“If the reputation of a company’s products and its services is its face, the talent brand is its heart and soul.” 

-Hank Stringer and Rusty Rueff

The war for talents has begun. Though the word seems to be used everywhere, it is not overrated but asserts the universal fact. The right talents filling in the right positions will help organizations in the execution of the business strategies. According to a Forbes article, the US sees the lowest unemployment rate, the right talents for the top positions are difficult to fill in, and the top candidates now choose the right employer. These changes mandate that the organizations create a strong employer brand for themselves to attract the best performers in the industry. The products and services of a company help it to attract the customers, and the employee engagement and development framework of a company helps it to create a strong employee value proposition. 

What is the Employer Brand? 

“Employer branding is defined as a comprehensive concept to design internal and external employer image with the intention to ameliorate the perception of the company as a preferred employer by existent and future employees.” 

-Ambler and Barrow 

Employer branding is the concept of building a unique reputation and image for your company in the talent marketplace by displaying the functional, economic, and psychological benefits to the candidates and also the employee experience of the existing workforce. An organization can build a strong and attractive employer brand by conveying its purpose of existence, vision, and core values. 

“75% of employees consider the employer’s brand before even applying for a job.” 

If you want to build a strong brand or see if you have one, check whether you are communicating the following attributes frequently in the employee marketplace. 

Benefits of Employer Branding 

An organization runs on highly skilled talents and quality products. They are the brains and soul of a business. Employer branding offers various benefits to the organization if taken seriously. Most organizations focus only on sales and marketing and offer only monetary benefits to the employees, which has a lesser impact on the employees, and they build no mutual trust and loyalty. 

If an organization has a strong employer brand, it reaps the following benefits. 

Do you know the best employee engagement and development framework that helps you to build a strong brand? 

Only 54% of employees refer their company to a friend or family. Why is that so? Dissatisfaction over work can affect the brand of an employer.  

Here are a few best practices to improve the engagement in your organization. 

Rewards and Recognition.  

Global companies like Google has a higher employee attrition rate because the employees do not feel appreciated. A study by TimesJob says that employees feel undervalued as their employees do not recognize their efforts. In the long run, this approach disengages the employees, and they either leave the company or become low performers, which negatively affects the image of the organization. The managers and HR should recognize the efforts of employees when they exceed their expectations in completing a project or consistently work harder giving quality outputs. When employees feel valued, they stay motivated and even try to achieve the stretch goals of a company. 

Incentives and Employee Benefits. 

Few companies provide benefits that satisfy the employees like how Google and Zoho provide never-ending snacks, Synergita offers a game room to its employees, and Zomato gives period leave to its female employees. Apart from monetary benefits, employees also appreciate the care taken by the companies for their psychological well-being. MSMEs, sometimes, might not have the budget to care for their employees monetarily, but they can attract the employees and candidates by providing flexible work hours, transport facility, and autonomy in working. 

Learning Opportunities and Training Programs 

Candidates, nowadays, and even employees look for growth opportunities and learning in a company because they feel only that helps them to climb their career ladder, and it is the fact in this day and age. When learning stops, even a human becomes obsolete in the business environment. Organizations should conduct proper training to help employees attain the right skill set required to do the job and also provide opportunities for them to upskill and try different roles in a company. This will also help the organization in reducing recruitment and termination costs.  

Reinforcement of Company’s Core Values. 

When an organization works as one team believing in the vision and mission of the company, the employer brand will naturally be a strong one that further creates a strong work culture by attracting the employees that fit into the company culture. It becomes a cycle. 

The company’s core values are the identity of the brand. Reinforcing the core values and ensuring that employees live out these values in their routine is what Internal branding means. Sending frequent emails, getting feedback from the employees on the company’s values, creating traditions that align with the values, creating a culture that reminds the employees of their values, etc. can be done to improve the internal branding which will eventually affect the external branding of the company positive through word-of-mouth and online reviews. 

Strong employer brand = Right talents = Increased engagement = Robust work culture = Strong employer brand. 

Any thoughts? Please do share in the comments.