Employment Branding

Employment Branding is a targeted, long-term strategy designed to manage the awareness and perceptions of employees, applicants and related stakeholders with regards to employment with North Carolina. Branding is the process of creating an image of being a "great place to work" in the minds of the target audience of applicants and employees. Employment branding is a tool designed to provide a steady flow of applicants for all jobs over a long period of time. Because it also builds the image of the organization among employees, it also has an impact on employee retention. In "Strategic Employment Branding: Achieving Competitive Advantage in the Labor Market " Jeff Hodes says:

"The goal of employment branding is to create an effective "employment brand", a package of employment attributes that is readily identified with the company, and that serves to attract and retain a desirable workforce. According to London-based People in Business, one of the early consultancies to work on employment branding, this package of attributes consists of "functional, economic and psychological benefits of working for a company."

A brand makes a specific promise of value that is differentiable from the rest of the marketplace. Although branding is built through effective communications using methods such as logos, tag lines, jingles, etc., it is ultimately intangible — existing in the minds of the target audience.

In terms of branding, there Is the "brand promise" (making sure that we deliver what we say we will) and "brand awareness" (making sure that potential applicants know we are out there).

The Branding Process

Building an employment brand is a complex initiative, requiring a long-term transformation to realize intended benefits.

Branding is a means to ensure a unique employment experience and to cultivate meaningful connections with talent. An employment brand communicates and influences the labor market's perception of your agency or university's employment value proposition (EVP).

Branding:

is a long, complicated process — a comprehensive study — that should include the efforts of all employees in the organization, from all levels.
combines marketing, communications and technology with the intention to give your organization greater visibility.
includes the process of defining the targeted audience.
requires skills in marketing, advertising, issue management and public relations.

Benefits of Implementing an Employee Branding Program

The benefits of branding are: improved recruiting, retention, employee satisfaction and pride, management practices (as a result of benchmarking and sharing of best practices which increases innovation and productivity), increased media exposure due to being on "best-place-to-work lists", and increased word of mouth exposure. Further, branding:

showcases your organization and highlights organization as a great place to work.
gives your organization a distinctive competitive edge in the labor market.
improves recruitment and retention.
builds a positive image of your organization and motivates potential "best" applicants to apply for jobs there.
increases employee satisfaction and pride in being an employee of your organization.
develops a deeper understanding of the leadership perception of the current and desired employment experience.
creates improved/increased/effective relationships between managers and employees.
promotes management practices that are respected by employees (values/goals of organization are promoted, modeled and reinforced).
helps sustain growth, accommodates attrition and adds new skills and talents to your organization.
helps maintain and/or improve diversity in the workforce.

Implementation Steps:

Implementation of an employment brand involves four steps:

Implementing a Marketing Campaign

Branding is an on-going process. There are many activities that your organization might use to enhance and promote your brand. When undertaken with the support an active public relations program, these steps build and promote brand awareness.