Business Case

2.1 In a landscape of competing demands and often tight budgets why should resources be spent on employer branding? Even if your organisation is small, it is important to consider the benefits applicable for your circumstances and to pull together a business case. A well-defined business case:

Creates clarity of purpose.

Is a touchstone for future monitoring of achievements.

May be essential to persuade senior managers to not only commit time and money but to change behaviour.

Few organisations tackle employer branding as a start-up organisation. Most have a legacy of ‘what it’s like to work here’ formed by years, if not decades, of organisational approaches. As we will see in the chapters that follow, identifying and changing a brand can be tough. So, it is essential that you can explain what the objectives are, who will be involved, potential costs, and how success will be measured.

Define Your Objectives

2.2 A strong business case will include objectives that reflect the needs of the organisation. Talk to colleagues beyond the boundaries of HR to find out what pressures managers face in recruiting and retaining staff. Use data. Most recruitment sites will record the numbers of visitor views and how many are converted to applications. Is there information on how many candidates withdraw during the recruitment process and why? Is there a retention problem? Are there problems in recruiting and retaining people in key roles? Or maybe, negative aspects in culture of  the organisation do not fit the aspirations of the leadership team; impacting on productivity and quality.

2.3 In drawing up the business case, unless you are very confident on the organisation’s employer brand, avoid statements such as; ‘an employer of choice’, ‘empowering people to be the one that empowers millions’ (Microsoft), etc. An early stage in this journey should be to consider and to challenge rather than assume the content of the brand. Instead, a model top line objective may be:

‘We will develop an employer brand that fits the ambitions of our organisation. Our employer brand will be managed and promoted to increase our attractiveness to potential and existing staff. In doing so, we will save time and money and create an environment where people are willing to work harder for the organisation’s success’.

2.4 How far you link the creation of the employer brand with the success of the corporate brand depends on the organisation and its circumstances. As we have explored previously in this chapter they are distinct but have a two-way influential relationship. Poor media reports on staff experiences, whether it be a taxi firm, sports shop or clothing company, can shape consumer views. Albeit the circumstances may be minor compared to other organisations, Virgin Media have tackled the problem of lost sales through poor candidate experience. They are a huge multinational company with 130,000 job applicants in a single year. In a case study published by Ph. Creative Digital Marketing Company, Virgin media projected a potential loss of £4.5m in revenue through over 7400 recruitment candidates with poor experiences also cancelling their Virgin subscription. Consequently, Virgin have brought their recruitment back in-house enabling them to manage the brand and its experience more effectively through every stage of the candidate journey. (Virgin Media – Improving Candidate Experience for all Candidates – Ph. Creative Digital Marketing Company)3.

Targets and Measures

2.5 In creating the business case it is essential to set some top line targets and describe how you will measure these. It is not unreasonable for the detail of the targets to change once the project commences and its possibilities are fully explored. However, the senior sponsor will generally want to know what the objectives mean in practice, before agreeing to support a business case.

2.6 It will be important for all organisations to show that an employer brand will lead to greater efficiency thus a reduction in costs. One way to divide these is:

Reduction in Direct Costs

For example, a target may be:

Through promotion of our brand we aim to recruit to Engineer vacancies three times a year instead of four, with a 90% fill rate at each campaign instead of the current 60% fill rate.

Reduction in Associated Costs

A target here may be:

Through management of our brand we aim to reduce vacancy levels from 10% of the establishment to 5% of the establishment with an associated reduction in agency cover.

Reduction in Lost Revenue

A tricky area to explore, but as we have seen previously through the Virgin Media example, potentially important. A target could be:

In recruitment surveys, respondents will be ‘more likely’ or ‘very likely’ to buy one of our services having applied for a job with us.

2.7 Other targets appropriate for your organisation may have no direct financial link, instead with an emphasis on increased productivity and positive commitment. Targets could be:

Increase in staff advocacy of the organisation, measured through staff surveys and external platforms that enable people to express views, e.g. Glassdoor, Indeed, Facebook etc.

Increase in experienced workers, measured through early leaver statistics, (one year or less service), leading to greater productivity.

2.8 It would be unwise to suggest that introducing a positive employer brand will address all organisational ills as there are many factors that impact on candidates’ and employees’ behaviours. For example, a downturn in the economy can slow down candidate activity as people are reluctant to move from security of their current job. An effective employer brand will, however, always give your organisation an edge over other, less astute, competitors.

Create a top line plan

2.9 It is going to be hard to sell your business case if there are fears that employer branding will consume multiple resources for an extended timescale. At this stage therefore, it is essential to outline:

Who the players are. Generally, this will be HR plus, if the organisation is of sufficient size, Marketing/Communications specialists. There should however be recognition that a change in brand, or how this is experienced, may require input from everyone across the organisation, with essential senior management leadership. If there is a need to engage an external marketing firm, options are discussed in later chapters; this should be determined as part of the business case.

The potential costs. Should there be a need to bid for a dedicated budget, it should pursued at this stage. Any costs must be reasonable against the expected return on investment and will generally be less if work is completed inhouse, if this is practicable.

The proposed timescale, ideally with stages for achievement. Attracting more candidates to your website can probably be achieved more quickly than changing attitudes of existing staff. Being able to show momentum with some quick results, (and successes), will be valuable.

2.10 Senior managers and decision makers need to support employer brand development and its ongoing management. But be realistic. There are a multitude of demands on their time, so ensure that their input is measured and has purpose; whether it is championing its inception, or cascading implementation throughout the management hierarchy. It’s potentially an exciting topic. An enthused senior sponsor will be a great help in tackling the challenges described in the chapters that follow.

1.3 Time to Reflect

3.1 This chapter has introduced employer branding. It has shown how corporate brands have developed over time, with the identification of employer brands, and their management, a relatively recent addition. Corporate and employer brands have links but may be distinctive, with different audiences and management demands. We have shown the need to create a business case before embarking on the tasks ahead and have suggested areas for inclusion.

3.2 Before moving on, take time out to reflect on how you are impacted by ‘brands’ and how you would make a case to review the employer brand in your organisation. 

Spend a few minutes on the internet or glancing through a newspaper at the advertisements or business articles. Don’t worry about the news items or products on sale, but how do you feel about the sellers or organisations in question? Would you like to work for them? What information led you to these views? Can you identify their product or employer brand?

3.3 Considering your organisation, is there an overriding issue that would ‘sell’ a business case for employer branding? What benefits may arise?

3.4 The following chapters look at areas of activity that you may want to include. Not everything will suit every organisation. Pick and mix to suit your needs.