Best Workplaces, Company Culture, Employee Engagement , High Trust Behaviour, Leadership & Management
Key Takeaways:
- Community impact employees can see: 94% of employees at the Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back feel good about the ways their company contributes to the community.
- Pride drives advocacy: 94% are proud to tell others where they work, and proud employees are four times more likely to recommend their workplace.
- A recruitment and retention edge: 90% strongly endorse their organization as a great place to work, and 88% want to stay for a long time.
- Purpose and care go together: 92% say people care about each other and 91% feel they make a difference, which strengthens the employee value proposition.
- Validation is the business case: An employer brand is only as strong as the employee voices behind it, so giving programs should be designed and measured from the inside out.
Any organization can say it gives back. The Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back have the employee data to prove it: 94% of their employees feel good about the ways their company contributes to the community, and 94% are proud to tell others where they work. Here’s why that employee validation is what turns a giving program into a real employer branding and hiring advantage.
It’s big business convincing people what it is an organization stands for. Websites highlight company values. Social media showcases the culture. Careers pages emphasize the importance of people and purpose. And invariably there will be a segment that talks about community, corporate social responsibility, and the causes they support.
This inundation of messaging, however, has led to healthy skepticism. Are these claims really true?
And who best to verify the claims? The employees actually working there.
Enter employer branding. For leaders wanting to make a case for investing in community initiatives, this is an important consideration. Giving back can be a powerful component of an organization’s employer branding strategy, helping attract and retain talent and enhance the employee experience. This employer brand value only exists when employees see it and believe it. And that makes employee validation one of the most important measures of whether a giving program is delivering a return.
For the Best Workplaces™ on our Giving Back list, this validation is translating into impressive cultural benchmarks that reinforce how a strong culture of giving back has far-reaching impacts on the employer brand and the employee value proposition.
Employer Branding in Recruitment
Employer branding in recruitment: 94% of employees at the Best Workplaces for Giving Back are proud to tell others where they work
Why is employer branding important?
If two organizations offer similar salaries, benefits and career opportunities, what makes one more attractive than the other? Employer branding!
As competition for skilled professionals intensifies across Canada, a strong brand message may be what brings the most well-aligned candidates to the door. Talent is often looking beyond salary, flexibility and career opportunities. They want to understand what it is really like, day to day, working for a company, to ensure that beyond the skills, they are well aligned to be successful within the lived employee experience. Company values, leadership, culture and the organization’s impact in the community are increasingly (and in tight labour markets, maybe the most) compelling factors in an employer brand.
What makes employer branding most effective, however, is message consistency between employer brand and the lived employee experience. Today’s candidates research potential employers before ever submitting their application. They scan the company website, read reviews, scour social media, and talk to people about the organization. They can quickly distinguish brand messaging that is nothing more than a carefully crafted statement from HR or marketing, from genuine employer branding that comes alive in the voice of their people.
Genuine employer branding reflects deep-seated company values. Employees feel proud knowing they work for an organization that is guided by something more purposeful than profit and where caring about people is second nature. When employees feel proud of where they work, they become ambassadors for the organization, helping attract new talent while strengthening engagement and loyalty among the people already there.
This is where giving back and employer branding merge.
Giving Back as a Hiring Advantage
Giving back as a hiring advantage: 94% of employees feel good about the ways their company contributes to the community
How does corporate social responsibility impact a company’s brand image?
Investing in the community sends a powerful signal about company values and what it wants to be in the marketplace. That shapes how customers, prospective employees and current employees see the organization.
When an organization invests in the community, financial performance is framed as an extension of company values versus the sole goal. This message extends to the whole employee experience where values are known to guide everything from daily decision making to policy choices and strategic direction. This is the type of organization people want to work for.
People want to feel that their work has meaning. They want to feel proud of the organization they work for and be part of something that contributes positively to the local community and beyond. Giving back helps create this sense of pride and our research shows that employees who are proud of their workplace are four times more likely to recommend it and are committed to staying longer.
Supporting local charities, providing paid time off to volunteer, matching employee donations, or supporting community events allows employees to experience company values in action and feel proud of their workplace. These experiences create lasting memories and inspire stories that are recounted often. This is what makes giving back especially impactful. When employees wholeheartedly believe their organization gives back, they become credible advocates for the employer brand.
Inside-Out Employer Branding
Inside-out employer branding: 90% of employees strongly endorse their organization as a great place to work
How to improve employer branding?
The most powerful employer brand isn’t what a company says about itself, it’s what its employees say about working there.
The best employer brands tell their culture story from the inside out, meaning they let their people tell the story for them. Because today’s employees are wise to empty corporate messaging, they look for candid feedback and insight. They want to know whether employees are experiencing what the glossy pages are purporting. The responsibility falls on organizations to create meaningful experiences that resonate with people and that enhance the employee value proposition. A press release announcing a community partnership will reach a limited audience. Pair it with a company-wide celebration, share data on the investment, suggest ways for employees to get involved, maybe include some snacks, and it’s an employer branding moment.
When considering a community investment or giving-back campaign, design it to enhance employee experience versus gaining publicity points. Ask people what causes they are passionate about. Include them in the planning stages. Ensure consistency with company values and community priorities. Regularly check in with people about their experiences. Are they aware of the initiatives being sponsored? Do they appreciate the company’s community commitment? Do they have opportunities to get involved if they choose? Are they proud of how the company gives back? Do they believe giving back is part of the culture?
This inside-out approach ensures you are paying attention to the employee experience. As you collect and monitor employee feedback, gaps between intention and execution may surface. Successful employer branding monitors and fills these gaps continuously. This feedback loop is what creates a competitive advantage because an employer brand is only as strong as the employee voices that support it.
Giving back to the community is an investment. The business case, however, goes deeper than just the dollars. A meaningful giving strategy enhances the employee experience and contributes to a robust employer branding strategy that can be used to attract and retain talent. The Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back use employee feedback to showcase how well employees endorse the company and its culture. This employee validation turns their community investment into a competitive advantage. Any company can say it is committed to giving back (and most do), but the claim carries far more weight when employees confirm that commitment through their own experiences.
Do you want to use giving back as part of your employer branding? Certification as a Best Workplace™ can confirm your employee experience and show prospective employees that you really do care about people and community.
Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back
Across Canada, these organizations make giving back a genuine part of their culture rather than an add-on. Their employees take real pride in how their workplace supports the communities around it, with at least 90% feeling good about the way their organization contributes. By turning community impact into an everyday employee experience, these workplaces strengthen engagement, attract values-aligned talent, and show that purpose and performance grow together.
Tools & Resources
- Employee Survey: Measure whether employees know about, take part in and feel proud of your community initiatives, the same employee validation behind the Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back.
- Culture Consulting: Close the gaps between your giving-back intentions and the lived employee experience, so your employer brand claims hold up when candidates start asking questions.
- Employee Engagement: Turn community partnerships into company-wide moments that build pride, advocacy and the long-term commitment that strengthens staff retention.
- Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back: See the organizations whose employees confirm their community commitment, and how that recognition strengthens their employee value proposition.
Feedback
Is giving back part of your employer branding strategy? We’d love to hear how your organization connects community impact to recruitment and retention, and which topics you’d like us to explore next. Have feedback? Fill out this form by clicking here.
Get Certified 
Your employer brand is only as strong as the employee voices that support it. Certification gives you validated employee feedback that shows candidates your commitment to people and community is real. Get Certified today, then find out whether your organization belongs on the Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back List.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why is employer branding important?
When organizations offer similar salaries, benefits and career opportunities, employer branding is often what makes one more attractive than the other. Candidates want to understand what working somewhere is really like, including its company values, leadership, culture and community impact, before they apply.
What is employer branding in recruitment?
Employer branding in recruitment is how an organization communicates what it stands for and what the employee experience is like, so the best-aligned candidates come to the door. It works best when the message matches reality, because candidates research company websites, reviews, social media and their own networks before submitting an application.
How does corporate social responsibility impact a company’s brand image?
Investing in the community shows that financial performance is an extension of company values rather than the sole goal. That shapes how customers, prospective employees and current employees see the organization, and when employees believe in the commitment, they become credible advocates for the brand.
How does giving back help attract and retain talent?
Giving back builds pride, and employees who are proud of their workplace are four times more likely to recommend it and are committed to staying longer. At the Best Workplaces™ for Giving Back, 94% of employees are proud to tell others where they work and 88% want to work there for a long time.
How can an organization improve its employer branding?
Tell your culture story from the inside out. Design giving initiatives around the employee experience rather than publicity: ask employees which causes they care about, include them in planning, align initiatives with company values and community priorities, and check in regularly about how they experience them.
How do you measure employer branding?
The most reliable measure is employee feedback. Ask whether employees know about your community initiatives, appreciate the commitment, have opportunities to get involved, feel proud of how the company gives back and believe giving back is part of the culture. Validated survey results, like those behind Great Place To Work Certification™, show where intention and experience line up and where the gaps are.
