While human resource and marketing departments both strive to create a brand that people want as part of their daily lives, marketing focuses on customers while HR supports and develops employees. Today, however, the shifting dynamics of the workplace in a post-pandemic world mean that the marketer’s toolkit is needed to help ensure that the employee experience is on equal footing with the customer experience.

Given the steady decline in employee engagement in the U.S, dropping from 36% in 2020 to 32% in 2022, marketing and HR need to partner now more than ever—not only to identify what the brand stands for, but also how that manifests across both the employee and customer experience. In today’s ongoing war for talent, employee satisfaction goes far beyond perks and PTO. It requires an employee to truly believe in a company’s purpose and have the tools to act on it.

Here are five ways CMOs and CHROs can work together to supercharge employee recruiting and retention.

Define your purpose as an organization together

An effective purpose won’t be something purely owned by marketing as a customer promise, nor will it be solely owned by HR as an expression of your values. Rather, the brand purpose should be a north star that is as meaningful to your employees as it is to current and prospective customers—tying together your growth agenda with your talent agenda. An effective purpose is something employees would say is for them, just as much as it’s delivered by them.

Codify the employee value proposition and culture

In talent shifts across the pandemic, most organizations have seen higher turnover, a more distributed/remote workforce, or both. Organizations that used to be able to manage culture through osmosis-—natural hallway interactions that would provide a sense of how they do things—can no longer do that because of new employees as well as a lack of in-person engagement with existing employees. So, if the purpose expresses why an organization exists, an employee value proposition is necessary to provide a clear, tangible articulation of what employees give and get in service of that purpose. In this case, HR and marketing complement each other perfectly. HR is skilled at defining the employee proposition and marketers are skilled at communicating it simply, consistently and effectively.

Balance what you give and what you get

As you create that employee value proposition, don’t be overly influenced by the moment in the talent market. In a tight labor market, companies desperate to fill their ranks rely on HR to emphasize the employee benefits/value of working for the company to strengthen recruitment and retention. During the other side of the cycle, companies may over-emphasize what’s expected of candidates and the traits necessary to succeed. Often, marketing plays a large role here, viewing employees as deliverers of the brand. Both what you give and what you get matter all the time, and a meaningful and lasting value proposition will both highlight what success looks like for both new recruits and long-term employees.

Make the employee experience real, not just a narrative

The opportunity is to align the human capital strategy to the purpose and vice versa. Make the connections seen and felt between what we care about, how we work and what we reward. This isn’t just about setting up the right employee experiences, training and rewards, which HR does so well. It’s also about promoting them internally and helping people understand the way they all link up, which is where marketing shines. The bottom line: Invest as much energy in engaging and supporting your employees as you do your customers.

Ensure everyone plays a part

Often, customer-facing employees get greater focus from the marketing department in delivering the purpose. The best organizations translate the purpose and employee proposition to all employees, helping everyone see themselves in it and work together to achieve it. That’s how you avoid teams working at cross purposes (e.g., innovation and quality control; product development and procurement) and achieve greater things together. Marketing can help to define what it means to strengthen the customer experience, and HR knows how to be inclusive across all roles, bringing everyone in the fold to get there.

True employee engagement in today’s evolving workplace requires HR and marketing to work as one, building a strong foundational purpose and making sure it purpose is woven throughout the fabric of the employee and customer experience.