3 Tips for Breathing New Life Into An Established Employer Brand

Employer branding may not be new for your company. Maybe your organization has been actively branding its employment experience for several years. But an employer brand isn’t static; it’s an ongoing process. So if it’s been awhile (more than two years) since you revisited your employer brand strategy, it’s probably a good idea to consider refreshing it. Here are three ideas to get you started.

Adjust your communications for the younger demographic.

A new crop of students graduates and enters the workforce every year, and the messages that resonated with 2004 grads probably won’t work for the class of 2014. For that reason, it’s important to regularly assess the messages you’re sending and whether they are the right messages for your target audience.

Conduct demographic research through focus groups or surveys to find out what’s important to the candidates you want to reach, and make sure you’re sending the right messages. In addition, ensure that you’re using the communication methods that will reach them. If the audience you want to reach is using Google+ or Twitter, you should be there too.

For instance, some research shows that Generation Y candidates are more likely to try making connections with workers on the inside of an organization where they might like to work, than to simply look for career websites and recruiting materials. To reach them, you might focus on building more robust social media pages or using employee ambassadors to answer questions on Twitter or Facebook about what it’s like to work at your company.

Revisit the basics.

According to “The Growing Value of Employer Brands,” a research report by the Bernard Hodes Group, there is a great disconnect between many employers and their employees about what makes a valued employer brand. For instance, 64 percent of employees say that compensation is one of the most important attributes of an employer brand, but only 25 percent of employers say the same thing. Forty-one percent of employees rank job security as important for an employer brand, compared to 21 percent of employers.

If you haven’t revisited your employer brand for a while, chances are that economic conditions have changed and the cost of living may have changed as well. Ensuring that you are still offering competitive compensation and job security is a crucial step toward refreshing your employer brand.

Rethink recognition.

Take a look at how much time or money you’re spending recognizing your employees, and consider upping the ante. According to the Hodes research, 33 percent of employees say recognition is important in attracting new hires, compared to just 15 percent employers.

Showing recognition doesn’t have to be costly. It can be as simple as management writing personal thank you notes to employees who have done a good job, or awarding a team with a half-day off for meeting a goal. Or if you want to go all out, create an annual awards event and recognize all employees in some way. Be creative and come up with unique ways to express your appreciation for employees’ — and the company’s — accomplishments.

Check out the Glassdoor Talent Solutions Blog to learn more.

About Glassdoor: Glassdoor is the world’s most transparent career community that is changing the way people find jobs, and companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor holds a growing database of 6 million company reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, interview reviews and questions, office photos and more.

Unlike other jobs sites, all of this information is entirely shared by those who know a company best — the employees.

For employers, Glassdoor offers effective recruiting and employer branding solutions via Glassdoor Talent Solutions. We help more than 1,500 employers promote their employer brand to candidates researching them and advertise their jobs to ideal candidates who may not be aware of them. What differentiates Glassdoor from other recruiting channels is the quality of job candidates we deliver and our influence on candidates’ decisions as they research jobs and companies.

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