Human capital is the most basic and yet the most critical building block of a company. Hiring the right team members and then retaining the best among them is a constant challenge. As competition for getting people with the right skillset intensifies given the entry of a new breed of startups loaded with venture money, in addition to the legacy businesses across sectors, it makes for a constant struggle for a human resource department.
Indeed, attrition in the new economy space has climbed to record highs over the last two years. As workers tasted the importance of a work-life balance during the pandemic in line with the work-from-home practice, there was a rush for new employers who understood their needs and emotional quotient.
Also read: Building a Strong Employer Brand Isn’t The Job Of Just One Team; EY GDS’ Syeda Meher Taj Reveals Why
HR managers of all companies try to showcase their attractiveness, be it in terms of remuneration, best-in-class working environment, or fun at the workplace.
The problem that each of them faces, however, is that all of their peers have the same aspirations and are putting in similar efforts to achieve the organisation’s goals. Unlike the old days, where by default a large company was deemed a better job opportunity, with the flow of information given through social media, as well as dedicated employee review portals such as AmbitionBox and Glassdoor, the organisation’s reputation, is out on display.
Unlike the old days, where by default a large company was deemed a better job opportunity, with the flow of information given through social media, as well as dedicated employee review portals such as AmbitionBox and Glassdoor, the organisation’s reputation, is out on display.
One way to deal with the evolving market for talent is to put your best foot forward or manage the branding of the organisation as an employer.
This would help a company identify the right fit for the organisation’s ethos and culture while also building bonhomie within teams.
Basics of employer branding
Devising an employer branding strategy is nothing but a plan of action to showcase an organisation’s values, approaches and persona to the target audience, both for prospective hires as well as those already within the firm to feel good and stay longer.
For example, there is a horde of aspirants to join the officers’ rank of the Indian Army every year. But the organisation still pursues an even stronger aspirational connection with the prospective hires by showcasing how it allows a candidate to pursue a different path in life. These include several under-the-radar non-monetary benefits and perks, besides a chance to lead a team early on in the job and so on.
These days a job seeker goes about researching actively about would-be employers before sending in their applications. Reviews on AmbitionBox, Glassdoor and Indeed are some basic modes of looking at how existing and past employees view the company and its culture.
So, an effective employer branding would not just take into account traditional modes of mass media to showcase a workplace but also incorporate ways and means to push its message on social media and specialised sites, thereby correcting any shortcomings
Steps to create an effective employer branding strategy
An effective employer branding strategy can determine the decision of one or several ideal candidates to join a company. So how can an organisation put together the right toolkit to make a difference?
For instance, tech major Google is often seen as a cool place to work. But there are several others who have effectively used employer branding to attract and retain talent.
1. Auditing brand perception and building an employee persona
The first step in attacking the problem statement is to have an understanding of how people at large and indeed prospective hires view your organisation. This is important as it helps a company amend an existing image or practice and make adjustments to accommodate new requirements.
Such an audit would cover both existing employees as well as external stakeholders like a vendor or consultant. This helps in gauging the current reputation.
Internally, it could involve an anonymous survey of existing employees or even open house meetings on the issues being faced.
Externally, this exercise would also cover domains like employment review sites as a majority of would-be hires would be seeking to get an opinion of others on the company. It would also encompass scanning social media with the right tools to track how is the brand’s perception floating around in popular imagery.
Then again, search engines like Google should also be a key part of an effective auditing exercise as they are often the first stop for anyone researching a company, its culture and practices.
Another important step in devising the right employer branding strategy is to figure out who is an ideal candidate. This would help an organisation develop an employer branding strategy that aims at a person with the personality, aspirations and skillset to seamlessly become part of a team.
One way to approach this is to identify the key qualities of the target audience. These include the main personality traits, the causes they are concerned about, their day-to-day motivations, their go-to place for information research, what kind of roles and responsibilities they are aspiring for and who affects their decisions.
2. Establish USPs and pick primary marketing channels
A key part of any branding exercise, in general, is to showcase the uniqueness of one’s product or service. In the same way, understanding and then highlighting the unique practices of a company is an essential ingredient of an employer branding exercise.
This could cover aspects like organisation values, work culture and so on and gauge how is it different from other peers.
As many as 86% of HR professionals believe recruitment is now on the same footing as ‘marketing’. An employer brand strategy needs to work in tandem with the imagery of candidates.
But then what is the best way to reach out to new recruits and engage with existing employees? Whether it is the careers page of the corporate website, sponsored media campaigns or pushing the narrative on social media handles, one has to prepare a judicious mix of the modes based on the targeted persona of the audience.
3. Capture essentials in the branding strategy
The employer branding strategy would need to cover various aspects of an employee, be it their motivations, interests and goals in life. This would involve the branding campaign to incorporate line items like professional development, healthcare benefits, flexible working opportunities, work-life balance, holiday allowance, thriving workplace culture, perks like club memberships and social outings, charity and so on.
4. Continuous process and internal buy-in
The first step in attacking the problem statement is to have an understanding of how people at large and indeed prospective hires view your organisation. This is important as it helps a company amend an existing image or practice and make adjustments to accommodate new requirements.
An employer branding initiative is not a one-time activity. It needs to become an ongoing process where the campaigns are finetuned based on continuous feedback from new hires as well as from existing employees.
This would also involve internal advocacy with the current workforce to generate more authentic word-of-mouth promotion of the campaign.
5. Assessing employer branding strategy
Last but not the least, an effective employer branding strategy would also involve assessment and taking stock of the initiatives already rolled out.
One can weigh the results of the branding effort with pre-defined goals. These could include aspects like time to recruit a new team member, cost per hire, number of applicants to each vacancy before and after rolling out the campaign, brand reputation and so on.
HR managers need to examine the success of the campaign and tweak it to course correct if required.
Conclusion
Clearly, branding and marketing are not just an essential part of the product or service sold by a particular company. Branding for the organisation as an employer is also critical for attracting and retaining the right mix of skillset and human capabilities.
This requires a carefully constructed employer branding strategy to not just attract the right talent given the ethos and work culture of a firm but also to bring a sense of belonging to the existing workforce to stem attrition.
