Today we have access to far more data than ever before. But it still seems a bone of contention about how best to measure employer brand effectiveness. People still talk about impact on retention, when retention is dependent on so many factors, from family choices to salary hikes to ‘just wanting a change’. Surely, it’s better to find and examine the data related to decisions over which you have a primary influence. Here are a few KPIs that we like to measure; yes, there are more, but these provide a good starting point.

Reputation

We talk about reputation because it’s not simply being visible; but being a go-to brand in a particular industry or for a particular professional group. Think about how you are growing your following, generating a higher number of web visitors and of course benchmarking your brand in awards and rankings.

• Following on socials
• Application / talent pool numbers
• Website visitors (especially unsolicited)
• Benchmarking (via awards/rankings)

Recruitment

One of the best metrics we’ve seen of late is the ratio of web visitors to applications – because this ultimately shows whether people are attracted to your brand for the right reasons. We’d also advocate measuring social engagement – not simply click-throughs, but how much engagement you are generating, as a way of showing interest in the brand.

• Ratio of web visitors to applications
• Quality of applications
• Social engagement
• Cost, particularly if focused on direct hiring

Internal Engagement

We could have followed ‘Reputation’ and ‘Recruitment’ with ‘Retention’ – it would have made a memorable 3Rs. However, as discussed earlier, Retention feels too big an area to do justice to. So, we go again for more specific actions – whether that’s employee recommendation or advocacy, new joiner satisfaction or wider awareness of the organisation’s intentions. Again, we could add employee engagement (from the annual employee survey), but so much of that is wrapped up in a wider set of behaviours and context.

• eNPS / employee recommendation
• Employee advocacy
• New joiner satisfaction
• Awareness of values / purpose / employer brand

If you’d like to learn more about measuring your employer brand, please get in touch with Henry@106comms.com