Transforming talent acquisition through the Top Employers Certification Programme

85% of Top Employer organisations agree that the Top Employers Institute Certification creates value for their business, whether it be for their branding, alignment, and benchmarking of HR practices, or connecting with other leaders in HR. When it comes to branding, Top Employers know that the experience of going through a candidate selection process tells a lot more about the organisation than the brand messaging.

At Top Employers Institute, we are always keen to demonstrate the best ways to leverage value from our Certification Programme. Independent and externally verified workforce research, conducted globally among our Top Employers, shows that 85% agree that certification creates value for their business.

It is the branding potential that certification brings with it that is one of the most appreciated benefits. 92% of our Top Employers say they make use of the Certification Seal to attract and/or engage talent.

So how can Top Employers make the most of the opportunity that certification creates in this area?

Recruitment: certification makes a big difference

A great employer brand lies at the heart of any Top Employer’s HR strategy. When it comes to getting the best on board, 70% of those surveyed say they have used the Certification Seal to drive their recruitment process.

Strategic Employer branding can only ever be as good as the impression it makes on potential employees. On this, the results are encouraging. 74% of Top Employers agree that the certification process has improved their positioning as an employer of choice. 

It is easy to see the positive impression that certification makes on external candidates. The noticeable benefits, according to our Top Employers, include:  

  • Enhanced awareness among candidates, with references to the Certification Seal made in interviews. 
  • Recognition of the value of certification among partners, such as universities or employment agencies. 
  • More interest in posted roles, with more clicks and applications made through company careers pages. 
  • A decrease in both the time taken to fill roles and an increase in quality of applicants. 

One Top Employer sums it up well by telling us that the Certification Seal showed potential candidates clearly that “this company is among the best employers in the world”. 

High levels of trust between candidate and potential employer lie at the heart of the value that the Certification Seal brings. As one of our Top Employers told us: “For me … most important is that an external candidate [feels that they] can rely on the certificate.” 

Onboarding and Induction: Reinforcing the bond of trust

A top talent acquisition strategy, crucially, requires this trust to continue well beyond the initial recruitment process. After hiring comes the equally important task of onboarding and induction. A recent survey of 1000 full-time employees for People Management magazine revealed that:

  • 43% admitted to having changed their minds on at least one occasion after accepting a job offer. 
  • 37% put this down to poor or no follow-up, or other bad experiences after the job offer had been made. 

Engagement and Retention: Creating a virtuous circle

The greater branding opportunities for Top Employers from certification through recruitment, onboarding and induction also go on to produce a virtuous circle among existing employees. The independent research conducted for us showed that the use of the Certification Seal helped organisations to:

  • Actively involve current employees as talent brand ambassadors for external candidates
  • Increase the engagement of existing employees made aware of the achievement of certification.
  • Decrease turnover, with employees feeling safe and reassured to work for a certified Top Employer.

Talent acquisition: make it easier with Top Employers institute Certification

Top Employers Institute has guidelines and support for certified best in class employers who want to leverage their talent acquisition strategy further. This includes everything from how to promote the Certification Seal as effectively as possible on the web site, email signatures or social media, through to how best to display them in job ads. Get in touch today for free and become an employer of choice.

People Strategy: from talent management to strategic workforce planning

What do HR leaders need to consider when creating, or recreating, their people strategy?

Leading organisations across the globe are forced to transform rapidly – and continuously – in order to remain purposeful, relevant and stay ahead of competition. This in turn means that the very definition of people strategy is itself evolving at pace. The role of HR leaders is changing too, and the number of challenges they are asked to solve is increasing. Most likely, when answers are found, the questions themselves will change. 

Despite these complexities, it’s worth unpacking the concept of people strategy in terms of definitions, roles and challenges a little better. 

People strategy: three definition that you need to look at

People strategy has a myriad of different definitions – it depends what you read and where you look. Top Employers Institute’s HR experts and auditors propose three broad lense.

1. Invest in talent

Let’s first look at people strategy through an investment lens. In this sense, it is seen as a battles for talents. If an organisation matches its investment in talent to business objectives, it is more likely to get the right people with the right skills focused on the right initiatives. The return on investment that this then creates will drive the business forward and accelerate results.

2. Align hr strategy with business strategy

The second lens defines people strategy in relation to its alignment with business strategy. To think in terms of alignment allows us to ask important questions, such as “What capabilities do we need?” and “Where do we need them?” This simple approach sharpens our understanding of the gaps (or overlaps) in aligning our strategic workforce planning and other HR strategies to the business needs.

Our research shows that 97% Top Employers demonstrate the importance of aligning their people strategy with their business strategy. Yet it is worth noting that only 77% of Top Employers translate their people strategy into key HR metrics and related targets.

3. People strategy is the business strategy

The final lens moves beyond alignment to the complete integration of a people strategy within the business. By this definition, your people strategy IS the business strategy. Here, forward-looking leadership teams explicitly reject thinking about their people as assets.

Rather, it is the employees who are the “investors”: they call the shots and choose to invest their precious time, energy and talent. It is the organisation that needs to work hard to keep them engaged and motivated.

Leadership cannot take their talented employees’ hard work and commitment for granted.

A strategic role for the HR leader 

The definition of people strategy vary greatly across organisations of different shapes and sizes, but research from the Top Employers Institute global survey shows that HR leaders are taking on a more strategic role. In the past, business strategy has been driven largely by the CEO and the CFO. This has been because the twin drivers of organisational success were firmly rooted in strategy and finance. 

Now, however, organisations are increasingly moving from this “Dynamic Duo” to a “Transformative Trio”. According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), the CEO and CFO are being joined more and more regularly by a CHRO who together need “to fuse the strategic, financial and people issues into business strategy”. 

Challenges and priorities in people strategy

To play their full role in the triangular alliance with CEO and CFO, there are four challenges that the CHRO needs to meet:

  1. Being able to look ahead and identify strategic workforce challenges that will come about as a result of the changing business world.
  2. Creating talent supply chains that can support innovation and growth.
  3. Developing the talent management skills of business leaders.
  4. Provide employee insights through greater use of metrics and analytics to show the effectiveness of their people strategy.

Significant data obtained from 1.679 certified Top Employers organisations globally, closely resembles the challenges set out in the HBR. When asked to rank their Top HR priorities the majority of Top Employers indicated:

  1. Supporting cultural and organisational change;
  2. The development of talent strategy;
  3. Leadership development;

And the role of technology in providing metrics and analytics within all HR disciplines is, according to Top Employers Institute research, moving up the priority list for HR leaders as way of underpinning significant  changes in people strategy that we are seeing within so many of our Top Employer organisations. Amid the changing HR landscape, the need and the consequent move towards a broader and more holistic scope of people strategy is obvious.

It is no longer something that only focuses on talent management but encompasses strategic workforce planning to future-proof the skills and capabilities gaps and is supported by concrete metrics and the likes of predictive analytics.

As a result, HR leaders are also expected to devise and execute people strategies that align with the current and future business needs.

Employer of Choice Award: Start your journey to our certification today

Invest in your people strategy, click on the link and get in touch with Top Employers Institute today and become an employer of choice!