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Having a good employer brand has only positive aspects: it reduces recruitment time and costs, attracts the best talent and reduces turnover. Conversely, a bad reputation can be very damaging.
The employer brand is made up of two related concepts: the recruiter brand and the internal employer brand. It’s a ” group of actions and marketing levers activated with the aim of making the company attractive to future employees and retaining current employees “ (Parlons RH).
According to a study by Stepstone, an online recruitment site, 95% of applicants use the web to find out about their future company before you even apply for a job and only 10.4% of job seekers would apply for a job at a company with a bad reputation.
THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT AS A KEY FACTOR
It’s hard to stand out from the crowd in an ultra-competitive environment where service offerings are generally identical. Attracting top talent can help you stay ahead of the pack. In a survey conducted by the Glassdoor site in 2019, more than half of the 5,000 participants said that company culture was more important than salary.
According to a study conducted by Stepstone in 8 European countries, the 4 most important factors affecting the employer brand for employees are, in order of priority: the working environment; career opportunities; relationship with managers and financial stability structure. Remuneration remains an important criterion, but only comes in 7th place.
According to a study conducted in the USA by Harvard Business Review and ICM Unlimited, the 3 most damaging factors to an employer’s reputation are: concerns about job security, dysfunctional teams and poor management. On the contrary, the 3 factors contributing most to a good reputation are structural stability, career opportunities and the chance to work with a first-rate team.
A POSITIVE EFFECT ON COSTS …
According to the same study, a poor reputation can seriously damage a company’s profitability, since it costs almost 10% more in salary to convince potential candidates. And that’s not necessarily enough, since almost half of those questioned would refuse a position in a structure where the 3 negative factors mentioned above were present, regardless of the salary offered.
Conversely, just a slightly higher salary may be enough to drive an employee from a company with a poor reputation to one with an attractive brand.
…AND THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS
According to employers, a good employer brand is correlated with greater responsiveness to job offers, an increase in the number of unsolicited applications, the quality of candidates and the involvement of current employees.
Having a good reputation lowers recruitment costs and attracts the best. In fact, according to a study by the University of Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), companies with a strong employer brand receive twice as many CVs as those with a weaker employer brand.
RETAINING TALENT
Attracting talent is one thing. Holding them back is another. That’s why it’s important to extend our efforts beyond recruitment. Externally marketed messages about corporate values and culture need to be backed up by concrete in-house actions. If there is a discrepancy between the two, this will discourage employees and may be reflected externally via reviews left on evaluation platforms such as Glassdoor.
Stay tuned for next week’s article on the keys to successful employer communications!
TO FIND OUT MORE
Why successful brands have a strong employer brand
Employer Brand Communication Survey, StepStone
How online company reviews impact employer brands
A bad reputation costs a company at leat 10% more per hire
