VCCP launches spin-off to tackle employment crisis

VCCP Group is aiming to help companies to attract and retain talent by unifying the brand and employee experience with the launch of a new unit, VCCP Bee.

The launch of the division follows the agency’s own research which has revealed a looming recruitment crisis, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of responders say they will leave in the next 6 to 12 months if their employer does not 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 – conducted with research firm Watermelon – 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.

And, 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 Bee claims its 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 director of brand and employee engagement Huw Morgan. Previously at social agency Good Relations, Morgan has supported household names including Channel 4, TfL, Johnson & Johnson, New Look and Asahi with employee communications and engagement initiatives.

He 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.”

VCCP co-founder and group chief executive Adrian Coleman added: “Our mission at VCCP is to challenge the bad habits of the industry and our employer brand and 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.”