Despite some job market turmoil in certain industries, employer brand matters more than ever. Your employer brand is the image and reputation that your company has as an employer. It’s how potential employees perceive your company as a place to work, and it can have a major impact on your ability to attract top talent. If you’re not investing in your employer brand, you could be missing out on some of the best candidates out there.
Here’s why employer brand matters and what you can do to invest in yours.
Define employer brand and its importance
An employer brand is the identity and reputation of an employer, much like a company’s overall brand. How potential, current and former employees perceive an employer impacts its employer brand. This includes factors such as workplace culture, working conditions, job opportunities and image in the marketplace as an employer-of-choice. An employer’s brand is important as it helps to draw more talent and drive retention by cultivating positive emotions and connecting with key stakeholders.
Having a strong employer brand can also ensure that an organization is consistently delivering on its promise to employees, which can boost employee engagement, advocacy, recruitment and employer REPUTATION in the market.
How to create a strong employer brand
An employer brand is more than a name, logo and website; it’s an expression of the values, culture and purpose of an organization. To create a strong employer brand, employers should clearly communicate their company vision and mission through various channels like social media, job ads, company literature and websites. Leveraging employee stories to showcase what employees think of the company culture or product will also help to shape public opinion. At the end of the day it is about storytelling!
Additionally, having effective communication between management and employees can help to project a positive and desirable image of your business as a great place to work. By creating a strong employer brand that puts the employee experience first, companies are able to become attractive to top talent, which creates value for the organization in terms of reduced costs associated with hiring, increased productivity from engaged employees and increased profits from increased customer satisfaction levels.
Tips on maintaining a strong employer brand
As a company grows and changes, employer branding should remain a top priority. A strong employer brand can set your business apart from the competition by highlighting its unique values and culture. A few tips for maintaining a strong employer brand are recruiting responsibly, engaging with current employees, and embracing feedback. Recruiting responsibly involves looking for potential recruits whose skills, attitudes and beliefs reflect the employer’s mission statement.
Engaging with current employees helps to reinforce the employer brand within their work group; this gesture of recognition enables them to bond better with each other and stay dedicated to the employer’s cause. Lastly, don’t be afraid to take in feedback from both prospective and current employees; this will ensure you’re offering attractive benefits that maintain employee loyalty – one of the most important cornerstone of employer branding.
Examples of companies with strong employer brands
Many companies pride themselves on having a strong employer brand, which is the “personality” of a business as an employer. Examples include Amazon and Walmart, who offer competitive wages and benefits for their employees. Google is well-known for being one of the most desired employers in the world due to their cutting-edge technology and innovative culture. Apple is also an admired organization with a “status” that appeals to many job seekers with its reliable work environment. Brands such as Starbucks has developed a strong reputation for offering excellent training and development opportunities to its team members. All these companies have taken great steps towards creating a positive and inviting workplace that employees are proud of.
But you don’t have to be a big brand to have a cool employer brand. I love what the team at Lunchbox, a food tech company, has done creating a very unique look and EVP for their careers.
How employer brand affects recruiting and retention
An employer’s brand is essentially its reputation and how it is perceived in the ever-changing professional landscape. Employers should strive to craft a positive, reliable, and trust-inspiring employer brand which can be achieved through recruiting skilled workers who align with the desired culture and messaging of the organization. Additionally, an employer brand that focuses on personal development, compensation, opportunities for growth, and work/life balance will entice those in search of employment.
This can help employers more easily source talent, as applicants will have a clear idea of what they can expect from a potential employer. Retention is also enhanced when employees are able to see themselves developing within an organization or encouraged by concrete benefits such as additional vacation time or career growth pathways. An effective employer brand has the potential to become a powerful recruiting tool while simultaneously improving their ability to retain top talent.
So there you have it: everything you need to know about employer branding. An organization’s employer brand is crucial to both recruiting top talent and retaining current employees. By definition, an employer brand is the image of an organization as a potential place to work. Creating and maintaining a strong employer brand is essential to any organization that wants to stay competitive in today’s marketplace.