Employer Branding – Everything You Need to Know

What is meant by employer branding?

Simply put, employer branding is how you market your company to desired job seekers. It demonstrates the true essence of your company, it’s the heart of it.

Employer branding communicates to the outside world the type of company you are, then attracts potential candidates to want to work for you.

The more effort you put into your branding, the better your chances of attracting better talent will be. Not only will great branding spark buzz for you and your company, but it’ll cause excitement and happiness for your employees.

Having a positive experience will cause your employees to broadcast their experiences to others, which will in turn expand your branding without even having to put in the extra effort.

What is involved with employer branding?

Employer branding includes relying on employees to represent the brand, attracting top talent, and retaining high performers in the long term.

Depending on the size of your company, the people involved in branding will change.  If your company is small, it may be the CEO. If your company is larger, the HR or marketing department will be responsible for branding.

Your employees are an asset to the company branding. Word of mouth travels fast. The experiences of these employees will shape your branding. Things like social media posts, referrals, networking conversations, etc go a long way.

You want your employees to be the company’s cheerleaders, constantly praising and committing to showcasing the successes of your brand.

How do you develop an employer branding strategy?

The employer branding process

1. Understand your company

Understanding your company means that you know exactly what your goals are. Some goals to keep in mind are:

• Getting more job applications
• Increasing online engagement
• Gaining more visitors on career websites
• Increasing referral rates
• Getting top talent

2. Audit your employer brand

Your employer audit should include the following:

• Online presence
• Social media presence
• Recruitment + hiring process
• Candidate experience
• Current employees

3. Create an Employee Value Proposition

A well developed EVP will help to attract and retain top talent. Asking questions such as why would employees want to join your organization is key. Make sure your EVP is inspirational, strategic, unique and focused:

• Define employee persona
• Hear out your current employees
• Write out your EVP

4. Take advantage of recruitment marketing

Talent acquisition and recruitment are a lot more competitive than ever before, your recruitment marketing skills are important:

• Increase visibility of your site
• Establish relationships with candidates via social recruiting
• Establish an employee referral program

Why is employer branding important for HR?

Not investing in your employer branding will negatively impact your HR budget and your cost per employee recruitment in the long term.

Companies with positive reputations get double the applications than brands that have a negative reputation. The efficiency of recruiters depends on employer branding and having a good reputation makes finding top talent easier, and saves resources.

According to LinkedIn, companies who invest in their branding save upto $5000 on each employee. A poll conducted by CR Magazine and Cielo Talent states that 50% of workers said they wouldn’t work for a company that has a bad reputation.

You want to be a talent magnet for potential employees, so that you don’t have to be a part of the fight for talent – the talent comes to you versus you desperately fighting for them.

Examples of employer branding activities:

1. Employee testimonials

Getting your own employees to speak on behalf of your company is crucial. It’s the first hand account of people with lived experience, giving their own insight. It feels much more authentic than having the company speak about itself. When you advertise a product, having customer testimonials is always more effective than anything else.

2. Showcasing office and workplace

Posting pictures and videos of the office workplace on social media and the company site will help your potential candidates visualize how it would look like working for you. Physical workplace environment contributes to an employee’s wellbeing. Employees spend 8 hours or more indoors, they want to see that their workplace will be pleasant to be in. This also contributes to their overall performance and productivity.

3. Perks and benefits

Leading companies offer a lot of perks and benefits. Whether it’s free lunches, healthcare benefits, time off, maternity leave, sick days, flexibility, wellness programs, etc – employees value perks and benefits. The more you have as a company, the more likely you will be able to attract and retain employees.

4. Company culture

Company culture is a huge factor in attracting top talent. It contributes significantly to branding, they are interconnected. Culture is where your brand is born, when both are aligned they become a powerful vehicle for growth. The more you emphasize the culture of your company, the more your branding will benefit from it.

5. Reward Systems

Employee motivation via reward systems is one of the biggest contributors to employee retention and performance. Things like bonuses, free dinners, sporting event tickets contribute to the job satisfaction of your employees. This in turn will have a positive impact on how they view the company, which will give the company’s brand recognition.

6. Company events

Company events show your employees that you care about them as a company. Employees appreciate the extra effort a company puts in to provide more experiences outside the actual job. It creates a better employee-company relationship. There is a lot of “soft” employee branding that is involved that contributes to the overall growth of the company.

A company’s popularity and reputation stems from its employer branding, it is the business identity. Employer branding showcases the value that the company gives to its employees. It also helps to attract and retain top talent. The more focus is placed on attraction and engagement of employees, the more successful your branding will be. Putting in the extra effort to improve your branding will help your company grow in the long term and will save you lots of money. It’s worth the extra effort!

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Rada Abdo, Content Marketer at Venngage