Executive general manager at Randstad ANZ warns about the impact of 'job-washing' on staff retention

Australia is in the middle of a critical labour shortage with employers across all industries struggling to find and retain quality talent. At Randstad, we are seeing a rising trend in ‘job-washing’ where employers, in an effort to secure talent in a hypercompetitive market, may over-promise on what the employee experience might be.

Many organisations are sharpening their employee value proposition, strengthening salary and bonus packages, doubling down on training and development offerings, and rethinking promotional cycles in order to attract top talent. However, some business owners and hiring managers who are passionate about what they do and excited about where the business is heading, may find themselves overpromising and ultimately underdelivering. While this creates very excited prospective employees, it is also likely to result in unmet expectations and unhappy new starters.

Aussies willing to walk if job expectations aren’t met

While ‘job-washing’ may appear to have short-term benefits by helping organisations beat out competition and secure talent, companies that participate in this practice will suffer the consequences of avoidable high turnover and risk losing prospective employees to other organisations that not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.

Our recent Australian Workmonitor Report 2022 survey revealed that Australians are willing to walk away from a role if it doesn’t meet their expectations.

Employers looking to attract and most importantly retain the best talent, should be careful to ensure that their employer brand promise is closely aligned to the reality of the employee experience. For example, an employer shouldn’t promise a flexible-work environment because they know it's important to potential employees, when in reality, they are unable to offer much flexibility at all due to customer or business needs.

This alignment between promise and reality is especially important for younger talent when half of Gen Z, 42 per cent of younger and 39 per cent of older Millennials indicate they would rather be unemployed than unhappy in a job. Meanwhile, two thirds of all workers surveyed are actively open to new job opportunities, showing no hesitancy to move on.

Another key consideration for potential employees is an authentic employer brand, ensuring it’s more than skin deep. Your organisation’s stance and commitment relating to reducing environmental impact, and equity, diversity and inclusion is critical.

Our research demonstrates that over half of Gen Z wouldn’t work for an organisation that doesn’t align with their values on social and environmental issues, and 41 per cent expressed the same sentiments if their employer didn’t make efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.

Avoid the pitfalls of ‘job-washing’ with these practical steps

To help your company steer clear of ‘job-washing’ mistakes, Randstad has created a 4-step employer brand health-check that hiring teams can easily implement:

1. Review: Take a look at your external communications channels and consider how you are communicating your employer brand. Are the messages presented consistent with what hiring managers promise to candidates? Are you confident that your company’s offerings and value proposition match reality?

2. Validate your brand positioning by:
a. Asking your hiring managers what they promise when talking to candidates; individual hiring managers play a pivotal role in communicating the employer brand, it’s not just an HR problem when new employee expectations aren’t met.
b. Asking your employees; use your internal engagement survey or bring staff together for a conversation on the reality of their experience working for you to check that it aligns with what you are proposing to new candidates.

3. Align: Refresh or refine your employee brand message based on your research findings and ensure your team is communicating it honestly across all channels.

4. Look for opportunities: our survey found that companies with a strong employee value proposition have less trouble attracting and retaining staff. Are there aspects in your offering that are attractive to your staff that you can amplify?

More than anything, authenticity and transparency are vital in this competitive market. Employers that communicate honestly with potential employees and showcase existing benefits ultimately fare better in terms of attracting and retaining staff in this tough labour market as they create strong loyalty and a more durable employer brand.

Angela Anasis is the executive general manager at Randstad ANZ