A company can no longer focus on a single thing, such as “how good is our service or product?” It’s now equally important to ask, ‘what kind of company do we work for?
Google is a good example. Google’s product is a simple search engine. While it’s an extremely successful company, it’s unlikely that you’ll hear about its great product in a conversation. Instead, it will be about how good it is to work there.
Google isn’t alone… L’Oreal, IKEA are just two examples. All of these companies have something in common. These companies invest in their employees’ happiness, and focus on their employer brand.
Let’s examine the growing importance of branding in recruiting and retaining talent before we look at how to build a brand for an organization that attracts and retains talent.
Employer Branding: Its Growing Importance
Harvard Business Review reports that employer branding has become more strategic for CEOs, HR leaders and marketing executives. A third of them are looking to create a global employer brand before 2020. Many leaders believe that the responsibility of the employer brand lies with the CEO, marketing or recruiters rather than HR or recruiters. 60% say it is theirs.
A robust employer brand is more important than ever for businesses looking to retain and secure key talent. How can companies boost their employer brand image?
Assess your employer’s brand awareness and reputation
It’s crucial to understand where your company stands when it comes to employer branding.
Surveying your current employees and key stakeholders can provide valuable insights about the company’s attractiveness. Based on feedback, metrics can then be created and a plan developed to improve the employer brand’s reputation.
You can achieve this by creating objectives with HR and L&D. While every company has some industry and organization-specific goals, some of the things every organization should strive for include:
Securing long-term recruiting needs
Employer branding on a global scale
Employer brand differentiation from competitors
Building the employer brand at a local level
Investing in learning and Development initiatives
Millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce in 2025. This group expects to have the opportunity to develop new skills as well as improve existing ones.
In fact, Gallup found that more than half of applicants rated learning opportunities as “extremely important” when applying for a position. Companies should therefore be ready to meet this expectation
To satisfy this desire for learning, companies should embrace the constantly evolving eLearning landscape. It allows employees to grow and learn at their own pace. Additionally, employers can be more attractive to prospective employees if they offer transferable credentials such as certification.
Want to build the digital skills of your employees? Download the brochure
Profit from the brand value
Glassdoor: 69% of applicants are more likely to apply for a position if an employer actively manages their employer brand.
Potential employees need to know the company’s strengths as an employer from the start. Businesses that engage talent early can instill loyalty and encourage them to align their mission with the brand.
Some brands like L’Oreal go as far as creating a website to communicate their brand ethos with prospective employees. The site, titled”Oreal talent ‘, communicates what the brand is and represents. It also explains what employees can do and what employers offer.
The video is also used to introduce its global team members and showcase the work that they do. We meet Alex in the video below and find out more about his experiences as a digital manager
Personalize the experience of candidates and employees
Employee experience is a key factor to retaining talent and nurturing a workforce. It lets them know that they are more than a number. This can be achieved by:
Map out talent progression By mapping out a Career Roadmap, employees will have a documented and clear process that will assist them in moving up the corporate ladder. This personalized plan is a departure from the “one-size-fits all” approach, and it invests in each individual’s future.
Recognizing Employees- Recognition increases both employee and individual morale. Recognizing individuals’ efforts on digital forums such as social media or at quarterly events helps to create a motivated workplace and acknowledges their efforts.
Nurturing Relationships- According to , 58% of employees find their relationship with the immediate supervisor’very valuable’. Executives need to keep in mind that a key relationship is to their employee. They should learn more about them than just their role. By going the extra mile, you can connect with your employees on a personal level.
Communication within the organization
Communication is key to ensuring that every department in an organization understands and appreciates the importance of building a strong brand for the employer and their role.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a great example of an organization that embraces this concept fully. The Sidekick System, which is a smartphone application created by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, allows employees to manage their entire employment experience. This includes everything from accessing employee directories to tracking time and pay.
It has been downloaded by over 10,000 employees. It simplifies simple processes and gives the HR team new ideas on how to improve employee lives.
Employee advocacy programs
According to Edelman Research employees are the most trusted group to communicate about a variety of topics, and they are more trusted than CEOS or senior executives. Companies should encourage their employees to share positive news about the company with their networks.
It is important to understand the company’s culture and the way it values and treats its employees in order to create an effective advocate program. Internal communication is a great way to do this. By letting employees know about new developments or innovations in the company and sharing news, you can increase brand awareness and reach.
To encourage sharing, an incentive scheme that acknowledges individual efforts could be developed. They could range from branded merchandise or a duvet-day to simple rewards. The incentive must be something that employees will want.
Aberdeen Group: Companies with formal employee engagement programs see 26% more revenue growth year-over-year than companies without such programs.
The world has never been more transparent. Employer brand building is no longer solely dependent on clever advertising and recruiting. Companies that are focused on employee satisfaction and what they can do to promote their employer brand online will gain both internally and externally.