Today’s businesses are like glass boxes — everyone can see what‘s happening inside. Where companies once operated behind closed doors, our hyper-connected, transparent age has brought “business as usual” into the open.

Platforms like TikTok and YouTube have turned everyday employees into content creators, offering real-time glimpses into a company’s inner workings. While that visibility can feel threatening to employers, it’s also a powerful opportunity — if approached the right way. It’s time to treat employees as an audience to engage and ask: How do we win hearts in the marketplace and the workplace?

What Gen Z Wants

This shift is being driven by Gen Z. Values-led and digitally native, they can spot inauthenticity instantly. Employer branding isn’t a slick video or polished careers page — it’s the intern’s TikTok after week one, the tone of Glassdoor reviews, the gap between what companies say and how people inside feel.

Spotify understands this. Their public HR blog focuses on trust and flexibility, highlighting their “work from anywhere” policy and a focus on outcomes over hours. This resonates with Gen Z, who see autonomy and respect as must-haves.

Meanwhile, the talent pool is more diverse than ever — across backgrounds, skill sets, and expectations. Companies are seeking people with unique perspectives and lived experiences, not just traditional resumes.

Yet many businesses still treat employer branding as separate from consumer branding. That divide no longer works. If a company promises one thing to customers and another to employees, the risk isn’t just internal discontent — it’s public backlash. In an age of viral resignation videos and behind-the-scenes vlogs, hypocrisy can quickly become a trending topic.

Culture Doesn’t Happen by Accident

Culture isn’t a by-product of perks or personality — it’s by design. It’s shaped by what gets rewarded, ignored and prioritised. A strong culture drives retention, innovation, performance, and brand perception.

Netflix has long been praised for its radical transparency and high-performance culture. Its clearly defined principles give employees a strong sense of alignment and clarity around expectations and shared understanding of how work gets done.

Culture is strengthened by brand. A clear, shared brand purpose creates cohesion. It gives people a common language and identity, guiding everything from meetings to onboarding. When brand and culture align, the result is clarity — and that clarity spreads fast through content, conversation and everyday moments.

Internal Culture Is External Proof

Start with brand to shape your culture. Define what you stand for and ensure it shows up in how you treat both consumers and employees. Internal culture should reflect your external brand. When they align, employees become advocates, culture becomes content, and your brand becomes magnetic.

To make that alignment stick, invest in engaging employees with the brand just as you do consumers. Whether through a bold purpose, strong values, or a memorable rallying cry-what matters is that everyone understands it, believes in it, and can confidently share it.

Smart brands are going further by embracing employee-generated content (EGC) as part their strategy. They’re not afraid to hand over the mic, actively encouraging real, personal stories. Brands like THIS, the plant-based meat company, and Bolt, the mobility platform, are leading the way — putting employee voices front and centre to highlight the human side of their businesses.

It’s not just start-ups who have got the memo. More established businesses are also putting their employees front and centre. Take Mohawk Chevrolet, for example, whose staff created an Office-style series documenting life at the dealership. The Guardian predicts it will lead to “an uptick in sales and a line of people wanting to work there.”

Employer branding is no longer optional — it’s a business imperative. It shapes how you attract and retain talent, and how you’re perceived. In a transparent world, the brands that win will be those that build credibility from the inside-out — and are confident enough to let their people show it.

First published in Raconteur.