EMPLOYER'S BRANDING AND ITS IMPACT ON RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

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1 EMPLOYER'S BRANDING AND ITS IMPACT ON RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION Dr. AzraIshrat 1, Dr. Seema.M.Wali 2 1,2 Assistant Professor, Amity Business School, Amity University, Lucknow (India) ABSTRACT Employer branding is a relatively new approach toward recruiting and retaining the best possible human talent within a recruiting environment that is becoming increasingly competitive Competent.In a competitive and borderless world, organizations need strong processes to attract and retain their most important and valuable asset Employees. Even in economically volatile times, employees, especially those who possess the right technical and behavioral competencies, continue to be a scarce resource and employers will need to poise themselves well to capture the attention, interest and commitment of the best and brightest employees.the paper aims at understanding why it is important to create employer brand and how does employer s brand gets created. The paper also attempts at understanding how can employer branding affects recruitment and retention. Keywords: Recruitment, Retention, Value Proposition,Brand I. INTRODUCTION The process of intentional development of the employer brand is called employer branding. Employer branding is a relatively new approach toward recruiting and retaining the best possible human talent within a recruiting environment that is becoming increasingly competitive Competent Employees with high satisfaction in an organization is reflected in the increase of productivity, improved product quality, better services and higher number of innovations. It is commonly said that, Satisfied Employees make Satisfied Customers. Also competent satisfied employees form positive reference of the employer and thus increase its attractiveness for potential job seekers and strengthen its competitive position in the market. Not only does an employee key to establishing a lasting reputation with customers, they are also central to a company s internal business culture. As any successful organization will confirm, their own talent lies in identifying the talents of others and applying them in the most effective way possible to meet the objective of their organization. It is by recruiting the right person at the right role, engagement soars, plans come to fruition and businesses prosper. Recruiting the wrong person, however, will have the reverse effect. For this reason, it is worth investing the effort to developa competent employee recruitment & retention process. In a competitive and borderless world, organizations need strong processes to attract and retain their most important and valuable asset Employees. Even in economically volatile times, employees, especially those who possess the right technical and behavioral competencies, continue to be a scarce resource and employers 358 P a g e

2 will need to poise themselves well to capture the attention, interest and commitment of the best and brightest employees. Researchers has shown that attracting employees with superior skills and knowledge is considered as the primary source of competitive advantage. Attracting and retaining valuable staff members is becoming increasingly difficult in today s competitive environment. Thus, the application of concepts of Employer Branding is being used by more & more organizations for attracting and retaining the talent pool. Branding is the process of developing an intended brand identity (Kotler & Lee, 2008, p. 215). Branding is often used to differentiate products and companies in order to build economic value for both the consumer and the company. Employer branding is an innovative concept that links Marketing (brand management) to Human Resource Management. Employer branding can be used as a tool to manage the scarce resources calledtalent. Employer branding develops the company brand andhelps employees to create an appealing image of the organization for the candidates. Employer brand shows thata strong employer should provide an identity to an employee,a personal reputation or image. However, employer brandshould be consistent in a sense that what is communicated tofuture employees must be the true story about what is actuallyhappening inside the company. It is essential the employeesat all levels are aware of the culture, norms and values ofthe organization. In order to attract and retain the best talentanywhere in the world, an organization must have a strongand positive employer brand. According to Glen (2006), organizationswith a solid strategy for developing an employerbrand will be an attractive force for both external and internal employees. In today s, volatile times every organization desires hire the right talent. This urge hasled them to adopt various strategies which give them a competitiveadvantage over their competitors in attracting & retaining thebest talent. One such strategy is Employer Branding, whichtakes an effort to market the opportunities that the organizationoffer to its employees, so that they have the right talentin right place in the organization. (Eisenberg et.al. 2001), a human resource practitioner literature described employer branding as a three-step process. A firm should develop the value proposition that is to be embodied in the brand. Intended to be a true representation of what the firm offer to its employer, the value proposition provides the central message that is conveyed by the brand. Ambler and Barrow (1996) have defined employer branding as the development and communication of an organization s culture in the market place. The Employer value proposition is communicated to potential employees who intend to gain a clear picture of what benefits arise for them when working for a specific organization.it is the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company. Michaels et al., (2001) considered the battle in future shall be for getting the right talent. They identified three fundamental forces behind the war for talent Viz. the irreversible shift from the industrial age to the information age, demand for high caliber talent, and growing propensity for people to switch from one job to another. He also proposed the explicit development and communication of employee value proposition (EVP) to attract and retain talented employees. Steve Gilliver (2009), states that employer brand identifies an organization in themarketplace and makes it unique. It gives everyone in the organization a handle on what we are, and everyoneinterested in joining the 359 P a g e

3 organization a clear picture of what to expect. It infuses the firm s recruitment process andthe interaction among people in the organization. CIPD (2008) employer branding is a set of attributes and qualities often intangible that makes an organization distinctive, promises a particular kind of employment experience, and appeals to those people who will thrive and perform to their best in its culture. II. CREATING EMPLOYER BRANDING There are several ways in which employer brand can be created. Some of them are : Create Employee Value Proposition:Minchington (2005) defines an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) as a set of associations and offerings provided by an organization in return for the skills, capabilities and experiences an employee brings to the organization. The EVP is an employee-centered approach. It is based on assumption that personal job satisfaction is driven by far more than financial factors such as salary and benefits. An organization's EVP has thus been described as "critical to attracting, retaining and engaging quality people". Other key factors influencing how an individual may choose to balance his or her career path in an organization are relocation services, salary, perquisites, career development, location etc. Successful organizations show that it is important to target various audiences when developing their employee brand; taking into account differing values, ambitions and needs in addition to geographic and cultural backgrounds. An EVP must be unique, relevant and compelling if it is to act as a key driver of talent attraction, engagement and retention. Connect Emotionally: Emotion is at the core of brand s power, connecting via the products, services and the experience the brand represents and what a customer aspires to be. In the case of an employee, the emotional connection with the brand is the foundation for a relationship and can make employees loyal, devoted and committed to the business, which will positively impact on the quality of work and productivity. Stand by what you say:there has to be alignment between what organization says and does. It is important that employer brand and external brand give the same consistent message when a prospective employee approaches your firm. This will not be possible if there is no alignment between the strategies. From an attraction and recruitment perspective, that means the visual identity, the tone of voice and the face to face experience that is used throughout your campaigns all need to be on brand. This can only be achieved by your employees understanding why these things are important and what they mean to the firm and the potential employee. It is equally important to understand that employer branding should be consistent with time frame it cannot keep on changing with changing times. Internal and external marketing Talking to senior managers and people across the business, so they know what you re doing, why you re doing it and you can get the time, budget and resources you need to deliveryour vision. If possible, create a steering committee of employer brand champions from different parts of your organization who can provide input, help to drive the project forward and communicate progress to their teams. its aim is to develop human resources, which will adhere to the values and pursue the objectives set by the organization. Making sure that your staff support andunderstand your brand is therefore vital. They areyour strongest brand supporters and must liveand breathe the brand, understanding what itstands for and where you 360 P a g e

4 intend to take it. Beforetaking your brand to market, ensure it is properlyunderstood and fully communicated internally. Strategies: What are company s goals and how can employer brand help employee to achieve them? An internally focused goal might be to increase retention rates or employee satisfaction, while an externally focused goal might be to increase candidate quality. A technique commonly used in branding is establishing a brand value proposition, which identifies a brand s key benefits for its customers. Meanwhile, an employer value proposition (EVP) does the same for your employees. It incorporates your company s core values and unique elements of your workplace culture.assemble a team to come up with an EVP that works to move your company forward. Besides, HR practitioners also suggest five steps to developing a strong employer brand: (1) Understand your organization (2) create a 'compelling brand promise' for employees that mirrors the brand promise for customers (3) Develop standards to measure the fulfillment of brand promise (4) Ruthlessly align all people practices to support and reinforce brand promise, (5) Execute the measure. III. THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYER BRANDING ON EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION When you create employer brand the organization does not need to invest time and money to transform your identity, website, materials and recruitment advertising campaigns.armstrong (2006) found that, the aim of employer branding is to become an employer of choice, a place where people prefer to work. This means what Sears (2003) calls a value proposition, which communicates what the organization can offer its employees as a great place of work. The factors that contribute to being an employer of choice are the provision of a reasonable degree of security; enhanced future employability because of the reputation of the organization as one that employs and develops high quality people, as well as the learning opportunities it provides; employment conditions that satisfy work- life balance needs; a reward system that recognizes and values contributions and provides competitive pay and benefits; interesting and rewarding work; and opportunities for learning, development and career progression. A powerful method of retention is simply to ensure that people feel they are important for the organization. Employer branding involves several cross-functional areas of expertise. In most organizations, the HR function is responsible for employer branding. However, since it includes marketing the workplace; many organizationsinvolve their marketing and communications departments, in order to bring in cross-functional expertise. Every function plays a role in shaping and determining the employee experience. So whereas an employer-brandingprogram can begin in human resources, marketing, communications, recruitment, customer service, or somewhere else, it will ultimately have to extend across functions in order to holistically impact the employee experience and shape culture. The intersection of brand and talent is in culture, and an organization s brand culture determines both employeeand customer experiences. An increasing number of organizations involve 361 P a g e

5 their senior management as well, as access to human capital has become vital for the organization s business success. Leading organizations arealso careful to include employees and key target groups in their employer branding efforts. They can thereby improve the workplace in the best way possible and make sure that the message they send out matches the realityas well as the needs and aspirations of the target groups IV. CONCLUSION Employer branding is relatively new approach towards recruiting and retaining the best possible human talent within an employment environment that is becoming increasinglycompetitive. Managers can use employer branding as an umbrella under which they can channel different employee recruitment and retention activities into a coordinated humanresource strategy. With today s volatile economic conditions, no organization can afford to overlook the value of top talent. Organizations have to start from the inside and work their way out, until brand perceptions of all employees to external candidates are in line. Building a strong employer brand is not the sole responsibility of Human Resources. It is a team approach that starts from the leadership and includes Human Resources, Marketing andfinance. In fact, everyone in the organization is an Ambassador of the Brand. REFERENCES [1.] Ambler, T., & Barrow, S. (1996), The Employer Brand, Journal of Brand Management, 4(3): [2.] Armstrong, M. (2006), In A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th Edition,.Kogan Page Ltd, London. [3.] Minchington, B (2010), Employer Brand Leadership A Global Perspective, Collective Learning Australia. [4.] Minchington, B (2006) Your Employer Brand attract, engage, retain, Collective Learning Australia. [5.] Barrow, S. and Mosley R. (2005), The Employer Brand: Bringing the best of brand management to people at work, John Wiley & Sons [6.] "The Employment Value Proposition."Article which introduces the original concept, by Tandehill Human Capital. WorkspanMagazine 10/ P a g e