Employer Branding is a central part of branding, recruiting and communication activities, with the goal of promoting your company's image as an optimal place to work. Here's exactly what it is and the benefits it can bring.
Try to think: Who wouldn't like to apply for a job with a company known for offering clearly defined values, deserving recognition, a great work environment, and--of course--a good salary?
People are becoming more and more discerning about their choice of where they will invest part of their lives: in fact, it is no longer only business owners who make selection on their candidates, but also the other way around.
Every company has its own reputation, which includes thoughts and opinions about its offerings, team members, history, and so on. And this in turn creates a specific perception (not only rational, but also emotional) by people who see its ads, use its products, and ultimately talk about it with others.
It is a fundamental part of your company's image and brand, much more powerful and synergistic than anything you can actually sell to the public.
So if you are wondering how you can influence that perception so as to make your company attractive in the eyes of top talent...
This is where the Employer Branding.
Have you ever heard of them?
This is a necessary strategy for communicating the impression that your organization's culture is fit to welcome all who wish to be a part of it and contribute to its success.
In today's increasingly competitive job market, positive Employer Branding is critical. Without it, hiring and retaining the best employees becomes challenging and expensive.
As with all the branding, creating a strong Employer Brand has to do with. good storytelling. It is about how you want your organization to be perceived in the marketplace, using specific messages to attract the kind of potential customers you are looking for.
Whereas in the past it was the sole responsibility of the human resources department, today the whole company is involved in its definition.
So let us see in detail what it is and why it is so important.
What is Employer Branding?
Employer Branding has to do with your company's reputation as a place to work.
It is how people perceive its values: it is about everything you as an employer do, intentionally or unintentionally, to promote your unique identity to your current and potential employees.
Try to think: If you ask someone who works for you for an opinion about your company, they are unlikely to focus on your product or your offerings in general; rather, they will talk about management, conditions, culture, and values.
In this regard, we are really talking about Employer Brand, literally translated as "the employer's brand": a true brand of your business, which is distinct from what you actually sell and thus represents what would convince a person to be hired by you or to stay in your organization.
The Employer Brand is your company's identity; it is everything that makes it different, everything that sets it apart. And know that even if you haven't defined it yourself, your employees or candidates will do it for you.
This is called Employer Value Proposition (EVP) - I will tell you more about that in a moment.
Similar in fact to the way a corporate brand works (offering a value proposition to customers, defining products or services in the marketplace), an Employer Brand includes the market's perception of your company as an employer, but it also describes your "promise of value" to employees in exchange for their experience, talent or skills.
To recruit and hold on to talented job seekers, your Employer Brand must tell a compelling story: It will not be enough to say that your company is great, you have to show it and demonstrate it right through your brand.
Employer Branding is, accordingly, the process of creating and maintaining your company's Employer Brand: it describes the activities put in place to communicate its desired image.
It is a true strategy, with a twofold purpose: one, to increase the retention and satisfaction of your employees through thoughtful communication strategies; two, to attract top talent to your organization by showing what makes you special.
If done well, it will generate positive buzz around your company, attracting motivated people and happy employees. These same people will then pass on their positive experience to others, including customers or stakeholders, further expanding the reach of your brand.
Employer Brand vs. Company Brand
An important distinction we need to make is between Employer Brand and Company Brand.
These two terms should not be confused: the former indicates your reputation as an employer to employees and applicants, while the latter indicates your reputation as a company in general.
In this article, when we talk about "brand" we are therefore referring exclusively to the first case.
Although they are different, one can still influence the other. A company with a strong Company Brand is usually an attractive place to work. On the other hand, a company with a negative Employer Brand may discourage people (or other companies) from becoming customers.
What is the Employer Value Proposition (EVP)?
To create an effective Employer Brand, you will need an effective Employer Value Proposition (EVP).
An EVP defines how your company would like to be perceived as an employer: it is that offer aimed at current and potential employees that makes you a desirable place to work and should ideally contemplate five elements:
Opportunities
How employees can grow and develop their careers in your organization: includes training courses, business trips, opportunities to work abroad, prestigious or innovative projects, and prospects for promotion.
People
How good the leaders, managers, and colleagues are, and what the overall work atmosphere is like: the level of trust and collaboration, how well teams support and communicate with each other, the presence of positive relationships among hierarchies.
Corporate culture
The company's image as "a good place to work" must come from more than just maintaining a good market position for your product or service. It must also look at diversity and inclusion, employee empowerment, ethics, environmental and social responsibility, workplace formality (or informality), and investment in technology and systems.
Working Environment
How meaningful, challenging, and fulfilling the work is and what kind of impact it can have on individuals; includes alignment of job specifications with business requirements, work-life balance (with, for example, flexible hours or the possibility of smart working), as well as rewards for commitment and success.
Remuneration and rewards
Remuneration is a final point that obviously cannot be ignored: after all, a company that pays its employees more than its competitors ensures that candidates have a positive perception of it from the start-but, at the same time, it does not compensate for a low-quality work environment.
Added to this are all those benefits such as bonuses, medical care or insurance, company car, paid leave, free canteen and so on.
So what is the link between Employer Branding and Employer Value Proposition?
EVP is internal and answers the question "what can we offer you as an employee?"
Employer Branding is external: it is the face your company presents to the world.
When you can align the inside and the outside, that is, an enviable EVP with excellent Employer Branding, you have a recipe for attracting and retaining top talent.
Who is responsible for Employer Branding?
Usually, human resources is the first that comes to mind when we think of Employer Branding strategies.
And this is correct if we refer to the let's say "official" actions that a company takes to build and promote its brand.
But the Employer Brand is not something you choose: it is who you are. And your identity as a company is shaped by various stakeholders, namely:
- The founders or entrepreneurs, the CEO, and all executives who have a strategic vision and set values;
- Managers who lead, evaluate and train their team members;
- The human resources team that manages employee relations and sets company policies;
- the marketing team that communicates with the outside world (e.g., through social media, events, etc.).
All of these stakeholders can play a role in how the organization is perceived among job seekers and must therefore work together to build a strong Employer Brand.
Trivially, to give you an example, the marketing team cannot promote the satisfaction of their colleagues who enjoy benefits such as bonuses and flexible working hours unless senior management approves of such benefits and human resources implements them.
The benefits of strong Employer Branding
Employer Branding is not simply a marketing strategy.
With competition to grab top talent becoming fiercer by the day, Employer Branding is an important tool and competitive advantage to set you apart from the crowd.
At the same time, it can also reveal to you the areas you need to work on-those areas where your organization is currently weak when it comes to employee attraction and retention.
In general, we can say that investing in your Employer Brand is critical to your company's bottom line and offers substantial return on investment (ROI).
In summary, these are the main advantages:
- Healthy reputation: Most job seekers identify a company's reputation as a key consideration when exploring new career opportunities. Virtually all candidates out there, whether active, passive or somewhere in between, will evaluate your Employer Brand before applying.
- Strong corporate culture: job seekers want to know your culture and values before they apply for open positions-your Employer Branding efforts are a great way to communicate these characteristics.
- Talent acquisition: a strong Employer Brand attracts talent without the need, on the one hand, to invest in research (employees proactively apply to companies that offer a good work environment) and, on the other hand, to offer higher pay.
- Employee retention: People value healthy and valuable workplaces where they have opportunities to grow and develop their careers.
Conclusion
When it comes to the ability to find, hire and retain great talent, Employer Branding is definitely one of the key factors.
However, it is not limited to only attempting to position you as the best, solely, in terms of employment.
In fact, it is important to consider Employer Branding a marketing activity in its own right: this allows you, first of all, not to limit yourself to just the retention or future hires, but conceive of it as a useful tool to complement the corporate brand; secondly, it helps you coordinate the messages that the various departments (marketing, communications, human resources) communicate to the outside world, so as to convey a cohesive and consistent image.
But tell me, what do you think about that?
Let me know in the comments!