Simon Barrow of People in Business in the UK, states that tomorrow's CEOs will spend more time on their organisation's reputation as an employer, than with the investment community, and fund managers will worry if they don't.
The concept of employer branding emerged quite recently in the field of human capital management. It has only been used by HR professionals from the turn of this century, according to Phuti Tsukudu, a prominent human resources and management consultant.
It is a notion that has been used in marketing and advertising circles with relative success. In the sphere of human resources management, it applies marketing principles to people management.
So what gave rise to this phenomenon? According to research by Dr Shirley Jenner and Stephen Taylor, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the reasons for its emergence are fourfold:
• To enhance the brand power of an organisation
• To assist HR in its search for credibility
• As one of the drivers of employee engagement
• Due to tough labour market conditions
What is Employer Branding?
Perhaps to fully understand the concept, we need to start by defining a brand name in generic terms; only then can we come to terms with its marketing application as used in this context. According to Phuti Tsukudu, employer branding refers to the identification with the image or reputation of an organisation, by both present and prospective employees.
It is viewed as the “chemistry” that influences people to choose to work for a specific company. Employer branding seeks to examine how current employees remain attracted and committed to an organisation, as well as how potential recruits get smitten.
Simon Barrow of People in Business in the UK, states that tomorrow's CEOs will spend more time on their organisation's reputation as an employer, than with the investment community, and Fund Managers will worry if they don't. What this scenario means is that people issues will command as much attention as financial aspects in boardrooms and during business reviews.
This will elevate HR functionaries to the level they aspire to and earn them the kind of credibility they deserve. In this vein, employer branding should be recognised as a business driver. And as such, the employer brand, like the corporate brand, needs to be built on credibility.
Phuti Tsukudu says employer branding is defined as “the package of functional, economic, and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company”.
Merits of Employer Branding
Globally, many organisations now use employer branding as bait for attracting and retaining talent. This is in view of the challenges inherent in recruiting top talent, which can be a very tall order. Thus organisations splash huge resources and efforts on building the “right image”, its values, culture and character, in the hope of appealing to potential and current employees.
For obvious reasons, it is only companies with stronger employer brands that are better placed to win this relentless war for rare talent.
Encouragingly, every company has an employer brand, the only difference being some have stronger ones than others and know how to measure its worth. Accrediting the employer brand i.e. the promise it makes to current and potential employees is a fundamental step toward cementing the eminence of the employer brand in the talent market.
Becoming accredited as an employer can only done through CRF's BEST Employers™ SA HR accreditation and communication project, which accredits the best employers each year based on research into their human capital management practices and policies.
This project's research delves into the heart of what Sam Crous, Publishing Manager at CRF, dubs “employer intelligence”.
Essentially, “employer intelligence” is the ability of a company to respond to the changing needs of the talent market – and not only those of current employees. This involves reviewing the company's annual position as an employer compared against other employers through effective research such as HR best practice benchmarking (both locally and internationally), marrying the outcomes of that research with the annual business objectives at the executive level and adapting HR strategy accordingly.
What are the components of an Employer Brand?
Employer branding is like retention, says Tsukudu. It concerns everything the employee experiences in the company, which either facilitates or hinders their stay and feel connected and proud of their service to an employer.
“Give employees a branded recruitment experience, an unforgettable branded introduction to your company and sustain it through performance management.
“It is important to identify unique attributes of your brand and to integrate these into all the people management processes. Identify behaviours that exemplify these brand attributes. It is incumbent upon top leadership to play a key role in ensuring they lead by example and believe in this process.”
Phuti Tsukudu maintains that employer branding is crucial for winning the war for talent, and as an employee engagement driver. She says the two concepts have a significant impact on business and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.
The focus on marketing the employer brand should always be external and internal. Ideally, this should be a marriage between the human resources and marketing/ communications departments. Through collaboration i.e. HR providing the employer credentials of the company, and marketing communicating this to the talent market, the company is better positioned to attract and keep the very best people for the job.
In addition, companies should be cognisant of engaging with employees on an ongoing basis, both formally and informally, to find out if their experience of the company matches the policies and practices, or initiatives, in place to manage them.
“It is clear that employer branding is not one of those passing HR fads. It will be in the best interest of leaders to ensure a strong employer brand, because only then can a company attract and retain top talent and keep them engaged.”
Source : Issued by: CRF South Africa
