Employer branding at Stan Hema: we make brands that people want to work for.
Andreas Weber, Marcus Calderoni and Maritta Seitz
November 7, 2023
Why do people want to work for certain brands? How can brands convince people as employers? Such questions are becoming more and more relevant for companies because the job market has changed drastically. Whereas recruiters used to be able to choose from a range of qualified applicants, there are now yawning gaps in the labour market.
Andreas Weber, co-managing director of Stan Hema, and brand strategist Marcus Calderoni discuss how the focus on brands can help companies in this situation. What special perspective do we as a brand agency have on the topic of employer branding and what does our employer branding process look like? Maritta Seitz has helped put the answers to paper.
External drivers of employer branding
Digitalisation, demographic change, a shortage of skilled workers and geopolitical changes have transformed the labour market. Nevertheless, many companies are still missing out on the opportunity to position themselves as outstanding employers.
For a long time, the appeal of their products was strong enough for many companies to attract employees. However, young employees in particular have new expectations of their jobs and question the culture, attitude and sense of responsibility of potential employers with an increasingly post-materialistic understanding of values.
Interlocking of the internal and external
How does a company have to position and present itself to make people identify with it to such an extent that they want to be a part of it? As a brand agency, we empower organisations to find their individual answer to this question.
Through an empathetic external viewpoint, we help companies understand what makes them what they are at their core – and what employees want today. By interlinking the attitude and culture of an organisation with the needs of employees, we make brands fit for the future. That is what employer branding means to us.
Real change instead of a one-size-fits-all approach
In practice, we are thus not interested in imposing an off-the-peg ‘good corporate culture’ in order to attract new employees. Instead, we work together with companies to refine the facets of the respective brand that are important in making people want to work for it.
In doing so, we particularly work with our clients on the three dimensions that are decisive for a holistic brand experience: their attitude, their offer and their communication. Real change starts in the mind and then becomes apparent in the way brands present themselves, communicate and act – internally and externally.
From strategy to empowerment
Part of our promise regarding the impact we will make is empowering companies to implement the developed strategies and to make them tangible on a daily basis. After all, brand strategy only works once it is actually put into practice.
That is why for us, a brand process is not just a piece of paper. We also support our clients in the implementation of the brand strategy and provide inspiration for necessary changes within the organisation. In addition, we provide advice on how to realign areas of expertise that are necessary for the future viability of the company.
Bringing the brand to life holistically
A refined brand essence can be brought to life within a company in a wide variety of ways. Workshops, team and individual coaching, prototyping of initiatives or focus groups are just a few examples.
In workshops, for example, we enter into dialogue with employees and reflect together on what the corporate values mean to each of them. This includes how they affect the behaviour of each individual, as well as teamwork. Embodying brand values together strengthens the corporate culture, improves employee retention and, ideally, develops an authentic allure that attracts new colleagues.
The power of the holistic brand promise
In the holistic understanding of brands, employer branding means much more than optimising job advertisements and smoothing out HR processes. When thinking about brands holistically, employer branding cannot be separated from customer branding. Both are different perspectives on the same brand and contribute to the same core promise.
If the brand promise is not kept on the customer or employee side, the entire culture implodes. Providing holistic support to our clients throughout employer branding processes is thus a matter of course for us as a brand agency.
