Employer Branding

Question
This project was made up of three phases: 1) analysis; 2) deepening; 3) design and development.

Our role at Arcadis Netherlands started with an investigation into the organization’s employee journey. The request we were given was to help create an inventory of the phases of the employee journey in need of extra attention. One of the outcomes of this inventory revealed that Arcadis Netherlands could improve the way in which it was attracting new talent.

We delved deeper into this theme with the questions, “What is Arcadis Netherlands’ current employer brand?” and “How can Arcadis Netherlands position itself as a more attractive employer to attract new talent?”

We then went to work on developing a campaign concept to increase brand awareness of Arcadis Netherlands. During the employment-market communication campaign, tools were developed for both a broader target audience and for specific strategic audiences.

Background
Arcadis Netherlands was growing fast at the start of this project in 2019 – with even greater growth ambitions for the upcoming year (2020). This meant that Arcadis Netherlands had a tremendous short-term need for the recruitment and selection of new talent (from among different target audiences). 

To achieve the intended goals, Arcadis Netherlands wanted to increase its brand recognizability as an employer. In addition, the organization was noticing that its true DNA was not being communicated well enough in its communication towards the employment market.

Our approach
During the assessment of the employee journey, we used depth interview, questionnaires, and focus groups to assess all steps of Arcadis Netherlands’ internal and external employee journey. 

We subsequently delved deeper into attracting talent. In doing so, we looked at how (potential) candidates view Arcadis as an employer, which strategic target audiences we can distinguish within the organization and what the needs and characteristics of these target audiences are, and how Arcadis wants to position itself in the market to attract the right talent. 

To achieve this, we used questionnaires across a period of two to three months, conducted one-on-one depth interviews, and organized focus groups.

During the follow-up phase of the project, we zoomed in on the information needs of the strategic target audiences. What do the different groups want to know about Arcadis Netherlands as an employer, and how can we best reach them? Per strategic target audience, we spoke to different employees and invited them to participate in the campaign.

After answering the above three spearheads, we got to work on developing an employment-market campaign. We developed and presented two conceptual directions, after which we continued developing the concept Arcadis Netherlands selected. The campaign contains general content that is deployable for a wide target audience and content aimed at the more specific target audiences.

While developing the campaign, we paid attention to two important subjects: 

• We wanted to show that our projects truly contribute to improving the living environment in the Netherlands, and with this, underline the social importance of Arcadis. We not only wanted to show that Arcadis is building technical bridges, but also that Arcadis is helping people get from A to B.
• We wanted to show the people behind our projects and spread a personal message. This design principle was drafted after our investigation showed that many people perceive Arcadis Netherlands as a listed, rather than personal, company.

The result
Despite the challenge of the pandemic, we were able to strongly position Arcadis Netherlands’ employer brand. Employer branding is not being seen as a short-term solution but is now contributing to the long-term recruitment and selection of new talent.

For Arcadis Netherlands, the launch of this employer brand means potential candidates can now find the information about Arcadis on its renewed website. New content has been created for the different target audiences that better aligns with their needs. 

Through this employer brand and its associated campaign, Arcadis Netherlands has enhanced its reputation as a personal and socially driven organization.

We developed various different tools on top of the renewed career website as part of this campaign: a creative, innovative brand video about Arcadis Netherlands; testimonial videos per specific target audience; a 360-degree virtual experience of a project; balance stories in which we portray Arcadians outside of the context of their work; and various campaign images and texts that can be used for different purposes.