What Internal Comms can do for employer branding when candidates sit at home?

“The greatest gift you can give your team: clarity, communication, and pulling people together around a shared mission.” ~ Anne Sweeny, Former chair and president at Walt Disney Co.

This quote sums up the significance of business communication for an organisation. Business communication has two main types. The first is external communication or what the business communicates to its audience or people external to the company. The second is internal communications; it refers to the sharing of information about the business with the employees of the company. However, in several areas, both internal and external communication need to work together.

One such area is employer branding!

Employer branding is what the brand communicates about itself outside the organisation. And, internal communication within the organisation can have a huge impact on the message that the brand conveys.

Importance of employer branding

Employer branding helps a business get recognition and boost brand awareness. It is vital for HR professionals because of the following reasons:

• Attracts top talent: An employer brand provides a glimpse of the work culture and other aspects of the organisation to candidates. A reliable brand will attract more candidates and give you a wider choice of talent.
• Helps retain employees: Employees who work for businesses that foster a healthy work culture are motivated and invested and are less likely to leave the organisation.
• Reduces cost per hire: If your business has a good reputation in the market and is considered a good brand, you will not need to spend time, money and resources trying to hire the right talent. Candidates will approach you to apply for vacant positions.
• Builds trust: A brand that shares information about itself through various channels elicits trust and helps attract and retain employees.

How to build a great employer brand with internal communication

Define your company’s values

The first step in building an employer brand is to define who you are, what your brand stands for, the company values your brand fosters, etc. These should be communicated internally to all employees, whether they are working from home or from the office. It is important to align your employees with your brand’s values.

Establish EVP

Another important aspect is establishing your EVP (Employee Value Proposition). EVP is essentially what the brand offers its employees in return for the skills, experience and capabilities the employees offer the organisation. EVP is a critical factor for both employers and employees. It also helps to attract candidates and customers.

Create personalised employee experience

The EVP, values, mission and culture of your company help to bring all employees together towards the company’s goals. While communicating these is important, it is equally crucial to provide personalised experiences to your employees, irrespective of their location.

Seamless communication

Establishing seamless communication channels, especially with remote workers, is essential. It not only facilitates collaboration and streamlines teamwork but also helps employer branding. Hence, you must invest in the right tools or platforms.

Employee engagement

You must work to increase employee-to-employee communication and include employee engagement programmes to build a healthy work culture that reflects on your brand.

Encourage feedback

Encourage your employees to give feedback about their experiences. This will help you assess whether your employee engagement efforts are getting the desired results or not. An open and judgement-free work environment enables employees to share their views. You can also create strategies such as anonymous polls to get the opinion of proposed changes in the organisation.

Keep your employees updated

Make sure that you keep your employees updated on what the organisation is working on or what it proposes to do with effective internal communication. You can communicate with your employees who are working in the office or remotely through various channels like email and instant messaging or through messaging apps like Slack.

Make your employees feel valued

Acknowledge the achievements of your employees. You can use internal communication channels like email newsletters, bulletins, etc., to highlight the achievements of your employees. This will motivate the concerned employees and others to strive for and achieve more.

Conclusion

Employer branding is what you communicate about your brand outside the organisation. To become an authentic brand, it is important for you to “live” the values you communicate within the organisation. You can build a strong employee brand by establishing your values and fostering an organisational culture where those values thrive. Internal communication is the key element that helps propagate the culture across the organisation to all employees, irrespective of their physical location.

Resources:

• textline.com