Becoming the employer of choice

Macy’s employer branding increases appeal among candidates across a wide range of hiring needs.

Challenge

Macy’s nationwide organization is made up of more than 125,000 associates across its corporate, logistics and retail footprint. From accounting to technology to retail and everything in between, the company has a wide range of target audiences – each with its own specific needs.

Macy’s competes with every other retailer for hourly employees, and on the corporate side they compete with other top employers like Google, Ernst & Young and Disney. Macy’s needed to establish itself as the employer of choice – to differentiate their brand in a meaningful way to connect with, attract and retain top talent among its varied audiences.

Macy’s needed an employer brand strategy to help them recruit and retain employees across the full spectrum of roles – a candidate-centric experience that engaged prospective applicants, made them feel respected and appreciated, while creating a strong affinity for the company as the employer of choice.

Services:

Focus groups & stakeholder interviews Employer branding Communication strategy

Macy’s employer branding increases appeal among candidates across a wide range of hiring needs.

Services:

Focus groups & stakeholder interviews Employer branding Communication strategy

Challenge

Macy’s nationwide organization is made up of more than 125,000 associates across its corporate, logistics and retail footprint. From accounting to technology to retail and everything in between, the company has a wide range of target audiences – each with its own specific needs.

Macy’s competes with every other retailer for hourly employees, and on the corporate side they compete with other top employers like Google, Ernst & Young and Disney. Macy’s needed to establish itself as the employer of choice – to differentiate their brand in a meaningful way to connect with, attract and retain top talent among its varied audiences.

Macy’s needed an employer brand strategy to help them recruit and retain employees across the full spectrum of roles – a candidate-centric experience that engaged prospective applicants, made them feel respected and appreciated, while creating a strong affinity for the company as the employer of choice.

Computer with Macy's jobs website pulled up and an expanded view of the entire website.

Strategy

Macy’s turned to Sanger & Eby to develop an employer brand that clearly differentiated the organization, while still communicating with each segment of its widely varied audience.

Primary and secondary research, included focus groups, stakeholder interviews, a competitive survey and detailed habits and practices research of Macy's targeted talent pool. Synthesizing our research findings, we developed insights into each audience segment, identifying their needs, priorities, questions and what they sought most in an employer. We used these insights to develop the company’s employer value proposition, key messages and execution strategies for their careers website.

Results

Macy’s now has a solid foundation for communicating with the 9.4 million job candidates who visit the Macy’s recruiting website each year, helping to meet aggressive hiring goals.

Messaging and execution strategies have helped Macy’s communicate consistently throughout the employee lifecycle. This has positively impacted employee satisfaction shown through the company’s climbing employee engagement survey scores year after year.

Macy’s has been recognized by publications and organizations including BusinessWeek as one of the “50 Best Places to Launch a Career,” and the Anita Borg Institute as one of the “Top Companies for Women Technologists.”

 

Do you need help attracting and retaining top talent? Let’s talk!