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Attracting and keeping hold of talent is vital to a thriving business. According to The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), it costs up to 60% of an employee's salary to replace them, with overall costs to the business reaching up to 200% when taking into account the impact a leaver has on culture, morale, customer service, lost knowledge and brand advocacy.

Companies looking to attract and retain the best talent need an admired brand that is endorsed by happy employees. But many companies are losing talent because of the ‘engagement gap’ - the chasm between the carefully curated brand experience on the outside and the poor employee engagement experience on the inside. It helps explain why only 9% of UK employees are engaged at work.

The engagement gap starts with a lack of investment. Most businesses, on average, spend around 10% of their annual revenue on their marketing budgets but only about 0.01%* of revenue on employee engagement. This disparity of investment has a knock-on effect on engagement insight, strategy, creativity and wider brand and commercial impact.

VCCP Group wants to challenge this engagement gap with the launch of VCCP BEE, its new brand and employee engagement specialism which will help companies to attract and retain talent by unifying the brand and employee experience.

VCCP BEE’s competitive advantage will come from its ability to bring together external and internal brand building expertise. Inspired by the belief that it only works if it all works, the specialism will draw on VCCP Group’s integrated capabilities to improve comms and engagement across the employee journey from attraction to exit. From using behavioural science, data and AI to better understand changing employee behaviours and preferences to tapping into the Group’s branding, design, film, social, digital and experiential expertise to create more personalised, holistic, purpose-led communications and engagement experiences.

The offering is being spearheaded by Huw Morgan, Director of Brand and Employee Engagement. Previously at PR and social agency, Good Relations he has supported household names including Channel 4, TfL, Johnson & Johnson, New Look and Asahi with award-winning employee communications and engagement initiatives.

The vital link between engagement and loyalty has been reinforced by new research from VCCP Group which has found that companies not investing in employee engagement during the current period of economic flux are facing a ticking time bomb, with people more likely to resign than wait for the dust to settle.

A huge 64% of responders say they will leave in the next 6-12 months if their employer doesn't invest in the employee experience. Of those participants who are too nervous to make the leap today despite feeling less secure in their job than they did last year, 47% say they would leave as soon as their confidence in the market returns.

In addition to the impact that poor engagement has on employee turnover, VCCP’s survey also found that, despite the shift to remote and hybrid working, responders said that better communication is more important than flexible working for their engagement and motivation at work.

VCCP worked with research and insight specialist, Watermelon to ask 500 respondents to find out what today’s employees need from their employers to stay engaged and loyal.

Huw Morgan, Director of Brand and Employee Engagement at VCCP London said: “We build brands that are admired on the outside by job-seekers and endorsed on the inside by current employees who are advocates for the organisation’s culture and employee experience.

Whether businesses are confronting turbulence or riding a wave of growth, VCCP’s integrated model enables us to uniquely challenge brands to consistently treat their people like valued customers, to attract talent and keep them informed, engaged and motivated.

Adrian Coleman, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer at VCCP, added: “Our mission at VCCP is to challenge the bad habits of the industry and our Employer Brand & Engagement offering is our latest example of this. As our research shows, talent engagement and retention is increasingly business critical, and we’re excited to be able to uniquely help our clients navigate these uncertain times with confidence.”