Here are few quick tips to consider as you gauge the temperature of your culture and how potential employees view your organization.
1. Internal Surveying
Keep it sweet, keep it simple. Tools like Survey Monkey will allow simple surveying for free, or at a low cost if you’re looking for more in-depth research, but at the most basic level, an internal survey should be brief and to the point. Consider using questions like:
- On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate …
- Your happiness at work?
- Your work-life balance?
- Your satisfaction with our benefits package?
- Your satisfaction with other work perks?
- Your comfort level with giving feedback to your supervisor?
- Advancement opportunities?
- Recognition for accomplishments at work?
- Continuing education opportunities?
- The executive team’s contribution to a positive work culture?
- Do you have fun at work?
- What three words would you use to describe our culture?
2. Establish a Separate Budget
If it feels like internal branding projects always fall to the back burner, make it priority to keep such projects top-of-mind by devoting specific and protected dollars to the cause. The budget can be set as a percentage of the overall marketing budget or an allocation by headcount. How you invest in your internal brand will vary by organization, but common buckets include incentives, recognition programs, continuing education, events and recruiting packages. By setting an intention at budget time to finance internal branding, you’ll be more likely to prioritize it as the year goes on.
3. Communication Audit
How are employees learning about changes in the organization? Now, more than ever, shifts in the healthcare world happen daily, if not hourly, and changes due to pandemic swings are critical. Whether the main communication channels consist of e-tools like intranet or emails, or in-person initiatives like formal meetings or casual huddles, poll employees to find out what tools are most effective. And be sure to consider frequency, too. Some tools may be okay to distribute daily, while others like newsletters, can be distributed less often. You may even have a communication device that is only deployed for emergency communication, like text alerts. No matter the type or frequency, be sure it’s working for your organization.
4. Measure the Effectiveness
Keep a steady pulse on the efforts and time spent on employer branding. Measuring satisfaction, understanding of the brand attributes, if the values are actively displayed in a typical workday, and even monitoring customer morale will help tell the story. Check in on patient satisfaction metrics, and see what you can learn from their interaction with staff. Oftentimes those surveys will reveal opportunities to improve culture and where training may be needed.
5. Who is in Charge?
While external branding naturally falls to marketing, should internal branding fall to that department as well? Maybe! Leadership should fall to a senior level individual or team who has the ability to impact change across a large portion of the organization. No matter who leads the effort, marketing, executive leadership, HR, or even a team of ambassadors, everyone has to “walk the walk.” Ensure that internal branding happens by writing it into a job description or formalizing the goals. Empower and reward that leader for their efforts, and show appreciation for their hard work and dedication to the cause.
