Your reputation precedes you. And never is that truer than in the staffing industry where reviews and shared information are only a click away.

With a recent instability in employment brought on by Covid and a battered economy, the staffing industry has seen a candidate rich market for the first time in years (although the market is tightening). Plus, there is a changing mindset in employed candidates who are open to considering their options which puts both the active and passive hires into play.

But a deciding factor is often the reputation of the hiring company. One of the biggest obstacles to placing a candidate is a hiring company with a poor reputation. And whether that opinion is based on current culture or simply lingering from the past, perception is reality and can be a roadblock to the best talent. Consider these stats:

• 92% would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation.  (3BL ASSOCIATION)

 

• 50% of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation – even for a pay increase. (BETTER TEAM)

 

• Nearly 80% of Millennials look for people and culture fit with employers, followed by career potential. (INC.COM)

 

ADDRESSING A BAD REPUTATION

If there is a consistent negative message about your culture, you need to face it head on and begin the arduous task of correcting your image. Use these methods to look internally to discover if there is a problem and ways to address it:

 

Conduct Internal Surveys

Gauge how people are feeling about the company through pulse, culture and/or engagement surveys to determine what employees do and do not like. Listen to the feedback and seek to understand the problems.  Because there is already a cause for concern, be more skeptical rather than trying to justify the responses.

 

Reach Out to Past Employees

If you have experienced high turnover, call those who have left within the last year and encourage their honest feedback on the good and bad of working at your company Those who have been gone closer to a full 12 months usually have a less emotional response and are able to offer perspective.

 

Collect and Validate the Feedback

After you have gathered information, communicate to a small group to validate the preliminary findings. Let this group know what you found and make sure everyone is aligned. Use phrases such as “this is what we think we heard” and confirm you have fully understood the feedback from your information gathering.  Follow-up by communicating findings (good and bad) to the company and your plans to make changes.

 

Create Focus Groups for Change

Create focus groups in the particular areas you want to fix.  This “culture group” should meet regularly to set targets, priorities and actions. Move forward with the determined fix and keep a good pulse on how the changes are being received.

 

Stabilize and Reassess

Once you have completed your culture fix, reassess to gauge its success and determine areas that need more attention.

 

Communicate Your Success

Owning the problems and communicating how you were able to fix the issues is a compelling story. Make sure your people are getting out that message and positively impacting the hiring possibilities for the future. Your recent success stories are the proof that you have a company worth betting on.

 

Rich Thompson, an expert on HR, leadership development, culture and operations, is the CEO of XPG Recruit.  He can be found on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/rich18thompson/)