2023-11-10 04:00:00
In recent years, large companies have resolutely taken the turn towards responsible capitalism. They had no other choice but to keep up with the times: the dogma which gave the sole reason for the existence of companies the production of value for its shareholders was simply no longer acceptable to society. And first of all by employees who are increasingly psychologically tested by changes in work.
Whatever the generation, employees now need to find meaning in their work, or even rethink its place in their lives. This new requirement for meaning is not anecdotal. It has taken on such proportions that it is destabilizing the labor market itself. Companies find themselves confronted with widespread phenomena of withdrawal at work and professional instability which directly impact their performance. And it’s not just a human resources problem: these employees are also customers, brand ambassadors, sometimes shareholders too, and their social and environmental awareness now guides their choices beyond the professional sphere.
With a fine ensemble, large companies have therefore massively adopted a communication strategy mainly focused on their societal and environmental commitments, responding moreover to the expectations of all their stakeholders at once: shareholders, customers, the general public. public and even employees and candidates, its employer brand targets.
The employer brand under threat
The employer brand is the reputation of a company among its candidates and employees, which determines its ability to attract and retain talent. But if CSR alone can ensure the attractiveness of a company, the question of maintaining a dedicated employer branding policy may arise. After all, CSR benefits from the active support of managers, the arguments and tools are ready to use and the communications department has already taken ownership of the subject.
The employer brand slogan might even be replaced by the raison d’être, the new figurehead of communication for large companies since the Pacte law. By creating a better understanding of how the company serves society, the purpose also meets the meaning requirements of its employees and potential candidates.
We are therefore at a turning point in the history of employer branding. It is all the more threatened as it will be poorly defended. This is a relatively new field, which has shaken up recruitment and communication, imposing its codes and resources, and opening a new battlefield, as bitter as it is costly, between companies. By installing a communications department within the HR department, it also challenged the communications departments, bypassing them or capturing part of their resources to deploy parallel communications strategies, by nature offset from the corporate communications axes. It imposed a permanent and tense dialogue between communicators and recruiters, each focused on their own objectives, which were not always reconcilable.
Even within human resources departments, the employer brand has siphoned off ever-increasing recruitment budgets and resources, penalizing sourcing investments, without always demonstrating its objective effectiveness on application flows or employee engagement. All the conditions seem to be in place to replace it with a consensual and fashionable discourse of social responsibility, capitalizing on the resources of ever better equipped CSR departments and reestablishing the communications department alone in control of the company’s image. .
The limits of a CSR speech in employer branding
But in this period of extreme tension in the recruitment market, can we really stop specifically addressing these key audiences, with arguments that really affect them? The CSR criterion is certainly major, but to choose an employer, candidates always consider practical criteria such as the content of a job, salary, location, atmosphere or managerial culture before anything else. In addition, employers cannot really count on the unique theme of CSR to distinguish themselves from their competitors. The arguments are the same for everyone and we can only distinguish ourselves by overdoing our commitments, with the risk of disappointing or being found wanting.
Finally, by addressing audiences more concerned with CSR commitment than anything else, we will turn away from all the others. The company, by nature, needs ambitious employees, who want to develop skills, earn a better living or acquire ever greater responsibilities. Of course, this is an unpopular speech in these virtuous times, but the survival of a company – and its ability to contribute to society for that matter – depends above all on its profitability and sustainability. It remains essential to give ourselves the means to capture the skills that serve our ambitions for success and conquests, and not just the best consciences.
Everyone has their battles
At this pivotal moment in the history of the employer brand, it is essential not only to preserve the employer brand as a specific discipline alongside CSR, but also and above all to preserve its integrity. Because it would be tempting to make CSR and employer branding work together, joining forces and harmonizing their messages. However, this would be a bad calculation. The war of attractiveness is won in several battles. CSR and employer branding are arguments that can be defended on their own ground and with their dedicated resources. It is on this condition that they develop their maximum impact. Potential candidates will be sure to be interested in all aspects of the company they are considering joining by drawing this information from their respective sources, at the most appropriate time in their application process.
Moreover, on the simple level of communication strategy, wanting to say everything in the same message, without distinguishing the channels and stages in a candidate experience, is to risk blurring your image and attenuating the impact of his arguments.
The employer brand brought us a lot, but its main benefit was to make us think regarding a strategy adapted to specifically address our HR targets, candidates or employees, with concrete objectives in sight. Because employer branding is not just communication, with its image challenges, it is also and above all marketing, with prospects to convert into candidates, in an increasingly competitive attention market. In a context of an open war for talent between employers, preserving your employer brand policy, alongside dedicated CSR communication, means giving yourself the best chance of meeting the challenges posed by the skills shortage and the labor crisis. ‘commitment.
1699604217
#employer #brand #soluble #CSR #Cédric #Mendes #Tech #Search
