Candidates Want to Work At the BEST Companies
(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud. The Workforce Institute at Kronos released the third book in its thought leadership trilogy aimed at developing and retaining a competitive and engaged workforce: It’s All About Bob(bie) – Strategies for Winning With Your Employees. Enjoy the post!)
Simon Sinek, author of the book “Start With Why” says that “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” Totally makes sense. The question is, how do you get employees to love your company? Part of that answer is employee engagement. But the other part is hiring employees who have already started to fall in love with the company.
How can you tell if a candidate is falling in love with your organization? Well the interview goes something like this:
Manager: Why do you want to work here?
Candidate: Well, because you guys have a great culture.
Manager: How do you know that?
Candidate: I read it on Glassdoor.com
Today’s post isn’t a testimonial for Glassdoor.com but instead a testimonial for investing in your employment brand. We’ve talked before about candidates spending time researching companies before they even apply. But that was in the context of having a great career portal, which is still important. The other facet of candidates doing research about organizations before they apply is that no candidate wants to work for the 12th best company.
Candidates want to work for the top company in their field. Or the top employer where they live. Or the best place to work for benefits. Candidates want to work for companies that are a “best” at something. This isn’t a Millennial thing or a Boomer thing. Every candidate wants to apply at the best. Because every employee wants to work for the best.
One of the conversations I found fascinating during KronosWorks 2015 was while I was chatting with Aron Ain, CEO at Kronos Incorporated, about talent in the workplace. While organizational culture and employee engagement have always been important at Kronos and they regularly solicit feedback from their 4000+ employees, in the last two years they have gained a better understanding of the real impact that ratings on sites like Glassdoor have on their recruitment and retention efforts. It prompted them to really pay attention to what people were saying on these social platforms…and take action. Not because he wanted a 97% approval rating as a CEO (which he has and it’s very impressive) but because better hires produce better outcomes. And better outcomes benefit customers and the bottom-line.
https://youtu.be/3xB5Gt_Isrs
Like many other industries, Ain commented that the technology world is changing. It’s not only about delivering great hardware or software. It’s about building customer loyalty and that comes from employees delivering excellent service. It’s important to Kronos that employees are proud of the company, as evidenced by their 90% ranking versus 68% for their competitive set. The Kronos culture is rated higher than the cultures of Netflix, Apple and Google. I asked Ain what he attributes the ratings. He said, “We don’t just care about you as an employee. We care about you as a person.”
The U.S. unemployment rate is 5%. But Ain noted that the unemployment rate for the type of worker they typically hire was 1-2%. The competition for talent is tough and the type of candidate Kronos wants to hire can be choosy, so ensuring the company is a best employer became a strategic goal.
On some level, it sounds so simple. Treat your employees like people and it lifts the whole company up. But a lot goes into that statement. Kronos is committed to offering employee and manager professional development, competitive compensation and benefits, and supporting the communities where their employees live and work. If you want to learn more about the Kronos culture, check out their careers page here.
Becoming a best employer isn’t about the accolades – granted those will come. Becoming a best employer is about a commitment to employees and customers.
0