Today in our Branding Guide, we are going to be talking about Employee Branding which is a component of Internal Branding, for those of you that missed our post on Internal Branding you can find it here - Branding Guide -Internal Branding.
So what is Employee Branding?

Wikipedia defines employee branding as “the image projected by employees through their behaviours, attitudes and actions.

Organisations that develop brand(s) need to adopt internal branding initiatives and principles to ensure that all employees understand what the brand is and what it means and how each and every employee within the organisation has a part to play in ensuring that the organisation is able to deliver upon the brand promise.

Your employees are the face of your company, they represent your business and your brand each and every day, how your employees conduct themselves,  behave and interact  with customers, suppliers, distribution partners, other businesses, the media, and even their colleagues  within the organisation will have an impact upon your business and your brand.

People formulate perceptions about your business and your brand which are based upon their own associations and experiences that they encounter when they engage your brand, or perceptions that they have about your brand which are based upon the associations and experiences of other people that have engaged your brand.

Perceptions can either be positive or negative, naturally positive perceptions will help your brand which will inadvertently help your business grow and prosper, however, negative perceptions will hinder your brand and will result in a negative impact upon your business.

As such employee branding initiatives should be implemented to ensure that your organisation is able to attract a workforce that has a common set of values that are aligned to the values of your organisation and your brand, you need to introduce recruitment strategies that look to identify employees that are able to deliver upon your brand promise.

Once you have recruited your employees you need to ensure that you are able to retain them by creating a safe, happy working environment.
In order to ensure that your employees feel valued and motivated, your organisation should implement reward and recognition programs whereby you acknowledge employees for their hard work and effort in helping to deliver upon your brand’s promise.

Learning and development programs including training, mentoring, succession planning and coaching will ensure that employees are competent and confident in their role and these initiatives will also provide employees with job satisfaction and career progression opportunities.

Don’t forget to join us for our next post of the Branding Guide where we will be talking about Employer Branding.

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