Employer Branding

A company's reputation matters more than ever during a job seeker's search, as 86% of workers would not apply for, or continue to work for, a company with a bad reputation with former employees or the general public (Forsey, 2023). Ultimately, companies spend plenty of time creating a compelling brand story surrounding its products and services, but fails to build a strong employer brand that attracts top talent.

What is Employer Branding?

According to Lybard (2023), Employer branding is how you proactively manage your employer brand to market your company to desired job seekers. It's everything you do to position your company as an organization that people really want ot work for, which is sometimes called an employer of choice (Daley, 2024).

Every company has a reputation. It could include thoughts about the products, services, leaders, team members, history and more. Company's reputation can inspire a specific perception - emotional, instinctive, intellectual - in the people who view the ads, use the products, and speak to others about the company. This reputation is known as consumer brand, and it can be a powerful if somewhat mysterious force (Lybard. 2023).

Why employer brand is important?

Virtually every candidate out there - whether they're active, passive or somewhere in the middle - will consider a company's reputation before applying. Organizations now recognize the value of branding approach to the whole employee life cycle as they seek to build an engaged workforce and ensure a positive work experience. A positive employer brand results in better performance against competitors by retaining talent and increasing levels of employee engagement (Hosseini, et al., 2022). 

Employer branding is not only important for recruitment, though it also impacts employee retention, engagement and even profitability. The value of strong employer branding includes:

• Winning over on-the-fence candidates
• Strengthening employee retention
• Positively influencing brand perception
• Acquiring top talent
• Making it easier for employees to refer their friends to open roles
• Attracting candidates from diverse backgrounds

Employer branding strategy

An employee branding strategy allows a company to control and positively change the dialogue surrounding the company to ensure higher talent acquisition and retention. But how do you create an employee branding strategy? Below break down the process,

1. Analyze the existing employer brand - To effectively manage your employer brand, start with an audit to understand current perceptions. Review all communications with candidates and employees, including job descriptions, career pages, social media profiles, and internal materials. Then, gather feedback from both groups to understand their true feelings about the company. This audit will help you identify and address any discrepancies between how your company is portrayed and how it is perceived.
2. Define the employee value proposition (EVP) - After completing your employer brand audit, the next step is to create your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). An EVP is a concise statement outlining what employees gain by joining the company and what the company benefits from their contributions. It serves as the foundation for your employer branding efforts, guiding all future communications, even if it’s not shared publicly. Developing a strong EVP is crucial, and resources are available to help you through the process.
3. Build a memorable careers page - Your career page is a key element of your employer branding, serving as a crucial touchpoint with potential candidates. To make it effective, include compelling visuals, employee testimonials, and highlight your core values. Investing time in refining your career page can help attract the right talent.
4. Write effective job descriptions - Job descriptions are often a job seeker's first interaction with your company, so ensure they reflect your desired employer brand. Even though they might not seem like a place for personality, it's important to let your company's character shine through.
5. Create a great candidate experience - When interacting with a great candidate offline, whether during a phone screen or in-office interview, ensure the experience aligns with your employer brand. If it doesn't, you risk losing the candidate.
6. Engage your current employees - To strengthen your employer brand, empower employees to share their experiences. An effective way to encourage positive word-of-mouth is by establishing an employee advocacy program.
7. Amplify your company story on social media and company blogs - While you can't control your reputation, you can shape your company's narrative by utilizing various channels, such as social media, podcasts, and your company blog, to tell your story.

Who is responsible for employee branding?

Employer branding can be a bit of a puzzle when it comes to ownership. In smaller companies, the CEO or HR leaders might take the lead, while larger organizations may have dedicated teams for it. But here's the reality: your employer brand isn't entirely in your hands. It’s shaped by the experiences of your candidates and employees.

No matter how carefully you craft your messaging, your brand is heavily influenced by what your people say—whether through social media posts, reviews, or word-of-mouth. If their experiences align with your brand, they become your best advocates. But if there's a disconnect, it can harm your reputation.

Ultimately, while you can guide the narrative, your true employer brand is reflected in how your employees and candidates feel about your company. So, focus on building a positive culture first. If you’ve got that, you’re already on the right track to amplifying your brand.

Employer branding examples

• Starbucks - It focuses on building a strong community among its employees, calling them "partners" to foster pride and connection. The company uses social media, with accounts like @StarbucksJobs on Instagram and Twitter, to showcase its commitment to its employees and attract passionate candidates. Through these platforms, Starbucks also emphasizes its dedication to diversity and inclusion, showing that it's more than just a coffee brand—it's a company that values its people.
• Canva - Canva's employer brand shines through its strong commitment to its mission. On its Careers page, the company uses an interactive carousel to showcase its values, linking each one to key facts and reinforcing the belief that design can make a positive impact. This mission is echoed on Canva's social media channels, which feature inspirational content and ideas driven by design.

How to develop employer brand? 

HR teams should collaborate with marketing, public relations, internal communications, and corporate responsibility departments to leverage their expertise and maximize the benefits of building a strong employer brand. According to an article on CIPD (2023), below are the key factors on developing an employer brand,

• Discovery
• workshops
• internal and external focus groups
• employee surveys
• senior leader buy-in
• auditing a candidate journey
• Analysis, interpretation and creation
• defining brand attributes
• defining the overall employment value proposition 
• developing an overall creative brief
• behavior and attribute mapping
• Implementation and communication 
• applying the brand to induction, applicant information, briefing for recruiters and the interview and assessment process
• launching the brand internally
• applying the brand to the organizations website and social media 
• Measurement , maintenance and optimization 
• probing internal and external response and perception of the new brand
• measuring improvements in the recruitment and retention metrics
• measuring uptake in terms of actions that demonstrate the business is "living the brand"

Conclusion

Consistency is key. Having a consistent employer brand will not only help candidates trust the organization, but will also become easy to recognize what organization it is simply by the content that's shared. Job seekers are looking at a company's culture almost just as much as the benefits provided. To ensure a competitive advantage and win over job-seekers, its time for every company to focus on its employer branding.

References

CIPD, 2023. CIPD. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/factsheets/recruitment-brand-factsheet/
[Accessed 15 08 2024].

Daley, S., 2024. Builtin. [Online]
Available at: https://builtin.com/employer-branding
[Accessed 15 08 2024].

Forsey, C., 2023. Employer Branding: What It Is and How To Build It for Your Business. Hubspot.

Hosseini, S. A., Moghaddam, A. & Damganian, H., 2022. The Effect of Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Human Resources on Employee Engagement with the Moderating Role of the Employer Brand. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Volume 34, p. 11.

Lybard, S. A., 2023. Linkedin Talent Blog. [Online]
Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/employer-branding
[Accessed 15 08 2024].