The Best Workplaces™ label distinguishes the very best employers from the certified organisations. In Belgium, we determine three lists for large, medium, and small organisations. These companies have the highest levels of trust and the most inclusive cultures in Belgium. To share the example of these organisations that managed to be great employers, Great Place to Work® organised the “Learn from The Best” Inspiration Session once again. Here, everyone got some tips and tricks from the leaders of companies recognised on the Best Workplaces™ 2022 list.
During this session, the last of my internship, I had the chance to listen to Julie Van Gorp, People & Culture Partner at Bewire, where she explained how Bewire became a Best Workplace by having an outstanding employer branding strategy. She shared her secret ingredients on how to create one..
Becoming The Best: Bewire
Here are 3 takeaways from Bewire’s employer branding strategy.
1. Strong company culture
Bewire started with a culture workshop, where every employee’s opinion was considered. The five values that capture Bewire’s DNA came out of this session. They further reinforced these values through multiple new HR practices. For instance, they installed “town halls”, interactive meetings with the management where employees can ask all their burning questions. This is also where future business prospects are discussed and where employees can give their opinion about it. It is where the culture comes alive and can be put into practice.
This strong explicit culture has led Bewire to become the number one Best Workplace in the small category. Julia clarified that “the title also vastly increased our brand awareness to potential candidates. We therefore explicitly use the Great Place to Work quality label in our campaigns and social media”.
2. “What you see is what you get”: Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
Once you have installed your strong company, you can easily translate those clear values into an interactive and compelling employee value proposition (EVP). An EVP communicates the unique value of working at an organisation now and in the future to current and prospective employees. Julie explained that “because the IT sector is a challenging business, we can’t differentiate ourselves from our competition with attractive salaries or career paths. We try to stand out from the crowd by who we are, by our strong workplace culture”. Therefore, offering potential candidates a realistic experience of what the company stands for is critical at Bewire. For example, Bewire regularly publishes posts about events and life as it is on social media, often full of self-mockery!
3. Employees as ambassadors
At Bewire, many employees are loyal and credible ambassadors for the company! Employees can apply voluntarily for the role and contribute each in their way. They live the company culture and can easily explain the way of working to potential candidates. They let their employees instead of recruiters represent them at job fairs. Moreover, Bewire never uses stock photos for their campaigns; they only use recent photos of their employees.