Employees as Content Creators: The Secret Retention Play
Giving an employee the freedom and autonomy to become a thought leader ties them to your company—they'll have way more buy-in, feel trusted, and therefore, be less likely to jump to one of the other companies that are already trying to recruit them.
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How do you approach a company leader who’s afraid that allowing employees to be content creators might encourage competitors to poach your talent?
First, some context:
You see that one of your employees has a flair for content creation. As a smart talent marketer, you want to encourage them to start sharing their thoughts and perspectives online as part of your employer branding efforts. But your boss fears that this visibility will entice your competitors to steal them away from you.
My thoughts:
That's a common mentality—and a broken one for many reasons. Here’s two of them:
This is B2B 2021. We connect with smart people, consume information, generate ideas, look for jobs, and make buying decisions online. It makes sense to be there.
Recruiters are already trying to poach your most talented people without this visibility.
This is a retention play more than an employer branding strategy.
Here’s why:
Giving an employee the freedom and autonomy to become a thought leader ties them to your company—they'll have way more buy-in, feel trusted, and therefore, be less likely to jump to one of the other companies that are already trying to recruit them.
P.S. If your boss is acknowledging that thought leadership = visibility, they’re confirming that this strategy works.
P.P.S. This post was inspired by a recent chat conversation that I had with a Talent leader. They reached out because they’re facing this exact situation. And I suspect many others are too. Hopefully, this helps.
I won't pretend that it's easy. But it is straightforward.
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