Savvy businesses understand that promotional products can help increase brand awareness and improve customer loyalty and consumer engagement. They also know that promotional products go a long way towards helping motivate and retain a talented, highly productive workforce. Branded company swag like apparel and accessories, office items, and tech products have been proven to be effective workforce incentives that can boost employee morale and increase employee productivity.
In addition to aiding employee retention, promotional products can also be utilized throughout the employee recruitment process to help attract new talent. With a continued labor shortage plaguing HR departments across the country, companies need to look for innovative ways to stand out among applicants. This includes using promotional products as recruitment gifts. Three creative ways that promotional products can be used during the talent acquisition process in 2021 include:
Send swag bags to virtual job fair attendees
While promotional products have long been a staple of job fairs and career fairs – a great way to attract more people to your booth and raise company awareness – virtual job fairs and hybrid job fairs are increasingly common types of recruitment events. These virtual and hybrid events do not mean you should skip the swag, as connecting with virtual event attendees is an even more important part of making memorable connections. Promotional products used as talent acquisition gifts are a cost-effective way to leave a lasting impression on promising job seekers attending virtual hiring events. Sending a t-shirt branded with your company logo or a swag bag full of goodies to qualified job candidates – along with a handwritten note – is a simple, inexpensive way to make a positive impression on recruits.
Use personalized promotional products as recruitment gifts during the interview process
When interviewing high-value job candidates, don’t be afraid to show a little hospitality. Handing out a small gift bag of company branded merchandise – such as snacks, water bottles, travel mugs, t-shirts, notepads, pens, and stickers – at an on-site job interview will help set your company apart from competitors.
Beamery, a recruiting software company, believes that personalization is key when it comes to truly impressive candidate gift-giving, noting that large corporations like Credit Suisse and LinkedIn provide custom recruiting gifts to job candidates based on their interests (sports, food, wine, et cetera). And once the employment contract has been signed, don’t forget to make new members of your workforce feel welcome with personalized onboarding gifts!
Offer gift cards and branded company swag as employee referral incentives
An employee referral program is one of the best ways for businesses to attract qualified new talent and significantly speed up your time-to-hire. In addition, employee referral programs can also help improve employee morale.
Workable, a leading recruiting software company, believes that the most successful corporate employee referral programs use a mix of monetary and non-monetary bonuses and incentives. A great mix of incentives for employees can include cash, extra vacation days, gift cards, trips, technology products (drones, wireless chargers, noise-cancelling headphones) and apparel/accessories (hats, vests, jackets, bags). A BrandHub Online Company Store makes it easy to start and manage an employee referral program. Workers who make referrals can receive promo codes which can then be used to redeem gift cards and promotional products – such as apparel and accessories – through your online company store’s website.
Recruitment Gifts for Hiring (and Retaining) the Right Employees
In a competitive job market, attracting – and retaining – qualified workforce talent can be difficult, time consuming and costly. That’s why it is imperative for businesses to find fresh ways to make positive impressions throughout the employee life cycle, reduce turnover, and speed up time-to-hire. Promotional items can help with the employee recruitment and retention process in a variety of ways – they are memorable, effective incentives that can improve employee recruitment and onboarding and transform employee referral programs and employee incentive programs.
To learn more about how an online company store can speed up your time-to-hire and help elevate your employee hiring and retention strategies, Contact Us or fill out the form below to set up a one-on-one consultation.