Businesses need compelling employer branding efforts to attract and retain great talent. Those efforts can’t succeed unless the organization’s entire leadership team buys in. Unfortunately, it’s those very same executives who often fail to see why employee branding is worthwhile at all. That’s frustrating because leaders are the one group of people who should be on the frontlines advocating for their company as a great place to work.
So why the hesitancy to support employer branding? More importantly, what is the best way to convince the C-suite that employer branding can impact success and profitability? These are questions that HR professionals often face when they attempt to create campaigns to attract talent and build up their organization’s reputation as a desirable place to work.
If you are facing executive resistance or disinterest in employee branding, consider using these convincing points.
Candidates Are Vigorously Researching Brands on Social Media
The quality of employer brand content on social media platforms does make a difference. Job seekers have known for years that they must create the right online presence to impress potential employers. Now, brands realize they must do the same. Prospects aren’t just working hard to be impressed; they are demanding that employers work hard to impress them, as well.
In fact, most job candidates will research a company’s reputation before pursuing a job opportunity. The information they find on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms directly impacts their choice to submit an application or say yes to an offer.
Of course, it isn’t just a company’s owned social media that impacts branding. Social media posts from third-party sources, including reviews from past and current employers, have an undeniable impression on applicants, as well. The influence of these posts increases yet more when they come from verified employees.
Employer Branding Can Reduce Recruiting Costs
According to a study conducted by LinkedIn, businesses that have managed to create a strong employee brand save an average of 43% to hire someone using their platform. That can be attributed, at least in part, to the impact of good publicity. When a company has a strong talent brand, applicants will seek them out, meaning the company spends less money on outreach recruiting efforts.
Creating a Strong EVP Is Key to Recruiting Top Talent
Employee value proposition (EVP) is the totality of benefits that someone receives in return for working for a particular company. That proposition goes beyond compensation to include work environment, company culture, diversity, social responsibility, and wellness.
Since most executives understand the value of a good value proposition related to products or services, it can be easy to get them to follow that same line of thought to employer branding. A compelling value proposition can get a potential customer to buy a product. An excellent EVP can attract the kind of top talent that can drive organizational success.
Conversely, companies that don’t have a strong EVP will struggle to attract good talent. They will also pay more to hire the people they can recruit.
It may be helpful to adjust your vocabulary a bit. By moving from HR-centered language to sales and marketing language, you may better communicate the value of employee branding to executives.
Top Performing Brands Have Already Adopted Employer Branding
Top-ranked companies are already engaging in employer branding and have done so for quite a long time. The longer executives wait to get on board, the more difficult it is to catch up. When one brand successfully defines itself as a great place to work, its competitors end up with a smaller, lower-quality talent pool.
Employer Branding and Marketing Aren’t Entirely Separate from One Another
It’s widely known that millennials are socially conscious consumers. They prioritize company reputation when they decide where to buy products and services. The same is proving to be true with Gen Z. Before they make a purchase, customers often ask:
- What is this company doing to become more sustainable?
- Does their company support diversity in a meaningful way?
- How are they contributing to their communities?
- Are they engaged in fair trade and other ethical business practices?
In addition to all of these concerns, many consumers also want to know how the companies treat their employees. What kind of work environment do they offer? How supportive are they of employees’ wellbeing?
Those are the kinds of answers that can be easy to find if a company has built a solid employer brand. Ultimately, if you can sell prospective employees on the idea that you are a great employer, you will sell customers on buying your products.
Recruiting Better Talent Increases Profitability
According to a study published by Personnel Psychology, an organization’s top 1% of talent is responsible for 10% of the productivity. The top 5% contributes to 26% of the productivity within a company. That means that the top talent in a company is 4X more productive than the average worker. The companies that can successfully establish stellar employer brands are the ones that are most likely to attract that kind of elite talent.
The Bottom Line About the Bottom Line
Unless the C-suite gets on board with enthusiasm, employer branding efforts will not go very far. Unfortunately, company leaders are often slow to see the value because they can’t visualize a connection between the bottom line and employer branding. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that it’s possible to turn that around. To do that, you must make an excellent case一that prospective employees and consumers care about brand reputation, and that employer branding is necessary to remain competitive, reduce recruiting costs, and attract better talent.
