The battle to attract and retain the best talent continues to top the business agenda.  A strong employer brand is a prerequisite just to compete. 

To get a clear picture of your employer brand, you need feedback from those closest to it – your employees. An annual employee survey is a step in the right direction. But best in class organisations have a more regular dialogue with employees. Communication is, after all, a two-way process.

As I explained in an article for HR Magazine, there’s a real business need to go to the next level and assess engagement throughout the employee lifecycle. 

For a number of companies we work with, this has meant implementing surveys for new starters or leavers or running ‘pulse’ surveys at regular intervals.

Such surveys can provide rich data for companies, which can be used to inform strategy:

·         A joiners’ survey can highlight how successful the on-boarding process is – this is a formative time for employees in forming opinions about a company

·         A leavers’ survey will provide clarity around the reasons employees decide to leave, which can be acted on to improve retention

·         Pulse surveys are useful for checking how employees feel about current business issues, and things like change programmes.

Overall, by encouraging more regular dialogue with employees, you will have a much clearer idea of how employees feel, what motivates and engages them and how they like to work. This, in turn, can help you enhance the employer brand and attract and retain the best talent.