Do awards make you a more desirable company to work for?
In the current economic climate where cutbacks and redundancies are an ever-present threat within many organisations, news of recent accolades on your website, in the press and on your social media pages can make a great deal of difference. By showing that your business is being recognised as committed and forward-thinking despite the economic downturn, you prove to potential employees that you are a driving force within your industry and focused on the future.
It’s important to remember though, that awards are simply recognition of the effort and dedication you have put into a particular task. It’s this effort and dedication which is the important focus for any business.
At Market Makers we currently hold four ‘Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ awards, and just recently we scooped a top prize at the 2013 Learning Awards. This is a great achievement for the company, but it is the result of a long-term plan that places emphasis on the company’s greatest resource, the staff. The Market Makers’ Business School programme focuses on the empowerment and development of staff throughout every level of the organisation and has had such a positive result that it recently won the ‘Staff Development Programme Of The Year’.
This focus on employee engagement has not only resulted in staff retention of 89% (23% higher than the national average for contact centres), but has also directly affected customer experience, productivity, absenteeism and recruitment. Since 2010, Market Makers’ headcount has increased by 115% from 72 to 155 employees.
An engaged member of staff within an organisation will not only evangelise about the company and its products, but will also attract customers and employees.
By being laser-focused on hot-topics such as employee engagement, you increase your chances of winning awards, which in-turn will attract more applicants for a position (as people want to work for an award-winning organisation). As the new staff begin to reap the benefits of the engagement programme, they will subsequently help the business to win awards such as ‘Best Customer Service’ and will help attract future employees by spreading praise via word-of-mouth.
This cycle will stand a company in good stead during the uncertain future of the economy, but it’s important to remember that the process is started by dedicating time and resources to an innovative and long-term plan. With ground-breaking ideas, forward-thinking and commitment, you are more likely to engage staff, win awards and become a very desirable company to work for.
Tags: Awards, Blogs, Learning Awards 2013