MEDICAL, DENTAL, 401K, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH
These are all things that employees and talent are looking for in a company when they're searching for a job. Take it from me, I've navigated the job market myself! Ultimately I always had the understanding that everything is finite and that includes what we do for work. So when I was looking at a company I wanted to make sure that when I walked out of that place or position I had grown as a person, and was not the same person who walked in that door.
Most companies go to great lengths to make sure their company is super attractive to people who are looking so they attract people who really have a vested interest in making the business successful, as well as themselves in the long run. I've worked at places that had streaming education online for anything you can think of, and even now LinkedIn has a Learning side of the house. One thing that is missing I've noticed though is things to help employees establish themselves as a brand.
Now you might say why would I want to help my employees develop their own branding when we have a company brand??
BRANDING CUTS BOTH WAYS
Yes, your company has a brand, but that brand is reinforced by the people who represent it. Half of the brand is a perception created in the market by Marketing, and the other half is a reputation created by the shared experience between your employees and customers.
When you hire someone, a big part of their resume that is usually what people go all googley-eyed over, are places people have worked. You see someone worked for Dell, VMWare, or Microsoft, you know those companies hold their standards very high. That naturally creates a Branding Story in someone's head that this person I'm looking at must (A) knows their stuff, and or (B) be very reliable to have worked in these companies.
Now from the flip side, when someone looks at your company on LinkedIn and sees people who work there, they're seeing whatever pictures and accomplishments each person has put on there, but also that is tied back to your organization. That person's branding and the company branding are unified in a symbolic link-like manner where you see this person and your company and that is the perception of your company's brand.
This then begs the questions:
A). When I look at people representing our business, how do our brands coexist?
B). Have we given the people who represent our business the tools to develop a symbiotic relationship with their brand and our organization?
MUTUAL BENEFITS
Offering employees the benefit of getting a Professional Corporate Headshot creates a mutually beneficial outcome for all involved. Firstly that could be the first time in years or even decades that person has had a Professional Headshot taken by a photographer. Secondly, it shows that as a business you're committed to offering all the things someone needs to be successful long term.
On the business side, it also allows your employees to match the brand of the company on a whole new level that maybe wasn't there before they walked in your door. Also, your customers aren't seeing pics from an iPhone...just saying.
It really offers the same level of benefit as offering online enablement for ongoing education from companies like A Cloud Gurus, Pluralsight, or Skillshare. Having a professionally photographed image that improves someone's Personal Brand is something that helps them be successful in the long run. Plus I feel like people hold themselves in higher regard when looking at themselves as a succinctly established brand in the market.
Investing in your employees is really a no-brainer, but the how is the part that really can take some deep thought. This is one of those how moments that can really benefit the employee in the long run, but also the business in the short term.
COST, THE GREAT BLOCKER
Usually, this is the number one reason companies choose not to offer something to their employees. I've taken the time to build a pricing model that is economic for the business, but also for my business as well. I took a page out of the Software Sales playbook. I created a volume-based pricing model for Corporate Photography that essentially says the more business we do together, the more you save in offering something like this to your employees. It's a win-win here for all involved. Your employee saves money because they got their Headshots done under a group rate, and your business wins because we do more business together and the cost decreases as we do business.
This benefits everyone from a small 2 - 5 person startup, all the way to a major pharma company with hundreds to thousands of employees. (you know who you are)
