Give Your Employer Brand The Attention It Needs

A strong employer brand helps companies attract top talent, retain that talent, reduce the costs of hiring and marketing, and improve productivity. Every employee, manager and leader should be able to articulate your employer brand and communicate its value.

Building an employer brand or improving your identity starts with intention. Here are 10 ways to strengthen your brand. Use them to boost your business, recruitment, and productivity. Measure progress and keep your people at the forefront of all decisions.

1. Audit your employer brand: Explore what current and past employees have to say about the company, even if you think you already know the answers. Leaders are so often involved in running details of the businesses that they ignore outside perception. Employer review sites such as Glassdoor, SiteJabber, and Trustpilot allow you to explore how others see your employer brand. Take feedback with a grain of salt, and use it as a source for growth.

2. Ask for employee feedback: Ask employees for regular, structured feedback. Anonymous employee engagement surveys help companies understand larger trends. Using a trusted third-party survey provider makes it easier to interpret and analyze employee surveys. Outsourcing the process gives leaders valuable insights and encourages higher levels of employee honesty. Use the insights in a productive, growth-oriented way.

3. Simplify the application process: Keep the job application process simple and rewarding to attract top talent. Make it easy to apply. One of the main benefits of a strong employer brand is improved employee recruitment. Remove unnecessary steps to strengthen your talent pool to find the right people.

4. Establish core values and a mission: People want to work for employers that match its values to its vision. Candidates choose job offers from companies with strong values. Maintaining those core values ensures your employer brand matches goals and company culture. Use that vision as inspiration. Core values should be communicated often by leadership and reflect employee feedback themes.

5. Invest in company culture: Company culture reflects how an organization shares values, beliefs, personalities, and practices with its employees. Employer branding is how employees perceive that company (and its culture). Invest energy, money, and time into your company’s culture. It will benefit recruitment, retention, performance, and your ability to market those. Investments in culture help employer branding and vice versa. 

6. Improve benefits and perks: If someone is on the fence about a job, company benefits and perks can be the deciding factor. Great benefits convince job seekers to apply, while sub-par benefits point them elsewhere. Highlight salary ranges, benefits, training and development opportunities, and employee appreciation. Not sure what benefits to highlight or improve? Ask current employees. 

7. Use social media: A positive online reputation helps companies stand out against the competition and attract top talent. Social media is a great way to promote your employer brand and extend your reach. Sharing company differentiators, community efforts, employee accomplishments, and well-being initiatives will boost your employer brand.

8. Leverage employee ambassadors: Most strong employer brands have passionate employees who spread the word for them. They promote the company brand meaningfully and personally. Explore using employee ambassadors to help your company stand out.

9. Be transparent: Employees, job seekers, and other brand critics will detect dishonesty and insincerity, which will impact how others view your brand and leadership. Companies with excellent employer branding are transparent and use employee surveys for fact-checking values. Onboarding and exit interviews can also help.

10. Update policies as needed: Be sure to update policies whenever something changes. For example, mentioning workplace flexibility and remote working expectations is vital. The goal is to minimize surprises in the application process by staying up to date on changes. 

Showcase your organization’s commitment to a positive and engaging workplace culture. It can attract and retain top talent while improving your reputation. The increased visibility can help position your organization as an employer of choice in the job market.

Bob Helbig is media partnerships director at Energage, a Philadelphia-based employee survey firm. Energage is The Washington Post’s survey partner for Top Workplaces.