What does Employer of Choice Mean?
If you work in Talent Acquisition, Employer Brand, or generalist Human Resources (HR), you will no-doubt have come across the term “employer of choice.” In this article, we aim to give a comprehensive employer of choice definition, as well as showing you why it’s important to be an employer of choice, and how to go about becoming one.
Employer of choice meaning
Let’s start with the definition: what does employer of choice mean?
If there are a number of organisations who recruit to the the same role in the same function, and one of those organisations frequently attracts more applications to that role than the rest, then it may be considered the employer of choice for that role.
However, if another organisation retains more employees in that role than all the others, because it’s considered to be such a great place to work—and, so, doesn’t even need to hire as frequently—then it can be considered to be the employer of choice for that role, because it inspires loyalty and an external sense of being difficult to get into.
An employer of choice for a specific role type isn’t always an employer of choice in general. One organisation, for example, might be considered to be the place to work if you’re in the Finance department, whereas the reputations of its Marketing and HR divisions as places to work might not be very good at all.
It follows, then, that an organisation which is considered to be the best to work for generally, and without exception of role or department, can more authoritatively claim to be an employer of choice than an organisation that’s only popular for one or two specific types of role.
In short, being an employer of choice is all about context and what your aims are for your reputation as an employer.
There’s no globally respected employer of choice certification you can apply for (although there is a rather hoky-looking Austin, TX based organisation that offered certification up to 2018 and has, apparently, trademarked the phrase “employer of choice”).
There’s no employer of choice CIPD badge you can display on your website.
Even the corporate recognition ceremonies that give themselves the name “employer of choice awards,” such as the ABA event in Australia, wouldn’t claim authorship of the title.
Simply put, being an employer of choice just means that you’re the most popular employer with your particular target audience.
Why employer of choice status matters
Why do you need to become an employer of choice? Well, apart from the obvious fact that you’ll recruit and retain the best people, there are lots of reasons to become an employer of choice.
When most people choose one employer over all others, it creates what’s known as a talent pool. This is a group of people who are perfectly matched to roles with the employer of choice organisation who are just waiting for an opportunity to open up so that they can apply.
This reduces the time it takes to hire people because they’re typically ready to convert at the point of first seeing an advertisement. It also reduces the associated cost of hiring people because you don’t have to invest in lengthy recruitment campaigns—you simply need to get the word out and await the high-quality applications.
Being an employer of choice also means that, when other companies come knocking on the doors of your best people, those people will be less tempted to leave because you’re the best employer for their needs. So your attrition will come down, which means that the cost of backfilling roles will also be reduced.
All of this creates a virtuous circle. As organisations hire the best employees, and manage to retain them, their reputations improve as places of work, thus increasing their employer of choice statuses yet further.
It can even affect the profitability of companies, as being an employer of choice means having access to all the best talent—people who will work smarter, harder, faster, and more effectively so that productivity and innovation increase, and companies are able to become more competitive.
How do you become an employer of choice?
As we can see, the benefits of being an employer of choice are many. So what’s the strategy that enables organisations to get to this level of public reputation as employers?
It all starts by building a strong employer brand. Employer brands are systems that enable organisations to manage their own reputations. They include the following components:
- A planning phase—including project timelines and agreed deliverables
- A discovery phase—including passive candidate research, alumni sentiment research, and employee research
- A production phase—including persona development, messaging system, launch strategy and content strategy
- A measurement phase—including awareness, engagement, conversions, applicant quality, candidate experience, loyalty, and ambassadorship.
When an organisation has a robust employer brand strategy in place, it is perfectly positioned to become an employer of choice among its various target audience segments.
Employer of choice characteristics are, in fact, synonymous with the components of a strong employer brand. Let’s look at three compelling evidences to support that statement:
- 72% of the world’s leading recruiters say employer brand has a significant impact on recruitment—TalentLyft
- Workers who connect with their employer’s mission and values are 67% more engaged—Gallup
- 69% of jobseekers would turn down a job with a company with a bad employer brand—Inc.
What these employer brand statistics tell us is that the process of developing such a system results in more people choosing particular employers. In other words, an employer of choice model (or employer of choice framework, if you prefer) is consistent with the features of an employer brand strategy.
If you wish to measure your progress as an employer of choice, which you should, there are a number of different ways you can do this [see Fig.1.], including social sentiment listening, CTR to your on-page careers site content, and your changing attrition rate over time. This will help to show you how your employer brand is impacting on your development as an employer of choice.
Good luck with your progress.
If you found this beginners’ guide to becoming an employer of choice useful, you may enjoy the Chezz guide to targeting passive candidates.