Corporate communications is a strategic function that solves problems for an organization. When a company is continually disappointed with the quality of job applicants, struggling with high turnover and held back by poor employee engagement, it is optimal for corporate communications and human resources to work closely together to turn the situation around for the better.
By collaborating, corporate communications and HR can redefine, reinvigorate and reinforce a more desirable employer brand -- a company’s reputation as an employer. Combining the best of corporate communications -- storytelling, creativity, message discipline and audience targeting -- with the best of HR -- recruiting, talent management, employee engagement and training -- leads to developing a positive reputation that helps attract, engage and retain talented individuals.
Building and managing an employer brand is more of an ongoing process, taking into consideration the evolving needs of an organization. It is more than just a brand tagline. It is more than just a one-time project. It is more than just a recruitment advertising campaign to snatch attention. Thinking so narrowly about employer branding will actually create risks, invariably leading to missed opportunities.
The employer brand must be strategic and flexible enough to evolve with the company. For this reason, an employer brand can actually be more difficult to manage than a product brand. It is a continual process of building brand momentum through a coordinated plan that is jointly executed by corporate communications and HR. To put it real simply, it is a process of creating a uniquely great place to work.
The employer brand is like a force that moves the organization forward, attracting the right candidates and inspiring employees. It can be memorable and compelling when a company makes storytelling a major pillar of the employer branding strategy. A strong employer brand reduces the costs of recruiting while improving workforce strength. At the heart of it is effective communications, solving an organizational problem that may have been baffling hiring managers and HR pros alike for years.
Below are five steps that I have found useful as a communications professional, working alongside HR professionals, in order to help build an employer brand at other companies I have worked for in the past:
1. Conduct a thorough analysis.
Before putting time and money into rebuilding or reinvigorating your employer brand, it is wise to do a thorough analysis of what you are dealing with.
• You need to find out the existing perceptions of current and former employees as well as candidates. Working with HR, you should find out what top talent is seeking in terms of an employment experience.
• You should identify any gaps or discrepancies between what job candidates are seeking and what your company is truthfully offering as an employer.
2. Create talent profiles.
Take the company’s strategic objectives and create profiles of the types of talent that a company needs to achieve these strategic objectives -- and be sure that senior leadership is in agreement and in support of where you land.
• Your employer brand strategy should work within the broader framework that is comprised of your corporate brand strategy, customer/consumer brand strategy and HR/talent management strategy.
• The employer brand needs to line up with how HR does recruiting and talent management.
3. Create an employer value proposition.
Develop and communicate a value proposition to employees and applicants.
• You should communicate something that employees/job candidates value, while they offer something that your company values in terms of skills, knowledge, relationships, experience, etc. This exchange is often referred to in the communications field as an employer value proposition, or EVP (also known as an employee value proposition).
• The EVP can become a guide for corporate storytelling in support of HR objectives.
• The EVP is usually built on one major thing about a company that summarizes why the company is a great place to work. You can then develop supporting points under the EVP.
• A good EVP statement generally highlights current strengths of a company but also reflects the aspirations for the future.
• The EVP bridges the gaps that are identified in Step 1 above.
4. Develop aligned creative content.
Develop the stories and creative content aligned to the employee value proposition.
• You need to develop stories that are relevant, consistent and helpful in reinforcing the employer brand.
• You want employees to feel proud to work at the company, and you want job candidates to want to work at your company by choice -- even taking less money for the unique opportunity to work at your unique company.
5. Track and measure effectiveness.
Execute and measure the effectiveness of the communication against HR-led metrics.
• To measure success, the joint HR and corp comms team can look at the level of engagement with the content, number and quality of applicants, cost per hire, effectiveness of some channels over others, employer brand awareness and brand image, and levels of employee engagement and employee advocacy.
• Continually be evaluating and looking forward. Don’t get complacent.
Developing a strong employer brand takes time and isn't easy, as it often means dealing with differing opinions, but it can be done with the right rigor, commitment and openness to change.
Take my company, for example. Our EVP is evolving, but the raw attractiveness is there, bringing people who want to work for a company that is professional, modern, stable and global; an Austin-based company with a big vision for digital identity and physical security; a company with a diverse group of intelligent, creative people; and a company with interesting technologies that make life better for people.
Many companies claim similar things. So where's the difference? Start with the company's mission statement. In this case, we power the trusted identities of the world’s people, places and things -- a mission statement that serves as a foundation for evolving our EVP. From there, based on insights, bridge the gap to what job candidates are seeking as a brand-signature experience.
