In our recent Red Folder eZine, we asked the following question: Do your employees understand, commit to, and know how to take action on your brand? (In other words, do employees buy-in to the company brand?)
Here are the results:

Nearly half of respondents mentioned that they would like to find out if employees in their company are effectively living the brand.

The best way to find out if employees think, speak, and behave your company's brand is to evaluate/assess their performance of key behaviors that are directly tied to the brand and company goals/objectives. So how do you do that?

First, set clear expectations for all employees on what beliefs are required to represent your company’s brand/values. Then establish a set of basic, nonnegotiable behaviors for all employees to demonstrate that are tied to those beliefs.

Integrate the brand into performance systems such as behavior-based interviewing to select the best-fit employees; job-level behavioral expectations for onboarding, training, and providing feedback; and a proprietary recognition system for proactively capturing successes and acknowledging peers who demonstrate behaviors that enhance the work culture and improve the customer experience.

Then conduct regular behavior-based assessments to track employee engagement, productivity, and brand alignment across teams and departments in order to pinpoint strengths and areas of weaknesses.

At Brand Integrity, we use our Achieving Brand Integrity Assessment to measure how consistently a company's employees perform across what are called the Five Dimensions of Brand Integrity. Click here to read a post about the assessment.

Click here to take a complimentary Achieving Brand Integrity Assessment to uncover how well employees in your company understand, commit to, and take action on your brand.

I am quite familiar with the many Best Places to Work lists that exist today. Primarily because 56% my clients who are implementing with Brand Integrity, for at least a year, are on or have been on one of the lists before. We've learned as much from our clients as they have from us - it truly is a partnership.

One specific thing I have learned is how truly committed our clients are to building an employer brand. They recognize the importance a strong employer brand plays in the success of their company. Their focus on branding for employees is driving millions of dollars to their bottom-line each year.

Take Wegmans Food Markets, who has been a consistent top 10 Fortune Best Places to Work company since the list's inception. Wonder if an employer brand matters - think about the bottom-line impact when you have 50-60% less turnover than the industry average. If your not imagining lots of dollar signs, go get a glass of water, splash it on your face and wake-up.

Building an employer brand enhances the power of the positive. Said another way, it increases the upbeat energy in your company and propels employees, work teams, and leaders to accomplish remarkable results.

Having a company brand strategy and subsequent brand that employees find to be meaningful and relevant leads to:

Passion and sponsorship: The right employees, motivated by the same desirable outcomes, willingly head in the same direction as the company and as one another.

A positive work culture: Internal excitement is focused on embracing change, not fighting it.

Employee commitment: Employees understand how they fit into and have an impact on the company.

Customer loyalty: Because experiences are meaningful and stimulate incredible loyalty. This happens only when employees understand the benefits customers are looking for and the uniqueness with which your company can deliver those benefits. This allows employees to connect emotionally with the brand, optimizing their ability to delight customers.

A study conducted over a period of three years by SHL (a psychometric testing company) has concluded that employee engagement is more important than job satisfaction. This indicates that employees want more out of a career than to just like their job. Ilke Inceoglu, one of the researchers involved in the study noted, "Job satisfaction has been superseded by engagement because that shows links to performance."

How are you managing the engagement of employees in your organization? I know of some leaders who think that due to the economy, no one is leaving even if they are unhappy. This simply is not true. Whereas times are tough and many companies have put a freeze on or limited hiring, good employees—A-players—will be able to find a job elsewhere no matter what the economy (it may just take a little longer).

Is your organization at risk of losing it's A-players? Are your employees engaged?
You may be asking yourself: What does that mean? How can I tell the level of engagement?

Below are some features of an organization with high employee engagement. Read through and ask yourself how well your company is performing.

• Employees understand the organization's goals and objectives.
• Employees understand how their work impacts the organization's ability to achieve results.
• Employees are committed to delivering consistently good experiences that drive a positive work culture and strong customer relationships.
• Employees take action to live the organization's brand every day by demonstrating on-brand behaviors and experiences.
• Employees communicate effectively and are receptive to others.
• Employees recognize each other for a job well done.
• Employees hold themselves and each other accountable for delivering the behaviors and experiences necessary for driving a great work culture and profitable results.

How engaged are your employees? Where does your organization struggle? Knowing the current reality regarding employee engagement in your organization is the first step to rectifying areas of weakness and building an engaged workforce.