Best & Worst of Employer Branding: March 2022
The Best: Domino’s recruits for job growth
I love this one. Domino’s is running a pre-roll video ad with this message: More than 95% of Domino’s franchisees in the US started off as part-time pizza makers or delivery drivers.
The company has been on a hiring bender in 2022, rapidly filing delivery driver roles, and this commercial is part of the recruiting campaign.
My guess is that few workers see delivery driver as a stepping stone to a career in food and hospitality. But the job does have growth potential—at least at Domino’s—because 95% is a pretty remarkable number.
This is such an effective employer value proposition. It’s powerful, easy to remember, and it helps potential hires envision a future, one with an upward trajectory, at the company.
Growth opportunities and career development matter. According to Gallup’s 2021 American Upskilling Study*:
57% of workers in the US want to update their skills
65% of workers believe employer-provided upskilling is very important when evaluating a potential new job
48% of American workers would switch to a new job if they were offered skills training opportunities
It can also contribute to retention:
71% of workers who recently completed upskilling agree it had a positive impact on job satisfaction
61% of workers say upskilling opportunities are an important reason to stay at their job
Upskilling can help you attract and retain a diverse workforce too. Workers of color want these opportunities: 69% of Hispanic workers, 63% of Black workers, and 56% of Asian workers expressed interest in upskilling programs. They’re also very likely to participate: 64% of Black workers and 63% of Hispanic workers participated in an upskilling program in the last 12 months, compared to 46% of white workers.
*We should note that Amazon was a partner in this study. The irony of that will become clear in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
The Worst: Amazon fires hourly workers
Workers at Amazon and Starbucks are moving to unionize, and the companies are freaking out and firing organizers.
Starbucks unionization started back in December 2021 at a location in Buffalo, NY, and at the end of February, the company fired the principal organizer whose work spurred the movement. Since then, even more union-involved Starbucks workers have been fired. According to a March 22 story from The New York Times, Starbucks employees at more than 100 locations in at least 25 states are now organizing unions.
Amazon workers have also been moving toward unionization, and Amazon’s actions sound a lot like Starbucks’s. The Guardian reported that a woman employed by Amazon Fresh in Seattle, WA, was fired via an automated email. She’s a union supporter and believes this is the reason she was terminated. And in late February, Amazon called the police on one organizer and had him arrested after he promoted unionization in the parking lot.
Unions at Amazon locations in New York and Alabama are going up for a vote as I write this, so we don’t know the results yet, but it looks as though Amazon has one a pretty good job of intimidating workers, and the Alabama union efforts may fail.
Large corporations opposing unionization and even retaliating against unionizers is not new (this is America), but the fits these companies are pitching hit an especially sour note as they fire the underpaid, overworked employees who kept their businesses profitable and funded their giant penis-shaped spaceships during the pandemic.
As angst for the ultrarich increases at the same time workers are learning to wield their power more effectively, more waves of unionization are almost sure to follow.
To discourage unionization efforts, Starbucks put up a page called We Are One Starbucks, which includes this line: “We do not believe unions are necessary at Starbucks because we know that the real issues are solved through our direct partnership with one another.”
But if those “real issues” were being solved—there’d be no need for unionization.
Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance writer based in Richmond, VA, who writes about workplace culture and policies, hiring, DEI, employer branding, and issues faced by women. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Fast Company, and Food Technology, among others, and has been syndicated by MSN and The Motley Fool.
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