Employer Branding continues to be a hot topic and will become even more essential in the future.
Initially perceived as an oddity, employer branding has established itself as a tool for recruiting new collaborators and as a central element in retaining talents within a company. It is sometimes also used as a catalyst to foster team cohesion.
So, what is Employer Branding? Is it right for me? What are the major projects in Employer Branding?
This employer branding guide aims to provide answers to these questions.
What is Employer Branding?
Often limited to a company's presence on social networks or confused with HR communication, Employer Branding is still misunderstood by many.
If we were to give a pragmatic, non-academic definition of employer branding, we could say that Employer Branding is what people I don’t know say to other people I don’t know, when I’m not there.
Employer Branding is conveyed by the perception potential candidates have of you as an employer. The image they form of you. And what they communicate and share with others.
So if Employer Branding is just about perception, can we say whatever we want?
Well, no, because Employer Branding is not limited to the communications that come out of the company: it is alive, lived and conveyed by the employees who work there.
And if your Employer Branding is too far from the reality of what your employees experience, it doesn’t work: disappointment, mismatching, reputation of being all smoke and mirrors.
Employer Branding lives through and for your employees, who are naturally the first communicators of your company. Everyone talks about their work. Not everyone says the same things.
Let's clarify the different domains:
HR Communication covers communication actions (internal communication or recruitment communication) initiated by the company. For example, when a company communicates about its values, it speaks of something that comes from it and corresponds to its own identity.
HR Marketing covers operations aimed at improving the recruitment of collaborators, using marketing tools and analyses, thereby targeting specific populations. For example, launching a recruitment campaign with job offers targeted at a specific audience through dedicated channels.
Employer Branding represents the vision your employees and potential candidates have of you as an employer. For example, when an employee talks about an event you organized to a friend, or on LinkedIn, generating interest or curiosity in your company.
Employer Branding can be developed, accompanied, and equipped, but it cannot be managed like a Product Brand. The product will never contradict the company’s discourse that created it, but an employee might disagree with the image the employer wants to give of the company.
One of the foundations of Employer Branding is therefore to include its employees very early in the process.
This allows you to be as close to the ground as possible and not to become disconnected from reality. It also allows you to involve people who will want to follow your projects and will likely be the first ambassadors of your work.
What is the interest in working on your Employer Branding?
So if Employer Branding exists without us, is it worth working on it? Will it bear fruit? Yes, and yes.
The fact that Employer Branding exists, whether you worry about it or not, does not mean you can do nothing about it.
On the contrary. It means that Employer Branding is alive and you have a lot of material to work with.
So your role will not be to create something from scratch like an inventor, but rather to influence the perception people have of it, like a painter or a photographer.
A photographer always frames their photo. Either they distance themselves from the subject they want to present because they want to show it in its entirety. Or they get closer because they want to draw attention to a particular point. And they can also move the framing to highlight interactions between several subjects.
But they never create what is in front of their lens: they simply highlight it from different angles and lights.
Working on your Employer Branding is like doing photography: telling true stories, highlighting things that are sometimes unnoticed but important or striking, and appealing to emotions.
What has changed?
The last few years have been special for everyone. Between uncertainties, distancing from the company, and the need for support, many employees have felt doubts: either to stay with their employer or to take the leap and join a new company.
The role of the employer has become essential to reassure collaborators and generate mutual trust. Employer Branding is one of the best tools to reassure candidates and generate engagement.
From useful, Employer Branding has now become essential:
Companies that were already brilliantly working on their employer brand must adapt to new and unpredictable contexts.
Companies that have not yet invested in their employer brand must start in a climate that sometimes feels like "a storm."
"Should we put more effort into Employer Branding in the future?" Yes, definitely.
"Will it be more difficult than before?" No, not necessarily.
The last few years have certainly made many employees sensitive about trust, security, future, and meaning. But this means that first, it will be easier for you to take the temperature, as the most important, fundamental issues will be at the heart of discussions.
And secondly, if your content, your actions, and your communication answer the questions your collaborators and candidates are asking, they will pay even more attention because their need for answers is significant.
Every new year is a great opportunity to create and recreate connections on fundamental things, and therefore a connection that is lasting.
3 concrete actions to implement
Take the temperature. Conduct a serious survey on the perception your collaborators have of the company as an employer. You will inevitably hear good and bad things. You have to go through this to know where you are starting from, not where you think you are starting from. Even if you know your company very well, when it comes to perception, things are very personal. And this is the first step for collaborators to feel involved.
Bring out its values, mission, employee value proposition... You can do all 3 or any of the 3, but you need to identify the message conveyed by the Employer Brand. Why do people come to work for me?
Identify and map out the current channels of the Employer Brand: where is your company being talked about? Who talks most about you? (potential future ambassadors) Where do you find the most resonance?
To go further
If you want to go further and benefit from advice for tailored support, please contact us: hello@workmetender.com.
Send us your availability for a quick phone call, and I'll call you back to discuss your needs!
Examples of services:
Construction of The Employee Value Proposition (EVP),
Help in emerging and defining Values,
Construction of recruitment communication strategy,
Management of communication campaigns,
Creation of Employer Branding content,
Help in setting up and choosing tools.
Since 2016, we have supported large groups (Leroy Merlin, BPIFrance, Casino, Carte Noire...), SMEs, startups, and scale-ups on Recruitment and Employer Branding topics.
How about you?