9 Tangible Ways To Boost Your Employer Brand

Many of the talent and human resource professionals that I’ve worked with are as much brand professionals as they are recruitment professionals and there’s a lot to learn from the best of the best organisations. Take the recruitment teams at global law firms for example, they have a clear vision for the brand as they’re hiring people that match very defined criteria and reflect the culture and value of the firm.  Boosting your employer brand can be a challenge, in a challenging market. In this blog, I’ll cover  9 tangible ways to boost your employer brand.

1- An EVP (Employee Value Proposition)

Your EVP is the unique set of benefits available to an employee joining an organisation set out in a way that defines, ‘what’s in it for me?’

Create this with your leadership team and involve wider teams in order to gain different perspectives.

• Compare your EVP with your competitors by reviewing competitive job descriptions on available adverts.
• Communicate your EVP to existing employees and promote it widely to future employees.
• Existing employees will promote this inside and outside of the organisation.

The Employee Value Proposition forms a key part of your employer brand and often contains the key elements that people will remember about what you stand for by way of employee benefits and creating a great place to work

2- Establish an EPoP (Employee Point of Purpose)

Employees want to work for a brand that has a higher purpose, especially younger generations. What does your brand stand for? What ESG values does your business hold? How does your organisation protect its triple bottom line?

There’s a particular focus on sustainability. How is your business contributing to a more sustainable future? One way to give back to the community is to support community initiatives. Whether it’s local charities, community events, or encouraging employees to participate in volunteer activities, there are lots of ways to positively give back.

By demonstrating your company’s commitment to social responsibility, you will enhance your employer brand and attract individuals who value giving back. 

3- Timely Employee Communication

Employees should hear from you regularly throughout the pre-boarding, onboarding, and induction phases. But how about celebrating employee milestones, 1 year, 3 year, and 5 year workiversaries are big events as are the other events in the employee lifecycle. 

Software such as Bamboo HR or Sage HR can store this information for you and ensure that you recognise each of these events. Template key information so that it can be amended and distributed fast at the right point to new and existing employees. 

And don’t be slow to keep reminding employees of the great things you have done and are doing. If you have a great benefits package, keep reminding them of that. If they get great perks – don’t be shy to tell them, ‘This comes with our thanks’ so that they don’t begin to take it for granted.

4- Pre-boarding and Onboarding Welcome Boxes

Offering a stellar onboarding process is the best way to make a good first impression. Designed to create a welcoming brand impression from day one, or even before. Onboarding or Pre-boarding packs that include the essentials your people need to start the job, but also some extra gifts that show each employee that you care. This is your first chance to share your brand values and really demonstrate to your new team member what you’re about.

Welcome boxes can include employee handbooks and resources, an induction plan, and key Health and Safety information, for example. But they can also wow your new starts with some company-branded merchandise. You only have to search ‘Google Onboarding’ on YouTube to see how much people appreciate such a gift. An onboarding box creates a sense of belonging to your brand, right from day one. Or before day one is even better! 

Don’t forget to include practical items such as a notebook and pen, a coffee mug, and a laptop bag or rucksack to give them the tools they need to get going.

5- Employee Key Milestone Celebrations

Employee milestones and important celebrations are an effective way to recognise and appreciate the contributions and achievements of individuals. And more importantly, make people feel valued. The milestones are endless, really.

• Workiversaries
• Probation pass
• Promotion or career advancement
• Completing training or passing an exam
• Employee of the Month
• Maternity/Paternity/New Arrivals
• Special achievements
• Retirement
• Children’s birthdays

I’ve worked with many brands to create a desk drop that celebrates each of these milestones, click here to see more about the employee engagement puzzle, and how celebration boxes can help this.

6- Work Environment.

Create a work environment that reflects your brand as an organisation and makes them feel part of the culture when they walk in in the morning.

This is often overlooked as it requires investment but is important for employee wellbeing to ensure the right equipment and spaces are available, and also to boost motivation. 

In a competitive job market, a creative and agile work environment can seriously help talent attraction and retention and differentiate an organisation from its competitors. Post-Covid, a great workspace has been proven to encourage working from the office to deliver the collaboration and teamwork your clients need. 

A unique workspace will attract candidates who are seeking to be part of something successful; and what shows this better than a super-cool workspace? 

7- Training Opportunities

Offering regular training opportunities provides skill development, new abilities, and growth for your team. The famous Richard Branson quote that he penned in 2014 goes, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough, so they don’t want to”.

Training shows your team that you value them as you’re investing both in their future and the future of the company. This can be on-the-job skills such as equipment handling or marketing/sales/customer service/technical/operations courses for example or could include soft skills such as emotional intelligence, negotiation, or courageous conversations. 

Employees feel empowered when they’re well trained and in turn, will look after your clients and stakeholders with more ability and confidence. Kick off a training program that is available to your people or that they can enroll in to boost an employer’s brand

8- Careers Page

The careers page on your website is an important step in showing that you are an employee-focused place to work. By creating a dedicated space on your website for hiring new talent you’re demonstrating how much of a priority your people are for you.

It’s a space where you can really talk about the current culture and vibe that your employees experience and create something that future talent will want to engage with. It also includes the gateway for candidates to see available roles and apply to join and get an insight into the team structure and what makes the organisation unique. Make sure that you include your EVP and EPoP on this page to really differentiate yourself from the competition and to provide a silent magnet for more great candidates

9- Feedback

Create a feedback loop where employees can contribute to continuous improvement and give you insight into how your employees are feeling. Survey Monkey, TinyPulse, and OfficeVibe are tools that can be used for this but you could even create something on a Google form. 

As a tip, keep it anonymous to ensure you get great feedback that gives you genuine responses.

If you’d like more information on boosting employee brand through creating moments that make your people smile and remember, contact us for some ideas.