Employer branding is quite the rage these days. Yet, I’m still amazed at what many people think it means to “create” an employer brand.
Let me give you an analogy for what I see as a common and very misguided approach to employer branding. Engaging in this mistake doesn’t just hamstring your ability to become an employer of choice; it will diminish employee morale, loyalty, and engagement.
Here’s the analogy.
Several years ago, a friend told me how much he loved his new Audi, but then in the same breath, how he would never buy another one. This seemed a bit puzzling, until he went on a rant about his distasteful buying experience, followed by frustrating service experiences. Because he bought it from the only Audi dealer in his area, his service alternatives would require a long commute. Even though this car was his all-time favorite vehicle, he would never buy another.
About a week later, I heard an especially clever radio commercial by this same dealership. After it ended, I juxtaposed the “we’re so wonderful” message from the commercial with the story my friend told me.
“Isn’t this so typical,” I thought. “They spend all this money and creativity on getting people to come through the door, only to drive them back out by the experience they deliver. Wouldn’t it make sense to invest some of that money on upgrading the service they actually deliver?”
This is exactly what I see most companies doing when it comes to employer branding, or recruiting for that matter. They invest great sums of money and intellectual firepower on clever ads and recruiting campaigns, but next to nothing on making sure they actually deliver a great work experience that makes a great employer brand possible.
Over the years, when I’ve asked HR professionals and ad-agency reps about whether they’re involved in employer branding, if they answer “Yes,” they always go on to talk about updating logos, creating spiffier collateral material, and coming up with the perfect tag line. They follow this up with their “internal branding campaign” (i.e., trying to convince their employees this is who they are as an employer). Those things are great, sort of, but it’s putting the cart before the proverbial horse.
Just like the car dealership, those approaches might help get people through the door, but if the employer doesn’t actually deliver a great work experience, those employees will soon be heading back out.
If you’re spending thousands of dollars on “employer branding” that focuses on creating an alluring employer brand that is really a myth, you’re wasting your time and money. Before you “spread the word,” invest in making sure what you’re saying is true.
This means, you want to first:
Without accountability, the managers who are in the greatest need of a skills upgrade (typically those who think the people part of managing is “touchy feely”) will either avoid leadership training or, if required to attend, will fail to use what they learned. Thus, if you’re serious about being an employer of choice, manager accountability is a must.
If you do employer branding right, you won’t just enjoy the luxury of having the cream of the crop want to work for you, you will also enjoy many side benefits. If you analyze and upgrade the work experience you provide, if you actively involve your employees in all aspects of the process, and if you keep monitoring and refining each aspect of the work experience (especially those critical moments of truth), you will also enjoy the side benefits that affect your bottom line:
If you want more of the “how to’s” related to analyzing and creating a more employer-of-choice-worthy workplace, ERE.net has several of my articles that go into depth on this, starting with How to build a compelling employer brand.
Finally, if you’re already doing this, I’d love to hear from you if you want to post comments. It’s always fun sharing examples of what organizations are doing right.
