connecting purpose-driven messaging to your employer brand

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Connecting Purpose-Driven Messaging to Your Employer Brand

Gaining a competitive advantage through purpose


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As a provider of recruitment marketing services and expertise for almost 40 years, we know that employer brands connect in different ways to their audiences. In our experience, the most effective employer brands not only capture the attention of individuals on an intellectual or factual level, but on an emotional level as well.

Our insight reveals that in the current marketplace, employer brands that connect emotionally, through meaning and purpose, are attracting candidates who will become the most productive, engaged and loyal employees which, in turn, allows companies to achieve greater business results.

This paper provides evidence for the growing importance of infusing your employer brand with purpose-driven messaging.

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Inside. The Context. Why purpose-driven brand messaging is particularly important now.

Why It’s Powerful. How and why individuals are motivated to seek career meaning.

The Talent Case. What defines purpose-driven workers and why they are so valuable.

The Business Case. The measurable results and competitive advantages that employers can achieve.

What You Can Do. Takeaways and action points to implement your purpose-driven employer brand.


What Is a Purpose-Driven Company?Throughout this position paper, we reference the purpose-driven company. But, what is a purpose-driven company?

We think it’s when a company’s purpose is a core driver of strategy and decision-making. The purpose-driven company rallies its people around a purpose or mission. The purpose-driven company stands for something.

In the past, we might have thought of the purpose-driven company as being tied to a humanitarian purpose like “being green” or corporate sustainability. Today, we think the meaning of that purpose, at least within the context of recruitment, employer brand and internal communications messaging, has evolved.

Thus, we think more broadly about what constitutes purpose-driven messaging. We think of companies like EY. The global professional services firm has undergone a purpose-led transformation culminating in a new organizational, and employer branding, platform: “build a better working world.” EY applies its purpose to engage their people to achieve higher levels of business performance for their clients and themselves. The employer branding implications and opportunities, as showcased by EY’s transformation, are dramatic. In EY’s case, we clearly see that connecting purpose to employer brand makes the employer brand stronger.

Hopefully, this conversation on purpose will challenge, inspire and prompt you to think about your organization’s purpose and its connection to your people and your employer brand, wherever you may be in your purpose-journey.


The Context.

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The availability of qualified candidates in all labor sectors is growing more competitive. Employers are seeking more focused and effective methods to increase their talent success. One current approach, connecting candidates and employees to career meaning, is demonstrating its power to:

• Attract top-performing job candidates and build employee engagement with greater efficiency;

• Endear high-value talent audiences more strongly to organizations;

• Increase employee retention and decrease hiring costs; and

• Improve overall business profitability.

The strategy is to enable job candidates and current employees to connect to career meaning through your employer brand.


Why It’s Powerful.


It is universal: people are always searching for deeper meaning, for a closer sense of “fit” in all aspects of their life. This is especially true when it comes to careers.

Research shows that Millennials (today’s most active hiring audience) are drawn to companies that match their own values, whether this match is found in the products a company produces, the customer it touches, the culture it espouses, the societal commitment to ‘give something back,’ or any combination of these. Baby Boomers and Gen Yers are also valuing meaningful career connectedness. As they age they are changing their priorities and being drawn more strongly to purpose-focused employers.

In short, it is more important than ever for employers to speak to purpose-seeking individuals in their recruiting and engagement practices.

A full 75% of respondents believe their work should have a greater meaning than just bringing home the bacon.

Monster, 2016

High-performing employees want to work for a company that has an identity of sound values, a well-articulated brand, and a reputation for making a difference in customers’ lives.

Gallup

A recent Gallup poll found that 83% of workers said it is “very important” for them to believe their life and work is meaningful and has a purpose.

Gallup


Quick Look• All generations of the workforce are looking to connect in a

deeper, more meaningful way with their employers.

• Candidates’ need for purpose-driven connection to companies is a trend that will grow and continue.

• Individuals will connect when there is alignment between their own values and a company’s values.

• This puts pressure on a company to define and articulate its culture, mission and values through its employer brand.

• Those organizations who do align purpose-driven messaging and their employer brand will stand out in a crowded consumer-driven communications marketplace.

“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread.”

Studs Terkel


The Talent Case.


What Makes Being Purpose-Driven So Valuable?Purpose-driven workers naturally feel a deeper connection with the organization they choose. They feel a stronger sense of belonging and kinship. This sense of purpose can be seen in the workplace in numerous ways. Recent research has found that purpose-driven employees scored higher than non purpose-driven employees on every measure studied.

• 50% are likely to be in leadership positions

• 47% are likely to be active advocates for their company

• They are more likely to stay at their company longer (39% said 3+ years vs. 35% for non purpose-driven respondents)

• They are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs (73% vs. 64% for non purpose-driven professionals)

Workforce Purpose Index, 2015


Finding Purpose-Driven Individuals.The search for meaningful careers is not only found domestically, it is a global phenomenon. Therefore, companies who value and seek purpose-driven job candidates and employees have an international landscape at their disposal.

• 40% of the surveyed U.S. workforce was identified as purpose-driven or seeking. (That was more than the global average of 37%.)

• Europe also fosters a solid population of purpose-oriented candidates (Sweden: 53% identified as purpose-driven. Germany and the Netherlands, 50%. Belgium, 49%. Poland, 48%.)

Source: Workforce Purpose Index, 2015

Purpose-driven employees bring many positive influences to the workplace. In addition to being highly productive, they serve as internal and external change-makers that enhance workplace culture and customer perceptions.

22% of all employees would

consider leaving their employer because

they no longer believe in the company’s

mission and values.

Source: iCIMS, 2016


Quick Look• Purpose-driven individuals make up a large part of the workplace

population and are found both domestically and internationally.

• Purpose-driven employees are usually leaders, are active company advocates, stay longer at their company, and are more satisfied with their careers.

In addition to employment advantages, purpose-driven individuals contribute more to the bottom-line success of their employers, making a strong business case for their hiring and development.

A company’s culture & values ranked 1st for attracting purpose-driven candidates. Mission and vision ranked next, followed by a company’s products and services.

Source: Workforce Purpose Index, 2015


The Business Case.


The most successful companies place a premium on their talent: hiring the right people, developing them, giving them a voice, expanding their roles, rewarding them and retaining them. This talent focus pays dividends, especially when it is applied to the purpose-driven individual.

The Purpose-Driven Employee; Greater Loyalty, Lower Labor Costs.As stated earlier, the purpose-driven employee typically stays longer at a company because they are more fully engaged in their work, they believe strongly in the company’s mission and values, and because they feel a sense of “home.” This increased loyalty leads to lower voluntary turnover, which can manifest itself in various ways across an employer’s organization. These include lower labor costs for new hiring, training and ongoing retention.

In 2013, a little over 2 million Americans a month voluntarily quit their jobs. That number topped 3 million in the last month of 2015.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016


Voluntary turnover is a real and persistent issue for many companies. It can erode an organization’s culture, its daily operations and fiscal outlook. Replacement costs can rise. Institutional memory is lost. Knowledge is not passed down and productivity suffers.

Companies that successfully communicate and attract purpose-driven employees tend to have less voluntary turnover, which contributes to better bottom-line results.

Studies estimate that the average cost of turnover is 90% to 200% of the exiting employee’s base salary, and 12% of an average company’s operating budget.

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Saratoga Institute, 2006


The Purpose-Driven Worker and an Organization’s Overall Profit Picture.Our analysis of industry research shows that when a company’s mission or purpose makes employees feel their job is meaningful, they are more likely to be engaged, and ultimately perform at higher levels. A recent Gallup poll revealed that businesses ranked near the top for employee engagement achieved 5% to 15% higher profitability than the norm.

A study by Ernst & Young Bacon Institute and Harvard University showed that companies whose culture and operations were led by purpose are more likely to be profitable:

• 58% of companies with a clearly defined and understood purpose experienced growth of 10% or more. Only 42% of companies not prioritizing purpose experienced a similar growth rate.

• This study also found that 42% of non-purpose led companies showed a drop in revenue while 85% of purpose-led companies showed positive growth.

Given the constructive impact that purpose-driven workers bring to companies, our recommendation is clear: Employers should make a concerted effort to connect purpose-driven individuals to their employer brand.


Quick LookPurpose-driven workers positively impact a company’s bottom line:

• The company experiences less turnover as purpose-driven employees want to stay and contribute. Less turnover reduces recruitment expenditures in not having to hire and retrain talent.

• The company will reap the benefit of lower expenditures on new hiring because of the attraction that purpose-driven employer brands create as well as increased employee referrals.

• The company will increase employee engagement which in turn increases productivity and results in stronger profit performance.

Now that we’ve shown how valuable the purpose-driven personality is, the next step is to implement strategies and steps to find and nurture these candidates.


What You Can Do.


Communicate Your Values and Mission Through All Employment Touchpoints. After they have defined and articulated their company’s values, mission and workplace culture, high performing companies use those messages of purpose and career meaning throughout the employment lifecycle. We advise you not to “silo” your messaging only to the candidate attraction phase, but to apply it through all stages of the employment-engagement lifecycle.

• Think like a brand manager. Use advertising principles and practices – including employer branded copywriting and creative imagery – to project an engaging narrative.

• Also apply your purpose-based communications after recruitment to your:

- on-boarding communications - retention programs - mentoring and team-building programs - leadership communications - learning and development initiatives - ongoing newsletters and other HR communications

Defining your validated value messaging and infusing it into your employer brand creates better brand alignment — which leads to better candidate fit and more engaged employees.


Use Validated Messaging When Building Your Purpose-Focused Employer Brand.

One of our most important recommendations involves the use of validated messages in your purpose-driven employer branding. What you espouse in your brand must be more than lip service. It must be real and provable. Validated messaging builds stronger institutional trust; demonstrating that you can and will deliver on your employment promises. Some samples of validated messaging include:

• Authentic stories from your employees, leadership and customers and as told by them.

• Employee or company experiences with new product developments and launches, successful “team wins,” personal achievements as well as giving back moments like community development and charity involvement.

• Factual findings from questionnaires, employee interviews, customer surveys and the like.

Remember, when communicating purpose-driven messaging, authenticity counts.

Authenticity is the new paradigm.


Hone Your Purpose-Based Communication Style. It’s particularly important, when transitioning to purpose-based messaging, to work on and hone the right communication style. Among the ways to do this, we recommend:

• Becoming an active listener and being open to the principles of “all-way” communication.

• Using “Having employees for life” messaging that can be found in the promise and attributes of your employer brand.

• Featuring “A day in the life” storytelling from employees.

• Positioning your company and its opportunities as a new adventure … as a new path that can impact both personal life and career.


Emulate Cultures That Are Like The Best Companies to Work For®.

Define your company’s purpose and connect people to it. Leaders and managers should clearly define the overarching purpose of their company in the world, and just as importantly, connect it to every employee.

Trust and empower employees to do their jobs.

More and more CEOs of highly evolved workplaces are incorporating openness, transparency and employee empowerment into their employment cultures.

Make your workplace a community.

The 2016 rankings of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® showed that nearly 9 in 10 employees report “there is a family or team feeling here.”

Foster a workplace that focuses on talent well-being.

The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® has been surveying and ranking workplaces of all sizes around the globe for 30 years. Findings reveal that all great workplaces have elements in common. They are a place where employees:

• Trust the people they work for

• Have pride in the work they do

• Enjoy the people they work with

Recognize employee contributions.

Whether it’s a birthday, a personal note of thanks, a shout-out at a staff meeting or an anniversary celebration, the recognition and appreciation of employees is important to the understanding that they make a difference to the company.


Wrapping It Up.There are compelling talent, work culture and financial reasons for building a connection between purpose-driven messages and your employer brand. People – your current and future employees – are eager to connect to deeper meaning in their work. The good news is that when employees do connect with a purpose, it pays off.

Learn More.The David Group is HR’s ad agency. We are experts in recruitment, retention and workforce communications focused on helping employers find, attract, engage and retain talent. Our promise: an unrelenting focus on improving talent acquisition, talent communications and candidate quality.

Contact N. Robert Johnson Practice Leader | Workforce Communications 800.686.1818, extension 4486 | 216.685.4486 (direct) [email protected]

In business, as in life, all that matters is that you do something positive.- Sir Richard Branson


Sources2016 Global Report, LinkedIn and Imperative, 2016

2015 Workforce Purpose Index, Imperative, 2015

American Time Use Study, United States Bureau of Labor, 2015

Driving the Bottom Line, Pricewaterhousecoopers Saratoga Institute, 2006

Majority of U.S. Employees Not Engaged Despite Gains, Gallup, 2014

EY

EY Bacon Institute and Harvard University

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®

Gallup

iCIMS

Sir Richard Branson

Studs Terkel

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics