The Trusted Employer

19

Harvard Business Review

March 2022

Ex MEET Cx

The employee experience is a brand experience.

Employee Experience helps clients address talent attraction and

retention challenges by creating a consumer-grade employer

brand and compelling employee value proposition. We highlight

the defining qualities of a client’s employee experience, ensuring it

supports enterprise strategy.

SHELL: A LETTER TO THE FUTURE

Shell is making huge investments in sustainable energy, but they

need the brightest and best people to help them – young people

to turn a company into one that’s known for leading the energy

transition. To avoid another LinkedIn video describing how working

at Shell makes a difference, we invited their most recent grad

recruits to write a letter to future generations. A letter, written on

their last day – describing everything they’ve achieved, after a long

career at Shell.

Then we invited the graduates to a meeting about the future of

energy, with the company’s most forward-thinking people, revealing

Shell’s future within sustainable energy. But when they arrived at the

meeting, they were the only ones there. Without them knowing, Shell

had made their letters about their future contributions, into films.

It turns out that THEY are the company’s most forward-thinking

people. And that Shell’s vision of the future of energy is theirs.

On LinkedIn, the campaign resonated with a younger audience,

who want to make a valued impact in society, and who want to work

for a big brand who recognizes their contribution. It outperformed

benchmarks by 40%, with 126% more completed views than

expected. But more importantly, we built internal pride amongst

the thousands of people at Shell, working tirelessly to balance the

need of today with the must of tomorrow. And remind them of how

important they are. Because the future is eventually yours to make.

“I’m sorry,” Prisha said. “I

don’t want to abandon you all, but

Ishan seems so much happier and

has the potential to make more

money. It’s really tempting to

follow his lead. I have to think of

my own interests.”

So much for family, Diya

thought.

“I see where you’re coming

from,” Diya said, “but let me

present the counterargument.”

She shared all the reasons to stay:

the security, the benefits, the

company’s growth potential, and

yes, the close-knit culture.

But as she was talking, Diya

realized that she wasn’t sure

those upsides were convincing

enough. Would retention bonuses

or pay increases be more compel-

ling? Or was it time to intensify

the downsides of leaving by

instituting a no-working-with-

former-employees rule and

inserting language to the same

effect and noncompetes in all

future employment contracts?

Would carrots or sticks be more

persuasive?

RAKESH BOHRA is the senior VP

and head of projects at Pioneer

Urban Land & Infrastructure Ltd. and

a doctoral student in organizational

behavior and human resources

management at the Management

Development Institute in Gurgaon,

India. JYOTSNA BHATNAGAR is a

professor of organizational behavior

and human resources manage -

ment and dean of research at the

Manage ment Development Institute

in Gurgaon, India.

It’s time for Blackbird to

lean into 21 st-century

management, embrace the

gig economy, and let more

employees go freelance.

Diya and Veer made the right decision

with Ishan, and they’ll attract more

talent, foster greater loyalty, build a bet-

ter culture, and produce more-creative

work by letting others follow suit.

To keep pace with societal and

technological change, companies today

need to be flexible with—and offer

flexibility to—their workforces. Young

people, particularly creatives, want the

autonomy and variety that gig work

offers. And companies like Blackbird

can greatly benefit—first, by reducing

the danger of having people they can’t

keep busy on the payroll and, second,

by serving clients with curated teams

designed for their specific needs. If

your employees are almost exclusively

full-time, you’re stuck with their skills;

How should Diya handle all the

employees who want to follow

Ishan? The exper ts respond.

JOHN H. CHUANG is

the cofounder, chairman,

and CEO of Aquent.

152

Harvard Business Review

March–April 2022

Experience

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