Case Study: Investigo - Employer Branding

Project overview:

Investigo has always had an ambitious business growth strategy and has succeeded in outgrowing 98% of the competition since inception.

Through organic growth into new territories and functional areas, as well as acquisitions, Investigo has grown exponentially. But fast growth can lead to a diluted culture and Investigo needed a clear and concise EVP to support their ambitious growth plans. Investigo worked with Caraffi to:

Define the values of the business
Define the employer value proposition
Articulate the culture of the business
Activate the employer value proposition across the full talent lifecycle

Investigo's struggle:

Before working with Caraffi, what were some of the issues that you and your team were facing that you wanted to deal with?

One of the problems we always had internally is that we think we do a lot of really good stuff culturally. We think Investigo is one of the best places to work in the industry. But actually, how do we communicate that message externally? And that was a conversation we had over a series of years, but I don't think we understood EVP as a concept.

Our story is really impressive, but we didn't have a strategy to communicate it externally - and I don't think we understood EVP as a concept.

How did this personally affect you in your role and what you needed to get done?

I've been in business 17 years now, and (before working with Caraffi) I don't remember a conversation around the board table to say, "Right, what is our EVP? How do we go to market?”.

Up until COVID in 2020, the business had grown every single year, consecutively, top line and bottom line, and from a headcount point of view. And we've outgrown 98% of the competition in that period of time.

So, the story was really impressive. But we didn't have a strategy to communicate to the external market outside of individual conversations.

What other solutions did you consider or try before partnering with Caraffi?

We didn’t have a strategy. So it was very dependent on individuals in the business to release regular content on social media. We'd also host great events, both internally and externally.

The brief:

What did you ask Caraffi to work on?

When we started working with Kate and the team at Caraffi, part of that process initially was an education. Understanding what an EVP is and what it's designed to do. That was one of those light bulb moments, "Ah, that's what we've been missing."

And then I think the main focus for us was to communicate how brilliant we are and what an amazing place it is to work to the outside market who don't know us as well as we would like. And I think that's really difficult in this sector.

With social media and LinkedIn as rife as it is today, what you see is a lot of repetition of companies saying similar things to their competitors. And I think one thing we've always tried to do ever since we started working with Kate and her team at Caraffi is to be different. What makes us different? Why are we different? What makes us a really good place to work? And again, how do we communicate that to the external market?

The impact:

How did it feel to work with Caraffi?

The team at Caraffi have been fantastic since day one. We were inspired by Graeme Paxton, the founder of Caraffi, and his strategy. And as soon as we started working with Kate and the team, the level of consistency there was really impressive. I think Caraffi’s approach is different. That human touch, which we all felt from day one, was a vital component of that.

Having a clearly defined EVP has enabled us to move quickly in a really competitive landscape of recruiting talent.

How do you feel about the work that's been done so far?

The timing of it was crucial because what was happening at the same time as we were working with Caraffi was COVID. And although 2020 was a relatively quiet year for hiring, in the second half of the year, as a business, we actually bucked the trend and hired 75 people when all of our competitors weren't.

But when the market turned in 2021 and we wanted to continue in hiring people, I think it was even more important to have a very clear EVP and a very clear message to market. So the timing of the partnership programme at Caraffi was massively important.

And I think the benefit we received from that is that's really allowed us to move quickly in a really competitive landscape where actually almost every single business out there are trying to recruit talent. So the timing was amazing. And then the program itself and the results it's driven has been equally amazing.

What has the impact of this EVP and employer branding project been so far?

Before working with Caraffi our attrition rate was around 35%, now it’s down to 22. Caraffi have allowed us to hire some of the best people in the market by having a really defined and clear EVP and being able to articulate what it's like to work here. Hiring talent into your business is never going to be an easy process. And there's no silver bullet there in terms of kind of an automatic guaranteed strategy. But you're always looking for those marginal gains. Caraffi have helped us achieve those.

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