What is employer branding?
Employer branding is your organization’s reputation as an employer. In other words, it describes your company’s values and explains what makes your organization exciting and distinctive for job seekers and employees. With the right employer branding strategy, organizations put their corporate culture on the map, generating awareness and creating value for the target group.
The aim is to gain and maintain a preferential position with potential employees. For instance, have you ever asked yourself why do employees choose you and not your competitor? Or if recruits find you an attractive employer and stay employed for many years? Your employer brand determines that.
What are the benefits of a strong employer brand?
Good employer branding gives you an edge in the competitive labor market. What else does employer branding bring you, and why should you start building or strengthening your employer brand today?
We list the most important benefits of employer branding for you.
1. More effective and cheaper recruitment
When your employer brand is well developed, it is easier and faster to attract the right people. The more clearly you make what you stand for, the more you stand out in the crowd and your target audience. As a consequence, potential employees are, as it were, drawn towards you.
If you tell an honest story, you automatically also maximize the chance of successful onboarding. After all, you want to attract employees who really suit you. Transparency can prevent you from investing valuable time and energy in someone who turns out not to be fit after a few months.
2. Lower absenteeism and less turnover
Nothing new; absenteeism and staff turnover are expensive. For instance, a sick day can easily cost you 250 euros, and replacing an employee is about at least a third of the annual salary.
With a strong employer brand, you improve your reputation, create a group of employees with matching values and standards, and increase employees’ chance of being satisfied, loyal, and happy.
In doing so, you’d be boosting retention, and employees will more likely stay in your organization for a longer time.
3. Higher engagement and productivity
Above all, being actively involved in employer branding ensures that people recognize themselves in your company culture. As a result, your organization will register high engagement and a better employee experience. In addition, satisfied and engaged employees work harder and go the extra mile to reach business objectives.
4. Better brand image and more customers
The more significant the brand experience and the number of ambassadors for your company, the better it is for your reputation. Enthusiastic employees are more willing to satisfy customers’ needs, which will increase your customer satisfaction. Therefore, investing in employer branding is a good idea also if you want to boost customer experience and see your sales figures increase.
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How can you build an employer brand?
With no doubt, lower recruitment costs, less absenteeism and turnover, more involvement, and more customers are reasons enough to take a closer look into employer branding.
Here are some tips on how to strengthen your employer brand and start taking advantage of the benefits listed above.
Step 1: Map out your current employer brand
How strong is your internal culture? Is there a pleasant working atmosphere and are employees satisfied and happy? Maybe you want to run a survey to get a realistic sense of the current state of things. You also may Google yourself to see what’s being said about your company.
Step 2: Decide what you want to radiate
Do you want to be known as a human or business employer? As an innovative company or a cozy family business? State what you stand for and aspire to, then make this desired image clear to your employees. This way, everyone knows what you are working towards, and start working on the brand strategy.
Step 3: Create an Employee Value Proposition
Map out the benefits of working at your company through an Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Not only attractive salary and good employment conditions make it an essential part of it, but also the possibility for growth, development, and ambition at your organization.
Step 4: Make ambassadors of your employees
If your employees feel entirely in the right place, they will automatically propagate this to the outside world. You can also ask or encourage your current employees to share your brand’s vision and mission or other information about the organization on their social channels.
Employees who radiate their satisfaction and positive experience to the outside world have more chances to reach new talents and new customers.
Step 5. Be consistent and transparent
Be consistent in your communications; from your careers site, vacancies, and social media posts to press releases, blogs, and advertisements. Do the story and the look & feel change continuously? Then your target group will recognize you less, let alone believe you. Transparency is also crucial in employer branding. A company that also dares to show vulnerabilities is more likely to be seen as human.
The role of communication
Finally, we have a suggestion for you as a communication or HR manager who wants to get started with employer branding: Oneteam’s all-in-one employee app. With this app, which can be fully designed according to your brand and company guidelines, you ensure that you make your employees successful and engaged. It helps you to strengthen your employer brand in an accessible and professional way.
Are you curious to discover what Oneteam can do for your organization? Watch the explainer video below or request a product demo. Good luck, and above all, have fun strengthening your employer brand!
