We’ve all heard of ‘employer branding’. But, what does it actually mean?
While a company’s overall brand relates to the way organisations are perceived by the masses, employer brand pertains to the company’s reputation amongst current and prospective employees. Good branding develops via numerous factors – good benefit packages, strong team ethic, career development opportunities and yes – a solid company culture.
Though employer brand used to be viewed as more of a secondary recruiting tool (with things like salary package seen as more prevalent), it’s grown into a company-wide initiative for scaling businesses. With good branding, job seekers will promote and recognise the unique value offered by your company.
Have I lost you? Let’s look at it like this, when you prioritise employer branding here are six benefits you can expect to see:
Team Involvement
In an ideal world, a company’s brand will empower management and employees alike to act as an owner within the organisation. There are a dozen ways to bring all hands on deck when building the employer brand. Marketing is an obvious partner for HR, as they can create branded collateral that will appeal to potential candidates. In addition, employees across different departments can get involved by sharing testimonials, planning culture build activities and referring applicants.
Optimising Talent Acquisition
HR practitioners are aware that recruiting qualified candidates in small to medium-sized businesses is very competitive. With a more optimised talent pool, it becomes much easier to find and recruit the best talent. In fact, recent data shows that a strong employer brand leads to 50 % more qualified applicants. With stronger employee prospects, your recruitment team can spend less capital on external recruitment companies and reduce the company’s cost per hire.
Generate A Buzz
While it may seem obvious, strong employer branding doesn’t just help attract talent – it can also aid in generating new prospects and clients. People want to work with people they like, to put it bluntly! A well-crafted employer brand leads to a positive reputation amongst the wider business community. The public gain a better insight into your company’s mission and values – adding an additional touch-point for prospective clients.
Establish a Growth Foundation
As the number of active startups has increased over the years, it’s evident that growth brings its fair share of risks around company culture. As an organisation increases with headcount, it can become nearly impossible to manage culture as you scale. Prioritizing employer brand early on can assist HR teams in maintaining a great work environment even through high growth periods. Not to mention, when you bring in qualified candidates you reduce the risk of a high turnover!
Promote Your Employee Referral Program
New hires can prove expensive and timely, thus any way to improve efficiency in this regard is a worthwhile endeavour. Many companies offer an employee referral program to help generate strong candidates. A strong employer brand makes this even easier for an employee to convince their network to apply for open positions.
Keep Em’ Around
While the primary objective of strengthening your employer brand is new hires, it can and will also have an impact on employee retention. Companies who prioritise employer branding usually see an increase in retention. This is best achieved by ensuring the employer brand is reflected throughout the full lifecycle of employees. For example, if a value of yours is to help develop and nurture talent, ensure they have ample opportunity to advance their skills and responsibilities within your organisation.
To be honest we’re just scratching the surface here when it comes to the benefits on imposing your employer brand. Sit down with your marketing and HR teams and take a third person perspective of your business from a talent point of view. What do they see when they look in?
Is your business friendly? Structured? Fun? Take time to work out where you can improve. Your people are your biggest asset and getting the right ones in will benefit you to no end.
