The Role of Employer Branding Practices on Management of Employee Attraction and Retention
Abstract
Introduction. An employer brand includes everything practiced to position an organization as a preferred employer. Nowadays, business companies are having more difficulty procuring qualified employees who are vital for company success under keenly competitive business conditions. To cope with this difficulty, companies carry out different practices to attract and retain talent, and the employer brand concept has become one of the tools that business companies use to attract and retain talent.
Aim and tasks. The aim of the study is to investigate, determine and describe how business companies are efficacious in their employer brand management practices to meet the expectations of current and potential employees. It is also aimed to determine which activities are carried out by the business companies for employer branding. In this context, a literature review is carried out within the scope of employer branding to brief the concepts of organizational attractiveness and to ensure organizational commitment.
Results. Within the scope of the research, the semi-structured in-depth interviews with the human resources professionals of seven large-scale, domestic, and foreign companies operating in the Izmir, Istanbul, and Manisa provinces were examined. The findings of the interviews are evaluated by the qualitative analysis method according to the research methodology. The result of the research conducted and the references to the definition of the employer brand were compiled under five nodes. These are the work environment, economic benefits, work-life balance, career development opportunities, and social activities. On the other hand, the economic benefits node was compiled under two different sub-nodes, namely wages and fringe benefits. The characteristics and contributions of the employer branding were investigated, and the effects of the employer brand on retention within the scope of talent management were investigated.
Conclusions. It has been observed that the organizations' awareness level of the employer brand concept is high, and it has been discovered that they have many practices for both potential candidates and current employees. These practices have revealed that they differentiate themselves from their competitors in terms of business characteristics, working environment, and global opportunities. All these efforts provide many benefits such as increases in the number of applications, increases in attractive employer rankings, increases in employee motivation, and decreases in employee turnover rates.
Keywords:
employer brand, organizational attractiveness, organizational commitment, talent management, employee value proposition.References
Akar, F. (2015). Skill management. Ankara: Image Bookstore Publications, 150-156.
Aldousari, A.A., Robertson, A., Yajid, M.S.A., & Ahmed, Z.U. (2017). Impact of employer branding on organization’s performance. Journal of Transnational Management, 22(3), 153-170. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475778.2017.1335125
Ambler, T., & Barrow, S. (1996). The Employer Brand. Journal of Brand Management. 4(3), 185–206. https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.1996.42
American Marketing Association (2022). Branding. https://www.ama.org/topics/branding
Arasanmi, C.N., & Krishna, A. (2019). Employer branding: perceived organisational support and employee retention – the mediating role of organisational commitment, Industrial and Commercial Training, 51(3), 174-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-10-2018-0086
Armstrong, M. (2006). Handbook of Human Resources Management Practice. 10th Edition. London: Kogan Page.
Ashton, C., & Morton, L. (2005). Managing Talent for Competitive Advantage. Strategic HR Review, 4(5), 28−31. https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390580000819
Atlı, D. (2017). The New Vision of Human Resources Management Talent Management. Istanbul: Abakus Publications, 97.
Aygün, S. (2013). Differences between Generations and Their Organizational Reflections. Journal of Economics and Management Studies, 2(1), 93-112.
Backhaus, K., & Tikoo, S., (2004). Conceptualizing and Researching Employer Branding. Career Development International, 9(5), 501–517. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430410550754
Barrow, S., & Mosley, R. (2005). The Employer Brand: Bringing The Best of Brand Management to People at Work (Trans. Salih Tahir). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 93-201.
Baş, T. (2011). Employer branding the key to attracting and retaining highly qualified employees. Istanbul: Optimist Publications, 30-75.
Baş, T., & Akturan, U. (2017). Computer aided qualitative research methods in social sciences. Ankara, Turkey: Seçkin Publishing.
Berthon, P., Ewing, M., & Hah, LL (2005). Captivating Company: Dimensions of Attractiveness in Employer Branding. International Journal of Advertising, 24(2), 151–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2005.11072912
Chambers, E.G., Foulon, M., Handfield-Jones, H., Hankin, S.M., & Michaels III E.G. (1998). The War for Talent, The McKinsey Quarterly: The 42 Online Journal of McKinsey & Co., 158-160.
Chowdhury, S. (2001). The Talent: Achieving a High Return on Talent. New Jersey: FT Press.
Doğru, G., & Çakır, S. (2015). Examination of Strategy and Applications in the Employer Brand Management Process: A Study on Human Resources Managers of Companies in Turkey. International Journal of Social Research, 8 (40), 674-689.
Ewing, MT, Pitt, LF, de Bussy, NM, & Berthon, P. (2002). Employment Branding in The Knowledge Economy. International Journal of Advertising, 21(1), 3–22.
Heding, T., Knudtzen, CF, & Bjerre, M. (2009). Brand Management – Research, Theory, and Practice. Oxon: Routledge, 9.
Joubert, D. (2007). Talent Management Deliberate Practice for Success. Randburg: Knowres Publishing, 17.
Kashive, N., Khanna, V.T,. & Bharthi, M.N. (2020). Employer branding through crowdsourcing: understanding the sentiments of employees. Journal of Indian Business Research, 12(1), 93-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIBR-09-2019-0276
Oladapo, V. (2014). The Impact of Talent Management on Retention. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(3), 20-36.
Ötken, A. & Okan, E. (2015). Now is the Time for Employer Branding. Istanbul: Turkmen Bookstore Publishing, 59-119.
Reis, I., Sousa, M.J., & Dionísio, (2021). A. Employer Branding as a Talent Management Tool: A Systematic Literature Revision. Sustainability, 13(19), 10698. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910698
Sharma, R., Singh, S.P., & Rana, G. (2019). Employer Branding Analytics and Retention Strategies for Sustainable Growth of Organizations. In: Chahal, H., Jyoti, J., Wirtz, J. (eds) Understanding the Role of Business Analytics. Springer, Singapore, 148-150. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1334-9_10
Sireesha, P., & Ganapavarapu, L. (2014). Talent Management: A Critical Review. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 16(9), 50-54. https://doi.org/10.9790/487X-16915054
Sullivan, J. (2004). Eight Elements of a Successful Employment Brand. ER Daily. https://www.ere.net/the-8-elements-of-a-successful-employment-brand/
Turan, N. (2015). Talent, Skill, Competence, Competence in Working Life. Ankara: Nobel Publishing, 24.
Verčič, A. T. (2021). The impact of employee engagement, organisational support and employer branding on internal communication satisfaction. Public Relations Review, 47(1), 102009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2021.102009
Yıldırım, A., & Şimşek, H. (2015). Qualitative research methods in the social sciences. Ankara, Seçkin Publishing, 56-58.
If the article is accepted for publication in the journal «Economics. Ecology. Socium» the author must sign an agreementon transfer of copyright. The agreement is sent to the postal (original) or e-mail address (scanned copy) of the journal editions.