It is commonly believed that activities aimed at building a brand image are directed towards consumers. However, in recent years, we increasingly notice that the employer brand is equally important. This is especially evident when employees have the advantage in the job market and can choose from many available offers.
Employer branding, also known as building the employer brand
The term employer branding was introduced at the end of the 20th century and despite attempts to translate it into Polish, the English nomenclature has been accepted in the human resources management industry. The term employer branding can simply be called building the employer brand.
According to the definition, employer branding refers to actions taken by the employer to create a positive image of the employing entity. Companies increasingly aim to attract, recruit, and then retain employees, and the image can help or hinder achieving this goal (M. Kantowicz-Gdańska, 2009).
Employer branding activities are intended to reach a specific target group. Two main groups can be distinguished depending on whether the company intends to attract potential employees or current employees. Internal employer branding reaches those already employed, while external employer branding targets future employees.
Internal employer branding
Internal employer branding is targeted at current employees. Real benefits resulting from its implementation for employees include a friendly work atmosphere and opportunities for career development.
Building a positive company image among employees not only makes them satisfied with their work and increases their loyalty to the employer, but also makes them ambassadors of the company outside the workplace. These factors, in turn, reduce employee turnover.
Factors considered when evaluating an employer branding strategy include general working conditions, additional benefits, methods of motivating people, efforts to build their satisfaction, and the pursuit of improving employees’ know-how.
Employer branding directed at employees is shaped by activities such as ensuring good communication within the company (e.g., by publishing company newsletters with updates), stable employment forms, additional benefits (sports cards, medical care, etc.), organizing integration events (team-building trips, social outings after work), and even managing social media profiles in a way that work in the company is perceived positively by society.
Internal employer branding is also linked to corporate social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility. Both these concepts emphasize building good relationships with the environment, which is why their areas of activity partially overlap. CSR activities also affect 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 the company. Their main goal can be defined as creating the belief in society that a given company is the ideal employer.
Achieving this goal brings both short- and long-term benefits. The image of the company as a good employer will contribute to an increased number of people participating in recruitment, and working at that place may even become a kind of dream or symbol (such as working at Google).
External employer branding uses external communication. Activities aimed at new employees and building a good image outside the organization include participation in job fairs, the company’s presence at universities where it can reach future candidates (through lectures, workshops, offering student internships) as well as a clear recruitment process and a well-defined career path.
Employer branding – why is it worth it?
Building the employer’s image is no longer just a welcome addition to operations but a fundamental issue that directly affects the interest of potential employees and helps reduce employee turnover. Although the term employer branding is relatively new, it has quickly been adopted in the industry and is successfully used in practice.
Employer branding, on one hand, benefits employees, and on the other, greatly enhances the company’s image. It is, therefore, a win-win situation. It can be anticipated that in the near future, companies will strive to further develop in this area.
This results from the combination of two factors that influence each other: the increasing expectations of society towards employers and the demographic decline leading to a decreasing number of working-age individuals in the labor market.
Employer branding activities – impact on the overall brand opinion
The previously mentioned internal and external activities lead to building or reinforcing a certain opinion about the employer brand, but that is not all. The overall image is shaped by many different factors, and employer branding is one of them. That is why it is so difficult to maintain a good reputation when only some elements of the organization’s strategy are commendable.
A brand that offers high-quality products or has an exceptional customer service policy but mistreats employees undermines its own image. Polish companies understand this as well and are increasingly implementing programs and improvements aimed at increasing satisfaction among their employees.
Employer branding as a way to gain a competitive advantage
In some cases, employer branding activities can lead to gaining an advantage over the competition. If an entity is perceived as a very good employer, it directly influences the opinion of business partners, key shareholders, or clients.
Companies’ competitiveness in employer branding contributes to improving working conditions and exemplifies the adoption of a management concept based on a human-oriented approach, through which the employer can achieve many benefits. However, an attractive work environment is becoming the standard. It ceases to be an exceptional advantage and starts being seen as something inherently due to employees.
Employer Value Proposition
Employer Value Proposition is the introduction to creating an appropriate strategy for building the employer’s image. This English term encompasses a set of traits that distinguish a company and make the people associated with the organization loyal to it. The EVP aims to allow the brand to, in a sense, “reflect” itself in the eyes of employees, job applicants, and new candidates who may be interested in the company’s offer in the future.
A company consciously creating its EVP has a powerful tool and can explain why candidates want to join, why people stay, or why they should want to become its “ambassadors” externally. The main benefits of such knowledge include the ability to implement a suitable employer branding strategy using tools and activities tailored to needs and expectations, as well as adjusting informational messages directed both internally and externally.
This requires gathering information about what the organization truly is and comparing it with how it is currently perceived by its people. These two areas do not always coincide. Obtaining feedback from the company’s internal stakeholders can significantly help identify flaws in the current strategy and point to areas that require reorganization or a complete overhaul.
The third important element in creating EVP is the company’s ambitions and the direction it wants to take. By setting goals, it becomes possible to involve the employed people in the transformation process and, most importantly, inform them about the company’s objectives and what it expects from its stakeholders. Combining knowledge about the company’s current state, its image among its people, and the direction it wants to pursue allows building a strategy.
Employer Branding Strategy
Creating an employer branding strategy within an organization enables better coordination of activities aimed at building a consistent image of an attractive employer, maintaining employee satisfaction, and attracting key candidates. The previously prepared EVP is the foundation here.
The strategy can be developed by a team functioning within the company but also an external organization. Persons not directly connected to the company look more objectively and from a different perspective. Regardless of who develops the strategy, experience from HR, PR, and marketing professionals will certainly be useful here.
Beyond the previously mentioned factors at EVP, it is also important to define the key target groups, analyze the competition, consider how to compete most effectively with them for employees, and carefully think through methods of internal and external communication. It is also best to establish ways to measure effectiveness, which will make it possible in the future to determine whether the employer branding strategy was developed and implemented appropriately.
Summary
Effective employer branding internal employer branding makes employees feel connected to the company and contributes to spreading a positive image of the company beyond the organization. This effect can be achieved in many ways: by creating good general working conditions, employee benefits, integration trips, and even activities in the area of corporate social responsibility.
Actions aimed at positively influencing the brand image externally involve creating the image of an ideal employer, as this image translates into the overall opinion about the company. This way, the brand has the opportunity to reach future employees and make them want to become a part of it.
If you feel that your company’s employer branding strategy is not sufficiently visible outside the organization or you believe that your company places too little emphasis on the employer’s image and building a positive brand image, contact us!
