Whether they realize it or not, every company has two brands: A consumer brand and an employment brand. But where your consumer brand is defined by the experience you provide customers (through products and services), your employment brand is defined by the experience you provide current and potential employees. For example, do your employees like working for you? Do they share that experience with friends and family? Do people outside of your company perceive it as a desirable place to work?
In other words, your employment brand is the reputation your company has as a place to work.
It is also just as important to your business as your consumer brand, as it can have a major impact on their ability to retain employees and attract new ones – and that ultimately affects your bottom line.
Here are just a few reasons you should work on building your employment brand.
Fewer Costs Associated with Turnover: Companies do damage to their employment brand when they fail to deliver on the expectations they set for their employees during the interview and hiring process – leading, in turn, to higher turnover. In fact, a recent CareerBuilder survey found that 35 percent of workers cited the company as the main reason they decided to voluntarily leave a previous position, while only 28 percent cited the job itself.
Fewer Costs Associated with Recruitment: If you have well-known reputation for being a great place to work, you do not have to work as hard to pull in quality. They are more likely to seek you out to inquire about open positions. You save yourself the time and trouble of sourcing candidates from scratch because there’s less of a need to advertise open positions and wait for applications to come in.
Higher Levels of Morale and Productivity: This should be a no-brainer, but happy employees tend to be productive employees. Keep a pulse on your employees by administering regular engagement surveys and having regular one-to-one check-ins to gauge their satisfaction levels and stay aware of any challenges they may be having.
Better Referrals: When people love their jobs and their companies, they encourage friends and family to work there, too. Time and again, research shows that employee referrals generate some of the best quality hires. Treat your employees well, and they will pay you back – guaranteed.
A Better Bottom Line: Companies with strong employment brands tend to have better financial performance as well. A study of publicly traded companies on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For In America” list by professors at Michigan State University and University of Wisconsin-Madison showed a connection between the strategy of developing an attractive workplace and performing financially well. This could be because when employees love the company they work for, it tends to show in the quality of their work and the level of customer service they provide.
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