Employment brand: How important is it?

We're not the only ones stressing the importance of a company's employment brand. We've seen many posts recently on this very topic, though the one I want to highlight is from a few months ago.

"Brand - Employment Brand: What's the Difference?" delineates the difference between a company's brand and its employment brand. The blogger essentially concludes that company brand is consumer facing, its strength measured by how often consumers choose to use that brand over a competitor's.

Employment brand, on the other hand, is employee facing, and is measured by how often candidates choose employment at your company over a competitor. Employment brand is heavily influenced by how your current employees express their job experiences and satisfaction to the community at large.

The easy way to create a GREAT employee brand, then, is to provide a great place to work. Easy enough. After all, we have all seen or heard company buzz terms such as "respected and valued employee setting," "collaborative team environment," or "dynamic work climate." However, are employers really delivering on these claims?

the data 

According to a recent survey, companies appear to be failing miserably. Here's what the study found:

• Two-thirds (66 percent) of American workers are not currently satisfied with their compensation.
• Seventy-eight percent are not satisfied with their company's overall retention efforts, and 76 percent are not satisfied about future growth opportunities at their company.
• Almost half (48 percent) of workers aren't satisfied with the relationship they have with their boss, and 59 percent aren't satisfied with the level of support they receive from their colleagues.
• Seventy-seven percent of workers aren't satisfied with the strategy and vision of their company and leadership.
• And finally, 68 percent of workers aren't satisfied with their company's contribution to their retirement plans.

With such a high level of dissatisfaction among workers, and the explosion of social networking as an avenue for employees to voice and advertise their discontent to the global community, companies should be concerned and focused on managing their employee brand.

Since many companies are operating with employee levels at minimum thresholds, the need to acquire talent will inevitably occur. And when the economy turns around and hiring resumes, not having a good workforce acquisition strategy is very likely to have a negative effect on employee brand.

An example of this is unfocused recruiting efforts. Without a clearly defined plan, companies could end up flooding the market, exposing qualified candidates with repeated pitches for the same job opening. Such tactics position the client as a disjointed organization -- an image that can be compounded by the potentially slanderous remarks within the social network forum. These factors combined can drastically impact offer acceptance rates and access to the best candidates.

So I ask you, how important is employment brand?