Are you aware of the importance of your company’s brand in the marketplace? Do you understand the benefits of maintaining that brand to reflect your company values and product/service? We wanted to delve in a little deeper into employer branding and look at how the pandemic has had an impact on worker’s priorities in terms of what they desire from their workplace and the importance of bearing this in mind when chasing top talent.
What is an Employer Brand?
An employer brand is a company’s reputation as an employer and what it can offer to its employees. A strong brand allows companies to stand out in a dense labour market, allowing them to recruit, attract and maintain the top talent in their industry. Through social media and other advances in technology, it is easier than ever for jobseekers to research their prospective employers online; therefore, it is important for companies to be able to easily demonstrate their values and the benefits attached to working for them.
Their brand acts as an advertisement to potential employees. However, poor branding can damage the company and its future prospects, as can any reports of poor employee experience; bad reviews; or poor rewards for employees. This will lead to the build up of negative opinions, damaging the brand and turning away potential employees.
Current Picture
Due to the impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, today’s job market is highly volatile, with some industries facing crippling labour shortages whilst others face numerous applications to a select numbers of roles. As a result of this, it is more important than ever for companies to focus on their employer brand to ensure they are able to recruit effectively. The pandemic has highlighted this in particular, as it has shone a light on working conditions enforced by employers, especially in creating a safe environment to work in. Employers risk damage to their reputation if they are found to have any failings, which could have an impact on future candidates’ perception of the company, in terms of the how they look after their staff and keep them safe.
Recent statistics show that 50% of job candidates have said that they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation, even for a pay increase, whilst 86% of HR professionals say recruitment is becoming more like marketing. These show that potential employees value the state of their place of work highly even when compared to other key incentives such as their pay. Companies that don’t focus any of their resources often end up paying higher salaries than other companies as they need the extra incentive to attract the top candidates in the market. Therefore, companies can potentially save money whilst chasing the top talent for their available roles, just by paying attention to and utilizing their employer brand.
Key points to focus on
- Using social media to your advantage
- Active social media pages highlight continued attention to the employer brand. Additionally, being active on webpages such as LinkedIn and Glassdoor will help to engage jobseekers and build the company’s reputation.
- Respond to both positive and negative reviews. Through responding to reviews, the employer can show that they are active and are working to maintain a good employer brand. By responding to negative reviews, they can show that they are addressing concerns and working to fix them. Potential employees will see this when researching the company and applying for roles and will see that the company is engaging with its employees and any issues.
- Reflect the actual experience of employees
- Use current employees as advocates for your employer brand. Companies must not just repeat their values and their rhetoric, as jobseekers would have heard most of the points before from other companies. Through creating a positive work environment and looking after current employees, the employer brand will grow as happy employees talk about it.
- Ensure consistency across the business marketing strategy and the recruitment marketing. Many comparisons are drawn between marketing your company as a business to customers and marketing to potential employees. Both are vital to a company’s success, and should go hand in hand but recruitment is often less supported as it is unseen to the customer. However, the employees you recruit form the core of your business and affect the end-product, so it is of utmost importance that attention is paid to your employer brand so you can recruit the best talent available.
Impact of COVID and the Future of the Workplace
Since the pandemic began, companies have witnessed a seismic shift as many workers were forced to work from home as a result of the enforced lockdowns. As companies look to move out of the pandemic, many are faced with those who are content now working from home and are reluctant to return to the office. Businesses have been highly scrutinised in how they are dealing with the shift, with many promising that people can continue working from home, whereas others are proposing an office/home balance for their employees work week. The main discussion is that the pandemic has proven that many jobs can be done whilst working from home and many have gotten used to that style of life. Moving forwards, working from home, or a combination of both, will become a highly attractive pull to prospective workers and the company’s stance on the issue will undoubtedly have a large impact on their employer brand.
If you would like to have a chat about any of the above information or have other queries that you need answering, why not book a FREE 15-minute call at a time convenient for you with either Kate or Hannah.