Employer Content Marketing

Hosted by Chris Le'cand-Harwood

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153

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May 2026

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About the show

Did you know that only 21% of employees are engaged with their work? That's $8 trillion in lost productivity [Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report]. The principles of content marketing can influence necessary changes in employer branding and talent marketing. Chris Le'cand-Harwood - Strategy & Production Lead at Content Marketing Pod Ltd - is joined by experts in employee engagement, marketing, employer branding, and talent acquisition about how to make workplaces more engaging. We share tips, strategies, and stories to help companies attract, engage, and retain the right talent.

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May 26, 202621 min

Why Your Company Culture Is Actually a Profit Center (Not a Cost)

In Episode of 155 of Employer Content Marketing, Chris Le’cand-Harwood is joined by Crista and Matt Vance - co-founders of Mobrium and hosts of The Culture Profit podcast - to explore the powerful link between company culture and business performance.With global employee disengagement on the rise (as highlighted in Gallup’s State of the Workplace report), organisations can no longer afford to treat culture as a “soft” topic. This conversation unpacks why culture directly impacts profitability, retention, and employer reputation - and how businesses can start taking it seriously.Crista and Matt share insights from their work helping organisations manage employee reviews and online reputation, as well as lessons from their book The Review Cycle. Together, they dive into how transparency, feedback, and employee voice shape both internal culture and external perception.In this episode, you’ll learn:- Why culture has a measurable impact on profit, retention, and customer experience - How employee reviews influence hiring, turnover, and brand perception - The role of transparency in building trust with candidates and employees - Why employee voices are more credible than employer messaging - How to turn culture into compelling content that attracts the right talent - Practical ways to build feedback loops and strengthen your employer brand Key themes:- Culture vs. “soft” business thinking - The rise of employee-driven transparency - Online reviews, AI, and employer reputation - Emotional storytelling vs. data-driven proof - Building trust through authentic employee voice Crista and Matt also explain why you’ll “never be better than your star ratings” and how organisations can proactively manage their reputation without manipulating the truth—by amplifying real employee experiences.About the guests:Crista and Matt Vance are the co-founders of Mobrium, a platform that helps organisations manage employee reviews and improve employer reputation across the web. They are also the hosts of The Culture Profit podcast and co-authors of The Review Cycle, a book focused on feedback, ratings, and workplace culture.Links:- Connect with Crista and Matt on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/crista-vance/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrvance/- Check out The Culture Profit podcast https://www.thecultureprofit.com/- Get the book: The Review Cycle https://www.amazon.co.uk/Review-Cycle-four-step-mastering-reviews/dp/B0B2HGHPHY- Learn more about Mobrium https://mobrium.com/If you’re interested in employer branding, employee engagement, and turning culture into a competitive advantage, this episode is packed with practical insights.

April 14, 2026Episode 15438 min

Employee Advocacy: From Distribution Channel to Business Driver

Employee advocacy is growing - and that's a good thing for employer brand.But there's a gap between where most organisations are and where they could be. Right now, the dominant model is using employees as a distribution channel. Brand creates content. Employees reshare it. A bit more reach, not much more engagement, and the people involved don't feel especially connected to any of it.The shift - and this is what this conversation is really about - is from distribution to co-creation. When employer brand teams work with employees to surface their genuine expertise, knowledge, opinions and stories, something different happens. Employees are more bought in. They share the content because it's actually theirs. And the content does more: it helps retain existing clients and customers, brings in new ones, keeps people motivated, and attracts the talent you're trying to reach.That's not a content strategy. That's demonstrable business impact.Andy Lambert has been building towards this thinking for over a decade. He co-founded ContentCal in 2016, grew it to become the fastest-growing platform in its category against Hootsuite, Sprinklr and Sprout, and sold it to Adobe in 2021. He built that business almost entirely through people-powered content. He's now the author of Spheres of Influence - a framework for turning genuine human voices into sustainable word-of-mouth growth.Andy and I have known each other for about ten years. This is a conversation where the thinking has had time to develop - and it shows.What we talked about:- Why co-creating content with employees beats just using them as a distribution channel- How giving employees a genuine voice creates buy-in - and better content- The business case: talent attraction, employee motivation, reputation, sales and client retention- Why LinkedIn's AI discovery shift makes this more urgent than ever right now- How to get employees creating content without handing them a blank page- Andy's six spheres of influence — a practical framework for personality-led growthFind Andy and get his book:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyrlambert/Spheres of Influence: https://amzn.eu/d/0198edDsSubscribe to the Employer Content Marketing newsletter: www.employercontent.marketingFind ChrisLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrislecandharwoodNewsletter: www.employercontent.marketingWebsite: www.contentmarketingpod.com#EmployerBrand #EmployeeAdvocacy #LinkedInMarketing #employerbranding

April 12, 2026Episode 1539 min

The Role of Agencies in Employer Branding's Future

Nick Homer has done employer branding in-house and in agencies across his career, most recently at Chapter 2. In this conversation, we get into where agencies genuinely add value, where the current model is falling short, and what a more relevant version of the relationship between agencies and in-house teams might look like.The honest answer isn't that agencies are irrelevant. It's how we can close the gap between what clients need and what agencies deliver. The opportunity is real — but so is the need to change.Here are some of the points we cover:- Why the in-house vs agency cost comparison is forcing harder questions- Where creativity is still the clearest case for agency involvement- Why knowledge transfer — not just execution — could redefine what agencies offer- How independent consultants are filling gaps that neither agencies nor in-house teams cover well- What the RADs this year suggests about where employer branding creativity is heading- Why disruption from smaller entities is probably good for the whole industryThis episode was recorded during a session for a broader episode about the future of employer branding - you can watch that episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/165mXweEyhXN0scVxR85yI?si=ry3YOz80QEmOHMcZimELpQ

April 12, 2026Episode 15235 min

Is Your Employer Brand Ready for What's Next?

Most employer brand content is built to attract - too often built to fix underlying business issues. Nick Homer has been making this argument for a while - and his case is that until EB teams start treating reputation as something to be improved rather than marketed around, they'll keep filling a bucket with a hole in it.I had a great conversation with Nick about what employer branding actually needs to do to stay relevant — and what gets in the way.Here are some of the things we talk about: - Why employer brand is a reputation discipline first, not a marketing channelHow to spot whether your EVP is already out of date — and what to do about it- What authentic content actually looks like (and why most of it isn't)- Why the loyalty contract between employers and employees has fundamentally shifted- How in-house EB teams can build capability and move faster- Why the pace of organisational change means your EVP needs to keep upAbout Nick HomerNick works in employer brand at Chapter 2, a talent business working across embedded talent, talent intelligence, and employer brand. He brings a great combination of in-house and agency experience — having led employer brand globally at Bumble and Wayfair, and worked across specialist agencies including ThirtyThree, Tonic, and Blackbridge. Nick likes challenging received wisdom in employer branding, including a widely-discussed post on LinkedIn arguing that employer brand is fundamentally about reputation.BONUS EPISODE: The role of employer branding agencies in the future: https://youtu.be/wcKYKOsiHUUSubscribe for more episodes direct to your inbox: https://www.employercontent.marketing/

March 27, 2026Episode 15010 min

Understanding Workplace Happiness with Matt Phelan, The Happiness Index

Do you want to understand workplace happiness? Get your sleeves rolled up and see what motivates and engages people at work?Understanding this isn’t a nice to have - it’s a strategic business imperative. It’s what makes businesses succeed.I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of The Global Workplace Happiness Report at Google in London - hosted by The Happiness Index.I did a Substack Livestream with Matt Phelan [Co-Founder of The Happiness Index] on stage before the day kicked off.We cover the why and what of The Global Workplace Happiness Report [it’s based on 1.9 million data points!]. I ask Matt about the key themes in this episode.It’s always great chatting with Matt - his third time on the podcast - and this is episode 150! A worth topic for such a milestone 🫶🏻Matt and the team do really important work so it’s a real privilege to chat with them and share this episode with you.Want to dive into the report?You can download it here https://thehappinessindex.com/the-global-workplace-happiness-report/ And get on to LinkedIn to connect with Matt https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewphelan/Subscribe for more content like this in your inbox https://www.employercontent.marketing/Good times. Thanks for the invite Matt!

March 9, 202635 min

Employer Branding at Scale: Aligning Stakeholders, Teams & Technology

How do you scale employer branding when multiple teams, stakeholders and regions are involved?Whether you work in a global company or a growing organisation with several departments, employer branding quickly becomes complex.In this episode, Chris Le’cand-Harwood speaks with Jane Mehringer, Global Head of Talent Attraction at ABB, about how organisations bring employer branding together across teams, stakeholders and locations.While ABB operates globally, the challenges Jane describes are familiar to any organisation trying to coordinate employer branding across different parts of the business.This conversation explores how to:- Align multiple stakeholders and departments- Maintain consistent employer branding across teams or regions- Balance global guidelines with local flexibility- Build processes that help teams collaborate- Use technology and platforms to scale employer branding- Prove the value of employer branding to the wider business- Build internal communities that drive adoption and momentumThe key lesson:Scaling employer branding is about aligning people, processes and technology across the organisation.This episode is part of a series supported by Cliquify - the Employer Branding Operating System for organisations - featuring conversations with in-house practitioners about how employer branding really works inside organisations.Find out more about Cliquify here: https://www.cliquify.me/Subscribe to the Employer Content Marketing Newsletter here: https://www.employercontent.marketing/Connect with Jane here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janemehringer/

February 2, 2026Episode 15133 min

Scale Your Employer Brand With This Approach

Employer branding is often portrayed as large campaigns, polished EVP launches, and big budgets. But the reality inside most organisations looks very different.Employer branding often grows organically - it evolves through experimentation, testing ideas, learning what works, and adapting along the way.And that’s not a weakness - it’s often exactly how effective employer branding develops.In this episode, Chris Le’cand-Harwood speaks with Dennis Borchers from Tractor Supply Company about what it looks like to build an employer brand in “startup mode” inside an established organisation.Dennis shares how his team has focused on building the foundations first: - creating consistency for recruiters - integrating employer branding with HR communications - amplifying authentic employee-generated content - experimenting with new channels and approachesRather than forcing a rigid programme, the team has allowed the work to grow organically — responding to business needs, testing new ideas, and refining their approach as they go.It’s a great example of why employer branding isn’t a plug-and-play exercise.Instead, it’s something that develops through experimentation, iteration, and collaboration across the organisation.This episode is part of a series supported by Cliquify - the Employer Branding Operating System for organisations - featuring conversations with in-house practitioners about how employer branding really works inside organisations.---Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:37 Dennis Borchers introduction 03:45 Employer branding in “startup mode” 07:00 Creating consistency across channels 10:00 Supporting recruiters with better content systems 15:00 Employee-generated content and ambassadors 18:50 Internal engagement and leadership amplification 22:20 Scaling employee advocacy organically 25:50 Experimenting with TikTok and new content formats 29:00 Why employer branding requires experimentation---Who's this episode is forEmployer brand leaders; Talent acquisition leaders; HR communications professionals; Teams building or evolving their employer brand---🎧 Listen to the podcasthttps://www.employercontent.marketing💬 Connect with Chris on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislch/💬 Connect with Dennis on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-borchers/ ➡️ Subscribe to Employer Content Marketinghttps://www.employercontent.marketing/---If you work in employer branding, talent acquisition, or recruitment marketing, subscribe for more conversations about how organisations are building employer brands through content.📌 Question for viewersIs employer branding in your organisation something that was carefully designed… or something that has grown organically over time?

January 14, 2026Episode 14640 min

5 Pillars of Employer Content Success in 2026 | Co-Created Series Finale with Employer Content Club

Welcome to the final episode of Employer Content Club's Co-Created series! 🎙️In this special studio session, me and Chris Murdoch wrap up the series by revealing the five essential pillars for creating authentic employee content over the next 12 months. Whether you're a solo practitioner or part of a small EB team working with tight budgets, this episode gives you a practical framework to transform your content creation approach.Throughout the Co-Created series, we've explored how organisations like VCA Animal Hospitals and Police Now are building sustainable content operations by co-creating WITH employees, not just creating content ABOUT them. This finale brings together all those learnings into five actionable pillars you can start implementing immediately. Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction & Series Recap03:15 - Pillar 1: Creating Space to Think Differently12:40 - Pillar 2: Budget - Doing Better with Less24:18 - Pillar 3: What's In It For Them?35:22 - Pillar 4: The Agile 4-Week Sprint45:10 - Pillar 5: Experience Over EfficiencyDiscover why the iterative approach beats the big-budget campaign, how to incentivise employee participation authentically, and why doubling down on experience (not just efficiency) will be your competitive advantage in 2026.🔗 Join Employer Content Club:Sign up at to access all episodes and connect with other EB practitioners building co-created content strategies. https://www.employercontent.club/co-created📧 Connect with the Employer Content Club hosts:Chris Le'cand-Harwood - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislch/Chris Murdoch - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismurdoch/About the Co-Created Series:A series exploring how to build authentic content WITH employees, not just about them. Hosted by Chris Le'cand-Harwood (Content Marketing Pod) and Chris Murdoch (Voyse), co-founders of Employer Content Club.https://www.employercontent.club/co-created Series partner: This series is proudly created in partnership with Vouch - the tool that makes employee content creation frictionless. https://vouchfor.com/

December 19, 2025Episode 14733 min

The Agile Content Engine: Balancing High-Production & Employee Videos for Maximum ROI

In this episode of the Co-Created Series, Erik Rivas, Head of Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing at Police Now, reveals how building an efficient employee content engine - balanced with high-production content - drives authenticity, agility, and measurable ROI for their employer branding and recruitment marketing.The Core Message:It's not either/or - it's about balance. High-production content fills your campaigns and website with polish, while employee-generated content gives you the agility to experiment, pivot quickly, and capture authentic day-to-day realities. Together, they create an efficient content engine that maximises return on investment.Key Topics Covered:⚖️ The 50/50 balance: When to use high-production vs employee-generated content🎬 Co-producing with employees: Getting authentic stories from those who've lived it⚡ The agility advantage: Responding to changing recruitment needs in weeks, not months🔧 Building an efficient content engine that extends investment lifespan💰 Reducing cost per hire and attrition through strategic storytelling📦 Centralising content: No more lost videos or WhatsApp file transfers🔄 Extending the life of expensive production shoots through smart repurposing🧪 How flexibility enables fearless experimentation with new topics and voices🎯 Proving ROI by connecting content to core business metricsWhy This MattersErik explains how Police Now created a content engine that balances both approaches. High-production shoots have a role to play in campaign-specific content and website hero videos - but they can be expensive and time-consuming. When priorities shift and you need content about new locations or roles, you can't wait five months for another production shoot.That's where the balance matters. Employee-generated content gives you the flexibility to experiment with new questions, try different angles, and respond rapidly - all while maintaining quality. The key is having both working together: polished branded content for campaigns, and agile employee content for day-to-day realities and rapid response.The result? Authentic stories that set realistic expectations for candidates, the agility to pivot when recruiting different roles or locations, and centralised content management that extends ROI on every piece of content you create.Connect with Erik Rivas:https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikrivas/About Police Now:Police Now is a top graduate employer recruiting graduates into neighbourhood policing, detective roles, and specialised areas including counterterrorism and economic crime.If you're building an employee-generated content function in-house, this episode gives you the practical playbook.👥 Join Employer Content Club and get the next episode in this series [including bonus content about AI]: https://www.employercontent.club/co-createdBecome a founding member and help shape how we build this community. You'll get early access to upcoming events we're planning and be part of the conversation from the start.👉 Sign up at[https://www.employercontent.clubCo-Created Series – How to build authentic content WITH employees, not just about them.Hosted by Chris Le’cand-Harwood (Content Marketing Pod) and Chris Murdoch (Voyse), co-founders of Employer Content Club.Our "Co-Created" series is supported by Vouch (the tool Erik and team use to make employee content creation frictionless).[https://vouchfor.com]Subscribe to Employer Content Marketing for more episodes

December 1, 2025Episode 14425 min

How to Successfully Co-Create Content With Employees | Inside VCA, Co-Created Series

Want to see how an organisation co-creates authentic content with employees? Go behind the scenes with us at VCA Animal Hospitals.Ally Brown, who leads employer brand at VCA (1,000+ veterinary hospitals across the US and Canada), reveals the strategies and tactics she uses to get busy veterinary professionals creating compelling content - even when they're seeing pets all day. This is your inside look at making employee-generated content actually work.In this episode, you'll learn:• The creative brief approach that treats employees as collaborators, not just subjects• How to make the ask so employees feel special (and actually say yes)• How to generate lots of content formats from a one-day photoshoot• Working around the biggest challenge: time constraints with deskless workers• Why starting with student creators built the perfect foundation• Using AI to craft better questions without losing authenticityReal examples include an 81-year-old veterinary technician sharing career wisdom, rescue stories from house fires, and hyper-targeted video job ads for struggling markets.If you're building an employee-generated content function in-house, this episode gives you the practical playbook.👥 Join Employer Content Club and get the next episode in this series [including bonus content about AI]:Become a founding member and help shape how we build this community. You'll get early access to upcoming events we're planning and be part of the conversation from the start.👉 Sign up at https://www.employercontent.club/co-created---Co-Created Series – How to build authentic content WITH employees, not just about them.Hosted by Chris Le’cand-Harwood (Content Marketing Pod) and Chris Murdoch (Voyse), co-hosts of Employer Content Club.Proudly created in partnership with Vouch (the tool Ally uses to make employee content creation frictionless). https://vouchfor.com Subscribe to Employer Content Marketing for more episodes