Employer brand • 3 min reading

How to Develop Your Employer Brand

Is the employer brand a fad or is it here to stay? What’s its use and how should it be developed?

Why should you be interested in the employer brand?

When we consider that 86% of HR professionals believe that recruiting is increasingly akin to marketing and that 84% of job seekers say that an employer’s reputation is important, there’s good reason to be interested in this topic.

It’s important to note first that the employer brand doesn’t serve the same purpose as the corporate brand. While both seek to promote the company through a good reputation, the employer brand is developed with the aims of attraction, engagement and retention of the workforce. It is estimated that a company with a weak employer brand pays about 10% more in terms of wages to employees. Additionally, 50% of employees say they wouldn’t want to work for a company with a bad reputation, even if it offered a pay raise.

It’s not enough for the employer to offer a big salary. Rather, it needs to stand out from the competition in a market where people have the freedom to choose their jobs. By presenting a strong employer brand, you can not only expect to attract quality talent, but also reduce recruitment time. This could result in a cost reduction of approximately 50% per hired employee.

A promise to employees

Before even considering the development of your employer brand, it may be wise to review the company’s mission and identify its values, especially if this hasn’t been done in a long time. Indeed, the employer brand needs to be consistent with the company’s identity, as well as realistic and applicable. In short, it shouldn’t be taken lightly. So, it becomes a question of determining what, within the company’s DNA, can give meaning to the work of employees.

The employer brand is a promise made to candidates and current employees. It must answer the question: why would I go and work for this company and why should I stay there? It’s a promise that must be made before any talent acquisition process; it must be kept throughout employee onboarding; and it must extend beyond it.

A few strategies

When presenting an employer brand, the corporate culture must highlight, both on social media and in traditional media. It may be appropriate at this time to relate the history of the company. If well done, storytelling is an approach that can render excellent results and truly allow your brand to shine. It’s also important to note that 79% of applicants use social media when looking for a job.

Some companies turn to students to validate their employer brand. They can then verify if their value proposition is in line with the expectations of the next generation.

This approach can be paired with the strategy of giving candidates a positive experience from the start of the talent acquisition process. A few well-known companies, including Nestlé and Shell, have even turned to gamification to make the hiring process more enjoyable. To this end, a survey reveals that 78% of candidates say that gamification increases their desire to work for a company.

Of course, offering desirable working conditions (for example, work-life balance) is a proven way to enhance your employer brand. It should be noted that nowadays, employees are looking for meaning in their work and want to be part of a collaborative community. By promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR), the employer brand has a good chance of standing out.

To properly target winning working conditions, using internal and external surveys is an effective means to gain insight. However, one undeniably coveted aspect is the company’s investment in the professional development of its employees.

Still, nothing will equal the importance of building strong relationships with employees. Indeed, when they develop authentic relationships with their employer, people are more likely to represent the brand favourably to those around them and, who knows, to become its most convincing ambassadors. This is particularly important because the opinion of employees has three times more impact than that of a manager when it comes time to talk about the working conditions of a company.

Finally, the development of an employer brand is not a luxury, but an essential need. What’s more, it is not enough to create it. It needs to be managed on an ongoing basis and adapted to the target audience, while ensuring consistency with the company’s real culture.

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