The Top 5 Takeaways From Glassdoor Recruit 2019 - Glassdoor for Employers

The Top 5 Takeaways From Glassdoor Recruit 2019

Every year, Glassdoor gathers leaders from top companies to speak about how they’re driving the future of business through talent acquisition at our Recruit conference. Recently, 350 in-person attendees joined Recruit in the heart of San Francisco to learn from industry professionals about attracting, developing and retaining the people who will fuel the future of their companies. Wondering what you missed out on? Take a look at some of the highlights below, and make sure to register to watch recordings from the event!

1. Culture matters, and it can be measured

The days where executives think of company culture as a fluffy nice-to-have are drawing to a close. A growing body of research has shown that culture has a clear impact on your bottom-line metrics. In fact, Glassdoor and the MIT Sloan School of Management teamed up together to do some research on it.

“Culture is a very strong predictor of mid- to long-term financial results. And on the flip side, bad culture can destroy a company and financial results,” said Dr. Donald Sull, Senior Lecturer of MIT Sloan School of Management.

And of course, company culture has a major impact on your recruiting efforts. 65 percent of Millennials say culture is more important than salary, while nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of job seekers would not apply to a company unless its values aligned with their own personal values. To help employers analyze their culture and job seekers evaluate their opportunities, Sull collaborated with Glassdoor to create the Culture 500, a tool that identifies and quantifies the most important components of culture — read all about it here!

RELATED: The 5 Myths of Company Culture

2. Your employer brand is your X-factor

You might offer great salaries and incredible perks, but if you don't have a solid employer brand, candidates may not pay much attention to you. With so many different companies vying for the same talent, it's more critical than ever that you define your employer brand and spread the word about it.  Not only will this help you attract talent — it will help you attract the right talent.

“As a small business, we lean into our value prop as an employer. We play to our strengths, talk about our product and mission — and we talk a lot about our people too. The right people can opt in,” shared KC Jorgensen, Chief People Officer at Textio.

Beyond benefitting your recruiting program, your employer brand can also help your company weather the storms that inevitably come up in the business world.

“You should never waste a good crisis. You can really test your company culture when opportunities show up to test your mettle. To know if your employer brand is alive and well, see if your people take it to another level and put their own personal stamp on it,” said Steve Bilt, Chief Executive Officer of Smile Brands Inc.

3. To drive performance, inspire meaning

Many organizations spend thousands, or even millions, of dollars a year trying to figure out how they can empower their employees to perform to the best of their abilities. But fancy software and elaborate training courses aren't necessarily the answer — you may just need to highlight the impact that your employees have on the business and the world around them.

"Deep down, every human being wants to find meaning in his or her work... Nothing is a more powerful motivator than to know that you are making a difference in the world," said Laszlo Bock, CEO/Co-founder of Humu and author of Work Rules!

Don't just mention it once in a company all hands meeting and expect drastic change, though. The key to inspiring employees is highlighting their impact over and over again.

“‘Repetition doesn't spoil the prayer.’ In most aspects of life, you need to say something about twenty times before it truly starts to sink in," Bock added. "Tell the stories that reinforce the meaning behind what your company does over and over and over again.”

4. When it comes to belonging, anything but perfect is not good enough.

Conventional wisdom says that you can't please everyone — but when it comes to your diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives, you still need to aim for it.

“It’s like the beauty contestant wishing for world peace; we may never get there, but we can’t stop trying," says Patty Dingle, Sr. Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Visa. "Some people may see a score of 80 out of 100 on a survey question on feeling safe about speaking up in the workplace. But — to me — if there’s even one person that feels as if he or she can’t speak up, that’s a fail.”

And in a world where diversity, inclusion and belonging are both expected by candidates and top drivers of performance, these are initiatives that can't be put on the backburner.

“At Airbnb, it all goes back to our mission statement, which is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. Because it’s so central to our core values, the idea of belonging is at the core of every decision we make,” shared Melissa Thomas-Hunt, Airbnb's Head of Global Diversity & Belonging.

RELATED: Guide to Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

5. The future is mobile

Think mobile recruiting is still years away from reaching critical mass? Think again. Almost three quarters (72.6 percent) of internet users will access the web solely via their smartphones by 2025, equivalent to nearly 3.7 billion people. Already, more than 50 percent of Glassdoor users today are looking for jobs on their phones.

“It’s time to get rid of the old notion of what you think of a mobile job applicant," said Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Chief Economist at Glassdoor.

And don't worry — this doesn't necessarily require a massive overhaul of your mobile career site. Even something as simple as posting "Easy Apply" jobs rather than jobs that link back to your ATS can make a difference.

"Reducing the time it takes to fill out the application can make a huge impact in the candidate experience, which will give you a leg up on the competition and attract applicants away from your competitors," Chamberlain added.

Want to hear more of the insights shared at Glassdoor Recruit?

Register now to receive video recordings!