How to share positive corporate culture with candidates

Author: storiesincorporated Published on: March 15, 2022 Published in: Blog Posts

Reading Time: 7 minutes

To say that creating a healthy corporate culture is important is a major understatement. Recent research published in an article by MIT, Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation*, used data to prove what we already know: toxic corporate culture is by far the strongest predictor of industry-adjusted attrition.

We know building a healthy and vibrant culture is the hard part. But once your culture is in progress, don’t miss the opportunity to promote it to your candidates, partners, clients and anyone else who cares about your company.

As company culture stewards and students, we love uncovering companies investing in healthy cultures and creating unique programs. But as marketers, we hate when great cultures exist as “hidden gems.” Candidates need to know about you! You must market your unique culture.

If you’re looking for how to share your positive corporate culture candidates, here are a few cultural trends that you should be talking about publicly and promoting:

1. Your team members choose where and how they work

Recent studies** reveal that the majority of employees want flexibility and the option to decide where they’ll work

68 percent believe a hybrid workplace model is ideal.
70 percent of workers want flexible remote work options to continue in the post-COVID workplace
42 percent of current remote workers surveyed said that if their current company does not continue to offer remote work options long term, they will look for a job at a company that does

If your company allows employee choice and control in where they work this is majorly attractive to candidates. Communicate this to job seekers leaving workplaces that have made decisions to return 100 percent in-person, or only offer a virtual option. Extreme flexibility, hybrid work and employee choice are major cultural advantages that you must show candidates.

2. Your company has big, audacious diversity goals

The analysis that accompanied MIT’s research found that leading factors in toxic cultures include failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; workers feeling disrespected; and unethical behavior.

So if your company has made public pledges to increase diversity and inclusion, share that far and wide. For example, Dell Technologies made a commitment to have gender parity in global employment and leadership by 2030. To prove this claim, we uncovered stories that showed that Dell Technologies has the support in place to create a place where women can thrive.

In this video, they share their big goals. Then, we proved the progress and seriousness of the commitment by including stories of how women employees around the world have been supported in their career and personal lives. That shows women candidates that Dell Technologies is ready for them, and serious about creating a place where they can thrive.

Check out more great diversity and inclusion videos.

3. Employees are regularly recognized, rewarded, and in the spotlight

Cultures that show appreciation for team members through rewards and recognition retain current employees and are attractive to candidates. If this is something your company excels in, push your programs forward so candidates understand there’s a systematic way to reward and recognize, as well as a general culture of genuine appreciation and gratefulness.

Employee Spotlights by Stories Inc. not only help you capture great employee stories — the process and resulting content serves as a valuable employee recognition program. And, spotlighting the achievements of current team members speaks volumes to candidates. You can recognize both teams and individual achievements through employee storytelling.

4. Boomerang employees are built into your culture

More and more, employees are boomeranging back to managers, cultures, and companies they left. When employees return to your workplace, they prove your employer brand is strong enough to attract its employees twice. It’s time to build boomerangs back into your talent attraction and recruiting strategy.

5. You offer untraditional work weeks

Candidates aren’t going to see an unlimited vacation policy as revolutionary. However, if you’re championing progressive practices like a four-day work week or alternate Fridays off, that’s going to get candidates attention. Here’s how Stories Inc. has done it and how other companies are doing it, too.

6. You have creative sabbatical and PTO policies

Some companies are offering to pay for two weeks PTO… before you even start! That’s quite a benefit, but the investment is worth it: it ensures new team members are ready and refreshed for the challenges ahead. We also know the first few months at a new company are critical to retention. That’s when candidates are deciding whether to stay with you for two months, two years or twenty.

And, if your company offers an interesting sabbatical program, you’ve got to share what that looks like with candidates as well. ou’re offering something more than standard vacation, your candidates need to know it.

7. You’re reframing employee screening and onboarding

If your company has best-in-class candidate screening and new hire onboarding practices let candidates know. For instance, at Stories Inc. we share with candidates our new take on the reference check. We use the chance to learn from previous managers how the candidate has thrived in previous work cultures, on specific projects, and within different reporting relationships. The goal: recreating what has worked for them in the past as much as possible for maximum happiness and job satisfaction.