Gone are the days when a hefty salary was enough to attract and retain the best talent. Today’s job seekers evaluate companies just as much as companies evaluate them, and what they find determines whether they will send an application or accept your job offer.
To hire and retain the best talent, you need to shape how your company is perceived by employees and candidates. That is where employer branding comes in. If done right, it sets you apart from all your competitors by attracting high-quality candidates who align with your values and culture.
In this guide, we’ll show you how you can create a powerful employer brand that strengthens your reputation as an employer of choice and helps you fill roles faster. Whether you’re looking to refine your existing approach or create a new one from scratch, these insights will help you attract and retain top talent.
What Is an Employer Brand?
An employer brand is a company’s reputation among its employees, job seekers, and the general public. It communicates the values, culture, mission, and work environment that set an organization apart from competitors in the talent market.
Take Google, for example. If you asked anyone what it’s like to work at the company, you’ll probably hear things like “work-life balance”, “continuous learning”, and “generous paid time off”. This employer brand differentiates Google from other companies like Amazon and attracts top talent from around the world.
Employer branding can be classified into two:
- Internal employer branding: Involves creating a positive work environment for existing employees to foster loyalty, engagement, and satisfaction.
- External employer branding: Involves shaping public perception by promoting your company’s strengths and culture to attract potential candidates.
Building a strong employer brand requires aligning both internal and external employer branding, as we’ll illustrate in later sections.
Benefits of Building a Strong Employer Brand
Most people have a certain perception about your workplace, which they likely formed through their experience with your company and what others say about you online.
You need to take control of the narrative by building a strong employer brand.
It can highlight your strengths, showcase what makes you unique as an employer, and shape your internal culture. This benefits you in the following ways.
Attracts Top Talent
Job seekers today consider a company’s reputation before applying for a job. They check employee reviews and general online sentiment about a brand to gauge whether they would be happy and fulfilled working at the company.
A powerful employer brand gives you a competitive edge in the competition for top talent by improving your reputation. If candidates see your company as a great place to work, they’ll be more willing to send in an application and accept your job offer.
Enhances Employee Retention
A strong employer brand attracts candidates who resonate with your company’s mission and values. This means they can fit into your culture faster and become more motivated and engaged, increasing their likelihood of staying committed to the company.
Also, employer branding involves highlighting benefits like work-life balance, career growth, and development. With these benefits, your employees are less likely to look for opportunities elsewhere.
How To Build a Strong Employer Brand
Building a strong employer brand involves shaping and promoting your organization’s reputation as a desirable workplace. Here’s how to go about it:
Conduct a Brand Audit
The first step in building your employer brand is assessing its current status by conducting a brand audit. It’ll help you understand how your employees and potential hires perceive your workplace and identify areas for improvement.
You can assess your company’s current employer brand by:
- Conducting internal surveys
- Requesting candidate feedback
- Checking your social media mentions
- Checking company review sites like Glassdoor
- Analyzing company culture to identify the core values and beliefs
A comprehensive brand audit can help you determine whether you need to fine-tune or dismantle your entire employer brand strategy and rebuild it.
Understand Your Target Audience
You need to understand your current employees and potential candidates to target them more effectively. This means assessing their needs, motivations, characters, and preferences and developing detailed personas.
With these personas, you can tailor your messaging to target the skills and values you seek in your ideal hires, increasing the effectiveness of your employer brand.
Also check out: Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace: 8 Best Practices for Employers
Create an Employer Value Proposition
An employee value proposition (EVP) defines the benefits and experiences that employees receive from working at an organization. It forms the foundation of successful employer branding by communicating why candidates should choose one company over another.
An EVP covers both tangible and intangible benefits of a company, including:
- Competitive compensation and benefits
- Career development opportunities
- Work environment and culture
- Company mission and values
A good EVP lets you attract applicants who share your values, increasing their likelihood of thriving in your company. It also aligns the organization by providing a consistent employee experience across all touchpoints.
To create an EVP that reflects the authentic workplace experience, you can use internal surveys to ask candidates and employees why they applied and accepted your job offer.
Once you create an EVP, you need to communicate it on job descriptions, career pages, and during interviews to stand out.
An example of a good employer value proposition is Safaricom’s. Its career page showcases its focus on work-life balance, competitive salaries, and professional development opportunities, which makes it one of the top employers in Kenya.
Encourage Employee Advocacy
People are more likely to trust what your employees say about your company over your recruitment advertisements. That is why you need to encourage employees to share their thoughts about your company through testimonials and social media posts.
To amplify your employer branding efforts, you can also add pictures, videos, and written stories on your website and social media pages to highlight your employees’ experiences and achievements.
Measure and Refine Your Strategy
Once you start your employer branding initiative, you need to regularly measure its effectiveness by tracking KPS like:
- Application rates
- Employee retention rates
- Time to hire
- Employee engagement scores
- Employee and candidate feedback
Tracking these metrics will give you insights into how your employer branding initiatives impact your overall recruitment and retention efforts. These insights can help you refine your approach to ensure your employer branding initiative remains aligned with your business values and employee expectations.
Strategic Employer Branding With Bridge Talent Group
Building a strong employer brand gives you an advantage in the competitive talent landscape. It helps you attract top candidates who can thrive in your organization, reduces hiring costs, and improves retention and engagement rates.
Following the strategies above can give you a good starting point, but building a truly differentiated employer brand requires expert guidance and consistent execution.
Bridge Talent Group partners with organizations to design, implement, and manage people strategies that strengthen your employer brand from the inside out. Talk to our team today and start positioning your company as an employer of choice.
FAQs
How to develop a strong employer brand?
A strong employer brand starts from the inside. Begin by understanding how your employees currently feel about working at your company, then define what you want to be known for as an employer.
From there, explain your employer value proposition, improve the employee experience where needed, and communicate your culture consistently across job ads, interviews, social media, and your careers page.
What candidates see online should match what employees experience on the job.
How long does it take to build a strong employer brand?
Employer branding is an ongoing process. That said, building a trusted reputation typically takes 6 to 12 months of consistent effort.
Can small and mid-sized companies in Kenya build a strong employer brand?
You do not need a big budget or a global name to build a powerful employer brand. Many candidates care more about growth opportunities, leadership style, flexibility, and work environment than flashy perks.
As such, small and mid-sized companies often have an advantage because they can offer closer leadership access, faster career progression, and a better sense of belonging.
Contact us today to learn more about positioning your company as an employer of choice in Kenya.
