One of the questions we often get asked is how can we measure the success of our employer brand? The very obvious answer is to look at hiring metrics and areas that require improvement – but it can go much, much deeper than that.

If done correctly, your employer brand can have a huge impact on almost every business metric that you have. Your EVP (or employee experience as we prefer to call it) touches all parts of your business. Your culture, how inclusive you are & how safe people feel are key components of the emotional & experiential side of you. Similarly, so is the impact your senior leadership team has & the opportunities that are awarded to people. Paired alongside the more contractual elements like rewards and benefits, you have the elements to bottle up the real you, to make into a brand.

Style & Substance

The purpose of a great employer brand is not just to present yourself in a better way. It can serve to bring your people together – uniting them behind shared experiences, as well as shared needs, desires and ambitions. It starts with involving your people. What better way to bring about some shared purpose by saying “we want your help. We want to understand everything that’s great but also learn about what we can improve so we can make it better for you, and make us more attractive to others.” It’s a powerful thing.

And a bit of this is crucial. It can’t just be about the great. It has to be authentic; it has to have aspiration.

Employer brand is just as important in retaining your people as it is attracting. It should not only bring your people closer together but make them feel more included, addressing any areas of improvement needed in being more diverse and equal. In turn, a happier workforce is more creative, productive and therefore generating more profit. We did say EVERY business metric, didn’t we?

Where to start?

Of course, you will have some obvious goals and aims and it’s important to be clear about these before you embark on any employer brand project. The whole point of measuring is to understand your strengths and weaknesses and identify ways to improve. Before you worry about what you’re going to measure, make sure you have clarity about why you want to measure at all.

And then prioritise. What is going to make the most impact on your business or are the key areas to address? Don’t try and do everything at once. In some areas, crawling will be the starting point for change, in others, you can aspire to start running where you’re currently walking.

Finally, make sure you have the tools in place to measure what needs to be measured…and your team are behind the reason you want to measure them.

What to measure?

We’re going to presume you have business metrics set up so you know your productivity, sales, profits etc, but here we break down some areas that can have a direct impact from having a good employer brand

Brand Visibility

Your employer brand should have equal billing with your customer-facing one. They should intertwine. And you want to know that people are finding and engaging with it.

• Site traffic (in general and to careers pages)
• Social followers and engagements
• Job posting views and shares
• Number of applicants
• Number of employee referrals

Diversity

The wider your reach, the more prospective job candidates you can attract from diverse backgrounds & in turn make sure everyone is treated fairly.

• Diversity of applicants
• Diversity of hires
• Diversity breakdown in staff turnover
• Pay parity (gender, ethnicity, etc.)

Recruiting

The clarity that you provide on who you really are and the aspiration you show in where you want to go should make it possible to get it right more times than wrong.

• Acceptance rate
• Time to hire
• Cost per hire

Employee Engagement/Retention

The authentic side of your employer brand will resonate with your long-serving people, and make new hires less likely to bugger off once they’ve seen under the bonnet.

• Employee engagement surveys
• Staff turnover (voluntary/involuntary)
• Average tenure in role
• Glassdoor/similar reviews and ratings

Post-Employment

People will still leave. It’s a fact. And hopefully with your blessing. But these metrics can have just as much bearing on your success as others.

• Reason for leaving
• Exit interview feedback
• Willingness to refer
• Glassdoor/similar reviews and ratings

The chances are you’re not going to get everything right first time. Be patient. Employer Brands should be nurtured – it takes time, commitment, and persistence. But if you are recording the right metrics and getting the right data, it should be obvious where things are not quite right and what you can do about them.

Good luck!

​If you’re looking to overhaul your employer brand and tell your authentic story, we can help. Find out more here and get in touch today.