As strategists and researchers we strongly believe that only data-driven approach to Employer Branding can bring the real value to the organisation. Employer brand by its nature is a very intangible matter. This is why we took an effort to quantify it to be able to measure and manage it as a strategic business process.

Our approach has focused, first of all at mapping all the possible stages of contact of a talent with the employer brand. We have based our methodology on a concept of the Employer Brand Talent Journey, which consists of two main parts.

The first one is about the candidate and is made up of four stages, and the second one concerns about the employee, also four stages of contact.

The employer brand and the Talent – eight stages of contact

Let’s take a closer look at what the particular stages of the Talent Journey mean in detail.

Stage 1: I recognise this brand

This stage consists mainly of the processes how well we, as employers, promote our brand and our offer to reach the target groups using various channels, how or if we engage our employees to do it and how we use our consumer brand channels to support it.

Stage 2: I like this brand

It is not enough to make a candidate know your employer brand, you need to put some effort to make them sympathise about it, not only from the client perspective. This stage checks mainly how well we communicate with the labour market and how well we communicate our EVP (employer value proposition).

Stage 3: It is for me

This stage of consideration analyses a set of processes responsible for an employer offer being suitable for our target group needs and how well we target the right candidates. Moreover it checks if we effectively manage the sourcing channels.

Stage 4: I apply

This set of processes checks the application process, how intuitive and friendly it is for candidates and in the same time how efficient it is for the organisation. What is more, whether the application process builds the positive image of our employer brand, thoroughly.

Stage 5: I like being here

Let’s switch now to the internal set of processes responsible for the communication with our employees. Are our onboarding process and internal communication effective? Do they support our EVP? Do we support employee engagement by e. g. well-being, CSR, diversity and inclusion, etc.

Do we integrate our employees actively? Do we offer them benefits based on their needs? All these elements are influencing the feeling in our former candidate, and now employee, of taking the right decision and factually liking their workplace.

Stage 6: I am engaged

Employee engagement is directly connected to their productivity, which are both among the most important employer branding metrics. This stage checks whether we engage our employees and we appreciate them, whether we offer the development possibilities and clear career paths and if our employees development is a strategic point in our company’s objectives.

Stage 7: I am loyal

Building loyalty in our organisation’s culture is one of the most difficult challenges of employer branding. It also shows how much our employees are resistant to the offers of competitive companies.

At this point we assess the reasons why our employees leave the company, the employee awareness of the impact their jobs have on the entire company’s results and also the transparency of the remuneration system and benefits.

Stage 8: I recommend it to others

The last but not least is referring your employer brand to other people, friends, colleagues, family.  The recommendation is the highest form of engagement, since only the happy employee will refer our employer brand to others. This stage analyses if we monitor the employee referrals in our company and if we support them with the right procedures, tools and incentives.

Over 500 metrics that rule employer branding

Once we divided the Talent’s contact with our employer brand into stages, let’s think of what builds up each of them.

The Employer Branding Institute has conducted over 150 strategic EB projects for the biggest brands across all the industries and analysed over 400 case studies of the best practices across the globe.

This amount of data allowed to generate an exhaustive list of the elements, metrics, and processes, which construct and influence the employer brand. The list, verified and updated over time, has grown up to over 520 metrics and 250 organisational processes!

What is the relation of his amount of data to the Talent Journey concept? Practically, this means that “I apply” stage alone is influenced by over a 100 indicators.

Knowledge-baked tools to support employer brands

The knowledge and experience gathered over years allowed to create a professional, fully data-based tool for employer brand audit and strategic management called EBnavi.

EBnavi is a Sotfware-as-a-Service type of platform that allows your brand to get audited and thanks to the algorithms and strong know-how it generates for you a strategic report almost immediately.

EBnavi has helped already over 40 big brands to establish their KPIs and strategic direction of employer branding activities and thanks to this to attract talents and retain employees significantly more effectively.

Get to know how the tool can support your employer brand at EBnavi.com.

author: Martyna Karpiuk, Product Specialist at EBnavi