Looking for a quick way to improve your employer branding strategy and top talent recruitment? Here are some tips to help you.
Attraction and retention are major issues as employers struggle to find and keep the best and brightest talent. With turnover costs estimated at up to 50% of an employee’s annual pay, the retention of employees, and the recruitment of future staff are critical.
For this reason, companies all around the world are constantly investing in various methods in order to remain competitive and acquire the best talent in the market. One of those methods is called employer branding.
Employer branding is a smart way to boost your recruitment efforts, as well as the engagement and retention rates of your employees. An employer branding strategy can communicate what’s different about your company, and why it’s a great place to work. Experts claim that companies that have a positive brand attract twice more applications compared to negative or undeveloped brands.
So, whether you’re an exhausted recruiter or an overwhelmed HR manager, here are 7 proven ways of how you can improve your employer branding strategy and have employees lining up to work for your company.
1. Work on Your Company Culture
Whether you have 10, 100, or 1000 employees, creating a positive company culture where they will flourish and thrive is crucial for the success of any business.
When building your company culture, you should consider what type of culture you’re aiming to create. For example, 83% of millennials say they’re actively engaged when they believe an organization fosters an inclusive and diverse culture.
What’s more, knowledge sharing has proven to play a major factor in a great candidate experience. Knowledge sharing can enable employees to broaden their horizons, take a different perspective, and collaborate on significant matters. It empowers them to speak up, bond with others, and make a change.
Giving feedback to your employees should also be a part of your recruitment and retention plan. Why? Because according to a a study by Office Vibe, 65% of employees want more feedback and 69% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized.
In a nutshell, if you want to build a great company culture that will retain your employees, incorporating diversity, knowledge sharing, and feedback into your employer branding strategy is a sure way to go.
2. Let Employees Know What They’re Responsible For
If you want your team to be successful, each member must have a clear direction from their managers. This should include what’s expected of them, how much, and when. Getting expectations right is important because it leads to better service quality, higher levels of productivity, and lower retention rates.
If you want to boost your employer branding strategy and your top talent recruitment, you’ll need to set clear job responsibilities by discussing the specifics with each employee, 1-on-1. Be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the employee when assigning specific responsibilities. After each task, have a straightforward conversation with the employee. Make sure you give your honest feedback as it helps your employee excel and make progress.
3. Communicate the Company Strategy
The most brilliant business strategy doesn’t get you anywhere unless the employees in your company understand what the strategy means. Not understanding the company strategy might lead to unmotivated employees, disengaged from their work. When your workers understand the long-term goals, the chances of them staying on board and making bigger contributions are greater.
You should aim to present the company’s strategy in many different ways. A mix of video, audio, visual, and written communication is an attractive strategy because everyone can learn about the plan in a way that is best for them.
Use storytelling to share the company’s strategy with employees. Storytelling is another great strategy as no one remembers facts and figures, but everyone remembers a good story. Storytelling is a chance to make your brand more personal and help your employees connect with your brand. You can use engaging human narratives to attract the type of candidates who could see themselves creating similar stories.
4. Embrace Technology
Technology can boost your employer brand strategy by providing better communication channels and improving the candidate experience. Platforms like Slack, Asana, Zoom, and Google Drive can connect your team and allow easier communication between team members. You can start an instant conference call, send important emails, and get notified instantly when someone shares a file with you.
There is also a number of software that can streamline candidate engagement, job search, applications, assessment and selection processes, as well as interview scheduling and applicant tracking. You can get notifications any time something is added or updated in your calendar, keep track of ongoing work, and improve team performance based on real-time, visual data that your team can put to use.
Thanks to technology, you’ll offer an exceptional candidate experience that will reinforce your employer branding strategy.
5. Boost Your Social Media Presence
There is a wide range of advantages for promoting your brand on social media. Being socially present can help you build your employer branding and make your company a desirable place to work. Social media can help you build authority, drive traffic to your website, and foster lasting and loyal relationships with potential candidates.
Before applying for a job, candidates always check the employer’s social media channels. In order to gain high-quality applicants, your company’s channels should represent the type of work environment that would appeal to your ideal candidate. By posting content of team-building exercises, showcasing staff accomplishments, or posting employee testimonials, you will cement yourself as an employer who values its employees.
6. Build Brand Advocacy
Apart from social media, building a good employer branding strategy also requires brand advocacy. Advocates are those employees who will actively champion your brand and influence the opinion of potential candidates.
Without brand advocacy, it doesn’t matter how great your company is because no one knows who your company is or why it matters. Instead of spending tons of money on paid placements, employees will handle the marketing of your brand in an organic way.
Nearly 84 percent of consumers trust online peer reviews as much as recommendations from friends. This statistic is proof that happy workers who boast to others about their work are the most attractive tool for recruiting future candidates.
So, what can you do to give your brand advocacy a boost? You should find the energizers in your company and let them inspire others. These people can open your employees’ minds to perspectives they may not have thought of before and help turn prospects into long-term employees.
7. Attract Employees With Desirable Work Benefits
Your company has greater chances to attract and attract employees if it offers a set of desirable employee perks. Benefits are a smart employer branding strategy that can keep employees happy and productive at work.
Today, companies are bombarded with a number of trendy perks for attracting and retaining employees. However, when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent, employers need to know which perks are most favored by employees.
Although a competitive pay can greatly influence an employee’s decision to join and stay at a company, there are many other overlooked benefits that are more important than a paycheck. They include:
- good health, vision, and dental insurance
- flexibility at work
- more vacation time
- student loan and tuition assistance
- paid maternity and paternity leave
- free wellness classes
- free food
- company-wide retreats
- free daycare services
- team bonding events
In Conclusion
Every company that’s looking to stay competitive and desirable to employees must invest in its employer branding strategy. The key to employee attraction and retention lies in a great candidate experience that’s only possible through a well-thought and planned employer branding plan.
Stick to all of the above-mentioned brand employer tips and develop a more authentic and effective employer brand that can improve recruitment and retention rates.
