Reading online articles about how best to formulate a compelling employer brand invigorates the debate on the role of a company brand verses an employer brand in attracting and retaining top talent. Are they fundamentally the same thing or are they two different concepts?

They are and they’re not. Your employer brand denotes your reputation as an employer and hopefully an image of your organisation as a ‘great place to work’. However, the reality is that your company only gets to have one brand and not surprisingly employee loyalty and customer loyalty are closely related. Marketing disciplines associated with corporate brand strategy are being applied by HR/recruitment professionals to attract and retain talent, in the same way that marketing applies such tools to attracting and retaining customers.

It is easy to get lost in industry jargon and definitions are sometimes blurred. Think of your employer brand being part of your corporate brand but having a different purpose or target group. Both should express the same vision and values. Your employer value proposition is the sum of the employment experience. This includes remuneration, benefits, culture, service/product portfolio, people management, management practice and processes.

It does, however, make sense to think of your brand and reputation holistically. Developing an employer brand is not about starting from scratch – you already stand for something, have a culture, a vision and values. One thing’s for sure is that your company brand and employer brand should be intrinsically linked by a single motivating proposition – one that’s attractive to the people you want to engage, sell products/services to and/or persuade to work for you.

A good way of unpicking and understanding the role of your corporate brand vs your employer brand is to think of well-known brands and how they are perceived as places of work. Brand identities like Google, Apple and Virgin have a powerful pull for attracting top talent.You can identify with these brands and imagine what the employment experience will be like. But there’s a point to make – does a greatly admired brand with lots of ‘surface gloss’ mean it will be an exceptional place to work? The answer is ‘no’ if its employees are not living its brand values.

Understanding your brand is the first step in reviewing your employer brand strategy and employer brand proposition. It’s not about who you want to be, it’s about who you really are. Consider the critical importance of organisational values and how well values like trust, integrity and inspiration are lived and breathed day-to-day. Coupled with a vision, embedded organisational values have the power to transition your company from being an ‘alright’ company to work for, to a ‘great’ company to work for. All the other good stuff then follows... happy employees, employer brand ambassadors and/or evangelists, greater business success etc.

So, what’s the difference between your company brand and employer brand? Just focus on what’s important. Aligning the two. Ensure there’s consistency in the message and the values are seen to match up.  It’s helpful for HR and marketing to work together to ensure the employer brand works within the corporate brand context.

Author: Sally Donohoe, Marketing & Brand Specialist at Capita Resourcing  https://twitter.com/Capita_Res   07718 270802