International Journal of Management and Applied Science, ISSN: EMPLOYER BRANDING: WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SUCESSFUL BRAND

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1 EMPLOYER BRANDING: WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SUCESSFUL BRAND 1 AFREEN FATIMA, 2 MOHSIN SHEIKH 1,2 Allana institute of Management Sciences, Azam campus, Pune(411001) 1 afreen22fatima@gmail.com, 2 msk1612@hotmail.com Abstract Purpose- The concept of employer branding is becoming popular among the employers. Employer branding has different attributes, characteristics and is linked to different departments. Marketing, HR, communications, corporate image, Internal and external branding all has to work together for a successful employer brand. These different elements has been studied and reviewed in this paper. Design/Methodology- Bodies of literature has been studied for review and examination for better understanding of the subject. Findings- The review of the literature highlights the important characteristics, attributes and the linkage between the areas of branding. It throws light on what are the areas in which the companies need to focus for a better employer brand. A framework on employer branding has been proposed for better understanding of the concept. Keywords Employer Branding, Internal and External Brand, Corporate Brand, Employee Value Proposition. I. INTRODUCTION Branding is always connected with marketing. Branding has been used as a tool for the promotion of the product in the consumer market. But, another aspect of branding emerged since 1996 when Ambler and Barrow have coined the term employer branding. They have defined employee branding as a package of economic, functional and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing organization. The application of branding principles of marketing to human resource management has been termed as employer branding. Employer branding is use to attract the talent and also it insures to engage the existing employees for future references. The basic idea of employer branding is to make the prospective employees to know about the organization values and culture. It also helps in making a strong relation with the existing employees by providing the right culture and values. The employer brand put forth an image showing the organization as a good place to work (Sullivan 2004). Factors like globalization, pressure for Speed and innovation, privatization, mergers and acquisitions, organization restructuring and talent acquisition are the main reason for the change in the employment scenario. The demand for good and talented employees has increased then the available supply.the talent attraction and retention has therefore become a very important issue for the organizations. The whole concept of talent attraction and retention revolves around employer branding. It is the relation of potential and current employees with the company s brand. Employer brand has some unique features which the organization promises offers to its employees. On the other hand, values of the employees matters when one looks towards the employer. Ones own principle or standards and judgment of what is valuable are important in life. They determine the action and behavior of an individual in a society. According to (cable and judge, 1996) the maximum attraction towards any organization occurs when the values of the employer and the employee is matched. Here, the psychological factors have been kept in mind when it talks about values. II. LINKAGE BETWEEN CORPORATE, INTERNAL AND EMPLOYER BRAND Employer brand, corporate brand and internal brand has been studied to see the relation between them. A corporate brand concerns the systematic plant management of behavior, communication and symbolism in order to attain a favorable and positive reputation with target audiences of an organization. Alignment between an organizations vision and employees values must also be met (Hatch and Schultz, 2001).Employees are the key elements of building an organizations corporate brand (King, 1991).The corporate identity stands for the organization ethos and values. According to Aaker (2004) says, corporate identity is the link between the organization and customers. Employee is an important and inseparable part of corporate brand. A closer alignment of values in employees in the organization results in a sustainable competitive advantage. Internal branding is clearly linked to corporate branding. In an influential article on the relationship between corporate internal and external branding (Foster, khanyapuss and cheng) has given a clear explanation from different literature reviews about it. It says that when the employees understand the corporate values then the commitment towards the brand promise will increase. Also, if the employee is totally satisfied with the organization then only he gives his best possible service to the organization. 26

2 The internal branding helps in educating the employees about the brand values of the organization. Thus, increasing the emotional engagement with the organization. Moreover, if the employees accept and understand the values of an organization, the more likely it is to be emotionally attached with it (Cook and Wall, 1986). In the same article the corporate brand has also been linked to employer brand. There are similar characteristics of it we talk about corporate and internal brand. The brand should be unique, noticeable, relevant and vibrant. Basically the employer brand is the total package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment (Ambler and Barrow, 1996). An organization should provide accurate brand information to the employee at the time of hiring. This will create a realistic psychological contract that will be reflected by the employment experience. Both existing and potential employees have a perception towards the corporate brand. This perception is created through corporate brand itself. Thus, all three components that is corporate brand, internal and employer brand are linked together. An article by Stephenie App, Jania Merk and Buttgen gives an insight on Sustainable human resource management as competitive advantage in the market for high quality employees. According to the authors to improve the corporate reputation and attractiveness to potential employees the organizations tend to integrate the sustainability into their branding and communication policies. The employer brand often relates to the organization culture and values which in turn are the core of Corporate brand (Mosley, 2007). The difference between the corporate and employer brand is that the employer brand includes all the existing and current employees. Whereas, the corporate brand involves all the stakeholders (Foster et.al, 2010). The main aim of establishing an employer brand is to differentiate the organization from its competitors. They also discussed the theories like signaling theory and social identity theory. The signaling theory says that the signals which are sent by the organization is the base for building the perception among the potential employees. The signals are a good source of information for those seeking for the job in that organization. It helps them to decide whether to work for the organization or not (Greening and Turban 2000). Social identity theory denotes that a person's self concept is influenced by the image and reputation. It of the organization. Employees use employer brand to compare different organizations. The sustainable HRM add value for employees and thus contribute to the person's self concept. In the same article of Sustainable HRM person- organization fit was also discussed. The match of the personal characteristics and values with that of the organization increases the chance of stability. A person is more attached in long run if the person- organizations fit is matched. Employee value proposition also plays an important role in employer 27 branding. Uniqueness is the key element of branding and the EVP gives that uniqueness to the brand. So sustainable human resource management should contribute to the employer brand. An interesting point has been included in the same articles of sustainable development of Human Resource. It says that it is important to create a base from starting for a good human resource input. It supports the idea of establishing the educational institute by the organization so that it can help in engaging the potential employees and ensuring the availability of high quality human resource the communication with the student target group through social interactions campus activities also influences the organizational attractiveness. This target group of students can be stated as the warehouse of talent. III. CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EMPLOYER BRAND Moroko and Uncles 2008, In there exclusive report regarding the characteristics of employer brand have reached to create an understanding as to what are the characteristics which are important in terms of branding. A qualitative approach was taken to data-collection and analysis. They use an expert panel for this purpose. Depth interviews from various expertise have been taken for the study. They were asked to characterize successful and unsuccessful employer brand according to them. The characteristics which stands out were i) to be known an noticeable ii) being seen as relevant and resonant iii) be differentiated from direct competitors. All the above three focuses on the company based attributes, employee value proposition and uniqueness in the brand. Promise by an employer brand is also an important aspect of branding. This promise is from the side of the organization, all the things which is which offers but only in the beginning but throughout the whole employment cycle. The psychological contract which Ambler and Barrow have talked before has to be fulfilled for a strong employer brand. They came up with the topology of employer brand success characteristics. Source: Moroko and Uncles 2008

3 If the contract is fulfilled then only the employee is going to be attracted else without the fulfillment of the contract employee is not going to be attracted. Here the contract refers to all the offerings (psychological contract promise and truth) which an organization is providing after joining it. Another topology for managerial implications of employer brand success characteristics was build. Netherlands. A global leader in its sector and Europe's largest electronic company with 1, 21,000 employees. It has its employees in more than 60 countries. The early adopter of the concept of employee branding, Philips successfully plotted and deliver the promise. All three areas that are human resource, marketing and communication have to come together for a successful employer brand. They also talked about the four C s in the talent and Philips relationship. Source: Moroko and Uncles 2008 It gives an overview of the strategic issues that forms with the brand in each cell may face. The first cell is of communication breakdown under which the companies who lack communication with employees come. The situation of such companies may be improved with the most strategic integrated approach. The second cell of strategy mismatch says that in this case the employees are attracted but due to low employee engagement the candidates left the organization. This kind of organizations has to work on the internal engagement issues to retain the employees. Third cell talk about those organizations that are not seen as attractive employers. They don't have sufficient employment experience which is important to retain the staff. The last cell of sustained successful fills the contract. They are capable to attract the potential employees and also been able to retain the talent. Due to this the productivity also increases in such organizations. IV. IMPORTANCE OF BRAND PROMISE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT A powerful write-up by Rosethorn, Hodes and Mensink on employer branding is more than just a fashion statement give and insight on does the company really bother about their branding. They wrote that branding is a deal between the organization and its employees. The brand offers a promise and the employee buys that promise. The satisfaction level or attachment of the employees proves whether the organization is fulfilling its promise or not. It also raised a question that do the organizations are really worried for the attraction and retention strategy. Do the companies are able to attract the right talent. They gave an example of Royal Philips Electronics of Fig.3- The four C s in the talent and Philips relationship are use to structure the recruitment marketing mix Concluding their thought they support the branding concept. The employee engagement, trust between both the parties, promise of what the employee is going to offer helps in creating a better brand. In the same context Taylor and Jenner wrote in an article describing the scenario of employee branding in United Kingdom. A survey by Robert half suggest that only 20% of companies were intended to adopt employer brand over the next 2 years, compared with 35% who were not at all interested. According to that study the employer brand has emerged as an influential approach to human resource management in the USA and UK in recent years. Four main reason to adopt employer branding for also discussed i) brand power ii) human resource research for credibility iii) prevailing labor market conditions iv) employee engagement. V. IMPORTANCE OF EVP Simon Barrow predicts on the changing scenario due to the introduction of employer branding. He predicts that brand management will emerge as a key to manage effective brand. A separate branch of management will be required to take care of the employer branding. He also predicts that human resource function will increase and the human resource will split into two. As HR people are more involved with the employees, it will be better if a section of HR management take care of employer branding practices. Further he added that the CEO S will spend more time on their organizations reputation as an employer done with the investment community. The focus will be more people Driven. We all can see this happening today which was 28

4 predicted in It is clear from barrow's prediction that the employer brand has become an integral part of every organization. Glyn House in his paper the changing world of employer brand and HR have discussed the importance of marketing in HR. According to Water Thompson (1976) a product is made in a factory, A brand is bought by a consumer. One has to focus on the full holistic range of features and benefits that are the reason that people choose to work in an organization. According to him brands are emotional, they appeal to people and create dream. It is important to work on why people work for us the EVP comes into picture when one wants to be differentiated from the competitors. Housley in an article titled Harnessing shift have mentioned some of the very important issues regarding employer brand. The author has pointed out the shortage of talent in both the developed and developing countries like China and India. This shortage of talent has created a reorientation in Human Resource Management. Thus, the importance of employee branding has emerged as a key ray of hope for attracting the talent and retaining it. Employee branding and reputation management have the power to give organization the competitive edge in attracting and retaining. Now a day the people are no longer attracted by salary and compensation. The employer brand has emerged as a true differentiator. It is the only thing which is gives an edge in the competition for talent. EVP is also discussed in the same article by Housley. It is the most crucial part of employer brand. According to the author, for creating a successful EVP companies must understand three things i) image in the eyes of potential employers ii) Unique identity in terms of the true image of internal working environment iii) CEO messages and corporate branch are trying to portray the image of the organization. A global employer brand creates a consistency of message and experience. In this interesting article the author has also mentioned about generation Y. The current generation Y is young and they have different needs.employer brand has to be flexible enough to match with the needs of the young talent. Each and every single employee, alumni and stakeholders can be a tool of employer branding. An influential article by professor Graeme, Analyses the employer brand practice. He discussed the brand mage, Corporate Identity and brand reputation. All the above three are said to be the drivers of employer brand image. If the employer brand includes who are we then the corporate identity says what it is.the employer brand is the package of all the benefits which the organization offers. Corporate identity is all about the mission, strategy and culture. The third driver of the employer brand image is the employer brand reputation. Reputation is created by the potential and existing employees. It is how one perceives the organization. Article also enlightens on does the employee branding theories work in 29 practice. It says that not much evidence is there to conclude that the theory and practice of employer branding does not go with each other. There are some things that are contradictory, but there are some promising practices employed by the results. The major points which has been concluded were i) the human resource managers need to have a good model of employee branding which reflects their organization ii) the human resource manager should look and learn from the researches in the field of employer branding and talent management iii) organizations with the legitimate and socially responsible message are more likely to appeal a large number of talent iv)the factors of employment can be different for different types of recruits and for different types of existing employees at different career stages v) the organizations need to understand the differences among the groups of potential and existing employees.the EVP must be applied differently to different segments vi) employer branding should concerned to develop social as well as human capital with the continuous innovation in the practice of branding organization can achieve what they want. CONCLUSION Fig.4- Framework for understanding Employer Brand Source: Developed by author From the above framework it can be concluded that internal brand, corporate brand and employer brand is linked to each other. The linkage is shown by the circles that are touching each other. Internal brand talks about employee engagement and this employee engagement will increase the satisfaction level of the employee. It is more likely that engaged and satisfied employee shows loyalty towards the organization. Corporate brand talks about the company s vision, mission, culture and values. The corporate brand tells what the company is all about. Employer brand includes the unique feature of why it is different from the rest of the competitors. It has to fulfill the promise of the benefits (functional, economical and psychological) which it is going to offer while recruiting the employee. The corporate, internal and employer brand is responsible for building the perception towards the organization.

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