Why is Employer Branding Important?

Employer branding refers to the perception that employees (and future employees) have of your business. It is important for a brand to ensure that they are reputable, as this can assist them in generating long term growth and success. From the people to the business, there are benefits to investing in this facet of your business’s branding.

Sir Richard Branson is one of the world’s leading businessmen and investors, was famously quoted as saying:

“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.”

That is truer than ever and is strongly aligned with the concept of Employer Branding, which is primarily based on four factors:

• Attracting new potential candidates through brand awareness and unique value propositions
• Engaging current employees with a healthy company culture and benefits
• Retaining employees for the long term by building loyalty
• Ensuring that past employees maintain positive attitudes and testimonials about your business

Business continues to migrate online and is, in many cases, experiencing dominating success there. That being said, a business needs to utilise all of the opportunities presented online in order to optimise their success. Through social media, a business is armed with all of the necessary tools to broadcast important information, including that of their employer branding. Your company culture exists, whether you work on developing it or not, so it is advisable to invest in this and share it for the benefit of all involved in working with and for your company.

Key Benefits of Employer Branding

• Cost effectiveness: By attracting people to you, your business will spend less on marketing and HR activities, decreasing your cost per candidate in the recruiting process
   
• Retention: As mentioned, loyalty will be developed through a good working relationship, where people feel they are worthy and secure in their position
   
• Building a strong workforce: Consider the value of an internal website that assist with onboarding, where new employees can learn all about the business in an interesting way
   
• Healthy company culture: People will be at their best and happiest when they feel respected and valued, creating a positive energy from within your business
   
• Productivity: People who share the passion for the brand will be more productive and committed to achieving targets, the benefits of which are inevitably carried over to improving the customer experience
   
• Values: With more and more millennials in the workforce, it is clear that values are of the utmost importance, taking precedence over monetary compensation. This requires new methods of working that veer off from the traditional working environment and being transparent

Importance for candidates and employees

In an ideal world, people are doing work that enhances and enriches their lives. This means that when candidates are ‘shopping’ around for jobs, they want to ensure that your business is aligned with their values and needs, as much as their skills and attributes are with yours. They will be idealising what being an employee at your company will be like, considering the following:

• Growth potential - in the long term, is there opportunity for them? Is there a lot that can be learnt and do you facilitate professional development?
   
• Treatment of employees - what kind of relations do co-workers have with one another? What is the hierarchical structure and overall vibe of your workplace?
   
• Processes - how do you manage the workflow and people? Is there flexibility or micro management?
   
• Opportunities - what kind of benefits make your offer unique? Is the business going to benefit them with new ventures as it grows?
   
• Perks - do you offer any incentives, such as discounts, free classes or memberships? Are there any free lunches or birthday benefits?

Importance for business

Of course, the business itself needs to benefit from investing in their Employer Branding. While having a good company culture will make the team of employees stronger and thereby improve the customer experience, there are some more tangible benefits in addition to what has already been mentioned too, namely:

• Qualities: In order to have a solid Employer Brand, your qualities as a business, as well as those which employees bring need to be understood, valued and shared.
   
• Behaviors: Your business should be as transparent as possible in order to be authentic and honest. Your company culture will be the driving force behind how your employees behave and why
   
• Motivators: Having a strong workforce that is passionately driving your business is of the utmost importance when it comes to long term success
   
• Reputation management: This is built over time through trust and visibility, proving to be highly beneficial to businesses. Employees become more than associates - they are the experts and ambassadors
   
• Improvement: Through active listening and feedback, your business can refresh how it operates to ensure that everyone is as productive and happy as possible

It is clear that there is no way of getting around Employer Branding. The importance for the employer, employee and by extension the customer, it is an aspect of your business which should be developed and nurtured. Working with an agency is one of the best ways to achieve this. Book a session with us at Nexa to get started.