Employer branding without unicorns and rainbows: a conversation with Kasia Lampart
Employer branding is a catchy buzzword. But it's easy to turn it into a slideshow of smiling faces and slogans about a "young, dynamic team" or "fruit Thursdays". The campaign shines, it makes noise… but so what? Does it really attract people who will stay longer?
I talked to Kasia Lampart, an expert, practitioner and author of the book "Twoja firma, nasza marka" (Your company, our brand), about what EB really is and what it definitely is not.
We are all responsible for the employer brand. It may be your company, dear employer, but the brand is ours, because it is carried by the words of employees and clients, Kasia stresses.
Watch the conversation (in Polish).
Full episode of the SUURowo o marketingu podcast.
Employer branding ≠ recruitment
This statement puts the conversation in a completely different place. Employer branding is not an HR activity or just another social media campaign. It is broad communication aimed not only at candidates, but also at current and former employees, and even clients.
Where to start an EB strategy?
The first step can be surprisingly simple: you need to answer the question of what you actually mean by employer branding. Is it supposed to be an image campaign? Plugging recruitment gaps? Or long-term work on the organisation's culture?
Once that definition is agreed, it's time for the next stages: research and conversations with employees, diagnosing the EVP (employee value proposition), and deciding whether to go for ad hoc activities or long-term brand building.
The savvy EB specialist: who is that, exactly?
Let's forget for a moment the image of "that creative campaign person". Kasia is clear: an effective EB specialist needs a set of hard skills: project management (running processes and projects), stakeholder management (the ability to talk to the board, HR, marketing and PR) and strategic thinking (linking EB activities to the company's strategy).
Too few EB specialists challenge their stakeholders and ask: which direction are we going in and why? And that is the key, says Kasia.
KPIs in EB. Can it even be measured?
Employee turnover, cost per hire and brand sentiment are examples of hard data that can serve as reference points. But Kasia warns against oversimplified conclusions: Let's not tie the whole EB strategy to attrition or engagement. Projects and programmes, yes, but not the whole thing.
Employee-generated content instead of poster ambassadors
Companies are often afraid to give employees a voice. Employees, in turn, are afraid that by posting something online they will say "too much". This creates an empty space filled only with hollow corporate slogans. And yet EGC (employee-generated content) is one of the most powerful EB tools!
In smaller companies, it's enough to give people space and trust. Larger ones need a framework, e.g. simple social media rules, do's and don'ts. But the key is always authenticity and spontaneity. A good example? Trafit, which builds its brand not only through company messages, but also through the recognisable voices of several team members.
3 lessons from Kasia Lampart
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