It is customary to think that branding efforts are aimed at consumers. In recent years, however, we have increasingly noticed that the employer brand is equally important. This is particularly evident when, in the labour market, it is employees who have the upper hand and can choose among the many offers available.
Employer branding or employer branding
Deadline employer branding was introduced at the end of the twentieth century and, despite attempts to translate it into Polish, the English-language nomenclature has taken hold in the human resource management industry. The term employer branding However, it can simply be called employer branding.
According to the definition, employer branding is an action taken by the employer aiming to create a good image of the employing entity. Companies are increasingly concerned with attracting, attracting and then retaining employees, and the image may either help or hinder the achievement of this goal (M. Kantowicz-Gdańska, 2009).
Employer branding activities are designed to reach a specific target group. Two main groups can be distinguished, depending on whether the company intends to attract the attention of potential employees or perhaps the company's current employees. Internal employer branding reaches those already employed, while external employer branding reaches prospective employees.
Internal employer branding
Internal employer branding is aimed at existing employees. The real benefits of its implementation for employees are a friendly working atmosphere and opportunities for their career development.
Building a positive corporate image among employees not only makes them satisfied with their work and more loyal to their employer, but also makes them, in a way, ambassadors for the company outside the workplace. These factors, in turn, reduce their turnover within the company.
Issues that are taken into account when evaluating an employer branding strategy include general working conditions, fringe benefits, ways of motivating people, working to build their satisfaction or striving to improve employee know-how.
Employer branding targeted at employees is shaped by activities such as ensuring good communication within the company (e.g. by publishing company newsletters with the latest news), stable forms of employment, additional benefits (sports cards, medical care, etc.), organising team-building events (team-building trips, joint outings after work) and even running social media profiles in such a way that work at the company is perceived positively by the public.
Internal employer branding also has links to corporate social responsibilityor corporate social responsibility. Both concepts emphasise building good relations with the environment, so there is some overlap. CSR activities also have an impact on how employees perceive the employer's image.
External employer branding
What is external employer branding? As you might guess, these are activities aimed at potential employees of a company. Their main objective can be described as creating a perception in the public that a particular company is an ideal employer.
Achieving this has both short- and long-term benefits. The image of the company as a good employer will contribute to increased recruitment, and working there may even become a dream or symbol of sorts (such as working at Google).
External employer branding uses external communication. Activities aimed at new employees and building a good image outside the organisation include participation in job fairs, the company's presence at universities, where it can reach out to future candidates (by giving lectures, workshops, offering student internships) or a clear recruitment process and a clearly defined career path.
Employer branding - why is it worth it?
Employer branding is no longer just a welcome addition to a business, but a fundamental issue that directly influences the interest of potential employees and contributes to reducing employee turnover. Although the term employer branding is relatively new, it has very quickly caught on in the industry and is being successfully applied in practice.
Employer branding, on the one hand, benefits employees and, on the other hand, is great for the company's image. It is therefore a win-win game. It can be predicted that in the near future companies will try to develop even more in this area.
This is due to a combination of two factors that influence each other: society's increasing expectations of employers, and the demographic decline resulting in fewer and fewer people of working age in the labour market.
Employer branding activities - impact on overall brand opinion
The aforementioned internal and external activities lead to the construction or consolidation of a certain opinion about the employer brand, but that is not all. The overall image is built on many different factors, employer branding being one of them. This is why it is so difficult to maintain a good reputation when only some elements of an organisation's strategy are commendable.
A brand that offers great quality products or has an exceptional customer service policy, but treats employees inappropriately, is itself damaging its image. This is also understood by Polish companies, which are increasingly willing to implement programmes and improvements aimed at increasing satisfaction among employees.
Employer branding as a way to gain a competitive advantage
In some cases, employer branding activities can lead to a competitive advantage. If an entity is perceived as a very good employer, this has a direct impact on the opinion of business partners, key shareholders or customers.
The competitiveness of companies in terms of employer branding contributes to improved working conditions and exemplifies the adoption of a human-centred business management concept through which the employer can achieve multiple benefits. However, an attractive working environment is becoming the standard. It is ceasing to be a unique selling point and is beginning to be seen as something inherently due to employees.
Employer Value Proposition
The Employer Value Proposition is a prelude to creating an appropriate employer branding strategy. Under this English-language name is a set of characteristics that distinguish a company and make people associated with the organisation loyal to it. The EVP is designed to make the brand 'see through', as it were, to employees, job applicants and new candidates who may be interested in the company's offer in the future.
A company that consciously creates its EVP has a powerful tool at its disposal and is able to say why candidates want to join it, why people stay with it or why they should want to become its 'ambassadors' externally. The main benefits of such knowledge are the ability to put in place an appropriate employer branding strategy using tools and activities that are relevant to needs and expectations, and to tailor information messages directed both internally and externally to the company.
However, this requires gaining information about what the organisation is actually like and confronting it with how it is currently perceived by the people associated with it. The two areas do not always overlap. Obtaining feedback from the company's internal stakeholders, however, can greatly help to spot the shortcomings of the current strategy and identify areas that need to be reorganised or changed altogether.
A third important element for creating an EVP is the company's ambitions and the direction it would like to take. By setting goals, it will be possible to involve the people employed in the organisation in the process of change, but above all to let them know what tasks the company is setting itself and what it expects from its stakeholders. By combining knowledge of the company's current situation, its image among the people who make it up, and the direction it wants to take, a strategy can be built.
Employer branding strategy
Creating an employer branding strategy in an organisation allows for better coordination of activities aimed at building a consistent image of an attractive employer, maintaining satisfaction among employees and attracting key candidates. A pre-prepared EVP is the basis for this.
The development of the strategy can be handled by a team within the company, but also by the external organisation. Those not directly involved with the company look more objectively and from a different perspective. Regardless of who is developing the strategy, the experience of those in HR, PR and marketing will certainly come in handy here.
In addition to the factors mentioned earlier with the EVP, it is also important to define the most important target groups, analyse the competition and consider how to compete most effectively with them for employees, and think carefully about internal and external communication methods. It is also best to set out ways to measure effectiveness, so that in the future it will be possible to determine whether the employer branding strategy was developed and implemented appropriately.
Summary
Effective employer branding directed inwards, makes employees feel connected to the company and contributes to spreading a positive company image also outside the organisation. This effect can be achieved in a number of ways: through the creation of good general working conditions, employee benefits, team-building trips and even activities in the corporate social responsibility.
Actions to positively influence the brand's image externally involve creating an image of the ideal employer, as this image translates into an opinion of the company as a whole. In this way, the brand has the opportunity to reach prospective employees and make them want to become part of it.
If you feel that your company's employer branding strategy is not visible enough outside your organisation or you feel that there is too little emphasis on employer image and positive branding in your company, contact us!
