Are you the type to check out a company’s reputation before applying for a job? If your answer was yes, you’re not alone. Studies from TalentNow found that 84% of job seekers see the reputation of a company as an employer as important in their consideration, afterall, a good reputation is a good indicator of a healthy company.
While most companies now agree that employer branding is important, with 96% of companies agreeing that employer branding plays an instrumental role in impacting revenue (CareerArc), the actual development of employer branding still trails behind that of consumer and corporate branding.
The Need for Employer Branding
A business exists to make money, and the way it does this is through attracting and selling products and services to people. For this reason, the need for corporate branding and a consumer value proposition is fairly obvious.
The need to have an employer branding and creating an employer value proposition on the other hand isn’t always as self-evident.
It’s observed that companies with engaged employees are able to outperform those without by up to 202% (Dale Carnegie). While we’ve all heard the cliché that “people are our most important asset”, outside of Google, how many companies can you name that actually operate their business abiding to this principle.
As Hong Kong and Singapore continues to experience record low unemployment rates, companies need to work extra hard to secure top talent against their competitors. Knowing that 67%(CareerBuilder) of candidates would even accept lower pay if the company they were interested in had very positive reviews online, means there’s no time to lose for companies to start investing in their employer branding.
What is Employer Branding
Employer branding is the reputation a company has with regards to how they treat their employees. The employer branding is made up of various factors, from communications with both candidates and internal employees, company benefits, development opportunities, to company culture. Every touch point a business has with their potential and internal staff counts.
As such, regardless of whether your business actively pursues and invests on your employer branding, it still exists. A strategically sought for employer branding however, is one that aims to attract and retain talent to the company.
While there may be operational differences between your consumer, and employer branding, they should both revolve around a core understanding of your brand DNA or corporate brand. Since the target audience between consumer brand and employer branding is different, where you’d find the greatest differences between the two are in the channel of communication, length or nature of engagement, product experience, and potential competition.
How Can I Come up with an Employer Branding Strategy?
To formulate your employer brand you need to first look at the intangible aspects of your corporate brand. Your corporate brand should consist of your purpose, vision, and values.
Purpose:
This informs the “why” of your company. What is the reason your company exists beyond making a profit?
Vision:
Your current end goal to which the company is striving towards. A vision should an ambitious realistic goal that thinks long term.
Values:
How you get there. Values should act as a guiding principle to how your company achieves your vision to fulfill the greater purpose.
By using your company’s purpose, vision, and values as a guide of the underlying priorities, you’ll be able to come up with a more long lasting and applicable employer branding strategy that will ring true for your brand.
Balance of software and hardware
Even more true than for consumer branding, employer branding isn’t about slapping a logo on everything and calling it a day. Due to the nature of the relationship, employer branding relies more heavily on a continuous engagement, from the recruitment process to the internal HR system involving both software and hardware.
Kick start your employer branding with professional HR services
Instead of doing everything from scratch, a more efficient way to kick start your employer branding may be to use professional employer branding services. By hiring experienced HR professionals to consult on the internal operations, you can more quickly streamline the HR processes for your employees.
Align your corporate and employer brand
For an employer brand to properly serve its purpose it needs to be formulated according to the corporate brand. There’s not point faking a good sounding employer brand just to appease employees as it may appear disingenuous, doing more damage than good.
Streamline your HR today with Links HR Outsourcing services. With 20 years of experience in Asia, we have a wealth of HR experience providing our clients with a holistic HR solution. Get in touch with one of our representatives today to learn how you can elevate your HR today.
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With 20 years of HR services experience in Asia, Links has been trusted by over 10,000 clients to help elevate their HR processes. Get in touch with one of our representatives and learn how we can help you improve your employer branding and move your business to the next level.