HR leaders are increasingly turning to employer branding for company and career growth. And for good reason.
What is Employer Branding?
The talent landscape is shifting rapidly, and HR leaders may find themselves working through even more complexity to attract and retain great people. Their team must balance creating a desirable culture and employee experience with delivering on metrics that keep the company efficient. For starters: Reducing cost per hire, increasing optimization, and proving ROI on HR initiatives.
Employer brand, simply put, is a company’s reputation as an employer in the minds of employees and the public. Ambler and Barrow described it as, “the package of functional, economic, and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company.”
That reputation is a key factor in an organization's ability to attract, engage, and retain top talent. But there are additional, longer term effects such as cost efficiency and increased organizational resilience. In a study entitled, The Impact of Corporate Culture on Company Performance, researchers said that across “a wide variety of industries…in relatively stable environments, performance is less variable in organizations with strong cultures.”
So, if you are an HR leader, you get that employer branding is much more than employee handbooks and pizza parties. And, no one is thinking about it more than you.
Let’s look at four key responsibility areas for HR leaders and dig into how employer brand impacts beyond HR, and how to start the conversation internally around developing an employer brand.
Key Responsibility #1: Strategic Alignment
A successful employer brand is well-aligned with the company's overall brand strategy. HR leaders must work closely with C-suite colleagues to ensure the employer brand reinforces the brand story, mission, and values.
Key Responsibility #2: Talent Acquisition and Retention
Effective employer branding significantly lowers recruitment costs and improves the quality of hires by clearly articulating what makes the company a unique place to work. HR leaders must develop a compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that attracts high-quality candidates and resonates with the existing workforce.
Key Responsibility #3: Employee Engagement and Advocacy
Beyond showcasing a great culture, a strong employer brand creates real operational value as well. When an employer brand is nurtured and prioritized, it fosters employee engagement, loyalty, and advocacy–all of which help to increase productivity and performance. How? If employees are more engaged, absenteeism is lower. Loyal employees often have longer tenure which reduces turnover costs and preserves institutional knowledge. And employee advocacy enhances brand reputation and bolsters customer trust.
Key Responsibility #4: Analytics and Improvement
Ongoing measurement and analysis are crucial for assessing the effectiveness of employer branding strategies and identifying areas for improvement. Much like HR leaders use analytics to track key employment metrics, your CMO is maintaining a dashboard of KPIs. There should be correlation between employer brand efforts and marketing efforts. Look for the crossover between the two brand areas to understand how one supports the other.
Key Takeaways
- Map an employer brand initiative against metrics that matter to your organization’s success.
- Be sure you are creating a positive work culture so that an employer brand will feel true and be embraced by those who will champion it.
- Establish influence and buy-in among C-level stakeholders by clearly connecting employer brand impact to their areas of responsibility.
It’s time to take action.
Consider exploring these additional resources:- Have preliminary conversations with your up-line manager about using employer brand as a force for company performance. Find an agenda for that meeting in the toolkit.
- Calculate the ROI of employer branding.
