With the Great Resignation underway, all eyes are on employer brand professionals, who are facing more pressures — and accessing more company resources — than ever before.

As you navigate this increasingly competitive landscape, it’s essential to stay abreast of trends in the marketplace. With that in mind, we’re sharing the top employer brand initiatives we’re seeing companies invest in for 2022.

1. Employee Value Proposition Customization

In such a competitive marketplace, targeted messaging is key to the success of any employer branding initiative. Organizations are using their global employee value proposition (EVP) as a starting point to create more refined EVPs honed for the needs of individual geographic and functional groups.

Organizations embarking on such customizations have already done the work of investing in comprehensive EVPs that are robust enough to support the flexibility and breadth required to cater to each group. Customization projects rely on a deep understanding of an organization’s core values and differentiators, as well as a textured examination of candidate preferences and needs in the targeted functional specialty or region.

2. Internal EVP Activation and Amplification

Many organizations spent a portion of 2021 refreshing or even overhauling their EVPs. Now, their attention is turning to internal activation and amplification of that messaging.

First, they are onboarding their leadership — educating them about the changes and how they should expect to put them into action at the departmental level.

Then, they are launching wide-ranging internal communications campaigns to make sure employees understand the reasons to stay and what concrete initiatives they can expect in support of that value framework. These campaigns often include executive town halls, emails to employees, training materials, intranet overhauls, and refreshed graphic design elements.

In addition, many companies are taking innovative approaches to gathering and showcasing employee stories. Remote work and mask-wearing can make photo and video campaigns difficult, but a number of expert visual storytellers have found new ways to tackle those challenges.

As organizations fix their sights on inspiring a Great Retention, leaders are working to bring employee experience and company culture more fully into line with at-times-aspirational EVPs. This is especially challenging because the transition to hybrid and remote work in many organizations has left employees feeling less connected, which has made it difficult to boost engagement.

Companies are putting renewed focus into making sure leaders have fully integrated the company’s values and employer branding messaging into interactions with their teams. They’re also investing in experiences and initiatives that turn EVP concepts into tangible realities. This approach is particularly important right now, when workers are more invested than ever in finding a positive work environment where they can impact the world through their work.

4. Deepening DEI Initiatives

Even after many months of invigorated focus on DEI initiatives, organizational leaders are afraid of the possibility of making major mistakes when it comes to DEI. Many are inviting outside experts to perform DEIB audits meant to uncover areas of opportunity for improved perceptions as well as possible pathways to better outcomes.

Often, these organizations are looking for ways to clarify the mandate and boost the performance of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and DEI councils. The employees who make up these groups are usually invested in change but may not have the level of experience necessary to create maximum impact.

In addition, organizations are working to define strategies that create measurable outcomes and that will be seen as more than just words. In support of that, they are investing in communications initiatives to spread the word about DEI initiatives to internal and external stakeholders — including current staff and future candidates.

5. Recruitment Marketing Acceleration

From big tech to supply chain, almost every industry is grappling with current or anticipated shortages of both salaried and hourly workers. For many businesses, recovery from the pandemic hinges on their ability to hire and retain enough employees to power growth initiatives.

Given this challenging landscape, companies of every stripe are deepening and expanding recruitment marketing initiatives at breakneck speeds. Many are investing in a wide assortment of recruitment tactics, including paid media, social media, career site overhauls and refreshed job descriptions.

Many organizations are also upgrading their digital ecosystems to enable cross-functional collaboration across recruitment, hiring and retention processes. In this landscape, it’s essential that recruitment tools, applicant tracking systems and internal activation technologies be able to work together to support a unified strategy.

Blu Ivy Group is a global leader in employer branding, organizational culture, and recruitment marketing. We help organizations across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors build extraordinary employee experiences, magnetic employer brands and high-performance cultures.

From C-Suite to Employer Brand and Talent Acquisition leadership, we partner with our clients to transform their organizations and design the most compelling workplaces of the future.

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Top Initiatives Employer Brand Professionals Are Planning for 2022