4 KEY EMPLOYER

BRANDING KPIS
EVERY HR PRO
MUST MEASURE

In Partnership With:
Written By Richard Mosley
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

What Are The Implications of Big Data On Employer Branding? | 2

The Four Key Categories Of Metrics For Assessing Your Employer Branding | 4

What Does Talent Marketing Have In Common With Running An Ice Cream Truck? | 5

From Recruitment Efficiency To Marketing Effectiveness | 8

From Brand Awareness To Brand Vitality | 11

From Brand Reputation To Brand Experience | 16

About the Author

Richard Mosley is widely recognized as one of
the leading world authorities on employer brand
development and management. Author of the books
The Employer Brand (Wiley) published in 2005, and
the sequel: Employer Brand Management: Practical
Lessons from the Worlds Leading Employers,
published by Wiley in September 2014. Richard has
also recently published a new book, co-authored with
Lars Schmidt, Employer Branding for Dummies (Wiley).

Richards thinking draws on over 25 years experience

in both brand management and HR consulting, and has
led global employer brand development projects for a Richard Mosley
host of leading companies including Bacardi, BP, Coca- Global Head of
Cola, Ferrero, GSK, HSBC, Lafarge, LEGO, LOreal, JTI, Strategy and Advisory
Met Life, Nokia-Siemens, PepsiCo, Santander, Unilever
and Verizon.

Today Richard serves as Global Head of Strategy

at Universum and Senior Advisor for the Employer
Branding Academy.

1
 What Are The Implications of
Big Data On Employer Branding?

Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job

of the 21st Century

This was the prediction made Thomas Davenport and D.J. Patil in the Harvard
Business Review. They should know. Theyre data scientists.

Theres been a lot of Big Data talk over the last couple of years. Its been heralded
as a management revolution

So what are the implications for employer brand management? What data should
we be paying attention to when analysing our employer brand? Well the simple
answer is

its about time we moved

on from short term, cost-
obsessed, recruitment
metrics to full-cycle, value-
added, performance oriented,
employer brand metrics.

2
Are you with me?
In my experience, when it comes to measuring employer brand metrics the pieces
of the puzzle are all there for most companies. The problem is they are scattered
around the table, and theres a few missing pieces that need to be retrieved from
the floor to finish assembling the jigsaw puzzle.

Inside this report, Id like to be your metrics jigsaw assembly buddy. Josh Bersin,
ERE.com and David Green have done some fine work in figuring out the key ROI
metrics for talent acquisition, but Id like to complete the rest of the picture. There
may be some tricky sections of this jigsaw for us to piece together, but hopefully
when its finished it will be worth the effort.

Put simply, recruitment metrics tend to focus on the short-term perspective.

(Are your media choices and content decisions generating engagement and
applications for a reasonable cost-per-hire?)

Employer brand metrics take the long-term view. (Are our recruitment marketing
and people management activities helping us to build a strong enough employer
brand reputation and employment experience to deliver a lasting talent acquisition
edge over our largest competitors?).

With that in mind, theres four key categories of metrics we need to look at to get
a comprehensive, long-term view of your employer branding ROI

3
 The Four Key Categories Of Metrics For
Assessing Your Employer Branding
There are four categories of measurement that need to be considered to piece
together this full employer brand metrics dashboard and ROI.

1. Talent Market Insights. What are the critical factors driving talent market
success?

2. Marketing Efficiency and Effectiveness. What is the relative cost and value
of different communication content, media and talent plays and practices in
delivering desired results?

3. Brand Reputation and Experience. How are you perceived and experienced
by your target audiences and current employees?

4. Desired Behaviors and Performance Outcomes. To what degree do current

brand perceptions and experiences appear to be driving desired behaviours
and business performance?

4
 Mr. Whippy What Does Talent
Communication
Have In Common
With Running An Ice
Cream Truck?

Actually, employer brand marketing shares a lot more in common with running an
ice cream truck then youd think. To maximize your likelihood of developing and
implementing a successful strategy it pays to understand the key factors driving the
market, and act accordingly

If you ran a Mr Whippy ice cream van on some days youd sell a lot of ice cream
and on other days you wouldnt sell much at all. The key question is why?

Well first you need to understand the kind of people who are likely to want to eat a
lot of ice cream (have you met my children?). You need to understand the kind of
ice cream flavours they like, and deliver it to the right place, at the right time and at
an acceptable price. You also need to draw attention (perhaps a 10 foot ice cream
cone and a catchy jingle?). You need to make sure your ice cream tastes as good
as it looks, because if you leave a bad taste in their mouth you can be sure people
will start looking for alternatives. And finally, you need to understand the macro
factors driving supply and demand in the market. Some times and places are more
positive than others. For ice cream its relatively simple - its called sunshine!

5
Ok, enough talk about ice cream, lets talk about you and your company

Step 1
Who do you need to target to drive performance?
The answer to this question comes in two parts: technical
competencies for critical roles (engineers, relationship
managers etc.) and cultural fit. Many organizations have
started taking a more scientific approach to these success
profiles, and in combination with workforce planning are
putting some numbers behind their general assumptions.

When it comes to your overall employer brand strategy

its important to recognize that some talent groups will be
more important than others in terms of positioning and
promoting your brand. Lots of people buy ice cream cones,
but if they dont win over the kids then its going to be a
long hard summer. From an employer brand perspective,
the same can be true for engineers or salespeople.

Step 2
What are these key target talent groups
looking for?
This also requires a two-pronged approach general target
group preferences and micro target particularities. For example,
if youre mainly targeting business students its possible to
identify their general employment preferences, and this can be
taken into consideration when defining your overall EVP.

Then at a more tactical level you use more specific target

group data to drive your local communication and engagement
activities. Ice cream vans primarily position themselves as ice
cream providers, but that doesnt stop the more enterprising
vans selling burgers to Dads when they park besides local
football matches.

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Step 3
Where are you most likely to find this talent?
This can be divided into geography and media. You should
try and establish where your target talent are located and
in what numbers. From a big picture perspective there are
more qualified scientists available for hire in Asia than in
Western Europe, and this may determine where you focus
your hiring efforts (and also potentially where you choose
to locate your organization). On a more local level this
may involve identifying the right cities to target for young
professional talent and the right schools and Universities for
student talent.
The same kind of market data should be established for
media. Where can you best reach your target talent? What
kind of websites are they visiting? Which social media are
they using? And when are the right people likely to be most
numerous and most susceptible to your pitch? Ice cream vans identify the right
places and the right times to generate a queue of ice cream loving customers. Its
no different when it comes to talent.
Step 4
How do you compare with your
leading talent competitors?
Once youve established what your target talent are
looking for, and where youre most likely to find them, its
important to determine who your main competitors are,
what they are offering, how theyre communicating, and if
possible, how well they are known and regarded.
Given the importance of brand differentiation in catching
peoples attention and establishing clear reasons for
people to choose your brand over others, this kind of
market data is enormously valuable. When it comes to employer brands, like ice
cream, you need to avoid completely vanilla solutions!
Very few companies have all of these data sources at hand, but it is increasingly
recognized that finding the right data and generating the right insights helps
significantly in developing the right strategy. What I will be covering in the rest of
this report are the metrics you need to track the progress and ultimate success of
your strategy and implementation.

7
 From Recruitment Efficiency To
Marketing Effectiveness
The staple recruitment marketing measure for many years was cost per hire, and
more specifically media cost per hire. This derived from the time when your return
on investment for recruitment advertising was the applications it generated, or
further up the quality assessment curve, the number of hires derived from each
media source. This still remains an important consideration, particularly given the
wide number of choices available, and the typically limited budgets that need to be
divided between them. How much should you be investing in Search Agencies vs.
LinkedIn vs. SEM vs. Job Boards vs. Facebook and other social channels?

In getting to the right answers to these questions, cost is clearly not the only
consideration. There is now a growing focus among many leading companies
on the relative quality of hire derived from each source, and the longer term
contribution each channel makes to building the Companys employer brand
reputation. In short, there is a shift from measuring the immediate cost efficiency of
channels in delivering candidates to the effectiveness of different channel/content
combinations in delivering long-term value.

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Step 1
Which channels deliver the highest target reach?
Channel or media reach defines the total number of people exposed at least
once to a medium during a given period. This is a good starting point for your
media decisions as it gives you some indication of the potential audience your
communication content has the opportunity to influence. This figure is combined
with frequency if you are purchasing advertising (vs. social posts) to calculate
the total number of Impressions or Opportunities to See your communication
content.

Step 2
Which content delivers the highest engagement?
While increasing your target audiences opportunities to see your content will help
increase the potential impact of your marketing, the quality and relevance of your
communication also plays a major role in capturing peoples attention and interest.
For recruitment advertising content the metrics for this are relatively simple. For
digital advertising (which now accounts for the vast majority) the key measure is
the click-through rate (CTR). This measures the proportion of people viewing the
page carrying your advertisement who click though to your career site and landing
pages. When it comes to social media content the metrics are a little less black
and white since they include more levels of potential engagement (likes, shares,
comments etc.) in addition to any click-through calls to action you may have
incorporated.

9
Step 3
Measuring short-term cost-efficiency and effectiveness
In the more immediate term the key measures of marketing media success are the
degree to which engagement translates into applications, whether directly via CTRs
or indirectly via shares (earned reach vs. paid reach), and the relative cost and
quality of these applications (what proportion are sufficiently qualified for interview
and for hire?). Its also important at this point to factor in the relative cost-efficiency
and effectiveness of different assessment processes. In terms of efficiency how
much can you potentially save by deploying remote assessment tools (on-line tests,
telephone and video interviews etc.)?

Likewise, how many face to face interviews do you need to ensure a quality hire?
From an effectiveness perspective you should also try to measure candidate
satisfaction to calculate how much these processes are helping to enhance
perceptions of your employer brand and secure quality hire conversion (or
damaging brand perceptions and potentially undermining quality hire conversion).
This potential trade-off between cost efficiency and ultimate effectiveness is also
highly important in relation the the vast majority of candidates that employers
ultimately reject.

Step 4
Measuring long-term marketing effectiveness
Its vital to divide the impact of your recruitment marketing into short term and long
term effects, as it is possible to drive short-term engagement and applications,
without necessarily driving significant long-term improvements in your employer
brand awareness and reputation. Its also important to take the longer-term
view when it comes to quality hires, as the true tests of quality are retention and
performance, which can be notoriously difficult to predict in the short term.

10
 From Brand Awareness To
Brand Vitality

Recruitment marketing success tends to be measured in terms of relatively short-

term results (engagement, applications, hires). However, it is also important to
consider the more cumulative, longer term effects of these marketing activities on
employer brand awareness, familiarity, consideration, preference and reputation.

Brand reputation can be a complicated

and slippery concept to pin down.
Employer brand reputation tends to
vary significantly across different target
audiences depending on peoples level
of familiarity with your brand and their
personal perspective and preferences.
It also has highly permeable boundaries
overlapping considerably with your
overall corporate reputation, perceptions
of your product and service brands,
industry reputation and perceptions
of the companys country of origin.
Nevertheless, by breaking the concept
reputation down into its component
parts, it is possible to deliver some very
useful measures and analytics.

11
Step 1
Brand awareness and familiarity
What percentage of your target audience has heard of your organization and know
what your organization does? Its important to distinguish between familiarity with
your products or services, and familiarity with the kind of employment opportunities
you might offer. In many cases potential candidates may exclude themselves from
considering your organization as a potential employer because they only associate
you with the jobs they can see or imagine.

People typically underestimate the range of positions available in support functions.

For example, from LOreal to P&G, STEM graduates often fail to consider the range
of scientific and engineering roles required to deliver familiar products and services.
This is one of the reasons that a favourable impression of your brand may not equate
with consideration of your company as a potential employer. Its also important to
distinguish between perceived familiarity and accurate knowledge. People may hold
a negative view of your organization, because they have a misguided impression of
what you or your industry does.

12
Step 2
Consideration and preference
What percentage of your target audience would consider you as a potential
employer? If possible you should try and determine relative levels of consideration
among active job seekers vs. passive targets. High levels of consideration among
active targets could be driven by the perception that you hire a lot of people rather
than your relative merit as an employer. The true test of your employer brand
equity is consideration among targets who are not currently active in seeking a
job. Another good indicator is the proportion of target candidates agree to a job
opportunity conversation on the strength of your brand name.

The next level on this brand affinity scale is preference. What percentage of
your target audience rates your organization higher than your immediate talent
competitors as a potential employer? While a high level of consideration is no
doubt satisfying, preference is the ultimate objective getting the talent to prefer
you over your competitors.

13
Step 3
Employer brand image
How strongly are your EVP pillars and other desired image associations perceived
by your key target audiences? To fully understand the vitality of your external
employer brand image it is important to understand the strength, consistency and
relative appeal of each image dimension and how it compares with your leading
talent competitors.

You should also measure the strength of these image associations. Moderate
strength of agreement scores often result from general halo positivity if your
corporate, customer or employer brand is generally well regarded. They are also
more likely to result from general associations with your industry sector. To be sure
your employer brand marketing efforts are getting your desired message across it is
therefore important to put greater focus on the top box / Strongly agree scores.

Image consistency: If an organization has

grown through acquisition or has operated a
high degree of local autonomy, associations
with the brand can vary significantly from
place to place. In some cases this may
remain part of the plan, but if there is a
desire to establish a more consistent global
brand it is important to track and measure
these potential inconsistencies in order
to target and rectify them. This need not
conflict with efforts to tailor the EVP to local
target groups. There may always be a benefit
in highlighting some image attributes more
than others to match local preferences,
however, the primary image components of the brand should always be present
and positive. Another aspect of consistency that is important for you to consider
are any potentially significant gaps between external perceptions (brand reputation)
and internal perceptions (employment experience). Where external perceptions
fall short of positive internal perceptions you can communicate these strengths
with confidence. Where external perceptions are significantly more positive than
internal perceptions, you clearly need to tread more carefully in making employer
brand claims. These findings should also prompt action when address internal
weaknesses that are likely to lead to post-hire disappointment and attrition.

14
Step 4
Competitor benchmarking
This will enable you to confirm and track your points of parity (POPs) and points of
difference (PODs) over time. The competitive environment is constantly changing
and it is vital to keep a weather eye on those areas where your relative advantage
may be under threat. To preserve the vitality of your brand reputation you need to
be continually strengthening and distinguishing your own offer to ensure it remains
differentiated from your leading competitors. This requires a broad understanding
of your relative standing in relation to general image dimensions like teamwork,
innovation, autonomy and learning and career progression. However, it should also
ideally include a more specific evaluation of the more specific points of difference
you are communicating.

15
 From Brand
Reputation To
Brand
Experience

Abraham Lincoln said: Character is the tree, reputation is the shadow. The
ultimate strength of an employer brand lies in the character of the organization.
Marketing can amplify this character, but it can never replace it. For this reason
the most essential and enduring measure of employer brand strength lies in the
perception and experience of current employees, just as the health and vitality of a
consumer brand ultimately depends on the consumer brand experience. A number
of leading companies have begun to measure the strength and consistency of
their desired employer brand experience in the same way companies measure the
external strength of their desired brand image associations.

This needs to start with the candidate and on-boarding experience. When it comes
to talent you cant assume that successful applicants will necessarily take your offer
of employment, or if they do, that they will stick around long enough to repay your
investment in recruitment and induction. Conversion rates in some fast growing
markets have been frustratingly low, even among well-known multi-nationals. In
addition, qualified candidates also weigh up several competing offers. Likewise, in
markets all round the world there is an unfortunate tendency for employees to finish
their first year at an employer far less engaged than they started it. Its therefore
vital to seek feedback from applicants, candidates and new joiners to ensure their
experience is in line with what you intend, and what they expect.

16
Step 1
The Candidate Experience
Companies should monitor candidates experience of the application and selection
process to ensure that it leaves a positive and professional impression. Ideally this
should also include some form of image analysis to determine whether the process
has reinforced the expectations of the employer brand communicated through the
companys recruitment marketing. You should be aiming to leave unsuccessful
candidates as positive about your employer brand as successful ones, and where
suitably qualified ensure that they remain in your talent pool ready to take up more
suitable positions if they arise in the future.

Research suggests that the overwhelming majority of candidates reporting a

positive candidate experience also claim that they would refer others to apply to the
company. Given the ease with which people can now broadcast a dissatisfactory
experience across their personal and professional networks, the potentially
negative consequences to your employer brand are also significant. Despite
the clear benefits of monitoring candidate experience, the evidence surprisingly
suggests that this form of research is still only conducted in a minority of cases.

17
Step 2
The On-Boarding Experience
As above, the basic tracking measures
should include satisfaction with the on-
boarding process and an evaluation of
whether the experience reinforced desired
impressions of the employer brand. Ideally,
the feedback period should ideally extended
to include the longer period of orientation
that takes place over the first 3-6-12
months (depending on the importance and
complexity of the role).

The three key outcome measures which

should be used to determine the overall
success of on- boarding and orientation are:

Engagement: There is a tendency in many organizations for engagement

levels to decline during the first year of employment. While its understandable
for the initial honeymoon period to produce very high levels of engagement,
the organization should keep track of the decay rate, and rectify sources of
dissatisfaction.

Retention: Attrition levels within the first 12 months can indicate a number
of potential issues that may need to be addressed by the organization.
These could include hiring people with the wrong cultural fit, significant gaps
between employer brand expectations and the reality of employment, or a
poor on-boarding process.

Speed to Performance: While this can be difficult to measure, some

organizations calculate how long it takes an employee to get up to speed
with their new job, and the time it takes to make a return on the investment
involved in recruitment and on-boarding someone to a new position.

18
Step 3
The Employment Experience
Most leading organizations conduct some form of employee engagement survey,
and this provides a rich source of potential data for evaluating the current health
and vitality of the employer brand, as well as the relative performance of priority
EVP attributes in comparison to industry and high performance company norms.

One of the most common approaches is to create an Employer Brand Experience

Index or EVP Index. This involves adding a sub-set of questions to the overall
engagement survey that specifically relate to the EVP pillars or explicit employer
brand promises made by the organization. The Index is derived from the aggregate
scores from each set of pillar questions, providing one overall metric summarizing
the current health and vitality of your employer brand from an employee experience
perspective.

The three key outcome measures which should be used to determine the effect of
this employer brand experience are:

Motivation: Do employees feel motivated to go the extra mile for the

organization?

Loyalty: Are employees committed to building their career with the

organization?

Advocacy: Would employees recommend the organization as a good place to

work?

19
 The Most Important Measure Of Brand Reputation
The most important measure from an external employer brand reputation and
recruitment perspective is advocacy, since the preparedness of employees to
communicate positively about their employer through social media and refer good
candidates have increasingly become the bedrock of effective social marketing.
The other common term used for this measure is the Net Promoter Score, which
represents the net sum of positive employee advocates and negative detractors.
This Net Promoter Score needs to be kept in balance with employees motivation to
perform, as it is possible that the wrong kind of advocacy could also result from a
comfortable but low performing work environment.
Some people have begun to question the inclusion of loyalty in the definition of
engagement as it tends to be more influenced by the external context. Over recent
years it could be argued that employees intention to stay with their employers
has been more influenced by the poor economic environment and a risk-adverse
desire for stability, than heart-felt loyalty and commitment to their employer brand.
Likewise, in fast growing emerging markets, engaged employees may still be highly
vulnerable to the many alternative opportunities open to them elsewhere.
More recently, Towers Watson has introduced the concept of sustainable
engagement, which includes measures of well-being. Given that employees can
sometimes be too engaged, prone to over-work and burn-out, I believe this is a
welcome addition to engagement thinking.
These engagement measures represent the desired behavioural outcomes of a
strong employer brand, in the same way that application and positive word of
mouth represent the desired outcomes of a strong employer brand reputation and
effective recruitment marketing.

20
 Join our 8 week training
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employer brand specialist
- Richard Mosley
Advisory board, Employer Branding
Academy

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21
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