As employers embrace the fact that talent is the true differentiator in a company’s success, they are placing more emphasis than ever on branding their employee experience. With an ever-growing need to communicate a business’s image to both consumers and employees alike, the role of a Chief Employer Branding Officer is becoming increasingly important.
The pace at which employee branding is developing as a critical business strategy makes the role of CEBO a challenging one. A CEBO’s attention to detail and branded experiences can make or break an organization’s culture, employee engagement, recruitment efforts and ultimately customer loyalty. Below are some key pieces of guidance and the skills required to have a game changing employer brand, specifically what is needed for the new role of CEBO.
Build an Authentic and Appealing EVP
The increase in employee expectations means creating an engaging Employee Value Proposition is an important part of an organization’s ability to attract talent. But how can you know what a prospective employee needs and wants? Investing in deep research and accurately interpreting the results will help you will create an authentic EVP. Put the appropriate time and budget into building a platform. Then make sure that it permeates your organization, impacting engagement, culture, organizational design, employee and candidate experience, internal communications, and social and digital strategy. With these far-reaching implications, a new CEBO should focus heavily on the EVP, the foundation of employer branding. (Skills required: Research, Analyisis, Workshop Facilitation, Branding, Copywriting, Internal and External Communications, Strategic design)
Align your Employer Brand Tightly with your Purpose
Developing a clearly articulated purpose for your company aids prospective talent in understanding why employees get up every morning, come into work, and deliver their very best. A purpose draws them into your brand. Aligning this purpose with your EVP will create a cohesive and easily understood company brand. As CEBO, you must ensure the purpose and the EVP work in conjunction with each other. ( Skills required: Executive facilitation and consulting, strategic design, deep knowledge of customer experience, copywriting, Internal and External Communications)
Engage with Talent in Ways that Others Don’t
Let’s face it: lots of employers are focusing on employer branding as a way to attract the strongest talent. It’s your job to come up with new and creative ways to engage potential employees. Think pop ups, interactive videos, storytelling options from candidates, podcasts, broadcast TV commercials, on-campus games and contests, food trucks etc. Get leadership involved regularly ! The point is, keep it fresh, fun, and appealing. (Skills Required: Experiential Marketing, Branding, Event Marketing, Communications, Talent Acquisition strategy)
Focus on Continuous Improvement
Though developing an enticing purpose and EVP is important, delivering on the proposed experience is just as crucial. A company must make sure promise aligns with fulfillment. Top employer brand leaders are focused on ensuring leadership behaviours, people programs and organizational design are aligned to the employer brand. A focus on consistent employee experiences are critical to the brand success. Creating a trust between employee and employer will fuel a positive brand reputation, and this task falls to the CEBO. Through sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, & a vast array of social media platforms, candidates can easily get a clear picture of what employees’ day to day lives are really like so this focus will increase in terms of key responsibilities for leaders in the next few years. (Skills required: Executive HR, OD, and executive coaching)
Celebrate and Share Success of Talent Communities
A CEBO needs to look at how rewards and recognition programs appeal to all levels of tenure and function. How do you ensure that key talent communities see you as special, different, and appealing to their own personal sense of success? Tapping into what drives and motivates individuals to embrace the company culture as active employer brand ambassadors versus agreeable employees is a secret sauce to productivity and growth.
Take the Multilevel Marketing industry (MLM’s). These employers celebrate employee success, leading to greater passion, engagement, and ambassadorship on the part of their employees. Companies like Arbonne, World Ventures, Scentsy, Isagenix, & Jeunesse, reward hard work and success with performance based commissions, trips, new cars, self-improvement workshops, & constant support and focus on why you can. In turn, these employees share their positive experiences of working for their company; good brand reputation spreads to both new potential employees and customers. Their growth in talent referrals, recruitment and sales are massive. They accomplish this by tapping into the power of ones existing talent pool, and their enthusiasm and support. They have massive networks of desirable talent in their personal communities and understanding that power is key to success. (Skills required: Knowledge of Network Marketing, Building and Engaging Talent Communities, Rewards and Recognition program development)
Determine the Employer Brand Legacy
Finally, a CEBO should decide what the executive leadership wants the organization to be known for in the years to come. Ultimately, this answer will not be about a cool careers page or catchy tagline. An Employer Brand Legacy will be about a fantastic culture in which people excelled, felt valued and fulfilled. A culture that is discussed with pride not just within the walls of the company, but in target talent communities, at competitors and by customers. Determining the finer points of that legacy from the outset will be the CEBO’s beacon when building a strategic employer brand and the tactics that support its success. (Skills required: C-Suite leadership experience, Building Consensus, HR leadership and Culture work, Engagement, Branding, Communications)
About Blu Ivy Group
Blu Ivy Group is a leading employer branding and employee engagement consultancy that aligns your organization with contemporary workplace paradigms. Our mission is to help client’s build award-winning people practices, inspire extraordinary employee engagement, and cultivate unique and desirable workplaces. We provide integrated solutions in employer brand and engagement research, strategic consulting, employer brand integration, creative and talent communications.
Blu Ivy Group is a trusted partner to many of North America’s most respected employer brands. For more information, visit us online at bluivygroup.com or contact us at info@bluivygroup.com.