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REC launches new Working Paper on Employer Branding

The REC today launches a ground-breaking new report highlighting the significance of employer branding. It explains how recruitment agencies are pivotal in helping their clients deliver “the employer brand promise".

Entitled Employer Branding, the report is the first in a series of Working Papers the REC is producing for members to share with their clients. These focus on key issues currently facing the industry and demonstrate the important role played by recruitment agencies in the labour market.

Employer Branding also highlights the responsibility recruiters have in helping organisations attract the best talent through developing their Employer Value Proposition (EVP). This has become increasingly important in a jobs market where the best candidates are seeking to work for companies whose ethos matches their own values.

Employer Branding has also been created as a direct result of the pioneering REC-commissioned report, Recruitment 2020, produced four years ago by leading think-tank Demos.

The report then predicted that an overlap between life and work – the personal and professional – would grow.  “Terms and conditions of work, beyond pay – company ethos, the psychological contract, corporate social responsibility and ethics – are increasingly important to candidates seeking work. This makes recruitment a more complex process as recruiters are asked to match people with organisations, not just skills and vacancies,” the report revealed.

To meet this shift in emphasis, Employer Branding proposes a different approach in which external recruitment partners are given a pivotal role in the delivery of the employer brand promise. It argues that harnessing the power of intermediaries allows access to new consultancy insight which will help employers develop and road test their EVP.

This approach was determined after the REC held focus groups attended by HR directors of leading employers such as British Airways.

Commenting on the findings, Roger Tweedy, the REC’s Director of Research and author of the Working Paper, said:

“With HR under continued pressure to reduce costs, it is important for REC members’ clients to realise that involving agencies in the employer branding process does have significant benefits.

“Our research puts forward a compelling argument that recruitment agencies are uniquely positioned to provide powerful consultancy support to help their clients create a ‘signature’ proposition to candidates, amplify their brand in the candidate marketplace and reach young candidates who are now favouring working flexibly through a third party intermediary.”

The Working Paper makes a series of recommendations on how employers can develop their EVP through using recruitment partners. These include developing narratives around the employer’s brand, adding incentives to help recruitment partners build a talent pipeline rather that a “cold headcount”, and agreeing robust metrics to measure the employer brand performance.

Employer Branding, which has been supported by HR specialists The Bernard Hodes Group, is now available from the REC website, http://www.rec.uk.com/about-recruitment/research/WorkingPapers