How your marketing team can boost employee recruitment and retention

By: Barbara Vo, Account Executive, Legato Marketing & Communications

Do you really know what attracts a job candidate—or keeps an employee happy? Salary and benefits. Right? Not necessarily. Of course they matter. But recruiting and retaining good employees is more complex—and perhaps surprising.

As a Gen X/Millennial, I know what’s most important to me in my job—and why I recently joined Legato. I want to be engaged, knowing I’m being heard and that I’m contributing to the success of the company. The environment here is open and encouraging to new ideas and fresh approaches.

This is the kind of message potential employees want to hear—and how current employees want to feel. Marketing can help deliver that message. After all, its role is to unify a company’s brand message and deliver it to the targeted audience so they will be motivated to “buy” your brand. Historically, your marketing department has been successful doing this for external customers; why not allow them to do it for your internal customers (employees), too?

As a marketing professional, my job is to find out what motivates people so I can deliver a relevant message. Understanding the motivators for different generations and backgrounds is the first step in successful recruitment and retention. The second, is delivering an attention-getting story about the advantages of working for your company—above and beyond compensation.

After all, your employees are your brand. Their actions and behaviors directly reflect the characteristics and personality of your company. Give them an environment that will make them flourish, and they will want to talk about the great place they work. The underlying message to external audiences? A great place to work, must be a great place to buy service.

We no longer work in silos where departments work independently of each other. It’s a more deliberate and integrated culture involving everyone in the company from the CEO to the facilities manager to the mail room clerk to the IT director. How to unify and present that integrated process is the challenge. Your marketing team members are the creatives who can help you achieve your retention and recruitment goals by delivering your compelling story.