How Important Is Employer Branding?
16 Jul, 20241-2 minutes
In this blog, you will learn:
- What employer branding is.
- Why employer branding is important.
- How to create a strong employer brand.
- How employer branding attracts new talent.
- Discover more about our recruitment services.
Looking for tips and tricks on how to create a strong employer brand?
In today's competitive job market, a strong employer brand is more important than ever. It’s not just vital to attract new talent to your business, it’s essential to create a workplace where employees feel valued, engaged and eager to contribute to the business.
Whether you're looking to improve your current brand or starting from scratch, we’re here to help!
Throughout this blog, we’ll explore what employer branding is, why employer branding is important and the key factors for creating a strong employer brand.
What is employer branding?
Employer branding is about creating a positive reputation for your company and showcasing it as a great place to work. This involves demonstrating your company's values, culture and benefits in order to attract and retain the best employees.
By sharing experiences from current employees, highlighting career growth opportunities and creating a positive work environment, companies can build a reputation that stands out from others. This helps attract new talent and boost employee satisfaction.
Why is employer branding important?
A strong employer brand is important for retaining and attracting new talent. A good employer helps to create an environment where employees feel supported and valued, which keeps them engaged. Keeping your current employees engaged is important for your business as it reduces turnover and saves costs associated with advertising new jobs and training new employees.
It can also play a massive role in attracting new employees. When individuals are looking for a new job, they might desire more than just an increase in salary or enhance responsibilities. They might want to work somewhere that has a good culture, shared values and a fun work environment. Through strong employer branding, employers can easily showcase all the reasons a person would want to work for them.
Employer branding also plays a massive part in a company's reputation. According to HubSpot, 86% of workers would not apply for, or continue to work for, a company with a bad reputation.
How to create a strong employer brand
Creating a strong employer brand requires consistency and hard work. You need to have a comprehensive approach that takes into account your business's values and culture as well as your potential employees needs and expectations.
To create a strong employer brand, you must:
- Engage your current employees.
- Develop a strong company culture.
- Showcase success stories.
- Enhance your online presence.
- Understand the expectations of each generation.
Engage your current employees
Engaging your current employees is crucial for creating a strong employer brand. Employers are advised to encourage their employees to share their positive experiences on social media and review sites such as Glassdoor and Indeed, to amplify the company's reputation.
We advise regularly recognising and rewarding employees for their work and achievements to show your appreciation.
You could do this by thanking employees for their hard work, rewarding high performing employees with prizes, offering additional annual leave, giving bonuses, throwing parties, providing lunch or by offering a competitive perks package.
You could also send a company wide email congratulating employees for any successes achieved, targets hit or projects completed. Little things like this can make employees feel appreciated and valued.
Employers can also engage employees by involving everyone in decision-making processes which will affect the team as a whole. By asking for feedback from existing employers, a company is able to showcase that they listen to their employees' opinions, thus enhancing their brand as a company who values each and every member of the team.
Develop a strong company culture
Developing a strong company culture is important when building an employer brand as it can lead to happier employees and therefore drive employee engagement.
Engaged employees are more likely to invest in their roles, be more productive and generally have lower absenteeism rates because they know that their efforts will be rewarded and recognised.
In order to develop a strong company culture, we advise employers to celebrate diversity, so that all employees feel respected. They should also invest in employee development by providing opportunities for professional growth and encouraging transparency at all levels of the business.
A strong company culture also improves employee retention. If a company culture aligns with an employee's values, they're likely to stay for longer because they will feel motivated, fulfilled and experience greater job satisfaction.
Showcase success stories
Showcasing success stories is key to creating a strong employer brand as it helps to bring a company's culture to life. By sharing real life examples of employees achievements and those who have grown within the business, employers create an authentic image of the work environment.
These stories will show new talent that your business values and supports your employees and offers real opportunities for career development. Sharing these stories on your website and social media platforms such as LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram, can also boost employee morale, making them feel appreciated for their hard work.
Enhance your online presence
Enhancing your online presence is important for creating a strong employer brand as it allows you to show your company's culture, values and benefits to a wider audience.
A dynamic online presence, through engaging content and social media, can help attract new talent by showcasing your business as a great place to work.
When people are looking for a new job, they will often check out the website and social media pages of companies that they would like to work at.
Research by GaggleAMP found that 82% of employees consider the employer's brand and reputation before applying for a job with 48% ranking social media as the number one tool to research any company's “deal-breakers".
This will provide them with first hand insight into the company and what it’s like to work there, so it’s vital for employers to regularly update their online presence. Developing a digital presence is particularly important if you are a new business or start-up.
Understand the expectations of each generation
Understanding the expectations of each generation is essential when creating an employer brand as it allows you to tailor workplace practises to attract and retain diverse employees.
Different generations might prioritise different aspects of employment, for example, millennials may seek career development opportunities whereas Gen-Z may look for culture and advanced technology.
By recognising and addressing a variety of expectations, you can create a more appealing and inclusive employer brand.
Who is Spencer Clarke Group?
Established in 2017, we’re a vibrant and progressive recruitment agency based in the heart of the North West.
We continually reimagine the recruitment process to challenge convention and defy expectations; from creating a better recruitment experience to remodelling employee engagement, we thrive off doing things differently and turning heads along the way.
We operate in two sectors:
In eleven specialisms:
Healthcare, Social Care & Nursing
Corporate Functions & Business Support
