Does your company have meetings about how to become an employer of choice in your industry? Mine didn’t until we experienced an ownership change in late 2015. Then and there we decided we needed to define who we wanted to be and to improve our talent acquisition strategy.
Our HR team decided we needed a presence on Glassdoor.
Step 1: Claim Your Free Employer Account
Done.
That was easy.
But what’s the next step?
Setting expectations
I set out with my company’s HR Director to attend the Glassdoor Best Places to Work Roadshow in Manhattan to learn what successful companies are doing to earn the top-tier designation as a Best Place to Work.
As the recruiting lead for the HR team at StuyTown, one of the largest multi-family residential communities in North America, I hoped to come away with insight on improving our talent acquisition game and find out what it takes to become a Best Place to Work for 2017 and beyond.
StuyTown has existed as a residential community since 1947, but since that ownership change, we like to consider ourselves a 70-year-old startup. Naturally, we had to ask ourselves the following question: What do startups do to attract the best candidates and then keep them happy?
The event experience
We’ve all been to conferences where you listen to a presenter simply read from a slideshow for 15 minutes and politely nod your head until they finish. Usually, you don’t actually learn anything!
Trust me, that’s not how Glassdoor works. Every presentation was engaging and had helpful tips on how to become a Best Place to Work.
The first presentation focused on the key attributes of 2016 Best Places to Work Winners:
1. A Mission to Believe In
2. Invest in Your Culture
3. Put People First
4. Embrace Transparency
5. Remember It’s Not All About Pay
Point #2 really stuck out to me because part of our strategy in becoming an Employer of Choice is recruiting and hiring associates who fit the culture our new management is building, specifically finding people who truly care about others and who come to work each day for more than just a paycheck, people who like to roll up their sleeves and get down to work.
StuyTown has been given the unique opportunity to press the reset button and become the best place to work when it comes to Multi-Family Property Management in New York City. We just need to hire the right people and make sure that those people are satisfied by the work they do.
Research from 2015 shows that that the three most important drivers of overall satisfaction are:
- Culture and Values
- Career Opportunities
- Senior Leadership
Then we heard from three 2016 Best Places to Work winners on their strategies for success.
Ragini Parmar, vice president of Talent Operations, Credit Karma, discussed how Credit Karma engages its employees by involving them in the planning and development of the company’s wellness program, Happy is Healthy, and the impact it has on increasing employee happiness.
Jeff Selander, chief people officer, Health Catalyst, described the importance of defining the cultural attributes of your organization and then embedding them in the hiring and selection process. This is particularly helpful in addressing the changing views and attitudes of Millennial job seekers, who now make up 40% of the total working population.
Jeff also threw out some interesting stats from a 2014 survey on what Millennials want out of work:
- 64% said: “It’s a priority for me to make the world a better place.”
- 79% said: “I want a boss to serve more as a coach or mentor.”
- 88% said: “I want ‘work-life integration,’ which isn’t the same as work-life balance.”
Susan Daimler, general manager, StreetEasy & NYC site director, Zillow Group, highlighted the difference between perks and culture, saying culture is every single person’s responsibility. She also talked about the significance of tying your organization’s core values into the interview process, regular performance reviews, and how you celebrate “wins” in your company.
Main takeaways of Best Places to Work Roadshow
- You must integrate your culture and core values into the interview and selection process to be successful in hiring and retaining the right people
- Glassdoor can help with employer branding and employee feedback
Shortly after returning from the Roadshow, I noticed the same theme echoing throughout the organization, from senior leadership to seasonal staff, that can best be summed up as, “We take care of our residents and we take care of each other.”
This element of selflessness is the first building block as we strive to become an Employer of Choice and a Best Place to Work for 2017.
