How good employer branding makes the recruitment process easier for you and retains employees
For many companies today, providing a coffee machine or introducing shared lunches is already enough to sell the external and internal reputation to potential employees as a positive one.
Well, everyone knows it, everyone has heard of it, and every now and then people try their hand at it, the so-called “employerbranding“, which means nothing else than “employer branding”.
Living up to social responsibility
The aim here is to attract employees and retain them in the company, which is achieved by building up a unique and individual profile. Simply looking at work models that create mobility and flexibility is not enough. It takes more than just the possibility of a home office to convince highly qualified employees of the philosophy and values of one’s own company. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is playing an increasingly important role in the recruitment process. Many employees would like to work for a company that, in addition to its own business, is also dedicated to the issues of politics, culture, the environment, people or society. The work culture is in a state of flux. This is focused more on awareness than on economic monopoly.
If we take this development into account, we cannot avoid taking a closer look at the advantages of employer branding:
- Employer branding enables companies to take a strong and individual position in the highly competitive economic market.
- Increasing focus in the area of corporate social responsibility improves the company’s own reputation. Trust is created among future employees, but also among business partners, because people know that this employer is not only thinking about its own profit, but is also aware of its social responsibility.
- You get a better position in the “war for talents“ through your improved company profile. In this context, the company’s own reputation is a decisive factor in attracting qualified and sought-after employees to the company.
The advantages of targeted employer branding should now be increasingly clear, but how does the development of an own and special brand actually work exactly?
Here are a few helpful tips
- Develop a modern corporate identity and leadership culture, for example by reducing hierarchies and introducing new company guidelines for working together. Here it is advisable to replace polite distance with honesty and friendliness.
- Offer your employees good career prospects. It’s not enough to raise wages by a few cents once a year, work more with education vouchers and education loans. The educational support measures that employees take advantage of will ultimately benefit the company.
- Take into account and promote specifically the
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
. Everyone has a bad day or a phase in which one is dissatisfied with the general work situation (stress, overwork, motivation problems). Listen carefully to your employees and approach any problems without prejudice. Most of the time, you can accomplish more through a trusting conversation than by logging sick days, rescheduling appointments, or project management delays. - Promote team spirit in your company with joint projects and actions. Not a quick snack at work, but a meal together in the canteen or even a barbecue party in the summer. Take advantage of every opportunity to get to know your employees better. Thus, a Mrs. Meier becomes Brigitte and a Mr. Müller becomes Klaus. Many employers shy away from such a relationship of trust for fear of undermining your authority.
- Promote the Job rotation and job enrichment. No one wants to do the same job for 40 years. Give your employees the chance to broaden their horizons, learn about other areas of work and develop the desire to tackle projects on their own. You’ll see that your employees will try their hardest to move up and keep your company profitable when you start promoting them.
- Design your office space according to modern standards. “Smarter Working” concepts help you create spaces of calm and concentration for your employees in addition to a strict workspace. In doing so, specifically address the wishes of your team and together design a workplace of the future.
The basic premise is: Those who feel good will want to maintain this feeling and pass it on. As an employer, you form a targeted component that is critical to the overall feel-good factor, take advantage of this opportunity!
Inquired:
Do you have any other tips for targeted and effective employer branding? How important is your company’s image to you?
As an employee/employer, do you check other company profiles on career platforms such as XING, LinkedIn or review portals, such as kununu?
How important do you consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) to be?
About the author
Kinga Bartczak advises, coaches and writes on female empowerment, new work culture, organizational development, systemic coaching and personal branding. She is also the managing director of UnternehmerRebellen GmbH and publisher of the FemalExperts magazine .
