Employer branding: importance, goals and structuring of a successful employer branding process

The widespread shortage of skilled workers poses major challenges for companies. This makes it all the more important to strengthen one's own employer brand and to work closely with employees to make the search for new talent a success. What exactly employer branding is, what such a process looks like and how you can find a suitable partner for planning and implementation, you can find out here:

Today, companies apply to the talents. This succeeds with a well thought-out employer brand. Intuitively, we think of how a company presents itself to new talent. Not to be neglected, however, is the appearance towards existing employees and even those who will leave the company in the future - with a good feeling.

Employer branding is less about "negotiable" elements such as salary or holiday days. It's more about non-negotiable questions like: What are the colleagues like? What are the structures and hierarchies? How can I contribute? How can I develop myself? Can my working hours be integrated into my private life? Because job decisions are made above all with the heart.

To put it simply, anyone who has customers needs branding, anyone who has employees needs employer branding. Because companies have an employer image, whether they like it or not. It is therefore crucial to proactively manage your own brand and attract the right applicants.
But it is not only about applicants. Many companies also suffer from high staff turnover. Every loss of staff is expensive, as a scientific study by the Fraunhofer Institute impressively found out:

• For example, the fluctuation costs for a qualified specialist who leaves the company after 9-12 months are estimated at 1-2 times the annual salary. For a manager, the costs are even 2-3 times the annual salary. In short: we are talking about a lot of money that can be saved in the medium term.
• Our employer branding helps you to reduce staff turnover by motivating employees to actively participate in the development of their company and their workplace with the help of targeted methods.
• In the medium and long term, this saves you a lot of money: through reduced fluctuation costs, including a lower risk of miscasting and the avoidance of costs for unfilled positions, as well as through simplified and standardised processes in personnel marketing and recruiting.

So every company benefits from targeted employer branding, and noticeably so! Because only with the best talents can the demanding wishes of the clientele be fulfilled in the future.

1. Definition of goals

   Make sure that the employer branding process is individually tailored to your company. Every company has different requirements and challenges.
   Close coordination with the person responsible for the process is crucial. This is where the company's requirements and concrete goals are defined at the beginning.
   A cross-departmental employer branding workshop is suitable for a comprehensive stocktaking.

2. Preparation of the workshop

   In order to conduct the workshop successfully, it is important to assemble a meaningful cross-section of the company's employees.
   Draw up a schedule for the workshop and decide with the person responsible for the process which tools - for example from the field of design thinking - should be used.
   The location of the workshop is also a decisive factor. It is best to hold the workshop at a location outside the company environment and thus stimulate a clear view of the company from the outside.

3. Implementation

   In the workshop, employees from different departments of the company come together to jointly answer crucial questions.
   These are first of all directed inwards: Why exactly did you apply here? What made you decide to start working for this company? What do you find so attractive about your work? What does the company offer you? What do you want in new colleagues? What qualities and skills do they have to bring with them?
   Looking outwards analyses the company environment: What distinguishes your company from other comparable companies in the market? What do these new talents offer?
   Another exciting aspect is that participants report on their own start in the company: through which channels was the job advertisement found? What was the application process like? How did the interview go? How was the on-boarding process organised after a successful application?
   In this way, the participants work out the culture and benefits of their company step by step and also discuss aspects that can be improved in the future.

4. After the workshop

   Based on the results of the workshop, the "Brand Manual" is developed. This clearly presents what makes the staff and the company special and what they can offer new applicants.
   The "Brand Manual" also contains a communication strategy that describes the best way to recruit new talent for specific target groups - specific target groups because different groups and positions in a company can have very different interests and approaches.

5. Roll-out

   Now it gets exciting once again. Based on interviews with employees, a motivating employee campaign can be developed. This could be films in which employees present themselves, their hobbies and their work in the company in a personal and likeable way.
   For the "roll-out" of the communication campaign, it must be defined which channels are to be used for communication. LinkedIn, Xing, social media and, of course, the company's own landing page are particularly suitable for this.

Employees are the "greatest treasure" of any company and crucial to the success of the employer branding process. The goal should be to turn them into job ambassadors and motivate them to recruit new colleagues in their own environment. Freely according to the motto: Find the colleagues who fit you best! Of course, this is also the great attraction for employees to get actively involved. It is therefore clear that the more colleagues participate, the more effective and sustainable the strengthening of the company's own brand!

You should allow enough time for an employer branding process. Such a process can take 1-3 months.

Your partner should have a wide range of experience from numerous employer branding processes that he has designed and supported in different sectors.
They should have a proven and innovative toolbox of methods that they can adapt to your personal needs.
The process management should be uncomplicated and comprehensible.

Would you like to find out more about our employer branding services? Stefan Weder is looking forward to your call!