How Healthy is Your Employer Brand?

Your core brand influences how people see your company—but your employer brand shapes how they feel about working there.

In today’s competitive hiring market, brand can be one of your greatest assets or your biggest risks. It reflects how your culture and workplace are perceived, and it directly affects your ability to attract and keep top talent. So, how do you know if it’s healthy?

Brand Health Indicators

Understanding the health of your employer brand starts with hard numbers and goes to human sentiment.

Employee Sentiment: Gauge internal morale and brand connection through anonymous surveys or informal feedback channels.
Review Sites (e.g., Glassdoor): External reviews provide a reality check. Assess whether your stated values align with employee experiences.
Retention & Turnover Rates: Are people sticking around, or leaving quickly? Turnover trends often point to deeper cultural dynamics.
Referral Rates: Do employees recommend your workplace to others?
Employee Social Engagement: Look for organic sharing of company content or workplace pride on social platforms.
Career Site Traffic: Measure how many prospective candidates are exploring your job opportunities.
Application & Acceptance Rates: If you’re attracting applicants but struggling to close offers, there might be a disconnect between perception and reality.
Time to Fill: Extended hiring timelines could indicate unclear brand positioning, low appeal, or reputation concerns.

How do you acquire this data? To get a clearer picture, consider a mix of methods such as conducting your own brand perception and engagement surveys, focus groups led by a third party, or taking a self assessment, like our radically relevant employer brand health assessment.

Improvement Strategies

Here’s the truth: You can’t “brand” your way out of a broken culture. No matter how polished your careers page is, it won’t land if your internal reality doesn’t reflect it. A strong employer brand starts with genuine care.

Lead with Authenticity: Own your values and live them out—transparently. What do you stand for? What makes your workplace tick?
Communicate Clearly and Consistently: From onboarding to exit interviews, your brand should be clear, intentional, and human.
Invest in Listening: Build feedback loops that empower employees to share and shape the culture.
Celebrate What’s Working: Highlight team wins, spotlight real voices, and elevate stories that reinforce your identity.

Key Takeaways

A healthy employer brand doesn’t happen by accident. Instead, it’s the result of intentional listening, clear communication, and a culture that lives up to its promises. By measuring the right indicators, tuning into employee and candidate experiences, and taking action where needed, you can build a radically relevant employer brand.