Everything you need to know about employer branding

A true showcase of a company's reputation, the employer brand has become an essential criterion in the eyes of job candidates.

While candidates previously did everything to impress their future employer, the paradigm has now shifted, and companies must now succeed in attracting them. The employer brand has thus become a major issue for attracting top talent and retaining employees.

Do you want to attract new profiles to your company? Do you want to retain your employees? This will necessarily involve establishing a strong employer brand. Deskeo explains everything you need to know about the subject to successfully attract your employees and future employees.

What is employer branding?

Employer branding is the image that a company projects as an employer, both internally to its employees and externally to potential candidates. It is therefore a key element of the HR strategy that aims to make the company attractive and stand out from the competition in the job market.

Definition of employer branding

Employer branding encompasses all the communication and marketing actions undertaken by a company to promote its image as an employer.

It reflects:

• The company's identity and values,
• the corporate culture,
• as well as the promise made to employees in terms of experience and quality of work life.

Taking care of it is therefore essential to make job candidates want to join your company.

The 4 fundamental principles of employer branding

Any company that wishes to create an attractive employer brand must rely on 4 fundamental principles:

The company's DNA and values

The DNA and values of a company are the foundation upon which employer branding is built.

They define:

• its identity,
• its purpose,
• and what makes it unique.

These values should not just be nice theoretical words, they must be embodied daily in behaviours and processes to be credible.

Employee experience at the heart of the strategy

Employee experience expresses how your employees feel within the company:

• are they treated well?
• Are they happy to come to work?
• Do they have good working conditions?
• etc.

An employee who has a bad experience in the company will tend to make it known and to disparage their employer to third parties. Therefore, the company's image could be significantly tarnished in the public opinion and among potential candidates.

Placing employee experience at the centre of the HR strategy is therefore essential to building a strong employer brand.

This means that you will need to implement a series of actions to achieve it:

• Ensuring the well-being and engagement of teams.
• Offering motivating onboarding and career development paths.
• Creating a fulfilling work environment.
• Listening to employees.

Building a positive image

Developing an attractive employer brand also requires building a positive image of the company, both internally and externally.

You must therefore pay attention to all the parties you interact with and every touchpoint, from the recruitment process to corporate communication and management.

Managing e-reputation

Finally, in the digital age, the employer brand also involves careful management of e-reputation.

Employee reviews on social networks and specialised platforms strongly impact the employer's image. Monitoring and managing communities is therefore essential to care for your online reputation and maintain a good image on the internet.

As you are probably beginning to understand, building an attractive employer brand is therefore important in many respects.

Why work on your employer brand?

In an ultra-competitive job market, the war for talent is fierce, and companies must fight to attract the best profiles. In this context, a strong employer brand is therefore a decisive advantage to stand out.

Attracting new talent

According to a study conducted by Randstad, 75% of potential candidates look for information on a company's image and reputation before applying.

Highlighting your employer brand through inspiring content is therefore essential to capture the attention of the best profiles and convince them to join the adventure.

Retaining employees

An employee who is proud of their company and happy in their job is a long-term committed employee.

By taking care of the employee experience at every stage of the journey (recruitment, integration into the company...), the employer brand strengthens the sense of belonging and reduces turnover.

Improving your reputation

A positive employer brand has repercussions far beyond the HR sphere. It reflects on the overall image of the company and constitutes a competitive advantage that also favours the acquisition of new clients and markets.

You will have understood, establishing a strong and attractive employer brand is therefore essential to enhance your company's attractiveness and retain your employees. But creating an appropriate strategy can be tricky when you're not necessarily familiar with all these elements... Don't panic, Deskeo will explain in detail how to build an attractive employer brand.

How to develop your employer brand?

Developing an attractive employer brand relies on good communication and the creation of a corporate culture based on inclusion and employee feedback.

The content and communication approach

In the digital age (or almost), content is a powerful vector to enhance your employer brand. It is therefore essential to define an editorial line adapted to your targets and objectives by implementing:

• A section on the company website dedicated to careers within the company: the company's HR showcase, this section presents the philosophy, jobs, possible career paths, and employee testimonials who have built their careers within the company. Job offers are highlighted attractively.
• A blog and social media profiles: through articles, posts, and inspiring videos, these media allow you to share the daily life of the company and its teams. It's also a way to interact with your community.
• An internal communication process: newsletter, intranet, unifying events... The challenge is to make employees the primary ambassadors of the employer brand.

Beyond positive content, it is also important to anticipate crisis situations. A crisis communication process must therefore be established in parallel to manage potential bad buzz or negative comments.

Engagement and company culture

Employer brand and engagement are closely linked. Indeed, the more employees feel involved and listened to, the more they become committed ambassadors of the brand. Strengthening engagement is therefore essential.

To achieve this, several levers are available to you, notably:

• Develop participative management.
• Encourage initiative-taking.
• Organise social events.
• Celebrate collective and individual successes.
• Regularly survey teams about their well-being.

Company culture also plays a central role in employer attractiveness, especially among younger generations seeking meaning. Do not hesitate to promote diversity and inclusion, and to defend social and environmental causes to differentiate yourself from other employers in the sector.

Have you implemented various actions to strengthen your employer brand? It's not quite over... You now need to measure the effectiveness of the initiated measures.

Measuring the effectiveness of the employer brand

Like any strategy, the actions implemented to strengthen your employer brand must be measured to assess their impact.

For this, you can rely on several QWL (Quality of Work Life) indicators that will show you if your company is a great place to work.

Among the key indicators you can rely on are:

• Turnover rate,
• Recruitment times,
• Recruitment rate,
• Number of unsolicited applications,
• Absenteeism rate,
• Employee satisfaction score,
• etc.

Employee and candidate feedback is also a valuable source of information. They help identify the strengths and areas for improvement in the employee experience. Regular satisfaction surveys and analysis of online reviews are therefore essential.

Examples of inspiring employer brands

You’ve understood, nurturing your employer brand is an absolute necessity for a company that wishes to attract the best profiles. And some large companies have got this right.

Decathlon, the culture of sport and self-improvement

Decathlon has made soft skills its flagship. At the sports giant, behavioural skills like team spirit and self-improvement take precedence over degrees.

A strong company culture that is reflected in the employer brand "Reveal yourself at Decathlon".

Axa, an employer brand in the digital age

To boost its attractiveness, Axa relies on digital. Redesign of the career site, launch of a web series on occupations, regular posts on social media...

The insurer multiplies innovative initiatives to modernise its image and engage with candidates on their ground.

Google, the absolute benchmark of employer brand

Repeatedly voted employees' favourite company, Google is a textbook case in terms of employer brand.

Its unique company culture, a mix of creativity, challenge, and fun, is the envy of many. A model that owes much to an innovative HR strategy centred on talent development.

In short, taking care of your employer brand has become essential in a rapidly changing world of work. Companies that understand this and place people at the heart of their strategy will reap definite long-term benefits.

Deskeo: an employer brand built on boldness and collaboration

At Deskeo, our employer brand reflects a strong identity, supported by deeply-rooted values that are reflected in our day-to-day work. These values are not just theoretical principles; they are lived and embodied on a daily basis, both internally with our employees and externally with our customers and partners. It is this consistency between what we say and what we do that makes Deskeo an attractive and committed employer.

Our values

We are... TEAM FIRST!

At Deskeo, teamwork comes first. We are convinced that our strength lies in the unity of our team. Every success is a shared success, and every challenge is met together. Caring and mutual support are at the heart of our interactions, and we grow together as a team, learning and supporting each other. It's this human adventure that makes Deskeo such a great place to work and grow.

We are... BOLD!

We're not afraid to explore new horizons and dream big. Boldness is part of our DNA: at Deskeo, we're constantly pushing the boundaries and encouraging our teams to challenge the status quo. This calculated risk-taking is essential if we are to remain at the forefront of our sector and offer our customers innovative, tailor-made solutions.

We are... DOERS!

We don't just dream, we turn our ideas into reality. We value initiative and proactivity, and encourage everyone to take concrete action to move projects forward. We implement our ideas with rigor, ensuring that every detail is taken care of to guarantee excellence in our achievements.

For us... SUFFICIENT IS NOT ENOUGH!

Excellence is our daily goal. We don't just do the minimum, we constantly strive to surpass ourselves. Whether for our teams or our customers, we always aim higher, with meticulous attention to detail. At Deskeo, we believe that every day is an opportunity to go further and deliver experiences that exceed expectations.

Why are these values important to our employer brand?

These values embody the very essence of Deskeo and make our company a unique employer. By creating an environment where mutual support, boldness and excellence are priorities, we cultivate a stimulating and fulfilling working environment. This enables us not only to attract the best talent, but also to retain them by offering them a place where they can grow and develop to their full potential. At Deskeo, our employees are at the heart of our success, and we do everything we can to make them proud to be part of this adventure.