Employer Branding - Authenticity is the Key

Given times are now tough, why the sharp decline in interest? What are the real reasons why employer branding appears to waning?

For one, the economic hardship many businesses are experiencing is impacting on discretionary spending, and the reality is that HR (and Marketing) budgets are often the first to be cut. Secondly, organizations are initiating recruitment freezes and are laying off staff rather than recruiting. Thirdly, and more importantly, previous employer branding initiatives have largely been based on ‘fluff’ and ‘feel good’ programs implemented by HR departments. Such initiatives lacked any real commercial backbone. So it’s not surprising these programs are being culled in the present business climate.

Unfortunately, most employer branding initiatives were predominantly focused on securing new hires in a period of talent shortage - and hasn’t the recruitment industry benefited handsomely from this! Whilst talent attraction is clearly vital, the true essence of employer branding is talent retention and the galvanisation of people around a vision, common goals and shared beliefs. This should not be conditioned by the economic climate, it should be viewed as a ‘must do’ activity regardless.

Employer branding communication is a useful and effective way to attract talent to an organization. Employers who communicate a compelling value proposition will be better positioned to attract the best candidates. However, given the lack of understanding of employer branding, many organizations have become experts in the art of ‘bait and switch’ branding. That is, attract and recruit the best people without paying attention to backing up the promise. Such practice only exacerbates a revolving talent door. Best candidates arrive, realize what it’s really like to work for the organization, regret their decision and plan their exit.

Organizations who practice this process - beware. One of the core tenets of an effective employer brand strategy is authenticity. Anything an organization communicates about itself needs to be consistent with the actual or authentic day to day work experience. If employer branding initiatives are not taken to this level, organizations will experience dissatisfaction followed by disengagement and higher turnover.

Further impacting on authenticity is the evolution of social media. The necessity to ensure process, procedures and organizational culture are aligned and reinforce employer brand messages is critical. Social media today provides unprecedented access to employees. If an organization coveys a message that does not represent the actual experience, employees can now very quickly disseminate this information and discredit your employer brand.

A recent research study showed that employee engagement decreases sharply after the first six months as employees begin to sense that their experience at the company is not what was promised. This reinforces the fact that organizations must focus on the entire employer - employee touch points from recruitment to separation and actively manage these to reinforce the core proposition of the organisation’s employer brand. In our experience this typically involves process improvements, management training and even a cultural change process all of which are critical to proving employer brand authenticity.

So who is doing this well? Time and time again Southwest Airlines proves why they are a top employer and an employer of choice. The organization is uniquely people (and customer) focused with results from this flowing to the bottom line. You can view one example of how they reinforce the components of their employer brand in the following video. This is an ‘on-boarding’ touch point communicating the work experience of Southwest to a new recruit.

The Right Group’s core areas of expertise are brand strategy, research and people & culture. Our research services are often engaged as part of our work in brand strategy or can be commissioned separately. For more information, visit Branding.