SHARING OUR KNOWLEDGE:
Creating an employment brand
CREATING YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND
We have reviewed employees' views on what attracts them to a company as an ideal employer, what needs to occur during the recruitment process to maintain their opinion and what your retention efforts should focus on. We can now examine how you can create an employment brand.
Most companies are not well known or easily identifiable. A rare few, such as Coca-Cola, Virgin or Microsoft have a strong brand and general awareness, but for the remainder of businesses, defining the essence of your company is a challenge. It is not a simple matter of sitting down with your marketing team and crafting a catchy strap-line or captivating image. It involves research, analysis and then definition and communication, but the rewards can have a significant impact on the bottom line and certainly outweigh the effort.
1. Identify core values:
The first step in creating your employment brand is to identify the essence of your company - what it stands for, its culture, values, beliefs and vision. This can be done through various internal and external audiences and following are some suggestions:
a. Your current employees know if you deliver on your employment promises and they play an essential part in the research process. Begin by conducting an employee focus group or anonymous survey to determine what they like about working for your company and why they are proud to work there. This will provide information on the employee experience and help put your employer brand into words. Ask them what it is like to work for your company and how they connect and associate themselves with the company. Ask for a description of the company as an employer, including their perception during the recruitment process as well as once employment commenced. You can also ask about issues such as their interaction with senior management, training and development offered, work/life balance, internal communication, involvement of staff in company decisions, their views on the customer service you offer, the quality of your products, the type of people that are attracted and succeed in the company, and any other issues relevant to your company. Ensure you involve representatives from all departments in this process.
b. Apart from employees, other internal elements can give you clues about your company's values. Staff policies will provide an insight into your company's working culture and what you value. Your marketing materials will reveal the ideas used regularly to communicate your company while the look and feel of your advertising and publicity will also offer clues. Your website will make statements about your company, and perhaps as a result of your employment branding process, you will need to re-write sections of your website and the suggestions it makes - not only to potential customers but also to potential employees.
c. Examine the history of your company. Perhaps your company has a long and distinguished record, but has also continually modernised and updated with the times. Or perhaps you have a bold new approach to doing business, with innovative management prepared to take a gamble. Your history gives a valuable insight into your company culture and what your company is all about.
d. External audiences can also offer valuable and unbiased opinions about your company. You could conduct an external survey to determine what your target employment audience thinks of your company as a possible employer. You can also ask the opinions of people in your industry, from your clients to industry associations or training schools. If you operate within a set geographical location, the local community could also provide insights.
Once you collate this data, you will notice that, whether intentional or not, you already have an employment brand. In other words, potential employees already have a perception of your company as an employer based on your communication messages, customer service and all contacts with the company. While your current employment brand impacts your recruitment and retention efforts even before you advertise a vacancy, ironically many companies do not have a firm understanding of what their current brand and image is communicating to the market. Once you determine your default employment brand, you are able to make alterations and communicate the actual brand you want understood by your market, clients and potential employees.
2. Define a common language:
Your research will uncover the positive elements that make your company unique and that you can use to brand yourself as an employer of choice. The next step is to analyse the data collected and extract the common and core elements. With management, identify the elements you want your employment brand to focus on. Then write these core values in succinct and uncomplicated language.
By analysing and highlighting the positive elements of your company, its culture, values and beliefs, you define the common language of the company - what it actually stands for. However when writing your employment brand, consider that it is more than just decorative sentences. It needs to be based in truth, and should represent the sum of the working experience at your company so you attract candidates that will be the right 'fit'.
While you create your brand values, any negative issues raised in your research should also be addressed. Determine the experiences that created the negative perceptions and create a plan to prevent these experiences occurring again. For example, perhaps a survey comment was "the company doesn't care about how it makes money". This could stem from a lack of empathy demonstrated by management towards employees over certain issues or through communications. Or a comment of "Management doesn't listen" could stem from employees feeling their opinion is not considered or sought. Once you determine the experiences that led to any negative perceptions, you can act to counter them and build on your positive ones. While it is not pleasant to hear unfavourable perceptions, the branding process gives you an opportunity to counter these through the creation of your new brand values.
3. Take your time.
Employer Brands are not created overnight. They are formed through continuous processes of change. For example, a memo sent to all staff stating your employment brand and values will not, on its own, encourage staff act in line with those values. Certainly you should promote the decided company values and a memo from your CEO or MD may be one step of that process, but values need to be reinforced. If they develop and evolve, the change needs to be incorporated and promoted. In this way, the values and ultimately employment brand remain up-to-date and relevant.
4. Communicate your employment brand.
The ultimate aim of employment branding is to attract the right type of candidate that shares your company's values and is attracted to the communicated essence of what your company stands for. So once you research and identify your company's unique employment brand, you need to put it into place, both internally and externally.
It is essential your existing employees understand your employment brand as much as potential employees to ensure they are aligned with the company's vision and values. We cannot emphasise how important this is. For example, imagine a potential employee attends your office for an interview, and in their brief interaction with staff receive a perception of working for the company that conflicts with the communicated employment brand. If the receptionist is abrupt, potential colleagues roll their eyes or computer equipment is old, but the company communicates itself as cutting-edge and welcoming, there is an obvious disparity.
Ultimately, the communication of your employment brand both internally and externally will depend on the company, management, your marketing team and your HR department.
Keep in mind that all communication needs to be consistent. This means not just during the recruitment process, but during every interaction your business makes, including advertising, customer service, office environment, staff development, staff benefits, new products, telephone manner or emails. All elements of your business need to reflect and reinforce your core values and employment brand.
WHAT IS AN EMPLOYMENT BRAND?
BENEFITS OF AN EMPLOYMENT BRAND
POPULAR BRANDS
EMPLOYMENT BRANDING AND RECRUITMENT
CREATING YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND
A WORD OF WARNING
Issue 5: Creating an employment brand
