Employer Brand, EVP, and why you should care…..

Companies should understand and think about their employer brand continually and this is becoming increasingly important difficult recruitment market. It is vitally important you can clearly show potential employees why you are the place to work compared to your competitors.

What you offer employees, your Employee Value Proposition (EVP), is a complete suite of things that your company offers new joiners. It is not just pay and benefits (although obviously these pay a significant role in the overall package).

An EVP is the answer to the questions “why should I work for you?”

So what makes up your Employer Brand?

Employer Brand is a difficult thing to truly define but typically is made up of the following:

(1)Your Culture

Your values, purpose, your “why”, behaviours, beliefs, practices, language, feel – all of these things flow into what we call a company culture. It is how the company “feels” and acts with others.

(2)Employees

Your employees opinions and actions have a huge effect on your employer brand, especially in the ever increasing online era where these opinions can be shared instantly through multiple channels including review sites like Glassdoor.

(3)Your Corporate Brand

This can massively shape how your organisation is viewed in the market place. If you have any sort of consumer brand, you will inevitably be heavily linked to its branding. This can be fantastically interwoven into the Employer Brand (Apple do fantastic here) but the opposite can occur if perception is, for example, a stuffy old fashioned financial institution.

(4)Candidate Experience

The experience of candidates from first contact onwards help shape your Employer Brand. Perception is reality as they say, so if a candidate has a bad experience at any point, sharing this with their friends helps build that perception of your Employer Brand. Sharing of negative experiences seems to be human nature, and you will already “regret” more candidates than you hire, so giving them a fantastic experience is very important.

Here’s why it matters:

A strong Employer Brand will drive talent to your organisation – various (non year specific) reports suggest Google get 428 applications per job opening. This, arguably, reduces cost per hire.

You will lose less employees – who doesn’t want to work for the “best” company. It garners a sense of pride and kudos to work in a top company.

A strong Employer Brand will give you the edge over competitors, differentiating you as an employer of choice. If it comes down to you or a competitor for a candidate, the Employer Brand will play a huge part.

Part 2 of this article will get into the “how” of building an employer brand…