Whether you are aware of it or not, every business has an employer brand. It’s what differentiates your company, helping you to attract and retain the best talent through organisational values, policies, ethics and employee experience. In essence, your employer brand is how your business is viewed by your workforce along with your reputation as an employer.
Building a strong employer brand will not only help to create credibility for your business but will also allow you to attract and retain the best talent, minimise your hiring costs and reduce employee turnover. Sounds great, right? Well, if you’re still not convinced, keep on reading to discover exactly why employer branding is so important for your business.
Why is employer branding important?
Nowadays, reputation is paramount to success. Not only in terms of winning business but when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, too. With a massive 96% of companies saying they believe employer branding can have an impact on revenue along with 86% of workers agreeing it impacts their decision to apply for and stay working at a company, this really isn’t something you can afford to overlook.
Other key employer branding statistics include:
- It can help to reduce employee turnover rates by up to 28%
- 75% of job seekers agree they are more likely to apply to a company that actively manages their employer brand
- It can reduce cost per hire by up to 50%
- 50% of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a business that has a poor reputation (even for a pay increase)
- 92% agree they would consider changing roles if they were approached by a company with an outstanding reputation
- 72% of recruiting leaders agree it has a significant impact on hiring
In other words, if you are looking to optimise your recruitment process, you need to start by acing your employer brand. And here’s how…
How to master your employer branding
Evaluate your current position
The first step to creating a powerful employer brand is to assess your current reputation and look for key insights to help you overcome any issues and identify any significant strengths that should be highlighted. Several data sources will enable you to uncover this information, including:
- Public employer reviews (such as those shared on Glassdoor)
- Anonymous employee surveys
- Social media mentions
Understand your company culture
To create a powerful employer brand, you need to first get to grips with what makes you unique and how this can benefit your current and future employees. Once you’ve clearly defined your ethos, you need to ensure everyone is on the same page. To do this, you may wish to develop a manifesto that outlines your mission, values, culture and vision, like that shared by Prada.
Define your EVP (employee value proposition)
Just as your USP is important when attracting new customers, your EVP has a big influence on whether a candidate will apply for a position within your company. It essentially tells them why they should join your business – everything from rewards, benefits and policies – and what makes you unique (& better than your competitors). In other words, it’s a statement that summarises the promise you make to your employees to reward their commitment.
When defining your EVP, you’ll generally want to steer clear of compensation and instead focus on more meaningful benefits that evoke an emotional response, such as that written by Canva: “Sometimes the chance comes up to be part of something really special. Canva is making design amazingly simple for everyone, and the potential is limitless. We’re empowering people to design anything, and publish anywhere”.
Ultimately, people are generally more concerned about making a difference than receiving a bigger paycheck – so prioritise the right thing.
Implement your strategy
To ensure your newly defined employer brand is implemented effectively, you should take steps to integrate it throughout key stages within your recruitment process, including:
- Job descriptions
- Career pages
- Application process
- Online reviews
Communicate your culture
To build credibility and get your employer brand noticed, you’ll then need to create content that communicates this effectively to prospective employees. One of the best ways to do this is through your employees.
Candidates want to hear from people they can trust and relate to: those who have first-hand experience of your company culture. Your employees are a credible source and can provide that extra boost needed to bring your employer brand to life. From employee interviews and testimonials to behind-the-scenes and team socials, you must ensure you leverage your employees to allow your company culture to shine.
When it comes to choosing which channels to prioritise when it comes to promoting your employer brand, research from LinkedIn suggests your company website, social media and online professional networks are the best places to start.
Encourage personal development
In 2018, the top reason for changing jobs was boredom. Yes, people want a challenge; they long for opportunities to better their performance and master new skills. And if you can’t offer this, one of your competitors certainly will.
With 87% of employees saying they value learning and personal development opportunities above anything else, now is the time to equip your employees with the means to develop their skills and expertise. And don’t forget: it won’t just benefit them, they will become more valuable for your business, too!
Monitor & optimise
Once you have clearly defined your employer brand and have a strategy in place, you will need to continuously monitor and optimise it. To do so, you can evaluate the response (both internally and externally) to your brand, monitor recruitment and retention metrics and evaluate the uptake of your brand values and culture throughout your business.
If you aren’t already convinced enough, we will leave you with one final statistic: a strong employer brand can lead to up to 50% more qualified applicants – it really is a no-brainer. And with 86% of human resources professionals agreeing recruitment is becoming increasingly similar to marketing, could a digital marketing agency be the key to mastering your employer brand? Contact us to find out more.
