INTRODUCTION:

Employer Branding is an important strategy employed by an organization to create an image in the minds of employees that the organization, above all others is a 'great place to work'. A brand is in constant change by the interpretations of the audiences and cannot be controlled by the sender, but it can cause an effect. While attracting the right talent and retaining them becomes a critical aspect for business success, research has shown that right brand for an employer can really help in this regard. Creating an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is one of the key motivations behind employing internal branding strategies. Conveying the company's unique appeal to its employees enhances talent retention. To build a brand first understand the core business objectives and tie them into the Employer Branding strategy. Then identify the employee talent required to achieve these objectives.

After identifying the talent, develop an attractive Employer Brand for prospective employees and obtain feedback from recent recruits to validate your Employer Brand position. Finally nurture internal brand champions or people who align to the organization's values and mission statements. If a product is branded poorly, the negative image reflects upon the management, the employees and the organization as a whole. Conversely, an organization that is branded as a great place to work will generate a positive perception on the organization as a whole and contribute to the total brand value. Employer branding’s targeted audiences are potential candidates and current employees.

Despite the global recession, employers are still finding it difficult to recruit the ‘perfect fit’ employee, where the employee matches the organizational culture and the position. By concentrating on the Employer Brand and by increasing their appeal to the right candidates, organizations will gain a distinct advantage in the labor market. There is a clear link between Talent Management and Employer Branding and ‘The depth and quality of planning today will separate the talent winners from the talent losers tomorrow’

The success in employer branding can be measure with the number and quality of job candidates and staff retention rates. The traffic to a website will also aid to understand the success in branding. Despite of the global recession, employers are still finding it difficult to recruit the ‘perfect fit’ employee, where the employee matches the job skills and business domain knowledge. By concentrating on the Employer Brand and by increasing their appeal to the right candidates, organizations will gain a distinctive lead in the labor market. There is a clear link between Talent Management and Employer Branding and ‘The depth and quality of planning today will separate the talent winners from the talent losers tomorrow.’ Retention is one of the most obvious areas that effective talent management can affect. Hence employer branding improves talent management which is an integral part of the retention process.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Keller (1993) suggests that "Brand equity elevated the importance of brand in marketing communication strategy and is often used to persuade customers to buy a product or service. However, in recent years, especially in today's competitive market, employer branding is used to recruit and retain good employees from a diverse work force. Most companies tend to promote factors that make their firm a good place to work and also offering a bright and cheerful office space, an ethos of collaboration and teamwork, flexible hours, creche facilities, or even an excellent canteen.

Levering (1996) has opined that a branded workplace is believed to produce higher quality products, support more innovation, have the ability to attract more talented people, and experience less resistance to change and lower turnover costs, all of which translate directly into a better bottom line. Dell and al (2001) stated being an “Employer of choice” entails more than success in recruiting and retention. Employees should choose not only to join the company and stay with it, but also to identify with its vision and values and give its loyalty, commitment and performance, whatever the trend of the job market. Research has also demonstrated the causal relationship between high levels of engagement and enhanced business performance. Sutherland, Torricelli and Karg (2002) suggest that" In an organization's skilled employees are hard to attract and difficult to retain and it has become critical to business success. The employer branding is used for corporate identity and reputation which communicates its image to current and potential employees. Minchington (2005) suggest that "the image of the organization as a 'great place to work' in the minds of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders)." And also he suggest that the concept of Employer Brand has gained importance since 1990"s or it is a result of Global manic competition but above all it has become a magnetic force, a catalyst, an accelerator and a prime factor which determines an organization success and future . Michael Palmer (2007) suggests that acquiring and retaining top talent requires a strong employer brand. By living a strong employment brand and clearly communicating that brand through effective marketing practices, employers get the edge they need to attract the best talent and keep them and also there are some key areas you can focus on when creating, living and enhancing your employer brand, they are: Find a way to touch every candidate, Avoid the "black hole" of recruiting, Leverage your talent pool, Train hiring managers to be effective interviewers, Build and use consistent employer messaging internally and externally.

M.M. Sutherland, D.G. Torricelli and Osman Massoud (2008) suggest that "An employer brand" can be used to help organizations compete effectively in the labor market and drive employee loyalty through effective recruitment, engagement and retention practices. All organizations have an employer brand, regardless of whether they have consciously sought to develop one. Their brand will be based on the way they are perceived as a 'place to work', for example by would-be recruits, current employees and those leaving the organization. To be effective, the brand should not only be evident to candidates at the recruitment stage, but should inform the approach to people management in the organization.

Lara Moroko (2009) suggests that “Branding is not just talking about product and services. But also it is an companies have begun branding themselves as employers, too, betting that if they can convey to the world why their workplace is appealing and unique, they will have an easier time attracting good workers. The key is to align the brand with the company's business plan, meaning the brand is designed to attract and retain the kinds of workers the company needs most those who can help it increase sales, profits and market share. And the key to doing that is to borrow a tool from the product-marketing toolbox.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

Today every employer focuses on Employer branding, regardless of size of organization. In previous years, employer branding was primarily a concern for large employers in a limited number of industries that faced strong competition for talent. Consequently, organizations of all sizes in all industries are developing employer branding strategies that are focused, professional and long term. It’s a strategy companies use to achieve their desired appeal on current and future ideal talent. Recruiting and retaining top talent continue to be major, costly challenges for organizations that jeopardize business success. Employer branding becomes an integral part of any successful business plan. It’s been estimated that it costs up to 18 months’ salary to replace a manager and up to six months’ salary to replace an hourly-paid worker. It can cost up to 3 times the salary if the employee departs in the first year of employment. Employer brand clearly express to potential and existing employees, why the organization is a great place to work, and bring its values to life in the experience of employees throughout their career. Therefore the research attempts to study and understand the relation between employer branding and employee retention. It also helps to analyze and understand the various benefits of being employed in a branded organization and the reason why companies go for Employer Branding. The study also identified the expectations of employees from an organization they would like to work.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The present study is of analytical in nature. Accordingly, data collection were done both by primary and secondary source. The primary data were collected with the help of pre-tested structured questionnaire from 100 respondents (employee) of Madurai city selected on the basis of convenience of the researcher and the secondary data were collected from various journals, reports, books and websites. The data collected through questionnaire has been tabulated and analyzed by using Simple Percentage Analysis, weighted average and K-related sample test.

Weighted Average:

Weighted average method is used to analyze the expectation of employees' from the organization they like to work. The formula for weighted average method is as follows:

Weighted Average = [ ∑WiXi / ∑Wi ]

where 'xi' are values of the quantity whose weighted average is being calculated, while 'wi' are the values of the corresponding weights.

K-related Sample Test:

K-related sample is an extension of Wilcoxon’s matched pair test where we compare two columns. In this test we compare K-parallel variable in the data sheet. A popular k-related sample test is the Friedman’s test which helps to compare parallel variable and to understand the ranking between them.

Correlation:

Correlation analysis deals with the association between two or more variables. It does not tell anything about cause and effect relationship. Karl Pearson’s method is popularly known as Pearson’s coefficient of correlation. It is denoted by the symbol ‘r’.

∑xy

Formula for Karl Pearson’s coefficient r = ______________

√∑x2 * ∑y2

The value of the coefficient of correlation as obtained by the above formula shall always lie between +1 and -1. When r = 1, it means there is perfect positive correlation between variables. When r = -1, it means there is perfect negative correlation between variables. When r = 0, it means no relationship between variables. SPSS package was used for data compilation and analysis purposes.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

Table 1: Expectations of Respondents to work in an Organizations

S. No	Opinion	SE	ME	NE	W.A*
1	Good company reputation	58	34	8	41.67
2	Strong leadership	51	25	24	37.83
3	Should be an MNC	36	48	16	36.67
4	Growth in same company	44	35	21	37.17
5	Recruiting through Employee referrals	41	36	23	36.33
6	Focus on skill and competence	34	44	22	35.33
7	Next level of job	37	45	18	36.50
8	Work life balance	41	32	27	35.67
9	Self development	35	43	22	35.50
10	Competitive and attractive salary structure	38	37	25	35.50
11	Strong company culture	46	30	24	37.00
12	Defined HR policies	37	47	16	36.83
13	Good ethical and moral values	32	40	28	34.00
14	Reference for future employment	32	47	21	35.17
	Mean				36.5

*SE- Strongly Expected

ME-Moderate Expectation

NE- No Expectation

It was inferred that the employees had high expectations about the organization they work. Among those, the company’s reputation ranks the first with its weighted average as 41.67. The next rank was given to strong leadership and then followed by the factors such as growth in the company, strong culture, defined HR policies, MNC and reference for next level of job.

Table 2: Respondent’s Reason to Continue with Current Employer

Factors	Mean Rank
Good company reputation	3.74
Strong leadership	6.56
Career growth	4.60
Self development	5.60
Training and development	6.46
Work life balance	6.04
Competitive compensation	5.89
Bigger challenges	7.19
Possibilities for promotion	4.55
Job security	4.38

The analysis helped to understand that the employees were very much interested to continue with current employer because of company reputation and then followed by job security. It’s further understood they are not much interested in training and development programs provided by the Organizations.

As Pearson Correlation is positive (0.601), there exists a positive correlation between the Organizations brand and employee retention. This clearly shows that employer branding strategies helps the organization to retain their talent.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

Career opportunities and job security help an employer to satisfy the employee and to retain him. Organizations can attract its prospective employee with excellent company reputation and strong leadership. Companies having reputation and strong leadership that provides career opportunities and job security will be able to attract and retain their talent. Organizations should carry out branding exercise as it helps them to minimize the loss of talent employees, reduction in attrition rate and reduction of HR cost. Employees expect company reputation, strong leadership, growth, strong culture, defined HR policies and reference for next level of job from the employer. To align the employees’ talents and behaviors with the business objectives, it is necessary to attract and retain employees who identify with our values so that we become their employer of choice, not chance. The goal is to become an employer of choice by reflecting those attributes that employee’s value. Excellent employer brands do not stand alone. They are in sync with the overall company brand. The employer brand, should in some way, possess key elements of the company’s values as a whole.

CONCLUSION:

To sustain outstanding business results in a global economy, organizations have to rethink and reinvent their approaches to talent management. Effective talent management calls for strong participatory leadership, organizational buy-in, employee engagement and workplace scorecards with talent management metrics. Companies that master talent management will be well-positioned for long-term growth in workforce performance for years to come. Failures in talent management are mainly due to the mismatch between the supplies and demand not due to the failure in the concept. An organization with no brand name has to shell out lots of money to attract and retain the right candidate. A good brand image in the market will help in getting right workforce at right time and at the same time to have a control over the employee cost. By attracting and retaining people with the right fit, companies can create a more productive workforce which in turn helps to position the organization for long term success.

REFERENCE:

1. The Talent Management Handbook: Creating Organizational Excellence by Identifying, Developing, and Promoting Your Best People, Lance A Berger and Dorothy R. Berger

2. Talent Management Systems: Best Practices in Technology Solutions for Recruitment, Retention and Workforce Planning, Allan Schweyer

3. Graeme Martin, Susan Hetrick, “Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management: A Strategic Approach to HR”, First Edition, 2006

4. Simon Barrow and Richard Mosley, “The Employer Brand”, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2005

5. Judith Leary-Joyce, “Becoming an Employer of Choice: Make Your Organization a Place Where People Want to Do Great Work”, CIPD, 2004

Websites:

1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123740504559375085.html

2. http://www.hrvoice.org/acquiring-and-retaining-top-talent-requires-a-strong-employer-brand/

3. http://www.contentwriter.in/articles/hr/employer-branding.htm

4. http://wiredprworks.com/2009/11/12/best-branding-methods-entrepreneurs-business/#

5. http://www.ipublishing.co.in/ajmrvol1no1/sped12011/AJMRSP1003.pdf

Received on 09.12.2015 Modified on 15.01.2016

Asian J. Management; 7(1): Jan. –March, 2016 page 23-26

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2016.00004.4

Test Statistics^a
N	100
Chi-Square	124.794
df	9
Asymp. Sig.	0.000
a. Friedman Test

Correlations
		Branded Organizations	Like to stay in same Organizations
Branded Organizations	Pearson Correlation	1	0.601^**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		0.000
	N	100	100
Like to stay in same Organizations	Pearson Correlation	0.601^**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.000
	N	100	100
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).