Choosing our consumer purchases on brands, Samsung, Apple, Asda, Waitrose is familiar. But choosing an employer by brand is increasingly important to job applicants. Recognising the change in that buyer-seller relationship can reduce recruitment costs and help you acquire more productive employees.
Recent research reveals that having a poor employer brand means the need to offer a premium pay package, on average 10% more, to conclude a new appointment.
The research also revealed that, having a good reputation can double the number of prospective job candidates. As an accompanying blog explains, getting the right person in post is itself of enormous value.
The right employer brand, and the concepts that go with it, aid retention and engagement, which means higher productivity, higher profit and increased long term security.
So what can an employer do?
Pre-employment documentation
From the initial advertisement to policies and procedures what the candidate sees tells them more than you might realise. Just as your consumer brand will pay attention to the wording used, so must your employee documentation. From advertising copywriting that is over-hyped, to policies and procedures that are drowned in legalese, how you represent yourself really matters. Sound advice, rather than cut-and-paste from the internet, should be the order of the day.
High performance teams
Excellent candidates, high performers, search for opportunities to perform so you need to weed out dysfunctionality in your existing team to attract those people. It means tackling bullying and harassment, intermittent absence and negative attitudes. It also means engaging and involving employees, fostering teamwork and creating a positive environment. Utilise HR professionals to challenge these matters and to provide the sounding board for inspirational ideas.
Flexible working
Roughly one third of candidates value flexible working and a positive attitude to this is seen as a indicator of a positive working environment. If continuity of service is important then modern software can enable the right levels of manning in the most complex of situations and facilitate inter-employee communication for handovers.
Social media
Richard Mosley, author of The Employer Brand, points to a “diverse flow of authentic, employee-generated content through social media” as replacing recruitment advertising. Employers and HR practitioners need to get up to speed with LinkedIn, Twitter, facebook (?), and Glassdoor. However, evidence of good teamwork, engagement, and inspirational leadership will find its way into social media, whether you seek to foster it or not.
We submit that, today, giving attention to your employer brand is as important as attention to your consumer brand.