The Power of the Employer Brand: An Interview with Hyphen8

A lot goes into successfully attracting and retaining top talent, particularly within the Salesforce ecosystem where the digital skill gap has increased competition for the limited amount of in-demand professionals. With this in mind, it’s little surprise that as many as 86% of HR professionals report that recruitment is becoming more like marketing, with an employer’s reputation more integral than ever to their ability to attract applicants. The dynamic has shifted, and organizations can no longer expect candidates to sell themselves to potential employers; they must now be prepared to sell themselves to the candidate, too. This is where your employer brand comes into play—a potentially powerful tool in your ability to attract and, just as importantly, retain top Salesforce talent. That’s provided you get it right, of course.

What is an employer brand?

An employer brand is an organization’s reputation as a place of work—think of it as the branding and marketing of your employee experience, as opposed to the customer experience. It essentially focuses on aligning the culture and values of a company with the candidates you want to attract through employee value propositions, helping organizations to stand out to the right talent in the labor market. A lot can influence how your organization is perceived as an employer, meaning the responsibility of curating a positive employer brand for prospective Salesforce pros doesn’t sit with one person—your employer brand is influenced by every candidate and employee interaction from the very first point of contact. So, consider how all of your team represents the company values and cultivates a positive culture and environment, from business owners and C-suite executives to line managers and your HR department.

The benefits of a strong employer brand

A strong employer brand is one of the best secret weapons for any employer entering the hiring market. In fact, as many as 8 in 10 talent acquisition managers believe that employer branding has a significant impact on the ability to hire great talent. That’s because your employer brand is an authentic way to stand out from your competition. Your reputation is built not just by what you say, but what you do, meaning candidates can be more confident in judging whether you’re the right for them. In essence, it’s about walking the walk and not just talking the talk, since your reputation is ultimately dictated by the experiences of your prospective, past, and present employees. Because of this, as many as 84% of job seekers say the reputation of an employer is important when considering a role, demonstrating just how effective a positive employer brand can be as a talent attraction strategy. The best professionals want to work at the best organizations, and this doesn’t necessarily mean the biggest names or the highest salaries—instead, candidates are hunting for a workplace they trust to align with their values and fulfil their job requirements. As a result, if you can build a reputation as an employer that is particularly strong in highly desired areas like flexible working, benefit packages, L&D, and more, the easier you’ll find it to turn the heads of the candidates you want most. Of course, when talent finds the perfect organization for them, they don’t want to leave any time soon! As a result, a positive employer brand can significantly improve your attrition rates too—one survey found that employee turnover can be reduced by over a quarter (28%) by investing in your employer brand.

Case study: Hyphen8

While this all sounds well and good, what exactly does a strong employer brand look like in tech? Recognized as the Best Salesforce Partner to Work For (Global) at the 2023 Digital Revolution Awards and proudly possessing an industry-leading retention rate of 96%, we caught up with Elaine Forth, CEO of  Hyphen8, to find out more about how they create a powerful employer brand that successfully attracts and retains top Salesforce talent.

1. It’s clear you know a thing or two about building an appealing employer brand. In your experience, how important is it to create an environment where employees are proud to work, and what impact does this have on both employer and employee?

“Our eight values are at the heart of everything we do, and we make sure that the whole team is on board with these. In fact, our first value is to ‘take pride in what we do’! We only work with nonprofits. This means that our team can see first-hand that everything that they build, deliver, and support benefits the communities that need it most. We make sure that we share these good news stories to inspire our people and help connect their work to the real-world lives that they are impacting. When our team can see that they’re doing something valuable, they’re motivated to continue making a difference. This is one of the reasons we’ve got such great employee retention figures, which ensures continuity and consistency for the charities that we support.”

2. Just how effective is a positive employer brand in helping to attract top talent, and what elements do you think appeal to candidates most?

 “Many of our staff have joined us from the third sector, and are actively looking for a workplace that aligns with their values. Hyphen8’s purpose (and therefore our brand) is built around our desire to make a difference in the charity sector. We’ve been lucky to attract some seriously talented individuals from roles within that, some of whom would never have considered a position with a more corporate-focused partner. Our mission, values, and social purpose let potential applicants see that moving to Hyphen8 from a charity role isn’t ‘selling out’ or moving to the ‘dark side’, but can instead be an opportunity to have an even bigger impact on the wider nonprofit sector.

3. Hyphen8 proudly possesses an industry-leading retention rate of 96%. How does a long-standing team positively influence your company culture, and what benefits does this bring to your organization beyond simple cost-saving and efficiency?

There are so many benefits to hanging onto our team. Some of them have been with us since the very beginning eleven years ago! With employee retention comes customer retention, as the consistency in our team gives reassurance to the nonprofits that we support. They feel safe in the knowledge that our team truly understands how they work, where they’ve been, and how they got here. Our Hyphen8 veterans also help set the tone for our company culture, ensuring that we continue to support each other, share our knowledge, and have fun.

4. Professional development is another area in which Hyphen8 shines. How do you keep employees motivated and engaged not just to continue learning, but to keep taking their next steps with you rather than somewhere else?  

Nurturing personal development has always been a core value at Hyphen8, and we’ve recognized that we need to change our approach to development as we’ve grown. In 2023, we introduced a new mentoring program to help guide our employees to achieve their career goals and to help them define objectives that they can aim for. We’ve also introduced Communities of Practice—structured groups that develop our capabilities, support our teams, and deepen internal networks. Some of these are professionally focussed, such as Core Admins, where people can collaborate and develop their Salesforce skills together. Some of them are purpose-focused, such as our HyphenEarth and Women in Tech communities, which support our values. We also have social communities such as our book club. All of these have helped us to foster close partnerships and opportunities for growth within our team. We give everyone as much support as possible to continue developing their skills while they work for us, while fully accepting and recognizing that their careers may take them elsewhere. It’s still our responsibility to give them that room to grow and to help them maximize their chances of success.

5. Has Hyphen8’s ability to effectively attract and retain talent helped you to navigate the Salesforce skills gap with less disruption, and what advice would you give to employers struggling to find the talent they need?

We’ve been lucky to avoid the worst impacts of the Salesforce skills gap, and thankfully we’ve had very few problems recruiting. Our main challenge has been to recruit staff for very specific roles. For example, our Service Design team is technology-agnostic, but we need people with a deep understanding of nonprofit processes. It’s not enough to just look for a specific certification, we often need people with years of expertise in a discipline rather than a technology. For those who are struggling to find the right people, the work starts closer to home. Instilling our values in our team, and demonstrating to the world how we actually live them, lets us and our team show the world that this really is a great place to work. Don’t consider your values and your mission to just be for your leadership, think about how that message can resonate with your current team and potential future starters. Ensuring that we recognize each other’s success and celebrate our achievements are core values for us. We share our profits with the whole team, offer a comprehensive benefits package, and ensure that staff can look after themselves by offering things such as a wellbeing allowance and flexible working.

6. Hyphen8 is one of the only female-headed Salesforce partners in the UK, and is proud of its 50:50 gender balance and majority female leadership team. How do you think your impressive commitments to ED&I benefit you as an employer and in what ways does this enhance your team?

We’re proud of our achievements in this space so far, but we also know we’ve got to keep pushing forward (and influence others in the sector to follow!) We recognize that people from certain groups can have barriers that impede their success, but that these barriers shouldn’t (and don’t) stop them from being incredibly valuable members of our team. The more that we improve our ED&I efforts, the more diverse skills, ideas, and opinions are brought into play. It’s these new ideas, approached in innovative and exciting ways, that help us keep developing concepts to benefit the nonprofit sector—we need to ensure we don’t become a homogenous echo chamber. As one of the first members invited to participate in the Salesforce Ecosystem Equality Exchange, we’re playing a part in making the ecosystem more equitable. This, along with our recent participation in events like the E2E Female 100, ensures that we are heard and also raises our profile. We’ve had women join us because they see women in our leadership team, they can see themselves joining an organization where they have room to grow, and where any role could be available to them.