Employer branding: position yourself as an attractive employer

What is employer branding?

The term “marginal employment” refers to a particular form of part-time work. In Germany, marginal employment is subject to specific statutory rules and thereby offers certain groups of the population a number of advantages.

An employment relationship is described as marginal employment when the monthly income from that job does not exceed a certain income threshold and the employment is limited in time. In the law, these two forms are called “Entgeltgeringfügigkeit” (income-based marginal employment) and “Zeitgeringfügigkeit” (time-based marginal employment).

We have listed the basic characteristics of marginal employment for you here:

Employer branding vs. retention management

While employer branding is more about positioning the business as an attractive employer and attracting new talent, retention management focuses on keeping existing employees and increasing their satisfaction and loyalty. Both approaches are decisive for a company's long-term success, because they complement and support each other. Strong employer branding helps to win qualified talent, while effective retention management makes sure that talent stays with the business for the long term.

You can find out more about retention management here.

Employer branding vs. recruitment marketing

Employer branding and recruitment marketing are two closely connected concepts in HR. They differ in their goals and approaches nonetheless. Recruitment marketing is a broad term covering all activities for winning and retaining employees, while employer branding is a specific part of recruitment marketing that concentrates on building and maintaining a strong employer brand. Both concepts matter for a company's success, but they differ in their approach: recruitment marketing is often more tactical and short-term, while employer branding is more strategic and long-term.

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Benefits of employer branding

Successful employer branding can bring your business a whole range of benefits. Some of them are “by-products” of employer branding. Because when you try to improve your employer brand externally, that has a direct effect on how your business is perceived internally as well - if you do it right:

1. Attracting talent

Strong employer branding helps to attract qualified, talented candidates. When a business is seen as an attractive employer, more highly qualified skilled workers and the best talents apply for open positions.

2. Lower recruitment costs

A positive employer image can bring recruitment costs down. Businesses with a strong employer brand have to invest less in expensive recruitment campaigns, because they receive more applications on their own and can shorten the time it takes to fill open positions.

3. Higher employee retention

Employees who are proud of their employer and identify with its values and culture stay with the business longer. That reduces turnover and the costs that come with refilling and onboarding positions.

4. Greater employee satisfaction and motivation

Strong employer branding helps create a positive working environment that raises employee satisfaction and motivation. Satisfied and motivated employees are more productive and more committed.

5. A better company image

Good employer branding strengthens the overall company image and helps win the trust and loyalty of employees as well as customers and business partners.

6. Competitive advantage

in a contested labour market, strong employer branding can offer a considerable competitive advantage. Businesses regarded as attractive employers have better chances of winning the best talent and standing out from the competition.

7. More employee referrals

Employees who are proud of their employer are more likely to recommend the business to friends and acquaintances. This leads to a steady stream of potential candidates through referrals, who are often high-quality applicants and a better fit.

8. Support for company values and culture

Employer branding helps to communicate the company culture and values externally and to make sure that new employees fit the existing culture well. This encourages a coherent and harmonious working environment.

9. Increasing opportunity costs

With strong employer branding you can not only expect your recruiting costs to go down, you can also make sure you are able to keep up with your order book. Because when your employees are satisfied and recruiting runs smoothly, you will not run into staffing difficulties. So you no longer end up in a situation where you cannot carry out jobs for lack of staff.

10. Resilience in a crisis

Businesses with strong employer branding are better able to cope with crises. Employee loyalty and trust are higher in difficult times, which makes for a stable and more resilient organisation.

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Strategies for successful employer branding

Employer branding rests on many different strategies. Which strategy works best for your business is very individual. One highly influential factor is your industry, for example, because not every industry stands for the same values and ideas. Even so, these five strategies should be a good first step:

1. Nurture the company culture

A positive company cultureis the heart of strong employer branding. Transparent communication, appreciation and a protective working environment are decisive

2. Online presence

The online presence is often the first point of contact for potential employees. An appealing careers page, an active social media presence and positive reviews on employer rating platforms such as kununu and Glassdoor are indispensable for strong employer branding. Here we recommend our partner DNN, who specialises in building an online presence for small and medium-sized businesses.

3. Authentic storytelling

Tell authentic stories from day-to-day work. Use employee testimonials and success stories to convey an honest picture of your business. Employee testimonials means using the people who work at your business as ambassadors and putting them forward to attract potential employees. You can tell their story, introduce them or let them talk about your business. That works best on your website or through your social media channels.

4. Employee development and further training

Invest in the further training and development of your employees. Career development programmes and regular training show that you care about your employees' future.

5. Measure employee engagement and satisfaction

Regular surveys on employee satisfaction and engagement can offer valuable insights and help identify areas that need improvement.

Here you can learn more about how to raise employee satisfaction in your business.

6. Commit to digital processes

One measure we have not covered so far is communicating modern working processes to the outside world. Stacks of paper and laborious bureaucratic processes tend to make a poor impression on potential skilled workers. And you can clear those problems out of the way easily with digital solutions.

Processes such as working time tracking are simple to put in place with apps like clockin, and employees can check their working time accounts and vacation days in the app or document jobs in digital project files.

Use clockin not only as a first step into digitalization, but as a tool for communicating with your employees. Make topics such as time tracking transparent, and your business more modern and more attractive, by moving with the times.

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