Q. How can the focus on employer branding be a competitive advantage for organisations?
A. Gone are the days when potential employees would just look at financial rewards, job security and career progression before zeroing in on an organisation. While these parameters are a given, today the association of a candidate with an employer brand is beneficial in multiple ways: a guaranteed social status, strong work culture, better career prospects and lastly achieving self-actualisation (Maslow’s hierarchy). Hence prime focus on developing an employer brand will help an employer attract, engage and retain the best talent in the industry. This in turn has a direct impact on the bottom line of an organisation, making the employer brand a definitive competitive advantage in fierce competition.
Q. What should be the key focus areas while working on strengthening the employer brand?
A. The key areas of focus are:
• Alignment of the perception of the brand by customers and prospective employees.
• Match between brand communication and the reality.
• Reach of brand communication to the target segment.
• Position of thought leadership in the industry of operation.
Q. Is employer branding the answer to war for talent today?
A. Employer branding is ammunition in the arsenal of an organisation. The strategy implemented in utilising the ‘ammunition’ will decide the winners in the war for talent in today’s world.
Q. What role does HR have in shaping the employer brand?
A. The HR function plays a critical role in shaping employer brand. They are the personnel with the closest understanding of employee expectations, perceptions and organisational reality. They can help in creating a brand that has a direct match between the perception and reality of the employer brand by both internal employees and prospective employees. HR plays an active role in developing brand ambassadors out of its current employees who in turn can advocate and vouch for the employer brand with prospective employees. Today, when social media has become a norm of the day, experience of current employees with their employer has high viral value and can improve the probability of the employer brand being in the consideration set of the target segment.
Q. Many experts believe that employer branding should not be put to a halt at the time of recession and should be an ongoing process. Your opinion on this?
A. Employer branding is an exercise that happens 24×7. The channels through which it is exercised are multiple and not restricted to any advertising spends. While it is common to cut down on brand spendings during the time of recession, employer branding is still continued through various touchpoints such as employee experience, candidate experience through the talent acquisition process, social media and other interactions. In essence, it means that in times of recession the intensity of the employer branding is reduced but not halted.
Q. How do organisations best leverage social media to promote employer brand?
A. Social media is a medium where a good communication or branding exercise is magnified immensely and spreads exponentially through likes, tweets or blogging. It has the power to reach untapped audience while engaging with existing audience and creating a positive word of mouth or buzz around the employer brand. Companies can promote their brand through personalised and near real-time conversations which was not possible in the traditional media. Social media can bridge the last mile gap between a prospective employee and the brand to create an engagement and a two-way conversation.
Q. How important is top management’s commitment towards employer branding?
A. One of the chief responsibilities of the top management is to enhance the value delivered to the shareholders and stakeholders of an organisation. This value can be enhanced only when the reputation of an organisation or brand increases in the marketplace. This reputation comprises developing both external (customer-facing brand) and internal (employer brand) brand of an organisation.
Q. What are the major challenges before establishing a desired employer brand?
A. Challenges before establishing a desired employer brand include:
• Synchronisation between employer brand and customer brand.
• Internal commitment.
• Match between proposed brand and reality.
• Clear understanding of the target segment and its behaviour.
Q. Your advice to the industry?
A. One can enhance the employer brand of an organisation only when one breathes and lives the brand. Building an employer brand is an ongoing process and should be seen from a long-term perspective. It cannot be built in a year. One should align customer brand with employer brand to reduce any gaps between perception and reality.
