Building a Strong Employer Brand: How to Attract Top Talent in a Competitive Market

The job market has seen a big change in trends post-pandemic. Almost 80% job seekers now prioritize how they are being treated and what the work culture is like than the pay or the company name. Opportunities for professional development and welfare policies are now considered where before they didn’t make up a primary concern. The pandemic has taught us the importance of our lives and how we live them.

All companies prefer candidates with top talent, and all top talent candidates prefer companies with a strong employer brand. To be able to attract and retain top talent candidates, it is essential for your company to build an immaculate employer brand.

And by build, we mean build. As a company, strive for an employer brand that is not fake but built. Not only for authenticity’s sake but also for the sake of not losing new employees. Because leave they will, once they realize the brand name was just that, a name. With no actual value or truth to it.

What is Employer Brand?

Employer brand is the company’s (employer’s) reputation in the corporate world. This reputation is different from Brand reputation or Product reputation because it is specific to the company’s reputation as an employer. What type of employer is the company? How do they treat their employees?

Employer brand is the employer counterpart of the ‘Why should we hire you?’ question posed to the employees. It is the potential or current employee’s way of asking, ‘Why should we stay in this company?’ Now the main concern of your company in terms of hiring should be—how to best answer this question? Because the truth is, all good quality candidates make note of the employer brand of a company before they join.

This trend of making note of the employer brand has been there for quite some time now. In fact, it is something that becomes a priority for most people who’ve worked at least once and have been through things they do not wish to go through again. Things that make them more cautious and steer clear of the companies with even the slightest dent in employer reputation.

How is Employer Brand determined?

How does a potential employee know what the brand reputation is? Well, in this digitalized world, it is far easier than you’d think. You need only to search for the name of a company online, and you’ll get to know all about it. Past and current employees give reviews and feedback as to what their experience was. Various factors like inclusivity, work-life balance, employee welfare policies, HR policies, etc., contribute to the overall Employer brand.

As a company, your main goal should be to ensure that your work environment is one that is inclusive, welcoming, and gives employees what they deserve. Satisfied employees mean that they will stay in your organization for longer, will work more dedicatedly and will contribute to a good employer brand.

Steps to Building a Strong Employer Brand

Know Your Current Employer Brand

The first step to anything is identifying the current situation. Once you know where you are, you can begin to formulate a path for where you wish to reach.

The HR team must get genuine anonymous feedback from the employees, to acknowledge the faults of the company and where it falls short in terms of employee satisfaction. Another way to know the current reputation is to search for it online. Once this has been done and there is a clear understanding of what could be better, the next step is the obvious step of ensuring that those changes are made.

Create and Stand by an Employee Value Proposition

An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is an assurance and promise from the company to its employees. It lets employees know what they will receive in exchange for the skill and talent they offer to the company. It contains the company’s vision, mission, values, and culture, along with the benefits that the employees will receive, like work-life balance, rewards, career development, training, etc.

An EVP shows the current employees that they are valued and considered human and that the company thinks of their welfare. It leads to employee loyalty, dedication, and better overall performance.

Get a rough idea as to what you want your organization to represent and stand for. Draw from your organization’s ideology and decide what you will promise to your employees. It can be easy to create a document or take AI’s help, but an EVP is of value only when it truly is seen in the company’s work and culture. And a false one wouldn’t work anyway as it’ll be clearly visible, and you’ll find more and more employees leaving.

Be a Human Company

All companies are run by humans, obviously. But only a few show any humanness at all. A big step in building a strong employee brand is showing that your company is human, that it has humanistic values, is run by humans, and ultimately works with the welfare of these humans in mind.

The most prominent mediums for doing this are social media and the company website. Acknowledge and mention certain employees on your website by adding a ‘Know the Team’ page. This gives anyone browsing through your website a look into your company and its people. On social media platforms, add employee interactions, videos of events conducted, and creative and funny reels made with employees about various topics. All this shows potential employees that they will be included not just in the company but also in the community.

Build that community and co-operative spirit!

Give Them Reasons to Stay

After a particular point in time, employees think of moving to another company, which provides them with a better offer or a better work culture. Make sure it never reaches this stage. Give promotions to those who deserve it, create a community feeling and provide them with various training and development opportunities.

Know the reasons that can cause your employees to leave your organization and make efforts to counter them. Reward the long-term and loyal employees. Come up with innovative systems that ensure the employees do not look anywhere else.

Define a Common Goal

When people are given a common goal to work towards, which they believe in, then the satisfaction and dedication levels skyrocket.

Ensure your organization’s goals align with those of your ideal candidates. When the employees have a personal investment in the work, they automatically tend to be more innovative and productive.

Conclusion

In the fast-moving world of today, more and more people look for peace and a simple life. Make sure that your employees are not discontented and they will be dedicated. A talented candidate knows well what they bring to the table, and what they expect from the company. The corporate world is not one of exploitation, treat the employer-employee relation as the give and take relation that it is supposed to be. You will already have made it to the list of companies your desired candidate wishes to join.

It is much like the way social media platforms update themselves with respect to the trends and changes in other platforms to keep retaining the undivided attention of the viewers. Such is the case with companies as well. You need to keep yourself constantly updated and solve any employee complaint or issue as soon as it occurs. It takes years to build a good reputation, while not even a day for it all to fall away. Keep it up, and keep it going.

Happy Hiring!