Employee feedback is directly linked to making sure new candidates want to work for your company, which is why it is so important to study trends present in reports such as the State of Employee Feedback This report includes feedback from 300 organizations and shows what struggles companies deal with and the things that are most important to them. This data is highly valuable as companies move forward with their recruitment advertising efforts because targeted recruitment is intelligent recruitment.
According to the report, 34% of the organizations polled found that “communicating HR initiatives company wide” was their HR team’s most daunting challenge. The other items broke out as such:
Communicating HR Initiative Company-Wide – 34.0%
Training Our Team - $26.1%
Proving the ROI of Our HR Initiatives – 25.1%
Identifying the Right Technology for Our Needs – 22.9%
Securing Enough Budget – 22.1%
Hiring Top HR Talent – 16.2%
Finding an Executive Sponsor – 2.4%
While some of the items on this list are harder to remedy, most of them can be solved via the use of inbound recruitment marketing and recruitment microsites and here’s how!
Communicating HR Initiative Company-Wide – 34.0%
Making current employees aware of new initiatives can be difficult. They may not always have the time to look at flyers and some employees may not work in the building. A great way to disseminate this kind of information is by building a recruitment microsite that functions as an employee benefits portal. This portal can be secured so that it can only be accessed by your employees or can be made into a more robust site that nurtures current staff and encourages applications from outsiders.
Training Our Team - $26.1%
Microsites are also a great way to train your employees! You can house video courses and tutorials right there and you can even have them take a quiz to make sure they’ve understood the information. Microsites are easily accessible and allow employees to do assessments on their own time, which can translate to a better engagement rate when it comes to getting feedback.
Proving the ROI of Our HR Initiatives – 25.1%
This is where inbound marketing really shines. I won’t go into the specifics of inbound marketing software, but in the most basic terms, inbound marketing systems allow you to report and view ROI in a very visual way. Platforms that specialize in this sort of marketing are tailor-made to generate specific reports that help upper management understand what sort of recruitment marketing and retention efforts are most effective so that they can maximize their time and money.
Identifying the Right Technology for Our Needs – 22.9%
This one depends largely on how your company functions. If you are like a lot of our clients, you place your trust in recruitment advertising professionals who specialize in understanding technology and the latest advertising methods. No, this specific element may not be easily solved via the two methods mentioned, but letting a recruitment advertising agency assist you is a good choice if you’d like to work fast and smart.
Securing Enough Budget – 22.1%
This is an indirect benefit of inbound marketing. If you need to justify spending money on a specific initiative, bringing reports to the table that outline how similar recruitment efforts have worked is key to securing financing for new ideas.
Hiring Top HR Talent – 16.2%
Top talent is not usually looking for a job in the "active" sense, which is why recruiters often call these people passive candidates. Passive candidates may not respond to a job posting. In fact, they are much more likely to find you via blogs, whitepapers, landing pages et cetera. These are all key elements of inbound marketing, which we recommend using with your recruitment microsite to provide a fully functional candidate experience.
Finding an Executive Sponsor – 2.4%
This one is tough, but luckily it’s not the biggest concern however, finding sponsors is a lot easier when those sponsors know who you are and what your company does! Inbound marketing to a recruitment microsite helps build your employer brand recognition for the long-term. This approach won’t work overnight, but will pay off if you invest.
52% of the employers polled noted that employee engagement is “a year-long initiative with clear accountability.” This type of awareness is key to providing current and future staff with a reason to stay. After all, according to this study many employers are making the following items a priority (ranked by percentage).
Attracting Top Talent – 42.7%
Increasing Employee Engagement – 36.8%
Increasing Productivity / Employee Motivation – 25.8%
Improving Development and Training Opportunities – 24.9%
Reducing Turnover – 24.1%
Improving Company Culture – 21.1%
Implementing / Improving a Talent Management Strategy – 14.7%
Improving Recognition / Employee Appreciation Strategy - 10.2%
Improving Benefits / Pay / Perks – 9.7%
Improving Employees’ Overall Health and Wellbeing – 8.3%
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So what should you do to increase current employee engagement and therefore improve the candidate experience? Top items from this report suggest emails from leadership, all-company meetings, manager and employee 1-on-1s and team / department meetings. All these items are fabulous options to put on your action item list, as they will vastly improve company culture.
