Employers – what is the value of your reputation?

Ethical Values are not just for the website

If you ask any CEO, they will no doubt express the value and importance of their reputation and their core values. There will be phrases to do with wellbeing of their employees and the importance of work life balance. Most will keep an eye on their customer service metrics knowing the importance of good customer service is at the heart of repeat business.

This is great news to hear all these positive statements from the senior leaders. But the declaration of such values, commitments and behaviours, the web site pages on values and ethics are all well and good, but when was the last time these leaders actually took a look at the business from the outside?

The challenge comes from the declaration of ethical behaviours and values and whether your organisation walks the walk and not just talks the talk. What do we mean but that? It is simply, if you make a big statement about your values and their importance (we live and breathe our values … is often seen) the reputational damage you will take from not meeting those values is greater than if you had not declared them at all.

Why? Because not only will you be judged for any poor behaviours, but you will also then be doubly strongly judged because of your public declarations of ethical values only then not to live up to them (whatever they may be). Here is an analogy that shows the point. If you get caught doing something criminal (say dangerous driving) and are prosecuted and found guilty you will have two issues. The first is that you will be judged for driving dangerously (the crime itself) but secondly you will be judged by people simply for having a ‘criminal record.’ Your reputation will possibly be more tied to you being a criminal (having a criminal record) than the dangerous driving act itself.

The same is true for your ethical values. If you do not declare that integrity is one of your core values, then if you act without integrity in a business transaction will you be judged for that transaction. But if you have publicly stated (web site, advertising, social media etc) that you have integrity as one of your values and then break that in a business transaction, it is easy to see that not only will that one transaction will be seen poorly, but that your publicly declared values are not worth the paper they are written on (just PR).  That will hit your reputation. The transaction can be corrected, the reputation of your adherence to your own ethical values is harder to put right.

What has this got to do with recruitment? We think quite a lot actually. The first experience a candidate will have with your company is likely via your job advert (and then research via your own web site). In so many cases, the job advert extols the virtues of the company, the values, the wonderful family atmosphere etc. But then, you put your candidates through the most awful experience (this is true of so many, but not all.)

For many candidates who really are keen to work at your company and truly do see the values you state you adhere to, the experience through your recruitment process simply leaves many with a sense of relief that they were not the chosen one. If you treat the candidates you want to engage with in this way, what will the experience of working for you be like? If the values you purport to follow are not extended to the candidates in your recruitment process you are getting it very wrong.

Let me give you a specific example. In some cases, when a candidate applies, they will get an automated email stating that they are expecting a lot of applicants and so there may be delays and in many cases, if we do not contact you, take this as a rejection. This ghosting approach is surprisingly common. But what does this tell you about your company?

1. You have invested insufficient resources into your people and talent teams to do a proper job, treat your candidates with respect and the values you have stated.

2. If investing in sufficient resources in your recruitment team has not been possible, what does that tell the candidates about the investment you might make in other areas once working for you?

3. If you are not applying your values to your prospective employees at recruitment stage, what other stages will your values be dropped for convenience or cost reasons?

You may believe that your processes are in line with your values, but when was the last time you applied for a role at your organisation? You may be surprised. It is not common on various social media platforms to see HR (People and Talent) resources, who themselves are looking for new work, posting (paraphrase) ‘oh my god, what have we done!’ as they experience the very processes similar to the ones they used to operate.

At Candidates Matter, we know that recruitment is hard. We know that sticking to your values is hard, but the best organisations do not compromise their values when times get tough, cuts must be applied, and difficult decisions must be made.

We can help through actionable and measurable commitments to ethical behaviours in the recruitment process. If you are unsure about the quality of your recruitment process, why not ask Candidates Matter, via their recruitment process testing service, to apply for some of your positions and report back our findings on your recruitment process.

To find out more, and get your recruitment process tested, click here.