Employer branding challenges are common to companies of all sizes.TotalJobs recently hosted an Employer Brand insight breakfast, joined by Helen Durkin from DixonsCarphone, Steven Brand from Deloitte and Lianne Corriette from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). It was a morning well spent with three employer branding experts.

These experts joined a panel to discuss everything from the basic definition of employer brand (succinctly put by Corriette as “a promise kept by our people”), to the complexities of engaging senior stakeholders, the minefield of building a KPI dashboard and the Holy Grail: ROI.

In a refreshingly honest and open sharing session, the panel talked through the challenges of keeping an employer brand alive while dealing with cultural change after a merger. This is something newly formed DixonsCarphone is in the thick of with hiring still ongoing.

The group discussed the challenge of making sure employer brand stays a priority within talent acquisition methods. There was a lot to learn from IHG, with its 10-year strong employer brand that is backed by senior management who put talent/employees firmly on the agenda. IHG upheld the success of having their marketing and HR teams partner together to deliver their employer branding strategy.

That said, determining the best way to engage with managers as guardians of the brand remains a challenge – whether they are hotel managers in Hangzhou, management consultants in Manchester or store managers in Staines.

As a member firm with freedom to deliver the global brand in the UK, Deloitte’s Resourcing (Human Resources) team works closely with marketing to build communications and engage senior stakeholders in the online conversation. Still, there is room to further bring Deloitte’s opportunities to life says Brand, particularly with school leavers and apprentices who are worlds away from a client-confidential consulting assignment, but down the road from Currys PC World.

So on reflection, all three companies – each big players in the employer brand space – are facing the same challenges we hear from many large and small employers in the market:

  • With businesses in a state of (seemingly permanent) flux, it is more important than ever to have a powerful, authentic Employee Value Proposition that informs and backs up your employer brand and company culture. This is crucial in business talent acquisition.

  • There is an ongoing need to segment and refresh Employer Brand activation as businesses cast their nets wider to new talent pools of potential employees.

  • ROI still eludes many employers. If you build your brand, will candidates follow?

 

Post contributed by Amy Colaco-Osorio, Director of Brand, Insight & Capability. Connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.