Employer Branding and 5 Steps to Build the Employer Branding Strategy

So much is said about Employer Branding these days, what does it really mean??

Let us just say that it involves all the strategies HR Professionals use to communicate about the employer Brand an Employer Value Proposition to the talent pool both inside and outside the organization.

We should look at the Definition once- Employer Branding is the process of Positioning or Promoting an Organization to a Desired Group of Talent/Professionals as an Employer of Choice.

It all started in in the year 1996 when Simon Barrow (Chairman of People in Business) and Tim Ambler (Senior Fellow of London Business School) coined this term, defining it as “ the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified by employing companies.”

By 2001 close to 40% of the 138 organizations surveyed in North America engaged in some form of Employer Branding. In 2003 a global survey revealed that 61% of HR Professionals and 41% of Non –HR Professionals were aware of the term Employer Branding. By 2008 Employer Branding has become an integral part of Business Strategy and not only a part of the HR Function as confirmed by Jackie Orme the Director General of UK Chartered Institute if Personnel Directors.

Since then, there have been numerous conferences held and the organizations have put into practice a number of strategies to talk about Employer Branding.

Importance of Employer Branding

A research by LinkedIn says that more than 75% of job seekers research about a firm’s reputation and employer brand before applying for a job. Organizations use this to focus of developing intellectual and emotional buy-in among employees to a point where they are committed to their employers, reflect the brand values and become brand champions.

5 Steps to Build the Employer Branding Strategy

1. Understand the Business Needs — Understand the long-term business plans to understand the competencies and skills that would be required to deliver the business plan.

2. Define the Talent Pool — Weightage to be given both o the internal and external talent pool based on the critical competencies identified. What should the organization focus more on retaining and developing the internal talent pool or attracting new talent? This will help in defining the main and secondary Target Group (talent pool) for the organization.

3. Understand the Target Groups- This is possible the most important and extensive process. After defining the groups fully it becomes important for the organization to profile the groups. Understand their current perception of the organization and what helps them take a decision in favor of the company. The deeper the understanding, the more effective the communication will be. A research will need to e conducted answering the following questions

a. What are employees looking for in an organization?

b. Which organizations can be identified as competitors within the identified talent group category?

c. What sets the organization apart from these competitors?

d. How do candidates learn about the organization?

e. What are the important decision making criterions?

f. What is the employee experience in the organization?

g. What is the culture in the organization?

h. What are the possible reasons for attrition?

4. Set the Employer Brand Strategy — Employees as well as Prospective employees should be able to choose the organization from its competitors. The strategy needs to have

• Differentiators- 2–5 things that set the organization apart from the others
• Positioning Statement — This should contain all the differentiators and should describe the organization in short — this could be the Employer Value Proposition
• Employer Branding Promotional Plan — This bundles up everything. The plan should describe tactics, tools and the schedule to be followed to attract new talent as well as retain the current employees.

Documentation of the plan becomes imperative , the need to refer to the same will arise from time to time.

5. Develop the Tools — for Employer Branding the organization would need an array of tools

• Careers Page — The organization’s Website should have a separate Careers Page talking about the culture , benefits given to the employees along with clear job descriptions.
• Social Media — Convey the Employee Experience using pictures and videos, testimonials on identified social media platforms
• Reputation Management- Glassdoor and LinkedIn matter.

Launch the Employer Brand externally and internally with same rigour and consistency.

It is very important to live up to the Employer Brand , nothing is more authentic than the behaviour of the Leaders in the organization.

Will really appreciate your views on the topic, eager to learn more.