How to set up an action plan for an employer branding strategy?

The employer branding strategy is used by companies to control the evolution and quality of their image with their employees and their future talents.

Indeed, the majority of job seekers say that a company’s reputation as an employer plays a decisive role in their choices. As for employees, more than a third plan to leave their company for one with a better reputation.

To improve its employer brand, the company must establish an action plan that includes actions and means to retain its employees and future talents. This action plan must therefore respond to the organizational, recruitment and turnover issues of the company.

This article explains in detail how to implement an action plan as part of an employer branding strategy.

General information on employer branding

Companies operate in a competitive environment. This competition is noticeable in their actions to increase their turnover and when recruiting better talent.

In this context, defining its employer brand and developing it has become a priority for the company.

What is an employer branding strategy?

The employer brand is the image that the company reflects on employees, potential candidates, customers, service providers, investors, etc.

Thus, the employer brand strategy includes actions that affect the company’s human resources and boost its image (internally and externally). It therefore makes it possible to positively control the evolution of the company.

This strategy ensures talent acquisition and retention. It determines not only the functioning of the company, but also its future.

A good employer branding strategy shares the company’s vision, improves the work environment as well as internal and external communication. It requires real know-how and is based on a well-defined action plan.

Why develop an employer branding strategy?

The purpose of developing an employer brand action plan is to build the company’s reputation. It therefore offers several advantages. These include:

• Reduction of costs related to the recruitment process;
• Reduction of recruitment time;
• The decrease in the turnover rate;
• The significant increase in the number of qualified candidates;
• Employee loyalty;
• Improving the atmosphere and quality of life at work (QWL);
• The attractiveness of the company.

In addition, the strategy used by the company to define its employer brand has a high added value in terms of communication. It arouses the enthusiasm of candidates and employees.

The company must therefore demonstrate real internal and external expertise to develop a good action plan.

How to set up an action plan for an employer branding strategy?

The development of the employer brand strategy aims to improve the image of the company in the eyes of employees and players in the job market. Here are the steps to follow to develop an employer branding strategy.

Conduct an audit of HR practices used in the company

Before any action, it is necessary to make a diagnosis of the company’s human resources management practices. This step allows you to know your strengths and weaknesses internally in order to develop your employer brand from the ground up.

The audit must focus on the company’s values and whether they really exist. In the event that they do not exist, they will have to be defined and promoted. The diagnosis takes into account several other aspects (recruitment, integration, training, compensation and benefits).

Then begins a series of interviews through surveys and interviews. To this end, Human Resources managers, members of the management board, managers and employees must give their opinions.

It is also important to question employees who have resigned or candidates who have rejected the company’s offers on the reasons for their refusal or resignation.

Finally, there is the e-reputation, which is the audit of the company’s digital presence. It is done on social networks through research, reading reviews and comments. Corporate culture must also be studied in order to obtain a coherent action plan.

Define the objectives to be achieved for the employer branding

This step allows the company to clearly define the objective it is pursuing by implementing its employer brand action plan. Here are some suggested objectives for organizations:

• Get more applications when recruiting;
• Attract job seekers;
• Encourage the commitment of the company’s employees;
• Improve the company’s reputation;
• Have good visibility on social networks.

By doing so, you will know which channels to use and which messages to use to impact your target audience and improve your employer brand.

Identify the target to be reached

For an effective employer branding strategy, it is important that the company clearly identifies its target. Are they employees, potential external candidates or the general public? The answer to this question allows the company to better direct its actions.

Knowing your target allows the company to have results in record time. It devotes fewer resources to achieving its objectives.

Create a candidate persona

The creation of a candidate persona allows the company to know precisely the profile of its target. Also, this step reveals the type of information that the company must look for to quickly identify its target.

To define the candidate persona, here are the elements to consider:

• The identity of the target;
• The needs of the target and their habits;
• The means to be implemented to meet its needs;
• The motivations of the target, etc.

Communicate on the Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

To implement the employer branding strategy, it is necessary to communicate on the Employer Values Proposal. For this, the company must have content at its disposal. It must choose its distribution channels and the appropriate content format.

Communication should focus on what the company offers employees and jobseekers. It should focus on compensation, career prospects and benefits.

The different elements to include in an employer branding strategy

A good employer branding strategy communicates leadership, values and corporate culture. In addition to the various actions mentioned above, other elements must be included in the strategy.

Your company’s values

A strong brand is necessarily built on a mission, vision, corporate culture and values. These represent the unique characteristics of the company. They help to understand the company’s objectives and the skills needed to achieve them.

In terms of human resources, a company can draw inspiration from the following values to define its employer brand. These are:

• Transparency and authenticity;
• Promotion of talent;
• The participation of all stakeholders;
• Internal and external communication based on real content;
• The valorization of employees who are brand ambassadors.

Opinions of current employees

A company is represented by its employees. The opinions of the latter will strongly impact the perception of job seekers vis-à-vis society. To do this, the company can conduct interviews and share the content on its website.

For this action to be successful, the interviews must appear credible. The company must therefore create the conditions conducive to the development of its employees so that the content shared is consistent with reality.

A solid onboarding process

The onboarding process corresponds to the integration phase of new employees who have just been recruited into the company. This is a crucial step in employer branding.

Onboarding allows the company to prove in a concrete way the good reputation it has built on the job market.

Therefore, it must provide new talents with the necessary work tools and support so that they really feel welcome. In doing so, they will keep the same motivation and produce good results as soon as they arrive.

Learning and development opportunities

Learning and development opportunities are programs that help build employees’ capabilities and improve their skills. By carrying out such actions, the place demonstrates that it cares about the progress of its employees.

They will feel more valued and more committed to carrying out the missions assigned to them.

Videos, blog posts and photos

Always in order to execute the employer brand action plan, the company must rely on different kinds of content to promote itself.

It must not prioritize any specific format at the risk of missing its objective. It must choose the content format according to the medium to be used and the type of message to be addressed.

Diversity and inclusion

For a company to have a strong and attractive employer brand, it must encourage diversity. It must have employees from different backgrounds on staff. The advantage here is that it will benefit from varied skills and innovative ideas.

Successful integration and inclusion of multiple skills is also proof that the company has a good work culture. As a result, employees will be happy to be treated fairly and will show this in their work. All of the above should be included in any company’s employer branding strategy.