All organizations have an employer brand or identity consisting of its communicated vision, mission, values, and culture, tied to business objectives. While a company can actively shape its employer brand, many things can affect an employer brand and employee, public, and industry perception of its business, both positively and negatively. A carefully monitored employer brand strategy actively presents the company in a positive light and works to manage issues and events that damage a company’s reputation.

Damage control for corporate reputation and employer brand has been on display as Facebook struggles with various issues hitting its brand. Missteps and public criticism have dogged the social media giant, including the latest whistleblower allegations that the company is aware of being harmful to young people. Employer branding experts like Georgetown University professor Brooks Holtom say that brand damage makes Facebook vulnerable to losing talent, especially as the company has slid from being the top company to work for in 2018 to the number 11 spot in 2021.

Paying attention to employer brand is more important than ever as the pandemic has changed the world. The economy, the way companies operate, the way people work, and the way people view work have all transformed since early 2020. Knowing how a damaged employer brand affects recruitment is the first step in damage control and minimizing its impact on hiring and retention.

When Your Hiring Brand Image Is Damaged

Every employer wants to be “a great place to work” and an employer of choice for top talent. Many of the world’s top companies spend huge amounts of time and money developing a stellar employer brand to attract and develop the workforces they need to grow and sustain their businesses. But what happens to that employer brand when problems arise, such as an ethical scandal, a failed merger, or a major layoff?

According to HR thought-leaders like Dr. John Sullivan, a damaged employer brand can reduce an organization’s applicants substantially, or even eliminate interest from top talent altogether. Look at Facebook’s branding challenges, causing a drop from the number one spot as top employer to number 11 in just three years. Facebook has lost potential candidates who want to work for the top-ranked employer, and are at risk of losing their top talent to higher-ranked employers.  

And that’s not all that happens with a damaged hiring brand. It will cost you – a lot. LinkedIn research shows a bad reputation for a company with 10,000 employees runs into the millions. That’s almost $5,000 more per employee and doesn’t even take into account the potential candidates lost because they don’t want to work for an employer with a poor reputation. The damaged hiring brand extends further than just candidates lost to customers and vendors and industry partnerships lost in many cases.

How Does a Damaged Brand Affect Recruitment?

With review platforms like Glassdoor and CareerBliss and rankings of top companies to work for, any company’s reputation can be found almost instantly. And social media makes it very easy to get real-world perceptions, opinions, and experiences of working for a company. Negative issues come to light and are easily researched and examined by the public, including potential top talent.

A poor employer brand affects the recruiting process in various ways. Consulting firm DecisionWise CEO Tracy Maylett says these are damaged brand indicators to watch for in recruitment:

• A slowdown in the number of applicants, applicants ghosting either at the interview or at the offer or poor quality of new hires
• Decrease in engagement as shown in engagement surveys
• Employee cynicism and loss of faith in the company/employer
• Fear of change rather than embracing opportunities and challenges

These red flags should make employers pay attention and go right to work on improving employer brand immediately.  

How Can Employers Overcome a Damaged Employer Brand?

Your employer brand needs attention, maintenance, and damage control when there’s been an adverse event or situation affecting it negatively. The global pandemic and social unrest of 2020 has made this ever more important, as employee shortages and skills gaps, and heightened social awareness have changed how people view their employment and career development.

So how can employers overcome a damaged employer brand? Take steps like growing social media presence to interact positively with employees and the public, creating employee advocacy programs to better value and support the workforce, and showcasing company culture throughout the recruiting process. Rebecca Skilbeck, head of customer insights and market research at PageUp says treating candidates like customers because poor candidate experience and poor employer brand are just like poor customer service and have an impact beyond recruiting.

Counteract employer brand damage by being genuine and authentic with candidates, and treating them as individuals, not with generic recruiting communications. Streamline and automate the recruiting process to reduce response times and improve connections. Make sure your career website is showcasing your employer brand and not losing candidates before they apply.

There are so many variables in modern business and modern recruiting that can be out of the control of recruiters and hiring managers. But fortunately, with social media and recruiting technology, there are also many ways to deal effectively with a damaged employer brand and return to the "employer of choice" status.