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How to Make 2008 Great – Employment Branding

Written by: Jennifer Loftus

Article Overview: As American organizations continue its switch over from an industrial to a service-based, employment branding continues to grow in importance. In this article you will find the basics of employment branding and three tips to help your organization stay on top of this important issue.

How to Make 2008 Great – Employment Branding

In the competitive job market today, employee branding is just as important as consumer branding for organizations to stay competitive. For those who aren’t exactly sure what employee branding constitutes, employee branding is the process by which organizations convey their desired image to current and potential employees. Employee branding is becoming increasingly important because American organizations are becoming progressively more service oriented. Employees are expected to interact with customers on a day to day basis, thus conveying an organization’s image to the external public.

Employee branding also refers to the opinion former and current employees hold about their place of employment, which is very important in the recruitment of talented employees. Unfortunately, these opinions can be negative, and do not always reflect the desired representation of an organization. These opinions can help or harm recruitment of top talent.

What organizations say is not always the same as what they do. That is why it is so important to have employees to represent the organization in a positive, engaging way. If you convey one message to your customers and another to employees, your organization may experience high turnover rates, decreased productivity, difficulty in finding skilled talent, and a decrease in customer satisfaction. Clearly, because employee branding starts with the messages organizations convey to employees, Human Resources should be primarily responsible for the task of building an employee brand.

Employee branding has to be earned. Organizations need to be sincere in their efforts to align employees with their mission and values. Once an organization achieves an effective employee brand it must also take steps to maintain it. Here are some tips when developing an employee branding strategy:

1) Adjust to Newer Generations

A new kind of Human Resource strategy is one that takes a marketing approach to recruitment. As organizations compete to find talent, they need to become more aware of what motivates the newest generation of employees and how they compare to others. The newest pool of employees is not driven by the same factors that pushed the generations before them. This newer generation is much more culturally diverse. Employers must pay attention to each group’s expectations and values coming into an organization.

Younger workers now place more emphasis on the importance of free time and often have a strong sense of self-entitlement. Organizations should therefore focus on job flexibility and swift internal growth within the organization if they want to attract more prospective employees. Newer employees in their 20s want to enjoy their work. They also place greater value on having mentors and supervisors at work who give them the guidance and recognition they seek. It is important for organizations to keep pace with these generational trends to recruit and retain talent successfully.

2) Employee Branding Starts and Ends With HR Practices

How do you explicitly and nonverbally communicate the organization brand and make it attractive to potential recruits? The HR department has a lot to do with communication, as well as how candidates perceive the organization as a whole during the recruitment process. HR is the first to communicate the values of their organization in the recruitment process. They should be the first to follow through after employees are hired.

Human Resource practices such as the recruitment process, performance appraisal, and training need to be aligned with brand values to avoid sending conflicting messages. For example, if an organization values group teamwork, then training methods should include group work.

Organizations should also keep in mind that when the internal brand requires change due to market, technology, or organizational shifts, new HR practices may have to be changed to keep from being trapped in the past.

The value of a well-coordinated program aimed at educating and training employees on the brand message and how to incorporate it in their work appears to be growing significantly. By establishing effective systems for the management of human resources, an organization can further engage its employees in its mission and plans. This engagement of employees in the brand leads to their representation of brand qualities to customers.

3) Engage Employees With The Organization's Mission And Values

Studies show that an organization achieves its greatest advantage when employee actions and brand identity reinforce each other. For example, if an organization prides itself on low pressure sales, employees should not be encouraged to use aggressive sales strategies.

However, teaching employees about organization brand values and asking that they integrate these values in their work is not an easy process. Although HR managers are experienced in working with employees, they themselves often fail to foster brand values. It is necessary to weave “organization culture” changes throughout the organization to deliver on brand promises. For example, an organization’s compensation system should motivate and reward behaviors that are in congruence with the values of the organization. If an organization encourages the sharing of information and networking prospects for future sales, compensation should not be based solely on a commission structure because employees are less likely to share information. On another level, organization values should be ingrained into performance expectations and performance evaluations. If an organization would like employees to be more innovative on the job, their superiors should support creativity time and consider employee suggestions. Employee reviews should reflect these desired brand elements.

Employee branding is the ability to recruit, retain, and engage top talent, and having that talent convey the messages of the organization to its customers. Employers should not only put resources into external marketing but also should focus on the overall experience of employees in their interactions in the organization. Investing millions of dollars in external marketing while doing little to ensure that employees are able to carry through on those promises will result in less than satisfied customers.

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Article Tags: american organizations, competitive job market, customer satisfaction, desired image, generations, human resource strategy, human resources, job, marketing, place of employment, productivity, recruitment, skilled talent, talented employees, turnover rates



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