Google is renowned as being the world’s most desirable workplace, and it wasn’t just because they were lucky—here’s a few ways they’ve managed to top the charts, and things you could look at implementing in to your own workplace!

Use Current Employees as Social Advocates

The best source of your next talented, engaged employee is your current talented, engaged employee!

Encourage your staff to share highlights from their workday on their own social media accounts. Ask them to tag your organisation’s social media account in their post, so that you’ll be notified of their post and can then re-post (re-gram, re-tweet) it. To stir up some excitement, you could even offer a monthly Sharing is Caring award.

Actively ask your staff to follow your social media accounts, so they can engage with your posts, too, such as commenting on them, liking them, or sharing them.

Getting staff involved in your social media will not only help spread the good word about your employer brand, it will also engage staff in your living culture, because they are playing an active part in it!

Just two of many tweets by employees (and candidates) that mention Google’s official Careers Twitter account, @googlejobs. Note how Google has re-tweeted the top one.

Don’t be afraid to have a little fun

No matter how serious and important the work your organisation does, you’ve still got to have a little fun. In fact, some might say that the more serious and important your work, the more you needto let your hair down a little sometimes!

Build morale-boosting, engagement-enriching F U N into your strategic plan. Fun enables collaboration and creativity, promoting happier and healthier teams.

Stand For Something

The work or industry your organisation is involved in brings with it all sorts of related opportunities to make a difference in society—whether directly, through your own products or services, or indirectly, through supporting a cause you believe in.

And if you stand for something that’s close to your own heart, chances are it will resonate with your ideal employees, too. As Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operations, says: “… nurturing your people doesn’t require expensive perks… or gimmicks… we spend more time working than we do on almost any other activity in our lives. People want all that time to mean something.”

Google not only supports multiple important causes (and in a deeper than surface-level way), it is also a thought leader in progressive recruitment.

Perks make you Perky

When you think of Google’s employer brand, you probably think first of all their famous staff perks—things like their free state-of-the-art gyms and games areas, free gourmet cafes and colourful designer offices. While perks aren’t sufficient on their own to recruit top-quality talent, they’re still an important ingredient in your overall employer brand offering.

If the most you can honestly say on any recruitment advertising is ‘competitive remuneration‘, it’s time to look at providing a few more perks!

Your organisation’s budget may not run to a designer cafe with free meals, like this one at Google Canada, but affordable ideas like just having fresh fruit available can make a big difference to employee engagement (in Fuel’s case, homemade cakes are often provided as a deliciously unhealthy morning tea).

So, is there anything on this list that tickles your fancy? Here at Fuel, ‘having fun’ just so happens to be one of our values, so we’re always looking for ways to mix things up creatively and spark joy throughout the studio. This goes a ridiculously long way in creating a company culture that’s positive and collaborative.