Why Employer Brands Must Balance Aspiration with Authenticity

Over the past few years, our employer brand capability has shifted from a niche agency service to a core component of some of our largest integrated brand campaigns.

This shift coincides with the broad acceptance that a robust employer brand isn't merely a nice-to-have, but a strategic imperative that impacts the bottom line.

According to workplace reviews site Glassdoor, companies with strong employer brands report up to a 50% reduction in cost per hire, with the average cost per hire in the UK between £3,000 and £5,000 per employee.

To deliver for the business, and for all of the audiences it needs to serve, an employer brand needs to get the balance right between reflecting the aspiration of the brand and the authenticity of the employee experience.

Start with authenticity

Authenticity matters, because if an employer brand fails to reflect the reality of the employee experience, it can be quickly undermined.

Employees have a direct and unfiltered view of the employee experience, including the company's culture, values and management practices. If the employer brand paints an unrealistic picture of any of those components, people will naturally want to call the company out.

In some cases, they’ll vent on workplace review sites like Glassdoor, which can tarnish the view of candidates researching prospective employers. More commonly, they’ll take to the company’s internal social forums which can impact employee morale.

Co-op’s Colleague Promise

The need for authenticity was central to the brief when we partnered with Co-op to revitalise its employer brand. At the heart of Co-op’s employer brand is a Colleague Promise, which is Co-op’s version of the traditional employee value proposition (EVP); bringing together everything that Co-op offers its colleagues in one place.

Co-op shared that its previous EVP hadn’t been widely adopted by the business because it didn’t adequately speak to the needs of the wider organisation.

To ensure the Colleague Promise reflected the reality of working life at Co-op, the company invited 54,000 colleagues in food stores, funeral care, insurance, legal services, support centre, distribution and wholesale business functions to share their candid view of the colleague experience.

To keep this valuable insight remained front of mind throughout the development of the Promise, a ‘squad’ of stakeholders representing each of Co-op’s business functions were invited to join a series of collaborative working sessions.

Inviting employee insight and stakeholder collaboration are both equally important to an employer brand because the first establishes the intent for authenticity and the second helps ensure that the employer brand, once launched, is accepted and adopted by the wider organisation.

Aspiration on the outside

Alongside authenticity, an employer brand needs substance and sparkle to give it an aspirational appeal that will grab the attention of job seekers who may not know much about the company as a place to work.

Substance comes from the components of the value proposition; the package of perks, benefits and policies that the company offers to entice people to join and stay. Sparkle comes from the way the employer brand is packaged and presented.

Arguably the best time to revamp an employer brand is when a company has initiated a refresh of the masterbrand because it ensures a consistent and unified message to both potential employees and the wider market. Our work on Co-op’s employer brand followed the work our agency had done to help Co-op update its core brand, which included a refreshed brand identity and the creation and rollout of its ‘Owned By You, Right By You’ brand platform and advertising campaign.

‘Owned By You. Right By You.’ aims to highlight the benefits of Co-op membership, emphasizing that the business is owned by its members and therefore, operates in their best interests. The Colleague Promise needed to articulate ‘Owned by You. Right by You.’ in a colleague context, highlighting Co-op’s commitment to always try to do right by colleagues who are also members and owners of the business.

We workshopped with Co-op’s talent attraction team and business stakeholders to gather the substance of the Colleague Promise; the range of benefits and policies that make Co-op a great place to work. We then worked with the strategists and creatives that had been integral to the core brand refresh to inject the sparkle; ensuring the Colleague Promise was infused with the brand’s purpose, spirit, sentiment and ambition.

Every detail was considered, from tone of voice to typography. We even employed the ad campaign’s voiceover actor to narrate the Colleague Promise launch film.

With any employer brand, there is a balance that needs to be achieved between aspiration and authenticity.

Leaning into aspiration helps inspire and attract top talent looking for purpose and growth opportunities and it can help to differentiate a company in a crowded recruitment market.

Leaning into authenticity, meanwhile, builds trust among candidates and employees who value transparency. It also attracts the right fit and reduces turnover, because when the reality of working at your company aligns with the promises made during recruitment, employees are more likely to be satisfied and stay longer.

Read more from VCCP here.