A Powerful Employer Brand: It’s Worth the Investment

Companies spend countless hours trying to improve their company brand experience, but how much time do they spend on improving their employer brand? Can you say that you spend an equal or close to the same amount of time on both?

If your company is enriched with a strong employer brand, it is considered as a unique place of employment, with attractive brand values and rich opportunities. A strong employer brand helps you recruit highly-skilled employees. It also helps you to retain top talent, because it increases employee loyalty and identification within your company. It raises an organization’s visibility in the job market and helps it to stand out among its competition.

Look at Google. They were awarded the number one spot on Fortune’s 2014 top 100 list of companies to work for … for FIVE years in a row. They are also one of the most successful companies in the world. Sure, they are also one of the largest companies—but would they be so large and successful if their employees had negative experiences on the job? Would this company have come this far if they didn’t offer a promising and rewarding work environment?

Google continues to harvest some of the most innovative products and services, and if you think about it, some employee came up with the idea of each one of those innovative product and services. If a specific employee wasn’t employed at the company at some point, would Gmail or Google Glass exist today? It’s something to think about.

In late 2012, LinkedIn published a whitepaper about the state of employer branding . The findings are interesting and concluded that overall, employer branding is seen as important “everywhere”. The studies conclude that the investment in employer branding is worth every penny. Here are some key findings and statistics from the study that explain why a strong employer brand is imperative to thrive in today’s competitive job market:

1) 83% of global recruiting leaders agree that employer branding is a critical driver of their ability to hire top talent.

2) More than half of surveyed companies have increased their employer brand investment.

3) 40% of surveyed companies have maintained their spend on employer brand.

4) A strong employer brand – as indicated by an individual having a positive impression of your company as a place to work - is twice as likely to be linked to job consideration as a strong company brand.

5) A strong employer brand was important for attracting more junior employees (staff and managers) and candidates under 40, and those from outside the US.

6) Potential candidates under 40 years old are 61% more likely to have their job consideration levels associated with employer brand.

7) Companies investing in their employment brand enjoy lower cost per hire and lower employee turnover rates.

8) Companies with a weaker employer brand report a cost per hire that is almost double that of companies with a strong employer brand.

9) 85% of employees are attracted to companies that have a reputation for providing career opportunities.

10) If an organization has a strong employer brand, especially one that resonates with current employees, it will also have a signi­ficantly lower turnover rate (28% lower, to be exact).

It’s clear that both employers and candidates are placing a higher importance on a favorable employer brand experience. Not only is a powerful employer brand important to attract top talent, but it’s also important to retain key employees in your organization .

Now that you have a good understanding of why employer branding is important in today’s competitive job market, take the right steps to strengthen and improve your brand. Click the button below to learn how you can improve your brand to attract top talent like a magnet!

Image Credit: LinkedIn’s State of Employer Branding Whitepaper