Reset: theme 3 – employer brand and employee experience

In Australia, the shift towards the most trusted relationship being “my employer” is well and truly embedded, having increased from 54% in 2016 to 77% in 2019, and significantly more than people trust NGOs (56%), business (52%), government (42%) and media (40%).

To earn and sustain trust, employers need to deliver against their promises to employees as well to customers and all stakeholders. There is now an expectation that employers will deliver customer-like experiences across the employee lifecycle that live up to the expectations set in the employer brand.

In order to do this, the employer, corporate and customer brands and experiences need to be aligned. It is no longer acceptable for companies to promise one thing to customers, another to employees, and another to shareholders, especially with the fluidity of brand relationships – customers become employees, employees are customers, employees are shareholders. More so, with social media fuelling brand transparency and the need to show one brand face.

Whilst the expression and emphasis of the brand may vary for employees, with the employee value proposition at the core, the employer brand has to be aligned.

Many organisations are still without an employer brand or defined employee experience, and many employer brands and experiences are not aligned and integrated with the rest of the business.

There is strong rationale for developing, aligning and integrating the employer brand and experience: competition increasing for attracting, retaining and engaging talent; research indicating that engaged and fulfilled talent are more productive; the need for employees to consistently deliver stakeholder experiences that live up to the brand promise; and the need for organisations to articulate their values and associated behaviours to drive culture “values in action”.