building an employer branding strategy.

Amidst the raging fight for top-notch talent, organizations are realizing the heightened need for employer branding – for both their current as well as future employees. Many are expanding their focus from customer experience to employee experience. Employer brand not only portrays an image of your company, but also shines the spotlight on your differentiators such as a great work environment, unique culture, and opportunities for growth for your employees. According to Glassdoor research, 69% of active job seekers are more likely to apply for a company that has an active and engaging employer brand. Clearly, a strategic approach to building your brand can help boost your recruitment and retention efforts.

So what are the important elements for creating and sustaining a strong employer brand? Here are five areas to focus on.

Use your frontline HR team members as your brand messengers

HR has the direct onus of representing and sustaining an employer brand. Since hiring managers are at the core of recruiting and on-boarding, they interact with prospective employees first. An organization can have the biggest impact on their new hires through their frontline HR professionals while recruiting and on-boarding. A smooth applicant-to-employee transition is the very base of engaging and retaining employees L'Oreal, for instance, aims to develop committed and long-term relationships with its employees through a two-year, six-part integration program called ‘L’Oreal fit’.

Turn your current employees into brand advocates

As digital natives, today’s well connected employees have the potential to be the best brand ambassadors you can ask for.  Data based on LinkedIn’s research shows that the collective networks of employees is 10X larger than that of their company. Leverage your employee network and employee voice to spread the word about your employer brand. Employee accounts are more effective as they are perceived to be more authentic as compared to any other official channel.

Create a strong online presence to disseminate your brand messaging

A strong and active online presence can lead to incredible opportunities in the digital age. According to LinkedIn, of candidates visit the company website after discovering a job.  Your company pages, social media profiles, and presence on other online platforms play a crucial role in shaping the image of your employer brand in the minds of the candidates. Deploy well-optimized company profiles and brand messages on these online portals to reflect the real life employee experiences your company offers.

Develop and deploy employee-centric policies

Branding teams can market only what actually exists and what is likely to actually foster employee engagement and retention. Deploy long-term employee-centric policies as part of your employer branding initiatives. Godrej Group is a great example. It introduces its Employee Value Proposition (EVP) through policies for better gender diversity, leaves, health insurance, etc.

Build a friendly and engaging work culture

For today’s aspiring professionals workplace culture is increasingly important when considering career opportunities.  In fact, all the pillars of an effective employer brand strategy rest on your organization’s work culture. Providing an environment that is friendly, engaging and where people feel valued is more important than ever to creating a powerful employer brand. Vodafone India Limited  has succeeded in instilling a sense of pride in its employees through a healthy and amicable work environment by placing employee growth, recognition, and rewards at the core of its organizational values.

In essence, it is not just one team or channel that makes or breaks a good employer brand strategy. It is a combination of all aspects that impact employee experience. More importantly, recognize that employer branding is dynamic. Once you have created a successful employer brand, you cannot afford to rest on your laurels. Monitor, make adjustments and deploy new initiatives as needed to stay relevant to evolving employee requirements.