Brand Identity Development

When I was first brought on to this company, I was presented with the problem: attract more qualified candidates for our entry-level position at the Atlanta, GA location. "Raise the starting wages," one of the executives said.

"That doesn't fix the problem," another interrupted. "It's only a matter of time before the other entry-level positions do the same."

"It's a short term fix for a long-term issue," a third agreed.

"That's just the nature of the industry," the CEO shrugged. "So, we need higher volume. More candidates coming in. Can you help with this?"

They all turn in unison to look at me, the only female in the room.

"Absolutely."

It didn't take long to realize that the "recruiting problem," as the execs so fondly labeled it, ran deeper than recruiting. After some careful target audience research, several interviews, a visit to the Atlanta location, and data analysis, we uncovered a few hard truths:

Turnover Rates are alarmingly high. Nearly half of the new hires made it past week 3 (orientation, onboarding, and on-the-job training). This resulted in an average company loss of about $800,000 in 2021 alone.

Retention Rates are low. Even if we were to hire 25% more candidates per month, we still wouldn't achieve the target workforce headcount, because workers were leaving faster than we could hire, onboard, and train new hires. The average job tenure for employees in this position was roughly 60 days. The low retention rates, coupled with the ~50% turnover rates within the first month of employment, made it nearly impossible to maintain the target headcount.

Often in Project Management, research leads us in unexpected directions. While the executives saw the surface-level issue, "we are continuously under headcount," what I uncovered was the question to the root problem:

More research, data analysis, and interviews. Interviews with each of the managers throughout the pipeline. Interviews with the few long-term employees we have in that position. Exit interview reviews. Anonymous surveys. User experience interviews throughout the recruiting, onboarding, and training pipeline. So. Many. Interviews.

I quantified the feedback and uncovered more hard truths:

Bottleneck #1: Potential New Hires would drop from the onboarding process because they didn't feel the company was legitimate.

Bottleneck #2: Once hired, employees would drop out during orientation week typically when they realized the nature of the job.

Bottleneck #3: After orientation, employees move on to 2 weeks of on-the-job training. Employees drop out during OJT due to overwhelm.

Armed with data, I returned to the table of executives. I discussed the ability to bring in more qualified candidates with small yet impactful digital strategy changes like reformatting the job post, taking time to implement keyword research, and refreshing the job posts more often.

"You will get more incoming candidates, and they will be more qualified than the candidates you've previously received," I took a deep breath and paused before continuing. "However, I don't see this as a lasting solution to the issue, as our turnover and retention rates are consistently higher than our recruiting and hiring rates."

Silence settled over the boardroom.

The CFO narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly. "I assume you haven't come to us without a solution?" "You are correct. I would like to propose a multi-pronged solution to the issue: establish a company brand and develop FSM Group's brand identity. Legitimize the company in the eyes of the workforce. Create the company's mission, vision, and values. Foster a community for the employees. Give them a reason to want to work for us, and remain with us." "That sounds expensive." One executive said flatly.

"We don't even know if that's the real problem," says another.

"How could you ever prove that frivolous changes and fluffy words like 'branding,' will make a difference?" another executive shot back petulantly.

I blinked a few times, slowly. Had they not seen the data? The nearly 50 interviews, quantified and categorized? The employee pipeline and turnover tracking graphs? These proposed solutions were based data pulled from the actual employees in the position. "I'm happy to take this transformation one step at a time. Allow me to work on these solutions step by step. I've already tracked and recorded the performance before implementation, then I will track performance after implementation." I paused and took a moment to look each executive in the eye. "I would like to start with initiatives that will make the biggest impact, and will address both the recruiting issue and the retention issue. But first, this company needs a Brand Identity." The Proposed Multi-Prong Solution:

Develop the Brand. Give the company a sense of identity; a brand voice that remains consistent throughout the employee's job tenure. From office visuals, to onboarding paperwork documents, to job posts, to training materials. Use the mission, vision, and values as the company's moral compass, so that executive decisions are formed from the brand's identity and not their own. This will also give the General Managers more confidence in their decision-making abilities.

Leverage the Brand for the workforce. Brand Identity is what differentiates this company from its competitors. How is this company different than the 5 other top competitors in the market, and how can we prove it?

I began the process of branding the company. I took the executive team through a variety of marketing strategy exercises, created a style guide complete with brand voice, color scheme psychology, brand story, and mission, vision, and values.

With the Style Guide in hand, it was easy to design:

Sales Decks

Business Cards

Branded PowerPoint Slides

Email Signatures

"We're Hiring" Handouts

Report Templates

Letterhead

Onboarding Packets

With the Brand Voice, is was easy to create consistent messaging for:

Internal Employee Announcements/Communications

Job Post Copywriting

Social Media Posts

Website Updates

Training Materials

Internal Processes and Procedures Documentation

Proposals

The Mission, Vision, and Values gave us direction to:

Explore creative incentives to attract and retain our workforce.

Adopt smaller, cheaper initiatives that contribute to the brand identity

Differentiate this company from all the other entry-level positions available.

Explore creative solutions to the other bottlenecks in the hiring pipeline.

After more research, we collectively came to the conclusion to introduce a fringe benefit specifically for the hourly, entry-level workforce: our own version of Flight Benefits.

At this time, most of the other airport operators were scaling back on their incentive programs. This Flight Benefits Program not only separated our company from the competition, but it also attracted candidates, and incentivized current employees to remain with the company. This company would be the only company with same-as-cash airfare Flight Benefits--no standby, no priority seating, no waitlists. I performed a cost/benefit analysis to show that even if the entire workforce used their flight benefits, the cost averaged out to about 0.60 per hour worked for each employee. Even if every eligible employee used the benefit, this program cost the company less than raising wages by $1.00 per employee, and helped the company stand out in the job market because no one else offered this type of benefit.

"This could work!" One executive exclaimed.

"Worth a shot," the other shrugged.

"Let's see what happens," another replied skeptically.

So, I set to work mapping out the "Sky Seats Flight Benefits" Program as my next project.

Over the course of 2 months, I worked tirelessly with leadership from multiple different departments, getting a feel for the entire scope of work. From conceptualization, to process implementation, to the technology that would be used to accomplish the tasks, roles and responsibilities, user experience tests, communication templates, tracking and record keeping, training, marketing, etc., I was the champion and head of this project.

Here is a rough outline of the various tasks accomplished in 2 months:

Conceptualization: Who is eligible to receive this benefit? How do we track this benefit? What is the user experience to sign up for and receive these benefits? What is the user experience like for the team members executing the Sky Seats Process? What is the user experience for the General Managers to approve and sign off on the benefit requests? What communications are required along the way? What technology platforms will need to be utilized to achieve the desired outcome? How do we track the money spent on the benefit, the number of employees that use the benefit, and what defines this program's success?

Implementation: Using the defined parameters above, I identified the key stakeholders and the team members the project would impact, then set to work designing the process. Using a QR Code, Google Forms, and an email funnel, I created the Sky Seats Program Process by hand, wrote the processes/procedures manual, trained the managers and the Program team members, and designed employee communications handouts, announcements, and communications outlining the program and how it works for employees. I also designed marketing handouts for recruiters to use at Job Fairs, updated the job post descriptions, and added a slide to the orientation deck.

Measuring Success: Although only 10 of 150 employees utilized the program in the first 30 days, during that month the company experienced a notable decline in turnover, and a rise in job applicants. By day 60 the number of hires superseded the number of turnovers for the first time since COVID. By day 90, incoming applicants increased by 30%, and turnover continued to decline.

While championing the Sky Seats Project, I also worked with the General Managers to implement small, yet impactful, changes for the workforce. This includes but is not limited to:

Introduced an internal employee newsletter, highlighting and recognizing entry-level employees for their efforts, and engaging employees in various contests and activities.

Designed branded graphics for the HR/Training Office and the employee break room that doubled as training materials. Employees frequently refer to these visuals, fostering a collaborative learning environment, expediting the training process and decreasing overwhelm, while reinforcing workforce culture.

Produced a "day in the life of an aircraft fueler" video to set realistic job expectations earlier in the hiring process, resulting in less turnover during onboarding and orientation week, and less overwhelm as employees move into on-the-job training.

I secured vendors for and designed tangible marketing items like keychains, lanyards, socks, hats, water bottles, pens, etc.

I reworded and reformatted our entire recruiting and onboarding experience. Beginning with the job description copywriting (resulting in a 60% increase in incoming applicants) and implementing the aircraft fueler video into the job description (more qualified incoming candidates). Next, I rewrote the onboarding process and created an appointments sheet for new hires, resulting in a decline in missed appointments. Finally, I reworked the orientation presentation with more engaging material, which led to a more inspired orientation class that was eager and prepared to handle the challenge of on-the-job training--the OJT supervisor noted that new hires are noticeably less "shell shocked," when they arrive on the ramp.

As you can see, research often takes us in unexpected directions. What began as a simple yet obscure question turned into year-long journey that unearthed the root cause and provided the company with long-term solutions. If the same company had simply decided to throw $10,000 advertising dollars at a "We're Hiring!" Campaign, they might have experienced a spike in incoming applicants, but the company would still have to struggle with turnover rates and poor retention. Additionally, advertising is considered a "real-time" investment; once the ad completes its 6-8 week cycle, the company no longer benefits from the investment. By developing a brand and giving the company a brand identity, we essentially diagnosed, troubleshot, and identified the root cause of the turnover, which in turn allowed us to address all three of the bottlenecks in long-term, creative, effective ways.