Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 2, 2017 FEATURES 15 EmploymentSource™ Works as hard for you as you do for your clients Our premier employment content on WestlawNext® Canada is integrated with relevant case law, legislation, expert commentary and legal memos, allowing you to manage your practice in the most efficient way possible. It's the complete mix of resources you need to confidently advise on compliance, defend occupational and health and safety charges, or prepare successful dismissal or termination strategies. Search across multiple content types simultaneously Instantly evaluate what a claim is worth with the Wrongful Dismissal Quantum Service, an interactive service with report-building functionality Review exclusive commentary by Canada's foremost employment and occupational health and safety law experts Start ahead − and stay ahead − with our exclusive collection of legal memoranda Keep current with two leading employment and dismissal law newsletters and digests For a free demonstration, call 1-866-609-5811 or visit westlawnextcanada.com/employmentsource 00233WZ-52632 EMPLOYER RATINGS Employer rating sites: Why they matter To create a strong internal brand, employers need to treat employees as customers by giving employee reviews the same weight By Lukas Pesa P rofessional communica- tion is undergoing a shift. With tech-savvy millenni- als beginning to work their way into management positions, new communication apps constantly being developed, and social me- dia continuing to reshape how employees communicate inter- nally, the business world has be- come more connected than ever. In being connected, employees and managers are more capable of sharing their opinions with a broad audience. This includes their thoughts on current and former employers. Just like con- sumers can rate their experiences with vendors through sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor, former and current employees can rate their work experiences through sites such as Workopolis and Glassdoor. With employer rating sites at- tracting millions of users each month, employers should be con- cerned about employee reviews and the impact they may have on an internal and external employer brand, as well as the bottom line. External branding Not surprisingly, companies with poorly rated reputations online have a more difficult time attract- ing new talent. Almost 50 per cent of jobseekers said they consider employer reviews on Glassdoor in their job search while 60 per cent said they would not even ap- ply to a company with a one-out- of-five-star rating, according to a 2014 survey of 4,633 respondents in the United States by software recruiting firm Software Advice. Though savvy jobseekers are able to separate the valid reviews from the reviews of disgruntled former employees, everything that is written about an organization online affects its external brand, both with potential employees and customers, who increasingly make buying decisions influenced by company values and ethics. ink about how a consumer- facing company releases a new marketing campaign or prod- uct. e language and modes of communication are thoroughly analyzed in the planning stages to assess what impact the campaign will have on the brand. How a brand communicates with stake- holders is critical to how it is per- ceived in the market. In a similar light, how a brand interacts with its employees will be critical to how the employees, present or past, reflect the brand's values in the social media market- place — but this is rarely analyzed or thoroughly planned by em- ployers, along with measuring the impact. Internal branding Poor employer ratings also im- pact an internal brand, putting existing employees' engagement and commitment at risk. Both of these have measurable costs for the organization, as quantified in the 2016 report Business Case for a High-Trust Culture by Great Place to Work. Poor employer ratings typically signify low levels of workplace trust, and the link between trust and engagement has been well- established. Ninety-six per cent of engaged employees trust man- agement, compared to only 46 per cent of disengaged employees, ac- cording to the report. is disen- gagement costs companies about $500 billion annually. Employers lose more than mo- rale when employees withhold their talents, creativity, energy and passion — they lose produc- tivity, profitability, innovation and their competitive edge. Research also shows that high- trust workplace cultures, typically associated with higher employer ratings, experience less than half the voluntary turnover of their in- dustry peers. Turnover costs are estimated at 12 per cent of pre-tax income for the average company, cutting directly into profits, says the report. To create a strong internal brand, employers need to evolve to treat employees as customers by giving employee reviews the same weight as customer reviews. Valuable insights Perhaps the most valuable take- away from employer reviews is the insight they provide into the em- ployee experience. ough not all employer review sites follow a sci- entific methodology or rigid sta- tistical protocols, employers can glean critical insights from what current and previous employees are saying, beyond the traditional exit interviews. While employer reviews may present only part of the story, there are steps employers can take to use this insight to improve their workplace culture: Conduct an employee experi- ence audit: Audit and articulate all materials and development stages that employees go through at the organization during the on- boarding process, and figure out what is missing or what can be improved. Establish goals for the em- ployer brand: Measure the number of employees who have left your organization in the past six months based on the current employee experience in place. After understanding the areas employees have identified as points of weakness, setting goals and parameters to work towards that will enhance the employee experience, reduce turnover and improve online employer ratings. Measure success: After setting out a plan for how you expect to improve the employer brand, track the progress of the organiza- tion's improvement by retention rate and employer ratings that are added to your online profile after the organizational changes have been implemented. Impacting the bottom line e natural motivation behind any business activity is the effect it has on profits of the organization. A high level of workplace trust is pivotal to capitalizing on the max- imum market share and optimiz- ing innovation and production. High-trust workplace cultures are associated with many benefits, ac- cording to Business Case for High- Trust Culture, including: • stock market returns two to three times greater than the mar- ket average • turnover rates that are 50 per cent lower than industry competitors • increased levels of innovation, customer and patient satisfac- tion, employee engagement, or- ganizational agility. An organization must work towards and maintain a high- trust culture to reduce turnover and increase productivity. And a strong employer brand is a critical component of this, since a bad re- view from an unhappy employee is more likely to be published than a positive review from a happy employee. An employer must be aware of the messages being cir- culated that impact its reputation, or run the risk of missing out on great prospective talent. How closely does your organi- zation audit and monitor the on- line employer brand dictated by employer rating sites? Consumer brands have ex- tremely comprehensive processes when designing, monitoring and disseminating a brand to con- sumers. ere is rarely a market- ing campaign or a product launch by any organization that is not discussed comprehensively to in- terpret how the product or service will affect the brand equity of the organization. And with the constantly evolv- ing methods of communication that shape and disrupt business, employees are capable of impact- ing an employer brand more than ever. Curate your employer brand wisely. Lukas Pesa is a business and client content specialist at Great Place to Work Canada in Toronto. For more information, visit www.greatplace towork.ca or www.linkedin.com/ company/2472266. Credit: Alexander Lysenko (Shutterstock) Workers are capable of impacting an employer brand more than ever before.

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