How Employer Branding Can Affect Your Organization

What is Employer Branding?

Employer Branding is an art of how organizations positively project themselves to job seekers, employees, and other stakeholders as an employer. It is not just a mere image, but the sincerity should resonate with how employers treat their employees. In doing so, it puts the employer in a much stronger position in attracting potential candidates and, subsequently, developing them to become loyal and engaged employees for your company. 

Employer Brand was first introduced by Simon Barrow in the year 1990. In 1996, Barrow and Tim Ambler added more meaning to the term and it became well accepted by the global management industry. In the past, employer branding was as straightforward as associating the company brand with their offered products or services, however, today it has evolved into an intricate combination of HR strategies and marketing elements in the execution. Think of it as an inbound marketing tactic that pulls people and clients in without the need of an active marketing pitch or campaign. Having a good employer brand allows you to establish a good reputation within your industry and talent pool, allowing you to passively market your organization. 

Today, companies take employer branding much more seriously and have reaped its benefits by planning ahead and implementing its initiatives seamlessly into their operations.

Elements of Employer Branding

Before you hop on the employer branding train, you must first evaluate what resources you already have as variables to make an informed decision. Then, formulate strategies that can help you achieve your goal in a short timeframe with less costs.

To give you a better grasp of employer branding and how it can benefit your business, here are several factors to look into during your evaluation process.

• Digital Presence –  Similar to purchasing products online, we automatically check the reviews of people who recently bought or consumed a certain item to check its credibility. The same goes for checking out a potential employer. Job seekers will look into your company’s values, culture, and employees’ feedback as part of their decision making process. Company reviews on job portals, social media accounts and other channels left by previous employees and publishing employee based content through press release sites can help in increasing your chances of having a good online reputation.
• Careers Page – As of January 2022, 43 million Filipinos became part of the labor force. This is a significant increase compared to 2020, during the peak of the pandemic in the country. Having a dedicated career page in your website shows that your organization has various opportunities available for job seekers. Be clear on your job descriptions, requirements, recruitment process, and other necessary details to avoid confusion as this can make or break your chance of getting qualified and top-performing applicants.
• Employee Advocates – Having employees as advocates for your company speaks volumes of how highly they respect and appreciate how much you value them to be part of your organization. The best part about this is they voluntarily express your company in a positive light as long as they feel recognized and appreciated. It is the equivalent to a word-of-mouth scenario regarding their experience of your company as an employer, which can be a very powerful testimony that can help in attracting potential candidates.
• Strong Human Resources Unit – As an employer, it is imperative to ensure that your employers trust your human resources (HR) department. A strong HR team should have a robust HR management and operations model while placing employee needs and wants forward when it comes to decision making. These two factors make HR teams reliable, efficient, and trustworthy.

These are just some of the many strategies your company can implement to build a strong employer brand. Incorporating these measures can help attract the qualified and top-performing talents you need to secure a competitive advantage within your industry.

If you are still struggling to determine which tactics to pursue, allow us to look further into the development of an employer branding strategy to help you identify your organization’s areas of improvement.

Developing an Employer Branding Strategy

Employer branding is a collective effort that can benefit the whole organization. Having positive attributes that sets you apart from other companies is a must. It goes beyond what people see and say about your organization in the digital space because what happens internally (within the office) must resonate with your audience to catch their attention and deem your company desirable.

Below are some of the best HR practices that your company can look into which could effectively strengthen employee retention and boost employer desirability:

• Competitive Compensation Package – This is one of the most important  factors job seekers consider when exploring. People have different motivations, priorities, and situations that contribute to their decision making process. In order for your company to ensure that what you offer are still competitive with the current market, salary benchmarking against your competitors based on the function, level, salary, and benefits is highly recommended.
• Offer Job Security – During the height of the pandemic, job security grew to become one of the main aspects employees look for. Drastic operational changes and business decisions were made to address the effects of COVID-19, which affected jobs both directly and indirectly. Providing job security is a must among businesses, allowing you to establish trust and reliability among your employees.  

• Positive Working Environment – Creating a positive work environment is crucial to maintain a high employee retention rate.  In a survey conducted by Glassdoor, company culture matters more than salary to younger adults than employees who are  45 years and older. With more young adults joining the workforce, creating a positive work environment in your company culture can help retain and develop young talents while improving overall productivity and increasing employee satisfaction.
• Promoting Work-Life Balance – Promoting a robust work-life balance is another way to showcase appreciation while addressing the needs of your employees. However, work-life balance can only be achieved through effective cooperation and trust between employees, managers, and  employers. One example is, employees are able to meet deadlines and take good care of themselves while the employer imposes a policy of no working beyond business hours.
• Career Progression – Every employee wants to move up the organizational ladder. Ensuring that employees have a chance to achieve career advancement within your organization shows that you are a caring employer. It is a win-win situation for both parties as it helps employees develop their skills and increase their salary pay grade while you retain and motivate talents who have proven their professional worth based on performance-output.

In addition, sincerity and trust must resonate with every action your company makes for the sake of the employees to build solidified rapport between parties. Successfully implementing these strategies can benefit you towards securing a positive employer branding.

Importance of Employer Branding

Competition between organizations grows aggressively everyday, especially in attracting, recruiting, and retaining talents. Creating a positive identity that makes you stand out from your competition also helps provide comfort and assurance for potential job seekers to associate themselves with your company.

Here are the common advantages of having a strong employer brand:

• Financial Stability – According to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, investing in employer branding can help increase revenue by 3.5% and a 2.5% profit margin. This can decrease your recruitment costs by having a high attraction rate to job seekers within your industry, while retaining your top-performing candidates. 
• Enhanced Employee Engagement – Companies with a strong employer brand have engaged employees with a high level of motivation to excel at work. This results in employee recognition and collaboration within the organization that boosts productive output that can lead to increased revenue.
• Positive Company Reputation – When employer branding is done right, you will notice that it also affects the image of your company positively. As a result, employees and other businesses will be eager to associate themselves with you. According to TalentNow, 84% of job seekers expressed that the company reputation of a potential employer is one of the things they consider before taking a  job. 

Most of the time, companies are solely focusing on consumer-based branding. Taking the time to consider employer branding can open your company to numerous opportunities that benefit both you and your employees. Doing so can help you maximize organizational growth and create more external impact.  

Effects of Positive Employer Branding

It’s no secret that every effort you make creates a ripple effect that may or may not be a game changer for your business. Allow us to dive deeper into the effects of perfectly implemented employer branding. 

• Retaining Talents – With the fast-paced world we live in today, retaining talents can truly be a challenge for employers. Incorporating a robust employer branding and positive company eco-system, you can increase your chances of retaining your talents and attracting new ones. 
• Boost in Productivity – While providing your employees with all the strategies of good employer branding, you can increase your employees productivity output. Doing so can increase your chances of achieving higher revenue for your company.  
• Active Applicants Quality – The influx of active applicants is one of the positive signs that you have a good employer brand. According to LinkedIn, a strong employer brand can yield 50% more qualified applicants while it reduces the turnover rate by 28%. 
• Company Competitiveness – Implementing the best practices in employee management and employer branding can significantly boost your competitiveness within your industry. This gives your company more of an edge against your competitors allowing you to take the lead in your industry.

In conclusion, there’s nothing better than an organization that actively provides positive opportunities in their employees’ lives. Although it may be challenging, the effects of establishing a good employer branding strategy can be beneficial for your company in the long run. 

Having the right people in your organization who will commit to helping you fulfill your ideal employer branding can help you achieve a greater chance to secure a successful and fruitful business venture.

Jump Start Your Company with Good Employer Branding

To better understand the best practices in creating a good employer brand, you may consult our experts to help you through the process of salary benchmarking, the best HR and recruitment practices, and up-to-date and industry HR strategies that can help boost your reputation as an employer.  

Our team of recruitment consultants can help you in finding the right talent to work for your company.