Measuring and Adjusting

Introduction

You wouldn’t go on a diet without measuring the effect. Whether this a reduction in weight, looser clothes or an increased feeling of fitness. Similarly, to be able to say that employer branding is a success, and potentially justify investment, you need to measure the effectiveness of what has been achieved. Many employer brand managers think that measuring any kind of return on investment is just too hard. But it does not need to be, and in this chapter, we present areas to consider and what the information may tell you.

6.1 Picking the KPIs

1.1 Deciding on the key performance indicators, (KPIs), could be viewed as very simple. Return to the targets and measures that we looked at in chapter 1. Consider the baseline and compare before and after. However, as well as the achievement of the top line target there may reasonably be various KPIs that show areas of success on a journey towards achievement of these targets; and where work still needs to be done. One of the potential targets that we gave as an example was:

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.

In this example the organisation would certainly want to measure the fill rate but may also want to look at how this was achieved. Areas are considered below but may include; click rates from advertisement to applications, completed applications, drop-out rates, etc.

1.2 Whatever KPIs are selected there are some basic guidelines that may seem obvious but are worth reflecting on. Do the KPIs:

Provide evidence of progress towards achieving the target.

Measure what is intended.

Be able to provide a comparison that can inform the level of effectiveness over time.

Have the potential to be influenced by other factors that impact upon the target. This may be unavoidable; there may be multiple reasons why the quality of candidates increases, such as changes in the recruiting market. Be aware of these factors and as far as practical separate or recognise the impact on the brand and the need for measurement over a longer timescale.

Require so much input to compile that it is questionable to pursue. KPIs are an aid to decision making and should not be an end in themselves. Be realistic.

1.3 The KPIs chosen must fit your organisation. However, we have listed areas to think about and what they may tell you.

Brand Awareness

At its most basic, consider asking people to name the organisation’s brand attributes. Questions should be pointed at different groups; a cross section of staff of different levels of seniority and/or location, new recruits and possibly candidates, through on-line, short surveys. Internal staff members’ ability to name brand attributes should improve over time. Failure to do so would point to problems with communication or real experience. Similarly, new recruits or potential candidates should be able to identify the attributes through the recruitment materials. The goal is to determine if your target groups assign the same brand characteristics as you are striving to communicate.

Brand Experience

Find out ‘what’s it really like to work here’. Using a point scale, measure how far people agree or not with the brand attributes. Include in annual staff surveys, but also conduct some, sample in depth telephone survey or focus groups, to not only produce the scale results but understand the underlying reasons for the scores. Do not forget to capture information through exit questionnaires. Getting feedback will confirm whether the selected brand attributes were correct, have longevity or if there needs to be further work to embed.

Third Party Feedback

As an organisation you may use external firms to handle your recruitment, aspects of the process, (e.g. executive search) or to fill agency opportunities. They are a great source of information. Conduct interviews with external recruiters and search firms to determine their probability of promoting your company as an employer of choice and how they would describe your organisation to a potential candidate. What they say may be different than what is intended.

Digital Presence

There should be multiple ways that your brand’s effectiveness is evident:

Clicks on your recruiting pages, increased traffic to your employee video stories. The numbers of people that continue through to making an application.

The number of employees with an optimized social presence goes up.

Your company ratings on employer review sites (e.g., Glassdoor etc.) are more positive and ideally are capturing the brand attributes that the organisation stands for, such as good teamwork. Also, where applicable, consider Best Places to Work lists to see how you rank against your competitors and in your industry.

Conversations on social media emphasise the good things about working for your organisation rather than the problems.