For a Strong Employer Brand, Close the Candidate-to-Employee Experience Gap for Seasonal Hires
Having a strong employer brand will help with your recruiting efforts, but what is the most effective way to build this up, while still yielding productivity benefits?
Where has the year gone? We can already hear the jingling of silver bells in the distance, and is that Christmas pudding on those retail shelves?
With the festive season accounting for almost 16 percent of annual sales for many retailers in Australia, and 20 percent in the US, this is a make-or-break occasion.
Like so many busy elves working behind the scenes, buyers are evaluating trends to meet this year’s demand and, in the head office, the pressure is mounting for HRDs to make sure each store gets their share of those all-important, seasonal staff.
But finding good quality seasonal staff is harder than ever before, thanks to low unemployment numbers. To improve the effectiveness of their recruiting process, many employers are using referral programs to find new hires during peak hiring periods, then combining this with incentives like increased wages and benefits.
But incentives only go so far – the one factor that will have talented recruits flocking to you is your employer brand.
How consistent candidate-to-employee experiences impact your employer brand
If your goal is to improve your employer brand on word-of-mouth networks, and boost your ability to close the deal on great new talent in the future, the single most effective tactic you should focus on is to smooth out your candidate-to-employee transition.
A seasonal hire that has joined your organization thanks to an awesome candidate experience, only to be let down by an impersonal, opaque or inept employee experience will not be keeping that disappointment to themselves.
Conversely, that talented seasonal employee who has had their emotional momentum consistently maintained from their candidate experience through to pre-boarding, onboarding and beyond, will be more likely to return, and recommend your company as a place to work to their similarly talented peers.
Consistent candidate-to-employee experiences deliver operational improvements
Ensuring a seamless and consistent experience for a new hire as they transition from candidate to employee has immediate operational benefits, while moving the bar in terms of both talent acquisition and retention.
Research tells us that 51% of employees say they’d go “above and beyond” if they were given a good induction and onboarding, with another 33% ‘maybe’ doing the same.
Higher employee engagement levels are also linked to a range of positive business outcomes, including 41% less absenteeism, and 17% higher productivity, helping ensure they’re the best representative of your brand during the festive season.
Efficiently executing engaging employee experiences
There are three main challenges associated with building awesome and consistent candidate-and-employee experiences for seasonal hires:
- Volume: OK, we get it, there are just so many short-term hires! How can you foster a sense of teamwork, and deliver highly engaging, personalised employee experiences efficiently and scalably?
- Busy managers: 70% of the variation in employee experience can be traced back to their direct manager, but managers and senior staff are probably snowed under at this time too: so how do you educate them to deliver better employee experiences?
- Speed: because seasonal hires are only with your organization for a short time, it’s important to make their learning experience highly engaging so they can absorb the required knowledge quickly
To find out how to overcome these challenges, join Enboarder, Xref and Lee Robinson from Michael Hill for a free webinar, which you can watch right now!
Our panel of experts will discuss the importance of providing a seamless transition throughout the employee lifecycle and the impact a consistent experience will have on your employer brand, while Lee will share his first-hand experiences of the hiring challenges in the retail industry.
