Employer Branding: The Phenomenon of Modern Times

The concept of employer branding is one of the most attractive topics today. The competition is high – it’s necessary to make your presence known and attract talents to an environment that’s not only a job for them but also a value.

Brand awareness isn’t built just by attractive videos on career pages or meetups on various topics. True awareness is built through culture and internal atmosphere, where employees feel good. It’s them who will tell their friends how well they’re doing, which company they work for, and why they work there. The employee becomes your brand ambassador.

Employer branding is closely linked to corporate culture, employee engagement, goals, vision, and the company’s mission. These areas should not be separated. First, it’s necessary to “clean up internally,” and only then “sell” externally. This way, we can authentically attract those who resonate with this culture.

What is Employer Branding?

In today’s competitive world, employer branding is one of the key strategies for building an employer brand.

Employer branding focuses on the perception of your company as an attractive employer. It includes activities that build a positive image of the company towards both current and potential employees. Unlike personal branding, which focuses on individuals and their professional image, employer branding puts the entire company in the spotlight. However, in some strategies, these two concepts can collaborate and support each other.

• Employee branding involves encouraging employees to authentically present the company’s brand. It focuses on their personal stories and their connection to the company’s values.
• Employer branding is a broader concept that includes all activities and strategies to support the perception of the company as such, both internally and externally.

Benefits of Investing in Employer Branding

Investing in employer branding pays off in the long run. Companies with a well-set strategy can experience:

• Better attraction of talent: A quality presentation of your brand increases the chances of attracting the right candidates.
• Lower turnover: Satisfied employees become brand ambassadors and leave less often.
• Increased productivity and engagement: Clear values and a strong culture improve the work environment.
• Measurable results: Using KPIs for employer branding, you can track the return on investment (ROI of employer branding), such as lower recruitment costs.

Metrics for Employer Branding

By utilizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics, you can measure the ROI of employer branding:

• Set specific measurable goals.
• Collaborate with the finance department – model how much you intend to invest in building employer branding and what it will be spent on: time costs, people costs, reputation costs.
• Compare the situation before starting and after completing each activity. Did something change? What benefits did it bring?

You can measure, for example:

• Employee satisfaction: Regular surveys and feedback.
• Turnover: Tracking the number of exits and reasons.
• Referral rate: The number of recommendations for internal positions.
• Time and cost of recruitment: How quickly and effectively can you fill positions?
• Number of applications for positions: This indicates how attractive your company is as an employer.
• Engagement on social media and more.

Recommendation: Less is sometimes more. Set a smaller number of goals that stem from a specific strategy. Improve things gradually.

Employer Branding and HR Marketing: What Are the Differences?

Some authors and HR professionals do not differentiate between these terms. Employer branding is a strategic approach focused on the long-term building of a company’s reputation as an attractive employer. It focuses on how a company impacts potential and current employees and on creating a strong corporate culture.

Key Characteristics of Employer Branding:

1. Long-term goal: Create and maintain a positive image of the company as an employer.
2. Focus: Culture, values, work environment, employee satisfaction.
3. Target audience: Current and future employees.
4. Tools: Internal communication, employee surveys, company values, building the brand using employee ambassadors.
5. Outcome: A strong corporate brand that attracts talent and increases employee loyalty.

HR Marketing

HR marketing is more tactical and focuses on specific activities that support recruitment and present the company externally. It focuses on communicating with candidates and promoting the company as an attractive employer using marketing tools.

Key Characteristics of HR Marketing:

1. Short-term goal: Attract suitable candidates for specific positions.
2. Focus: Job ads, social media communication, campaigns.
3. Target audience: Primarily external candidates.
4. Tools: Advertising campaigns, career pages, recruitment videos, social media content.
5. Outcome: A higher number of quality applications for job openings.

Main Difference: Strategy vs. Tactics

While employer branding builds a long-term reputation and employer brand, HR marketing focuses on immediate actions and campaigns for talent recruitment. These two areas are closely connected – a well-crafted employer branding provides a strong foundation for effective HR marketing and the best campaigns. If a company lacks a strong employer brand internally, even the best recruitment campaigns won’t succeed long-term.

Courses on Employer Branding and HR Marketing

If you want to develop in these areas and focus not only on conducting HR campaigns but also on building strategies, try training, workshops, and courses from BrandBakers or Oliver Jakubík.

Conclusion

Employer branding is a key component of modern HR and HR marketing strategy. Whether you’re a beginner or looking for ways to improve existing processes, education and courses focused on this field can be your next step. Now is the right time to start investing in building a brand that will attract the best talent in the long run. It’s important to realize that this is a never-ending process. Strategy needs to be built consistently and requires long-term investment. It’s not just an HR task – it’s a company-wide matter, which makes coordinating across teams and leadership challenging. But if you want to do it right, you must ensure synergy, collaboration at all levels, and that people understand the context.