When candidates start looking for a job, the first thing they used to look for is probably the top, biggest, and well-known companies in the industry that interests them the most. However, things have changed quite a bit lately since employer branding has gained momentum.
The size and the reputation of the company still matter a lot, yet, candidates have started to pay a particular attention to the company’s culture. In fact, 86% of workers said that a company culture was very important to them. That being said, companies now consider their culture, or their employer branding as a key to attract new talents and retain the existing ones.
So what is an employer branding, why is it important to your company? And how do you build a strong employer branding strategy?
What is employer branding?
Employer brand is the reputation and perception of your company among your current employees and potential job seekers. It is important to note that the image you project should not only be external, but also internal. In other words, when you refer to your employer brand, can your employees or potential applicants answer the question of what makes your company a better place to work compared to other organizations?
What makes your employer brand complicated is that it’s not a tangible thing, is actually livable, and can only be projected and seen by others if it truly exists, and if it does, then it needs constant cultivation. It’s a long work process with a lot of benefits to the company. One of the secrets to making it successful is good storytelling.
So now that you know what is an employer branding, let us walk you through the importance of implementing an employer branding strategy.
Benefits of a strong employer branding
72% of recruiting leaders in the world agreed that the employer brand has a significant impact on hiring and retaining your top talents at work. Having said that, it is crystal clear that this strategy has many opportunities and advantages including the following:
Attract top talent
This is your opportunity to shine! If you are looking for new talents to join your company, make sure to promote your employer branding. 50% of candidates are willing to not take a job offer if the company has a bad reputation even for a pay increase. Job seekers are today looking for a flexible and friendly work environment that encourages personal and professional life conciliation.
It is then important to put some serious efforts on sharing your company’s values and culture on social media for example. These platforms have become the first thing potential candidates visit to have a look at before applying, just to get an idea of the workplace they will be joining soon.
In other words, your employer brand is the first thing people see when they’re deciding whether or not to work for you. It’s what makes them feel good about their choice, and it drives them to take the next step in the hiring process.
When you have a strong employer brand, you can attract candidates who are interested in working with you because they believe in what you do, not just because they need a job.
Boost the employees’ morale
If your employees are not happy, then there is a huge issue going on in your company. Did you know that the happier your employees are the better is their productivity as well?
Yes! A strong employer brand can boost your employees’ morale and make them more productive. In fact, when they feel good about the company they work for, they’re happier at their jobs, which means they’ll be more engaged. They’ll also interact with customers better because they’re more invested in the work they do.
This is a virtuous cycle: when your employees are happy, it reflects well on your company as a whole, which makes them want to put in more effort and work even harder.
Less hiring costs
A strong employer branding is key to retaining your employees by making them feel valued and supported. . We’ve noticed that employees’ turnover has increased in recent years, and companies are truly struggling with finding new employees each and every time. Not only is the hiring process time consuming, but it also requires a lot of expenses. And with time and money being two irreversible resources, if not used wisely, this might result in a lot of losses.
However, when you have a solid employer branding strategy in place, you are able to put those resources into an area of the business that is most likely to drive business growth.
So make sure your employees are happy. That way, they won’t be tempted to leave your company. Then you won’t need to spend as much money constantly replacing employees and can focus on improving overall productivity and success rates within the company.
On the other hand, a strong employer brand will also help you build a talent pipeline of qualified potential prospects, making it easier for you, as an employer, to contact the best candidates for every open position that you have.
Build credibility with customers
When running a business, establishing a strong relationship with your customers should be one of your main objectives to ensure your company’s success. Most of the time, your employees are in direct contact with your customers.
Thus, having happy employees at work makes a huge difference in terms of your customers satisfaction, due to their engagement and willingness to deliver a memorable experience to them and their desire to improve your business’s credibility among your customers, and increase their trust in your products and services. This leads to more loyal customers, which means they’ll spread the word about how great you are!
How to build a strong employer branding strategy?
Seek feedback from your employees to build your employee value proposition
When building an employer brand strategy, make sure your employees are at the center of it. In fact, your employees may know a lot more about your company than anyone else. An employee value proposition (EVP) is a way to describe the benefits that your organization offers to its employees. It’s a way of highlighting why an employee should choose to work for your company instead of another, and it should lay out how you’ll help them achieve their goals.
When you’re writing an EVP, think about what your employees are looking for in their current job, and how you can make sure they find it at your company.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What do my employees want?
- What would make them happy here?
- How will I help them get there?
Develop your EVP
In order to develop your employee value proposition (EVP), you may also want to consider sharing a confidential survey with your employees, to gather information and answers to questions like:
- What makes your company a better place to work?
- If they had to describe your company to someone who doesn’t know you yet, how would they do it?
- What feedback could your employees give about their work experience at your company?
- What is that one thing that makes your company unique and different from your competitors?
By and large, your employee value proposition should describe what makes your company different from other employers and why those differences are important to your staff.
Conduct an employer branding audit
The reputation that your company has out there on social media, on career websites may not be easy to decipher. Therefore, before starting to develop your employer brand strategy, it is important to conduct an audit.
This will give you an idea of what your current employer brand is, and you can use it as a baseline for future efforts. You can conduct this audit by asking employees about their perceptions of the company’s employer brand, or by surveying former employees about their impressions of the company.
You should also look at how your employer brand is perceived by your employees and potential employees, who are likely to be your best advocates when it comes to recruiting new talent.
Once you know where your employer brand stands, you can start thinking about how to build on its strengths and improve any weaknesses. You may want to consider conducting focus groups with employees to get their input on how they would like to see the company change over time.
At the end of the audit, you should be able to create a consistent message about what makes your company stand out from its competitors. This will help ensure that all of your messaging is consistent with each other and that it reflects well on the company as a whole.
Ensure a successful onboarding for new employees
Employee onboarding is an opportunity to make new employees feel welcome, valued, and excited about their new position. It’s also an opportunity to impress them with the unique perks and benefits that only your company can offer!
A successful onboarding process helps new employees get a positive first impression of your employer brand. They’ll walk away from their first day on the job feeling like they have found the right place to work—and they will be advocates of your employer brand for years to come.
That being said, onboarding should be fun and engaging, but also informative and practical. New employees should take away some key things they can use to help them succeed at their jobs, help your company thrive, but also to make your brand employer shine even more.
Increase your online visibility
We live in a world where online visibility has become important to communicate your employer brand. People today look for companies on social platforms before their websites, so it’s important to be where they are and make sure your employer brand is getting the exposure it deserves.
Employer branding can get stronger by sharing
- Testimonials of employees both on the website and the social platforms
- Daily life at your office
- Videos about an employee experience within your company
- Your team building activities (lunch and learn, 5@7…)
- Videos or testimonial of a new employee onboarding
- Welcome posts for new employees
Sharing these types of content will help you amplify and strengthen your employer brand by showing potential hires that they’ll be working with people who love where they work, and showing them the type of work environment they can expect as part of your team.
Keep improving your employees experience
A strong employer brand is one of the most important factors in attracting and retaining top talent. The best way to build a strong employer brand is to start with your employees.
Employee engagement is key for any business, but it is especially critical for companies seeking to build their employer brands. Employer branding is not something you can do once and be done with it. You need to continually work on it and make sure you are constantly improving the experience of your people.
There are many ways that companies can improve their employer brand, but the most important thing is to constantly keep looking for ways to improve your employees’ experience. This includes everything from:
- Making sure their personal and professional life is well balanced
- Offering them enough opportunities to learn and develop new skills
- Soliciting their feedbacks and testimonials
- Finding ways to help them achieve their goals
- Building a positive relationships between team members across hierarchies
Humanize your brand
An employer branding strategy is all about the human aspect of your company. That being said, to make sure your employer branding is strong, it is important to invest in the human capital, and ensure that it is more than just marketing efforts, but a lifestyle. So before you communicate your employer brand externally, evaluate how strong it is internally.
At Leonard, we make our best to ensure all of our employees are more than happy, because we believe in the impacts that it has on mental health and thus on both professional and personal life.
Do you think you can be our next Leonardian? Check our careers page
