Employer attractiveness from a generational perspective: Implications for employer branding

ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify the employer attractiveness factors prioritized by different generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. The survey was conducted with a sample of 937 professionals, working in various areas and companies, most of them were managers and had a high education level. The Employer Attractiveness Scale proposed by Berthon et al. (2005) was adopted and the results indicate that, when choosing a company, the generations under study have specific features regarding the attractiveness attributes they prioritize. It was also observed that Generation Y discriminates and ranks such attributes more clearly than the others. Possible implications for employer branding and research limitations are discussed at the end of the article.

Employer Branding in Power Industry

Companies invest in employer branding in order to get good applicants, retain employees and create the image of a great employer. Employer branding will become more prominent in the future because companies strive to gain competitive advantage. Power industry is an internationally remarkable field of business. Energy and the solutions of power technology are always needed and there is a major need for new experts in power industry. The competition of talented workforce will increase because of the decrease in working-age population. The fundamental purpose of this study is to examine what kind of motives and practices company has for employer branding in power industry. The objective is to find out the benefits of employer branding and how it is targeted towards potential and current employees. In addition, the aim is to examine whether companies see employer branding as a process and what kind of processes they have for employer branding. The theoretical contribution of this study is based on literature review, which provides a better understanding of employer branding. The empirical part is a qualitative case study of two large and international companies in the field of power industry. Employer branding in the case companies is examined using theme interviews. According to this study, employer branding is a significant part of companies’ business in power industry. The main motives for employer branding are better employer image, more efficient recruitment and improved job satisfaction. Employer branding is communicated and targeted according to target group. Recruitment and educational co-operation are the main objects of employer branding towards potential employees, whereas training and development are an essential part of employer branding towards current employees. This study also discovers that there is some kind of process aspect in the background of employer branding.

Supporting employer branding by inbound marketing in Russia

The objective of this study is to understand how employer branding can be strategically supported by inbound marketing in Russia. Furthermore, the aim is to examine the special features of inbound marketing in Russia, as well as to learn what the most useful inbound marketing channels are in the Russian context. The theoretical background of this study is built from employer branding and inbound marketing literature. Inbound marketing is currently lacking a profound research on the topic and thus, this study contributes to the inbound marketing literature as well. The empirical data of this research is collected via three qualitative expert field interviews. The interviews were conducted between January and February 2014. Furthermore, a thematic content analysis was used in the process of analyzing the research results. Both the employer branding and inbound marketing are growing their importance in Russia. The results of this study suggest that a combination of employer branding and inbound marketing can bring companies competitive advantage over others in the Russian market. It is, however, crucial to first understand the peculiarities of the inbound marketing in Russia before taking it to the employer branding context. This study provides a framework for inbound marketing tools in Russia. The proposed framework takes into careful consideration the cultural factors affecting the selection of the inbound marketing tools in Russia. Furthermore, the results of this study suggest how inbound marketing could be successfully combined with employer branding in Russia in order to strengthen the employer brands in the Russian market. However, these results are mainly applicable in the Russian context. Therefore, additional research is needed in order to understand the relationship between the employer branding and inbound marketing in other cultural settings or in particular fields of business.

A comunicação no contexto de employer branding

Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul

Employer branding : elementos relevantes na intenção de permanecer: estudo exploratório com estagiários

Atrair e reter talentos por meio de salários inflacionados pode ser oneroso e não necessariamente efetivo. A atividade de Employer Branding (EB), que consiste nos esforços das empresas em promover características e atributos que as tornem diferentes e desejáveis como empregadoras, começa a despertar o interesse tanto das empresas quanto dos pesquisadores de Recursos Humanos e Práticas de Gestão. À luz da recente e escassa literatura internacional, este estudo exploratório buscou identificar quais aspectos do Employer Branding são mais importantes para os indivíduos na intenção de permanecer em uma empresa após o período de estágio. As análises consideraram 443 questionários respondidos por estagiários de uma empresa multinacional de grande porte do setor financeiro, utilizando-se a escala de atratividade do empregador (Berthon et al., 2005), que considera cinco dimensões do Employer Branding: desenvolvimento, social, interesse, aplicação e econômica. Testes estatísticos permitiram afirmar que variáveis demográficas como gênero, tipo de custeio da faculdade (público ou privado) e nível de responsabilidade financeira influenciam na maneira como os indivíduos valorizam cada uma das dimensões. Além disso, ainda que de forma geral todas as dimensões tenham sido consideradas importantes, os resultados da Regressão Logística para a intenção de permanecer permitiram observar que, para a amostra, as questões financeiras destacam-se das demais variáveis. Por fim, a análise dos dados revela aspectos que podem servir de insumo para propostas de readequação de discurso e/ou readequação de práticas por empresas pretendam atrair e reter, com eficiência, estagiários para seu quadro de colaboradores. Além disso, os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem para a teoria ao discutir as categorizações existentes para dimensões do Employer Branding e ao sugerir que há espaço para que novas classificações sejam propostas.

Relações públicas e employer branding: estudo de caso da parceria entre Aiesec e Votorantim

The work consisted in analyzing how public relations can contribute to the development and application of the concept of employer branding. It also aims to bring contributions to the understanding of how the areas of communication, marketing and human resources, curriculum studied in Public Relations, can assist the professional performance. Based on data collected in the management of the partnership between AIESEC of Brazil and Votorantim, based on the information acquired through observation and participation in AIESEC, it was possible to reflect on how and why the PR professional is able to work in the development of positioning a company as good employer brand

Employer Branding als Bestandteil einer erfolgreichen Mitarbeiterbindung von akademisch gebildeten Nachwuchskräften

[s.c.]

"Bolagsverket är mer modernt än jag tänkte mig" : Hur kan statliga myndigheter arbeta med Employer Branding för att attrahera Generation Y?

Bakgrund: Employer Branding är ett relativt nytt begrepp som har börjat användas som en strategi inom Human Resource Management. Genom att utveckla ett Employer Brand kan or-ganisationer attrahera och behålla talangfull arbetskraft och på så vis säkra sin överlevnad. Det saknas emellertid forskning på hur Employer Branding kan användas i offentlig verksamhet för att attrahera den senaste generationen på arbetsmarknaden; Generation Y. Syfte: Öka förståelse för hur statliga myndigheter kan arbeta med Employer Branding för att attrahera Generation Y. Metod: Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod och har en fenomenologisk samt deduktiv forsk-ningsansats. Undersökningsdesignen var i form av en fallstudie. Nio semistrukturerade inter-vjuer har genomförts med respondenter på Bolagsverket, varav fyra intervjuer med personer som har inflytande över Employer Branding och fem med personer ur Generation Y. Teorier: "Employer Branding Predictive Model" Slutsatser: I studien visar att den statliga arbetsgivaren är attraktiv för Generation Y. Proble-matiken ligger i att det finns brister beträffande hur kommunikationen av arbetsgivarvarumärket ser ut externt. Utan en uttalad målgrupp och ett uttalat Employee Value Proposition blir den externa kommunikationen otydlig vilket minskar arbetsgivarens attraktionskraft hos potentiella arbetstagare. Attraktiviteten uppstår först när individen från Generation Y redan rekryterats in i organisationen.

Employer Branding idag : Attraktivitet genom sociala medier

The use of social media has during the last couple of years increased and is now a major part of most of the organizations marketing strategies. But how does this fit with the Employer Branding strategies? And how does this affect the organizational attractiveness as an employer? These were two of the questions we wanted to examine and analyze. In order to answer these questions, we conducted interviews with six different companies divided into 3 subgroups. The intention of this was to get a wider perspective of how the implementation of social media in the Employer Branding could work. And could this change the recruitment process? What we could see afterwards is that more time is spent on taking references online through social media sites. Some say it is more honest than the traditional references that the candidate got to choose. Other conclusions that we could find was that it is important to use social media in todays market but it is crucial to use it in a proper way. Companies must form a strategy based on their Employee Value Proposition in order to reach the wanted receivers using social media. It is also important that the Employee Value Proposition is based on the companies’ corporate values.

Upplevelser av "Employer Branding" : En kvalitativ fallstudie av anställda hos BA

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur medarbetarna på BA (fiktivt namn) upplever organisationens interna Employer Branding-arbete samt att belysa de aspekter som eventuellt skiljer strategi mot upplevelse. Det gjordes ett målinriktat urval av organisation medan valet av deltagare var ett slumpmässigt urval vilket resulterade i åtta respondenter (n= 8). Studien var en kvalitativ fallstudie med ett psykologiskt angreppssätt och innehöll en ostrukturerad intervju som tillsammans med dokumentation utgjorde intervjuguiden för den primära datainsamlingen genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetarna. Fördelningen av urvalet var fyra kvinnor och fyra män med varierade yrkesroller inom en bemanningsdivision. Både den ostrukturerade intervjun och de semistrukturerade intervjuerna analyserades med hjälp av analysmetoden tematisk analys. Studiens resultat visade att BA:s interna Employer Branding och medarbetarnas upplevelser i stora drag överensstämde. Värderingar och interna karriärmöjligheter var centrala aspekter som både organisationen och respondenterna belyste. 

Formation of the Employer Brand Image

The purpose of this study was to explore the employer brand image and its formation of a Finnish (yet international) service company in B2B sector. In the research qualitative case study method was used to explore the most preferred attributes in employer attraction, the employer brand perceptions towards the case company, and the effectors behind these brand perceptions among the prospective group of employees. The research was conducted through in-depth semistructured interviews among 23-30 undergraduate or graduate business students in Finnish universities close to their graduation. After deriving the attributes of an attractive employer, and exploring their relation to the case company, the employer brand image of the case company was determined and its attractiveness level evaluated. Moreover, the formation of the employer brand image was investigated and its sources detected. The most important factors for the target group in employer attractiveness were found to be company reputation and company culture/work atmosphere. Also career opportunities and international opportunities were seen important. The case company was found to hold a positive, attractive image on company culture and international opportunities, but failing to hold a good reputation as a fair employer. The main and most impactful source of employer brand image was former and current employees - directly or indirectly. Company’s own actions played only small part in employer brand formation as credibility is a critical factor in brand image formation and corporate communication found not to be perceived genuine. Based on the findings, suggestions for further employer branding were made.

Internal Employer Brand: The factors affecting the formation of internal employer image

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the formation of employer image and attractiveness in the minds of an organization’s employees. Six employees from different backgrounds and business units within a larger organization are interviewed, and the results are compared in order to better understand the effect divergent variables have on the resulting factors. The theoretical background of the research is based on the study of the concept of employer branding, an organization’s effort in affecting the employer image it projects and attractiveness perceived by the employees and applicants. The results of the study reveal how immaterial factors, primarily related to self-actualization and social relationships, often took precedence over material ones, so long as the material factors, such as salary and work equipment, were at least on a minimum level acceptable to the employee. As such, focusing on these immaterial factors when forming an employer brand strategy is expected to yield larger benefits in form of employer attractiveness.

Rekrytointimarkkinointi Y-sukupolvelle, miten tavoitamme parhaat osaajat? Case IBM Finland OY

Pro Gradu- tutkimuksen keskeisin tavoite oli selvittää tehokkaimmat rekrytointimarkkinointikanavat ja tyylit Y-sukupolveen kohdistuen. Y-sukupolvi on isoin ja uusin sukupolvi, joka on siirtymässä työelämään. Tällä hetkellä teoreettinen pohja on vielä ohut liittyen y-sukupolven rekrytointiin ja työnantajamielikuvaan ja tämän tutkimuksen oli tarkoitus selvittää tätä tutkimusaukkoa. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena case-tutkimuksena. Aineistonkeruutapana oli kysely. Kysely toteutettiin sähköpostilla lähetettävällä kyselyllä IBM Suomen nuorille harjoittelijoille ja työntekijöille. Kysely lähetettiin noin 150:lle työntekijälle. Tutkimustulokset osoittivat, että IBM Suomella ovat perusprosessit ja nykyisten harjoittelijoiden tyytyväisyys hyvällä tasolla. Kuitenkin tutkimuskyselyn kautta saatiin selville osa-alueita, joilla rekrytointimarkkinoinnin tehokkuutta voidaan lisätä ja hyväksikäyttää vieläkin paremmin. Tutkimustulosten perusteella Y-sukupolven arvot ja odotukset erosivat muista sukupolvista oletettua vähemmän.