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The Best Employee Stories: 2023 Stories of the Year

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To wrap up 2023, Stories Inc. celebrated some of the best employee stories we uncovered throughout the year and the talent brand best practices they teach us. To catch future campaigns like this in real time, follow along on our LinkedIn channel!

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From communicating hybrid work to celebrating essential workers, 2023 marked for many companies a fresh start after years of uncertainty due to the pandemic. And, the best employee stories followed suit: top themes included refreshed company culture videos, progress towards DEI commitments, and embracing a new world of work. 

Without further ado, let’s unveil our 2023 Stories of the Year! 

Stellantis: Honoring the People Behind the Vehicles

In the face of historic labor shortages, it’s more important than ever for manufacturing companies to differentiate themselves from the competition. By bringing specific careers to life, you show talent why they should choose you — and employees why they should stay. 

We picked this story of the year because Stellantis went big on celebrating their manufacturing workforce. 31 videos later, their Meet the Makers series is a celebration of the people behind their iconic vehicles and the careers they’ve built. 

In Michael Vasily’s spotlight video below, he reflects on his 30+ career at the company. In addition to earning his reputation as a “case line guru,” he reflects on the many career opportunities he’s had over the years working for Stellantis, including traveling the world. 

Along with the rest of the series, the video combines stunning visuals and the right music to capture the vibe of the manufacturing floor.

Michael Vasily’s story highlighting his 30+ years working on the manufacturing floor with Stellantis.

You can watch the full series on Stellantis’ YouTube channel.

Demonware: “What are you most proud of?

This is a question we ask every storyteller, and for good reason: “Favorite projects” give insight into what success looks like at your company and what it takes to get there. Often, these stories pierce to the core of what is unique about working at your organization.

In one of the best employee stories of the year, the gaming company Demonware weaves together three different team members’ responses to this question. By compiling these stories of pride, the viewer learns about: 

  • Mind-boggling challenges of scale required to launch a game that will simultaneously be downloaded by millions
  • Cutting edge technical innovation, like implementing cross-play for the globally beloved franchise Call of Duty
  • Meaningful work that comes with creating something that brings community and joy to many when they need it most 

 

Stories Inc: Celebrating Unique Benefits

If your organization has a beloved and unique benefit, it’s easy to find compelling employee stories. When a policy has impacted employees’ lives in a positive way, they want to shout it from the rooftops!

For example, we love our four day work week here at Stories Inc. And, this benefit has grown tremendously in popularity around the world: In a pilot study launched earlier this year by 4 Day Week – Global, 33 businesses piloted a four day workweek, and none of them are going back to a 5 day model.

To normalize this benefit externally and encourage participation internally, this past summer we created mini day-in-the-life videos featuring Stories team members on their Friday off. Watch one story below, and see the full series here!

Stories Inc. team member Abeni shares how she spent one Friday off, made possible by Stories’ four day work week policy.

Dell Technologies: Aligning Employer and Consumer Brands

Our next Story of the Year celebrates Dell Technologies for their use of employee images and quotes in their annual ESG Report that is released to investors, customers, employees, and other key stakeholders each year.

By aligning their employer and consumer-facing brands, Dell Technologies connects their people and unique culture to their ability to impact important company initiatives around DEI, sustainability, and ultimately achieving their mission of harnessing the power of technology to drive human progress.

Below are just a few examples of how employee images and quotes are used in the Cultivating Inclusion section of the report. See the full report for yourself here.

Dropbox: Highlighting Women in Leadership

When it comes to recruitment marketing content, candidates want to see and hear from employees who remind them of themselves, being successful at your company. See it, be it.

We love Sheila Wakida’s story at Dropbox because it highlights the attributes that have made her a successful technology leader:

  • Thriving in ambiguity
  • Seizing opportunities with confidence
  • Learning from and maximizing her network within the company

…supported by examples from her real career, of course!

Stories Inc: Activating Employees and Leaders on LinkedIn

We predict that activating leaders & employee ambassadors on LinkedIn will be an essential marketing activity in 2024…and we have the 2023 data to prove why!

This past summer, our Stories Inc. team ran an experiment: if four members of our team posted regularly to their personal channels, how would they perform compared to branded posts? After five weeks, we compared employee-shared posts to branded posts over the same time period. We found that employee posts averaged: 

  • 3.5X more impressions
  • 3X more reactions 
  • 2X more comment

…the impact was even more dramatic when we looked specifically at leader-shared posts vs. branded posts (swipe to slide 7 for the numbers).

While our resource-sharing on the Stories Inc. channel isn’t slowing down anytime soon, this experiment taught us the power of employee advocacy to expand our reach, create more authentic engagement, and empower our colleagues.

Colgate-Palmolive: Bringing Your Inclusive Culture to Life

A truly inclusive culture doesn’t treat DEI as one broad brush stroke. It understands that every team member brings their unique perspective to the organization and meets them where they are.

In this Story of the Year from Colgate-Palmolive, they honor the distinct experiences of various employee groups across the company. We hear about:

  • Colgate Palmolive’s commitment to nurturing diverse pipelines and how team members like Chelsea are excelling because of them. 
  • Employee Resource Groups, such as the Colgate Ability Network, that have created a sense of belonging for team members like Jeffrey
  • The power of inclusive events, such as the Pride flag raising ceremony, to foster inclusion for team members such as Nicholas. 

 

DCU: Communicating Hybrid and Remote Work

If your company has made a decision on in-person, remote and hybrid work, communicating clear expectations around where and how work happens is the best way to build trust and drive employee engagement. 

We love this story from DCU because it features tons of specific information about what hybrid and remote work looks like at the financial services company. Viewers learn: 

  • How (and why) work schedules can vary from team-to-team and position-to-position
  • How flexible work schedules have improved employee well-being
  • Real examples of how relationships are strengthened while working remotely

Dropbox: Technology Interview Prep Series

We love when culture content can be used throughout the entire candidate lifecycle (and beyond!). Especially in the bottom of the funnel, where converting the right candidate directly impacts your quality of hire and overall team performance.

The technology company Dropbox developed a bottom-of-funnel campaign to engage candidates as they prepare for the interviews.

Smart: Dropbox wanted to create a series of videos that would help candidates better prepare for the various technical interviews. They even created a tab on their site labeled “Preparing for your interview.” 

Smarter: They featured real employees who are involved with the interview process in the series. This way, candidates also gained insight into their future interviewers and potential colleagues. 

Smartest:  By removing uncertainty for the candidate and showing them “the rules” ahead of time, they’re setting candidates up for success… and getting their best in return.

See the series for yourself on their career site!

Metabolon: Bringing purpose to life

“This drug transformed this little girl’s life. She’s now eight years old, growing, and so beautiful. My ‘why’ is seeing that my work is doing good for humanity.”

Purpose stories like this one from Metabalon bring to life the impact employees can have through their work every day. 

Even better: when those stories highlight the unique value being created by the company, that candidates couldn’t find anywhere else. In this story from Annie, we learn how Metabalon’s groundbreaking science changes the lives of patients like this little girl.

Want more of the best employee stories?

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow Stories Inc. on LinkedIn for more tips, resources, and the best employee stories all year long. And if you want to create a story-of-the-year-worthy piece of content in 2024, get in touch with our team!

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