ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me a great pleasure while submitting the project on the topic EMPLOYER
BRANDING.
I would like to thank Mrs. Manish Shukla for guiding me throughout this project work.
And also I thank her for motivating me in different ways. She has been the tremendous
helping hand in completing this task in easy and efficient way I would also like to thank
Mr. Abhishek Singh for sparing his precious time and be the guiding spirit throughout
the project
I am also thankful to all those seen and unseen hands, which have been of direct or
indirect help in completion of this project work.

Employer Branding

Employer branding is an emerging discipline with its roots in classical marketing

and HR principles. Its aim is to develop an image of the organisation as an employer
of choice in the minds of existing and potential employees, as well as other
stakeholders including customers and recruiters. The objective is not only to offer
these tangible benefits, but to also develop an emotional link with them. A strong
employer brand should connect an organizations values, people strategy and HR
policies and be linked to the company brand.
Definitions:
Sartain and Schumann (2006) defined employer brand as: "how a business
builds and packages its identity, from its origins and values, what it promises to

deliver to emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliver what a business
promises to customers."
Brett Minchington (2005) defines employer branding as the image of your
organization as a great place to work in the mind of current employees and key
stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers
and other key stakeholders).
Sullivan (2004) defines employer branding as "a targeted, long-term strategy to
manage the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees, and related
stakeholders with regards to a particular firm."
Ambler and Barrow (1996) define employer brand in terms of the benefits it
conveys on employees.
Employer branding is the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the
employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants
to recruit and retain. The process facilitates the companys ability in attracting,
recruiting and retaining ideal employees referred to as Top Talent in recruitment
and helps secure the achievement of the companys business plan.

What Employer Branding is ??

A comprehensive recruiting strategy that positions your company in an attractive way
and makes it top of mind for potential candidates.
A focused corporate message that speaks to current and potential employees that
conveys the companys culture and identity in a truthful and compelling manner.
n A long-term vision that encompasses the values, systems, policies and behaviours
which define what employers expect of their employees and what employees expect
of their employers.
What its not:
An advertising campaign The employer brand is not just about developing a
catchy tagline!
A wish list of how the company would like to be perceived, i.e. promoting work-life
balance as a key benefit to attract candidates is a good idea, but if your organization
doesnt have programs in place, the message wont be credible.

A quick fix it may be tempting to create an employer brand campaign to quickly

generate a rush of new applicants, but if you are not delivering on your promises,
retention will then become another challenge! Your organizational culture must be
nurtured over time.
Factors to consider before making an Employer Brand.
1.The main challenge: Before the organization set up an employer brand it is
important to keep in mind What are the major challenges organization is facing like
struggle to attract candidate with right skill set , high turnover rates.
The next step is
a) Identification of what an organization wishes to accomplish and set a baseline
metrics to measure success against it.
2)Who do you want to attract : Organization need to know who are the target
employees.
a) What are their values and expectations?
b) What are the tools they are using to search for jobs and potential employees
c) What are employees looking for future employer?
3) What do candidate go through when trying to apply to your company?
Exploring the application process through a candidates eye is of utmost importance.
The key questions that comes under the purview of this area are :
a) Is the website engaging?
b) Does the resume go through a black hole ?
All these factors are taken into consideration while making the overall brand and
candidate experience
4) Why this particular organization- This step includes the reasons why people
will love to work for your company through Focus group and workshops.Key
factors to be kept in mind while doing this are:
a) Be objective: The process is about discovering what organizations culture is
about , not about the what an organization wishes to be .
b) Draw a comparison matrix Drawing a comparison matrix to analyse the
input of senior management with what employees want is a great add on .Internal
problems must be addressed before launching an employer brand.
c) Buy-in for top management - Company culture must be a clear set of values
that are communicated and believed in from the top-down.

It is important to follow through on promises made during the onset of an

employees working relationship with the company.

History - The term "employer branding" was first publicly introduced to a

management audience in 1990,[5] and defined by Simon Barrow, chairman

of People in Business, and Tim Ambler, Senior Fellow of London
Business School, in the Journal of Brand Management in December
1996.This academic paper was the first published attempt to "test the
application of brand management techniques to human resource
management".
The Employer Brand Experience
An employer brand is the full physical, intellectual, and emotional
experience of people who work there, and the anticipated experience of
candidates who might work there. It is both the vision and the reality of
what it means to be employed there. It is both the promise and the
fulfillment of that promise. The employer brand radiating out of our
organizations name inspires loyalty, productivity, and a sense of pride.
In marketing terms, a brands image is grounded in three dimensions:
Functional benefits. What the product does, for example: this
Canon digital camera takes good pictures and this particular
model is great for portraits, video, and long-distance shots.
Emotional benefits. How a product makes the customer feel, for
example: I feel happy when I see this beautiful shot of my kids
and I feel loving and fun when I e-mail these pictures to their
grandparents.

 Reasons to believe. Validation of the products claims, for

example: Canon means reliability and ease of use and reviewers
on CNET.com rate the Canon digital camera as excellent.
A solid employer brand is grounded in the same dimensions:
Functional benefits. Tangible rewards of working at the employer:
salary, health care, a clean, safe workplace, and a convenient
location; for example: XYZ Co. has great compensation and has a
beautiful office near my home.
Emotional benefits. Intangible rewards: mission, pride, status, job
satisfaction, companionship/collegiality, belonging to a winning
team, and so on; for example: Im proud to work for XYZ Co.
my pals and I make the best widgets in the world.
Reasons to believe. Validation of the employers claims; for
example: my friend says XYZ Co. is a great place to work and
the local news station calls XYZ Co. a hot company for talented
people.
The functional and emotional benefits are used for positioning,
which means defining the unique combination of attributes that define
the product (or employer). XYZ Co.s positioning says that it has a
winning culture combined with strong tangible rewards, which in
combination with other attributes creates a unique identity. XYZs
competitors will have different cultures, locations, compensation
packages, and so on.
Branding includes deliberate messages about the company. For
example, PepsiCo, which employs 153,000 employees worldwide,

promotes the tag line PepsiCoTaste the Success! to candidates to

convey the excitement of working at this global company. On its
corporate recruiting Web site, PepsiCo says its workplace experience
is a combination of Powerful Brands, Passion for Growth, Culture of
Shared Principles, Commitment to Results, Ability to Make an Impact
and Quality People. Employees absorbed those qualities in ones
behavior.
Candidates form powerful impressions of employers based on what
one sees and hear. I work for PepsiCo means something different
from I work for Microsoft, I work for Fox News, and I work for
the city council. The employer brands at these organizations are
crafted to attract certain kinds of talent, temperament, and values in
candidates. Their positioning is unique and distinctive.
Every organization big or small has an employer brand whether they
know it or not. It touches all moments of the candidate and employee
experience, from the first time a candidate hears the name until the
day he or she retires from the company. Its the reputation outside and
inside the organization. Its there for the organization to neglect or
manage. And its the cornerstone of finding, hiring, and holding
keepers up and down the organization. In other words, its
fundamental to the all stages of the Engagement Cycle.
The idea of an employer brand has gained currency in the last few
years among business leaders, but the average manager doesnt have a
developed view of what it is and its importance to the organization.
The Economist magazine found that executives defined an employer
brand as the expression of a companys distinctive employment
experience. More than 70 percent of respondents in the United States

and United Kingdom expected that developing a strong employer

brand leads to employees recommending organization to others as an
attractive place to work, and also to higher employee retention
The employer brand is an authentic description of an experience,
similar to a consumer brand. It includes pay, working conditions,
culture, job title, intangible rewards, and the emotional connection
employees have with the organization and manager. It tells candidates
who you are, what you want, and what you stand for. As a marketer
attracts customers with a compelling product brand, a company
attracts candidates with a compelling employer brand.
Think an employer brand is more than a one-way description of what
its like to work there. Its a multidimensional conversation among
the companys leadership, its employees, candidates in the
marketplace, alumni, and even outsiders such as the press, bloggers,
and anyone else who has an opinion. The employer brand includes:
The Companys professional reputation
A description of company culture.
News reports about the company, both good and bad.
Word-of-mouth statements about the company.
A description of the companys future.
How the employers brand compares to the competition.
Beyond conversation, its also a set of subjective candidate
experiences, such as
Applying for a job on your Web site or via e-mail.
Interviewing for a position.
Talking to employees and walking through the workplace sites.
Using products, services, or customer help.

 The companys impact in the candidates community.

What emerges in the candidates imagination is a fuller story than any
recruiting slogan can capture: its an experience. Candidates pay
attention to an organizations reputation and compare it to other
reputations. Employees are asked what its like to work there. In the
quest for quality, employer branding is the foundation of attracting the
right people. This is where the thought is given to the new candidate
comes together with the urgent need to bring great talent into the
organization. The new candidate, as noted, is empowered to compare
the organization to others, and start with the employer brand
Literature Review
Employer Branding concept across Globe

American Express, Cisco Systems, Amgen, Starbucks, and Intel, all of

which have received recognition on The List of 100 Best Companies
to Work for in America are leaders in Employer Branding as well.
"They all share the common trait of treating employees better than
their peers in industries, and all invest heavily in employee training
and development," states Hornung. Companies who don't invest in
developing an effective Employer Brand will, in the long run, be less
financially successful than those who are. As stated by States Woltzen,
"They will not be able to recruit or retain the high-performing "
2002 Gallup survey reported that less than a quarter of American
workers are fully "engaged" in their work, costing the US economy
$300bn (and 50bn in the UK) per year. Gallup surveys in Great
Britain, France and Singapore revealed similar findings in 2003.
The surveys revealed that more than 80% of British workers lack any
real commitment to their jobs, with a quarter of those being "actively

disengaged," or truly disaffected with their workplaces. Gallup

estimates that actively disengaged workers cost the British economy
between 37.2 billion ($64.8 billion U.S.) and 38.9 billion ($66.1
billion U.S.) per year due to low employee retention, high absentee
levels, and low productivity.
Gallup survey results in 2003 also showed that only 12% of French
workers are engaged in their work, with approximately 2.5 times as
many workers (31%) being actively disengaged, or disconnected from
their jobs. In Singapore's workforce, the percentage of actively
disengaged employees is on the rise. At 17%, this figure is up five
percentage points from 2002. Gallup estimates that the lower
productivity of actively disengaged workers penalizes Singapore's
economic performance, costing between $4.9 and $6.7 billion
annually.
Recruiters in IT/ITES sectors are increasingly advising companies to
hire expert help for employer branding. "If you are not a first-mover
like Infosys or Wipro, then where is your USP?" asks Mr Gautam
Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, one of the largest IT recruitment firms in
the country.
Mr. Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, calls this a
cusp activity between HR and marketing. "Internal branding is all
about activation of solutions that can be seen, touched, felt and
literally smelt by the employee every single day. Branding from the
external perspective is all about top-down branding. Internal branding
is a very bottom-up process."
Brand matters for beginners
In an employee-driven job market where companies vie with one
another to offer the 'biggest and the best' to the prospective candidate,

employer branding has shot up in priority, sometimes even surpassing

critical factors such as compensation and job role.
Brand name is what makes companies employers of choice at
campuses, emphasizes Prof S. Murali, Chairperson, Placements, at the
ICFAI Business School. Companies now send students of previous
batches as brand ambassadors to talk about the work atmosphere,
growth opportunity, salary and other attractions that companies offer.
Rishi Das, CareerNet Consulting, a consulting firm that has been
connecting engineering colleges with corporate, has had a different
experience with entry-level employees. "We have seen that in the top
20 colleges, it's the salary and the job role that matters. Brand name
only comes third, but in colleges that are ranked below the top 20,
salary and brand name are top priorities. Thus employer branding
includes all such tangible and non-tangible factors that create
satisfaction.
Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, a Bangalore-based IT recruitment
firm, says the brand name is the most important factor at entry level.
On a scale of 1-10, he says, most students would place brand name on
top. An opinion that is also influenced by parental views, he says. "At
campus placements, parental consent plays a critical role. Most
candidates choose big brands because of this, unless of course they
have specialized in niche subjects like robotics which big brands may
not offer. Thus as per the organization requirements employer brand or
the Trust generating factors should be culminated in the system.
One reason all employees look for big brands is not only because of
their current status, but also for reasons of future employability. K.
Sudarshan, Managing Partner, EMA Partners, a global search firm for
top-level talent, says senior people do look for companies reputed for
processes and systems. "A brand is essential to candidates when they

attend the interview and in the pre-screening process." He says

compensation is important, but they may rationalize on this but not on
ob role if a brand is important. Companies also realize that the better
known it is, the lesser the premium it has to pay for talent.
The importance of brand never fades throughout one's career though it
may come down by a notch or two, says Nirupama V G, Director, Ad
Astra, a recruitment consultant. "It's always the companies that make a
song and dance that win talent," she sums up.
Why Employer Branding important for HR?
In Research Insight Employer branding: fad or the future of HR? Dr
Shirley Jenner and Stephen Taylor of Manchester Metropolitan
University Business School suggest there are four main reasons why the
concept of employer branding has become prominent in recent years.
They identify these as:
Brand power
HRs search for credibility
Employee engagement

Prevailing labour market conditions.

Brand
Power

HR search
for
credibility

Employee
engagem
ent

Prevailing
Labour
Market
conditions
.

Brand power
The past 20 years have seen the rise of the brand as a central concept in
organizational and social life. Branding underpins a growing, influential
and profitable reputation management, PR, consultancy and recruitment
advertising industry. The past decade has seen unprecedented growth in

the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for investors,

employees and other stakeholders.
HR search for credibility
HR professionals continue in the search for credibility and strategic
influence. Embracing the language and conceptual tools of brand power
seems an obvious choice. This direction reflects continuity with earlier
iterations of HR, for example with organizational development and
culture change.
Employee engagement
Recent years have seen an increased interest in promoting employee
engagement. This includes attempts to recruit, socialize and retain a
committed workforce. From a branding perspective, the recruitment
proposition forms the basis for workplace satisfaction and identification
with organizational goals and values.
Labour market conditions

The final driver identified by Jenner and Taylor was prevailing labour
market conditions. At the time of writing (2007) they pointed out that for
an extended period of time unemployment remained low and skills
shortages continued. Tight labour market conditions were combined with
a tough trading environment. Employers were thus obliged to compete
more fiercely with one another to recruit and retain effective staff, while
also being severely constrained in the extent to which they could pay
higher salaries in order to do so. A strong employer brand was being
promoted as the key to winning this war for talent by establishing
organizations unique selling point in employment terms.

Since the time of writing, there has been a change in labour market
conditions with the economic downturn and rising unemployment.
However, in uncertain economic times, employer brand appears still
appears to be a relevant concept as organisations seek to motivate and
engage existing employees and need to tempt candidates for key positions
away from roles they perceive as safe in their current organisations.
Businesses making employees redundant will need to consider how they
minimize damage to their reputation as an employer and consider the
impact on survivors still with the company.
How can organisations benefit from developing an employer brand?
An employer brand can be used to help organisations compete effectively
in the labour market and drive employee loyalty through effective
recruitment,engagement and retention practices .All organizations have
an employer brand, regardless of whether they have consciously sought to
develop one. Their brand will be based on the way they are perceived as a
place to work, for example by would-be recruits, current employees and
the employees who are supposed to leave the organization .
To be effective, the brand should not only be evident to candidates at the
recruitment stage, but should inform the approach to people management
in the organisation. For example, the brand can inform how the business
tackles:
induction
performance management and reward

 managing internal communications

promoting effective management behaviors
exits from the organisation.
To deliver benefits, it is important that the employer brand is not merely
rhetoric espousing the organisations values, but is reflective of the actual
experience of employees. People who like the job they do and the place
they work become advocates for it.
The potential that can be unlocked from this advocacy is evident from
finding on employee attitudes and engagement . The survey on which the
report was based reveals that half of respondents would encourage friends
and family to do business with their organisation and just over half would
recommend it as a place to work, with only 19% prepared to do so
without being asked.
An employer brand approach involves research with employees to
understand their attitudes and behaviour, for example, through a staff
attitude survey. This employee insight data can inform metrics on people
performance in the organisation, providing an opportunity to demonstrate
links to organisation performance.

The Psychological Contract

The ability of the business to add value rests on its front-line employees,
or 'human capital'. Organizations that wish to succeed have to get the
most out of this resource. In order to do this, employers have to know
what employees expect from the work. The psychological contract offers

a framework for monitoring employee attitudes and priorities on those

dimensions that can be shown to influence performance. The employer
brand can be seen as an attempt by the employer to define the
psychological contract with employees so as to help in recruiting and
retaining talent.
What Is A Psychological Contract?
The term psychological contract was first used in the early 1960s, but became more
popular in early 1990s. It has been defined as The perceptions of both parties to the
employment relationship, organization and individual, of the reciprocal promises and
obligations implied in that relationship.
In the above, the inferred deal is the psychological contract. The psychological
contract comes into action as soon as the employment contract or the employment
offer, which is a commonly used term, is signed. Where the obligations under the
employment contract are formal, precise and physically signed, the obligations under
the psychological contract are informal, imprecise and unsigned. These obligations
may be seen as 'promises' through the employment contract, such as employers
promise to pay commensurate with performance, On the other hand the employees
promise to deliver the work as stated in the JD.
The others as 'expectations' through the psychological contract, such as employers
expectation of above average performance, a reasonably longer tenure, reporting on
time, uphold companies reputation, be courteous to clients and colleagues, be
honest and show loyalty to the organization, etc. and employees expectation of
opportunities for training and development, opportunities for promotions, recognition
for innovation, feedback, interesting tasks, respectful treatment, reasonable job
security

and

reasonably

pleasant

and

safe

environment.

The most important thing in above is that the expectations are believed by the
employee to be part of the relationship with the employer and vice-versa.
Psychological contract Its relation to the Expectancy Theory
This can also be related to the Expectancy Theory by Victor Vroom on employee

motivation. The theory focuses on three relationships, namely, Effort performance

relationship,

Performance-reward

relationship

and

Rewards-personal

goals

relationship.
As per the theory an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when
the effort will lead to a good performance appraisal; that a good performance
appraisal will lead to organizational rewards such as bonus, salary increase, or a
promotion; and that the reward will satisfy the employees personal goals.
Based on above it can be said that a psychological contract looks at the reality of the
situation as perceived by the parties, and may be more influential than the formal
contract in affecting how employees behave from day to day. It is the psychological
contract (expectation) that effectively tells employees what they are required to do in
order to meet their side of the bargain, and what they can expect from their job. It
may not - indeed be generally applicable and is influenced by a view of the
underlying relationship between employer and employee.
What has persuaded people to take the psychological contract seriously?
Changes currently affecting the workplace which has persuaded people to take it
seriously. These include:

The nature of jobs: more employees are on part time and temporary
contracts, more jobs are being outsourced, tight job definitions are out, and
functional flexibility is in.

Organizations have downsized and delayered: 'leanness' means doing

more with less, so individual employees have to carry more weight.

Markets, technology and products are constantly changing: customers

are becoming ever more demanding, quality and service standards are
constantly going up.

Technology and finance are less important as sources of competitive

advantage: 'human

capital' is becoming more critical to business

performance in the knowledge-based economy.

Traditional organizational structures are becoming more fluid: teams are

often the basic building block, new methods of managing are required

Some inferences that can be drawn from the model of psychological contract
are:
1. The model of the psychological contract suggests that by adopting 'bundles' of HR
practices, employers are likely to improve business performance. Many employees
have substantial discretion as to how to do jobs: it is more likely that they will use
their discretion positively if they feel that they are being fairly treated.
2. Simply adopting positive HR polices is not enough: policies need to be translated
into practice if the same are to influence employees behaviour. The way in which it is
implemented by line managers is critical to the way in which employees respond.
3. Employees in large organizations do not identify any single person as the
'employer'. The line manager is important in making decisions about day-to-day
working. Another important task with the line manager is to manage the growing
expectation of the employee.
4. In order to display commitment, employees have to feel the treatment of fairness
and respect.
The Causes of Violations and Its Effects
Violations can take many forms: Violation of a psychological contract may put into 3
basic categories namely
i. Inadvertent violation - Inadvertent violation occurs when both parties are willing and
able to keep the part of the bargain, but conflicting interpretations lead one party to
act in a manner at odds with the understanding of the other. An example of such a
violation would be two people who misconstrue the time of a meeting and therefore
fail the commitment to attend.
ii. Circumstantial violation - Disruption to the contract occurs when circumstances
make it impossible for one or both parties to satisfy the part of the contract, despite
the fact that they are willing to do so. For example, unexpected heavy traffic could
prevent an employee from arriving at work on time.
iii. Willful Breach - Breach of contract occurs when one individual, who is capable of

implementing the contract, refuses to do so and thereby intentionally creates a

violation.
It is the interpretation of the cause or source of these types of violation which
influences how the violation is experienced and consequently how the victims behave
in response.
There are four main courses of action an individual may take in response to a
perceived violation which can be divided into two dimensions: active-constructive,
passive-constructive, active-destructive and passive - destructive.
Reactions to Violation
i. Active constructive course - Under this usually an employee will approach the line
manager or a manager will call upon an explanation to the employee and verbalize
so far the unwritten and unspoken expectation. It is an active, constructive effort to
change the objectionable features in a situation and compensate for the violation
while remaining in the relationship.
ii. Passive constructive course - Silence is a form of non-response and reflects a
willingness to endure or accept unfavorable circumstances in the hope that they may
improve. As a passive, constructive response it serves to perpetuate the existing
relationship.
iii. Active destructive course This is most common when voice channels do not
exist or if there is a history of conflict. It can involve neglect of one's duties to the
detriment of the interests of the other party or involve more active examples of
counterproductive behaviours. Vandalism, theft and work slowdowns are all
examples of this type of response.
iv. Passive destructive course - Under this either party is not willing to verbalize the
unspoken expectation, probably they believe there is no point in it. For e.g.
employers can terminate employees whose performance does not meet standards,
and employees can quit an untrustworthy or unreliable employer.

Avoiding a Breach

Employment relationships may deteriorate despite managements best efforts:

nevertheless it is managers job to take responsibility for maintaining them.
Preventing breach in the first place is better than trying to repair the damage
afterwards. But where breach cannot be avoided it may be better to spend time
negotiating or renegotiating the deal, rather than focusing too much on delivery.
The most important tool for avoiding a breach is communication. By experience the
immediate manager/s know what an employee expects of the organization. Its only by
communicating to the employees the manager/s can covert those unsaid, imprecise
expectation into verbal statement. Once it is converted into a verbal statement, the
role then manager/s has to play is of a negotiator. Managers need to manage
expectations, for example through systems of performance management which
provide for regular employee appraisals. HR practices also communicate important
messages about what the organization seeks to offer its employers. But employee
commitment and 'buy-in' come primarily not from telling but from listening.
HR also can play crucial role by initiating programs like Hot Seat as was being
done by GEs BPO at Gurgaon. In this the immediate reporting of the employees is
thrown questions and encourages employees to speak their minds.
This can be an effective tool for exploring how employees think and feel on a range of
issues affecting the workplace. In times of rapid change, managers and employees
frequently hold contrasting opinions about what is going on. Two-way
communication, both formal and informal, is essential as a form of reality check and a
basis for building mutual trust.
The psychological contract thus provides a convincing rationale for 'soft HRM', or
behaving as a good employer. It offers a perspective based on insights from
psychology and organizational behaviour rather than economics. It emphasizes
that employment is a relationship in which the mutual obligations of employer and
employees may be imprecise but have nevertheless to be respected. The price of

EMPLOYER BRANDING PROCESS

Research : Employer Branding begins with research . Initially one need to do

a) Internal analysis
b) External Analysis