Employer Branding. How to make your company an attractive employer

Proyecto de Trabajo , 2008 , 34 Páginas , Calificación: 1.0

Gestión de recursos humanos - Marca Empleadora

This paper offers a guideline for implementation in business practice. With regard to medium-sized companies, I will focus on the building blocks and success factors of sustainable strategy development.

In my further approach, I will first clarify the term employer branding, distinguish it from other terms and introduce it with the help of a recognized definition. In a second step, I will explain the goals and areas of impact of employer branding as well as the associated positive benefits. In the following chapter, I will then explain how to proceed with systematic planning and implementation and what should be taken into account. From this, I will once again highlight and deepen the most important factors critical to success. Finally, based on summarizing considerations, I will give an outlook on the importance of the topic for personnel development.

This project work answers the following questions:
1. why employer branding? -> reason and objective
2. what is employer branding? -> conceptual delimitation and definition
3. what does employer branding want? -> Goals and impact dimensions
4. how to proceed with employer branding? -> Strategy development and implementation
5. what are success factors for implementation? -> factors critical to success
6. what can be concluded? -> Summary and outlook

Table of contents

List of figures

1. Introduction
1.1. Problem definition and relevance of the topic
1.2 Objective and structure of the work

2. What is employer branding? – Conceptual boundaries and definition
2.1. Conceptual boundaries
2.1.1. Corporate brand - Product brand - Employer brand
2.1.2. Employer image - employer brand
2.1.3. Personnel marketing - employer brand
2.2. Definition of Employer Branding

3. What does employer branding want? – Objectives and dimensions of impact
3.1. Objectives of Employer Branding
3.2. Impact dimensions and positive benefits of employer branding
3.2.1. Recruiting
3.2.2. Retention
3.2.3. Corporate culture
3.2.4. Performance and performance (performance and talent management)
3.2.5. Corporate Brand/Image
3.2.6. Other benefits

4. How to proceed? – Strategy development and implementation
4.1. The stocktaking exercise: Analysis of the initial situation (actual)
4.1.1. Strengths and weaknesses as an employer
4.1.2. Applicant target groups and their expectations
4.1.3. Appearance and performance of competitors
4.2. Definition of one's own employer brand/identity (target)
4.3. Development of an internal and external communication strategy
4.3.1. Internal Employer Branding
4.3.2. External Employer Branding
4.3.2.1. Job advertisements in newspapers and magazines
4.3.2.2. Online job advertisements
4.3.2.3. Career Website
4.3.2.4. Public relations as an employer
4.3.2.5. Participation in employer rankings
4.4. Control and anchoring of employer branding in the company

Summary

5. Success-critical factors
5.1. Overall strategy instead of isolated solutions for sub-areas
5.2. Strategy, strategy, strategy
5.3. Employer branding is a "matter for the boss"
5.4. Brand maintenance begins in enterprise

6. Summary considerations and outlook

Bibliography

List of figures

Fig. 1: Employer attractiveness

Fig. 2: Strategic orientation of employer branding

Fig. 3: The two objectives of employer branding

Fig. 4: The five dimensions of employer branding

Fig. 5: Procedure for the development of an employer brand

Fig. 6: Key data of an employer brand

Fig. 7: Overview of levels, steps and time horizons

1. Introduction

1.1. Problem definition and relevance of the topic

Globalization, liberalization, increasing complexity of requirements, price pressure, acceleration of innovation cycles, stock market expectations... There are many factors that put companies under pressure today. They can only withstand this pressure if they have the right people in the company. Qualified and suitable employees are crucial for the company's success.

At the same time, however, there is a shortage of specialists and managers in many industries. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) and the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) report alarming figures: While around 70,000 engineers were still missing in German industry in 2007 (45 percent more than in the previous year), the situation in 2008 came to a head, according to a survey. About 95,000 engineering positions are already vacant, according to the results of a survey. The consequences: "Every fifth company has to cancel orders, and projects are delayed in every third company," says IW Managing Director Hans-Peter Klös. The resulting loss of value added is estimated by the IW at seven billion euros (see Forster, 2008).

Small and medium-sized enterprises are particularly affected by this precarious situation. Traditionally, it employs the most employed people in Germany and bears the main burden of creating jobs and training places nationwide. But according to the MIND study (Mittelstand in Deutschland), there is a shortage of 53,000 specialists and managers there alone (cf. DEBA: Employer Branding im Mittelstand. Chancen und positive Effekte, 2006, p. 1). Despite persistent mass unemployment, the supply of qualified workers has already been thinned out and young talent in particular is becoming scarce.

If you look at this against the background of demographic development¹, so it quickly becomes clear why the so-called "war for talents" is already in full swing and currently on everyone's lips.

In view of the figures, it is all the more surprising that so far only a few companies have exhausted their possibilities in order to meet the predictable, growing demand in the competition for applicants in the long term. For example, a survey by the top job employer competition showed that 62% of the medium-sized companies surveyed have no strategic basis for their personnel marketing, 69% do not communicate a clear value proposition to applicants and 76% do not have an employer slogan that describes their individual strengths as employers (cf. Eicher, 2008). A study published in March 2008 by BBDO Consulting on the importance of employer branding in medium-sized companies also comes to the conclusion that, although one in three medium-sized companies sees the lack of specialists and executives as a growth obstacle for their company, 81% have so far not pursued a clear profile as an employer (cf. Klein-Bölting, 2008). Why is that? What leads to this obvious dichotomy between demand and long-term investment?

Experts agree on two main reasons, which also coincide with my experience from the close cooperation with companies: In certain circles (especially in medium-sized companies), the topic of employer branding has sometimes not yet arrived. There, employer branding is dismissed as a fashion term, as "cleverly threaded hype of the communications industry, which wants to cut off a larger piece of the lucrative personnel market cake" (Eicher, 2008). For the others - and this is the much bigger problem of many employers - misunderstandings, considerable knowledge deficits and implementation errors of misunderstood employer branding in Germany are to blame. 95% of companies therefore report a need for information, according to the results of a short survey by the German Employer Branding Academy² (DEBA) in Berlin from April to June 2006 (cf. DEBA, 2007, p. 1).

Due to the topicality of the topic³ and my personal connection and experience background to the interface personnel development - marketing, I will clarify the following questions with the present work:

1. What is (correctly understood) "employer branding" actually – and what opportunities and benefits result from this for companies – especially for medium-sized companies?
2. How do you proceed "correctly" in the implementation in practice and which factors are decisive for sustainable success?

1.2 Objective and structure of the work

The aim of the remarks is to have a guideline for action for the implementation in operational practice. With regard to medium-sized companies, I will focus on the building blocks and success factors of sustainable strategy development.⁴.

In my further approach, I will first clarify the term employer branding, distinguish it from other terms and introduce it with the help of a recognized definition. In a second step, I will explain the goals and areas of activity of employer branding as well as the associated positive benefits. In the following chapter, I will then explain how systematic planning and implementation is carried out and what should be taken into account. From this, I will once again highlight and deepen the most important success-critical factors. Finally, on the basis of summary considerations, I give an outlook on the importance of the topic for personnel development.

2. What is employer branding? – Conceptual boundaries and definition

The term employer branding has its roots in marketing: It is derived from the English terms employer and branding and describes the process of brand building as an employer.

2.1. Conceptual boundaries

2.1.1. Corporate brand - Product brand - Employer brand

In classical brand theory, a distinction is made between the corporate brand and the product or performance brand of a company. the Corporate brand refers to the organization as a whole. Its aim is to give employees, customers, shareholders and the public a uniform image of the company and manifests itself in a vision or a mission statement.

the Brands classically, on the other hand, they are aimed at the sales market, i.e. at the buyer. They are intended to differentiate a company's offer from that of its competitors. Product brand management therefore focuses on the emotions, attitudes and buying behavior of the targeted target group.

Also subordinate to the corporate brand is the Employer Brand. It does not contain a new brand promise. The term is a concretization of the core elements of the corporate brand with regard to the labor market (see Geißler, 2007, p. 136). Christina Grubendorfer, Managing Director of DEBA GmbH, founded in 2006, summarizes the question of what an employer brand actually is as follows:

"The employer brand provides orientation on what the company stands for as an employer. It is a signpost, signal and expression of emotional trust. [You] is developed from the corporate brand. It's not a new or different brand, it's just a different face of the corporate brand, the face that looks into the job market." (Personnel Management 7/2007, p. 9)

2.1.2. Employer image - employer brand

A big mistake is the reduction of the term employer branding to the Employer image. A strong corporate brand is a necessary condition for the perception as an attractive employer, but not yet a sufficient condition. The corporate image and employer image are initially largely independent dimensions, which do not necessarily have to coincide, as a comparison of different rankings showed (cf. Esser, 2004, p. 9).

According to DEBA, the desired employer attractiveness results from the quality of the employer together with the employer image, i.e.:

Fig. 1: Employer attractiveness

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

(Source: Vockrodt/Kriegler, 2007, p. 30)

2.1.3. Personnel marketing - employer brand

Personnel marketing includes all measures that a company uses for employee recruitment and retention (internal and external personnel marketing). These measures can exist in isolation from each other and do not necessarily interlock. If it is a strategic planning of measures for the recruitment of employees, which are coordinated with each other, then one speaks of strategic personnel marketing. This is the prerequisite for the successful development of an employer brand, but not, as is often assumed, its replacement.

2.2. Definition of Employer Branding

On the basis of these conceptual demarcations, it can be stated: Employer branding is neither, as has often been assumed in German-speaking countries, to be reduced solely to marketing aspects and employer image, nor is it to be confused with personnel marketing. Rather, it describes the "brand-strategically sound internal and external positioning of a company as an attractive and credible employer" (DEBA).

3. What does employer branding want? – Objectives and dimensions of impact

3.1. Objectives of Employer Branding

Employer branding has the strategic goal of increasing competitiveness as an employer by developing both the employer image and the substantial employer quality:

Fig. 2: Strategic orientation of employer branding

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

(Source: Pett/Kriegler, 2007, P. 19)

It has a dual role and pursues a dual strategy: It is simultaneously and consistently geared internally to employees (internal brand) and externally to talents on the market (recruitment brand) (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: The two objectives of employer branding

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

(Source: Schellhase, 2006)

The recruitment brand is directed outwards, towards the external applicant market. The goal is to recruit the right and best employees. The Internal Employer Brand, on the other hand, focuses on the company's own, currently existing employees. The aim here is to strategically shape the de facto quality of employers internally. With the right employer branding strategy, the foundation is laid for all areas of hr work.⁵

[...]

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¹ By 2015, there will be a good quarter fewer available workers between the ages of 30 and 45 than in 2006. As early as 2010, 58 percent of all employees will be over 40 (cf. DEBA: Employer Branding im Mittelstand. Chancen und positive Effekte, 2006, p. 1).

² To increase the readability, I will only use the abbreviation DEBA in the course of the project work.

³ In the latest Kienbaum Human Resources trend study of Sept. 8, 2008, 83% of HR managers state that the topic of employer branding is of medium or high importance in their company. The study is based on a survey of 114 HR managers of leading companies in German-speaking countries (cf. Bethkenhagen, 2008).

⁴ Especially in medium-sized companies, the greatest need for information and action is and successful employer branding is even more worthwhile than previously suspected: In a study of 30 Dax companies in a study by the Human Capital Club (HCC) and the Technical University of Munich with regard to their employer attractiveness, more than half received the grade deficient (cf. TOP Employer Brand, 2008).

⁵ More detailed information on internal and external employer branding can be found in Chapter 4.3.

• Universidad: WiSo-Führungskräfte-Akademie Nürnberg (WFA)
• Calificación: 1.0
• Autor: Claudia Sack (Autor)
• Año de publicación: 2008
• Páginas: 34
• No. de catálogo: V1222613
• ISBN (PDF): 9783346633163
• Idioma: Inglés
• Etiqueta: employer, branding