EMPLOYER BRAND IS A MIRROR: SHOW & LIVE PROMISE

Watch brands spent almost half a billion dollars on advertising in the U.S alone; a record high. Guess what, which brand spent the maximum dollars to create mindshare amongst consumer? Yes you are right, it was Rolex. It continued to hold its spot at the top of the list and no wonder Rolex continues to be one the most desired watches amongst all generations.

Similarly, have we asked ourselves or our board members / senior management team about how valuable our Employer Brand? People join Organization and perception created based on many factors. The Employer Brand is the most important and sustainable asset any organization has – as it needs to be the central organizing principle. War for Talent is over, Talent has won. Period! Talent makes a choice.

A Global well known specialist (Universum) in Employer Branding describes that the employer brand is the identity of a company as an employer of choice. For effective employer brand promotion, however, the company can only attract current and future employees if it has an identity that is true, credible, relevant, distinctive and aspirational. Effective employer branding is the combination of (a) market research, (b) advisory services, (c) communications and (d) marketing to achieve both a credible and desirable brand position.

1. What’s your Brand Promise: Organizations with strong employment value propositions (EVP) provide very strong financial outcomes, greater commitment levels of employees than those less strong EVP and lower remuneration cost has also been found as well. Candidates are a lot happier to jump to organizations with a smaller premium where they have a strong connection with the brand. Additionally you are able to increase candidate action when you increase the access to your passive candidates. If an organization has a proposition which is filled with purpose like “sustainability for society” than just a commercial proposition, perhaps attraction with purpose led organization will be stronger.

2. Do Home Work First: Insights & Analytics provide a data-driven perspective that empowers HR Team with unique insights about their employer brand, based on both real-time and historic data. Do you know what is our completion doing and how are they moving in terms of attracting talent or do you know what is expectation of Millennials? For e.g. according to Deloitte 2016 Millennial Survey, Millennial in emerging markets are the least loyal to their current organization and majority believe they will leave their organization before 2020 has passed. With this data, it is important to craft your programs on career, development and reward proposition so for longer term perspectives, organization can still hold them and give brand promise from day 1. Of course important to set the target. As one says – what you measure, what you get!

3. Advertisement – Communication is Key: Doing well without anyone knowing about it may be noble, but not terribly sensible. Remember, there is war for talent and everyone is out to attract the best. So if you believe you are good, say how good you are. Simple and straightforward. This is more of general statement: Many HR people shy away from saying how good they are than any marketeer, which reflects in the approach and work as well. Advertise Brand Proposition is key. In today’s world, nothing is scalable without being on Digital platform. Usage of Digital Platform is the ask and demand. Use it wisely and it will pay tremendously.    

4. Walk the Talk: It's such a simple concept. Your communication / marketing sets a level of expectation in people's minds. That's called a brand promise. If the customer experience doesn't meet that level of expectation, then your reputation will suffer. Whatever the employer value proposition is shared, live them 100% otherwise danger is to feature in a very good way in platforms like Glassdoor. Live the Promise everytime everywhere.

Successful employer brands share by in large these common characteristics. How does your brand measure up? Did I miss any? Let me know your comments.