First impressions are everything; just ask the 75% of job seekers who consider a company’s employer brand a key factor in submitting their application. When companies don’t invest time and resources to improve their employer brand, they miss out on high-end talent. That includes the people in your company! Improving your employer brand can reduce turnover by 28%. Heard enough? Then let’s get your employer brand on track. 

Your company’s employer brand impacts everything from who will work for you, how long they’ll work for you, and even who would consider doing business with you. That’s why it requires constant upkeep. However, only 44% of organizations track the impact of their employer brand. If a company isn’t paying attention to those results, odds are they aren’t approaching their employer brand strategically overall. That needs to change. 

In this blog, we’ll lay out several strategies to improve your company’s employer brand. Applying these principles will bring you one step closer to being the kind of business people clamor to work for and with. 

1. Assess your employee experience

Your employees’ day-to-day experiences are the backbone of your employer brand. That means you need an honest assessment of your company’s employee experience. Anonymous employee surveys make gathering honest feedback easier. 

Encourage your employees to provide constructive feedback about benefits, learning and training opportunities, career advancement, company values, and more. If the results are largely positive, that’s great! But keep digging. What makes your benefits awesome? What could make them even better? Once you get the information, get ready to apply your employee engagement survey results. 

2. Invest in your employee experience

Once you understand how your employees feel about your workplace, see how you can improve it. For example, do they want better benefits? Are there issues of pay equity that were previously unnoticed? Whatever issues you uncovered about the employee experience at your company should be addressed. This shows that you care about the people on your payroll. 

It also presents you with a powerful employer brand moment. If you do, for example, improve your benefits offerings, don’t be afraid to highlight the new packages in job postings. Prospective candidates want to work for businesses that take employee feedback seriously and look to improve their workplace. 

3. Put your company’s values front and center

What does your company stand for? Job seekers are dying to know. In fact, they’re ready to put their money where their mouths are when it comes to working for values-driven companies. For example, 54% of workers would take a pay cut to work for a company that shares their values. 

The pandemic pushed along a shift that had been bubbling up for a while now. For example, Gartner found that the pandemic caused 56% of people to want to contribute more to society. What if your business could play a part in that? It would undoubtedly be attractive for prospective employees, but it would also improve the sense of community and pride your current employees have. 

Surely, your company has core values that drive what you do. Consider what they are and how you live them every day as an organization. That alone is huge for your employer brand. 

4. Showcase your people, and their experiences 

Odds are, you have some incredible folks doing top-notch work for your business day in and out. The world should know about them! Employee spotlights on social media are one way to let people know what it’s like to work for your business. Passionate employees are one of the best sources of goodwill your company can ask for. 

In addition to outward expressions of appreciation, make sure to turn that attention inside too. Celebrate your employees internally when they succeed. Creating a culture of appreciation internally and externally is very important to your employer brand. 

5. Refine your recruiting process

Create a thoughtful, respectful recruiting process that leaves candidates feeling good about your business, no matter the outcome. Generally, that process requires transparency and respect for the time people spend on your recruiting process. 

How long does it take to get back to candidates? Are you ghosting interviewees who don’t get the job? Be prompt and courteous with your communications. A simple, kind rejection email or call can go a long way toward a more positive candidate experience. 

Moreover, see how you can inject further transparency into the process. Often that looks like salaries and benefits in job postings, but you can take that even further. For example, some companies have found success by offering candidates insights into what they should expect from each interview. That may seem counterintuitive, but it deepens your talent pool and makes your business look great. 

Finally, 80% of job seekers look for work on social media. If your recruiters aren’t taking advantage of social media, they need to get started immediately. In addition to helping find great candidates, it also gives your business more voices singing your praises online. That’s a powerful asset for your employer brand.

6. Be active online

Those employee spotlights are just one piece of dedicated digital strategy for your business. Regularly schedule content on social media to showcase your business, values, and people. Ensure your website reflects the most up-to-date, accurate vision of what your company cares about and does. Additionally, stay on top of your presence on platforms like Glassdoor.

It’s easy to be cynical about negative Glassdoor reviews, but your power to change or remove them is minimal. Instead, take the time to respond constructively to all reviews, positive and negative. 70% of people change their minds about a business when they see they’ve responded to negative reviews with a level head. Simply engaging on your platforms can be huge for your employer brand. 

7. Encourage employees to advocate for your company

As stated above, employees are the best voice for your company’s employee experience and employer brand. So encourage your team to share how they feel about your business online. Perhaps that’s the occasional appreciation post on LinkedIn, but you have to give them something to be excited about too. For example, some companies get waves of great feedback online when they offer employees something like a week off to recharge. Additionally, ask employees, and even interviewees, to leave reviews on Glassdoor. 

ADDA can boost your employer brand

Improving your employer brand takes more than some happy social posts. You need a full-scale commitment to boosting employee engagement and refining people processes to create long-term momentum for your company. ADDA’s consultants know how to build an employer brand that attracts great talent and keeps them around for the long haul. If you want to improve your employer brand, schedule a call today.