How to Build an Employer Brand | Glassdoor

How to Build an Employer Brand

How you're viewed as an employer-by past, present, and future employees - is what is called an "employer brand," and Glassdoor's research shows it's worth its weight in gold.

But what exactly is an employer brand? And how can you cultivate-and keep-a positive one? This guide walks you through everything you need to know to build the best brand.  

Guide Overview

1. What Is an Employer Brand?

2. Why Is Employer Branding Important?

3. How to Build an Employer Brand

4. How Much Does Employer Branding Cost?

5. How Glassdoor Shapes Employer Brand

6. How to Respond to Employee Reviews

7. Learn More!

What Is an Employer Brand?

There is the brand reputation that you create through clever marketing and ad campaigns, and through your products and services-and then there's the brand that is created by the perception people have of you as an employer, and your public promise to employees. The latter is what's called an employer brand-and it's vital to your company's overall success.

Put another way, an employer brand is how you market your company to job seekers. It's how you present yourself-and how you respond to those who leave reviews about you.

An effective employer brand shares what makes your organization a great place to work, and will communicate that you care about your employees-their success, and happiness.

Why Is Employer Branding Important?

An authentic, well-defined employer brand is essential to recruiting and retaining quality talent in today's market. Why? Because employer branding attracts informed candidates.

When candidates view jobs alongside branded content that helps them qualify themselves, your company reaps the benefits of higher quality applicants and lower recruiting costs.

Your employer brand also impacts whether potential investors, as well as customers, want to invest with you and do business with you. While a positive employer brand will attract investors and customers, a negative employer brand could cost your investments and sales.

How to Build an Employer Brand

To build a positive employer brand, there are several steps you should take. First, you must understand that employer brand is something you can actively cultivate-and a good initial step is claiming your profile on Glassdoor, where you can add critical company details that savvy job seekers consider before applying for work at any company, such as the number of your employees, industry details, company mission, benefits, and perks-plus add photos.

You'll also want to build similar profiles on other external sites, and create robust internal documents and webpages that describe your company mission and perks of working there.

Lastly, a big part of building a positive employer brand is managing employee reviews. But we'll share more on that below. (The skinny? Don't let reviews go without your response!)

How Much Does Employer Branding Cost?

Smart businesses designate an individual whose job it is to build your employer brand. This will ensure that all levels of your organization-from CEO to HR-will be on the same page regarding brand messaging and strategy. But how much will that person (and the expenses of their job) really cost? In a 2016 Harris survey commissioned by Glassdoor, company cost averaged $129,000. Companies with up to 499 employees spent $6,300; those with up to 3,499 employees spent $81,400; and those with 3,500 or more employees spent $335,900.

How Glassdoor Shapes Employer Brand

Glassdoor is very important for talent acquisition and employee engagement. After all, 83 percent of job seekers are likely to research company reviews and ratings when deciding where to apply for a job, and more than 64 million unique users visit Glassdoor's mobile applications and website monthly. If you don't have a Glassdoor profile, you're missing out.

Here are just a few ways that Glassdoor helps you to shape your employer brand:

1. You can post an up-to-date company logo: Your company's most recent logo version is prominently featured to lend an air of authenticity and ensure visitors know they've come to the right place.

2. You can personalize your profile to the audience: Employer branding isn't one size fits all-and that's why Glassdoor allows you to create a personalized view of your profile for up to four different audiences based on their occupation, such as engineering, or sales.

3. You can display our OpenCompany status: Quickly and easily show potential job candidates that you stand for transparency by completing Glassdoor's OpenCompany program and adding the badge to your profile.

4. Update your profile often: You will get candidates excited to work for your company by sharing the latest on company milestones, product releases, community service, and more.

5. Share your employer value proposition explained: Glassdoor gives you a platform to tell potential job candidates why your company is a great place to work.

6. Track (and respond to) reviews: Glassdoor alerts you when reviews have posted and give you the opportunity to respond. Plus, you can feature positive reviews on your profile, so that they are the first ones job seekers see when researching your company.

You can read even more ways Glassdoor helps you shape your employer brand here.

How to Respond to Employee Reviews

Part of your employer brand - and using Glassdoor to shape it - is employee reviews. Of course, it's easy to "deal" with positive reviews. You should always thank employees for leaving positive reviews, and express what a pleasure it is (or was) to work with them.

Negative reviews can be initially biting. But effectively responding to company reviews - even negative ones - is part of any solid employee engagement and employer branding strategy. (In fact, 62 percent of job seekers say their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review, according to a Glassdoor U.S. Site Survey.)

With a negative review, you should respond promptly, welcoming the employee's feedback, then addressing specific comments-explaining, when possible, how you will correct any issues for the future-and amplifying the positive aspects of working for your company.

Responding to reviews can be a full-time job in-and-of-itself, which is why it's smart to designate someone whose job it is to do so. Choose someone with the bandwidth to get involved, and determine with him or her what their cadence will be for monitoring new reviews and curating templated responses that you can tweak in order to save time.

Learn More!

Now that you know how to build a positive employer brand, here are some additional resources you may find useful:

5 CEO Responses on Glassdoor Worth Reading

4 Ways to Build Transparency as a Leader

5 Tips for Targeting the Right Talent

Three Ways Every Company Should Prepare Applicants

4 Surprising Things Candidates Evaluate During Interviews