Branding in HR |
References
Branding in HR? Before we start on answering the question,
let’s see what branding is first. Branding is about positioning your brand of
product in the mind sets of the customer by making it stand out among the
commodities or the competitors. As
Philip Kotler and Armstrong define it, “A brand is a "name, term, sign symbol
(or a combination of these) that identifies the maker or seller of the product“ Which simply means a name, term or a sign
unique to your product is something that makes it stand out than the many who
are common in shape. But what branding has to do with HR?
In the context of product branding, its audience is its
customers. That means branding a product is about reaching its customers. What
makes the employer branding differentiate from it, is the audience of the
employer branding is not the customers you saw earlier but the candidates
equipped with different skills. That means employer branding is about reaching
the right candidates to recruit (Talent Acquisition).
Today the market is not what we saw decades ago. Those days,
it was about developing the market strategies for the marketing managers,
achieving sales targets for sales managers and new product development for
product managers. But now, the shape has changed.
The market is so advanced and the organizations are in search
of highly skilled candidates to recruit instead of recruiting people to carry
out plans. Because that’s what they need to lead and survive in the market. For
example, Apple is renowned for innovation. Hence its strategic function becomes
R&D. It is highly positioned in the customers’ mind as a brand of
innovation. To address and maintain its innovation, Apple has to have the most
skillful expert in innovation. Therefore the HR has to play a vital role in
recruiting the best skillful expert in innovation (Talent Acquisition).
Practicality proves itself. Jonathan Ive, The present Chief Design Officer holds
more than 5000 patents, equipped with honorary doctor rates, degrees and many
more academics along with the experience and awards. Credits to Employer
Branding. Had he not been picked, that might have created a possibility for him
to apply for another phone maker like Samsung and get the competitor advantage.
This might perhaps sound that Employer Branding is all about
recruiting the right candidate. But it is not the whole story. Let’s take the
same example of Apple’s Chief Design Officer. What might have the reason been
behind why he chose Apple among others like Samsung, Huawei, Nova, One Plus,
Nokia or any other? It’s about the brand perception or image you have on it.
You tend to think through its branding and employer branding perception that
Apple has the most healthful, secure, beneficial and reputable company to work
with. And more importantly that will be the reasons he might retain there in
the future too.
K. Biswas, M. (2012). Employer Branding: A human resource strategy. [online]
(2010) Employer branding: strategic implications for staff recruitment, Journal of Marketing Management, 26:1-2, 56-73,
2014. Place and Role of Employer Brand in The Structure of Corporate Brand. March. Economics & Sociology. [Online]. [19 April 2019]. Available from: https://www.economics-sociology.eu/files/16_30_Mokina.pdf
2014. Place and Role of Employer Brand in The Structure of Corporate Brand. March. Economics & Sociology. [Online]. [19 April 2019]. Available from: https://www.economics-sociology.eu/files/16_30_Mokina.pdf
Pawar, P. and S. Charak, D. (2015). Employee Value Proposition leading to employer brand. International Journal of Management Research & Review, [online] Volume 5(Issue 12), pp.1195-1203
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2011). Principles of Marketing. 14th ed. New Jersey USA: Pearson, p.231.
Apple. (2019). Apple Leadership - Jonathan Ive. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/leadership/jonathan-ive/ [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].
Apple's
employee recruiting video. (2019). [image] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9SK052cF3c [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].
Beamery. 2017. The 5 Most Unique Employer Branding Campaigns. [ONLINE] Available at: https://beamery.com/blog/employer-branding-campaigns. [Accessed 27 April 2019].
Beamery. 2017. The 5 Most Unique Employer Branding Campaigns. [ONLINE] Available at: https://beamery.com/blog/employer-branding-campaigns. [Accessed 27 April 2019].
is organizational brand and employee branding same and when the organizational brand value increases, employer brand also increases simultaneously and attracts talents in the market?
ReplyDeleteHi Mafaz, Employee branding is about influencing the behaviour of the employees that includes aligning the behaviour of the employee or the point of view with organizational image which the organization wants to project to its customers. Employee branding is a strategy of practice. The corporate brand is an image of the company that exists in the minds of
ReplyDeleteinternal and external stakeholders. Therefore we can see a closer relationship between two concepts but do not carry exactly the same. In response to your latter question, there is a positive correlation between employer brand and organizational brand (Corporate brand). When the corporate brand is high with its values, it attracts more talents in the market as it increases the employer brand.
Could there be a small impact on employer branding, if employee branding is not carried out genuinely? Flip side of the coin. Once an employee faces a situation where the employer contract has been breached, wouldn’t it have some impact on the employer branding? And would the impact of this situation, supersede the positive correlation between employer branding
Deleteand employee branding situation?
Word of mouth through referrals creates a considerable impact on employee branding. Therefore HR managers should establish employee referral programs to address this. (Wilden et al.,2010)
ReplyDeleteNaturally corporate brand also plays a major role in employer branding.
Brand equity is the set of assets and liabilities related with a brand, such as resistant the positive image of Coca Cola in terms of recreational beverage, or its negative image in terms of health and the consumption of sugar. Brand equity management is going to be a very important component of corporate strategy (Tanya, 2015).
ReplyDeleteA great company culture including positive relationships with colleagues, managers and company’s leaders. Massage should be clearly delivered company culture is characterized by trust, collaboration, team spirit, and support.
ReplyDeleteKrishna, M.(2018) Employer Branding on Social Media:Bestbeamples.HR Bliog and Resources [Online].available at < https://medium.com/hr-blog-resources/employer-branding-on-social-media-best-examples-84fec1f535e4.>.[Accessed on 25 April 2019].
The positive outcomes of employer brand is explained by Gaddam (2008) through an ‘Employer brand model’. He explains, employer brand has the power to influence employee commitment, retention , performance, satisfaction, attraction and loyalty.
ReplyDeleteThere are some benefits of employer branding. First of all it creates attractions. 75% people they apply for a job based on the employer branding. This attraction leads to get the best people for the organization. The next is the engagement. When the employer branding or image is high, there employees seek to have engaged in achieving both the personal and organizational goals. The next is employee retention. When it comes to employee retentions, it is a huge challenge and the employer branding also a factor that influences the employee retention. The next benefit is strategic cohesiveness. This means, employee branding or image leads to have proper communication on strategies that what should be achieved and how. Another benefit is better bottom line. This simply means, employer branding leads to employees to be happy. When employees are happy they make the customers happy and when customers are happy it leads to better bottom line (Adams).
ReplyDeleteAdam (2017) A How- to guild to employer branding. Adam [Online]. Available at https://www.weareadam.com/content/uploads/2017/09/A-How-to-Guide-to-Employer-Branding.pdf. Accessed on 26th April 2019.
An effective employer branding will make organization more unique and differentiate from their rivals. challenge is attracting and retaining the right kind of talent. since competitors also striving to sustain their brand. (McAuley,J 2019)
ReplyDeleteKotler (1991) defines a brand as “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of seller and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler, 1991:442).
ReplyDeleteKotler, P. H. 1991, Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, and Control, 8th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Inc.
Employer brand can be a challenge as well as an opportunity for HR executives to effectively deliver their functions, let it be attracting best talent, recruiting them and even retaining them with less effort (Evans, 2016).
ReplyDeleteEvans, R. (2016). The Talent Magnet: Employer Branding & Recruitment Marketing Strategies to Attract Millennial Talent. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Organizations should understand the concept of employer branding. It is the key element that show how they differentiate themselves from competitors ( Ito, Brotherhood, & McFarland, 2013). employer branding also improve organizational performance within the context of HR in areas such as recruitment, retention, and engagement, by allowing them to differentiate themselves from competitor (Chhabra & Sharma 2014; Russell & Brannan, 2016). If done correctly, employer branding has the ability to retain the best people by providing an environment that allows employees to live the brand through various aspects such as training and progression.
ReplyDeleteDeveloping and investing in a strong employer brand that resonates with today’s employees from different generations can be daunting, but not impossible. How to improve the value of your employer brand? Read more here: https://www.randstad.com.my/workforce-insights/employer-brand/a-simple-mindset-shift-will-transform-your-employer-brand/
ReplyDeleteWhen developing their employer brand, a lot of organisations focus on telling a good story, without thinking about what lies behind that. In reality, what really counts is engaging with employees, creating a great place to work, and living up to your promises. Read: learning from the leaders: 5 ways to enhance your employer brand.
ReplyDeleteYour blog provided us with valuable information to work with. Each & every tips of your post are awesome. Thanks a lot for sharing. Keep blogging.. human resource
ReplyDelete