EMPLOYER BRANDING: A CONCEPTUAL...

Volume 4, Number 2, April – June’ 2015

ISSN (Print):2279-0918, (Online):2279-0926

PEZZOTTAITE JOURNALS SJIF (2012): 3.53, SJIF (2013): 5.085, SJIF (2014): 5.842

International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Business Environment Perspectives © Pezzottaite Journals. 1642 |P a g e

EMPLOYER BRANDING: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Dr. K. Uthayasuriyan4 V. Vijayalakshmi5

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the concept of employer branding, which is very important to follow, as an employer brand represents

the core values of an organization. Organizations considered good employers have a strong identity and a positive image in the marketplace. To be successful, organizations need to attract the employee market. Employer branding is a relatively new

concept that can function as an instrument for firms to position themselves as an employer, in order to attract and retain wanted employees.

Employer branding is a “targeted, long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees, and related stakeholders with regards to a particular firm. The strategy can be tuned to drive recruitment, retent ion,

and productivity management efforts.” It can be understood as a bundle of benefits with specific, at the same time long term differentiating characteristics, in a way that the substance of an organization as employer is central to the presentation. It is

meant to significantly enhance the publicity of the organization as employer, to ensure that employees include the employer in their relevant set. Moreover, the perceived advantages (Brand value) should immediately reflect in the preference-decisions of

the target audience and at the same time enable a sustainable differentiation to competing offers of competitors.”

KEYWORDS

Employer Branding, Brand Value, Retention, Productivity etc.

INTRODUCTION

Brands are one of a firm’s most valuable assets. Brand management is an important activity in many firms for value creation and

communicating value proposition. Branding can be applied in several ways and with regard to various aspects of organization. Employer branding is a coordinated and integrated effort of a firm to create a positive image about the firm as a better

organization to work for and co-create a value proposition to the potential and existing employees in particular and to all the stakeholders in general.

Origin of Employer Branding

In the end of 20th and early 21st century the establishment of Employer branding in countries like USA, UK has increased rapidly in regards to HR’s search for credibility, employee engagement, brand power and prevailing labour market conditions”. The fir ms

include the employer branding activities in their strategy as their developing significance of insubstantial assets and knowledgeable capital, growing economies based services and complete significance of corporate branding. Thus, ccorporate

identity refers to an organization’s unique characteristics, which are rooted in the behaviour of its members. Similarly, corporate

identity can also be described as the projected corporate personality, where corporate personality is at the heart of the organizations, embodying the corporate mission, corporate philosophy and the core values of the organization. Much of the

literature related to the management of organizational identities and corporate brands suggests that alignment and consistency in employee behaviour is an ideal. The application of branding to human resource management involves emphasizing the attractive

parts of the corporate identity that allow individuals to experience comfort, respect, trust and loyalty. The nature of ident ity is rooted in history, philosophy and values. It also involves active participation. Employer Branding: Meaning and Definition

Employment branding as in the potential labour market that the firm is more concerned about image building and influencing the workers as it is a ‘great place to work’. Employer branding is known as a long-term approach focused to organize perceptions and

awareness of employees, skilled employees and associated stakeholders about a specific organization. There are several definitions of employer branding. However, this study would adopt one of the most commonly used and quoted definition.

According to Sullivan (2004), the Employer branding is known as “a focused, long term approach to organize potential

employees, the awareness and perceptions of present workers, and associated stakeholders with respect to a specific organization.

4 Professor, Department of International Business and Commerce, Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu, India, [email protected] 5 Research Scholar, Department of International Business and Commerce, Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu, India,

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





According to Lyond (2002) the employer branding is defined as part of firm’s effort to integrate the new and existing employees

and manipulate them that place is suitable to work and traditionally employer branding has both positioning and personality

As per Sherry (2000) recently, the firm, which creates business popularity, is referred as employment brands. Moroko and Uncles (2008) analyzed the observed features of successful employer brands and performed interviews with 17 senior executives a semi-

structured in-depth.

The General Scope and Boundaries of Employer Branding

The employer branding has eight different components they include culture of haring and sequential development, achieve public

recognition, building a balance between high manufacturing and best management, employees proactively telling stories, becoming a benchmark firm, branding assessment metrics, improvising candidate awareness of best practices and getting talked

about are considered to be the major components of successful emp loyer branding according to Sullivan (2004). Thus, five steps compose the process of employer branding: (i) understand the organization, (ii) create a compelling brand promise for customers

that mirror the brand promise for customers, (iii) develop standards to measure the fulfilment of brand promise, (iv) align all

people practices to support and reinforce the brand promise and (v) execute and measure. Significance of Employer Branding

Employer branding allows an organization to create an attractive image of it as a distinct and desirable employer, both internally and externally. Employer branding serves as a management framework that can help to improve recruitment, retention and

commitment, in addition to increasing productivity and the focus on priorities. The Employer branding concept is based on the conviction that an employer can be seen as a brand. Similar to customer brands, employer brands offer employees a variety of

functional, economic and psychological advantages. The value of employer brands and customer brands depends upon

differentiation from other brands and the visibility of the benefits offered by the brand. Because of the several similarities , marketing research and techniques are appropriate for both types of brands.

MODELS OF EMPLOYER BRANDING

Lievens (2007) proposed employer branding from the perspective of Employer Value proposition (EVP)

The key components of employer branding as proposed by:

Culture- Internal Communication,

Reward and Recognition, Measurement,

System, Training & Development,

Service Support,

Purpose- Service Leadership, Values/ CSR, External Marketing,

Employment- Working Environment, Team Management, Recruitment, and

Induction.

Employer Branding: A Five-Step Process

An employer-branding model is given that identifies key processes, which will work for any employer:

Research: To understand where an employer is positioned in the employment market and to determine the appropriate

action plan is fundamental.

Employer Value Proposition (EVP): The company or organization needs a unique employer offer. The EVP gives

current and future employees a reason to work for an employer and reflects the company’s competitive advantage.

Employers that manage their EVP effectively benefit from an increase in their talent pool and employee engagement, as well as a potential decrease in salary costs. By analyzing the factors influencing the employer brand, and by defining a

strong and true EVP, the employer will be able to deliver sound and consistent communications during the communication phase and develop an attractive, as well as unique, employer brand.

Communication strategy: The EVP is a useful tool used by HR, Marketing or Communications to be able to

emphasize the most attractive factors and be consistent in the employer communications.

Communication Solutions: The aim at this step is to express the employer value proposition (EVP) by using the right

words and images, so it becomes consistent with the corporate identity and branding efforts. Employers should strive to

develop consistency throughout their communication material.

Action: Implementing all the steps and monitoring closely is the only way to brand the organization.





Integrating the Employer Brand with the Corporate Brand by Mosley (2007)

A successful Employer Brand needs to be closely integrated with the Corporate Brand. Core Proposition, Brand Values and Brand

Personality need to reflect the organizational culture and ensure that the derived external and internal customer- and employee-propositions are homogenous.

Figure-1: Integrating the Employer Brand with the Corporate Brand (Mosley E., 2007)

Sources: Authors Compilation

Uma and Metilda (2012): Employer Branding Framework

According to the conceptual review by Uma and Metilda (2012), it has been reviewed that the implications of Employer branding is a viscous cycle, which depicted in the above conceptual framework describes that the Good will of the company lowers the c ost

of recruitment and help out to acquire right talent. When the corporate works on Employee centered initiative and matches the affiliation and ownership towards the company. Hence, it is not a tuff task for the employer/HR to retain the employees, to b ring

quality productivity and Keeping Faith with profitability, which in turn brings positive word of mouth, and this is the ultimate way of elevating the image of the Corporate.

Figure-2: Conceptual Model on Employer Branding

Sources: Authors Compilation

The Employment Branding Model Developed by Martin (2007)

The employment branding model developed by Martin (2007) was based on the value proposition or employer brand image as

shown in figure 2. In the processes of Value proposition were transfers of central message by the brand and what particular value is proposed by the firm to the employees. This method consists of self-audit of firm’s mission, culture, approaches (corporate

identity) and the shared beliefs, behaviours, knowledge, and language and (firm’s identity). Minchington and Estis (2009) stated





that the functioning from the intelligence support level which build by a message platform that is compelling, authentic,

differentiated and embraced, internally, obtained in the external market appropriately and usually brought by the organization. Martin (2007) described Employer brand image as an autobiographical account were employer brand reputation is framed with the

biographical account which is arranged by symbolic and instrumental aspect. These brand integration adhere the employer attractiveness to talented employees and establish firm recognition among employees and also affects the employer brand loyalty

that is positively associated to performance of the firm.

Figure-3: Conceptual Framework of Employment Branding

Sources: Adapted from Martin (2007)

FACTORS DETERMINING EMPLOYER BRANDING

Dimension 1: Retention

Managing turnover and retaining top talent is considered a primary concern to companies. Price (1977) defined staff turnover as

the movement of employees across the boundaries of a company. Retention however focuses on keeping the talent that contributes

to the success of the organization. In this work, the author will focus on minimizing turnover and enhancing retention. Retent ion management has become a common topic in HRM literature, as due to globalization and liberalization employees can easily

change jobs, switching functions and even industries, making it challenging firms to retain staff. Retention management is defined by De Vos and Meganck (2007) as "a portfolio of HR practices that organizations develop to reduce voluntary turnover rates"

(p.46).

Dimension 2: Compensation and Reward

Compensation is the total amount of the monetary and non-monetary pay provided to an employee by an employer in return for

work performed as required. Compensation is based on:

Market research about the worth of similar jobs in the marketplace,

Employee contributions and accomplishments,

The availability of employees with like skills in the marketplace,

The desire of the employer to attract and retain a particular employee for the value they are perceived to add to

the employment relationship, and

The profitability of the company or the funds available in a non-profit or public sector setting, and thus, the ability of an

employer to pay market-rate compensation.

Compensation also includes payments such as bonuses, profit sharing, overtime pay, recognition rewards and checks, and sales

commission. Compensation can also include non-monetary benefits such as a company-paid car, stock options in certain instances, company-paid housing, and other non-monetary, but taxable, income items. “Reward is the benefits that arise from

performing a task, rendering a service or discharging a responsibility.” Pay is the most significant and motivating benefit that is received in return for performing a task or service. It is pay that motivates individuals to go out and seek work. Pay is also one of

the few ways to set a mutually acceptable common value to the individual’s work contribution. Pay can also be a powerful demotivate, if employees are not satisfied with the reward package, it will be hard for the company to recruit and retain good

individuals.





Dimension 3: Training, Development and Career Management

One way of coping in the competitive markets is to ensure current employees have the sufficient skills needed by implementing

training and development interventions. Arguably, learning and development, by general training and job specific training, increase general attractiveness and maintain high levels of engagement. There appears to be two main schools of thought on

benefits of training. The first one suggests that training increases employability raising voluntary turnover. Contrarily the second

one suggests that training enhances commitment and especially job specific training increasing retention. Empirical evidence can be found supporting the argument that training, taking into account varying factors, can enhance retention.

Dimension 4: Working Conditions

Working conditions influence the overall satisfaction of employees and its importance can be justified by the fact that in many

occasions employees leave their jobs due to conditions of work e.g. hours. If the environment is not enriching and rewarding in which employees has affinity for those around them, resignation is probable. In practical terms, employees working in modern,

well-furbished offices tend, according to Barrow and Mosley (2005), to be more positive about their employment experience.

Additionally flexible working, e.g. alternative work hours, to suit domestic responsibilities, increases retention. Richman et al. (2008) have studied the importance of flexible working in their research revealing, "Perceived flexibility and supportive work-life

policies were related to greater employee engagement and longer than expected retention" (p.192).

Dimension 5: Effective Supervision

One of the main reasons why employees leave is due to poor supervision, which can come in form of failing to respond to grievances, acting autocratically, abusing their positions or using favoritism. Tepper (2000), who investigated the effects of

abusive supervision, defines it "the sustained display of hostile verbal and non-verbal behaviors, excluding physical contact"

(p.178), discovered that subordinates were more likely to quit their jobs if they perceived their supervisors abusive. In add ition the concept of distributive justice can be applied to poor supervision, as unfair procedures stimulates exists. Based on these arguments

training and supervision of managers to build relationships, understanding retention management and leadership skills play an important role in enhancing retention. After analyzing how retention can be influenced it is justifiable to say that all of these

techniques aim to influence the entire employment experience and job quality.

Dimension 6: Effective Recruitment, Selection and Induction

The basic idea of recruitment is to have the right people, in right jobs at right time. Recruitment and poor hiring have been argued

to increase voluntary turnover. Companies may especially experience high turnover rates within the first few months of employment. Promoting the right fit for a job by ensuring that new joiners have realistic expectations of their job and receive

sufficient induction training will help to minimize the number of people leaving early on in employment. Furthermore, companies should ensure that the process of recruitment and selection is, and is perceived, fair to avoid giving bad impressions. Hence

including the aspect of recruitment and selection in staff retention is important as voluntary turnover can be reduced by paying attention to pre-employment process.

Dimension 7: Attractiveness

The attractiveness of an organisation is related to the manner in which particular characteristics of the job and the organisation are perceived. Potential employees use their perceptions of these characteristics as signals in order to determine how it would be to

work for a particular organisation. Several studies have suggested the importance of the perceived match between personal and fundamental organisational characteristics and values. According to these studies, person-organisation (P-O) fi t is likely to

enhance the attractiveness of an organisation, as well as the process through which employees identify with an organisation. An

organisation’s image as a corporation and as an employer is another vital factor in the attractiveness of an organisation. Positive image perceptions increase both the quantity and quality of potential employees for organisations. Employer branding (EB) adapts

to the importance of P-O fit and image perceptions by providing employees (and potential employees) with a unique and attractive brand image of the employer. The roots of EB can be found in the marketing principles of branding.

Dimensions 8: Job and Organisational Characteristics and Profit

Several theories and studies have demonstrated the value of job and organisational characteristics for organisational attractiveness.

Signalling theory provides an explanation for this relationship. Because potential applicants do not receive complete information

about organisations, they use job and organisational characteristics to form an image of how it would be if they were to be part of a particular organisation. These job and organisational characteristics are used as signals that reflect the working conditions within

the organisation.





Empirical research examining a wide variety of job and organisational characteristics has shown that a supportive working

environment, characteristics of the organisation (for example, ethical standards), salary, career prospects and location, compensation, culture and developmental possibilities contribute to the attractiveness of an organisation as employer.

The direct perception of fit by job seekers has been suggested as an explanation for organisational attractiveness. To help potential

employees determine the level of P-O fit, organisations should ensure that their recruitment advertising provides sufficient

information about such essential matters as mission, values and achievements. Communicating about these important issues could enhance the attractiveness of organisations, in addition to increasing the likelihood of positive organisational outcomes as a result

of hiring employees with a high degree of fit. CONCLUSION

Employer branding has been identified as a retention management technique yet the way employer branding is utilized. There is a greater relationship between the employee branding and organizational career management. Rising interest in employer brands has

emerged from economic and demographic changes locally and globally. Purposes of employer branding is to enhance the

organizational culture. The basic assumption is that people who like working for the company will become advocates for it thus recommending it to friends and family.

The employer brand aims to influence every touch point of the employment experience by promoting a beneficial employment

package in form of pay and benefits, working environment, career management, balanced work life, mental and social satisfaction etc. Employer branding has been introduced as a method of enhancing retention by making the promise of employment (brand

promise) so distinctive and superior to the ones of competitors that the employee would not consider switching.

REFERENCES

1. Barrow, S. & Mosley, R. (2005). The Employer brand: Bringing the Best of Brand Management to People at Work.

Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Limited.

2. De Vos, A. & Meganck, A., 2009. What HR managers do versus what employees value: Exploring both parties’ views on retention management from a psychological contract perspective. Personnel Review , 38(1), 45–60.

3. Lievens, F. (2007). Employer branding in the Belgian army. The importance of instrumental and symbolic beliefs for potential applicants, actual applicants, and military employees. Human Resource Management, 46, 51–69.

4. Lyons, T. S. (2002). The Entrepreneurial League System: Transforming your community’s Economy through

Enterprise Development. WEashington, DC: The Appalachian Regional Commission.

5. Martin, G. (2007). Employer Branding – Time for Some Long and “Hard” Reflection. London: Research Insight. The

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

6. Moroko, L., & Uncles, M. D. (2008). Characteristics of successful employer brands. Journal of Brand Management,

16(3), 160–175.

7. Mosley, R. (2007). Customer Experience, organizational culture and the Employer Brand. Journal of Brand

management, 17(3), 181-196.

8. Richman, A. L. (et. Al). (2008). The relationship of perceived flexibility, supportive work life policies, and use of formal flexible arrangements and occasional flexibility to employee engagement and expected retention. Community, Work & Family, 11(2), 183–197.

9. Sherry, A. (2008). Put some branding iron into your image. Business Review Weekly, 22(28), 66.

10. Sullivan, J. (2004). Eight elements of a successful employment brand. ER Daily. Retrieved on June 25, 2009 from

www.erexchage.com/articles/db/ 52CB45FDADFAA4CD2BBC366659E26892A.asp

11. Uma, V., & Metila, R. M. (2012). Employer Branding – A Conceptual Framework. International Journal of

Marketing, Financial Services & Management Research, (13), 109-103.

12. Tepper, B. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 178–190.

13. Retrieved from http://www.ijcns.com/pdf/10-14.pdf

www.erexchage.com/articles/db/%2052CB45FDADFAA4CD2BBC366659E26892A.asp

http://www.ijcns.com/pdf/10-14.pdf





14. Retrieved from

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/261993409_Human_Resource_Management_and_Employer_Branding_Sa...

15. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/employer-branding-new-talent-cathy-mccorry

16. Retrieved from http://www.eremedia.com/ere/the-8-elements-of-a-successful-employment-brand

17. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140625194046-52002950-creating-a-solid-and-engaging-employer-

brand

18. Retrieved from http://universumglobal.com/business-solutions/employer-value-proposition-development

19. Retrieved from http://www.uts.edu.au/staff/david.boud

20. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_value_proposition

21. Retrieved from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_value_proposition

*****

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/261993409_Human_Resource_Management_and_Employer_Branding_Sa...

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/employer-branding-new-talent-cathy-mccorry

http://www.eremedia.com/ere/the-8-elements-of-a-successful-employment-brand

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140625194046-52002950-creating-a-solid-and-engaging-employer-brand

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140625194046-52002950-creating-a-solid-and-engaging-employer-brand

http://universumglobal.com/business-solutions/employer-value-proposition-development

http://www.uts.edu.au/staff/david.boud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_value_proposition

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_value_proposition

EMPLOYER BRANDING: A CONCEPTUAL...

Documents

Transcript of EMPLOYER BRANDING: A CONCEPTUAL...