Here’s a mix of the latest news on employer brand, culture, employee referrals and more. Enjoy!

1) Employer Branding Best Practices for Small Businesses and Startups from 42Hire

“One of the most overlooked challenges that small businesses and startups face as they experience growth is their ability to become competitive when looking for high quality employees. Many of these small businesses and startups are competing for the same talent as much larger, more established organizations, ranging from Enterprise level companies to established mid-sized businesses and other small businesses. While it’s hard enough to find the right person to fill a role, it becomes an even more daunting task when you are a relative unknown commodity in a hyper competitive market…”

2) How to Attract Top Talent With A Strong Employer Brand from Forbes

“In a world where searching for a better job has become more like shopping for a better job, your company’s reputation is more important than ever. Job seekers have options, and in order to attract top talent, your organization needs to set itself apart from the competition.

So how do you successfully show candidates that your organization has values, personality and a strong company culture? Five successful human resources executives from Forbes Human Resources Council discuss the ways you can create a distinguished employer brand in order to attract top talent to your organization…”

3) 3 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover Rates from Business2Business Community

“Employees in today’s society cost a lot to keep around, and they cost even more when you need to replace them. Finding and retaining the best employees is tougher than it sounds, but very few discuss the truth about these costs and the multiple ways that it impacts businesses.

In order to keep the best, you must be the best. This means that for an employee to stay at work, they can’t just be surviving, but thriving in their work environment and enjoy the people they’re working with.To reduce employee turnover rates, we’ve come up with three ways you can combat these costs!...”

4) 4 Ways to Train Employee-Referral Rock Stars from Entrepreneur

“An employee referral rockstar is consistent and driven to find the best cultural fits for his or her employer's hiring team. Employee-referral programs (ERPs) are among the hottest trends in human resources. However, they are more than just a cool new idea for acquiring talent -- in many professionals’ eyes, employee-referral programs are essential.

A 2016 study from LinkedIn found that 32 percent of the 3,894 talent acquisition professionals surveyed considered these programs to be a top source of hire -- and for good reason. A 2015 ICIMS study found that more than half of the 107 HR professionals surveyed agreed that employees hired through referrals stay longer, feel more satisfaction and are better cultural fits…”

5) Using Data to Shape Culture from SHRM

“HR embraces predictive analytics to help people work together more effectively. HR leaders are taking greater advantage of predictive analytics to help teams and individuals function more effectively and to shape organizational culture, according to software vendors and independent experts.

So far, the practice is being used to the greatest extent at large organizations, experts say. But as computing power increases and becomes more affordable, smaller firms will find it attractive and in some cases essential to remain competitive. Said John Callery, global head of workforce strategy at financial giant BNY Mellon: "Organizations are definitely getting it—that this is something they should do. The marketplace is driving this. It's happening across all industries and sizes of organizations."...”

6) How to Avoid Creating a Negative Culture of Cynicism and Sabotage from Switch & Shift blog

“Some employers fall victim to scare-tactic polls that report 80 percent of employees are either running for the exits, job hunting, or sabotaging their businesses from within as a result of a negative culture. On the other side, there are employees who’ve become jaded in the wake of “engagement” projects that are insulting, inauthentic, inept, or all of the above. When that happens, you get Dilbert, the famous comic strip by Scott Adams. In the Dilbert universe, bosses are all incompetent and self- serving, employees are all arch-cynics manipulating a nonsensical bureaucracy, and nothing much gets done…”

Kathleen O'Brien (@kathleen_eliz) is a Lead Consultant & Project Manager for exaqueo, a workforce consultancy that helps organizations build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about our employer brand innovation, workforce research, and recruiting strategy offerings.