Every company has an employer brand, even without a dedicated team. Ask an employee what it is like to work there and you will learn something about it.
Perceptions can differ substantially depending on the employee’s department, context and motivations. Every company that cares about its people and culture should therefore work intentionally and consistently on employer branding.
It is the strategy of building a company’s reputation as a workplace capable of attracting, retaining and engaging talent: a good place to work.
Questions about employer branding
Attracting the best talent, with the right fit, requires investment in the employer brand. The most prepared professionals will choose a company whose values and culture match their own and that offers the best experience for its teams.
Here are common questions from HR and internal communications professionals:
1. Can you do employer branding without an EVP?
Employee Value Proposition (EVP) Research & Design discovers what most people value about the working experience and what truly differentiates the company in the market in light of its business strategy.
The EVP brings together the qualities for which the company wants, needs and is able to be recognized as an employer: its value proposition to current and potential employees.
Employer branding without a clear, well-defined EVP is possible, but the route is more uncertain and less strategically relevant. It is less likely to create an identity that truly differentiates the employer and attracts the right people.
The EVP guides communications throughout the talent journey, in recruitment and internally, and helps direct improvements to the working experience. It is a worthwhile investment.
2. Can you create an EVP without research?
Discovering an employer brand’s value proposition requires consistent research.
EVP research reveals what candidates and employees value in the working experience and how the company wants, and is able, to be perceived as an employer.
Using appreciative inquiry, the study explores why talent should choose, or keep choosing, the company as the best place to work.
The EVP must therefore connect to business strategy and be firmly grounded in the voices of the talent the company wants to attract or retain.
3. What is the difference between EVP and organizational culture?
EVP and organizational culture are related but distinct concepts.
The desired culture describes principles, values and behaviors that help the company deliver its strategic goals. The EVP captures what employees value most in their working experience and the attributes that differentiate the employer brand.
During EVP research, talent often identifies values of the desired culture as things they already experience and appreciate. These values may become employer brand positioning pillars.
Aspirational attributes may also be included, in smaller proportion. Senior leaders must commit to addressing them so employees can recognize them in the working experience in the short and medium term.
4. Is employer branding only about attracting candidates?
Good employer branding starts inside the company. Establishing a distinctive workplace is a long-term process that makes the right people want, and continue wanting, to work there.
Internal communications connected to EVP messages helps reengage teams and remind them daily why they should keep choosing the company.
Employees are the most credible voices on the company’s working experience. Maintaining relationships with unsuccessful candidates and former employees also strengthens positive perceptions.
Employer branding is therefore a communications effort to promote the EVP across every touchpoint in the journey of the talent you want to attract, engage or retain.
5. Should we run an EVP campaign?
The EVP is a set of attributes guiding employer branding. Subtlety is a key to success and credibility.
Would you trust a company’s claims about its working experience more than what its employees say?
Employer branding helps people recognize the value proposition and distinctive attributes throughout the employee journey, continually giving them reasons to choose or keep choosing the company.
Full EVP pillars and manifestos should be shared with leaders, HR and Communications teams, and others who need to work with these messages regularly.
They are the foundation, message framework and guide for employer branding and the transformation of employee experience.
6. Can corporate or marketing content be reused for employer branding?
Creating a desire to work at a company differs from encouraging people to buy a product or invest. We are promoting a working experience to people whose profiles and cultural fit match what the organization needs to execute its strategy.
Employer branding certainly builds reputation for the wider brand, because the employer brand directly affects business reputation. But its audience differs from the consumer brand’s audience.
Communications should follow consumer brand guidelines to preserve identity while addressing the specific needs of the business and the talent seeking a working experience that makes sense in their lives.
Practical advice for successful employer branding
These recommendations help build an intentional, thoughtful and coherent employer brand:
- Start with a clear EVP based on the voices of talent that matters to your company.
- Resist turning the EVP into a campaign. Connect and reinforce its messages throughout the talent journey. Involve leaders in reinforcing them with teams and in their interactions inside and outside the company.
- Involve other departments: building a positive reputation depends on internal stakeholders too.
- Maintain clear ownership: the employer branding team should set the tone for communications with talent.
Meet Smart
Smart helps companies design effective employer branding strategies by mapping the employee journey, structuring an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) suited to business needs and developing the employer brand narrative.
We also apply our proprietary EVP Research & Design methodology and support changes relating to the desired organizational culture.
We connect internal and external communications for employees and the market, supporting reputation management and brand authority, including the employer brand. Explore our services.
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