Employer branding: why and how to build it?

What is employer branding? 

Employer branding refers to “a second brand related to its primary brand about how you’re viewed as an employer. It lives and breathes in the minds and hearts of your former, current, and future employees”. (Linkedin).

Its development can be achieved through several processes, including:

• Creating a strong bond with employees through internal comms
• Making employee feedback an essential tool for development
• Sharing advice on applying for your job offers
• Joining an opinion platform on the quality of life in your business
• Sharing content showing life at your company on social media…

13 examples to introduce employer branding

To show you how diverse employer branding videos can be, here are 13 concrete examples to get you inspired!

1# “A day with the team” Microsoft video

To remember ✅

Employees film their day by themselves, in complete openness. Shooting can be done with a smartphone at home, and editing only consists of pasting together a succession of sequences. It is therefore an employer brand video that is very simple to make.

The little plus 💡

Showing the diversity of lifestyles brings dynamism to the video, and highlights the importance given to inclusion and diversity in the organisation.

2# Nike’s employees career interview

To remember ✅

Highlighting the career paths of different employees gives applicants a concrete and realistic view of the career possibilities in the business. It’s more attractive in video than as bullet points on a job description!

The little plus 💡

This video also demonstrates the diversity of employees. It can very simply be made on a smartphone. At least with Kannelle, shooting and editing would be a breeze.

3# Spotify’s culture and values video

To remember ✅

Employees film themselves talking about the brand and its values. Their speech seems very genuine as they are talking by themselves: the audience can feel that their words are not scripted. Eventually, the topic of culture is key to recruitment and retention.

The little plus 💡

Employees come from many backgrounds and they bring their own touch and argument to each part of the video. There is a regular transition between sequences of employees speaking about the brand, and shots of other employees working in Spotify’s offices. This brings some action and concretely illustrates what’s being said. 

4# IKEA’s recruitment video

To remember ✅

To show the audience the main qualities they are looking for in future talents, IKEA filmed an original recruitment process. Candidates were asked to assemble a chair just a few minutes before the interview started. By this means, the recruiter was mainly looking at the attitude of the candidate, whether they were able to cope with stress, and if they were keen to follow instructions.

The little plus 💡

The originality of the process was worth showing on video. Clearly this has shown people that working at IKEA was knowing what you sell, being able to do things you are not used to doing, being motivated… This was a good way to attract talents that fit IKEA’s energy.

5# HSBC’s video: “In the shoes of Adrienne”

To remember ✅

HSBC is keen to show that working for them does not mean giving up your passions outside of work. So Adrienne Garvey, an international rugby player working in the Hong Kong office, shared her experience to bring the audience into her life for a few hours.

The little plus 💡

While only one employee is interviewed this time, it is for the benefit of authenticity and detail. The video clearly shows the flexibility HSBC provides to its employees. This is ideal for attracting passionate and dynamic recruits.

6# Société Générale’s recruiting video on Welcome to the Jungle

To remember ✅

On the Welcome to the Jungle website and Youtube channel, you can find recruitment videos like the one from Société Générale. An employee of the business talks about his career and his missions.

The little plus 💡

The video is short and very simple: an employee is filmed in front of the camera, in a single shot, and tells his story and his missions within the business. The English subtitles make the video accessible to an international audience and the hearing impaired. The simplicity and length of the video makes it easily viewable for job seekers browsing the Welcome to the Jungle website. It’s that little extra that makes the offer interesting, dynamic, and shows that the brand is committed to finding its future talents.

7# Intuo insists on its exceptionally-low turnover rate

To remember ✅

In this one and a half minute video, Jan from Intuo insists that turnover at his company is very low. And he explains it with humour.

The little plus 💡

Although it is short, the video is scripted and very professionally done. What matters is the storyboard and how it explains why retention is good in the business. However, make sure that your video reflects your identity: it is the authenticity and sincerity that makes for successful employer brand content!

8# Porsche highlights its employee’s opinion

To remember ✅

An employee is interviewed about her career at Porsche, in the car manufacturing workshop. We see her in her working environment, which makes the video more dynamic than an interview in front of the camera in an office.

The little plus 💡

Black and white lets the audience’s eye not be saturated with extravagant colours and masks the imperfections of the light in a workshop. Most importantly, it leaves the focus on the employee and her words. This choice is also in line with the Porsche visual identity. From the outset, the employee destroys the myth that you need connections to join Porsche. The brand thus shows that it is inclusive and that its recruitment process is objective. Finally, the length of the video is noteworthy, still under 2 minutes. This is ideal to catch the audience’s attention and not bore them.

9# Inclusion and diversity : Apple’s video

To remember ✅

There is no ambiguity: this video from Apple is there to highlight inclusion and diversity, things the business looks for when recruiting.

The little plus 💡

To highlight this advantage, the brand gives the floor directly to its employees. In the introduction, the video states that employees are a reflection of the company vision and values, which are “the portrait of Apple”. The video is simple – just a series of close-shot interviews with the brand’s employees, interspersed with video of employees at work – and yet it is very professional and genuine. The audience gets a good grasp of the business culture and how it is shared among employees. A consistent brand is an attractive brand.

However: this video has a very consensual and corporate rendering that comes at the expense of authenticity. Remember that sincerity and transparency are key to employer branding video.

10# Fiverr’s amusing recruitment video

To remember ✅

It is by going through the cliché of the unoriginal recruitment video that Fiverr manages to stand out from the crowd, and prove that the brand values the recruitment of new employees.

The little plus 💡

The humour and references throughout this video allow for an interesting contrast between what the brand wants to avoid (the first part) and what it is looking for (the second half).

11# Amazon’s employer brand video: a dynamic visit of its international warehouses 

To remember ✅

Amazon invites the audience to a tour of its warehouses around the world with its employees. The video opens with shots of employees, sometimes filming themselves with their smartphones, both in the US and in France. The video then takes a more formal turn with very professional filming of the warehouses.

The little plus 💡

The opening of the video is dynamic and very simple to recreate. Each employee recites – we agree, it must remain genuine – the same text in their own language. Then in the editing process, the sequences are cut and linked together so that, when put together, the shots form a complete sentence. 

12# Netflix’s culture: freedom and responsibility

To remember ✅

This video is just over 3 minutes long and takes the form of a longer interview in a unique Netflix format. Indeed, it is part of the “Netflix Culture” playlist, which gathers several video formats giving employees the floor.

The little plus 💡

The voices of employees are highlighted very well, with no loud background music to get in the way of listening. The interviews flow but the shots are done in a variety of tones to add depth to the video. Again, the subtitles make the video accessible to all. Depth of field is well-used too: the focus is on the employees, which makes them stand out from the blurred background. This highlights the employee and his or her speech. The interviewee feels really listened to and their speech takes on more importance thanks as a result.

13# Kedge Business School’s 2019 review

To remember ✅

For its 2020 greetings, Kedge Business School took a minute to compile a retrospective of the year 2019 in video. Showing the best moments of the life on campus, it builds an attractive image for future students and teachers.

The little plus 💡

There are no voices, only instrumental music in the background. The sequences reflect the best moments of the year for the school. But one could imagine again a compilation filmed very simply with a smartphone in landscape shot. At the end of the year, the shots just have to fit together in the editing. It is even possible and interesting to modulate the volume of the music and audio in the videos, so that you can hear the cries of joy in the background at the time of graduation for example! Even schools can do employer branding.

But wait… why is it mandatory to develop your employer brand?

According to Wade Burgess, a poor image of work and life at a company would increase the cost of hiring by 10%. On the contrary, businesses that invest in their employer brand enjoy a 28% reduction in turnover.

Moreover, developing your employer brand means improving the well-being of your employees at work. And to quote Shawn Achor: “A decade of research proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%”. 

In short, developing your employer brand significantly improves a number of key performance indicators: 

• While recruiting: you attract many talents who share your values, as these are clearly identifiable thanks to your Employer Brand communications. The cost of hiring is reduced.

• At work: employees feel good and are therefore inclined to work better. They can also help to promote the business by word of mouth and bring new and interesting talents into the business. Productivity increases and hiring costs can still be reduced.

• Turnover decreases: employees have no reason to leave the business. They do not have to be replaced. Again, the cost of hiring decreases.

It is therefore essential to include employer branding in your development and communications strategy. So, where should you start? How can you easily develop your employer brand and still stand out? To get you started, let us share 10 ways to develop your employer brand.

How to develop your employer brand

Having given you the main reasons to develop your employer brand, it would have been cruel to leave you out in the cold without tips and tricks on how to do it! Let’s get started.

Essential prerequisite: the well-being of your employees

Encourage collaboration and sharing between employees

Because it is both effective and fun, collaboration and peer-to-peer learning are a good way to improve the well-being of your employees and the image of your organisation. 

According to Training Magazine, peer to peer learning can make employees feel “85 percent more engaged in their roles, and 96 percent believe they are more likely to stay with the company, thanks to the scheme”. This would also make it possible to reduce costs, particularly for training, since employees become each other’s trainers. Thus, it seems essential to implement collaboration within the business. 

Collaboration does not necessarily involve innovative ways of working: it can be a state of mind rather than a work organisation. Making knowledge sharing – or peer to peer learning – a reflex, maintaining constant interaction between employees are among the factors that strengthen collaboration between them. The use of collaborative digital tools, such as Google Workspace or Notion, Canva or Kannelle for communications, Monday or Trello for project management, also facilitates its implementation.

Strengthen internal communications at all levels

Collaboration requires effective internal communications, laterally, as well as top-down and bottom-up. The manager of 2021 must set an example and facilitate these information flows.

They must therefore insist on internal communications, towards the employees, and vice versa by taking into account their feedback! For this, platforms such as Slack or Google Hangouts are your allies, whether it’s about private conversations, monitoring, feedback or general information about the business… Feedback is less formal, more genuine and much easier to make on these platforms, which strengthens the sense of human connection in the team.

Strengthening this bond between management and employees lets the feeling of strong hierarchy fade and involves all employees in the life of the business. The feeling of recognition is crucial for engaging employees. It is the starting point for developing a strong and impactful employer brand! 

Foster personal development and adapt to each individual

E-learning can sometimes be boring. A succession of slides, a final questionnaire to check the employee’s concentration… Nothing very entertaining or attractive. Encourage video training, such as microlearning. These 3-to-5-minute videos are short, dynamic, and can be viewed anywhere, at all times, several times if necessary! They can be adapted to each employee and include everyone, even employees working in different time zones. 

With Kannelle for example, you can use the storyboard “Training software” to train your employees in video, very simply. The training team can also adapt learning videos according to employee feedback. This makes the training engaging and interesting! This is the key to everyone’s personal development, and an additional stone in the building of your employer brand.

Maintain cohesion between people working in the office, remotely or both

Listening and adapting to employees’ needs is even more important when working remotely, whether full or part time: it is more difficult to understand the emotions of employees and their desires. It is also difficult to ensure that the whole team is on the same wavelength. Asking everyone for their feelings lets you adapt to their needs and strengthen ties.

It can be interesting to implement regular rituals, without falling into “meetingitis”. Here too, asking the opinion of employees, trying out different methods and remaining open to proposals will help you improve well-being at work and team cohesion. 

For those who are working in the office, cohesion and well-being also depend on moments of conviviality. The pleasure of working together must be rediscovered: visiting each other, asking questions, organising workshops to reflect on the direction the business is taking…

In short, including all employees, and ensuring that they feel good together and aligned towards the same vision is what will enable you to ensure esprit de corps and thus build an attractive employer brand.

Use this foundation to build your employer brand

Develop employee advocacy

Employee advocacy is “the promotion of your company by the people who work for it” (Linkedin Business). This can be by word of mouth, via cooptation (employees call on their network to recruit new talents), or via social media for example.

In this respect, employee testimonials are the ideal format for getting the business talked about. Of course, it must remain genuine and spontaneous to create trust between the employee interviewed and the audience. For your colleagues to become brand ambassadors, you need to give them the tools and material to speak well and sincerely about the business.

This strategy is therefore the ideal way to publicly communicate about the positive aspects you have already deployed to develop your employer brand, such as cohesion, collaboration and personal development!

Consider your employees’ opinions as a meaningful indicator

Listening to your employees means generating that feeling of recognition, and then fostering their commitment. 

Don’t hesitate to ask for regular feedback from them, and to take it into account. You can do it via IDTree, an engagement-and-satisfaction-surveys tool, or via internal chat platforms to create a strong bond with your employees. In this way, you can avoid having only “check-point” contacts with your employees, and include a listening and human dimension in your relationships. 

Invite your employees to leave reviews on platforms such as Indeed or Glassdoor, to promote the credibility and strength of your employer brand through transparency.

Communicate externally on the company values

Though we highly recommend setting an employee advocacy program, it’s not the only relevant strategy! Content and communications strategy play a key role in building an employer brand. 

According to Glassdoor, “75% of US respondents believe that companies whose C-Suite executives and leadership team use social media to communicate about their core mission, brand values and purpose are more trustworthy”. Maintaining a public image requires the business to be consistent in its missions and sincere in its approach. Social networks are therefore a good way to develop your employer brand and to give it a strong impact on future talents and consumers.

Think about the recruitment phase

Speaking of future talents, don’t forget to take care of your employer brand while recruiting.

Renewing advertisements and job cards to show that the business is evolving and aware of its evolution is crucial.

It is also important to offer original but simple job offers. The Welcome to the Jungle website is full of examples of offers made interesting through the insertion of videos presenting some employees and the company culture, simplified applications, easily accessible information… This all makes it easier for talents to apply for roles at your company. And it reinforces your employer brand!

Use video and its various formats

Finally, for each of these strategies, video is a great help. Whether for internal or external communications, employee advocacy, training or recruitment, the dynamism and attractiveness of video make it a powerful medium for building a successful employer brand!

Video lets you vary the tone and formats: interviews, reports, retrospectives, short and punchy videos… There is something for everyone, in unlimited quantities. In this respect, Kannelle lets you include your employees in the creation process very simply. How do you do that? By letting them film and edit videos on their own, while following your brand guidelines.

But in the end, a lot of formats means a lot of options: which one should you choose? Where do you start when you want to develop your employer brand in video? We curated just for you 15 examples of employer brand videos that you and your communications team can draw inspiration from. And that would be easy to make with Kannelle!

Best practices for employer branding videos that rock

Still need some guidelines to create attractive employer brand content? There your are!

1# Include employees in your communications strategy

Involve them in thinking about which content to create

Including employees in this reflection provides inspiration and opens a field of possibilities. As a member of the communications team, you may have your head in the sand and lack perspective on which pieces of content you and your employees can create.

The videos you create will be much more genuine if the employees who participate in them have proposed their creation, or at least validated it. Moreover, this is part of the wellbeing prerequisite we talked about at the beginning of this guide: the feeling of inclusion and being listened to is crucial to creating a healthy atmosphere in the business. This will make it easier to develop your employer brand!

In the content creation itself

Trust your employees to create videos by themselves: they are your best ambassadors and are perfectly capable of providing interesting content to feed your employer branding efforts.

Give the floor to your employees

We’ve told you about it: employee advocacy is a very effective way to get people talking about your business in a genuine, transparent and therefore credible way. It is a simple and proven way to attract new talents or to show your customers that you are a great place to work!

Give them control over creative tools 

To show that you trust them, go one step further and give your employees control over the communications tools. With Kannelle, you, as the administrator, can decide on the brand guidelines and templates your employee-creators can use. From then on, they are free to film what they want and get it back to you for validation. Autonomy, trust and collaboration: these are the precursors of a strong employer brand.

2# Create content on a regular basis

It is not enough to create pieces of content from time to time to gain visibility. Is an employer brand without impact really an employer brand?

Create and mobilize a community

Like RyanAir on Tik Tok, create pieces of content that enliven your community. The low cost airline gets this: it has seized the best Tik Tok trends and offers humorous videos based on the most popular references of the moment.  The result: 1.6M likes and almost 13K comments. We can agree that the employer brand is successful! The account’s subscribers are still eagerly awaiting the brand’s videos. And they are not disappointed: RyanAir posts several videos per week.

In a more accessible manner, think of it as Netflix or a YouTube channel:build  playlists dedicated to your business culture and update them regularly with various formats.

Set up a Content Factory

If you need a clear framework to produce videos regularly, set up your Content Factory. Simply put, it is a team dedicated to the creation of articles and videos, capable of setting up a production schedule and sticking to it. 

3# Keep it short and simple

Create content that is easily consumable

A short video is easily viewable. Marketers call that snackable content. What matters nowadays is to hold the attention of the audience that “scrolls” on social networks. The public sees hundreds of pieces of content flying across their screens every day: you need to create one that will make them stop for a few seconds. So opt for a clear title or one that arouses curiosity, or a punchy and funny introduction… Stand out from the crowd! 

In addition, imposing a maximum duration on yourself will prevent you from getting lost in lengthy explanations. In this way, you can offer dynamic, clear and concise videos without losing the attention of your audience. Your employer brand will gain in impact.

Interviews and retrospectives: simple formats to produce

You don’t need complex, technical pieces of software like Adobe Premiere or a movie camera to produce professional videos. A smartphone, a tripod and a tie microphone (especially if the location you are filming in is not quiet enough) are all you need; add an editing application like Kannelle, and voila! In just 15 minutes, you’ll have the perfect employer brand video.

The easiest formats to make are interviews and retrospectives. For testimonials, put your phone on a tripod and take advantage of the stabiliser built into the Kannelle capture tool. Record, interview, cut, and that’s it. For retrospectives, think about asking employees to film their life in the business throughout the year. When the time is right, simply select your favourite sequences and pull them together. Add an intro, an outro, background music chosen from our 100 royalty-free tracks and your brand guidelines (with Kannelle it’s done in a few clicks). Your hot attractive employer brand video is ready!

4# Build brand image with consistently branded videos

With Kannelle, all you have to do is set up your brand guidelines beforehand, and they will automatically appear on your videos. Font, colour, logo, intro and outro: create videos in your image.

To retain the audience and create a clear and identifiable brand image, your employer branded pieces of content must be recognisable. Using a harmonious colour scheme, choosing one or two fonts, and embedding your logo are all key elements in staying consistent in your creation. Because after it’s all said and done, your employer brand must reflect your brand.

5# The key word: genuine!

As we have seen, employee advocacy is a strong strategy for getting the word out about your business. And for good reasons: it is a way of highlighting the transparency, sincerity and authenticity that you want to associate with your brand. 

Hence the importance of the wellbeing prerequisite we mentioned earlier: an employee who says he or she feels good in your business and thinks so will add a hundred times more credibility than an employee who has been forced to participate. But we are not teaching you anything: be consistent and sincere. This is the secret of successful employer branding.

6# Use Kannelle ready-made storyboards

To produce videos regularly and quickly, use video templates. With Kannelle for example, use ready-made storyboards from our library: testimonial, coffee break, tutorial, key figures. All you have to do is personalise captions and include your own shots. If you film with Kannelle, you will get advice on the length of each sequence, the pose of your subject and the overall scenario structure. What’s more, your brand guidelines are automatically applied with our automated editing! As a result, you get videos that are branded and original and that reflect your image. Employer branding is almost too easy with Kannelle.

Now you have all the keys to develop your employer brand, and plenty of inspiration so you never run out of ideas. Get started!