A little background

2018 saw the launch of the new Toolstation employer proposition … Together, we’ll get the job done. This was the creative articulation of the research, findings and definition of their employer value proposition carried out during the Summer of 2018.

Toolstation is a huge South West success story and was Which? Retailer of the Year in both 2016 and 2017. As their business continues to evolve, they asked us to help them define what it is that makes them a great place to work. To build creative and meaningful marketing to help them engage retail, distribution, contact centre and professional services job seekers. And to help them tell their employer story.

Our approach

What Toolstation needed was an employer proposition (employer brand) that:

  • Represents the culture of modern Toolstation
  • Will resonate with job seekers across retail, distribution, call centre and professional services
  • Is warm, engaging and inclusive
  • Is centred on the people who work at Toolstation
  • Can be adapted to the media that it is being delivered through.

Ultimately, the objective of the new people proposition is to attract, engage and retain better people. So (in the short term) the success of the project would be judged on whether there was a clear rise in traffic to the Toolstation careers website, an increase in applications received by the recruitment team, positive feedback from applicants, a noticeable impact on their employee engagement survey scores, as well as anecdotal feedback from line managers and a decrease in the number of people leaving within the first six month of employment.

Our research

Toolstation identified four core audiences – retail, distribution, contact centre and and professional services. It was these audiences that formed the foundation of both the internal and external research, playing a key part in the focus groups, online surveys and in-depth interviews. They were also used to sense-check the results of the research, to act as a sounding board for the initial draft of the key themes and proposition, and then to ratify the core messages that were designed to engage them.

Using this research an employer proposition was drafted, shared and agreed by not only the target audiences, but also the recruitment and senior executive teams. But while an employer proposition is useful to have it was really the five supporting themes that resonated most with the target audiences. Each group saying that they saw evidence of these themes throughout the business. What quickly became clear though was that different themes resonated well with different areas of the business. This meant that these themes needed to be ‘dialled up’ or ‘dialled down’ depending on the target audience that Toolstation we’re looking to engage.

These themes are:

  • We want to do our best for our people
  • Our future is full of opportunity
  • Our teams are positive and supportive
  • We encourage you to be yourself

Using the findings of the research, Toolstation were able to map the importance of each of these pillars with the expectations of their four key recruitment audiences. These were then translated into short statements and assigned to a key audience of job seekers. This message matrix would form the foundation of the creative development – a message or sentiment that would strongly resonate with its intended audience.

The creative execution

Throughout the research it quickly became clear that success was often achieved when the company and its people worked together. Recognising that as the company grows so do the opportunities, rewards and, ultimately, security for their colleagues. And to do this the company will support their aspirations and encourage them to bring their whole self to work. The full visual identity consists of:

  • The employee’s image
  • Their interaction with one of Toolstation’s core products
  • The key message which is taken from the message matrix
  • The ‘Together, we’ll get the job done’ line reinforcing the people proposition
  • The Toolstation logo

The people proposition is now lovingly referred to internally as ‘Together, we’ll get the job done’.

That Little Agency | Employer Branding | Our Work | Toolstation Employing Branding | Recruiter Identity Image
That Little Agency | Employer Branding Agency | Our Work | Employer Branding | Toolstation Coaster Image
That Little Agency | Employer Branding Agency | Our Work | Employer Branding | Toolstation Mouse Mat Image

The impact so far

Having launched in 2018 the ‘Together, we’ll get the job done’ employer proposition is still very much in its infancy with the messaging still being rolled out both internally and externally. But we can already see some very encouraging trends.

If you’d like to know more about this piece of work, just email mark@thatlittleagency.co.uk He’ll bore you about it for hours!