Five Tips For Writing Employer Of Choice Award Submissions That Win!

So you’ve decided to submit an employer of choice or industry award nomination for your organization.

Now it’s time to write a submission that actually gets traction. We have some great news. We help clients with this frequently and are here to dish some tips to help you win at work! Insert happy dance!

1) Write with Personality

There is nothing worse than reading a regurgitation of stats and facts. Imagine what the judges are thinking when they are sifting through an endless stack of submissions. It’s time to wow them and move them into action in order to get your submission into the finalist pile.

Much like all of the writing we do at Powerhouse, we write with heart and in a manner that feels human. We encourage you to do the same. So what does this actually look like? It means finding your voice and ensuring a consistent tone across channels. This comes back to the overarching significance of taking time to understand and build out your employee value proposition (EVP) and employer brand strategy. When we understand our tone of voice and consistently use it with every communication including award submissions, we reinforce key messages, our brand personality, and build brand trust.

2) Tell Stories

Did you know that stories are 22 times more powerful than facts alone? I discovered this while conducting research for my book Peace, Love, & Meaningful Careers…shameless plug. The fact remains, stories work.

Reflect on the question at hand and then swiftly move into storytelling mode. Help the reader, in this case, the judge, become immersed in your transformational journey. This builds connection and deepens an emotional response to the information.

3) Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute

If you’ve decided to participate in various award submissions, really commit to the process. This means proper planning. There are organizations all over the world that hire agencies skilled in crafting submissions and telling impactful stories. These are experts in understanding the information required to help judges move into action and consider them as a finalist for an award. That is your competition.

Slapping together facts in a generic fashion will not get you to the finish line, as it is a representation of who you are as an employer. If you care enough to submit your proposal for consideration, care enough to plan and do it right. This doesn’t mean you must hire an agency although many organizations who do not have internal Communications teams find it to be more effective and cost-efficient than hiring an internal resource to manage the work.

4) Use Another Set of Eyes or Two

When we write submissions, we go deep in the zone becoming so familiar with the work that it proves more difficult to spot errors. As such, with every writing project we embark on, we undergo an editing phase. This is done by an individual skilled in copyediting which is a different skill set than writing. Not only does this improve grammar and overall composition, but it ensures minor typos are caught and a submission is flawlessly executed.

Buy your grammatically skilled colleague a virtual coffee and have them review your submissions with a fine-tooth comb.

5) Persevere

When we started to walk, we didn’t just get up and run a marathon. The move from crawling to running down the halls of our home took time. There’s value in pursuing awards whether you win them or not as it works a self-reflection muscle which brings greater intentionality to building an exceptional employee experience. Check out this article here where we discuss this further.

It’s not uncommon to be shortlisted yet not cross the finish line in year one, only to find the very next year you are crowned the winner. Like everything else in life, it’s about perseverance.

Well there you have it, five tips to help you rock the awards circuit! We’re sending you winning vibes from the Powerhouse team. Send us a note and let us know how your award submissions worked out. Happy writing!

Employer of choice awards

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Human Resources Book – HR Reimagined

Culture, Employer Branding

Human Resources Book – HR Reimagined & Ready for the Modern Age

Hey there friends! Ever ask yourself “Is this all there is?”. Guess what, your employees are asking the same question and it doesn’t need to be that way. In so many cases, the workplace has turned into the hamster wheel where we spend our time labouring to fit into a box versus truly tapping into our full potential as professionals and as an organization. That is exactly why I wrote this book.

This book is a trip through my twenty-year career as a Certified HR Leader (CHRL) and the research I have done. Here you will discover a methodology filled with the ingredients to nourish your workforce and build a thriving culture. And I didn’t stop there. As a lover of simplicity and bringing ideas to life, my book also contains an implementation blueprint designed to help you operationalize key concepts and tactics as you move your organization through a cultural metamorphosis.

Within the book, I cover topics such as workplace flexibility, Employee Value Proposition development, diversity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! The book is filled with research as well as interviews with experts in the fields of diversity and inclusion, leadership, and media.

This is my contribution to the world in an effort to foster a greater sense of community at work. I hope you enjoy it. It was written with love.

Wishing you peace, love, & meaningful careers,

Alyssa

To learn more about Powerhouse Talent Inc. and our employer branding and employee experience strategy solutions, hop on over to www.powerhousetalent.ca.

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The Most Powerful Transformer in HR

Culture, Employer Branding

Article on EVP and employer brand

I want to let you in on a little secret…

You might be surprised to hear me say that the biggest win related to an employee value proposition (EVP) /employer brand strategy project is not that of talent attraction, but rather the fostering of a cultural metamorphosis. A wonderful by-product of such a project is greater ease in attracting outstanding talent, as when one’s position and voice are crystallized, the opportunity for brand recall is strengthened. But again, that is simply a fabulous by-product.

When we commence these projects digging deeper and with a spirit of organizational self-discovery and intentionality around building an exceptional employee experience, we can transform more than a recruitment process. We can transform our culture.

This is not new and has always been the case. By the end of this article, you will understand why this happens. My hope is that I will inspire you to do this critical work. This does not require an agency although many organizations opt to utilize one for several reasons including expertise in this discipline, speed, ease, and objectivity. But most importantly, do not let budget constraints prevent you from realizing your organization’s best self! An EVP project is at the helm of a cultural rebirth.

Let the fun begin!

Let’s start with what an EVP is. An EVP is the “why” around your organization. It’s what attracts and retains talent. It is also your promise to your people. When we undergo an EVP project, we distill the very qualities which attract talent to us, as well as gain an appreciation for who we are not. In this realization there is power. There is the capacity to communicate clearly to both existing employees and prospective talent around the authentic employee experience. In doing so we optimize our recruitment funnel by having those unlikely to find success at our organization opt-out while those who will thrive in our environment have their interest intensified. For example, some candidates thrive in builder environments with a higher degree of fluidity and ambiguity, while others will be met with frustration and crave deeper process maturity. An EVP is an exercise in truth-telling flavoured with the aspirational tone of what’s to come, as with each hire we advance closer to this.

Next, some mistake employer branding as an exercise in career site beautification. This to me is “veneer work”. If what is beneath the #instaperfect surface is far from inspiring and contrary to the messages being shared, credibility will be lost. When we approach this work with genuine motivation to become our best self, we can co-create an enriched employee experience and future together with our employees. This is the business of transformation, not of selling an illusion.

For those who know that there’s something special that needs to be unearthed and are committed to this being the catalyst for positive organizational change and enhancement, this is the work that gets me fired up!

It’s important to look at this initiative with fresh eyes. It’s a paradigm shift rather than looking at it as simply another HR initiative. One needs to understand that the EVP is at the heart of one’s people strategy and brings cohesion to the full employee lifecycle.

Article on EVP and employer brand

Once an EVP has been established, every new HR program, initiative, and policy, becomes intentional and crafted to support an exceptional employee experience honouring the people promise. It is approached with a spirit of alignment to the overarching “why” of the employee experience. Rather than the employee lifecycle looking similar to a quilt with random employee programs patched together, it is an intentional and cohesive experience which aligns to this “defining why”. How we onboard, how we inspire, how we develop, how we build belonging, how we part ways, how we foster ongoing relationships within alumni networks, and how we invite those very people back into the organization as boomerang employees, all aligns with the EVP and tells a consistent story. If you’re looking for authenticity around your employer brand, this is how you do it.

An EVP is the Optimus Prime of HR. It is the transformer (80s cartoon version of course!) that leads the people strategy. Beware of the veneer, they are the Decepticons of this space.

Listen to our podcast to learn more on this subject.

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To learn how to escape the legacy mindset, foster a cultural metamorphosis, and change the energy of your organization, check out the book Peace, Love, & Meaningful Careers available in Kindle and paperback here. To learn how you can work with Powerhouse Talent on the development of your EVP, hit us up here.

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Winning at Work – Are employer of choice awards worth it?

Employer Branding

Employer of choice awards image of trophy

You’ve got the best gig ever, employer branding (I know what you are thinking…biased much? Raving fan of EB over here and proud!). Undoubtedly you will start to think about ways to build awareness and strengthen your organization’s reputation. Often employer of choice awards come to mind. With more and more award organizations popping up and categories emerging, it’s hard to know what is worth pursuing.

Employer of Choice Awards can be helpful within the world of employer brand management and employee experience strategy. When they are part of a larger people plan, they can provide intentionality and help narrow your organization’s focus on programs that are truly meaningful within the employee experience.

Here are five ways employer of choice awards can strengthen your organization’s position in the talent marketplace.

1) They force you to reflect upon the employee experience and make it better

The award submission process can serve as an opportunity for reflection. In my humble opinion, awards should not be a random exercise in throwing tactics against the wall to see what sticks. Like my philosophy around the broader people promise and employee experience, awards play a role in intentionality. They provide an opportunity to pause, reflect, and optimize. This may mean reviewing award criteria to better understand organizational gaps so that these gaps can be remediated. This may mean not pursuing awards for a period of a year to right the ship, do the heavy lifting, and serve the employee population in a more thoughtful manner.

Whether you are in it to win it in year one or simply information gathering, the awards circuit allows us to look in the mirror and ensure we are building a world-class employee experience.

2) Brand enrichment

For those lucky enough to be finalists or recipients of industry or employer of choice awards, employer brand enrichment can occur. Promotion around award programs provides additional reach and broader brand awareness to populations who may not have had the opportunity to interact with the brand in the past. Just think back to the last award list you saw and you will probably recall seeing names of organizations that provide a product or service that is not consumer-facing, thus you may not have had the opportunity to interact with the brand up until that point.

This means brand awareness grows, as does prestige, as discovery was through being noted as a leader within the industry and/or the employee experience.

3) Social proof

Social proof is essentially reinforcing a brand’s credibility by having a trusted third party associated with it. Think of your consumer brand purchases, you likely visited sites that mention the product or service being featured in a major publication or being used by a large multinational corporation. Social proof leverages the existing trust of these global publications and/or multinational organizations to establish credibility. Awards are valuable social proof.

4) Additional traffic

From a talent attraction perspective, many award sites link to either a career site or directly to one’s ATS thus providing an additional traffic opportunity. Let’s face it, attention matters. Gaining additional attention streams can serve both your employer brand, as well as your consumer brand.

5) Employee pride

Last but certainly not least is the benefit of employee pride. Being appointed a finalist or the recipient of an employer of choice award benefits more than the leaders of the organization, it can help to ignite employee pride. Employees want to feel proud of where they work as it is a pivotal association made with them as individuals. Being associated with an award-winning business with employee-centric practices helps employees feel proud of who they work for and indirectly helps elevate their personal brands.

There you have it, five reasons to consider industry and employer of choice awards. Once again, in order to derive the greatest benefit from this investment, it is important that there be an overarching people strategy that embeds the employee value proposition (EVP), essentially “the why” into each stage of the employee life-cycle. Once established, awards can provide intentionality, focus, and commitment to an exceptional employee experience.

Wishing you peace, love, and meaningful careers,

Alyssa

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Data Shows How Coronavirus Has Influenced Employer Branding

Employer Branding

https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2020/data-shows-how-coronavirus-has-influenced-employer-branding

Ready to learn more about employer branding? Check out our free resources.

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Twenty Remote Employee Engagement Ideas To Connect Your Team Through COVID-19

Employer Branding

Employee engagement article remote work image

These are unprecedented times, not simply because none of us have experienced a virus shutting down the world and our economy before, but we have also never undergone a global shared experience quite like this. Our employees need us now more than ever. Taking the time to create opportunities for connection and support will help your team, their families, and your organization navigate this surreal landscape stronger than ever.

Before delving into the fun ways to support and connect your geographically distributed team, it’s important to lay the foundation. No team building exercise can repair a fractured employment relationship that is not built on strong communication and trust. Before all else, every employer must ensure they are embracing what I like to call the communication hat-trick.

Frequent communication – Communicate regularly. Now more than ever, your employees need to understand the support and programs available to them, as well as how the organization is being affected by this global emergency.
Transparent communication – When connecting with employees via email, over the phone, or video chat, speak openly. Your employees deserve transparency. You can maintain a level of calm and confidence, while still being open and honest about the fact that nobody can predict how this will all play out. Trust is vital.
Humanized communication – If you have read one of our articles or attended a Powerhouse Talent strategy or learning session, you would know that we are on a mission to put an end to corporate-speak. The time is now. Actually the time to lose the corporate-speak was many years ago. Communicate like a human experiencing a global pandemic. This is another opportunity to break down barriers and connect as people, regardless of hierarchy.

Now that we have the fundamentals covered, let’s dig into all the ways you can use this time to unite as a team and build a workforce that is stronger than ever.

Team Building Ideas For Remote Teams

Personal training sessions/yoga – Send out an internal casting call for fitness lovers open to leading a virtual class. Set up a schedule, share, and sweat as you come together as a team. From cardio to yoga, leverage internal talents to build wellness and community virtually.
Family meet & greets – Consider a family get-together where you introduce families to one another. Kick it “Kardashian style” by conducting a round table and asking each child to share their “peak and pit” of this unprecedented time. You are bound to hear cheers of no school, endless video games, and heartfelt moments of family togetherness.
Virtual happy hour – Wine a little, laugh a lot. We all need to decompress. A weekly team get-together with no talking shop and just some straight-up adulting can do a team some good.
Cooking show- Raise your hand if you are out of cooking ideas. You are not alone. There are now COVID meal planning Facebook groups popping up to help the culinary challenged. There are likely several members of the team who have mad skills in the kitchen. Consider a lunch and learn and spread the ideas and knowledge, not to mention nourish the need for connection in times of social distancing.
Trivia contests – Who doesn’t love some friendly competition!?! Send out trivia with prizes to be raffled off each week. You can live stream the raffles on Instagram and Facebook. You can also have a “kids edition” and build employee pride throughout the entire family.
Emotional wellness, meditation training, etc. – There is no better time than now for mindfulness and emotional wellness. Scout out employees knowledgeable about meditation, personal development, etc. and encourage them to lead a session.
Pic of the week (kids and/or pets) – Bring the team together through capturing funny moments with kids and/or pets. Highlight the pic of the week on social media and award prizes to winners.
Designated “no meetings” hour/s – Carve out an hour or two where internal meetings are temporarily off the table. Employees are encouraged to use the time for homeschooling, self-care, or independent work. This small gesture shows you are putting the needs of your employees first.
Scavenger hunts– Build scavenger hunts to unite the team. Capture and share the interesting findings!
Talent sharing – Put out a casting call for hidden talents and showcase one per week. You can even build lunch and learns around what you discover (yoga, cooking, painting, etc.)
Favourite band t-shirt day – Consider theme days such as wear your favourite band t-shirt day. Yup, that’s right. The perfect excuse to wear your jam band t-shirt to work! Yay!!!
Good vibes sharing – Got good news? Great, share it on an internal social feed called “Good Vibes Only”. From community news to personal wins, it’s all about the silver linings right now.
New hire team lunch – Send some love to the newbie with virtual team lunches. There is no question that now is a strange time to start a new job. It’s time to get over it and celebrate the power of technology. Book that team lunch and welcome your new family member in with virtual open arms.
Spotify playlists – It’s time to build some serious playlists for the team. From reggae to jam bands, it’s all house music these days!
Bingo – B4, during, and after this global emergency, the world loves Bingo. From custom cards to trolls and daubers, you can’t go wrong with bingo!
Netflix watch parties – From binge-worthy TV shows to amazing movies, create another shared experience with a watch party. Be sure to select content appropriate for work.
Book clubs – We’re tipping our hat to Oprah with a book club recommendation. This is also a great way to connect cross-functional teams with shared interests.
Essential skills – Welcome to the world of YouTube haircuts! There are likely people internally that know a thing or two about the realities of our new normal like DIY hair-care, homeschooling, etc. Tap into their expertise and help your organization adapt.
MTV cribs – Spent the last 4 months building your new kitchen? Got an amazing media room, nursery, etc? It’s time to show that baby off a la MTV Cribs style!
MacGyver home office set-up awards – Necessity is the mother of invention! Show off awesome DIY home-office set-ups and let others learn from innovative thinking.

Being in the employer branding, content creation space, I would be remiss if I did not encourage you to take photos and build shareable content that can be repurposed across platforms. Not only will this help unite the broader team who may not have participated in a specific event, but it will also help tell your story. To paraphrase Mark Cuban, how organizations navigate these challenging times will define their brands for years to come. Use social media to help bring the team together, lead by example, and share your culture of people first even in the most challenging of times with the external world. Do so with a sensitivity towards the current landscape. Organizations that put their people first, help them adapt, and stay connected can help others learn to do the same. The outcome is a richer, more connected employee experience despite physical distance.

Most importantly, make the twenty ideas above voluntary. This is a challenging time for so many managing elder care, home-schooling, self-care, and illness in the family. Be sensitive to how a virtual happy hour is a nice-to-have that some may not be able to enjoy right now. This will mean a lot to those who need the time to manage other more pressing matters.

Thanks for taking a read and learning more about how you can grow employee engagement even in challenging times. Wishing you peace, love, and meaningful careers.

Be safe. Be well.

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Ready for more Employer Branding?

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We build award-winning employer brand strategies with heart.

As a result… our clients transform their cultures and magnetize incredible talent to their organizations.

It’s time to POWER UP!

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How to Create Brand Champions at Your Organization

Employer Branding

https://www.hrci.org/community/blogs-and-announcements/hr-leads-business-blog/hr-leads-business/2019/12/09/how-to-create-brand-champions-at-your-organization

Ready to put the ACTION in Talent Attraction!?!?

We work with employers who are ready to stand out in the war for talent and turn their company from “best kept secret” to “talent hot spot“. And the best part is, we make it feel easy on you as a busy HR professional, not to mention easy on your recruiting budget! We have put together a FREE employer branding webinar to help you rock the talent world! Click here to access it.

Ready to learn more? Check out our employer branding and talent attraction courses and coaching programs here.

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Use Social Media to Build Your Employer Brand

Culture, Employer Branding, Recruitment

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/why-your-company-must-use-social-media-to-build-its-employer-brand-infogra/565889/

Ready to put the ACTION in Talent Attraction!?!?

Ready to learn more? Check out our employer branding and talent attraction courses and coaching programs here.

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EVP and Employer Brand Differences (Podcast)

Employer Branding, Recruitment

Ever wonder what the different is between an EVP and employer brand? Wonder no more and check out our podcast episode. Powerhouse Talent Inc. POWER UP!