EMPLOYER BRANDING
CIPD launches a one-stop guide to employer branding
Recent research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows that around three-quarters of organisations that use employer branding as a recruitment tool believe it to be effective.
Given this, and because many successful companies such as Virgin, Microsoft and the BBC have all benefited from strong employer brands, the CIPD has published a practical guide on the subject to help other companies in their own quest for a positive image.
Employer Branding: A no-nonsense approach, features case studies from leading organisations such as the British Library, Diesel, Kings College NHS Trust, Lakeland, Orange and Scottish Power and illustrates why and how they have developed and communicated an employee brand. The CIPD describes it as a step-by step practical guide allowing organisations to explore and maximise their own employer brand providing an important weapon to compete for talent in a crowded market place and seek to engage, motivate and retain their best people.
The 64-page document is split into 12 parts examining aspects of employer branding including:
what is a brand?
how to tell if you need an employer brand
making the case to get funding for an employer brand
choosing your partner
branding and broader HR issues
from plan to practice.
A definition
The CIPD defines an employer brand as:
“A set of attributes and qualities – often intangible – that makes an organisation distinctive, promises a particular kind of employment experience, and appeals to those people who will thrive and perform to their best in its culture.”
More generally, the guide says that employer branding has taken on a greater importance as it provides HR departments with an effective method to demonstrate the true value they bring to the organisation.
The conclusions reached were based on the experiences of the author, HR and academic articles together with the findings of an online survey of 280 individuals on the CIPD web site. In addition, interviews with senior HR people who have direct experience of developing and communicating employer brands also provided useful information.
Four stages of development
The guide starts by outlining a typical employer brand development and communication project plan with its four stages:
Discovery - determining how the employer brand is perceived by all the relevant parties.
Analysis, interpretation and creation - usually working with an external partner; it is the definition stage, defining the brands unique “DNA”.
Implementation and communication - applying the brand to all relevant areas of the business such as recruitment, induction and web site.
Measurement, maintenance and optimisation - carrying out qualitative research both internally and externally to see how the brand is perceived allowing the demonstration of the benefits of the exercise.
Challenges associated with branding
It also discusses some of the challenges that businesses implementing a brand might face and suggests how to overcome them. These include:
Employer branding is still seen as a new concept and lacks recognition as an important element of corporate strategy.
HR needs to “sell” to colleagues their ability to make a strategic contribution to the business in this area.
Fragmentation on ownership – poor communication between departments involved in the process.
Employer branding can’t be imposed – an organisation needs staff involvement in developing the brand to ensure they relate to and sign up to its values.
Similarly, boundary disputes between HR and marketing over who has ownership of the employer brand are covered in detail.
The question of whether a company needs an employer brand is answered quite simply with the assertion that all organisations already have one whether they like it or not but whether it is the right one is a separate matter.
The importance of business partners
Another area covered is the use of business partners in creating a brand with the CIPD arguing that it is very difficult to proceed without external help. Given this, the guide provides a detailed step-by-step outline of likely research costs involved in hiring external consultants to research a company’s brand.
Following on from this it explains how to overcome a selection of common objections to such projects, considerations when choosing a partner and the process of moving from planning to actual practice. Related elements such as logos and building brand loyalty and the broader HR issues associated with branding are covered in separate chapters while the guide concludes with a list of thirty things you should know about employer brands.
A final word
“In their quest to be an ‘employer of choice’, many organisations are recognising the potential of employer branding as a concept. There is a real opportunity for employers to use some of the techniques associated with branding and marketing, to understand how the organisation is perceived by current employees and the external labour market. However, employer branding is not just about recruitment. It’s an opportunity to gather intelligence to help employers better understand what makes people stay with their organisation, and be prepared to ‘go the extra mile’.
By working together with other departments such as marketing, internal communications and PR is important if branding initiatives are to be successfully implemented” - Rebecca Clake, CIPD organisation and resourcing adviser.
“The golden rule is to launch the brand internally, making sure it’s fully communicated, understood and embedded then and only then can you launch the programme externally to see the real benefits. Despite the success of employer branding, many companies still fail to accurately measure current performance in recruitment and retention in order to prove brand effectiveness and demonstrate return-on-investment. By measuring the success of employer brand, the HR community can really add value to their businesses.” - Paul Walker, Head of Employer Brands, Barkers and author of the guide.
Want to know more?
Title: Employer Branding: A no-nonsense approach, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Availability: The guide is available to CIPD members at www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/empbrand/_empbrndgtl.htm?IsSrchRes=1
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has more than 127,500 members and is the “leading professional institute for those involved in the management and development of people”. For more details visit www.cipd.co.uk.