New employee stories can boost your employer brand in a remote world

3 mins, 31 secs read time

More team members are working remotely and more candidates are seeking remote-first positions. And with these changing times, employer branding and methods of creating employer brand content are changing, too.

Yesterday’s employer brand content

Just a few years ago, many companies still relied on cool office spaces or fun perks as a shortcut to communicating their employer brand. However, the rapid increase in remote and distributed teams means fewer people are working out of one central office, rendering those ping-pong tables and beer fridges obsolete. Besides, perks are easy to copy and paste from one career page to the next – they’re not substantive aspects of an employer brand. They may pique people’s interest but they’re rarely a deciding factor for candidates or a retention tool for existing employees who want to be a part of a people-first company.

Today’s distributed teams + employer branding

Your employer brand is an evolving idea that exists no matter where team members are working. It can’t be contained within workplace walls. And how they are thriving as members of a distributed team is an important aspect of your employer brand.

Employee stories provide the best culture content and give the clearest insights into what it’s really like to work at your company. Showing your company’s distributed team culture and sharing stories of the remote employee experience is important content for communicating your current employer brand. It’s real, and it’s happening now.

When employee storytellers are working remotely, however, uncovering and capturing stories takes additional consideration. Telling the stories of distributed team members in a meaningful, visually compelling way may seem more challenging, but it’s not: it’s just different.

Creating new content when team members are working virtually

Developing stories-based content from remote employees is a solution that works for your employer brand and telling your company’s right-now story to candidates and employees. Here are four best practices for capturing substantive, visually engaging employee-story content virtually.

4 tips for capturing content from distributed team members

1. Manage the process

The best content happens when your storytellers feel confident and comfortable sharing their employee experience. Prepare each employee just enough so they are comfortable, but not so much that they sound coached and rehearsed.

2. Pay attention to quality

Compelling stories should be honored with good quality audio, video and digital presentation. Assist your storytellers with technology setup and lighting. Create content that you and your storyteller are proud to share.

3. Engage and inform

Capture and share stories that meet the needs of your audiences. Candidates are looking for insight into culture and how your company cares for employees.

4. Connect stories to culture

Clearly connect each story to its cultural takeaway, such as your employer value proposition or values. When you’ve gathered stories that span multiple perspectives, a clear picture of company culture will emerge.

Updating employer brand content virtually is a win-win

Capturing employee stories virtually offers multiple benefits to your employer brand and your talent audiences. If your workforce is distributed, this content accurately shows candidates the culture they can truly expect, and reflects to team members a culture that they’ll recognize. Virtually developed content is also great for optimizing warmth and connection in virtual interviewing, onboarding and employee engagement communications.

Take a deeper dive in our eBook

Communicating your right-now employer brand clearly and authentically throughout the entire talent lifecycle will set you apart from the competition and engage your audiences. Take a deeper dive in our eBook, Employer Branding Best Practices. You’ll learn how to weave the threads of company values, DE&I and distributed teams throughout different stages of both the candidate and employee experience. You’ll also find case studies and examples of impactful employer branding in action.

Ready to discover impactful employer branding in action and practical tips to build or reshape your employer brand? Get the eBook.

Get the eBook