The Employer Brand
We have Promises to Keep
When we are hired for a new position, we are expected to have the skills and expertise necessary to perform the job for which we have been selected. Typically, these responsibilities are explicit and are provided as part of the job description, but we may soon discover that the job has less explicit, less obvious responsibilities too, often specifically deriving from the company’s employer brand and culture. Whether stated outright or not, new employees are expected to ‘fit-in’ comfortably with the culture of the company they have joined. This involves supporting, aligning with and building the company’s employer brand, thereby enabling the company to attract, develop and retain additional talent. This virtuous circle, in which we join a company, in part, because of its compelling culture and then help sustain that culture so that others will join, is a standard part of corporate life, but often one that is less deeply understood than it should be. My purpose here is to shed light on this important aspect of professional experience not just so that my readers are more attuned to the role they play in building their company’s employer brand, but also so that they can themselves derive some benefit from doing so.
Simply stated, a brand is a promise to deliver. A brand matters because it tells us what to expect from the company, person, or product that the brand represents and provides the basis for subsequent evaluation of whether the brand has met our expectations.
If, for example, we purchase paper towels that are described on the package as ‘highly absorbent’, but discover on bringing them home that nearly an entire roll is needed to mop up a spilled glass of water, clearly the paper towels did not perform as stated; they did not ‘keep their promise’. As a result, we are unlikely to ‘believe’ that brand in future and will almost certainly choose a competitor’s product the next time we have a spill at home.
But brands are by no means confined to the world of consumer products. Assume we need a loan, for example. We contact our local bank, whose brand promise is ‘The right relationship is everything’, seeking assistance. On calling Customer Service to inquire about potential lending services, we are told by the phone representative that he is unable to find our account and asked to hold the line while he investigates. Ten minutes later, he returns, apologizes for the wait, and reveals that he has found our account number. Sadly, we are ‘not eligible’ for any of the bank’s lending services, but is unable to explain the underlying reasons, indicating only that ‘the system’ says so. Left with no answers and almost offended by the representative’s approach, we mention the experience to a neighbor or colleague later that day, indicating that because of the ‘service’ we received, we will be moving our account to another institution. As in the case of the paper towels, the failure of the company brand to deliver on its promise has undermined our relationship with that brand.
Within a company, employees sometimes feel as if they have nothing to do with their company’s employer brand because they seldom interact with customers or other external audiences. But employer brands have an internal life as well as an external one. If, for example, we call a colleague in accounting about trouble with an expense report and are told, in a voice of irritation, that we are calling the wrong department or that we ‘ought to know’ the answers to the questions we are asking, that colleague has just impacted the employer brand. Executive leaders or Human Resources professionals can reiterate corporate cultural messages of ‘collaborative teamwork’ all they want, but when they do, our minds will likely disbelieve that part of the employer brand promise and we will have our colleague in accounting to thank for it. As this hypothetical example makes clear, each of us - - in the decisions we make, in the way we behave, in the standards to which we adhere - - impacts and reflects our company’s culture and employer brand, whether we intend it or not.
Accordingly, when we work for a company, we are expected to align with, support and deliver on the company’s employer brand promise - - not the brands it uses for its services or products, but the brand it uses to describe itself as a place to work. Knowing our company’s employer brand attributes, and determining how to live up to them, is the work of every employee. But how do we learn these components and ensure that we are doing everything possible to support our company’s employer brand?
We can start by describing what a brand is. Brands are everything we see and how they appear, such as logos, pictures, ads, and other visual cues. Brands are also everything we hear and how they sound, such as, ads, spokespeople, blogs, emails, tweets and more. As we have seen, brands are also the interaction and behavior both inside a given company (among its own employees) and outside (in its interactions with vendors, partners, clients, customers, and the like).
Not surprisingly, the human interaction and behavior elements of a brand have a way of communicating more powerfully than any other brand element. Mission statements, vision documents, strategy decks, and cultural dissertations may all describe what senior executives at a given company may want the employer brand to be, but it is in their behavior, communication, and example that the brand promise either comes alive or is revealed to be mere lip-service. This is not to say that formal statements of culture are undesirable. Indeed, a mission statement or vision document can be useful not only because they put the topic of employer brand on the table, but because they can serve as an important guide for behavior, especially in large organizations. But unless these documents and statements are embraced and followed by employees at all levels in a company, unless management acknowledges, compliments and rewards employees in light of their ‘fit’ with and support of the employer brand promise, they are simply empty promises. Without a thriving employer brand - - one grounded in the company’s culture, reinforced by the company’s reward system, and made manifest by the style and behavior of its employees - - companies are greatly disadvantaged with regard to attracting and retaining top talent.
If we are fortunate, when we join a new firm, we are easily able to perceive the company’s employer brand promise and the degree to which that promise is being delivered. In such positive settings, we can perceive and adopt the right behavioral cues or, if we are in a leadership position, we can foster the right behaviors among and between our team members. Either way, success in employer brand terms means that the brand and its promise are well understood, that we and our colleagues are able to adopt our company’s culture, and that we consistently exhibit in ourselves and foster in each other the behaviors that support that brand.
Delivering this kind of differentiated and valuable brand experience inside and outside a given company does not happen by accident. Rather, a top-tier employer brand experience must be deliberate and treated with care, not just in messaging, but in underlying behaviors and attitudes. Employees must understand their roles and responsibilities in aligning with the brand standards and contributing to the culture and brand experience for each other and for their external customers and other stakeholders.
Often, that is easier said than done. The truly intricate part of joining a new company is realizing that we are expected to understand not only what we do, but also we are expected to think about and align how we do it. As several of our examples have shown, when it comes to employer brands, ‘how’ we go about our work is equally as important as ‘what’ we do in our roles. Fortunately, consciousness of and focus on this ‘how’ has an inherent benefit for us as individuals as well, since self-awareness and clarity as to how we are perceived by others, are both hallmarks of fast-track executives.
At the end of long search, when we are in the throes of considering a new job, a new company, perhaps even a new industry or location, these matters are crucially important. We must consider carefully what attributes of the employer brand first attracted us to this potential employer. We ought to ask ourselves what evidence we have encountered along the way in support of that brand promise. If we have listened well and kept our eyes open, we are certain to have been presented with plenty of evidence either way. Making use of that evidence not just to determine whether to join a company or not, but also to see quite clearly the values and behaviors we will have to emulate if we join, sets us apart as discerning executives.
Fools rush in, they say. When it comes to employer brands, they’re right.
-Carol Robbins
Carol Robbins is an accomplished business driver and brand-builder. Her illustrious career includes serving as President of Adler Branding & Marketing Services, Chief Brand Officer of Prudential Financial, and Chairman & CEO of Dryden Wealth Management.