The Charge

If you’re in business, and your business is powered by people, you’re in the business of people. A company’s relationships with its employees should supersede any other, and its actions should support that belief.

Though most HR leaders would agree, there is always a force at work against employee engagement, regardless of the economic conditions. Naysayers will find a way to create headwinds against company values, and their actions will inevitably erode retention. Today, they’ll blame the great resignation (or throw up their hands in defeat). In 2019, they’d point to the lowest unemployment numbers on record. Years before that, the rise of the gig economy.

In the last couple of decades, there has been a seismic shift in the perception of company culture. The black box that once protected corporations' internal activities has been replaced with the glass box. Employees are now both media producers and consumers. And consumers, in turn, are potential employees and media channels. In this open-range digital age, empowering brand champions has never been more challenging.

For years, headlines have shouted how it’s critical for Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) to partner with their Chief Technology Officers (CTO) to create new marketing dynamics. We agree it’s important. Between emerging digital media, third-party delivery, increased hand-held tech in every multi-unit model, and upticks in pressure from the credit card industry, the race to upgrade and raise the tech bar is well underway.

Internal miscommunication can make even the most irresistible marketing promotions fall flat in the final mile. All too often, our brand agency works together with corporate marketing partners to launch promotions they’ve poured their hearts into… only to yield lackluster results when frontline workers don’t have the right story—or motivation—to sell in corporate’s hard work.