The New Corporate Battle: How to Retain Employees

The labor market has changed. Employees no longer evaluate a workplace solely by salary, conditions, or a well-known name, but by their daily feelings within the organization: are they seen, are they trusted, do they have horizons for development, and do they feel part of something meaningful? For companies, this is no longer just a question of welfare, but a deep business question that affects recruitment, retention, commitment, and performance.

This is where employer branding comes into play, which in recent years has turned from a means of attracting candidates into a much broader measure of trust between the organization and its employees. The ranking of the best companies to work for by CofaceBDI seeks to examine exactly this area: not just the promise the company presents to the outside, but the experience the employees themselves describe from within.

According to Michaela Axbard, product manager for the best companies to work for ranking at CofaceBDI, this is a profound change in how companies understand their relationship with their employees. "As someone who manages the ranking of the best companies to work for and meets hundreds of organizations and managers every year, I see how employer branding has become much more than a tool for recruiting employees. It has become a measure reflecting the quality of the relationship between the organization and its employees and the level of trust built over time. Our ranking allows us to look at the employee experience through the authentic voice of the employees themselves, and helps organizations strengthen the trust of existing employees, alongside establishing credibility and attracting quality candidates."

Trust, flexibility, and the feeling that you are seen

At Bituach Yashir (Direct Insurance), explains Dafna Kleiner, VP of Human Resources, employer branding starts precisely in the simplest place: the employee's feeling in their day-to-day. "An employer brand is not built from what we tell about ourselves, but from what our employees tell about us when they go home," she says.

According to her, employees do not stay in a workplace because of big declarations or slogans, but because of the way the organization conducts itself with them in practice. "At Bituach Yashir, we believe that people do not stay in a workplace because of slogans, but because of how they are made to feel day-to-day. Therefore, we invest less in talking about organizational culture and more in living it."

In a large and decentralized organization like the Team 3 group, which employs thousands of employees nationwide, the sense of belonging is built differently, but relies on the same principle: seeing the person behind the role. According to Ayelet Yefet Kashi, VP of Organizational Development at Team 3 group, "In an organization like Team 3, where thousands of employees are spread nationwide, some in the field, with clients, and on shifts around the clock, the challenge is to ensure that every employee feels they are part of the company, that they have a real place, and that there is someone who sees them."

Also at Ben Shalom Entrepreneurship and Construction, a long-standing family company in a demanding real estate sector, they talk about the same sense of belonging, but through a language of home, closeness, and personal connection. "Our formula at Ben Shalom is simple: we do not let business growth overshadow the human connection," says Rinat Tsafnat Ben Shalom, VP and Manager of Welfare and Human Resources at the Ben Shalom entrepreneurship and construction company. "We manage complex projects and diverse teams today, but we have kept our family DNA."

What makes employees stay for a long time?

At Bituach Yashir, this approach is expressed in a culture of trust, flexibility, and management at eye level. Kleiner describes an organization where the employee is not a "number" or a "standard," but a person who is known, as are their life circumstances. When an employee needs to work from home due to a sick child, exceptional loads, reserve service, or a personal challenge, the starting point is not suspicion, but a search for a solution.

"An employee does not have to choose between being a good parent and being a good employee," she says. This sentence is also gaining additional meaning these days, after Bituach Yashir was chosen to receive the Minister of Defense's Shield for reserve-supporting employers, a mark of appreciation awarded to organizations working to promote and support reserve soldiers.

At Team 3, where a large part of the employees are in the field, with clients, and on shifts, the role of the direct manager becomes especially critical. "The direct manager is the employee's daily connection to the company," says Yefet Kashi. "Therefore, we invest heavily in developing managers so that they have the tools to lead, listen, give a sense of value, and create a personal connection with their employees."

At Ben Shalom, retention relies on a combination of a sense of family and professional horizon. Rinat describes the internal work environment as a stable anchor. "Precisely because our industry is so demanding and characterized by tight schedules and work on many fronts, our internal work environment must be a safe and stable place for the employee," she says. "The heart of retention for us is the employee's knowledge that they are never alone on the front."

When employees believe in the workplace, the market feels it too

The results, from Bituach Yashir's perspective, are also evident in the numbers. According to Kleiner, retention rates at Bituach Yashir are among the highest in the industry, and 67% of recruitments come through "friend brings a friend." "In my opinion, this is one of the strongest indicators there is, because people bring their friends only to a place they truly believe in," she says.

Ultimately, the three companies present very different models of employer branding. But beneath the differences, the message is similar: a sought-after workplace is not built in one day, and is not measured only by benefits or slogans. It is built from countless small moments in which the employee feels they are seen, trusted, invested in, and allowed to be part of something that has meaning.