Strategic Employer Branding: How Top Employers Institute Helps You Attract and Retain Top Talent
Strategic employer branding has become an essential element in differentiating companies as employers of choice. In today’s competitive job market, attracting and retaining top talent is critical for an organization’s success.
People want to work for organisations that are known to be good employers. While it may sound obvious, many companies still neglect their employer brand to focus on other parts of their business strategy.
By positioning your company as a top employer, you can significantly reduce turnover costs, strengthen your employer value proposition (EVP), and enhance your recruitment efforts.
Top Employers Institute, the global authority on HR excellence, certifies organizations that meet the highest standards of people practices.
Therefore let’s explore how strategic employer branding, supported by Top Employers Institute certification, can transform your organization.
What is Employer Branding?
Employer branding is an organisation’s strategy to showcase their company culture and reputation. It refers to how an organization is perceived as an employer, both by current employees and potential candidates.
While job seekers are the primary audience, the appeal of a strong employer brand is also a key part of influencing existing employees’ perception of their employer.
Employer Branding and Recruitment: Why It’s Important
Employer branding plays a vital role in recruitment.
According to a study by CareerArc, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying.
According to a report by LinkedIn, companies with strong employer brands experience a 28% reduction in turnover and a 50% cost-per-hire reduction.
In an era where top talent is increasingly discerning, a strategic employer brand is more than just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity.
It communicates why your organization is a great place to work, helping to differentiate you from competitors.
When it comes to recruitment a compelling employer brand has indeed have many benefits: let’s dive into them one by one.
Benefits of a strong employer branding:
Attracting Top Talent
The best people want to work for an organisation that reflects their values, and it has never been more difficult for organisations to get to these individuals. This recruitment effort is also helped by current employees sharing their positive experiences at the company, enhancing its reputation.
Improving Employee Engagement and Retention
Just as people want to start working at a company that aligns with their values and culture, they also want to continue working at an organisation that is reflective of themselves. A well-designed employer brand fosters this connection between employees and their organisation. Employees who are proud to work at an organisation are more likely to feel engaged, which is linked to higher retention.
Gaining a Competitive Edge
Many organisations offer similar services and products. Differentiating your organisation from the competition can be challenging – and this is where your employer branding strategy can help you gain a competitive edge. When your employer branding strategy highlights the exceptional qualities of your team and organisation, it helps set you apart from the competition.
Building Credibility with Customers
Customers, like potential employees, want to engage with organisations that align with values that are important to them, and that they can trust. When values align, people are more likely to trust them, and while it’s not the sole deciding factor for potential clients, it is one which organisations should be mindful of, particularly in a competitive market.
Enhancing Organisation Culture
When an organisation actively shares the unique aspects of its workplace culture, including its values and mission, it attracts individuals who align with these values. This makes them better placed to create a more cohesive and productive work environment.
How to Develop an Employer Branding Strategy
A strong employer brand doesn’t happen by chance—it’s the result of a deliberate and well-executed strategy. As discussed earlier, employer branding plays a crucial role in attracting top talent, reducing turnover costs, and building a compelling Employer Value Proposition (EVP).
But how do organizations transform the perception of their workplace into a competitive advantage? By developing an employer Branding strategy.
Developing a robust employer branding strategy involves several critical steps. Organizations must take a strategic approach to ensure their employer brand resonates with the right talent pool.
Here’s how to do it:
Define Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
Your EVP is the foundation of your employer brand. It is the unique set of benefits that employees receive in return for the skills, capabilities, and experience they bring to your company.
A strong EVP should reflect your company’s culture, mission, and vision while addressing what motivates your employees. Top Employers Institute helps organizations refine their EVP by benchmarking their practices against the world’s best.
Assess and Improve Current Employee Experience
Employer branding starts from within. Use employee surveys, exit interviews, stay interviews, and feedback sessions to understand what drives satisfaction and dissatisfaction within your company. Ensure that the internal culture aligns with the values you want to project externally.
A study by Gallup found that highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability, which directly correlates with a positive employer brand.
Leverage Data and Metrics
Strategic employer branding should be data-driven. To measure the success of your employer branding efforts, you need to monitor KPIs such as:
- Turnover Rate: A high turnover rate may signal an ineffective employer brand.
- Employee Engagement Scores: Higher engagement levels indicate a strong internal employer brand.
- Time to Hire: The speed at which you attract top talent is a reflection of how compelling your brand is.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measure how likely employees are to recommend your company as a great place to work.
Strategic Employer Branding: a few inspiring best practice
Top Employers Institute’s certification provides a powerful way to quantify and improve your employer brand by offering insights into how your practices compare with the top 10% of companies worldwide.
Below some inspiring best practice from our customers:
A new kind of interview with Amex:
American Express (Amex) uses current employees as talent brand ambassadors. This mini employee series, Member x Colleague, takes a look behind the scenes of the Amex brand to feature different employees explaining what it is like to work at the company, and what their products are all about.
The need
The goal of this initiative was to promote the Amex brand to the outside world in a modern way that was both approachable and interactive. Six different colleagues with different job profiles were selected to conduct interviews facilitated by a Brand Ambassador.
The company wanted the conversations to be authentic and emotive while providing an in-depth look at what it is like to work at Amex. Conversations were intentionally conducted with a wide range of different Amex employees from career starters to executives in Amex management.
The results
The series was successful and was continued after this first series.
- Reach, number of views and interactions can be named as relevant KPI’s on Instagram.
- A total of 1 085 fans interacted with the Member x Colleague format and Amex Germany was able to reach a total of 45 052 Instagram users. This resulted in an engagement rate of 2.4%.
- The following average values were achieved overall:
- Reach: 6,436
- Views: 2,567
- Interaction: 155
Reassessing the Employee Value Proposition – NTT DATA Colombia
NTT DATA Colombia has created a value proposition that is human centric and explains what it is like to work at the organisation. With a clear Employee Value Proposition (EVP), employees and potential candidates can understand the working experience and company brand.
The EVP includes their corporate values, the company’s purpose and reflects both professional benefits from the development model and personal benefits (tangible and intangible) for the employees and their primary team.
The need
Understanding that employees deserved personalised and agile solutions, NTT DATA Colombia carried out an exercise to re-define their value proposition during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company had realised the market, habits, expectations, and lives of their (prospective) employees had changed, and the company needed to better reflect their value to all the people who came in contact with their organisation.
For NTT DATA Colombia, this EVP helped define and communicate their framework of action, corporate culture and values, plus delivered on their company purpose and leadership principles. They wanted to guarantee a level of consistency between what they did and what they said.
The results
- An EVP adjusted to the needs of the employee and the market, which is flexible, personalised and diverse.
- There has been a 23% increase in their staff and the EVP has also helped with the development of both new talent and existing employees.
- The EVP has allowed the company to adopt new profile types for their employees, candidates and collaborators.
- The exercise opened a two-way communication channel that has made it possible to bring the EVP to the collective.
Reinforce your Employer Branding: become an employer of choice
A strong employer brand is becoming increasingly crucial for organisations wanting to succeed in the talent market while getting the best out of their current employees. A well-planned and executed employer branding strategy comes when an authentic company story is integrated into all aspects of the business. Employees must be involved in the process to help create this strategy, and when it is done transparently, it has several benefits for the organisation.
Organisations that invest in their employee brand create a more appealing workplace and set the stage for long-term success in a dynamic and ever-changing work landscape.
With the support of Top Employers Institute, your organization can become a leader in employee satisfaction, recruitment, and retention.
Get in touch today: become an employer of choice!