Why your employer brand is important

How much time and money do you invest in evolving a compelling story brand around your business’ product or service? I’m betting it’s a lot. And you invest in that so heavily because you want people to buy from you.

But if I asked you how much you invest in your employer brand, the chances are it wouldn’t be anywhere near comparable – if you invested anything in it at all, that is (and there are lots and lots of SMEs that don’t).

Yet your employer brand is absolutely essentially if you’re expecting to attract the right people to come and work for you.

So, what is an employer brand, how do you create one, and why is it so important?

What is an employer brand or employer branding?

Employer branding is ultimately about the perceived value you have among your own people as well as those who might be looking to work in the sector in which you operate. At a fundamental level it is about the image your organisation projects in the job market.

In the modern recruitment market prospective candidates care a great deal about the type of business they work for – and the free availability of so much public information online means they’re able to scrutinise who you are, what you do and how you treat your staff far more closely than ever before.

But it’s not just about hiring people. It’s also about retaining the best of those who are already employed by you.

We’re probably all seen the taglines in job adverts that say things like ‘Voted best place to work in the XXXX sector. Those accolades matter because they add valuable capital to your employer reputation.

Having a cool product or service no longer matters in talent search – at least, not as much as it might have done in the past.

Do you need employer branding?

To answer this question, you need to ask a different one: if someone asked a member of my staff what it’s like to work here, what would they say?

If you can answer that – or at least make an educated guess at what that response might be – then you’ll have an immediate idea of the size and scale of the task ahead of you.

That means thinking about how people are managed and rewarded on a day-to-day basis, thinking about how clear your mission and values are and whether they’re clearly communicated to and, more importantly, shared by your teams, and thinking about the realities of your workplace culture.

There is evidence now to suggest that businesses that get their employer brand right can cut staff turnover rates by as much as 30%. That’s important not just because it means you have good people staying longer, but also because you’re not then having to invest revenues into recruiting behind them.

Creating an employer brand

It’s important to invest time and thought into this process – probably with your in-house HR team or a consulting specialist – because there is no off-the-peg solution that will absolutely fit the unique dynamics of your organisation. But there are common themes:

What is your unique value proposition?

Are you clear on the mission, vision, and values of your organisation? These all inform your culture and are the best place to start when you begin to think about the steps you need to take to create a compelling employer brand.

For example, the mission statement for Mercedes-Benz in 2022 is:

We will inspire and create an exceptional place to work and to do business. One employee, one customer, one vehicle at a time.

As a result, the company is able to create a compelling employer brand story on the recruitment section of its corporate website.

Once you have completed this process for your own organisation, you’ll be able to write a meaningful employer value proposition for your business.

Understand your current employer brand

Even though you might think you don’t have an employer brand already, you almost certainly do – there are now many websites that allow employees to pass judgement publicly on the businesses they work for.

Check out as many as you can as part of a brand audit. You might also look at conducting an anonymous employee engagement or satisfaction survey where you can ask your existing people to answer the ‘What is it like to work here?’ question (among others).

Use positive employee experiences in powerful ways

Use the strong employer-employee relationships you have with your existing staff to grow your employer brand. Using testimonials on the website, sharing employee success stories on social networks like LinkedIn, and creating employee advocacy opportunities all help to improve your reputation as an employer.

Start people well

If you can begin to prioritise your onboarding process to ensure new starts have the most positive experience possible, the chances are that seed can be cultivated into something more sustainable and valuable – as long as your routine HR processes ensure you go on as you started.

Create an inclusive culture to build a diverse workplace

If you read my blogs regularly, you’ll know that I believe it’s impossible to have a diverse workplace if it isn’t inclusive, because inclusivity is essential for diversity to flourish.

Inclusive organisations are those that ensure every voice is heard, that encourage and value the opinions and views of everyone regardless of hierarchy, and which act on what they’re told.

If you can’t put your hand on your heart and say you live those values, then you’ve got work to do on your inclusivity.

If you’d like to find out more about how Constantia Consulting can help you to evolve a compelling employer brand, please get in touch for an informal no obligation chat.