EMPLOYER BRANDING: 5 things to know about your future employees
After the most well-known age cohorts of Baby boomers and Generation X, the future “army” of employees will belong to Generation Y, better known as “Millennials”. As the previous generations drain, more Millennials will enter in the workforce, and by 2025 they will pervade more than 75% of the total labor market (Deloitte Italia, 2015). This age cohort is still under scrutiny and it seems to be full of inner contradictions. However, companies have to start taking an interest in this generation, in order to craft their employer branding strategy to better attract new talents belonging to this cohort.
All in all, employer branding is “the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants to recruit and retain” (Mossevelde, 2014). As in every marketing strategy, the target group has to be known in depth before proceeding with the implementation of the strategy itself. Therefore, let’s look at some figures of this group. First of all, Millennials expect companies to have a positive impact on society, however they perceive businesses are underperforming on this aspect. 
They have an opposite view, with respect to the current leaders’ generation, on where leadership should focus. In fact, they would prioritize employees’ well-being and employees’ growth and development, rather than personal reward and ST profits. The perceived innovativeness of the company also affects the choice to apply for an available vacancy, as well as the prospect to work for good teams on exciting new projects. The most pressing problem with this age cohort is their propensity to quit the current job and work for themselves in the future. Therefore, companies have to implement an effective employer branding strategy not only to attract talent but also to retain them within the company.
The communication of the company’s values and culture seems fundamental in order to provide Millennials-future employees the proper information about the company, therefore enabling a pondered decision. However, this also has to couple with an actual craft of the company’s benefit design, working condition and processes to fit their views and expectations. Companies have used to disregard the fundamental role of a good employer branding strategy, but with this generation pervading the workforce, it seems necessary to find the right way to implement and tailor such a strategy.
SOURCES:
Deloitte, (2015). Millennial Survey 2015 | Deloitte | Social impact, Innovation. [online] Available at: http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015].
Minchington, B. (2014). Future Focus of employer brand leadership. Employer Branding Review, pp.29-32.
Mossevelde, C. (2014). What Is Employer Branding? | Universum Global. [online] Universum Global. Available at: http://universumglobal.com/articles/2014/03/what-is-employer-branding/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015].