Three Steps to Build Employee Branding

Employee branding can be a powerful force for workplace happiness and proving the authenticity of your employer branding to candidates, customers and all external stakeholders.

But getting employees to adopt, communicate and live your brand values isn’t something that can be put into a contract. Fostering a stronger employer brand can take time. Involving your team in the branding journey, from brand training to implementing their feedback, can help set your team on the path to being authentic ambassadors for your employer brand.

What sets employee branding apart from employer branding?

Post-pandemic, employer branding has become a top focus for many companies, with as many as three-quarters of large global firms prioritizing branding in 2022. Building an employer brand involves a commitment to a mission statement, company values, culture and strategy — with the goal of building a strong reputation that employees and candidates value and that clients are eager to do business with.

The foundation of employer branding is set out in an employee value proposition which outlines the benefits and perks that underscore the company culture and workplace environment.

Similarly, employee branding is the process of your team representing and standing for that employer brand. An employee brand is your workforce embodying the same values and taking them on board when speaking to external parties, on social media and within the workplace.

Why is employee branding important?

The importance of a well-regarded employer brand is clear when it comes to retaining employees, attracting candidates and driving business growth. But employee branding can be just as crucial — not only to the workplace wellbeing of employees themselves, but when it comes to the attraction of new talent.

In fact, employee views on company working conditions have been found to be up to three times more credible than a CEO's, according to Glassdoor data. Some 74% of Glassdoor users also say they read at least four reviews before they form an opinion of a company.

“If you have a workforce that is primarily staffed with people who believe in your mission, your product, your service, and your leadership team, they are going to want to stay longer and refer people in,” Taylor Meadows, head strategist of employer brand and employee voice at Glassdoor told Canadian HR Reporter in a webinar.

As Meadows explains, strong employer brands have an internal employee experience that matches with the story being told to external stakeholders. Employee branding isn’t something that can be mandated, but rather develops organically as a result of the employee’s experience in the workplace. It can also be fostered through education about the employer brand and by other company initiatives.

Here are a few ways to work towards building a stronger employee brand:

Evolve along with employee needs

As positive and clear as your employer branding is, employees are only likely to organically take employer branding on board when it involves a culture and values that they share. One way to be sure your brand aligns with employee needs is to solicit regular feedback — and make changes to your brand strategy when needed.

As Gartner explains, conducting an employee engagement survey that asks workers questions about the impact of work trends, as well as how they feel about their roles and the workplace in general, can help measure organizational trust. Survey results can also help you measure whether your company is successfully communicating it's organizational values to employees.

Another tool for employee feedback is the Indeed Work Wellbeing Score. The metric measures employees’ work wellbeing including happiness, purpose, satisfaction, and stress.

Via the score, job seekers not only discover how employees really feel about working at a company, but employers can also view real reviews that can drive change and create a more robust employer brand.

Put brand training in focus

Getting employees to embody an employer brand also means ensuring teams understand the fine details of the brand strategy and the employee value proposition. This will likely also require in-house education, not only to ensure all team members understand your company’s branding, but to also make sure everyone is sharing the same message.

Brand training for employees should begin when hires are brought onboard, says one brand consultant, but should be offered for all team members. It can take the form of short online modules or in-person workshops, depending on employee roles and learning styles.

The content of the training sessions should be engaging, but ultimately drive home your core message around the company brand and examples of the role employees can play in representing these values in-house and externally.

Create a culture of engagement

Creating a strong employee brand is also about ensuring your team’s opinions on company culture and values are being heard by their colleagues – and prospective candidates.

Social media can play a key role in boosting an employee brand. This involves making company content — including job postings and articles — easy for team members to share on their own social media. Ensure you acknowledge their comments and participation by making sure the company social media accounts respond as well.

Taken a step further, this can include the identification of employee brand ambassadors or the creation of an employee advocacy program.

Employee advocacy programs are organized, curated efforts for team members to promote your brand on social media, with set goals and policies for employee engagement. Participation in these programs can also be incentivized through rewards and recognition.

Employee branding is an effective tool for showcasing your company’s values and benefits to the outside world – including prospective talent. Building a robust employee brand takes authenticity, a commitment to ensuring employees understand your brand strategy and a plan to involve your team in its development.

With a focus on your employer brand and on how employees represent and communicate that vision, candidates will have a clear picture of why your workplace culture is one they’ll be happy to join.