Most people can look at this photo and automatically guess what company it is. Why, because this company spent lots of time, design, and marketing to ensure their branding efforts would be one that is instantly recognizable in any language or country. In fact most companies put a lot of thought into what their brand design looks like so that it is instantly recognized. Companies will even give their employees free merchandise to wear or carry with their brands logo on it for street credentialing (aka: free advertising). As a company, who doesn’t want free advertising by way of people? The real question for companies is: are you branding your employees or are your employees branding you? You see, companies branding themselves isn’t a new concept but your employees branding the company – that is a new concept!
How are employees branding the company? Do they speak highly of the company that they work for or are they sharing with others how much they dislike the company they work for? Either condition simply put: is an employee branding the company.
So then here’s the thing, companies spend time and effort on marketing their brand/logo but a lot of companies don’t spend lots of time, money, or effort into engaging their employees in a way that is thoughtful and meaningful. You see, it’s one thing to get an employee in the door, yet it’s a whole different game plan to keep that employee engaged in the company itself. Gallup recently reported that 68.5% of US employees are not engaged in their current roles with another 17.5% working to undermine the success of the company they work for. That’s because employee engagement is more than just a coffee mug with the company’s logo and the occasional company outing. Employee engagement is about creating the right atmosphere and the best conditions possible for each employee of the company to want to give their best each and every day. Employees who are engaged are motivated to contribute to the success of the company and believe in the mission, vision, values, and the goals of the company all while still being true to themselves.
How does a company engage an employee consistently? By investing in the employees goals as the employee has invested in the company’s goals. Companies and their managers should always ask employees what their own personal goals are and how they align with the company. Then the manager and employee should work together to devise and create a development plan tailored to the employee. It could be training and development classes the employee wants to take or a project that the employee wants to work on that doesn’t necessarily play to that employees strength but helps the employee to build it. Values, goals, and purpose go a long way when engaging an employee and it also creates accountability.
Next up is communication, communication, and more communication. Why so much communication? Because silence is deadly in a workplace environment as it leaves employees to speculate about how things are going or how they are doing in the company’s eyes. Always keep the communication flowing as a two-way street and not a one-way which is basically detrimental and leads to a dead-end.
Socialization is another stepping stone for a fully engaged employee. Do your employees have a go-to friend, colleague, or mentor at work they can bounce ideals off of or just talk about life in general to? If so, then that is a big step in the right direction for an engaged employee as they are 50% more satisfied at work and several times over engaged in the company. If these types of opportunities don’t exist – then set-up a three (3) to six (6) week cross-training program. This gives employees who are probably not likely to spend much time with each other a chance to do so. And guess what? This also helps to create diversity and inclusion where there may not have been any before.
Then there is recognition. Recognition is more than financial rewards as most of us are aware of by now, although that isn’t a bad place to start. Putting effort into a recognition program that rewards on the companies values, team creativity, leadership, peer-to-peer, or a job-well-done will pay off big time in the long run. It could be a monetary bonus, a day off, a whole week to wear jeans to work, or a trophy the employee or team gets to display in their work-space for a month or so. Recognize your employees with what fits for your company and culture because all employees want to know that what they do for a company truly does matter.
Employee engagement can pay-off huge for a company because now you have engaged employees who brand the company in the most favorable light. Whereas the flip-side of non-engagement are employees that are branding the company as not favorable.
I’ll state it one last time, companies branding themselves isn’t a new concept but your employees branding the company – that is a new concept!