Employer brand describes an employer’s reputation as a place to work, and their employee value proposition, as opposed to the more general corporate brand reputation and value proposition to customers.
According to Wikipedia, the term was first used in the early 1990s and has since become widely adopted by the global management community. Minchington, author of Employer Brand Leadership – A Global Perspective, describes employer brand as “the image of your organisation as a ‘great place to work’ in the mind of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders). The art and science of employer branding is therefore concerned with the attraction, engagement and retention initiatives targeted at enhancing your company’s employer brand.”
So does your company have an attractive employer brand? Or do you work for a great brand, in your eyes?
It is easy to understand what makes a good employer brand when you think about large organisations like Google, Amazon and Facebook – which all fall consistently high in the list of more attractive companies that people want to work for. See a list of the world’s top 50 most attractive employers here.
But what makes your company branding stand out and be attractive to the type of talent you want to recruit?
All organisations need to understand what their employees, customers and any investors think of them so that they can work hard to retain a good company culture full of employees who fit that environment.
Your employer branding should encase a set of attributes and qualities that make your organisation distinctive and make it attractive to the sort of people who will thrive and perform well within the company culture this creates.
No matter the size of your organisation, creating an engaging and appealing employer brand will help you achieve the right result when it comes to hiring new staff and will help you retain those staff. If staff feel part of a company that they are proud of, they are more likely to be fully engaged and invested in their work and stay longer.
A very interesting article on the subject from Reed states that:
“A neat way to think of your employer brand is as your organisation’s personality – and how it comes across to potential new hires.
From what you post on social media when you’re looking to fill a vacancy, through each step of your recruitment process to how your current employees feel about you – it all contributes to shaping your employer brand.”
The article talks about some of the best ways to make sure your brand always impresses.
