What does it mean to have an employer brand?
What is branding?
Branding is the process of defining your company's personality, distinguishing it from its competitors, and building a positive reputation within the marketplace. Branding makes people think about your company in a particular way.
It is like a person's character or personality shown by their actions. Branding gives your company a distinctive identity and helps your company to stand out from the crowd. And companies need to have a distinct identity to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
"You may have a strong personality and image. Still, if you fail to develop a strong branding strategy, people will not know how to perceive you."
Your employer brand is not your logo! Instead, the employer brand is the perception of your organization as a "Great place to work" among existing employees and external stakeholders (candidates, clients, and customers).
Employer branding focuses on attraction, engagement, and retention activities to boost your company's employer brand. Understanding employer branding's breadth is the first step in establishing it as a high-value business activity.
Key=perception!
Employer brand is how employees and outsiders perceive your company. How we feel about a brand, like iPhone, Nike, or Coke, relies on how we interact and how we connect with a brand and affects our opinions of it.
Employer branding is, to a large extent, an emotional bond. It is about how your people FEEL about working for the company, regardless of the function or income. Your employer's brand is determined by your employees' emotional connection to your brand.
This affects what we apply for, how eager we are to share our opinions, brand loyalty, etc. We want existing employees to be pleased and stay with us, and we also want to attract potential employees.
So what is employer branding again?
Some people could refer to it as a logo. It might be a name, according to some. Some would argue that it is the employees. Partial truth? But if you consider it, an employer brand is really just an experience. It's a feeling. It's an emotion.
Employer branding is the experience candidates, and employees get while interacting with your company. And how they feel as a result!Employer branding is the process of creating a unique identity for a company. A brand will allow you to distinguish your company from others in the talent market. A good employer brand will make your jobs and company stand out from others that compete with you. To attract talent, you should know how to create a brand.
Your employees are the ones who will deliver this experience, so choose carefully who will speak for you as an employer and how you want them to say it.
But essential to mention that "Talent branding" is a more current term for employer brand.
Employer Branding Examples to Learn From
Their "about me" website explains the organization's key ideals. As a candidate, you know what this firm stands for and what to anticipate. Mollie's employer brand succeeds well on social media too.
The company's LinkedIn profile showcases new Mollies, employee stories, and recruiting articles. Employee headshots are also nice. The company's photographer created a particular filter for its "Mollie look." Mollies' photos are our online favorites.
Hubspot is the Glassdoor Best Places to Work 2020 US (employees’ choice); comparably, the company also ranked #1 company for women in 2020.
Digital companies are working hard to recruit top talent by making the workplace more employee-friendly. Hubspot proves it. You may learn from them to promote your company's benefits. Invest in your workers' personal life to make a difference. Check out their Culture Code deck.
Social media outlets include employee testimonials. On @hubspotlife, workers share why they work at Hubspot and what they enjoy about their job.
EA's jobs webpage shows (possible) employees what it's like to work there and what they value.
Candidates may read EA's commitment to inclusion and diversity and examples of initiatives conducted inside and beyond the business. Juneteenth, International Women's Day, and anti-racism activities are examples. EA proves they walk the walk.
EA's benefits package focuses on employee wellness. EA shares employee tales to promote their company brand. EA has a Youtube channel and uses Linkedin to highlight global workers.
Tony's Chocolonely produces fair trade chocolate. Their manifesto video is amazing.
The company's website showcases its playful side.
Netflix's jobs website discusses its (in)famous culture. You'll arrive on a page packed with text, no movies, graphics, or other distractions, just words on a simple backdrop.
The company's culture is well-described and doesn't sugarcoat anything. It discusses what Netflix means by an ideal team, how a team should work, and how not everyone may stay on the team if they fail the keeper's test (meaning their manager would not fight to keep them if they were to leave).
Eventbrite enables anybody to create, share, locate, and attend live events.
Eventbrite shows employees it listens to them.
Eventbrite changed its workplace philosophy, giving workers three alternatives when offices reopen. This initiative is totally in line with some of the company’s messages on its careers page: ‘We know when you’re happy and healthy, you do your best work’ and ‘Choose what is best for you.’ A great example of a company that does what it promises in its EVP.
Final Thoughts:
If you want to attract and keep the best talent, you must create an employer brand that is seen as an "employer of choice" rather than one of many prospective employers. In other words, you must distinguish yourself from the herd. And here is where employer branding comes into play.