Employer branding is a key concept to keep in mind within a company’s culture and general strategy if it wants to compete in the attraction of “talent”. Under this concept one finds this imaginary road upon which all companies that aim to develop recognizable long-term value should embark. The objective is to create an identity for our organization that shows that it is an excellent place to work in the eyes of our employees, clients, investors and potential professional talent that we could attract.
In this sense, when we begin our journey towards employer branding, the first steps we take must be directed towards creating favorable conditions for the development of our employees. To that end, we try to associate our brand and attributes of our corporate identity with those characteristics that our employees seek (development, personal growth, success, strength, positive work environment, good social reputation, etc.). Of course, all effective policies of employer branding are linked to a specific market; that is to say that although people tend to hope for the same things from their employers, their value set of the people in question is important as values can be different depending on the country in which the company is located.
Most definitively, if we want our company to convert into a talent magnet, and our employees to feel proud to work for us, then we need to be able to find connections between our corporate identity and our employees. Those companies with effective employer branding have be able to reach their professional teams through emotional channels. Many of them appeal to their history, magnifying the careers of their founders, o even invent heroes of the company that never existed. Their proposal with this action is to try to position themselves in front of the rest as winning companies. However, all declaration of intentions towards our employees will lack meaning if our words remain only on paper. To truly connect with an employee it is fundamental to practice a strategy of walk the talk. Employer branding doesn’t mean judging a companies values, but rather to what extent these are put into practice and shared with their teams.
Clearly, “to walk and blaze a path” in employer branding also means implicating the appropriate departments (HR, Communication & Marketing, etc.) and to designate the economic resources necessary. We need to be conscious and consistent over time, and above all be convinced that a motivated and proud employee, in the long-term, will always bring benefits to the company. Due to the current economic situation, and the difficulties faced by the Spanish economy to create sufficient jobs, Spain is a country in which we still have a long way to go. Nonetheless, a good start to implementing employer branding will always be to remember that our employees value us for what we do and not for what we say. Walk the talk and things will improve from there.