Dream of Leaving Your Job

This morning I participated in the ‘Dream Employers’ launch event – near the Opera House in Sydney. The comments from panellists – and the general observations from the panellists and the attendees was interesting. Much content for many blogs, one of which was this one: if you dream of leaving your job, you aren’t alone.

In August, InSync together with RedBalloon and Talent2 asked the public to comment on who is Australia and also New Zealand’s dream employer.

There is quite a number of ‘Best Employer’ and ‘Employer of Choice’ surveys – which are voted by the people within an organization. We wanted to know who people wish they worked for… who has the best ‘employer brand.’

The results were interesting, and I am pleased to say that many homegrown businesses made the list, though there was still a strong representation by global brands.

Most notably Australians and New Zealanders want to have fun at work. – they want to work in a fun working environment. 80% of the Dream Employers promote mixing work with play.

It is all about the brand – this is a brand story. The company’s reputation/brand is the number of attributes that drive interest for job seekers.

Interestingly 73% of people think that the grass is greener – and they are not working for their dream employers. And for every self-employed person, there is another seven who wish they were.

Negative work culture is voted most likely to tarnish an employer brand. Given that a third of people will decide in the first month of employment when they are planning to leave that job – it is imperative that employers really set expectations and manage them before people commit to a role.

Organizations simply cannot over promising and under deliver. People want to believe in the business they are joining. Transparency and authenticity are critical to that. The first days and weeks of someone’s new role are critical in fulfilling what they believe the brand promise is. Managing those expectations on the way in is important.

“Many people might not know what Google employees actually do all day, but they still want to do it.” James Carriock, CEO InSync Surveys.

I had a similar experience when learning about a recent intake of new inductees at the Apple Store in Sydney. As their arrival was announced and everyone in the store stopped and cheered – high expectations have been set about what it is like to work for Apple. Yet I remember from my days as an Apple employee… it is not all peaches; forecasts, stock management, compliance all still have to be done. Being starry eyed about the brand might be great on the way in… but it is still a business and hard work needs to be done to achieve objectives.

This begs the question of perception meeting reality. I know years ago when I worked at Ansett Airlines – it was considered such a ‘glamorous’ thing to work for an airline – but with early starts and a tough schedule after a very short time it did not seem that glamorous – there was a lot of hard work involved.

It is up to the employer as they bring people into an organization to manage those expectations – and be really very transparent about the business and set expectations.

The research found that key attributes, which attract potential employees regardless of industry, were the image and reputation of the organization.

Image is everything. The challenge is to make sure that the image and reality align.