience is the opposite of what you’ve been promising can mean disaster for your talent attrac tion and retention efforts. Don’t create a poster for what your brand can be – allow your employees to be the billboard of what you actually are ! 

admit they have work to do, and point to improvements. 5. Don’t hide your failures. There is good and bad in this world – and we can learn a lot from the bad. It’s important not to hide, or pretend you’ve never had an issue (espe cially if it’s very obvious that you have!) It’s okay to have some messages that are negative – your report card may not be perfect and that’s fine. If you have a theme of things you are not doing well from current or former employees, but are sure you’re clear on the path to improvement and help your team talk about what you are ad dressing and what you learned from different experi ences – remem ber, we’re all a work in progress.

will likely not be successful at your organization – and it’s something a lot of companies erful as who you do want to invite to work at your organization. 3. Don’t try to make it picture perfect. Lose the taglines and images of happy, diverse people and silly hashtags. You’ve probably cringed a few times at those and if you have a lot of neg ative employee reviews that can easily be found online, this type of campaign can backfire in a big way. You do not want to become a meme! Stay away don’t say. This story is as pow

About the Author: Jeremy Eskenazi, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CMC is the founder of Riviera Advisors, a boutique talent acquisition optimization consulting firm. Riviera Advisors does not

headhunt, it specializes in recruitment training and strategy consulting, helping global HR lead ers transform how they attract top talent. From best practice recruiting, to improving speed to hire, to candidate experience, Riviera Advisors is a go-to place for strategic talent advisors. For more information, visit RivieraAdvisors.com.

from slick and sales-y, glossy ads that don’t represent the

people who work at your company. You don’t need it to be perfect, you need to be real.

48

istmagazine.com

September 2022