Strengthen your employer branding
All organisations and companies have an employer brand, whether they’ve consciously developed one or not. Employees are still involved with their jobs outside working hours. They talk about their work, including their employer. Not only with colleagues, but also with outsiders. In this way, the organisation's image is spread through a large network, and an image of your organisation is created.
Are you doing a good job with your employer brand? Try to answer these questions for your own organisation. Always make the link with inclusion:
- Do you know what you stand for as an employer, in terms of inclusion?
- What 5 characteristics do your employees believe make an inclusive organisation?
- Do you know exactly what (future) employees are looking for in terms of inclusion?
- Do you know which inclusion criteria to focus on? Examples of inclusion criteria are age, gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, educational experience, language, type of occupation, physical activity, medical, psychosocial and emotional.
- What does your plan of action for the development of your inclusive employer brand look like?
What is employer branding?
Employer branding is a way of communicating your organisational culture to current and potential employees. A strong and attractive employer brand contributes to the exponential growth of an organisation. Diversity policy functions to strengthen the employer brand. A majority of organisations say that their diversity policy has actually made them a more attractive employer to candidates.
There is diversity in every organisation - consider the diversity presented by gender, age, economic background and level of education. Is your organisation aware of the differences, and do you promote a safe climate in which all employees feel respected and valued? This inclusive attitude ensures that you pay attention to expanding diversity - to include, for example, ethnic diversity - and thus creating a workplace in which everyone can be themselves.
Why focus on employer branding?
The following numeric data show how important it is to pay attention to employer branding. Candidates indicate that they consciously look for information on an organisation or company before they actually apply. In 2020, Glassdoor conducted a Diversity Hiring Survey:
- 76 % of jobseekers indicate that a staff diversity is an important criterion when looking at job vacancies.
- 1 in 3 jobseekers do not apply to organisations when they notice a lack of diversity in the workforce.
- More than half of employees think that their organisation should take more action to increase diversity in the workforce.
How to create an inclusive employer brand?
For Randstad, Youssef Kobo, initiator of A Seat At The Table, has listed five ways to create an inclusive employer brand:
- Cast your net wider: list your recruitment channels and expand them if necessary. Read more about this via the building block Expand your recruitment channels.
- Colour outside the lines: question your recruitment processes and selection tools. Attitude and entrepreneurship are at least as important as formal qualifications. Read more about this via the building block Select an effective selection process.
- Involve the organisation's managers and leadership: when your organisational chart reflects diversity on a high level, more diversity will be attracted. Read more about this via the building block Build support for inclusion.
- Take action: translate your policy plans into small steps. Focus on the first new employees from an ethnic minority background.
- Be honest and authentic: practice what you preach, and make sure the internal environment matches its external communication.
External communication
Do people identify with the current communication? Or do the campaigns miss a large part of the target group because they focus on the ideas and customs of the majority? Stop communicating from your personal standpoint and take into account information on the diversity of the target group.