Why Employer Branding
- As we transition into a knowledge economy , the war for talent is getting more intense
- Automation, Digital tools and AI will further make it a winner takes all market- with the right talent being the only competitive advantage
- The war for talent will be fought at many fronts- culture, organisation design, benefits, compensation , leadership development. Employer Branding is how we distill these benefits into a Employee Value Proposition & communicate them to our target audience
- the best definition is still the first one given by Barrow and Amber in 1996- ” the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company”
Employee Value Proposition & Authenticity
Employer branding needs to be authentic because you are getting a reality check from Employees who live your brand 50 hours a week! If their is a large difference between reality and the stated EVP – cynicism is the end result.
I did a reality check with senior folks from an IT major whose CXO had a made a name with Employee first clarion call – and couple of them had an apoplectic fit- of derision. Same goes for a major private bank who had their head of retail in a conference call encourage the team to push a wealth product- whose only merit was a higher percentage commission to the bank, and all this while their CEO touted Ethics first byline in every presentation he gave.40
3 Steps to Employer Brand Launch
- Research & Insights
- Distilling the Benefits & Creating the EVP
- Content Pyramid of an Employer Brand Launch
Research & Insights
Research on Employer Branding is like a referendum on the quality of leadership, organization culture and Human Resource function – And it may be a good idea to get an outside agency to do the qualitative research for you to maintain the objectivity as well as get the necessary skills to do this well.
Focus Groups and structured interviews are best left to experts who are adept at doing interventions like “Personification”- i.e. imagine your company brand is represented by a famous personality- who would you chose and why ? or How do you rate your organisation/ cultural aspects on a continuum which ranges from “The Force” to the “Dark Side” . ? Informality and personification help break barriers and keeps the communication honest in the hands of a trained facilitator
The right methodology & sources are the foundation of objective research and Insights- especially with something as subective as Employer Branding
Source 1 – Internal Population
- Recent Joiners– are a gold mine of information. They are not “institutionalized” 😉 and can not only give you comparative data but a reality check vis -a -vis perception
- Exit Interviews– A third party taking exit interviews will get good information on your brands SWOT
- Tenured Employees– are a good source of stories, culture artifact origins & What it takes to stick around
- Employee Engagement / Culture Surveys – If you are doing regular engagement & pulse surveys- again a good source of SWOT
- Jargons used , Founder/ CEO’s influence , Stories on how the organisation overcame a major challenge and other stories which define the culture of the organisation.
- I still remember in the mid 1990’s the major story on campus was ” how Narayan Murthy’s driver became a Millionaire because of ESOPS
Source 3- External Population
- If Campus hiring is important for you , the Employer reputation at the campus will be a key to your brand . IIT Delhi had a pun on an IT Major- “Trespassers will be Recruited”
- Alumni- Half your alumni relation problems are solved if you let go with grace. the other half requires – social media, events and keeping in touch
- Target lateral hiring – Not just the target population but the Major source of information and reputation building is your hiring consultants- people never forget the first contact. Talk to us- we are one of the best!!
Methodology
- Structured Interviews – Especially for Internal Leadership
- Focus Groups- Ideal tool for Internal tenured employees, recent Joiners and also with target student population & your talent acquisition consultants.
- Engagement & Culture Surveys
- Online Surveys for applicants on your site
- Exit Interview data ( hopefully a structured interview)
- Social Media and Sites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn . Though I usually take Glasdoor data with a pinch of salt- Average rating on GD is about 3.6 and people with an ax to grind are more motivated to write than someone who is ambivalent or even happy
Creating the EVP , Brand Personality & Tone
At Hootsuite, we’re revolutionizing communications via social and transforming messages into meaningful relationships.
Our team is comprised of passionate, egoless peeps having fun building something
bigger than themselves.
Each day, you will bring our core values to life through your actions and
collaboration with our team, our customers, and our community
Crush Adidas
“We’re Shopify. Our mission is to make commerce better for everyone – but we’re not the workplace for everyone. We thrive on change, operate on trust, and leverage the diverse perspectives of people on our team in everything we do. We solve problems at a rapid pace.
Best Practices
- Leaders should openly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their Employer Branding efforts . The leadership team should preempt, be transparent and stay authentic . Nothing kills a Employer Brand campaign faster than cynicism
- HR should host Employer branding. A Employer brand run solely by marketing runs the risk of being disassociated from reality
- Your team is your most authentic brand ambassadors – vanity projects like “be the tiger” ( Accenture with Tiger Woods) are usually more about the celebrity than the Employer Brand and run the risk of falling from pedestal
- Make Social Media Resources- easily accessible to your team. They are going to use them anyways- its always prudent they have access to the right version of logo, marketing collateral–etc
- Are your leaders the only Brand Ambassadors for the company. If there are others- how do you identify them and enable them to have a bigger audience?
- If you want constant energy in your campaign- Crowd-source, Involve and Improvise