Employer or internal branding is the other part of branding aspect focusing on the employer and how effective the brand is communicated internally. Employer or internal branding works to influence employees’ propensity to be attracted to, remain with and be motivated to sustain company business objectives.
Internal branding contributes to employee retention (Ambler and Barrow, 1996) by using the brand to reinforce the concept of quality employment and thereby contributing to employee willingness to stay with the organization.
Internal branding helps create a workforce that is hard for other firms to imitate. By systematically exposing workers to the value proposition of the employer brand, the workplace culture is molded around the corporate goals, enabling the firm to achieve a unique culture focused on doing business the firm’s way. ( Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004)
External marketing of the employer brand establishes the firm as an employer of choice and thereby enables it to attract the best possible workers. The assumption is that the distinctiveness of the brand allows the firm to acquire distinctive human capital.
Employer branding is define as the process of building an identifiable and unique employer identity, and the employer brand as a concept of the firm that differentiates it from its competitors. (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004 ).
The term employer branding suggests the differentiation of a firms’ characteristics as an employer from those of its competitors. Ambler and Barrow (1996) define the employer brand in terms of benefits, calling it “the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company.” From human resource perspective employer branding is a three-step process.
A firm develops the “value proposition” that is to be embodied in the brand. Using information about the organization’s culture, management style, qualities of current employees, current employment image, and impressions of product or service quality managers develop a concept of what particular value their company offers employees (Sullivan, 2002).
The value proposition provides the central message that is conveyed by the brand (Eisenberg et al., 2001). The firm markets the value proposition to its targeted potential employees e.g recruiting agencies.
Internal marketing or branding of the employer brand is the third aspect of employer branding. This is important because it carries the brand “promise” made to recruits into the firm and incorporates it as part of the organizational culture (Frook, 2001).
According to to Taylor 2005, Employer branding is an idea that was developed in the last years of the twentieth century as labour markets tightened and it became harder to recruit and retain staff. What is involved is the application of branding techniques long used in product markets to an organization’s labour markets. It is primarily concerned with improving an organization's ability to compete for new staff, but is believed to improve retention rates and to contribute more generally to employee commitment and motivation.
The goal of the company is to become an employer of choice by reflecting those attributes that employees value.
Theoretical foundation and for employer branding.
Selection and review of articles were confined to the underlying theoretical foundation and a frame work of employer branding . Key theories, such as resource-based view of the firm were explored.
Resource-based view came into prominence in the early 1990s and provided a view of the firm that is more in tune with the shifting environment of global competition. Proponents of RBV have stated that a firm develops competitive advantage by not only acquiring, but also developing,combining,and effectively deploying,its physical,human,and organizational resources in ways that add unique value and are difficult for competitors to imitate (Barney, 1991, cited in Joo and Mclean 2006 Best Employer Studies: A Conceptual Model from a Literature Review and a Case Study)
According to Backhaus and Tikoo ( 2004 ), the practice of employer branding is predicated on the assumption that human capital brings value to the firm, and through skillful investment in human capital, firm performance can be enhanced.
The theory of the psychological contract and its effect on the employee organizational relationship provides a second foundation for employer branding. In the traditional concept of the psychological contract between workers and employers, workers promised loyalty to the firm in exchange for job security (Hendry and Jenkins, 1997).
The concept of brand equity provides a complementary theoretical perspective for understanding employer branding. In marketing terms, brand equity is “a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers” (Aaker, 1991).
Customer based brand equity relates to the effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the product (Keller, 1993). In terms of employer branding, brand equity applies to the effect of brand knowledge on potential and existing employees of the firm. Employer brand equity propels potential applicants to apply.
The Importance of Employer Branding
Looking at the importance form the external view , effective branding is universally recognized to be a central importance in consumer marketing strategies. A strong brand is one that consumer recognize and trust (Taylor, 2005) . A strongly branded product than one that is just as good in terms of quality and price, but less effectively branded. A strong brand like Apple Mac computers, its brand image is what makes it successful and able to maintain growth in the market.
Brands are very valuable to producers, From the firm perspective strong brand provide numerous financial rewards to firms and it is the top priority for firms. It is use a competitive advantage over competitor; the brand help to differentiate a product or service from other being offered by competitors.
From marketing manager perspectives, brand also serves a competitive advantage and most importantly customers are loyal to the brands, reducing the likely hood that they will switch to products or service offered by competitors. In terms of cost on advertising, less money is spent on advertising when there is already a strong brand recognition. (Taylor, 2005).
Brand can be seen as a business assets, The brand is said to be a company intangible and that it generates a value. Brand value is the value of the additional cash-flows generated by a product because it is identified with its brand. (Calderón et al, 1997: Doyle, 1995).
Brands some times fail if the cost of maintenance is high. Maintaining a strong brand can be costly, the company wants the brand to have a strong presence and also want customers to to aware and exposed to it, this would involve a lot of advertising and PR and this marketing communications are costly.
The aim of most organizations to develop and maintain a strong brand image , brands have certain image but if a company is known to be selling just one product, they might have problem to sell another. The importance of external branding in securing customer loyalty is well documented.
Employer branding apply same principle of external branding to the field of employment and to the labour market. From the internal point, research clearly shows internal branding is an important driver of external brand success. Internal branding helps to feed that employer-of-choice status that keeps the system in balance.
Employer branding is useful for organizations that do not have a strong corporate brand. Brands like Virgin , Dyson can benefit form employer branding because of their strong brand image and they are successful. But for smaller organizations, who consumers are not really aware of and want to gain advantage in the labour market, they can gain benefit by thinking strategically about their position in the labour market and using branding as a means of improving it.
A well design strong employer brand attract suitable candidates for employment. differences.. An employer brand provides job applicants with a realistic image of what it would be like to work in a particular company. It encompasses all the factors that make the company a good place to work. These might include: bright and cheerful office space, and flexible working hours.
It is not just that a firm has a good office space, by doing these things, an employer demonstrates a people-centered philosophy that shows employees they are valued individuals, not just fodder to keep the corporate beast satisfied.
A good employer brand has another important function: retention. Attracting good employees is one thing but holding on to them is even more important.
A recent survey indicated that about 40 percent of all employees are either actively planning to move jobs or are strongly considering doing so. An employer brand, where the image reflects the reality is a good way to keep key staff.
a strong employer brand helps to differentiate your organization within an increasingly competitive employment market. By earning a reputation for sustaining the same values internally as your brand promises externally, or simply by creating a highly recognizable internal brand.
Employer branding should in act be seen as only one part of a wider process through which organizations seek to build and maintain a strong reputation in the world generally.
Employees Living the brand
According to Ind (2001), Living the brand is about how organizations empower and enthuse their employees. Organizations' need to build meaning into ideas so that employees can guilty live the brand in their day to day lives. This is important if business want to make best use of the intellectual resources of all their employees; to capture the most innovative ideas; to build strong and lasting relationships with customers; to use the enthusiasm and imagination of people.
To help confront the issue if the value of brand is effective within the organization, there needs to be systems of measurements that demonstrate the benefit of undertaking what can be expensive and time consuming programmes. If a brand is to achieve real status, there needs to be ongoing commitment to sustaining and evaluating it.
To understand how employees see the brand and its relevance to their day-to-day working lives, ongoing research needs to be conducted. This will help to determine the strength and relevance of the brand and know any ares of weakness.
Organizations have to define their brand identity by working out what features of the employee experiences are appreciated and what differentiate and employer from competitors. All what organizations need to do is to construct a system that allows identification with the brand and also there has to be the recognition that aspirations and recognition can change.
According to Ind, this is especially true if the identification with a team or business unit donates the corporate or if there is a major structural change as a merger or alliance. Then the people may criticize their identification with the brand. This can result to the individual living and search for abetter one this can be damaging to the organization.
Employees play important role in brand formation. There is a direct link between how employees perceive the company and how they help deliver external brand promises. The only way to align employee perceptions is to communicate the brand so employees can understand and know that they share the underlying values.
The best way to develop a brand that has a high degree of relevance and consistency is to ensure that the employees of an organizations understand and believe in the values of the organizations. (Ind, 2001)
In conclusion most researchers have emphasized on value which is what most organizations need from the employee to support the firms value and be committed to the firm. But Placing this values in appropriate relative positions can be a problem for managers in organizations.
Employees will view the whole concept of living the brand as controlling. Employees values can be moulded to a degree but they cannot be directed or rather controlled.
In the attempt of going into this direction, uncomfortable feeling about manipulation can arise. These employees will view this as been autocratic, people are told what to do. Employees won't see this as associated with the business. (Ind, 2001)
The idea of engaging employees may seem a simple one but it is hard to achieve in practice because it cannot be ordered or controlled. (Ind, 2001).
References
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Taylor S. , 2005. People Resourcing . 3rd ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
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De Chernatony, L. McDonald M., 2003. Creating powerful brands . 3rd ed. London: Oxford : Butterworth-Heinemann.
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Kristin Backhaus and Surinder Tikoo , 2004. Conceptualizing and researching employer branding . Career Development International , 5 (9), 501-507.
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