How important are Ex-Employees for Employer Branding?
Nowadays, an employer’s reputation and brand matter more than ever and it has become that powerful, mysterious, and synergistic force — far more than just what you do. Most organizations invest a lot of resources in identifying and selecting the right channels for branding the company while completely ignoring the other kitty pool, your ex-employees. Having realized this, an increasing number of companies are therefore tapping into the potential of their ex-employees who can never be refrained from being your brand ambassador.
Employer brand is what resonates with the essence of your company. It is how you market your company, crafting and aligning those aspirations to the jobseekers and internal employees you’re looking to attract and who are better at improving it than someone who had been your employees in the past.
Advantages — There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for employer branding but ex-employee feedback is a sure-fire way. A good employer branding strategy can help you attract better talent, cut down on hiring costs, boost recruitment efforts and reduce employee turnover.
- Talent hunt — Your reputation as an employer exists in the minds of candidates and employees, and it is shaped by their thoughts and impressions. In today’s labor landscape, finding the best person for the job is paramount, and having your ex-employees promote your employer’s value proposition evokes passion in potential candidates by expressing your company’s positive impact on the world or its deeper purpose and thus, acts as a major asset.
- Business Dev — Your best brand advocates: Your ex-employees. They have the ability to spark buzz around your company, making more people turn around and broadcast their positive experience to other open clients, customers, and stakeholders — further broadening the scope of your employer brand and creating an edge. Just as companies are prioritizing customers to grow their business, they must also focus on their ex-employees in order to ensure continued economic success.
- Company culture — Employees, either present or past spotlights offer more personalized insights into your company culture. They emphasize the aspects of your company that set it apart and spread it across. Helping ex-employees grow holistically even after they leave the organization imprints on the culture that you’re promoting and that is what gets spoken about.
Challenges — Satisfied ex-employees are your loudest speaker box and it’s essential to see the bigger picture as well — A gruntled ex-employee could also be a threat to your company’s reputation.
- Not-so-good Exit Process — There is no point in keeping an employee happy during his tenure and unhappy during his exit. His takeaway memory will be his exit and how badly or well it was handled. If you create a positive and pleasant experience while leaving the organization, the taste of that will remain with the departing employee for much longer. The critical aspect organizations need to keep in mind is to ensure that the exit process is well designed keeping in mind the needs and expectations of such ex-employees and helping in delivering a positive employee experience.
- No importance given and shown to the employee leaving — Employees leaving your company are more than the disposable goods that you think they’re. Treating the ex-employees with respect and gratitude during exit interviews, reflects on your existing employees’ impression of their workplace, helping with retention. The last encounter with your departing employee is what stays on the top of their head when asked about your company or workplace, keep it positive.
Opportunities — Word of mouth publicity from your ex-employees promote stronger workplace culture and better customer service. Of Late, companies have started leveraging the Alumni Community to step up and enhance their employer branding strategy. They’re now investing in long-term mutually beneficial relationships with their employees and are consistently outperforming the organizations that do not. The Corporate Alumni Platform has become a critical component and the tool that they’ve been using to manage and engage this Alumni community, who can provide key benefits to the company including recruitment/referrals, sales, business opportunities, and as brand ambassadors.
Corporates like 1. BCG with a catchy tagline — “Once a BCGer, Always a BCGer” has induced a sense of belonging among their ex-employees and has them speak for the company by showcasing their best memories.
2. Taking pride in preserving lifelong relationships and continuing the journey beyond Bain, Bain and company leveled up their game in employer branding by honoring and flaunting their Alumni achievements.
As the war for branding intensifies, you may want to start preparing yourself for the alumni war. A positive exit experience, Meaningful engagement, Professional growth opportunities, and Networking are what you can offer your ex-employees and that is all that makes a difference. Build an Alumni Platform with all the moving parts and use it as a post-exit helpdesk for all employees leaving the company. Not only does this resolve issues, but also adds benefits to the organization. After all, a better experience gives better feedback and thus better employer branding.
As with all branding, crafting a strong employer brand is about good storytelling. Have your ex-employees tell your compelling story, develop your unique value proposition through them and turn your employer brand into your company’s competitive advantage. A group of internally motivated brand advocates is more valuable than a handful of paid spokespeople, give your ex-employee a positive sense that they always belong and engage them well so that this should be a goal they want to pursue themselves and not a mandated effort.
