Whether you like it or not, your company has a brand: a brand that helps customers, employees, managers and investors alike relate to and identify with what it would be like to work for the company. It defines the environment of your company, and it defines what kind of people have worked, will work, or want to work for you.

It’s not necessary that a person needs to work for your organization to know what this brand is. This perception of your brand is inherent and comes to them naturally, the second the name of your company is uttered. Of course, this brand may be positive or negative.

At the same time, managing people is a chore in some companies – maybe even yours. Employees may not always listen or follow in their manager’s footsteps. Sometimes they might rebel or even exit the company, leaving nothing but dust in their wake.

The fact remains that good branding and proper people management go hand in hand, and why this is true is explained below.

• Right brand, right people: The more inspiring, enriching and accommodating your brand is, the more prospective employees will be drawn to your company. They will automatically know what kind of company culture you have based on your branding, and hence only those who’ll fit well in your company will apply for jobs with you.
• High retention rates:An article by HRO Today reveals that branding your company properly can reduce employee turnover by nearly two-thirds. This is because existing employees will already know what it takes to stay in your company since you have already communicated your expectations through your brand.
• Better transparency: The more open you are about your company and your brand, the better is the transparency between you and your employees. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, over a quarter of employees do not trust their employers. So it’s apparent that the more trusting your employees are, the better they’ll work, and the likelihood of losing them will considerably reduce.
• Brand ambassadors:If employers give due importance to not just their own branding but also employee branding, they can create ‘brand ambassadors’ in the form of their own employees, who will not only help improve company reputation but also bring in other prospective employees through word of mouth or even social media.
• Employee engagement: If companies employ good employer branding, engagement of their employees will be significantly higher than if the branding was poorly done. This is because the value added to employees is clearly communicated to them.

Remember that people management is essential to any business, and must not be looked at as a ‘task’, but rather as a ‘duty’. Your employer branding should never be considered as just a marketing tactic, but as a way to engage employees, reduce employee turnover, boost retention rates, and make recruitment and selection an easier and smoother process. Creating an honest picture about your brand will make it resonate with the right people – the ones who will join your company, stay in it, and bring it to heights greater than you ever imagined possible.