Attracting top talent is ultimately a game of marketing. How do you show potential job seekers that your organization is the place to be? It all comes down to deploying a skillful employer brand strategy.
“The employee experience is the employer brand,” says Lisa Tilt, CEO of Full Tilt Consulting, “so it’s central to identifying the characteristics that define that brand. A company cannot force, create or dictate its employer brand. Rather, through careful strategy and stakeholder involvement, a company can uncover, define and distill its unique value proposition—the cornerstone for internal and external communication.”
Tilt spoke with StrategicCHRO360 to give her take on how HR leaders can develop a successful employer brand.
How can heads of HR plan and effectively align their brand as employers with their overall corporate brands?
Brands often measure their strength in the market through customer feedback and sales performance. These key metrics are highly valuable, but they do not tell the full story of a company’s brand. Forward-thinking brands amplify reach and resonance, while optimizing stability, by measuring key internal stakeholder performance—it is this crucial data that defines a company’s employer brand.
Establishing a robust strategy to protect and elevate an employer brand—with clear messaging surrounding vision and purpose—enables organizations to retain top talent and attract quality candidates, even in a challenging labor market. An employer brand and employee value proposition clarify the organization’s reputation as an employer, while representing the unique vantage the organization offers to its employees.
Defining a strong employer brand begins with creating organized, cross-functional teams with representatives from HR and people teams, learning and development, talent acquisition, internal communications and marketing/external communications. This work is best done with close counsel from an executive sponsor.
This collaborative work group should consider factors like company culture, growth opportunities, compensation and benefits and work-life balance, as well as address the experiential disconnects or inconsistencies across the organization among teams and departments. The group’s output lays the foundation for an integrated internal marketing strategy that showcases the culture and brand in its best light for both internal and external audiences.
Execution of employer branding and corporate branding can align by integrating employee-focused content into external campaigns. Highlight employee achievements, community involvement and corporate social responsibility efforts. Like any marketing campaign, regularly assess the effectiveness of employer branding efforts through performance metrics like employee engagement, retention rates and candidate conversion rates.
What are some key strategies for building a strong employer brand in today’s competitive job market?
In a competitive and unpredictable job market, building a clear employer brand strategy includes leveraging effective marketing principles. Companies need to compete on the strength of a compelling brand story to stand out as an employer of choice and connect with desirable prospective candidates. Authentic, internal audience-driven storytelling that communicates clearly and promotes the organization’s EVP is essential for competitive recruitment and retention efforts.
The entire candidate journey—from initial exposure to post-interview interactions, is rich with opportunities to seed the employer brand proposition, connecting with candidates and employees in ways that engender loyalty and organizational engagement. Activate a group of internal brand ambassadors who share their positive experiences on social media or participate in employer branding initiatives.
Leverage employee testimonials and success stories in recruiting materials and internal communications in a way that aligns with the corporate brand. Use consistent language, tone and visual elements to reinforce the brand image to both internal and external audiences.
Companies that can demonstrate proven excellence as inclusive and desirable workplaces maintain a competitive edge when it comes to recruitment marketing. A positive, trusted employer brand ethos runs parallel in importance to excellent benefits and competitive pay.
By marketing an organization’s persona and highlighting its employee value proposition through proven channels and strategies, companies can discover and tap new talent pools, thereby expanding their ability to find and attract top-tier candidates.
What role does employee experience play in shaping an organization’s employer brand?
The employee experience is the employer brand, so it’s central to identifying the characteristics that define that brand. A company cannot force, create or dictate its employer brand. Rather, through careful strategy and stakeholder involvement, a company can uncover, define and distill its unique value proposition—the cornerstone for internal and external communication.
Identify what’s working best in your organization. From this awareness, you will gain a foundation of content to communicate and leverage to support organizational goals. That consistent drumbeat of communication builds the employer brand in an authentic way.
Sometimes it helps to think about the opposite impact, such as the toll high employee turnover has on an organization. Even modest turnover carries weighty consequences, including brand deterioration—signaling an undesirable workplace, deterring potential top-tier hires; internal unrest among remaining staff—leading to increased workloads and potential attrition; substantial expenses—directly impacting the business bottom line; peripheral expenses around recruitment, onboarding and training; and intangible costs such as knowledge loss and heightened learning curves inherent in new hires.
Define your employer brand by uncovering the inspiring employee stories, the excellent managers leading their teams well and the hidden gems of workplace efficiencies to promote and celebrate across the organization. In addition to weaving these stories into your broader communications, there is tremendous power and credibility in the authentic stories your internal stakeholders have to share. Their influence on a micro level will ensure your brand resonates with intended external audiences, and you’re off to the races in proactively managing your employer brand.
In what ways can employer branding impact recruitment and retention rates within an organization?
One of the major challenges companies contend with today is how to manage the changing demographics of the current workforce while preparing for the entry of the next generation. Gen Z has solidly established itself within the professional sphere while the oldest members of Generation Alpha will enter the hourly workforce within the next two years.
This shift, coupled with fluctuations in economic conditions, compels organizations to adjust their recruitment strategies accordingly. What supports—or hinders—recruitment and retention is the strength of the employer brand. A trusted employer brand allows the organization to attract high-quality candidates aligned with the company’s values, culture and mission; reduce time-to-hire metrics because of company reputation and familiarity; lower recruitment costs via a higher volume of inbound applications and increase employee referrals from satisfied employees.
In an era of the most varied workforce in history, a successful people strategy needs to include strong, engaging narratives that communicate the value of being part of an organization. Clarifying an employer brand and standing up a strong employee communications strategy are foundational focal points around any organization’s greatest advantage—your people. These programs attract and retain talent, reduce recruiting overhead and bring more cohesion to a company’s culture through a common rally cry. The outcome and the rewards are well worth the investment of time and effort.
