By Karine Jebsen from Universum & Hans Petter Stub from SPRE.
Universum has just conducted a survey among more than 1 000 respondents worldwide with the goal of unveiling companies’ attitudes towards and work with employer branding. What strikes us the most is the lack of valid measurements of employer branding efforts. HR-directors miss an opportunity to make themselves strategically relevant vis-à-vis top level management.
The most common measurement of a company’s efforts in employer branding is the number of applications, with 45.6 % of companies surveyed using this metric. We suspect this has something to do with the fact that it’s easy to measure, but in itself more applications just means more administration. What HR really should measure is how this leads to better quality applications, which in turn can lead to a lower cost per hire, but the latter metric is only used by 29.5 % of the companies surveyed.
That means over 70 % of the companies fail to show how employer branding can contribute directly to the bottom line of the company – metrics that are much more relevant to the CEO and CFO. 16.2 % of all companies surveyed don’t have any metrics at all! How can they expect to get any substantial funding for their employer branding efforts?
Another common metric used is various external talent attraction rankings. 30.9 % of companies surveyed measure this, and in our home market The Nordics it is the most common metric used (53.8 %). Universum obviously believes it’s important and a great recognition to do well on these rankings, but a company has to highlight what this leads to. A high ranking isn’t a goal; it’s a means to achieve a company’s end goal. Once again; if you fail to show what it actually leads to, you are reducing the importance of HR.
Another rarely used metric is sourcing effectiveness, used by only 26.7 % of the companies surveyed (and only a disappointing 13.2 % in the Nordics). If you don’t know where your quality applications are coming from you’re going to have a hard time allocating your spending wisely. It reminds us of Wanamakers quote from the marketing world; half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.
We hear that marketers often struggle to get on the radar of top level management, and if HR doesn’t start to measure the real value they bring to the table they could end up in the same boat.
Karine Jebsen is Account Manager Markets at Universum in Norway, Hans Petter Stub is a consultant in employer branding at the independent agency SPRE.