Taylor Meadows, Head Strategist of Employer Brand at Glassdoor, welcomed Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong and Sarah Tilley, the SVP of Talent at ServiceNow, to discuss the intersection of work, life and wellbeing — and how understanding it can give companies a leg up in the competition for talent.
Key Takeaways
- Worklife — the balance of identity, community and wellbeing — is crucial to creating a strong employer brand that resonates with employees and job seekers alike.
- Leaders need to actively participate in and promote worklife programs, ensuring employees feel supported in balancing work with personal life.
- Fostering a sense of shared purpose and meaningful connections at work is essential to preventing burnout and enhancing the employee experience.
What is your company’s brand known for? Why do people stay? And how do people leave your organization better than when they got there? “Worklife” exists at the intersection of these three questions — and it’s the foundation for a compelling employer brand.
At Indeed FutureWorks 2024, Glassdoor Head Strategist of Employer Brand Taylor Meadows made the case for how essential the concept of worklife is to an effective branding strategy, even providing a step-by-step employer brand blueprint attendees could take back to their teams.
Then, Meadows welcomed Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong and Sarah Tilley, SVP of Global Talent at ServiceNow, to the stage to discuss how to prioritize worklife within organizations and use it to tell a more compelling employer brand story.
Taylor Meadows, Head Strategist of Employer Brand at Glassdoor, welcomed Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong and Sarah Tilley, SVP of Global Talent at ServiceNow, to the stage at Indeed FutureWorks 2024.
What Does Worklife Mean, and What Influences It?
Worklife is the concept that our work and our lives are inextricably intertwined — in today’s world more than ever. To better understand this intersection, Glassdoor partnered with the research firm Bovitz to survey 1,000 workers and find out what worklife really means to them. The results uncovered three common themes: identity, community and wellbeing.
- Identity: People closely associate their identities with work, with nearly two-thirds of surveyed individuals saying work defines who they are. "We spend over 90,000 hours of our lives at work," Meadows said, underscoring the importance of purpose, fairness and mental health in the workplace.
- Community: Fostering relationships at work is critical, as social connections are vital to retention. Nearly three-quarters of Glassdoor’s survey respondents said strong workplace relationships increase their desire to stay. Meadows noted that "the little moments" like personal interactions and shared experiences build genuine connections.
- Wellbeing: Structured and unstructured support systems create lasting impact. While formal wellness programs are essential, it's the personal gestures — like a manager’s empathy — that build a culture of care. Meadows stressed the importance of employee appreciation, as 72% of happy employees reported a strong sense of feeling valued in the workplace.
How Can Worklife Strengthen Your Employer Brand?
To design a more intentional brand strategy that resonates with job seekers, Meadows advised attendees to get more nuanced with their employer branding. “I think that we can stand to go a little bit deeper on employer brand storytelling in a way that feels more intentional, so that folks get a great idea as to what it's like to work at a company,” he said.
He advised viewing each of the three worklife themes through the perspective of job seekers using key filters: the company level, the team level and the individual level. Think about what the company and internal team can offer a job seeker — or why they might be attracted to or turned off by your company — and what that individual can give back. Then, use this knowledge to speak directly to job seekers where it matters most — for example, ditching the stock photography and featuring real employees in your employer brand materials.
Taylor Meadows speaks to the audience about the importance of going deeper when it comes to employer brand storytelling in order to give potential candidates a better idea of what it's like to work at a company.
At the end of the day, your employee experience is your employer brand.
Taylor Meadows, Head Strategist of Employer Brand at Glassdoor
“When these things are working in harmony, something great happens: culture happens,” Meadows said. “When people are having a great culture experience, they’re having a great employee experience. At the end of the day, your employee experience is your employer brand.”
How Does ServiceNow Support Better Worklife?
ServiceNow made Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list for the past three years in a row, ranking third of all employers in 2024, as well as Glassdoor’s list of Best-Led Companies of 2024. The company also has a 4.4-star rating (out of 5) and a CEO approval rating of 96% on Glassdoor.
Here’s what Tilley had to say about creating employee experiences that translate to positive employer branding results — even at a fast-growing tech company.
Empower your managers to mitigate burnout
Tilley emphasized that managers have the biggest immediate impact on people's worklives. For example, flexible benefits like unlimited PTO and employee wellbeing days are pointless if managers don’t create an environment where team members feel safe using them.
"You can talk about your worklife programs all day long. You can talk about PTO — but are you actually taking it?” she asked. “Are you actually going to your kid’s soccer game or doing whatever is the priority outside of work?"
She suggested managers actively participate in the worklife programs they promote, modeling positive behaviors like vulnerability and flexibility while prioritizing personal commitments. Tilley also stressed the importance of training leaders to recognize the warning signs of employee burnout and create space for open conversations with their teams.
Foster a sense of shared purpose at work
While many blame burnout on overwork, Sutherland-Wong pointed to a deeper issue: lack of purpose. “Do I enjoy the work? Do I feel value in the work? And [when you] feel value in the work, you're not going to feel burnout even when there's tons of work going on,” he said. In fact, Glassdoor data shows that having a sense of purpose and realizing the value of work are the leading drivers of the employee experience.
Christian Sutherland-Wong, CEO of Glassdoor (left) and Sarah Tilley, SVP of Talent at ServiceNow (right) converse about how a sense of purpose is a leading driver of employee experience.
Purpose has to be ingrained in everything you’re doing.
Sarah Tilley, SVP of Global Talent at ServiceNow
“Purpose has to be ingrained in everything you’re doing,” Tilley agreed, adding that culture and purpose are closely linked. “If you believe in what you’re doing … that comes to life in your values. If being purpose-driven is one of your values, then it becomes a way of being.”
She encouraged talent leaders to reinforce their company purpose regularly by reminding their teams of the good they’re doing — not just in their work but in the world. Regrounding in this shared purpose strengthens the sense of community and connection within the organization.
Make room for human connection
To make a large organization like ServiceNow feel smaller and virtual interactions more personal, the company strives to inject humor whenever possible, dubbing its company town hall “SNL Live” and even tapping “Saturday Night Live” alum Dana Carvey to impersonate the CEO on one occasion.
“It's a very transparent, supportive, optimistic, authentic culture,” said Tilley. “And I think that you have to bring that to life, and you have to create those moments of space for people to be human and to connect.”
To create space for genuine connection, Tilley encourages company leaders to show real interest in their team members' lives — not just as a formality but because they are truly invested in their people. Whether through virtual meetings, employee resource groups or more authentic company-wide discussions, prioritize opportunities for meaningful interactions across all available channels to foster a stronger, more connected workplace.
Having a sense of purpose in your work while operating in a positive, high-trust company culture is a powerful formula for maintaining a positive worklife experience, even in tough times.
“You can be doing a job that you love … but if you're not feeling good about what the company is putting out in the world, or you're not feeling connected to the people that you're working with, it's going to take that joy away,” Tilley said.
“And on the flip side, on those days that are hard … if you're in an environment where it is supportive and collaborative, and you trust the people that you work with, and you do feel good about what you're doing and where you're going — it amplifies the joy.”
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