In a world where information can be shared with the masses almost instantaneously, and where the masses themselves are all allowed an equal voice in the public forum, organizations have come under far more scrutiny for their employer reputations than ever before. 

Couple this with the fact that job seekers now have widespread access to every job listing under the sun, and you can see why employer branding is crucial today. 

A recent study by Corporate Responsibility Magazine found that nearly 70% of job seekers were unlikely to accept a job offer from a company with a bad reputation. Believe it or not, the job seekers surveyed here stated that this would remain true even if they were unemployed at the time. That truly speaks to the influence of an employer’s reputation. 

Another way to look at the importance of employer branding is to consider how much it can cost your organization. A poor employer reputation won’t just potentially lose you the valuable top talent who may have otherwise accepted a job offer; the candidate who does accept your offer will ultimately cost you more money to retain as well. According to Harvard Business Review, a company with a bad reputation will end up paying at least 10% more per hire. In other words, you’ll essentially be bribing job candidates to overlook your weak employer brand by offering them inflated salaries. A minimum of a 10% increase on every salary is an incredibly costly fine for having a bad reputation as an employer.

The Benefits of Employer Branding

Now that we’ve answered some of your questions about employer branding, let’s take a look at some of the great things it can provide you with. Below are some of the major benefits of successful employer branding.

Bring in Top Talent

It’s almost impossible to quantify the value of hiring the best in the business to work for your organization. But it’s not easy to attract top talent when you’ve got a poor reputation as an employer. 

The best in the business gets the pick of top talent when it comes to job openings, and successful employer branding is what can make you that pick.

Strengthen Company Culture and Employee Engagement

Much of the talk in this article has centered around how poor employer reputation affects you and your organization. Meanwhile, being considered a poor employer is obviously more detrimental to your employees. 

Improving your employer brand doesn’t just mean projecting a positive image, it means reforming your image through positive action. Your current employees should appreciate that just as much as potential ones.

If you create a solid employer brand, your employees will benefit from a positive and supportive culture, be more willing to engage or be advocates for your company, and increase retention rates. 

Save Time and Money on Hiring

The longer your hiring search continues, the more time and money it’s costing you. It’s even more expensive to hire the wrong person and then have to resume your hiring search shortly afterward. With great employer branding, your hiring team’s biggest task will be deciding which candidate is the most fantastic of them all – since you’ll have attracted like-minded people to your organization.

Improve Your Overall Reputation

Today’s consumer is far more concerned with the ethicality of your business practices than ever before. If they’re aware that you maintain a strong, positive culture among your employees, they’re more likely to hold a positive opinion about your organization. If they hold that positive opinion, they’re far more likely to become a customer or a potential employee. 

Employer Branding Strategies

If you’re ready to start strengthening your employer reputation, check out a few of these employer branding strategies to give you an idea of where to start. 

Determine What Your Employer Brand Actually Is

Before you can begin to address any issues with your employer brand, you’re going to need to identify what those issues are. This can be done with an employer brand audit. 

Employer brand audits can include everything from asking current employees for feedback, to looking at your online reviews, to seeing what the conversations about your organization on social media look like. 

Once you’ve got a general assessment of where your employer reputation stands, you can develop a strategy to highlight your strengths and how to adjust your strategy to eliminate your weaknesses. If you find all of this a bit overwhelming, perhaps consider hiring a company that specializes in reputation management.

Create an Employee Value Proposition

What is it that working for your organization has to offer job seekers beyond monetary compensation? The answer to that question can be translated into what is called an employee value proposition. 

Your employee value proposition is a simple statement that can be used to pitch your organization to potential hires so that they can get a clear idea of who you are and what you offer. Also, an EVP will highlight to job seekers the benefits an employee will receive in return for the skills, capabilities, and contributions they will bring to the company.

Once you’ve determined a clear employee value proposition, include it in all of your recruitment materials and anywhere where job seekers may look to learn more about your company. Make sure that it’s something your hiring team truly understands and can communicate to potential hires.

Revamp Your Hiring Strategy

One of the major ways that job seekers come to understand you as an employer is through your hiring strategy. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to have strong job descriptions, a strong careers page, and a strong onboarding process. 

With these in place, it also guarantees a positive candidate experience with job seekers, which is huge when trying to hire top talent. If your hiring process is slow or outdated, candidates will look elsewhere for employment – and could potentially share how poor their experience was and in turn affect your employer brand. 

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All of these details are crucial aspects of your employer brand. It is essential to the success of your company to evaluate your employer brand properly and continue to make adjustments when necessary.