Employer Branding — Part 15:
Authenticity lasts the longest

How authen­tic is my employ­er brand­ing? This key ques­tion is still rarely given the prior­i­ty it deserves in compa­nies. Some­times because its impact is under­es­ti­mat­ed. We present­ed strate­gies and tips on this in Janu­ary in an arti­cle  in our Valdivia News­room. Some­times, howev­er, the chal­lenges of day-to-day oper­a­tions don’t quite seem to fit in with an attrac­tive employ­er image. In this case, we would like to present an approach that focus­es on open­ness, honesty and commu­ni­ca­tion at eye level.

Honesty is the basis for success

Certain­ly — employ­er brand­ing is a bit like adver­tis­ing. It can and should empha­sise the posi­tive char­ac­ter­is­tics of your compa­ny as an employ­er. At the same time, there is a grow­ing temp­ta­tion to minimise or even complete­ly ignore hard­ships and chal­lenges. But too much “sugar-coat­ing” does not work in employ­er branding:

• Employ­ees have daily contact with the real­i­ty of work. If the commu­ni­cat­ed self-image does not match the real expe­ri­ences, this can easi­ly lead to demo­ti­va­tion or even nega­tive reac­tions — from unflat­ter­ing Kununu entries to dismissal in some cases.
• Dishon­esty has an even more seri­ous impact on appli­cants. Thanks to the proba­tion­ary peri­od, they are gone in no time at all; the time-consum­ing search and onboard­ing process was for nothing.

Anoth­er form of honesty is open­ness and trans­paren­cy. A Capgem­i­ni study¹ lists core require­ments that are unfor­tu­nate­ly only met 32% of the time. Employ­ees want to under­stand what is expect­ed of them: How does my work fit into the over­all concept? What do I contribute to which of the compa­ny’s goals?

Commu­ni­ca­tion with­out pink cotton wool 

Some compa­nies try to compen­sate for unavoid­able hard­ship with feel-good factors — and over­shoot the mark in the process. Prof Armin Trost, who teach­es Human Resources Manage­ment at Furt­wan­gen Univer­si­ty of Applied Sciences, warns against this. In an arti­cle for Harvard Busi­ness Manag­er² , he describes the risk of exag­ger­at­ing moti­va­tion and over-indulging employ­ees. Howev­er, he does not funda­men­tal­ly reject bonus­es and other bene­fits. In his eyes, it is the dose that makes the poison: too much of a good thing can tempt employ­ees to aban­don their profes­sion­al atti­tude and sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty. They can no longer toler­ate fail­ure or frus­tra­tion and expect more and more benefits.

This is also about authen­tic­i­ty. Compa­nies would do well to treat employ­ees as adults who don’t need to be wrapped in pink cotton wool. They are aware of unavoid­able hard­ships and will accept them if back­grounds and perspec­tives are trans­par­ent. The funda­men­tal distri­b­u­tion of roles in the world of work does not have to be denied, neither in employ­er brand­ing nor in every­day work­ing life: Line managers set goals, tasks and values, employ­ees imple­ment them.

Fresh tones for your employ­er branding

Trost is by no means call­ing for a return to the old-style command econ­o­my. Rather, he recom­mends respect­ful commu­ni­ca­tion at eye level. Authen­tic­i­ty there­fore means that hard­ships and chal­lenges are addressed open­ly by both sides — in a construc­tive, equal exchange. Employ­ees should feel the trust that their employ­er has in them … includ­ing the confi­dence to face real­i­ties with­out embellishment.

What applies to comfort for conflicts there­fore helps to address neces­sary and unavoid­able burdens — also in employ­er brand­ing. This does not have to go as far as self-expo­sure. It is often enough to avoid embell­ish­ments and flat formu­las. Instead of nebu­lous­ly prais­ing a “team-orien­tat­ed way of work­ing”, for exam­ple, a clear sentence such as “we are a strong team with a good atmos­phere, but when it comes down to it, every­one real­ly gets stuck in” is enough.

Open, honest, trans­par­ent: with this approach, you can score points with commit­ted employ­ees and appli­cants in partic­u­lar — and at the same time strike a much fresh­er note in employ­er brand­ing than your competitors.

• “Employ­ee Expe­ri­ence Survey”, Capgem­i­ni Research Insti­tute, April/May 2022
• “Stop coddling your employ­ees! — 7 miscon­cep­tions about employ­ee reten­tion”, Prof Dr Armin Trost (Furt­wan­gen Univer­si­ty of Applied Sciences), Harvard Busi­ness Manag­er 7/2022

(Image source: istockphotos.com)