What is employer branding and how does it positively impact your company?

Literally, employer branding means “employer brand”. However, truly understanding what employer branding is goes a little beyond its translation. The concept involves good practices, actions and positions that make a brand attractive for retaining and attracting new employees.

In practice, employer branding is a very important factor when making decisions and searching for a job. According to Page Talent, 55% of candidates take employer branding into account when looking for a job opportunity .

So? Have we piqued your curiosity? Then get ready to understand more deeply what employer branding is , the importance of the concept and some practical examples to apply in your company.

What is employer branding?

To fully understand the meaning of employer branding, we first need to understand the concept of “brand” (or branding). A brand is the representation of an entity, or how it wants to be seen by its customers and strategic audiences.

Employer branding is, therefore, the way in which a company positions itself to encourage people to want to work or remain working at an institution .

Employer branding must be built on several fronts:

1. institutional marketing and corporate communication , taking care of building the brand image;
2. internal communication, stimulating team motivation and engagement;
3. external communication, to keep society informed about the organization's purposes and values, delight potential employees and maintain a positive brand image.

What are the advantages of employer branding?

Investing in actions and strategies that maintain a positive brand image in the eyes of a company's employees and potential employees is an advantageous strategy in several ways. Understanding what employer branding is helps you create a team of brand advocates, increase employee retention rates, face competition, and much more.

Below, we will talk in detail about these and some other advantages of understanding what employer branding is and investing in the strategy.

Helps attract and retain talent

Attracting and retaining talent is the primary goal of employer branding. A business that establishes a reputation for legitimacy and uniqueness lowers employee attrition and attracts workers from many fields.

You've certainly heard about the extremely relaxed environment, the constant stimulation of creativity, the culture of high-performance teams and the excellent results of the technology company, right?

Not just you! Every year, Google receives more than 2.5 million candidates interested in working for the company. Is this proof that the company's employer branding actions are well executed?

Increase team productivity

Let's keep Google's example in mind. Now think about it: an employee hired to join such a globally admired team will work with great motivation and dedication, right?

A brand with good employer branding is capable of engaging employees, making them constantly see the value of working in that organization.

From an internal perspective, taking care of employer branding means ensuring that working conditions are the best possible. This means investing in benefit policies, career development, positions and salaries , and the use of new technologies for collaboration and connection. The use of this last item, in fact, is responsible for a 25% increase in team productivity rates , according to the McKinsey consultancy .

Create a team of brand advocates

Pleasant environment, exemplary people management , opportunities for growth. In addition to employee retention, another effect of good employer branding is that they become brand promoters.

And what does that mean?

This means that, in addition to working with satisfaction and happiness, they will be responsible for multiplying the brand's positive image, strengthening its external image and feeding the network of people interested in joining the organization.

4 examples of employer branding actions to inspire

Invest in onboarding

The onboarding process — or corporate integration — is the first in-depth contact between the employee and the company after hiring. This means that the employee will, in fact, be introduced (hence the name “onboarding”) to the company’s processes, values, goals, objectives, protocols and operations.

If you have ever participated in a corporate integration, you know that, in general, it is a very rigid, tiring and even boring moment — everything that a company that knows what employer branding is does not want to be!

Make your onboarding experience a reflection of the finest that the company has to offer by using digital transformation to produce materials in various formats, engage the employee in dynamic, gamified activities, and help them become more like the brand your business wants to project.

Conduct research and listen to opinions

From the moment a company decides to invest in employer branding, it cannot forget that the main promoter of the values ​​and strategies adopted will be the employee.

Therefore, he must be involved in processes and consulted frequently, so that his feedback can, in fact, contribute to the continuous improvement of management.

Some tips for measuring employee satisfaction levels with company policies are:

• conducting interviews;
• climate research;
• creation of internal programs so that employees can talk to leadership

Valuing the mental health of employees

Ensuring happiness in the workplace is one of the most challenging roles for companies concerned with building their employer branding.

At the same time that competition makes the market more competitive, urgent and demanding, companies need to find ways to balance the intense routine with measures that enable the maintenance of the mental health of their employees.

Establishing home office policies , promoting lectures, practicing active listening , providing rest spaces and avoiding work overload are some of the measures that can be adopted.

Offer modern and up-to-date work tools

In addition to offering a mental health support structure, it is also the duty of the company that decides to put employer branding into practice to provide the best possible working conditions for its employees.

Structures developed according to ergonomic standards, quality equipment and modern tools, such as a CRM to support the organization of processes, can contribute to the harmony of the environment and the maintenance of a healthy and productive routine.

Now that you understand what employer branding is, you can start designing your company's strategies to build a solid brand to attract and retain the best talent in the market.