Reimagining your employer brand for the digital age

Employer brand and the rise of the reputation economy

With company valuations increasingly weighted toward intangible assets such as reputation, culture and people, a company’s employer brand plays a more important role than ever in driving sustainable growth. 

The future of work is accelerating on the back of seismic changes, from global and regional social movements to the hybrid and remote working revolution.

In this new reputation economy, it’s vital to leverage the employer brand to bring employees along on your transformation journey and cement your external position as an employer of choice for top talent. Digital reinvention is key to this process.

Utilizing tech: Employer branding with digital tools and touchpoints

Technology is only as valuable as the human experience it improves. Weaving your employer brand through every digital touchpoint is key – but so is using that brand to deliver authentic storytelling and messaging that resonates with your audience.

At Cielo, we combine experience in developing employee value propositions (EVPs) and digital employer branding with the knowledge needed to build a best-in-class digital experience for your candidates. So, what does that candidate experience look like?  

It begins with content that’s configured for both digital platforms and today’s digital consumer, from story-led advertisements to personalized websites and video job descriptions. It continues with on-demand chatbot support, and a one click apply process. Above all, it means ensuring that your employer brand is connecting with the right transformational talent you need, using tools such as programmatic advertising, niche job boards and communities and social media referrals. With help from the right tech, employer branding can be communicated more easily and have a far greater impact.

Today’s candidates expect their recruitment experience to be primarily a digital one. They are at home with a hiring process that includes the convenience of virtual events and interviews and see social media as a key platform for a job search.

Your employer brand and internal audience

It’s not just the candidate experience that needs to be digitized. The employee experience needs a digital makeover too. With more flexible and hybrid models of working, your employer brand now needs to work harder than ever to connect with and inspire people.  

In a tight talent market, a strong digital employer brand is an excellent way to retain existing employees. Employees that don’t identify with or respect their employer’s brand and image will be motivated to look elsewhere.

Digital communication channels are more important in the world of remote work, where they compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact, fostering inclusion, belonging and well-being. By bringing employees on the transformation journey, you’ll create brand ambassadors who amplify your voice and connect with future talent.

Talent acquisition leaders are always looking for effective ways to communicate and implement new digital working initiatives – such as moving to hybrid working – to internal teams. This involves adapting employer value propositions and running internal campaigns so employees understand what the new ways of working mean for them and the resources available to help them adapt. 

Your workforce is also a key source of untapped talent, which an employer brand helps unlock. With digital skills in short supply, reskilling and upskilling employees allow you to access a whole new pool of talent. The willingness to retrain – following the pandemic and in response to tech and AI advancements – can be a key tool in helping to combat waves of retirement and resignation, or replace lost institutional knowledge caused by a highly volatile workforce. Employer brand will help inform employees of the opportunities for professional reinvention, empowering them to access the necessary training.

The theory in action

Becton Dickinson (BD), a global medical technology company, is just one of the organizations Cielo has been supporting to drive digital transformation. The team supported BD in digitizing candidate experience by developing digital campaigns, a new social media strategy, and a suite of digital toolkits focused on storytelling. These tools – coupled with Cielo’s Executive Search capabilities – enhance BD’s capabilities to define, find and engage the tech talent needed to drive innovation for customers and employees.  

This partnership also helped digitize BD’s employee experience through the deployment of a range of digital tools, new infrastructure, and a major communications strategy around the new ways of working. From delivering an engaged talent pipeline of candidates ready to join a division of BD post-pandemic to decreasing time-to-hire rates, these initiatives have had impressive results.

Digital transformation and inclusion

For all the positives that digital transformation brings, a note of caution around inclusion, for both internal and external audiences. While it’s overly simplistic to suggest that digital literacy is purely age based, it’s nevertheless true that digital natives born in the ‘80s or later are most likely to be comfortable with an increasingly digitized workplace. It’s important to look at any changes with an eye to ensuring no one’s excluded. 

Are you providing timely communications programs and well-advertised training materials to enable your employees to get up to speed on any new technologies introduced – especially those that facilitate hybrid working? Are you catering for people with disabilities such as impaired sight or hearing when it comes to virtual meetings, assessments or interviews? Have you considered the barriers to social mobility that might arise from making applications dependent on the candidate having access to their own laptop and the internet?   

In terms of your own workforce, what are the mental health implications of “zoom fatigue” for those with many online meetings, or increased stress for those unfamiliar with new technologies? How can you bring a sense of belonging to team members who haven’t met each other for 15 months – or in some cases, ever?  Building inclusion into your new digital processes from the outset is key. 

When building a sustainable workforce, an inclusive and digitally powered employer brand is vital to ensure your business has the talent needed to stay at the forefront of innovation. With a range of flexible talent acquisition and Consulting services, Cielo integrates best-in-class digital experiences and proven expertise, driving better talent experiences for all.