When 2020 coronavirus HIT employer branding
#EMPLOYERBRANDING IN A #PANDEMIC
One fine day, almost overnight, all employers were grappling with questions like:
How do you talk about a work that is not happening in a physical setting (office anymore)?
How do you talk about a work experience that is not happening in communities (anymore)?
How do you build a culture when there is no office anymore?
How do you continue to induct new talent and train current talent in a #stayathome economy?
How do you engage employees when they are distant yet experiencing ‘much-needed’ closeness with families?
How do you show solidarity, put people first and allay fears of layoffs during this global lockdown? And still keep them engaged?
How do you broaden the term diversity and inclusiveness to include extended families in the frame?
How do you make corona an opportunity to correct diversity metrics, engagement metrics and retention metrics?
How do you engage and retain employees in a pandemic-hit world …when there is ‘virtually’ no office but ‘virtually’ there is?
3 things changed the game for progressive and responsive employers across the world:
#1 ‘DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE’ SERVED WITH A SIDE OF ‘VOICE + VIDEO-BASED INTERACTION’ became key to attract and engage talent
#2 ‘MOST RESILIENT BUSINESSES’ with a high-performance culture and ‘SOFTER, MORE CARING, INCLUSIVE’ WORK ETHOS helped retain high-performing talent
#3 XR-abled brands, Ai-enabled talent solutions, #hashtag driven employee engagement campaigns came to the rescue of HR managers scrambling to ensure business continuity and maintain employee experience
Other notable #2020 #employerbranding #hr #talent #trends include:
1. Companies with the best innovations and collaborations ruled the talent market
2. Companies who demonstrated care, warmth towards their employees and stayed committed to serve the society all through of 2020 developed a sweet spot in the hearts of talent
3. Companies whose USP was clearly and consistently communicated to its core talent group across all “digital” channels continued to attract talent. Why join, why stay, why perform, why stay, why re-join messaging became critical.
4. Companies with minimal talent loss in 2020, maximum stories of resilience and who are on a growth trajectory in 2021 caught the attention of talent a lot more than their counterparts
5. Companies that continue to support blended work models (remote + gig + onsite) got an extra favor from the talent market
6. Companies that created the right talent infrastructure during the pandemic and yet retained a high-performance culture will continue to score high on employee engagement
7. Companies that demonstrated ‘digital first’ and yet were ‘employee first’ hit the magic spot for talent
8. Soft skills went through a shift — moved from human interaction to voice-based interaction; moved from interpersonal to empathy, collaboration skills
9. Tone and language of talent communications got reset
10. New ways of working and building talent pools were culled out
11. Use of Gaming Apps, VR, XR, AR, Videos etc for recruitment, new employee induction and training’s increased
12. Whatsapp + Microsoft Teams + Workspace + Zoom based collaboration, recruitment drove faster results
13. Online hiring advertisements everywhere; coz talent was mostly online either watching news, social or streaming services
14. A day in the life videos did a complete turnaround — started from home and finished at home only!
15. Interview protocols, design, experience got redefined.
16. Instagram and LinkedIn became top social media channels to engage talent
17. #Hashtag based employee engagement social media campaigns drove maximum results and participation
18. Remote fun activities, check-ins, donuts meetings, pizza party, meet my pets, connect with children of employees, coffee hours, replaced offsites and friday lunches.
19 Office meeting time and scheduled mid-week breaks and early Friday became the new normal
20. Leaves got extended, family care and connect became important
21. Glassdoor saw more negative employer reviews around culture, technology transformation, stagnant processes that slowed down business productivity
