Importance of Employer Branding

Importance of Employer BrandingEmployer Branding1.0 IntroductionEmployer Branding is the close to critical slew management topic in todays flattened spherical business environment. The economic downturn has save brought attention to the importance of people in delivering the fault promise. Increasingly the sh atomic number 18holder lever of a come with rests in its intangible as portions e.g. its people, reputation and culture. Organizations spend millions on their corporate sucker. simply how much do they invest in their Employer Brand?Employer stigmatisation plays an essential role in sureiseing and turn backing genius in the face of a shrinkage gift pool. HR professionals be thinked primarily responsible for employer stigmatization initiatives, with near of the companies reporting HR as one of the key imperilholders in employer carry management. While employer mark is predominantly seen as the domain of HR, marketing as well plays an classical role2.0 Li terature review2.1 What is Branding?It is a flair to package discipline nigh functional attri just nowes, economic value, and psychologicalbenefits so its easily understood and absorbed by the target audience.Marketers today consider in two unalike types of mark off namely extraneous brand and employer (internal) branding. The latter yet to pick up in full speed, has marvellous possible in this increasingly militant scenario.2.2 External Branding be External Branding The image that an governance projects to consumers, suppliers, investors, and the public.An external brand gives information on the attributes of the beloveds or operate to real and potence buyers.It answers questions such as2.3 Internal BrandingDefining Employer Branding The image that employees have almost what what type of employer an organization is. Whether the brand is explicit or implicit- and even if it has not been deliberately developed- e precise organization has an internal brand.An Employe r Brand (or Internal Brand) gives current and potential employees information about the employment find and what is expected of them.It answers questions such asEmployer branding can be defined as a form of the corporate branding by which companies establish an image of services they picture, in order to attract or motivate employees (Bates, 2001).The below provides an overview of the polar types of branding. Product branding focuses on communication to customers about the associations products. Corporate branding communicates the gilds financial results to the s maneuverholders.In the marketing literature, the importance of reconciling credit entrys of the firms internal and external image in managing the congruence of all brand messages has been recognized (Dukerich and Carter 2000 Duncan and Moriarty 1998). not only does this positively influence the wisdoms of these messages among employees, potential employees, and customers, but it also ensures that employees argon pro perly aligned with the brand and what it represents (Keller 2002). This allows employees to live the brand and reinforces corporate determine and expectations of performance among impudently and existent employees (Ind 2001). Ind also recognizes that some companies have de facto employer brands without a formalized marketing approach. However, at a season when the financial markets are increasingly recognizing human capital as a source of value for firms and shareholders (Cairncross 2000) Michaels et al. (2001) propose the explicit development and communication of the Employee Value proposal of marriage (EVP) to attract and retain endowmentsed employees. Clearly, there are a number of variant marketing inputs that contribute towards the formation of the employer brand, from the development of an EVP to recruitment marketing plans, and outputs which whitethorn require advertising, press coverage, sponsorship, word-of-mouth endorsement and contacts with employees (Kennedy 1977 Dowling 1994 2002 Stuart 1999). In this way, the formation of the employer brand image is closely associated with the firm in its role as an employer.In the recruitment literature, Gatewood et al. (1993) find that the employer brand image is a particular(prenominal)ly strong predictor of early decisions irritate by new recruits about their employers. pillbox et al (1998) find that employer brand image positively influences both applicant perceptions of recruiter behaviors and post-interview job and organizational attributes. As to how potential recruits form images of a particular organization, the phenomenon of intercommunicate has been investigated and found to have an influence on employer brand image, peculiarly in the early stages of the recruitment process (Taylor Bergmann, 1987). That is, recruitment get winds are interpreted as signals of unk flatn organisational characteristics (Barber, 1998 Rynes, Bretz and Gerhart 1991). For example, job applicants whitethorn wit hhold employer brand set based on their recruitment materials e.g. an organization that emphasizes promotion and salary whitethorn be perceived as valuing dedication to career (Honeycutt Rosen 1997).Also, Goltz and Giannantonio (1995) found that recruits infer more(prenominal)(prenominal) than positive characteristics about an organization when exposed to a affectionate recruiter than an unfriendly one. Moreover, Rynes, Bretz and Gerhart (1991) find that line employees have a bigger signaling bushel than staff recruiters and that both are conditioned by the feed digest of applicants regarding their impressions of the employer brand image.Very often employer branding is feeling to be restricted to recruitment communications and only be concerned with the attraction of employees. In veracity however, this is not the case. An employer brand explains how the organisation has been communicating and engaging with all of its stake holders be it current, prospective or past employ ees. other critical social function to be noticed is that unlike other branding initiatives, an employer brand is not a true brand in its own right. It is not something envisage and executed by recruitment and advertising agencies that stands alone and separate. An employer brand go forth be prosperous only if it operates in conjunction with the organisations corporate and consumer brands.It consequently becomes pertinent to find a connect between employer brand and the vivacious brands and reflect the demeanours delivered by means ofout the organisation, to investors and consumers. It should be capable to bring out the real and the aspirational truth about turning in an organisation and mirror the set that are exhibited by dint of the external corporate and consumer brands. If there is a disconnect between the two, the brand promise that is apt(p) up to new employees will strike down as the reality of on the job(p) in a very different organisation to the one promi sed.The roots of the concept of employer branding stretch back to the 1990s. However, due to uncomfortable market conditions and a grim recession, the concept could not flourish completely and it has only been in the last five age that employer branding has become a major force.In 1996, Simon Barrow and Tim baby carriage gave this definition We define the Employer Brand as the package of functional, economic and psychological Benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing union. The almost significant role of employer branding is to provide a comprehensive framework for management to be able to define priorities, increase productivity and improve recruitment, retention and commitment.Employer branding may seem superficial from a certain pose of view, since it is not straightaway helping in increasing the sales s and thus impacting foot lines but it is definitely here to stay. Organisations have realised that its people provide one of the few distinct compet itive differentiators in todays world. grave talent management makes sense and employer branding is an important part of an organisations armoury from now on. In order to be able to create a successful employer brand, there are three critical stakeholders who must be involved. ranking(prenominal) management to give insight into the vision, strategic intent, core verifiables, competition decorate and spirit of consumers attitudes towards the organisation.Key employee classifys in order to give opinions on the activities that take place on the work floor, benefits, management and communication within the organisation. applicable external labour pools to highlight their apprehending of an organisation, any roadblocks to success and perception of the organisation in the market. Like all other kinds of branding movements, employer branding does and will pay off.Following are some benefits to a good employer branding exerciseTrue differentiation in campuses from where recruitment is doEnthusiastic and aspirational set of messages to be sent out to potential as well as existing employeesMainting a brand consistency through the candidate/new starter journeyA better understanding of how the organization is perceived externallyHigher engagement levels for the existing employees financial returns can also be observed in the long mellow through efficient employer branding practices. If the right kind of employer branding exercise is through with(p), it will lead to a reduction in the amount of capital needed to invest to bring good people into the business.The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is an important outcome of employer brand. It essentially comprises of the promise that the organization makes to current, future and potential employees. In the process of defining an employer brand, the organizations EVP is automatically created.For example, on a new-make employer branding project for HSBC, it was found that the central tenet of the organisation was t he enthronement in, and development of, their employees. The organisation invests hugely in its people, there are opportunities to work locally, nationally and internationally. Because of these reasons the EVP that was developed for HSBC was Here you can.As mentioned earlier, Employer branding is not solely about reaching potential employees but also about the existing ones. It is about an employer promise which is consistently carried through all stages of employees experiences of that organisation through recruitment processes, into employment and then even after having left the organization. in that location is a strong correlation between the engagement and commitment levels and the different stages in the lifecyle of the tenure in an organization. An employee who joins an organisation with an exemplary EVP will exhibit high levels of commitment compared to if he were joining the organization with a measly EVP. After a socio-economic class, if the EVP is correctly managed, commitment will fall but not as low as the commitment level in organisations with a poor EVP.2.4 Current ScenarioA lot of work has been done on employer branding, its importance, characteristics etc. Firms from diverse industry sectors have formally defined, and are strategically managing, their employer brands. There is no doubt that many practitioners view having a successful employer brand as desirable but there has not been much progress on measuring stick the effectiveness of employer branding. Quantifying employer branding is very critical from new talent point of view as an mightiness is psychologically better conceived and also making a comparison among organizations. presently analytics companies such as Hewitt Associates and Mercer conduct surveys for the best employer brands once every year based on certain parameters. However, these surveys are valid only for a certain period of time and there is no mechanism to direct the value of an employer brand at any other point of time.2.5 absence seizure of Measurement of Effectiveness of Employer BrandingSixty-two percent of respondents to a novel survey said they support employer brand initiatives, but only 24% have metrics in place to measure these initiatives. The question was conducted by the Bernard Hodes Global Network. Not surprisingly, The examine reveals that a key driver for employer brand development is the need to acquire talent in a competitive global market, said Alan Schwartz, president and CEO. Other findings of the research includeThe most frequently cited key expectations of employer branding were ease in attracting candidates (84%) and recognition as employer of choice(82%).Ninety-four percent of respondents use their corporate Web sites more than other channels, such as printed materials, to promote the employer brand.Seventy-nine percent of respondents describe that HR is one of the key stakeholders in managing the employee brand.3.0 Research ObjectiveThe objective of the resear ch is to develop a quantitative frame work on employer branding of organizations. As a outset phase of this work, I would first identify key metrics to measure employer branding. The second phase of the study would develop a generic framework which would help new talent and/or organization to calculate the index of a brand as an employer.4.0 RationaleSuch a mathematical framework would help to prognosticate and compare the value of an employer brand at any point of time that would benefit all the stakeholders including current employees, potential recruits, competitors etc. It would enable organizations to understand if their efforts are in the right direction and how they stand vis-a-vis their competitors5.0 systemAll organizations make efforts to establish themselves as sought after employer brands. However, the perception of the employer brand varies from person to person be it a new talent or an existing employee.6.0 Research QuestionsIdentifying key attributes that employees / new talent consider important when looking at an organization as an employer brand.Relative weightages stipulation to the attributes identified in a higher placeDeveloping an index to calculate comparable set for various employer brands across industriesResearch MethodologyResearch DesignThe study was divided in two phases. First phase was focussed on conducting an in depth secondary research along with qualitative pristine research to identify wide range of attributes or metrics which impact employer branding of an organization. This was followed by the designing of questionnaire targeted at nett year students at various post graduate colleges.The second phase of the study further analyzes the collected information to build up a mathematical race between these set of attributes and index of employer branding. The index would be a pull out for new recruits to quantify the employer brand and also help them to compare employer branding of different employers.A total of 3 foc us group discussions were conducted, which had respondents who were in their final year of graduation and could also be looked at as potential employment seekers.The participants in the FGD were students from management institutes like MICA, Lal Bahadur Shastri (Delhi) and Fore direct (Delhi). Each group lasted for about approximately 90 minutes.The discussion carry contained questions about the respondents ideal workplaces, naming the organizations that they would like to work for and the reasons for it, the attributes considered magic spell considering potential employers, employers that they would least be interested in along with the reasons for it. The discussion finally concluded with the means and methods by which the students finally go about for desire employment. The main objective of conducting focus group discussions was to come up with a set of attributes that capture all important aspects of employer branding. Through these focus group discussions I was able to ar rive at a set of 48 attributes, all of which seemed extremely important from an ideal work place point of view. The following are the attributes that emerged from the various FGDs.A friendly and informal working environmentAn attractive overall compensation package (Basic, HRA, LTA) (fixed component)Application of knowledgeBonuses (Variable Component)Brand name of the organizationCustomer-orientationEmotional attachment with organization cost increase for new initiativesFeel good factor with the organizationFinancial wellness of CompanyFlexible working schedulefrequency of appraisal cycles/secondGaining career-enhancing experienceGlobal alignment of the organization (MNC)Good relationship with colleaguesGood relationship with superiorsGrowth opportunitiesHumanitarian organisation gives back to society natural depression formed by recruiters of the organizationIndustry in which company operatessophisticated employer novel work practicesInnovative products and servicesInternationa lly diverse miscellany of colleaguesJob ContentJob content and satisfactionJob hostage within the organizationKnowledge sharing opportunitiesKnowledgeable supervisorleaders style of supervisorNon-monitory benefits (medical check-ups, insurance at work place, club memberships, gestation/ paternity leave)Opportunities for overseas exposurePositive feedback from current or forward employeesProducts (essentials, luxury etc)Quality of Top ManagementReputation of the organizationRewards recognitionScope for creativityScope for lateral movementStock OptionsStress-free working environmentSupportive and encouraging colleaguesSupportive supervisorSynchronization between corporate goals and employee future plansTraining and development of its employeesVision of LeadershipWebsite of the organization operate oning hours/ weekWorking in shiftsAll these attributes were tested in the survey instrument to arrive at the final set of metrices for measuring the value of employer branding.Employer Branding in Times of RecessionThere are various points of views on how recession has impacted employerbranding. On one hand, the thought process says that recession has increased the human resources because of widespread layoffs and thus made employer branding relatively less important. During the recession periods, one of the primary objectives in all the organizations was to increase the top lines while managing to reduce the bottom lines. And this was made possible by showing a number of employees the way out.Another point of view towards the impact of recession claims that it is at these times that an organizations behaviour towards its employees goes through a litmus test. This is the timefor organizations to ensure not to die their employer brand by large scale termination of employment or general misbehaviour with its existing employees. Infact this is the time to step in and make efforts towards strengthening the employer brand along with being able to retain the talent in the organization. As has been noted by many HR experts, it everlastingly easier to retain an existing and trained employee rather than to get a new one. Thus, to conclude according to this second school of thought, employer branding becomes all the more critical in times of recession, making it even more important to retain existing talent.Data CollectionRespondents 102 respondents from Delhi and Ahmedabad, all in the final year of graduation from management institutes.Section 1 DemographicsThe demographics include variables such as gender, age, total number of geezerhood of work experience, periodical sign income, area of management differentiation.demographic VARIABLE GENDERWhat is your gender?Frequency portion legal pctaccumulative portion effectual1. phallic6462.762.762.72. Female3837.337.3100.0 constitutional102100.0100.0DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE be onWhat is your age?Frequency part legal percent additive part legitimate1. Under 20 years76.96.96.92. 20-24 years6866.766.773. 53. 25-34 years32.92.976.54. 35-44 years2322.522.599.05. 45 years and above11.01.0100.0 nub102100.0100.0DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE TOTAL NUMBER OF days OF WORK EXPERIENCEWhat is your total number of years of work experience?Frequency percentage reasoned percentageaccumulative PercentValid1. No experience2928.428.428.42. Less than a year3534.334.362.73. 1-2 years3029.429.492.24. 2-3 years54.94.997.15. More than 3 years32.92.9100.0 inwardness102100.0100.0DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD INCOMEWhat is your monthly household income?FrequencyPercentValid Percent cumulative PercentValid1. less than Rs. 25,00087.87.87.82. Rs. 25,000- Rs. 50,0001817.617.625.53. Rs. 50,000- Rs. 1,00,0005957.857.883.34. More than Rs. 1,00,0001716.716.7100.0 tally102100.0100.0DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE AREA OF SPECIALIZATIONWhat is your area of specialization?FrequencyPercentValid Percent cumulative PercentValid1. Marketing3635.335.335.32. Media2019.619.654.93. Market Research/ Analytics109.89.864.74. finance3029. 429.494.15. HR54.94.999.06. Operations11.01.0100.0Total102100.0100.0DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE ASPIRED INDUSTRYWhich industry do you aspire to work in?FrequencyPercentValid Percent cumulative PercentValid1. Consulting4342.242.242.22. Manufacturing1716.716.758.83. Media1413.713.772.54. IT32.92.975.55. Finance1817.617.693.16. Others76.96.9100.0Total102100.0100.0Section 2 Information SoughtThis section includes the data collected to understand the sources of information used by students to know more about a potential employer and the temperament of information that is sought while developing an understanding about the potential employer.SOURCES OF INFORMATION TO KNOW slightly A GIVEN COMPANYWhat are your sources of information to know about a disposed company?1. PeersFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid17068.6100.0100.0absent governance3231.4Total102100.0What are your sources of information to know about a given company?2. ColleaguesFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid14140.2100.0100.0Missing ashes6159.8Total102100.0What are your sources of information to know about a given company?3. Family membersFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid13332.4100.0100.0MissingSystem6967.6Total102100.0What are your sources of information to know about a given company?4. Online searchFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid17270.6100.0100.0MissingSystem3029.4Total102100.0What are your sources of information to know about a given company?5. Company personnelFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid15150.0100.0100.0MissingSystem5150.0Total102100.0What are your sources of information to know about a given company?6. Press reportsFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid13029.4100.0100.0MissingSystem7270.6Total102100.0What are your sources of information to know about a given company?7. OthersFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid12221.6100.0100.0MissingSystem8078.4Total102100.0NATURE OF INFORMAT ION SOUGHTWhat is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?1. Type of workFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid16260.8100.0100.0MissingSystem4039.2Total102100.0What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?2. Investor informationFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid12423.5100.0100.0MissingSystem7876.5Total102100.0What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?3. Personal experience of employees in that companyFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid14241.2100.0100.0MissingSystem6058.8Total102100.0What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?4. shell Employers Survey rankingFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid12524.5100.0100.0MissingSystem7775.5Total102100.0What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?5. Work life balanceFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid15049.0100.0100.0M issingSystem5251.0Total102100.0What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?6. devote packagesFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid17169.6100.0100.0MissingSystem3130.4Total102100.0What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?7. OthersFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid13332.4100.0100.0MissingSystem6967.6Total102100.0Section 3 reliability compendiumThis analysis has been done to study the properties of measurement scales and the items that compose the scales. The Reliability analytic thinking procedure calculates a number of commonly used measures of scale reliability and also provides information about the relationships between individual items in the scale. important (Cronbach) model of reliability has been used to check for internal consistency, based on the average inter-item correlation.Case Processing SummaryN%CasesValid102100.0Excludeda0.0Total102100.0a. Listwise deletion based on al l variables in the procedure.Reliability StatisticsCronbachs AlphaCronbachs Alpha Based on Standardized ItemsN of Items.874.89248Cut-off criteria. By convention, a lenient cut-off of .60 is common in exploratory research alpha should be at least .70 or higher to retain an item in an adequate scale and many researchers require a cut-off of .80 for a good scale. The Cronback Alpha in this case is .874 and thus, the data set is consistent.Section 4 ingredient synopsisPrincipal Component Analysis has been conducted on the collected data in order to establish a relationship between inter-related variables and to represent them through a set of a few underlying factors. It would help in identifying the intrinsic factors thus, examining the inter mutualist relationships.The following are the specifics on the factor analysis1. Descriptives1. Initial solution2. Correlation matrix1. Coefficients2. KMO and Bartletts2. Extraction1. Analyze Correlation matrix2. vaunt Screen plot3. Extract Eigenvalues over 14. Rotation Varimax (uncorrelated factors)5. Options dissever by size and Suppress values less than .20Output of Factor AnalysisTotal Variance ExplainedComponentInitial EigenvaluesRotation Sums of square up LoadingsTotal% of VarianceCumulative %Total% of VarianceCumulative %dimension0110.00120.83620.8369.35719.49319.49327.84516.34437.1806.46513.46832.96235.76812.01649.1965.81212.10945.07144.2118.77457.9704.5039.38254.4535