Becoming an Employer of Choice

Google and SIA did not become popular employers overnight – they took time to identify factors that attract and retain talent. How do you, as an employer, prepare yourself for the road towards becoming an Employer of Choice?

Ask people to select Employers of Choice (EOC) and you’ll hear brands like Google and Singapore International Airlines (SIA). Unsurprisingly, these names seem to be recurring choices in EOC surveys released by various organisations throughout the years.
 
But other organisations can become EOCs in their respective industries too. In this age where technology and social norms are constantly shifting, organisations need to stay ahead and identify trends to attract their share of talent. This can be accomplished by establishing a good company brand with insights from workforce data, as well as harnessing smart marketing tactics and social media. 
 
According to CareerBuilder Singapore’s Employer of Choice Survey 2015, 86.6% of respondents considered career growth and training opportunities as important factors of an EOC. In addition, 82.7% cited a comfortable work environment and culture as a significant factor, and 81.6% view employee perks as important.
 
The Road to Becoming an EOC 

Employers like Google and SIA didn’t become popular overnight. Instead, they spent considerable amounts of resources identifying factors that attract talents and ensure staff retention. For example, SIA takes care of their engineers by plotting individual career paths, planning overseas training attachments and even offering yearly complimentary flights to their immediate family. This shows the level of commitment the organisation has for every employee.
 
To achieve this, employers first need to look at their internal culture and style of operation. To start, HR departments can conduct internal opinion surveys and focus group sessions. This allows the company to find out how their employees view the company’s culture, and attain key insights about preferred training and staff benefits. Employers can also use these sessions to find out departmental strengths and weaknesses, and other areas of improvement.          
 
Know the People

Once the inside of the organisation has been nurtured, employers can then focus on external branding tactics to showcase their organisation’s benefits. The first channel to do this would be job portals and boards. 
 
In the same EOC survey, CareerBuilder Singapore discovered that 64.5% of jobseekers actively search through job portals like JobsCentral.com for relevant openings. Employers can use this opportunity to showcase their brand by sharing company values, culture and how potential employees would benefit from joining your company in these ads.
 
Organisations should also maintain a social media presence. A significant portion of jobseekers (17.9%) use channels like Facebook and Twitter to search for or share job openings. A further 13.1% follow organisations online to get a sense of the work environment and read what others have to say.
 
These platforms are ideal for organisations to shout about their achievements and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts. You can even showcase activities such as company outings and celebrations.
 
Employers should also harness the social media networks of their existing employees. Staff can act as brand ambassadors by sharing their daily work experiences on social media. This will allow potential candidates to get a sense of the culture and level of happiness within the company. 
 
The road to becoming an EOC is paved with hard work. However, employers can overcome this by identifying their weaknesses and playing up their strengths. This, together with the use of technology, will help employers attract and retain top talent in our competitive labour market.