Employer branding: the toughest sandbox on the labour market playing field

The opinion: everyone has one, and most people don't hide it. Opinions can lift companies up and push them down, especially in this day and age when the whole world can know what you think about a company or brand with a click of a button. The same goes for employers. A company's reputation can have a significant impact on the quality of the workforce it is able to attract and retain. No company can afford to ignore what employees, customers, partners and outsiders think of it. Employer branding is the most militant sandbox in the labour market playground. Those who get it right are working with the best, those who don't are doomed to fail. But how to do it well?

What is employer branding?

Employer branding is all about showing the benefits of your company from an employee perspective. The more attractive a workplace is, the easier it is to retain staff and recruit new candidates.

Employers usually think something about their own company. But are they aware of how their company is perceived by employees and how it is seen by outsiders? To see all the pieces of the puzzle, employers need to learn to change their perspective. You have to take a step back and look at the situation from stakeholder point of view. This is the first step in employer branding, and can be built upon to create a winning strategy.

The way employees perceive the company depends to a large extent on the company culture, the opinions of the people who work for it, and the image the company presents to the world. This master triad is what should be emphasised when building employer branding. When this trio is in balance, a coherent and compelling Employer Value Proposition can be developed.

Employer branding is therefore a complex area. It is no wonder, as employees form impressions of the company from the moment they discover the job advertisement until the last day of work. These experiences are varied, ranging from those relating to the company culture to professional experiences and personal ones. To put these experiences on the positive side of the scales, the company needs to invest time and energy in conscious development.

The good news is that employer branding has a very wide range of tools: practically anything that can be used to strengthen a brand's position. Let's look at some examples!

The employer branding toolbox

Events

Events put people at the centre of attention, which is why these initiatives can be so successful. They may be aimed at prospective employees, current employees or employees at large, but it's all about presence and sharing the experience.

Games, challenges

Homo ludens, or playful man. People, not just children but adults too, inherently love to play. This activity helps to find common ground, it recharges, brings people together, is a great team builder and puts participants in a good mood. Games and challenges are a huge help in building unity.

Careers page

Most companies have a career page, as you can put one together with a few clicks. But a page alone is not enough. It should be a place where the jobseeker can get to know the heart of the company, the people, read stories they can relate to and, of course, find clearly and honestly written job adverts that go into all the details of the position to be filled.

Videos 

Videos are a great way to show what goes on inside the walls of your company. In addition to the usual image videos, you may also want to put together short films that show the human, employee perspective in its full reality.

Feedback

A company will be attractive if it is thriving internally and the workforce is happy. If this is the case, then it's worth exploring it through feedback, then showing how employees feel and what they think of their workplace to the general public.
Employer branding is hard to get right. It takes patience, attention and consistency to reap that particular fruit. But if it is done successfully, recruitment costs will come down as turnover is reduced. An employee-friendly, human company culture is created, which is attractive to both employees and job seekers.

Employer branding by the pros

Employer branding is at the heart of Meraki Marketing. We've worked on many such projects, so we have the experience and sensitivity to get the job done. 

When an employer engages us to build their employer branding, we have one single goal: to be seen as the best place to work. We subordinate all our marketing tools and activities to this goal. We help to keep existing employees happy, create exemplary communication and activities that reinforce employees' belief that they are in the right place.

Employer branding process:

Step 1: Gathering data and information is the basis of our work. To be able to give advice, we need to know what the current situation is, what we are dealing with. To do this, we process the data provided by our client, analyse it, and conduct interviews to gain a more in-depth understanding.

Step 2: The next stage is to define the Employer Value Proposition, i.e. the unique employer brand position, based on the information gathered.

Step 3: In the third step, the Employer Value Proposition is developed and strategised into a set of objectives to be achieved and the activities and actions needed to achieve them, including details of internal and external communication.

Meraki Marketing's work in the field of employer branding has been recognised in numerous places, with 2 HRKomm Award Golds (for internal communication and recruitment), 1 HRKomm Silver (for recruitment) and 1 HRBEST Gold (for recruitment).

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