Changing Dynamics Of Employer Branding

Organizations of all types are now reconsidering their approach to employer branding, and realising employees and candidates want to understand the employee value proposition first before they engage with the ‘hype’

- Malcolm Peak

In a piece titled “COVID19 and the employee experience: How leaders can seize the moment” by McKinsey, the authors commented that managers had done a reasonable job of managing the security, safety and stability concerns of employees up to this point, but that they would need to become more sophisticated if they wanted to hang on to their best people and attract more of them.

This sophistication is proving to be very challenging for employer branding, which often previously sought to showcase the physical attributes of working in an organization – think people, environment, location.

With so many people still working remotely (or not at all), the physical connection to the workplace is in the process of being re-shaped, and employer branding has needed to change gear and reflect this new economy.

Moving beyond the tagline

For many organizations, employer branding projects generally focus on recruitment advertising projects. The focus is to create attractive content to use in advertising online, in print and on social media. We’ve seen companies move beyond corporate websites to TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat to appeal to tech-savvy employees with interactive and appealing media campaigns showcasing the organizational culture and social conscience.

The challenge in the current environment is that employees and candidates are now looking for more meaning and purpose and view some of these campaigns with a level of scepticism. They look for more than words and for something that they can tangibly grasp and experience rather than a slick campaign that makes promises which may not be kept.