When it comes to the recruitment industry, there are so many metrics and variables at play that it’s possible to get distracted, especially when prioritising aspects such as employee branding.
It’s a part of the recruitment process that is often overlooked and often becomes bogged down by “business as usual”, standardised processes that can be incredibly costly to implement and maintain if done at all.
Employee branding
Employee branding is about how an organisation’s employees, reputation, and behaviour affect the perception of the business or organisation itself.
Research shows that 70% of employees surveyed believe their work experiences are a critical factor in whether they take up a new position or not.
A stellar recruitment agency website or a freshly-designed recruitment video on YouTube doesn’t guarantee an employee’s interest in taking up a new position, but what can be done in the pursuit of employee brand?
The Key to Improving Employee Brand
Keep an eye on employee branding, and if you’re already good at it, it’s important to leverage that as much as possible, but don’t forget about the hidden piece of the employee brand puzzle. That is, how your organisation’s role in developing your employees’ skills and understanding of the industry they are in enhances that employee’s likelihood of loyalty.
Without a doubt, the most powerful way to align an employee’s experience with your organisation’s brand values is to offer development opportunities. Not only are companies needing to secure a return on investment, but they must also be ready to develop the skills of their employees in a way that will ultimately make the most impact in helping the business grow.
Effective Management
Employees work for an organisation to further develop their skills and learn new knowledge to help them succeed in the industry, and the best way to facilitate this growth is by ensuring they have access to the best of the best. By positioning skilled, inspiring, and experienced staff in management roles, you’re likely to see a beneficial impact on your employee brand.
Transparency & Communication
Developing their employees’ skills is not just about education – it is about keeping them well-informed and engaged at every step. An engaged workforce is vital to employee brand – how employees feel about their jobs is a leading indicator of what will happen in their new role, so they need to have involvement from the beginning.
Encouragement & Praise
Creating a competitive offer, investing in your staff, nurturing their development and providing competitive bonuses will leave them with an incredible feeling of achievement and, more importantly, the motivation to perform. Through motivation, praise and the facilitation of growth, you’ll cultivate an employee brand competitors could only hope to achieve.
Employee Wellbeing Initiatives
A variation of employee well-being and development initiatives enable businesses to work with a range of people from various departments and levels who can develop their skills in an environment conducive to learning and growth.
Sandbox Development
Workplace ‘sandbox’ development, in which employees are brought into an office environment and given a chance to work on projects of their choice, is a great way to develop a broader range of skills without being part of a more structured, traditional training environment.
The Importance of Employee Brand
When employees feel valued, engaged and responsible for the overall success of the organisation, loyalty is returned three-fold, reducing the risk of recruitment, attrition and turnover as well as promoting job satisfaction.
Employee brands can also provide insight into how your organisation is performing when it comes to prioritising people and doing what’s suitable for the company and the wider community.
How can you use employee branding to improve your brand’s reach?
The principles of employee brand development are universal and apply to any business that wishes to improve its engagement with customers, workers and the broader community.
There are several companies out there that use some of these practices already. The best practices when it comes to employee branding are:
Employee Brand in the Recruitment Industry
Much of the focus in the recruitment industry has been on ensuring that candidates, employees and employers are in lockstep; this is especially relevant in the last couple of years as it relates to getting great talent into organisations.
The key to building a great employer brand is understanding what makes a great company and being very clear about what makes your business great. Once your strategy is in place, you need to build your employer brand as you move forward to attract the best talent, promote your brand, and set your organisation apart from your competitors.
What does that mean for recruiters?
Companies are looking to improve the team dynamic to reflect the company’s values, and ideally, they want to attract the best candidates to join. This focus on employee brand allows recruiters to guarantee the best cultural fit for candidates and ensure they’re working with the candidate’s interests in mind.
Employee Brands Humanise Your Business
In a world where young people have a growing need for fulfilment from their careers, there are significant shortcomings in many of today’s employer brand campaigns. Many companies don’t seem to understand the direct correlation between their employee brand and their company’s long-term sustainability.
By encouraging the workforce to feel emotionally invested in the company’s success rather than a short-term reward, these companies will find they will continue to flourish. Perhaps most importantly, failing to understand employee brand development has an overall impact on the workforce’s well-being.
When employees are not engaged and excited by the work they are doing, they start to question the direction of the organisation and the direction of the company’s long-term goals. Not only does this lack of involvement lead to a disengaged workforce, but it can also affect productivity and, ultimately, profitability.
Millennials and Generation Z employees want work to have meaning and purpose and are increasingly demanding a unique, personalised and fulfilling experience. By investing in their human capital through employee branding, an employer can create a unique and desirable working environment that attracts new staff.
In turn, these employees will look to bring their own experience and enthusiasm to the table, helping to grow the company and, improve the employee brand as well. Ultimately, this improves their engagement levels with the organisation and promotes loyalty.
TL;DR Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways – Employee Brand, Its Impact, and Importance for Recruitment Agencies:
- Employee branding is about how an organization’s employees, reputation, and behavior affect the perception of the business or organization itself.
- 70% of employees surveyed believe their work experiences are a critical factor in whether they take up a new position or not.
- Developing employees’ skills and understanding of the industry they are in enhances that employee’s likelihood of loyalty and is the most powerful way to align an employee’s experience with the organization’s brand values.
- By positioning skilled, inspiring, and experienced staff in management roles, you’re likely to see a beneficial impact on your employee brand.
- Developing employees’ skills is not just about education – it is about keeping them well-informed and engaged at every step.
- Creating a competitive offer, investing in your staff, nurturing their development, and providing competitive bonuses will leave them with an incredible feeling of achievement and the motivation to perform.
- Employee well-being and development initiatives enable businesses to work with a range of people from various departments and levels who can develop their skills in an environment conducive to learning and growth.
- Workplace ‘sandbox’ development, in which employees are brought into an office environment and given a chance to work on projects of their choice, is a great way to develop a broader range of skills.
- When employees feel valued, engaged, and responsible for the overall success of the organization, loyalty is returned three-fold, reducing the risk of recruitment, attrition, and turnover as well as promoting job satisfaction.
- Employee brand development is universal and applies to any business that wishes to improve its engagement with customers, workers, and the broader community.
- Companies are looking to improve the team dynamic to reflect the company’s values, and ideally, they want to attract the best candidates to join. This focus on employee brand allows recruiters to guarantee the best cultural fit for candidates and ensure they’re working with the candidate’s interests in mind.
