Dark clouds still hang in the sky of German industry. Even before the Corona pandemic almost paralysed the global economy, rumours of an approaching recession were doing the rounds. Today, when the crisis is no longer just a rumour and large German industrial companies are already announcing mass layoffs, the topic of employer branding and employer brand seems completely out of place. Is this true?
1. What is Employer branding?
Before we get into the discussion of the meaning of employer branding in the current situation, we first want to give a brief definition. Because employer branding is often still equated with recruiting or personnel marketing. However, employer branding is more than that: as a corporate strategy measure, the term employer branding defines the development and establishment of a company's employer brand in the labour market. The overarching goal of the measure is to enable more efficient recruiting of personnel through the marketing effect and to increase the quality of applicants in the long term. Employees in the company should be motivated to stay with the company through increased emotional attachment and identification with the employer.
2. Employer Branding in times from Corona
Wikipedia provides us with the following definition: "The marketing process is a core process that relates to the sales of a company. This is where the exploration, design and development of sales markets takes place."
A marketing process therefore includes the necessary steps to position a company's services on the market, to increase awareness and thus to win customers. These steps include the definition of goals, the strategy of how to achieve these goals, the necessary measures and the measurement of success.
As is common in theory, there are also different approaches and divisions in the structure of the marketing process. Essentially, every marketing process consists of the following steps, even if they are named differently:
Talking about developing and implementing strategic employer branding in the current situation sounds unreasonable. Budget cuts in marketing and hiring freezes in many companies suggest that the topic of employer brand is high on the list of budget cuts. However, a 2016 study by Group Wolf shows that employer engagement can actually save money during a crisis. After all, employer branding is not only about attracting new employees, but also about retaining existing ones!
2.1 Employer Branding = Recruiting?
A common misconception is that employer branding and recruiting are synonymous terms. But employer branding is much more than just recruiting. Especially if you base the development of your employer brand on a strategy right from the start. Similar to branding externally, your brand must also radiate internally in order to retain employees in the long term.
If team members become fans of your company, that is the best advertising. If the opposite is the case, you risk a drop in productivity or even a loss of staff. In addition to important know-how, you will also lose the contributions you have made to staff training and development, as well as part of your innovative strength and competitiveness.
2.2 The current situation
Currently, the German labour market is characterised by the fact that many employees are on short-time work or have even lost their jobs. Companies are looking less for staff and are distributing tasks within existing teams - logical. This is exactly why employer branding plays a special role now, because it applies: position yourself and your team for the long term so that together they emerge stronger from the crisis - and in such a way that your team will still want to work for you for a long time afterwards.
In 2016, Group Wolf examined, among other things, the average, minimum total costs incurred per fluctuation case due to employee turnover and came to the conclusion that these often amount to more than 43,000 euros per case. Other costs are added to the figures: for example, due to a lack of commitment on the part of your staff in the case of internal resignation or due to the costs of more difficult recruiting after the crisis, when your competitors are fishing in the same waters again alongside you.
2.3 Why employer branding is important
Therefore, invest in your employer brand in difficult times: show your team that you are with them through thick and thin. Clear, honest and authentic internal communication is the key to success.
Strategies and goals are often defined at management level and then given in broken-down tasks to the executive departments. In this way, your staff loses the connection between the tasks and your contribution to the company's success. It is therefore all the more important to ensure transparent communication through all hierarchies. Always establish a connection between the tasks and milestones for achieving the goals. Only if employees can understand this, will your smart goals also have an internal motivating effect.
3. Through Employer Branding Opportunities for identification create
At the latest since the entry of Generation Y into the labour market, German employers know that the communication of corporate values and attitudes are closely related to the engagement of your workforce. You should therefore be able to easily answer the following questions of meaning to your (potential) team:
- What does your company stand for?
- Who are your target groups and markets and what added value do you have to offer?
- What is your overall raison d'être?
- What are you burning for?
No matter what position your employees hold, their contribution to your company's vision is meaningful and motivating.
If you are not yet sure what your team expects from you as an employer, enter into dialogue with them or use design thinking tools to put yourself in the shoes of potential employees. This will give you a comprehensive picture of what candidates want and expect from your company. The persona and empathy map are well-known tools used in marketing to put yourself in the shoes of customers and target groups. You can use these tools just as profitably for your employer branding. Discuss the task of the empathy map together with colleagues from different areas and you will be surprised how many new things you will learn - from the desire for identification to the equipment of the workplace.
6. Conclusion: Your added values as employer
Structured and strategic employer branding pays off even in times of crisis. It contributes to improvements in your human resources management - from increasing your appeal to potential team members to answering important questions of meaning. Take advantage of the opportunities offered by strategic employer branding and kill two birds with one stone: lower costs due to fluctuation and higher employee satisfaction and productivity even after the crisis is over.
Yvonne Willmer
At Blaupause , my main task is to structure and manage complex projects for industrial clients. From time to time, however, I also write blog articles and social media posts on B2B topics that are close to my heart. Have you already put some of our suggestions into practice? Then I would be happy if you tell me about your results.