Employer branding is essential for your business, no matter what field you’re in. Branding allows your business to differentiate itself and make it stand out against the competition. Your business will attract the ideal people to hire with the proper branding. Overall, a good brand helps your business compete for skilled workers. If you have trouble hiring, then your brand identity might be lacking. It’s important to consider, so make sure to keep reading! Everything you need to know is below.
What is Employer Branding?
When you hear the phrase employer “branding,” you probably think it has something to do with marketing. However, employer branding is a bit different. It has to do with how you recruit employees for your business. If you don’t have a strong employer brand, your company will miss out!
Essentially, employer branding is a company’s reputation for employees and potential recruits. You’ll find more employees who help your business grow and succeed with positive employer branding.
Employer branding is the identity a business takes towards its workers. When you have a solid brand, your business stands out to hiring candidates. These aspects make up employer branding:
- Brand missions
- Workplace culture
- Company values
- Brand personality
Why Employer Branding is Important
Employer branding determines who will apply to positions at your company. It determines what kind of people want to work for you. Since you want the best talent, you need to improve your brand identity. When deciding where to apply, about 84% of candidates first consider the company’s reputation. They check company reviews online through sites like Glassdoor. If you don’t have a good reputation among workers, it’ll be hard to find potential hires.
When a potential application sees that your business is hiring, it’s likely the first thing they do is research your brand online. If they don’t find anything or only find negative reviews, the odds are that they won’t apply.
However, if they see plenty of good reviews, they’ll be excited to apply! In other words, your brand needs a strong employer identity. If job-seekers can tell your company is reliable, you’ll receive more applications with more people who suit the business better.
There are even more reasons why branding is so important! They include the following:
1. Your Business Saves Money
First, your business saves money by having a good employer brand. You won’t have to spend as much money promoting open positions online. Plus, you can offer a fair salary- you won’t have to inflate it to encourage people to work with you. If you’re spending a considerable amount on hiring, take some time to work on your employer brand first. You’ll notice more applications coming in, with more people that are perfect for the position.
Bad employer branding can cause your business to spend more money than it needs in various situations. When you spend time improving it, you’ll see growth in different areas.
2. The Applicant Pool Grows
Additionally, a strong employer identity attracts more qualified candidates. You’ll have a larger applicant pool to consider, with more people suiting the open positions. With more people applying, you also won’t have to spend as much time searching for job-seekers- they’ll come to you instead! You can focus your time on other business tasks that need more attention.
3. It Attracts More Customers
Your employees will speak positively about your business when you have better employer branding. Word spreads quickly, and customers enjoy seeing workers who are happy in their position.
More customers will come to your business as they hear good things about it. This process happens naturally and encourages plenty of growth! You’ll also have more customers reach out to you, helping with leads and other business areas.
4. You Retain Existing Employees
A good employer brand will keep your employees happy to be a part of your business. There are more opportunities for workplace culture and personality. It’s harder for businesses with a bad reputation to retain their workers. Improving your brand will significantly improve retention, so you don’t have to worry about hiring replacements constantly. Employee retention is important, especially today. Many people are switching their jobs for better opportunities. However, if you offer more options by increasing employee branding, your business will see better retention.
Overall, when your employees are happy, your business succeeds! It’s good to speak with your current employees and ask them what they like about your business and what changes they’d like to see.
What Happens With Bad Employer Branding?
When a business has a negative employer brand, many things start to happen! Turnover rates increase, the company needs to offer higher salaries to keep employees. They may even need to spend money to slow down the negative press. LinkedIn explains that having a bad employer brand will cost you. You could pay significantly more in salaries to keep employees. Plus, that’s even if job-seekers will apply to a business with a bad brand reputation.
Bad employer branding also causes employees a lot of stress, leading to customer service mistakes and more. The business would likely need to pay more to resolve these issues that they could’ve avoided if the employees had felt more comfortable at work.
In short, nothing good comes from lousy employer branding! No matter where your business currently stands, it can benefit from some improvements to its reputation. You’ll want to get your team on board with making good changes! With everyone working together you’re sure to see good results.
It’s Not Too Late To Work on Employer Branding
No matter your brand’s reputation, it’s never too late to work on improving it! You can start with small steps and work your way up. Start by working on your brand’s social media accounts and websites, then move on to building a workplace culture.
The sooner you start improving your employer branding, the better! You’ll have better results with hiring when you need them the most. In short, this isn’t an aspect of your business that you can ignore and expect to fix itself.
Also read: Why Should Companies Use Equal Strategy?
