You can easily talk about the brand of your company and the image that is presented to customers and suppliers. Could you say the same for your employee’s branding? Do you know how current and former employees describe your business and what it’s like to work with you? This is a more difficult question to answer. Not to mention, once you know the answer, you may or may not like it.
Beyond that, you may be thinking … Why does this matter? Do I need to worry about employee branding when I have so many other things on my plate? Well the short answer is “yes” and why is detailed below.
Recruitment
Your business is growing and you need to start placing help-seeking ads and interviewing people. This can be easier or more difficult depending on your employee’s branding.
- A good brand will receive quality resumes and many references. The references will come from employees, clients or suppliers. They realize what a good image you have and feel comfortable recommending others to work for you.
- A neutral brand will see the good resumes and some references. People can be indifferent. If someone mentions that they are looking for work or asks what the company is like, they will give their opinion, but they will not offer it.
- With a bad brand, you can imagine the type of resumes you will see or the quality of the references (if any). Resumes will be mediocre and references will be none. Who would want to work in a workplace where everything they hear is negative? Not many.
Retention
As you know, keeping your good employees is key. These are the people who will keep your business going and grow. Having your good employees jump ship at the first sign of another offer is not something you want. If you have a bad or even toxic employee brand, your employees will even change jobs for less pay for a company with a good employee brand.
Customer service
While you provide customer service to your customers, your employees are on the front line. I would rather (and probably demand) that they provide excellent customer service to keep their customers. Anyone will tell you that it is better to retain your current customers. You don’t want to be the company that is competing for new customers only to replace those that have left.
Marketing
Your current or former employees will talk about your business. You don’t know who they are talking to or who is listening. Could it be a potential customer? A potential supplier? A potential new hire? You do not know. What you do know is that what they say could influence who becomes your customer, supplier, or employee. This works both ways: positive and negative.
Create raving fans
What? I am not a sports team. That’s true (well, maybe you are). The fact is, it doesn’t matter. You want delusional fans, these are the people who speak positively about you and your company. In fact, they go beyond the positives to “Wow, this place is great.” This is great advertising, publicity, marketing, and word of mouth. Who wouldn’t want this?
Word of caution
Having a good or excellent employee brand is certainly important. Where the caution comes is in how to get there. Don’t assume that having a great brand means letting your employees get away with it, letting them do what they want, and making them happy at any cost. What you need to do is be a great leader, set limits, and allow appropriate discussions.
Simply put, it’s about your company culture. Company culture = Employee brand.