1) The document discusses the importance of having a strong employer brand for attracting and retaining top talent as reflected by lower staff turnover rates. 2) It describes a panel discussion where internal communicators shared their views on developing employer brands and the role they can play in bringing the brand to life both internally and externally. 3) Key topics from the discussion included the importance of managing employer brands online through sites like Glassdoor, ensuring leadership buy-in for the employer brand strategy, and using metrics like cost per hire and attrition rates to measure the impact of the brand.

1. Employerbrand: it’s not optional
“Internal communicators have the spark and creativity to bring the employer brand to life.”
This spark was definitely apparent among the lively audience at the Institute of Internal
Communications (IoIC) event last Wednesday evening – the first in a series of three events
exploring the role of internal communication in creating a strong employer brand.
Chief executive of the IoIC, Jennifer Sproul, chaired the discussion, as panellists and
audience members shared their views and experiences of why having a strong employer
brand is so important, and what role internal communicators can play in bringing it to life.
Fairly new in her role, Jennifer spoke of the challenges of employer branding at the IoIC –
branding not just an organisation, but in her view, branding an entire profession. She wants
people to develop an emotional connection to a career in internal comms and believes the
IoIC has the potential do so.
So why is it necessary to have a strong employer brand? Quite simply, it’s what makes
people want to work for you, and it’s what can drive people away. It reflects what employees
and others say about your organisation and, crucially, what you say about yourself. For the
financially minded among us, there is a monetary incentive too – 28% lower staff turnover for
companies with a strong employer brand. In a competitive marketplace, it’s commercially
savvy to do whatever you can to recruit and retain the best staff.
Panellist Mark Di-Toro, Senior PR Specialist EMEA at Glassdoor (the ‘TripAdvisor for jobs’),
had plenty of experiences to share. Glassdoor works with clients to protect their employer
brand online, driving organic reviews on the website, giving them the opportunity to respond
to both positive and negative reviews, and providing analytics. He stressed that these
reviews must be genuine. After a big, public pay saga involving a well-known sportswear
shop, Glassdoor suddenly saw a huge spike in positive reviews from managers at said
company. Clearly, this leads to a certain lack of integrity. “People believe people, not
companies.”
What is the role of internal comms in managing and developing the employer brand?

2. Reflecting on the current state of play, Steven Brand, Employer Brand Director EMEA at
Randstad Sourceright, says at best IC colleagues are informed, but are definitely not as
involved as they should be.
Mark pointed out that the “people experience” affects all departments in a business, so all
teams must work together to be effective. It doesn’t matter who owns the process – HR, IC,
marketing, social – as long as someone is. Our role, as communicators, is to help craft the
message. If no one is actively managing your employer brand at the moment, he asks: why
shouldn’t it be you?
The conversation then turned to EVP – employer brand value. Or employee brand value
perhaps? No one was really sure. Gemma McGrattan, managing director of SynergyCreative
describes it as the “deal” – what should employees expect of you and what do you expect of
them?
At Parkinson’s UK, they refer to their PVP rather than EVP – the ‘people value proposition’.
Carolyn Nutkins, Director of Organisational Development at the charity, stressed that
volunteers are part of it too, and they’re a vital part of the organisation.
In a room full of communication professionals, the topic of measurement was bound to arise.
The panel stressed the importance of not just collecting data, but using it too. Link your
employer brand to market performance with stats. They agreed that HR directors are often
more interested in the numbers than comms teams – cost per hire, attrition, ROI. These
directors often have a direct line to the CEO and can help you get your senior stakeholders
on side – 40% of FTSE 100 companies have HR directors on the board.
Why is it so crucial to get buy in from the top? The CEO should be the chief owner of the
reputation in an organisation, says corporate communications consultant Ger Peerboom.
Employer brand extends further than just your employees, to journalists, investors and
stakeholders. If your CEO isn’t taking an interest, make it your responsibility to make sure he
or she does.
Inevitably, the debate wrapped up with a question on managing employer brand post-Brexit.
Most agreed that the biggest challenge right now is for the UK to defend its reputation as a

3. place where people want to come to work. In the meantime, good talent will always be
required.
For details of the second event in the series, click here.