Flybuys talent lead reveals unique strategy to building better employer branding

Businesses across ANZ are feeling the effects of the skills shortage. From industry to industry, the war for talent is only getting fiercer. As organisations look to scale and expand during the next 12 months, HR leaders know that recruiting the best talent is one of most pressing priorities.

According to last week’s budget projections, Australia’s borders will remain closed until mid-2022. If organisations were hoping skilled migrants would make a return anytime soon, that has now been extinguished. So how can businesses create the best possible employer branding and value propositions to entice new staff?

Speaking to HRD, Edan Haddock, Flybuys senior manager of talent and people development, said after the initial frenetic job activity at the start of the pandemic, they’ve seen applications drop from around 250 per role to less than 50.

“During 2020 when a lot of organisations halted their recruitment strategy, we were going through rapid growth, in fact we tripled in size, but last year there was a really great market for finding candidates,” he said.

“Now our big strategy has pivoted to passive sourcing and tapping into our talent communities because many people aren't applying for jobs at the moment or if they are, they've got so many options to choose from.”

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Earlier this year, the HR team at Flybuys teamed up with their colleagues in marketing to develop a fresh employer brand and value proposition. Using the tagline, Be You With Us, the aim was to capture the company’s commitment to flexibility and diversity in a simple and snappy way.

Haddock said this strong partnership between the two departments is unique within the HR space but it reflects the power of employer branding to attract new employees – especially in the current talent short market. By aligning the experience of Flybuys customers with the application process, Haddock said he wanted to put the organisation’s values front and centre.

“The Flybuys program is all about everyday activities so we reward things like doing your grocery shopping, paying your insurance premiums, filling your car with petrol or buying your kids clothes - it's all those things that you regularly do,” he said.

“Arguably, applying for a job or going through a recruitment process is an everyday activity too so for us to make that rewarding for our candidates is a very similar strategy.”

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As a technology-driven company, using cutting edge tools is a big part of the recruitment process. Applicants take part in a values assessment, not too dissimilar from a Buzzfeed style quiz, which allows people to think about their motivations and priorities, and helps the recruitment team ensure those align with the company’s values.

“Flybuys is the sort of organisation where we’re still small enough that people get opportunities to really stretch and grow, and to do things that perhaps they wouldn't be able to do in a large corporate,” Haddock said.

“What we look for in people is definitely values alignment first, and the desire to grow and develop, because that's our unique selling point. We want people who are looking for an organisation where they can bring their whole selves to work because that's what we ultimately believe in.”