The key to retention and recruitment.

Your employer brand supports your company culture and aligns your staff to the business mission, vision and values. Leveraging your brand is just smart business.

Very simply, your employer brand is your organization’s reputation as an employer. It’s what your staff think about you, how they feel about the company, how they align to and understand the company value system. It’s how they experience the company culture. It’s also what job seekers find out about you when looking at online reviews. Remember, your staff are the ones who help make your brand come alive, both inside and outside your business.

Your employer brand — and its unique value proposition — can be a powerful beacon for staff.

Here’s how to get started.

Your internal brand and external brand must be inextricably linked, of course. But your communications to each group needs to be adapted accordingly. This exercise helps you define your unique value proposition from an employee lens. What does it mean to be a member of your team? What behaviors are important to model the company values? What do you believe in, and what do your staff believe? How do you all ‘show up’ — to each other as well as to the marketplace?

In order to truly understand what your employees think about your brand and business, you need to include them in the process and garner their point of view. Here you can work to correct any gaps as well as make adjustments. The point is to best reflect your brand’s true and authentic culture and values.

Once you’ve developed your employer brand, use it well. Bring your brand alive both inside (with staff, regularly) and outside (to candidates, as part of the attraction and hiring process). As with all brand communications, these are ongoing activities, never one and done. Cultivating your brand and protecting your company’s culture requires a commitment to gain the powerful benefits your brand can deliver.

Just as you do with your market facing brand communications, your employer brand should appear in ‘all the places’, ‘all the time’ and the results need to be managed. Leverage the basic messaging places like job descriptions and job postings. Be sure to include brand elements in activities like performance reviews, the onboarding process and at company events and celebrations. Finally, review what staff and candidates share about you on independent employee boards — you can glean important insights and feedback to help make improvements.

An effective employer brand unites the operational side of your business with less tangible assets like beliefs and behavior. When team members actively align with the values and purpose they should be met with recognition and encouraged to do more. An effective recognition and rewards system reinforces brand behaviors in a positive way.

Here’s how to get started.

1. Strengthen company culture and improve employee retention
2. Build loyalty with staff who promote and support your business
3. Earn a healthy reputation in the communities you serve
4. Win over candidates in competitive hiring markets
5. Create a positive brand perception for staff, prospects and customers alike
6. Earn cost savings, offsetting differences in pay levels in competitive hiring markets
7. Support your HR team — a strong employer brand aids talent acquisition
8. Attract a younger workforce — today, younger candidates seek out strong company cultures
9. Gain referral advantage, making it easy for employees to refer both candidates and customers

The takeaway.

Your employer brand builds pride, conviction, motivation and loyalty. This connection inspires a common purpose amongst your team that extends out into the marketplace. Real people, real growth.