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Hotel Employer Branding
Why you need an employer brand / Why it needs to grow out of your established hotel brand
The MA people vision - our ultimate goal - is to make this world a happier place through happier huMAns – hoteliers, guests, employees and partners alike. Therefore, we put people at the centre of everything we do, including this blog post, which is why we’re writing about employer branding - a topic that’s becoming increasingly more popular within the hospitality industry and among our clients.
Before we start off with our employer branding MAdvices, let’s make sure we are all on the same (web-) page and establish what employer branding is all about.
The German Employer Branding Academy DEBA defines it as following: “Employer branding is the identity-based, internally and externally effective development and positioning of a company as a credible and attractive employer. The core of employer branding is always an employer brand strategy that specifies or adapts the corporate brand. Development, implementation and measurement of this strategy aim directly at the sustainable optimization of employee recruitment, employee retention, motivation and corporate culture as well as the improvement of the corporate image. In addition, employer branding indirectly increases business results, brand value.”
Employees come first
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first.
If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.”
Richard Branson
We couldn’t agree more with Sir Richard Branson. Your employees are amongst the biggest and most important guarantors to long-term business success. But what if you cannot retain or even find great employees that can take care of your clients? The war for talent, lack of skilled employees and high staff turnover are increasingly becoming key challenges for many hoteliers and general managers in today’s highly competitive hospitality market.
Therefore, developing and communicating a strong employer brand, both internally and externally, and building out a talent dimension as a key part of the corporate brand, is crucial. As such, a strong employer brand is not only relevant to attract, engage, retain and motivate the best people over the long term, but also to deliver on your overall brand promise. In fact, we, MA people, believe that your hotel brand needs to be seen as ONE overall brand. The employer brand should never be seen disconnected from your corporate brand and the core drivers of your business.
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Well-being workplaces are not an employer's charitable attitude,
but first and foremost a commercial calculation.
via @weareMApeople
Making your brand attractive for everyone
“Branding is a promise to your CUSTOMERS.
Employer branding is a promise to your current and future EMPLOYEES.”
Kathryn Minshew
Jobs are becoming products, employers are becoming brands and employees want to be proud of the business they work for, since work is a big part of our lives. An employee’s performance and productivity depends very much on the working conditions. Therefore, “well-being” workplaces are not an employer's charitable attitude, but first and foremost a commercial calculation. Happy employees who trust their employer and perform at the highest standards are crucial to the success of any hospitality business – both economically and in terms of the client experience.
In times of a shortage of skilled employees, a strong employer brand is as important for the attractiveness of a hotel business as the hotel brand itself. It is also another way to stand out from the competition.
Our five employer branding MAdvices to win your current and future employees’ hearts:
1. Clearly define what values your hotel business represents - your corporate culture, your great-place-to-work message and your employer value proposition: Working environment, career development opportunities, compensation, training, team incentives, workplace design, flexible working hours, chances for lateral entrants/employees, childcare, etc.
2. Define what your unique selling points as an employer are: what distinguishes your business as an employer from other industry players?
3. Define what services and ancillary services you can offer to your employees. Start internally and ask your employees with which services they are happy and what additional services would improve their daily worklife: why should skilled employees apply to your hotel business?
4. Seek cooperation with other hotel businesses or your destination organisation and jointly work on relevant services and incentives for your employees.
5. Professionalise your employee journey management: from application/onboarding to leaving procedure and regularly train, familiarise and get the buy-in of your team via workshops and coaching sessions. Always keep in mind, that your employees are your best brand ambassadors. And unlike your hardware, your competitors can't copy your relationship with your employees and their relationships with your guests!
Now you know WHY employer branding is crucial for your success and why it needs to grow out of your established hotel brand. As always, feel free to share this blog post and don’t forget to let us know your thoughts on hotel employer branding in the comments below.
Thank you,
Your MA people
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