Amongst various trending topics in HR acreage
“Employer Branding” tops the list. Employer branding is the progression of
promoting a company (organization), as the employer of choice to a preferred
target group whom a company needs and wants to recruit and then retain. The
process of employer branding enables the company’s capability in attracting,
recruiting and retaining employees (Talent) in hiring and helps to achieve
company’s business objectives. Employer branding, moves in line with the growth
of economy. In the Indian Job Outlook Survey 2012 conducted by TJinsite,
research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com that recruiters have to push
frontiers to construct brand attractiveness to make skilful talents contemplate
on their employment opportunities. Employer Brand is the perception that
emanates to the mind when someone hears about your company’s name; hence we can
say that the business’s success is strongly associated with the perception of
the stakeholders and applicants and for an effective employer brand on has to
create an identity which has to be truly real, trustworthy, appropriate,
distinguishing and aspirational.
Organisations deploy strategy to create an
Employer Value Proposition (EVP) that expresses to the desire current and
prospective employees as to why the organisation is exceptional, engaging
eccentric and great place to work. A successful employment branding shall
reduce cost of hiring and brings simplicity the hiring process. By now we have
established that an Employer Brand has value as well as positioning, which goes
without saying.
Few best practices of Employer Branding are as
follows:
1.
Thought Clarity, the
organization stands for what: Mission, vision, and values are the core of
and organization and speaks loud and bold. This has to be clear and should flow
through to the employer branding communications every time (e.g. Apple and
Starbucks). Potential talents high in critical thinking and idealism perceive
that this gives meaning to what they do. A clearly stated value, vision and
mission help the potential candidates to align their own to that of the
organization for better engagement. Over and above it should flow top to bottom
and leaders should make efforts in communicating the message.
2.
Company Culture: Organizations should
build up a very clear company culture, if not done don’t bother starting on
employer brand. First priority should be given to sort out the company culture.
The company culture and Employer Brand should be reflected in everything; from
the way employees behave to the setup of the office and the words used in
marketing materials. This is the very fact why it is of prime importance to
know company’s culture inside and out.
3.
Communication
Optimisation: Communication
is the only mode through which we can communicate what we want to the
stakeholders and potential talents out in the market. Organization are now
using tools of varied range to provide social software solutions to extend
support and make effective communication flow outside as well as inside of an
organisation. This tool not just facilitates communication but also make look
organizations smarter, responsive, and innovative.
4.
Digitalising: With the growing presence of information
technology organizations are creating smart digital employer branding
strategies for attracting, engaging and retaining talent. Colossal amounts of
information are available, from what’s being said about your company online to
internal forums focused on improving business processes, not just this but
focus on organization’s website is an effective medium to endorse business, not
only for customers but also for prospective candidates.
5.
Employee reviews: With the proliferation
of employee review websites employer branding has a new space of venture. It
gives advantage for effective employer branding reach and strategy. Maintaining
company’s image and brand value has becomes prime importance. Now organizations
should respond positively to queries and provide prompt feedbacks for reviews regarding
the businesses.
6.
Networking: Businesses want to
spread their roots not just locally but also globally and hence the
organizational requirement of diverse talents with variant cognitive thinking
pattern and solution providers arises. The key is to meet this requirement is
to organically grow the network on a continuously basis and ensure to have
global reach on the network For organization it is inevitable now to learn and
connect with range of talent from different backgrounds.
7.
Recruitment: This is one of the
ways through which the company is exposed to the outer world and all
organizations want to make sure their Employer Brand is represented well in
their recruitment process. Right from the job advertisement to the interviews;
from all email or telephone communications to the candidate assessments
reflects employer brand. Candidate assessment is one of the powerful tools
especially if the organizations have psychometric assessments of intelligence,
personality and skills all at the same time. The good thing about HR
preselection is that they can reflect your Employer Brand and speaks loud of
the way company operates. The experience that the candidates undergo leaves
behind a very strong impression about the company.
8.
On boarding, Induction
and Orientation: When
an employee joins in they undergo experience which help them start their new
journey and start aligning themselves with that of the organization. As this
person is undergoing transition he is connected to old employer and associates
as well and the experience he would get will be flowing through various
channels into the market through this network. It is very important to handle
the excitement and nervousness of the new on boards, as both the conditions are
extreme in nature, that to be handled with care. During the time when there is
a dearth of available resource, it is then these things become the selling
points as an employer. Unique employer qualities come up during
the process of constantly measuring
performance and adjusting activities and strategies to continuously
improve and the way we communicate it to our employees internally, this in turn
brings sustainability of the employer brand and also makes it a living, effervescent and striking entity.
9.
Career path: A promising career
path is what potential talents crave for. Higher responsibilities &
credibility with promotion attracts employees to take on new challenges and
provide solutions in their job roles. Talents believe in growing with the
company.
10. CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility has lately been taken very
seriously by the organizations, this may not be a strategically thought
activity to impact business but certainly the good deeds gets noticed and stake
holders hence like to get associated with such brands who understands their
position when giving back to the society. For organizations it is important to
realize that this could be one of the good employers branding tactics and can
impact how people perceive a brand positioning in the market, in comparison to
the competition. People now actively participate in making a positive impact on
society and want to contribute some sort of value by contributing to the
society. Hence, Organizations should ensure that it demands prompt attention to
matters that influence environment and society.
In one of the survey by LinkedIn showed that
employer brand impacts job consideration decisions, especially, for the
younger, more global and junior audiences. Knowledge about the company’s
products, services, and employee experiences are some ways by which potential
candidates learn about a company. Knowing what the company does is vital for
candidates to be able to determine, whether or not a particular organisation
fits their bill of requirements or not. Organizations need to be proactive to
establish its employer brand in every aspect, be it creating a workplace
culture free of biases, offering more than expected remuneration or taking care
of all their needs and requirements, helping them grow personally, spiritually
and professionally, giving them the autonomy to be on their own and can make
choice to work at their peak productive hours. It’s a deliberate and conscious
process until it becomes a routine.
