Today’s businesses are like glass boxes – everyone can see what’s happening inside. Where companies once operated behind closed doors, our hyper-connected, transparent age has brought ‘business as usual’ into the open.
Platforms such as TikTok and YouTube have turned everyday employees into content creators, offering real-time glimpses into a company’s inner workings. While increased visibility or transparency can feel threatening to employers, it’s also a powerful opportunity, which must be handled delicately.
It’s time for leaders to treat employees more like customers – as an audience to engage with. Employers should be asking themselves, ‘How do we win people over in the marketplace and in the workplace?’
What gen Z wants
The growth in employee-led workplace transparency has been driven, in large part, by gen Z. Values-led and digitally native, gen-Z workers can spot inauthenticity instantly. Employer branding isn’t a slick video or polished careers page – it’s the intern’s TikTok after week one, the tone of Glassdoor reviews or the gap between what companies say and how people inside feel.
Spotify, for instance, understands this. Their public HR blog focuses on trust and flexibility, highlighting their work-from-anywhere policy and their emphasis on outcomes over hours. This approach resonates with gen Z, who see autonomy and respect as must haves.
Meanwhile, when it comes to backgrounds, skills and expectations, the talent pool is more diverse than ever before. Companies are seeking people with unique perspectives and experiences, not just traditional resumes.
Yet many businesses still treat employer branding as separate from consumer branding. The approach to these, however, is no longer straightforward. If a company promises one thing to customers and another to employees, they risk not only internal discontent but public backlash, too. In an age of viral resignation videos and behind-the-scenes vlogs, posts depicting hypocrisy can quickly go viral.
Culture doesn’t happen by accident
Culture isn’t a by-product of perks or personality – it’s made by design. It’s is shaped by what gets rewarded, ignored and prioritised. A strong culture drives retention, innovation, performance and brand perception.
Netflix has long been praised for its radical transparency and high-performance culture. The company’s clearly defined principles provide employees with a strong sense of alignment, clear expectations and a shared understanding of how work gets done.
A clear, shared brand purpose creates cohesion and helps to strengthen company culture. It gives people a common language and identity, guiding everything from meetings to onboarding. When brand and culture align, the result is clarity and that clarity spreads quickly through content, conversation and everyday moments.
Internal culture is external proof
Use your brand to help shape your culture. Define what you stand for and ensure that shows up in how you treat consumers and employees. Internal culture should reflect your external brand. When the two align, employees become advocates, culture becomes content and your brand becomes magnetic.
To make that alignment stick, work to engage you employees with the brand just as you do with consumers. You can express your brand with a bold purpose, strong values or a memorable rallying cry. What matters is that everyone understands it, believes in it and can confidently share it.
Smart brands are going further by embracing employee-generated content as part of their strategy. They’re not afraid to hand over the mic and actively encourage real, personal stories. Brands including This, the plant-based meat company, and Bolt, the mobility platform, are leading the way, putting staff front and centre to highlight the employee experience at the business.
It’s not just startups that have got the memo. More established businesses are also encouraging their employees to actively promote the employer brand. Take Mohawk Chevrolet, for example, whose staff created a mockumentary series documenting life at the dealership. The Guardian predicts this initiative will lead to “an uptick in sales and a line of people wanting to work there”.
Employer branding is no longer optional – it’s a business imperative. It shapes how you attract and retain talent and how you’re perceived. In an increasingly transparent world, the brands that win will be those that build credibility from the inside out and are confident enough to let their people show it.
Claire Huxley is a strategy partner at Design Bridge and Partners, a global brand-design agency
Today’s businesses are like glass boxes – everyone can see what’s happening inside. Where companies once operated behind closed doors, our hyper-connected, transparent age has brought 'business as usual' into the open.
Platforms such as TikTok and YouTube have turned everyday employees into content creators, offering real-time glimpses into a company’s inner workings. While increased visibility or transparency can feel threatening to employers, it’s also a powerful opportunity, which must be handled delicately.
It's time for leaders to treat employees more like customers – as an audience to engage with. Employers should be asking themselves, 'How do we win people over in the marketplace and in the workplace?'
