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A company rebrand may appear to be a pure method to clean up your organization’s picture or redefine your market positioning. However rebranding generally is a dangerous choice, particularly if your small business has an worker expertise hole.
An worker expertise hole occurs when workers see their organizations otherwise from the best way their employers suppose they do. And this misalignment can derail even probably the most thrilling rebrands as workers withhold the assist and enthusiasm wanted to make the rebrand succeed.
The 2023 Twitter-to-X rebrand is an instance of a rebrand that did not “land”, partially as a result of it did not resonate with workers. The rebrand got here on the heels of a well-documented worker ultimatum from CEO Elon Musk to go “hardcore” with Twitter 2.0 or resign. The ultimatum left employees feeling involved, undervalued, and upset. After the ultimatum got here some drastic headcount cuts, which additional rattled the corporate’s inner groups. By the point the rebrand to X was introduced, lots of the remaining workers had undergone a lackluster expertise that left them unconvinced to be company cheerleaders.
Though the X rebrand wasn’t introduced down by the corporate’s worker expertise hole, it did not earn optimistic press or immediate client engagement. At this level, the general public nonetheless refers back to the platform by its former title, and studies present that X utilization and engagement dropped 30% between 2023 and 2024. That is a surefire sign that the rebrand no less than faltered.
In distinction, the 2018 Dunkin’ Donuts to Dunkin’ rebrand incurred a a lot hotter public and worker welcome. To make sure, selling the sale of scorching espresso and pastries is much less controversial than renaming a social media channel. Nevertheless, meals rebrands aren’t assured to impress. Consequently, Dunkin’ stands out for its potential to not solely reframe its firm’s identification however to deliver workers into the rebrand as a important a part of the expertise.
For example, Dunkin’ pledged $100 million to make sure that its rebrand included needed employee coaching and sources. Finally, Dunkin’ did extra than simply shorten its title and launch an up to date emblem. The enterprise took steps to make sure that there was minimal worker friction throughout the rebrand.
In the event you’re contemplating a rebrand, learn on to be taught the highest causes that rebrands battle as a result of worker expertise hole, in addition to methods to keep away from them.
Drawback 1: The model modifications however the firm tradition does not
Ideally, rebranding needs to be seen as a chance to make a holistic change fairly than a skin-deep one. Too usually, although, leaders see rebranding in a superficial mild and focus their consideration on enhancing the outward look of their firm. However they do not look deeper —and solely later uncover that up to date logos and a digitally superior web site cannot override the consequences of an outdated office tradition.
Based on Hoot Design Firm, rebranding campaigns ought to all the time be embedded with a cultural change part. The company recommends beginning all rebrands by shifting via a culture-driven methodology that places a premium on worker engagement. By guaranteeing its workers really feel linked to one another and to the corporate’s meant mission and objective, a rebranding enterprise can set itself up for resiliency and development.
For instance, previous to rebranding, your organization might make clear its mission, imaginative and prescient and objective with the help of your workforce. Including this sort of high-level introspection to your rebranding encourages employee-employer alignment and helps cut back future worker expertise gaps and hindrances. It additionally provides you the possibility to establish any culture-related challenges that need to be corrected earlier than your rebrand launch.
Drawback 2: Staff aren’t given a voice throughout planning
When employees are caught off-guard by a rebrand, they might be skeptical or brazenly hostile to it. And it is easy to grasp why: From their perspective, management did not care sufficient about them to deliver them into the dialogue. Consequently, they might converse negatively about their employer and its rebrand, inflicting the rebrand’s momentum to stall.
Speaking upfront a few rebrand to employees is important. Nevertheless, it may be onerous to know precisely when to inform workers a few rebrand that is not able to be unveiled publicly. That is when it is likely to be acceptable to ask for recommendation from human sources. HR executives will help decide precisely how and when to inform workers a few rebrand launch. In startups with restricted HR roles and features, this duty could fall to the person in control of worker wellness. (Typically, that is the early-stage founder!) Regardless, the target is to construct worker information into the general rebranding plan.
But this cannot be a one-time outreach that leaves workers with none roles throughout the rebrand. Staff needs to be given very important obligations within the rebranding in order that they really feel a way of possession about any modifications being made, equivalent to providing beta suggestions on new emblem designs or turning into client-facing model ambassadors on social media.
Associated: When to Contemplate a Rebrand (and The best way to Do It Proper)
Drawback 3: The rebrand does not resolve recognized buyer expertise flaws
Placing a brand new title on an present downside does not remedy the issue. It simply masks it. And workers (notably customer-facing ones) do not admire it when their employer spends cash on rebranding and never on well-known flawed processes.
A rebrand should not come on the expense of fixing methods which are damaged. Quite the opposite, the rebrand could also be a superb time to handle and proper issues to make workers’ jobs simpler. Accordingly, workers ought to really feel higher concerning the rebrand as a result of they’re going to be capable to carry out their jobs extra confidently and effectively after the launch.
If there’s one factor that the Nice Resignation taught the world, it is that workers will go away if they do not have employer assist. In a 2021 Pew Analysis survey, 57% of employees who had stop a job cited being disrespected on the job as a cause. Anticipating employees to do their greatest with none help might be interpreted as disrespect.
Rebrands will be tough. In the event you’re contemplating one, be sure to shut any worker expertise gaps. Being proactive will take away one of many greatest obstacles to efficiently driving the modifications you search.