8 Ways to Build a Strong Employer Brand
As an employer, have you ever thought about what your staff say about you? Or what they would say about your culture, leadership, benefits or CSR practices?
Whether you consciously work to establish one or not, every company has an employer brand and this informs your employees, (current and future) of your company values and offering. You spend time and budget creating a compelling brand story to sell your products or services, but how much time are you spending on cultivating a powerful employer brand to ensure you attract and retain top talent? With job vacancies at a record high, and prospective employees expecting more from their employers, the recruitment pool is becoming increasingly competitive. Here are our top tips for building a strong employer brand.
1. Define your employee value proposition (EVP):
WE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT DO. WE LEAD. WE INVENT. WE DELIVER. WE USE THE POWER OF SPORT TO MOVE THE WORLD. – Nike’s EVP
This isn’t a one size fits all approach and must work for your business. Let staff know your strengths, what sets you apart and your company culture so that you can attract candidates who align to your way of thinking. See how IKEA, as part of their recruitment process, ask for candidates to bring a picture of their living room to the interview and to then describe it. This helps them identify like-minded candidates who share a genuine passion for home furnishing.
Defining a clear employee value proposition can help your business going forward, making it easier to recruit, improve engagement between you and your employees – which then leads to greater productivity, and finally makes it easier to onboard new starters and retain your existing team.
2. Develop your leadership style:
Just as the working environment has changed in response to the COVID pandemic, so can your leadership style. Move on from the traditional hierarchical “I talk, you listen” mindset, and instead adopt a more human approach, where you lead with empathy, humility and authenticity. This creates an environment where your team feel safe, which in turn develops a more committed, loyal and productive working relationship.
3. Have your employer brand be visible:
Be active on Glassdoor, Twitter, LinkedIn and other suitable platforms depending on your industry. Create and publish content like videos, blog posts, employee testimonials etc that can show prospective candidates what it’s like to work with you and effectively tell your story.
4. Be honest and transparent about the realities of your business and culture:
According to Glassdoor, 3 in 5 job seekers and employees felt the reality of the job did not match their expectations and what they were sold at the recruitment stage. It is important that in trying to attract the best talent, you do not intentionally or unintentionally oversell or mislead the candidate. Whilst you may get them through the door, it might turn into a revolving one!
5. Create and communicate a clear Code of Conduct:
Keep the whole team aligned to your company values with a Code of Conduct to lay out expectations of behaviour, business practices and additional ethical standards. It’s normally best for this to be a written document, in plain language for clarity, that all staff have easy access too.
6. Communicate your purpose, both internally and externally:
There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years of organisations defining their purpose, which of course is important for lots of reasons, not least engaging your workforce. If everybody is agreed in a fixed direction, that is what’s going to really help the organisation in terms of getting the best out of the employees. They need to understand their purpose, they need to know what they are driving for, they need to know what they are doing makes a difference.
7. Ensuring internal communications are effective and keep the whole team informed/involved:
Organisations with engaged employees generate 2.5 times more revenue than those with low levels of engagement. – Glint Inc.
Creating an effective internal comms strategy to inform your team of all areas of the business can create a greater connection to the brand and increase product knowledge. It also makes them feel more committed and invested in the progression of the business, which is reflected in how they then speak about and promote the business outside the workplace.
8. Giving employees a voice:
Allowing them to feedback regularly will help you to understand how you can improve your employee engagement strategies, strengthening your employer brand, and increasing the chance that your employees will recommend your business to future candidates.
During this livestream our DHL Account Director, Katie Klingenfus and Commercial Director, Felicity Allen shared the secrets of creating a great place to work, with insights and tips that are proven to help your business stand out as an employer brand of choice.
Measuring your employer brand success
Your employer brand will be constantly evolving, so as you progress don’t forget to continually measure it. 96% of companies believe employer brand and reputation can positively or negatively impact revenue, yet less than half (44%) monitor that impact. Here are some ways in which you can measure your employee brand development:
- Recruitment success – measuring the responses for candidates and length of time to recruit
- Retention rates – measuring the average time an employee stays in your company
- Hear straight from the employees themselves – Employee opinion surveys, listening groups, personal interviews, roadshows and town hall meetings are all good ways of gathering data on the sentiment of your workforce and identifying where they feel the gaps are
- Go outside of the company – one of the ways to find out if you’ve created a great place to work is to get an independent view or externally benchmark your culture. We use Great Place to Work® as a leading independent platform but there are other options like Top Employer, Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work or the Employee Experience Awards.
If you’d to find out about how we’ve helped other organisations create an attractive and aligned employer brand that puts them at the front of the queue for top candidates get in touch.
