Autumn : 2015

depth

EMPLOYER BRANDING

Turning your messaging inside out

Autumn : 2015 : 01

EMPLOYER BRANDING

SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR BRAND IDENTITY: HOW THEY ARE PERCEIVED, WHAT IS BEING SAID ABOUT THEM AND HOW THAT INFLUENCES CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR.

In 2014, not only did companies spend $545.4 billion on paid brand advertising globally (doubling the spend rate from the year before)1, but the top 100 most profitable companies in world directly correlate with the most recognised brands, suggesting a strong link between corporate brand and the bottom line.2

With the increasing importance of social media, individuals too are becoming concerned with brand – their own. More than 259 million people are now members of LinkedIn and 1.1 billion people are on Facebook. Annually, 570 million blogs are posted and 41 billion comments tweeted. Individuals are increasingly generating content and discussion to raise their own profile, to network and to demonstrate skill and knowledge.3 Branding is clearly big business.

Setting the scene

The sum of a company’s efforts to attract, engage and retain talent = your reputation as an employer.

Despite the relentless and expensive branding of companies, products and ourselves, many organisations have little focus on effectively branding themselves as employers. Recent US research has found that only 51% of companies have an employer brand strategy in place, with evidence suggesting the focus slips further during times of downturn. In Australia, only 17% of organisations have a defined employer branding strategy.4

The key purpose of the employer brand is to attract, engage and retain talent – those skills, knowledge and behaviours that will result in performance, profitability and a positive reputation. With renowned companies like Google, Microsoft, Rio Tinto and Accenture proving that a strong employer brand places you firmly on desired employer rankings5 why then aren’t more companies concerned about employer branding as a key business driver?

Engaging a diverse and talented workforce relies on an organisation understanding the difference between brand and the employee value proposition (EVP) – and the ability to successfully leverage both. In simple terms, EVP is the reality of the employer offer, and the brand is how this message is communicated.

With seven in ten people stating they would like to work in an industry other than their current one, how can organisations differentiate through their employer brand and EVP to attract not only industry-specific talent, but those that might never have heard of, or considered them as a future employer?6

Here, we explore the importance of employer branding to organisations, together with strategies to identify, market and measure the value proposition to improve your competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent.

259 million members

41 billion comments tweeted anually

1.1 billion members

blogs 570 million blogs posted

Autumn : 2015 : 02

EMPLOYER BRANDING

Why all the fuss? BY 2020, THE WORKPLACE WILL BE THE MOST DIVERSE THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

Multiple generations working together will bring different skills, experiences, habits and motivations, to freelance, permanent, and long and short term contracts, whether they work in the office, from home or remotely.7

In today’s workforce, people are increasingly mobile, able to easily and frequently change jobs and locations. Talent is consistently tracked, headhunted and approached for new opportunities by proactive companies. For HR and recruitment professionals, it can be a constant and unrelenting challenge to define the magic formula that attracts and retains skills.

According to a recent global survey, most companies are under prepared to capitalise on current and future changes to workforce demographics. Businesses are struggling to manage talent, cultivate leadership, encourage learning and understand their employees.8 Not only are they

11

finding it difficult to manage change, but to understand and effectively market a compelling employer brand that resonates.

Recent LinkedIn data provides compelling reasons why the employer brand is becoming critical as a key business strategy:9

Although 77% of Australian talent acquisition leaders say employer brand has a significant impact on their ability to hire talent, Australian companies are not the most proactive when it comes to making employer brand a business priority.10

Finding new ways to engage with an increasingly diverse workforce will become critical in the competition for - and retention of – talent, as organisations face up to fierce global competition in local markets, skill shortages and tough economic climates.

Autumn : 2015 : 03

EMPLOYER BRANDING

The inside out approach

INTERNAL BRANDING

With only 39% of individuals recently surveyed indicating they are satisfied with their job overall, how do organisations build a workforce and brand that meets future business needs in an environment of low level employee longevity and loyalty?12

Effective employer branding works on the inside out principle. Your value proposition – those elements that together create the sum of your brand – must be defined, articulated and well understood within your organisation first, before you communicate with the external market. Leadership, company vision, values and a culture that are strong enough to achieve a high level of engagement can profoundly influence an employee’s willingness to positively promote the organisation among their networks. As a starting point, Bob Kelleher, employment branding author, recommends asking four simple questions:

• Why do people stay with your company?

• Why do people want to work for your company?

• Who are your stars?

• What are the common behaviours and traits that they possess?

By defining the common attributes of the top 10% of your workforce and/or identifying the common attributes of your most engaged employees, you can quickly uncover a common set of value-based behaviours and traits for your company.13

ADOPTING A STRATEGIC APPROACH ACROSS THE TOTAL EMPLOYEE LIFECYCLE WILL ENSURE THE PROMISES MADE BY YOUR COMPANY’S BRAND ARE AUTHENTIC AND DELIVERED AT EVERY STAGE.

Whilst these questions offer an introduction to EVP, and likely insights into brand attributes from an HR and frontline management perspective, conducting a regular employee engagement survey will provide the robust data required to not only understand your company brand attributes from the workforce’s point of view, but the degree of employee engagement. Consistent measurement will provide valuable insights in to retention issues and trends.14

By linking engagement survey results to HR and recruitment plans, and correlating results with HR metrics such as turnover, absenteeism, productivity, recruitment costs and quality of hire, performance ratings and safety incidences, you can strategically align employee engagement initiatives and performance metrics.

The culture, size, employee profile and even geographical location of your organisation will dictate the format and content of a survey. Some organisations opt for annual all-in surveys, others for focus groups or monthly pulse surveys. Irrespective of your approach, consistently communicate and use every opportunity, touch point and channel to reinforce the company’s vision, value proposition, values and culture. When employees are asked to share their opinion, they expect action to follow. HR has a key role in coaching line managers to take that accountability and lead by example to integrate employee engagement fully into the ‘way we do business’.15

Measuring employee engagement

Autumn : 2015 : 04

EMPLOYER BRANDING

A recent Gallup survey of 3,000 randomly selected workers indicated that only 41% knew what their company stood for and what made its brand different from its competitors. More than half of those surveyed therefore, were not fully aware of their company’s brand positioning and differentiation.16

How can employees be ambassadors for the corporate brand if they aren’t clear about what it is? An organisation must educate employees on the brand, and its leaders must live the brand so they can drive the culture and lead by example. Consider this: If an organisation says it values collaboration and mutual respect, but the CEO is rarely visible, only appearing to tell them what’s happening in the business once a year, how can employees throughout the organisation be expected to live the brand and believe in the EVP?

The most crucial element in creating an engaged workforce is leadership. Managers and leaders should know their people – who they are, not just what they do. Manager interactions therefore, have the potential to significantly affect level of engagement and morale and leaders must set this tone at the senior level. By including performance measures like employee engagement and retention/turnover in performance expectations for managers, and ensuring that managers are empowered to identify barriers to engagement and opportunities to effect positive change, it’s logical to expect that improved performance, business innovation, and better workplace experiences will result.

In order to articulate EVP, employees and leaders must be able to answer these basic, but critical questions:

• What makes this a great place to work?

• What is the value proposition for a new employee?

• What is our business vision and purpose?

• What type of skills do we need to deliver on this vision and purpose?

• What resources do we offer to develop skills and talent?

• What are our social media policies in relation to employee conduct online where the organisation is referenced, mentioned, represented or identified?17

To ensure your employees are positive brand ambassadors, you may need to conduct a review of the verbal, visual and symbolic communication within the organisation. Are all three areas in line with the value proposition and brand intent?

The inside out approach

INTERNAL BRANDING

WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL TOUCH POINTS WITH THE EMPLOYER BRAND?

Understand the key touch points of the employee life cycle where the employee interacts with brand elements: Messaging must be consistent and reinforced across all touch points, which requires all areas of HR to understand the brand and partner with their frontline leaders.

EXIT PROCESS

HIRING PROCESS

POLICY & EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

INTERNAL PROMOTION &

MOBILITY

WELFARE & SAFTEY

ONBOARDING & INDUCTION

TRAINING

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Reviewing how EVP is articulated inside

the organisation

Autumn : 2015 : 05

EMPLOYER BRANDING

The inside out approach

INTERNAL BRANDING

Whilst the audience is different, it is important that the message given externally does not provide a misleading or false perception of your employer brand, particularly if it’s going to be tested through customer, supplier or colleague interaction.

According to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer, employees rank higher in public trust than a company’s PR department, CEO or founder. In fact, 41% believe that employees are the most credible source of information regarding a business.18

When the public interacts with an employee, anything and everything the PR department or CEO has said or marketed is put to the test. The brand, whether corporate (for the consumer) or employer (for potential talent), is no longer about the message the organisation controls, but rather the authentic experience it delivers.

HOW CAN YOU PROMOTE POSITIVE BRAND ALIGNMENT INTERNALLY?

DO THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BRAND EXPERIENCE ALIGN?

Positive brand alignment within your organisation can be achieved by sharing success stories, project wins and thought leadership with your existing employees through various channels, in line with your company vision, values and strategy.

Autumn : 2015 : 06

EMPLOYER BRANDING

Ss Bb X Y

WHEN IT COMES TO EXTERNALLY MARKETING THE EMPLOYER BRAND, YOU HAVE ONE AUDIENCE – THE POTENTIAL EMPLOYEE, EVEN IF THEY HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED YOU AS A PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER.

Potential employees may be friends, family or colleagues of existing or previous employees, suppliers or simply members of the public who see, read or engage with your company’s brand. In many organisations, every customer is a potential candidate, and every candidate a potential customer.

Within this market however, you are likely to have segments. Most organisations will hire for a myriad of different roles, usually across different disciplines, geographical locations and levels. How you market to, and interact with these different segments is important. Consider not only which disciplines and locations you need to target, but the motivations associated with each generation. For example, 59% of entrants into the workforce are millennials: a generation raised on digital and interactive media, which is a key reason why mass and traditional employer branding marketing can easily fail to capture this demographic.19 There is not always a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing your brand if you are serious about engaging with talent. What could be the aspects of your EVP that a student will want to hear about when considering your graduate program, versus the information that is important to a new parent looking to return to work? Where might you reach a 30 year engineering industry veteran as opposed to a niche IT specialist?

Consider your various touch points for each candidate type. These might include your company’s website and its career pages, the applicant tracking system (ATS) or candidate relationship management (CRM) channel, the

organisation’s Twitter account, or LinkedIn company or employee profiles. Press releases, conferences, product launches, sponsorships, community events, conferences, career fairs, discussions with previous and current employees, day-to-day customer or supplier interactions, and most importantly, the hiring process, are all channels through which the employer brand can be communicated and reinforced.

By identifying, producing and sharing information that is tailored

to the specific audience segments, you build credibility, transparency, authenticity and a level of engagement that is more personal and targeted, rather than mass produced and potentially irrelevant.

Marketing the employer brand does not need to be an expensive exercise and it does not need HR professionals to retrain as marketers. Simply repurposing what you have and maximising contact points will reap significant rewards. Work with your marketing department or PR company to identify what your organisation already has that can be built on, or developed, easily. These might include online videos, CEO

The inside out approach

EXTERNAL BRANDING

presentations, case studies, how-to guides, product demonstrations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, industry published works and annual reports. By distributing and personalising content relative to your market segments, you increase the visibility of information and create further awareness of your employer brand. Passive candidates and those who may not consider your company as a potential employer will be exposed to relevant and appealing information that will drive traffic to your website and assist with soliciting applications from relevant candidates.

Segmenting the market

Baby Boomers

Ss Bb X YSilver Surfer Gen X Gen Y

Autumn : 2015 : 07

EMPLOYER BRANDING

The inside out approach

EXTERNAL BRANDING

Prior to the advent of the internet and social networking platforms, finding out what others knew about an employer and comparing stories was much more difficult, but today it’s standard practice for job hunters to use online networks and resources. Like it or not, if you want to influence talent, you must become an expert in authenticity.

The following factors will significantly add to the credibility and authenticity of your talent acquisition messages.

These are short but powerful stories about the experiences of individual employees that bring to life the possible experiences a new employee might someday encounter. Stories that highlight how the entry-level, graduate or long-term worker becomes successful within the organisation are especially impactful as is a ‘day in the life of’ view – anything that provides a look-in at what it is like to work for your organisation. This is particularly important for a more mobile workforce considering international moves and changes in industry.

It’s typical for organisations to include a statement on job ads that they offer ‘outstanding career development’. This is essentially a moot point: What does ‘outstanding career development’ mean exactly? Instead, think about how you can demonstrate this fact with data. Consider a company that filled 40% of their vacancies with internal candidates who were moved globally: What a powerful demonstration of outstanding career development. ‘We fill nearly 50% of all vacancies with internal hires moved globally’ rather than ‘we offer outstanding career development’: For a candidate, this is a far more impressive statement.

Candid blogs written by your ‘average employee’ can be a major contributor to authenticity if they are not edited or censored in any way. Blogs that include personal experiences and stories, even with negative elements, are the most powerful and likely to be read. Organisations in the US like Zappo’s, Microsoft and Google do this very well. In Australia, companies like Accenture and Santos continue to experiment and evolve in this space.

Providing an opportunity to challenge a message or to ask specific questions builds authenticity because it adds two-way communication and it demonstrates an organisation’s responsiveness. This could be as simple as having an existing team member monitoring and responding to comments on your company LinkedIn page, or require more resources like to having an authorised spokesperson dedicated to posting, monitoring and responding across all channels.

Even though it will make some HR professionals nervous, it is appropriate to occasionally use natural language and words in your messages. Candidates will respond more positively to messages which are less on ‘marketing speak’ and more on informality and approachability.

Very few people relish a job search, so organisations that go out of their way to provide company-specific information on what exactly what to expect, what they’re looking for and frequently asked questions quickly earn authenticity points. Generic information and tips add little value to job seekers.

Dynamic, authentic and original content on digital platforms significantly increases the visibility of your company in search engine returns. In other words, the more content posted by your company on respectable industry websites, the greater the probability of articles or content featuring on the first page of search engine results when people are seeking information about your jobs, industry and company. This is a highly effective way of driving traffic to your company career page.

Authenticity in employer brand

Autumn : 2015 : 08

EMPLOYER BRANDING

The inside out approach

EXTERNAL BRANDING

Other low-cost tactical options to implement as part of your EVP strategy and to enhance your employer brand include:

TARGETED CAREER LANDING PAGES— Surveys show that candidates want as much information as possible about a company, the job, terms and conditions and work environment in order to make an informed decision to apply. Whilst general branding is helpful, more specific information on a purpose-built landing page will provide candidates with expanded and relevant detail. A careers landing page also provides your company with an opportunity to promote events in a particular discipline area, such as roadshows, career information sessions and other industry events that company employees may be attending or presenting at.

If you can’t do this as part of your permanent career website, consider the approach for campaign or bulk hiring initiatives. Chevron Australia, for example, has three separate landing pages, one each for graduate and vacation, operations and professional jobseekers.

CANDIDATE SURVEY— Conducting a brief survey of successful and unsuccessful candidates is a low cost initiative that will capture data on the real and perceived EVP elements that prompt applications. This information can be used to:

• formulate key marketing messages

• develop content to expand on elements of high appeal, by audience segment

• correlate with your company’s brand values

• design employment marketing and branding messages aligned to discipline and industry preferences

• better understand where to target advertising spend specific to each discipline group

• place job adverts for maximum impact

• improve the recruitment process and candidate experience.

KEEP IN TOUCH PROGRAM— From job offer to start date, delays in the recruitment process can occur, be it due to notice periods, changes to budgets or candidate relocation.

Implementing measures to remain in consistent contact with candidates assists with onboarding and reduces the risk of counter offers, both from the candidate’s current employer and from a competitor organisation.

This same approach can be used effectively to engage with candidates, keeping them informed until the right role becomes available. Candidate management software, often available as a module of existing applicant tracking systems, can support and automate elements of this approach.

POST-OFFER WELCOME— According to research, the first and last touch points of the hiring experience are the two which create a lasting impression of the entire process.

By implementing simple measures such as:

• the hiring manager calling to congratulate and welcome the successful candidate

• assigning a buddy to keep in contact, answer any questions and provide an insight into what to expect

• pre-start team interaction

you are creating a positive end-to-end hiring experience.

Enhancing your brand

Autumn : 2015 : 09

EMPLOYER BRANDING

The inside out approach

EXTERNAL BRANDING

INCREASING REFERRALS— Referrals are a highly effective way to identify potential candidates from existing employee networks, especially when recruitment timeframes are tight. Benefits include an improved candidate ‘fit’, as the referrer knows the type of individual who will work well in your workplace. It can lead to a greater source of candidates which can improve the time to hire and cost of recruitment. Studies indicate that referral hires have a 25% higher retention rate than other types of hires.

Some organisations like to have a structured program that offers a financial reward for successful referrals, whilst others prefer a more organic or informal approach. The more engaged a workforce is, the greater their willingness to refer without the need for financial reward.

As well as encouraging referrals from existing employees, seek referrals from employees who are new to your company: New starters will be motivated and positive about the organisation and could offer leads to other people from relevant disciplines. In 2014, Harrier recruited 40% of the employees for its RPO solution at Coles through employee referrals.

NEWSLETTERS— Sending out newsletters to potential candidates will allow them to keep updated with what is happening at your company. To remain competitive, communication with candidates needs to move away from the generic approach typically deployed, and to focus on the specific elements that will appeal to each individual discipline area. Your company’s value proposition can be demonstrated through stories in the newsletter.

By providing additional information through updated newsletters, candidates will be more aligned and have a better understanding of the company before deciding to join. Newsletters can be used as part of a Keep in Touch or alumni program as well as enhancing a company’s website or social media presence.

WEBINARS— A webinar is an online seminar that users can access by registering to attend. A webinar offers data streams of text-based messages, voice and video chat to be shared simultaneously, across geographically dispersed locations. This digital channel offers a highly effective opportunity to communicate on general topics, such as working conditions and benefits to more specific topics relating to projects, products, locations and jobs.

As a webinar can be recorded, the session can also be both promoted and shared through LinkedIn groups, your career website, YouTube and other industry specific websites.

Webinars can be highly effective when used for bulk or campaign recruitment such as graduate and vacation employment.

ALUMNI— An alumni initiative is intended to encourage high performing ex-employees back into your business. The initiative should aim to engage key talent (from specific disciplines and/or with hard-to-source skills) with targeted communication, information and invitations to lodge an application against suitable vacancies.

This approach is useful when used in conjunction with exit surveys to understand why an employee left, and to address how this has changed.

Enhancing your brand

Autumn : 2015 : 10

EMPLOYER BRANDING

Building the business case

GIVEN THE CRITICALITY OF BOTH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND EMPLOYER BRAND ON A COMPANY’S BOTTOM LINE, TARGETED INVESTMENT IN UNDERSTANDING AND EXECUTING STRATEGIES TO ELEVATE BOTH WILL REAP REWARDS.

Correlating the HR strategy with the organisational strategy is the foundation of any business case for enhanced branding. It’s important to understand the business drivers that will determine HR’s focus – this might include the need to build capability in certain skill sets due to product and service changes, growth or expansion plans and the workforce planning required to achieve this. How will these drivers impact your need to build or enhance your employer brand in a new vertical, market or employee skill base, or in response to new competitors entering the market, or changing market economics?

Any business case you’re making for enhancing employer brand, internally or externally, must include:

• Your current strategy, budget and measures.

• How HR metrics such as turnover, absenteeism and hiring cost data demonstrate that there is currently low employee engagement/ engagement with your brand, or room for improvement.

• Qualitative data such as candidate feedback or exit interview feedback.

• The degree of employee advocacy; how are employees representing your organisation? What are they saying? A number of applications can measure employee advocacy: SocialLook Leaderboard, for example, bases its measurements on Twitter accounts where individuals’ bios specifically mention working for a particular company. Glassdoor and Google alerts will offer similar information on what is being said about an organisation, by whom and on a specific platform, daily.25

• Proposed solutions to your employer branding issues including:

• How the improvements to internal and external engagement with the brand will be measured: How will you demonstrate that your enhancements have achieved their aim? Measures might include improvements in HR metrics, higher numbers of views of branding content, an increase in employee referrals, consistent attendance at company events or webinars, successful returns of alumni to your business and positive changes to net promoter scores.

Whether your organisation is large or small, the following commercial reasons could help convince your leadership to support enhanced investment in employer branding:

o Utilising what already exists, how and through what internal and external channels

o Leveraging free/low cost technology and applications such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Sites such as Buffer.com enable you to link all company social media accounts on one platform and to schedule content as often and as far in advance as you determine.

o Implementing high touch, low cost initiatives such as webinars, ‘staying in touch’ programs, newsletters and employee referral programs.

Autumn : 2015 : 11

EMPLOYER BRANDING

Building the business case

Whether your organisation is large or small, the following commercial reasons could help convince your leadership to support enhanced investment in employer branding:

Publicly traded organisations that achieve the top decile in employment engagement outperform their competitors by 147%20.

Companies with a highly engaged workforce are 22% more profitable21.

A recent study conducted by UK supermarket Sainsbury’s found that the lowest performing 25% of stores could reduce waste by nearly 10% by enhancing employee engagement22.

Disengaged employees are 3.6 times more likely to leave your organisation23.

Research indicates it costs about one-fifth of an employee’s salary to replace that employee. Not only do employers have to invest time and money in hiring and onboarding replacement workers, but it takes time for new hires to reach the level of performance and productivity that their predecessors maintained.

Using an online engagement calculator like Officevibe’s Employee Engagement Return on Investment Calculator, will enable you to quickly calculate the cost of your company’s turnover, absenteeism and hiring costs.

Data quoted in The Economist in 2014 suggests that effective EVP management can bring tangible benefits, including a 20% increase in the pool of potential workers, a four-fold increase in commitment among employees and a 10% decrease in payroll costs24.

Research conducted over the last decade shows that engaged employees are safer.

A Gallup study found that companies that had high employee engagement were almost 50% less likely to suffer workplace incidents or injuries.

Research conducted by the SHRM Foundation found that engaged employees are five times less likely than non-engaged employees to have a safety incident and seven times less likely to have a lost-time safety incident25.

High absenteeism is a strong reflection of a lack of employee engagement. In 2014, over 88 million days were lost to the Australian economy due to absenteeism, at a cost of $27.5 billion per annum in sick leave costs and lost productivity.

Organisations who participated in the Absence Management Survey indicated the cost to their business was $2,741 per employee per annum.

Autumn : 2015 : 12

EMPLOYER BRANDING

In the last decade, the service industries of retail, hospitality, tourism and health/aged care have overtaken Australia’s more traditional industries in the primary and secondary sectors, driving the demand for knowledge capital, intellectual property, customer service and technology skills.26 A company’s ability to compete and thrive then is largely dependent on its greatest resource: people. A highly engaged workforce – particularly in a tough economic climate - will deliver performance, profitability and a positive culture; employees will be naturally compelled to share their employer satisfaction with customers, suppliers, friends and family, all of whom are potential employees. A positive employer brand will also impact consumer behaviour;

Reaping the rewards

if customers perceive that you treat your employees well, they are more likely to engage with your business.

With the changing nature of the workforce, attracting and retaining talent is a relentless challenge. Add to this the increased global penetration faced by many Australian industries, and distinguishing yourself from the competition by communicating your vision, promoting your strengths and confirming values becomes a critical business driver.

As some areas of Australia enter tougher economic conditions, recruitment is dwindling, redundancies are being made and candidates are flooding the market. In some industries, such as mining,

“An employer brand cannot be created.It can only be revealed.

Tell the story of your culture as it exists.”27

Bryan ChaneyEMPLOYER BRANDING EXPERT

oil and gas and agriculture, the demand for new and niche skills is affecting operational efficiency, in addition to restricting growth and innovation. Either way, the clear and targeted articulation of a strong employer brand across each stage of the employee lifecycle is critical in establishing your organisation as an employer of choice, and in ensuring you reach and engage with the talent needed to achieve your organisational objectives.

This takes investment: In leadership, processes and branding - all areas that HR can drive within their organisations. How are you influencing and supporting the multiple elements of your employer brand?

Autumn : 2015 : 13

EMPLOYER BRANDING

1 ‘Global Ad Spending Growth to Double this Year’, e-marketer.com 2014, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Global-Ad-Spending-Growth-Double-This-Year/1010997

2 ‘The World’s Most Valuable Brands’, 2014, Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/

3 Tolan J, 2014, ‘Make Them Want You: The Importance of Employer Branding’, http://www.businessinsider.com/make-them-want-you-the-importance-of-employer-branding-2014-9

4 ‘Annual Research: Content Marketing Budgets, Benchmarks and Trends’, Content Marketing Institute, 2014, http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/research/

5 ‘Australia’s most sought after companies to work for’, 2013, news.com.au, http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/australias-most-soughtafter-companies-to-work-for/story-fnda1bsz-1226748748562

6 Stefanac N, 2014, ‘2014 Market Highlights and Key Trends that affect Recruiters’, SEEK presentation

7 ‘Workforce 2020 Executive Summary’, SuccessFactors 2014, http://www.successfactors.com/content/dam/successfactors/en_us/resources/white-papers/sap-workforce2020-executive-summary.pdf

8 Ibid.

9 ‘Five Steps to Boosting your Talent Brand through Content’, LinkedIn Talent Solutions whitepaper, 2014, https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/c/14/7/content-marketing-guide-for-talent-acquisition

10 2015 Australia Staffing Trends: 4th Annual Report’ presentation, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, 2015, p.20 - 21

11 Stefanac N, op. cit.

12 ‘Workforce 2020 Executive Summary’, op. cit.

13 Kelleher B, ‘Why Employer Branding Matters Now More than Ever’, monster.com, accessed 2015, http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/workforce-management/employee-retention-strategies/employer-branding.aspx

14 Stefanac N, op. cit.

15 Reilly R, 2014, ‘5 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement Now’, Gallup Business Journal, http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/166667/five-ways-improve-employee-engagement.aspx

16 Arruda W, 2013, ‘Three Steps for Transforming Employees into Brand Ambassadors’, Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/10/08/three-steps-for-transforming-employees-into-brand-ambassadors/

17 ‘4 essential tips to convert your employees to talent brand ambassadors’, webcast 2013, http://www.slideshare.net/linkedin-talent-solutions/4-tips-to-convert-your-employees-to-talent-brand-ambassadors

18 ‘2014 Edelman Trust Barometer’, http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2014-edelman-trust-barometer/

19 ‘Workforce 2020 Executive Summary’ op. cit.

20 Hein R, 2013, ‘Tips for Measuring and Improving Employee Engagement, http://www.cio.com/article/2459447/careers-staffing/tips-for-measuring-and-improving-employee-engagement.html. Performance based on earnings per share.

21 Straz M, 2015, ‘4 Ways Encouraging Employee Engagement Improves the Bottom Line, entrepreneur.com, http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242637), which examined about 1.4 million employees in 192 organisations across the globe in 2012.

22 Halliwell J, 2014, ‘Sainsbury’s tackles employee engagement to reduce shrinkage’, http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/people/people-news/sainsburys-tackles-employee-engagement-to-reduce-shrinkage/373782.article

23 Straz M, op. cit.

24 SHRM Research Quarterly, Edition 1 (2007). Leveraging Employee Engagement for Competitive Advantage. Nancy R. Lockwood.

25 Julig L, 2014, ‘4 Ways to Turn Your Employees Into Brand Ambassadors’, Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/turn-employees-brand-ambassadors/

26 ‘Australia: Industry Sector of Employment’, Profile.ID, http://profile.id.com.au/australia/industries

27 Maldonado L, 2013, ‘Employment Branding Stats, Quotes and Best Practices’, slideshare, http://www.slideshare.net/lizonomics/employment-branding-stats

References