What is employer branding? Is it creating a new agenda in recruitment?
Employer branding first came to the fore in the nineties as the demand for talent in the service sectors exploded. However, what was once looked upon as an administrative task has now become a sophisticated business practice shared by human resources, marketing and CEO’s looking to succeed in the battle for talent.
Read how you can strengthen ties with the right people with the help of employer branding.
What is an employer brand?
In Part 1 we look at what’s changed and the benefits to be gained from employee branding.
The intangible power of human passion, skill, intelligence and commitment is the driving force inside any business. Employer branding is the specific activity of attracting, engaging and growing people to deliver their best.
Forward thinking companies are moving beyond the brand’s traditional role towards the customer and looking inwards, leveraging their brand to convey the company’s ambition and showing how staff can play their part in building its success.
In addition, external influences such as social media and corporate governance are forcing companies to become more transparent. This provides outsiders with the opportunity to observe how a company conducts itself. They can easily evaluate the style, culture and prospects of a business and quickly decide if it's a company they should support.
Do not miss part two of our mini-series on employer branding.
Challenges facing employers
An effective employer brand builds a positive perception to help a business succeed. This is easier said than done as social, economic and new business models impact on the world of work. These are some of the challenges facing employers today:
Meeting capacity
In the professional services sector, a new contract win can create a dramatic demand for more people to fulfil the client’s demands overnight. Reaction time is crucial to get momentum, an employer who has invested in its company reputation will naturally perform better when the demand arises.
Globalisation
As companies grow and access foreign markets, or partner with new suppliers, the need to share a common way of doing things becomes paramount. Some foreign cultures are more relaxed some are more aggressive. This clash of mind sets could become a barrier to the flow of business if common ground isn’t established, the employer brand is a valuable tool to define expectations wherever you work.
Social media
The transparency of social media means that anybody can openly share opinions about employers both good and bad. Usually the strongest opinions come from negative stories. These opinions are easily shared and compounded. They quickly create negative perceptions leaving the businesses exposed and losing any advantage in the talent market. Modern employer brands are social media masters adept at handling negative news.
Common principles
Generation upon generation are becoming increasingly idealistic towards work. They have the specialist skills that businesses need, but will only offer them to employers who share their personal values and make a positive contribution to society. If a brand can match those expectations, they not only acquire new skills but an almost vocational dedication from the people behind them.
Quality of people
With more aggressive buying procedures and project based assignments, companies increasingly wrestle with a fluctuating workforce and the negative impact it can have on morale. More companies are looking beyond the requisite skills, seeking to populate the company with individuals who understand the pressure to deliver and have the character to be resilient in times of trouble.
Specialist talent
As businesses expand their offer, a new breed of employee has emerged with specialist expertise that is hard to come by, but almost critical to businesses success. These rare individuals can be very selective about the company they dedicate their unique skill sets to. Furthermore, if these people leave, the company loses a vital business unit. It doesn’t sell it or restructure, it simply loses a valuable asset overnight. Therefore, employee attraction, retention and development is crucial.
Customer Experience
Front line staff are arguably the best people positioned to create the best company experience. Customers can be won or lost by what they say and how they behave. Strong employer brands use their connection to improve staff engagement and help them become ambassadors for the brand, an arguably crucial task given their direct ability to influence customer experience.
What works for one company doesn’t work for another
One brand that has confronted these issues head on is Ernst & Young. One of the big three audit firms, EY was often seen as a traditional brand, read: reliable, professional and dull! If they were to survive the battle for the best talent they would need to raise their game. Three years ago they revitalised their brand and made a feature of the company’s employee culture, with digital media, advertising and campus material oriented around the consistent message of ‘meaningful work.’ The brand is now frequently ranked as one of the best places to work.
Progressive brands like Google have been in the spotlight for some of their radical ways to attract business critical talent. Introducing bicycles, beanbags and black boards to create the collegiate atmosphere, beloved of their youthful workforce. Whilst a tailored working environment is important to attract and motivate people, not every company cares to install a ping pong table to show that they’re down with the kids.
Netflix is a business that goes from strength to strength and is one of the most sought after places to work according to Linkedin. They have consciously fostered a ‘no nonsense’ culture that allows smart minds to flourish, the origin of which can be found in a presentation referred to by Facebook’s COO as “the most important document to ever come out of the valley.” You can download it here .
No matter what industry you work in, it is important to look beyond the conventional recruitment methods and adapt the strategy. It is important to find a match between the ever-changing expectations in the jobseeker market and the company's unique culture.
Benefits to be gained by strengthening your employer brand
A well-defined employer brand can have significant impact on your business, even when you are not directly hiring.
Improve your options
By strengthening your employer brand, you become more attractive and stand out from competitors. Providing a compelling picture of your business improves your talent pool, placing your company in the enviable position of being able to choose from the best of the best.
Reduce costs
Employer branding makes recruitment more efficient by filtering out candidates who are a bad fit. Your cost per hire will reduce due to quicker, more accurate placements and shortfalls can be filled quickly whenever they occur.
Build a closer connection
Employer brands encourage internal dialogue, helping management to read the pulse of the business and head off challenges. It’s also a useful channel to convey their expectations, focusing effort throughout the organisation.
Foster a more competitive work force
Employee engagement encourages a sense of unity, making teamwork more effective. Individuals feel motivated and excel at what they do. They take initiative and provide creative solutions to problems, helping the business compete.
Retain key players
Acknowledging performance is a big part of employer branding. It builds a sense of achievement and stimulates self-development. This reduces the risk of an employee considering a new job, perhaps with a competitor. Therefore, employee branding can save costs to rehire or retrain.
Strengthen customer experience
Improved engagement with the brand will increase pride and focus making front line employees strong ambassadors for the brand. This will have a direct impact on every customer engagement, improving customer experience with every encounter.
The traditional siloed approach to recruitment is out of sync with today’s talent pool. Modern businesses need a cohesive approach where, human resources, marketing and management work together to build a strategically driven employer brand that adds value to the business. If employees benefit, the customer benefits creating a win-win scenario for all involved.
