CHAPTER –1

INTRODUCTION

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1.1 INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT

Few years ago at the time of recession the comments from the companies represented were
everywhere the same: “We do not hire at the moment, but please check out our webpage and
remember us for later!” B ut now the attitude was different. The bigger companies were still
rather neutral, but the attitudes among the smaller companies were the total opposite. They
seemed to have realized that hard times are ahead of them, when it comes to possibilities in
recruiting. However, this will not be an issue only for smaller companies.

Most studies show that we are entering a longer period of lack of competence, and more people
are showing interest in the matter. The demand for qualified working capacity is increasing
faster than the offering, both in India and internationally. (Talent Talk, 2003).

As competition in the labour market has intensified, companies have shown an ever-
increasing interest in strategies to different themselves. Strong demand for specific skills, in
addition to ever tighter labour markets generally, is making it much more difficult both to
retain current employees and to recruit new employees. (Corporate Leadership Council, 1999)

“The hottest strategy in employment”, to use words of Dr. Sullivan, is gathered under the
international concept Employer Branding. It is the work with making the identity clear as
employer. The result is the companies’ images as employer, both internally and externally
(Talent Talk, 2003). According to The Corporate Leadership Council a strong Employment
Brand is one of the best weapons on a competitive labour market.

In this project, I aimed to study the relationship of Employer Branding with the productivity of the
employees where Employer branding has emerges as a strategic HR tool. Main work of the project
was to understand the relation of concept of Marketing with that of Human Resource.

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1.2 FUNCTIONAL AREA OF THE PROJECT

The functional area of my proposed study is Human Resources. I intend to study how employer
branding impacts employee retention. The concept of Employer Branding clubs human resource
management and brand management principles. It is more of a need than a trend. Through my
study I want to analyze and highlight the importance of Employer Branding, even during the slack
periods. It is actually this time when an organization can emerge as a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ Employer
Brand.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

To Investigate

This research is to investigate on the relationship between employer branding, employee

productivity and employer attraction by various companies and industries in India. It is also to find
out what are the suitable characteristics in an employer image that can attract potential employees
as well as employer brand loyalty that can improve employee productivity.

To Explore

The research is done in order to explore on how organizations in India deals with the issues of
high employee turnover by using the concept of employer branding that deal with employer image
and employer brand loyalty.

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 CHAPTER –2
LITERATURE REVIEW

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LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Employer branding

“Employer branding” is an emerging discipline with its roots in classical marketing and HR
principles. Its aim is to develop an image of the organisation as an “employer of choice” in the
minds of existing and potential employees, as well as other stakeholders including customers and
recruiters. The objective is not only to offer these tangible benefits, but to also develop an
emotional link with them. A strong employer brand should connect an organization’s values,
people strategy and HR policies and be linked to the company brand.

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2.1.1 Definitions:

Sartain and Schumann (2006) defined employer brand as: "how a business builds and
packages its identity, from its origins and values, what it promises to deliver to emotionally
connect employees so that they in turn deliver what a business promises to customers."

Brett Minchington (2005) defines employer branding as “the image of your organization
as a ‘great place to work’ in the mind of current employees and key stakeholders in the external
market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).”

Sullivan (2004) defines employer branding as "a targeted, long-term strategy to manage
the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees, and related stakeholders with
regards to a particular firm."

Ambler and Barrow (1996) define employer brand in terms of the benefits it conveys on
employees.

2.1.2 The Employer Brand Experience

Employer brand experience framework

An employer brand is the full physical, intellectual, and emotional experience of people who work
there, and the anticipated experience of candidates who might work there. It is both the vision and
the reality of what it means to be employed there. It is both the promise and the fulfillment of that
promise. The employer brand radiating out of our organization’s name inspires loyalty,
productivity, and a sense of pride.

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In marketing terms, a brand’s image is grounded in three dimensions:

• Functional benefits. What the product does, for example: “this Canon digital camera takes
good pictures” and “this particular model is great for portraits, video, and long-distance
shots.”

• Emotional benefits. How a product makes the customer feel, for example: “I feel happy
when I see this beautiful shot of my kids” and “I feel loving and fun when I e-mail these
pictures to their grandparents.”

• Reasons to believe. Validation of the product’s claims, for example: “Canon means
reliability and ease of use” and “reviewers on CNET.com rate the Canon digital camera as
excellent.”

A solid employer brand is grounded in the same dimensions:

• Functional benefits. Tangible rewards of working at the employer: salary, health care, a
clean, safe workplace, and a convenient location; for example: “XYZ Co. has great
compensation and has a beautiful office near my home.”

• Emotional benefits. Intangible rewards: mission, pride, and status, and job satisfaction,
companionship/collegiality, belonging to a “winning team,” and so on; for example: “I’m
proud to work for XYZ Co.—my pals and I make the best widgets in the world.”

• Reasons to believe. Validation of the employer’s claims; for example: “my friend says
XYZ Co. is a great place to work” and “the local news station calls XYZ Co. a hot
company for talented people.”

The functional and emotional benefits are used for “positioning,” which means defining the
unique combination of attributes that define the product (or employer). XYZ Co.’s positioning
says that it has a winning culture combined with strong tangible rewards, which in combination
with other attributes creates a unique identity. XYZ’s competitors will have different cultures,
locations, compensation packages, and so on.

Branding includes deliberate messages about the company. For example, PepsiCo, which employs
153,000 employees worldwide, promotes the tag line “PepsiCo—Taste the Success!” to candidates
to convey the excitement of working at this global company. On its corporate recruiting Web site,
PepsiCo says its workplace experience is a combination of “Powerful Brands, Passion for Growth,
Culture of Shared Principles, Commitment to Results, Ability to Make an Impact and Quality
People.” Employees absorbed those qualities in ones behavior.

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Candidates form powerful impressions of employers based on what one sees and hear. “I work for
PepsiCo” means something different from “I work for Microsoft,” “I work for Fox News,” and “I
work for the city council.” The employer brands at these organizations are crafted to attract certain
kinds of temperament, and values in candidates. Their positioning is unique and distinctive.

Every organization big or small has an employer brand whether they know it or not. It touches all
moments of the candidate and employee experience, from the first time a candidate hears the name
until the day he or she retires from the company. It’s the reputation outside and inside the
organization. It’s there for the organization to neglect or manage. And it’s the cornerstone of
finding, hiring, and holding keepers up and down the organization. In other words, it’s
fundamental to the all stages of the Engagement Cycle.

The idea of an employer brand has gained currency in the last few years among business leaders,
but the average manager doesn’t have a developed view of what it is and its importance to the
organization. The Economist magazine found that executives defined an employer brand as the
expression of a company’s distinctive employment experience. More than 70 percent of
respondents in the United States and United Kingdom expected that developing a strong employer
brand leads to employees recommending organization to others as an attractive place to work, and
also to higher employee retention

The employer brand is an authentic description of an experience, similar to a consumer brand. It

includes pay, working conditions, culture, job title, intangible rewards, and the emotional
connection employees have with the organization and manager. It tells candidates who you are,
what you want, and what you stand for. As a marketer attracts customers with a compelling
product brand, a company attracts candidates with a compelling employer brand.

Think an employer brand is more than a one-way description of “what it’s like to work there.” It’s
a multidimensional conversation among the company’s leadership, its employees, and candidates
in the marketplace, alumni, and even outsiders such as the press, bloggers, and anyone else who
has an opinion. The employer brand includes:

The Company’s professional reputation

• A description of company culture.

• News reports about the company, both good and bad.
• Word-of-mouth statements about the company.
• A description of the company’s future.
• How the employer’s brand compares to the competition.

Beyond conversation, it’s also a set of subjective candidate experiences, such as

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 • Applying for a job on your Web site or via e-mail.
• Interviewing for a position.
• Talking to employees and walking through the workplace sites.
• Using products, services, or customer help.
• The company’s impact in the candidate’s community.

What emerges in the candidate’s imagination is a fuller story than any recruiting slogan can
capture: it’s an experience. Candidates pay attention to an organization’s reputation and compare
it to other reputations. Employees are asked what it’s like to work there. In the quest for quality,
employer branding is the foundation of attracting the right people. This is where the thought is
given to the new candidate comes together with the urgent need to bring great talent into the
organization. The new candidate, as noted, is empowered to compare the organization to others,
and start with the employer brand.

Brand matters for beginners

In an employee-driven job market where companies vie with one another to offer the 'biggest and
the best' to the prospective candidate, employer branding has shot up in priority, sometimes even
surpassing critical factors such as compensation and job role.

2.2 Employer Branding is for Whom?

 Potential employees – to persuade more and better applicants to apply and accept offers
 Current employees – to reduce turnover, increase employee motivation, a sense of
belonging and align behaviour to the organisation’s needs
 Consistency of messages across both groups is vital as the organisation has to deliver what
it promises
 Projecting an unrealistic image may improve recruitment but can increase attrition

2.3 Why Employer Branding important for HR?

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In Research Insight Employer branding: fad or the future of HR? Dr Shirley Jenner and Stephen
Taylor of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School suggest there are four main
reasons why the concept of employer branding has become prominent in recent years. They
identify these as:

• Brand power
• HR’s search for credibility
• Employee engagement
• Prevailing labour market conditions.

Jenner and Taylor explain their importance in the following extracts from the Research Insight.

I. Brand power

The past 20 years have seen the rise of the brand as a central concept in organizational and social
life. Branding underpins a growing, influential and profitable reputation management, PR,
consultancy and recruitment advertising industry. The past decade has seen unprecedented growth
in the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for investors, employees and other
stakeholders.

II. HR’s search for credibility

HR professionals continue in the search for credibility and strategic influence. Embracing the
language and conceptual tools of brand power seems an obvious choice. This direction reflects
continuity with earlier iterations of HR, for example with organizational development and culture
change.

III. Employee engagement

Recent years have seen an increased interest in promoting employee engagement. This includes
attempts to recruit, socialize and retain a committed workforce. From a branding perspective, the
recruitment proposition forms the basis for workplace satisfaction and identification with
organizational goals and values.

IV. Labour market conditions

The final driver identified by Jenner and Taylor was prevailing labour market conditions. At the
time of writing (2007) they pointed out that for an extended period of time unemployment
remained low and skills shortages continued. Tight labour market conditions were combined with
a tough trading environment. Employers were thus obliged to compete more fiercely with one
another to recruit and retain effective staff, while also being severely constrained in the extent to

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which they could pay higher salaries in order to do so. A strong employer brand was being
promoted as the key to winning this ‘war for talent’ by establishing organizations’ unique selling
point in employment terms.

Since the time of writing, there has been a change in labour market conditions with the
economic downturn and rising unemployment. However, in uncertain economic times, employer
brand appears still appears to be a relevant concept as organisations seek to motivate and engage
existing employees and need to tempt candidates for key positions away from roles they perceive
as ‘safe’ in their current organisations. Businesses making employees redundant will need to
consider how they minimize damage to their reputation as an employer and consider the impact on
‘survivors’ still with the company.

2.4 How can organisations benefit from developing an employer

brand?
An employer brand can be used to help organisations compete effectively in the labour market and
drive employee loyalty through effective recruitment, engagement and retention practices.

All organisations 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 organisation.

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 organisation. For example, the brand can
inform how the business tackles:

• induction
• performance management and reward
• managing internal communications
• promoting effective management behaviors
• exist from the organisation.

To deliver benefits, it is important that the employer brand is not merely rhetoric espousing the
organisation’s values, but is reflective of the actual experience of employees. As our Guide on
employer branding points out ‘People who like the job they do and the place they work become
advocates for it’.

The potential that can be unlocked from this advocacy is evident from findings from our research
report working life: employee attitudes and engagement 2006. The survey on which the report was

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based reveals that half of respondents would encourage friends and family to do business with
their organisation and just over half would recommend it as a place to work, with only 19%
prepared to do so without being asked.

An employer brand approach involves research with employees to understand their attitudes and
behaviour, for example, through a staff attitude survey. This employee insight data can inform
metrics on ‘people performance’ in the organization, providing an opportunity to demonstrate
links to organization performance.

Brand Strength

2.5 The Psychological Contract

The ability of the business to add value rests on its front-line employees, or 'human capital'.
Organizations that wish to succeed have to get the most out of this resource. In order to do this,
employers have to know what employees expect from the work. The psychological contract offers
a framework for monitoring employee attitudes and priorities on those dimensions that can be
shown to influence performance. The employer brand can be seen as an attempt by the employer
to define the psychological contract with employees so as to help in recruiting and retaining talent.

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2.6 Employer branding as the" Right Fit" model
Effective employer branding also helps in hiring, retaining the right stuff. Considering that 85% of
job changes are attributed to organizational incompatibility, and one quickly recognizes employer
branding as a critical factor in effective recruitment, says Donald DeCamp, COO of Comp Health
Group, a health-care staffing firm. "Employer branding goes beyond a company's reputation," says
Kurt Mosley, vice president of business development says that." Becoming an employer of choice
and increasing retention rates means that an organization's branding message truly aligns with the
reality that exists for its workers because loyalty is no longer the dominant paradigm of the
employer/employee relationship, attracting and retaining talent relies much more on being able to
fulfill a different promise, and that promise varies from organization to organization, depending on
its culture, mission and ability to achieve its goals.

2.6.1 Knowing Employees expectation: - The foundation for employer branding

When properly planned and executed, an employer branding initiative can generate lively dialogue
between an employer and its employees, build a rationale for a 'mutual working arrangement', and
establish compelling reasons to commit to the arrangement. Whatever is a corporate or an
employer an employee expects the following from employer

1) Fair treatment
2) Trustful and open channeled communication
3) Ability to provide security and benefits in present and future
4) Planned and systematic career and succession planning
5) Motivating and morale building team and management
6) Smooth Disciplinary procedure and I.R
7) Employee benefit oriented culture and practices
8) Adequate talent acquisition , management, retention and utilization
9) Proper advancement and up gradation of employees
10) Participatory management
11) Industrial democracy
12) Clarity in roles and goals
13) Clearly defined authority responsibility charting
14) Timely decision making
15) Impartial , fair and growth promoting organization structure

2.6.2 Creating the Right Mix: Defining the Employment package

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The Employment Package includes those that often "close the deal" for the

Prospective employee, such as financial compensation, work/life balance, the Employee's role in
organization and professional development. Every organization as per its need , workforce , level
of competition and forecasted demand or business plan should match its expectation –
Requirement matrix in such a way so that it becomes easier for both employer and employee to
create a perfect brand name resulting in satisfaction. It includes the following –

1) Focus on Culture and Environment: - It includes items such as the physical working
environment, the size of the organization, and the organization's approach to work.

2) Brand Image and Reputation: - It helps in establishing integrity.. The consequence of a lack
of integrity is the employee does not stay with the organization for long, contributing to the
organization's well being. To attract people to something you cannot deliver is a waste of your
time and money.

3) Management Performance: - It is a vital part in the Employer Branding process. Senior

management must be committed and involved in recruitment or the Employer Branding process or
it will be a failure.

4) A combination of Functional, psychological, and Economic benefits which a new entrant

expects. Thus by creating a need based employment package an organization is benefited in two-
way.

5) It also helps in Attracting and recruiting "the right" candidates

attending to shortages within the organization
Advancing retention rates and reduce turnover
Amplifying employee engagement, commitment, and performance

2.7 Employer Branding Process

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The employment brand architecture as suggested by Ryan Estis the chief talent strategist for NAS
Recruitment Communications, an agency of the McCann World Group for becoming an employer
of choice includes the following steps -

1) Understand your business objectives

2) Identify your talent needs.
3) Determine the employment brand attributes.
4) Look for synergy with the corporate brand.
5) Develop a communications plan.
6) Develop the messaging and creative content.
7) Establish metrics.
8) Execute and evaluate.

Taking these as the basic objectives and criterion the process of Employer branding can be
summarized as following –

Step 1 CONCEPT PHASE

360 degree employer brand audit to determine the strength of your current employer brand and to
determine its level of synergy with your corporate brand and business objectives.

Step 2 DESIGN PHASE

The Design Phase is the process to formulate your employer brand strategy. It includes -
(i) Defining your Employer Value Propositions (EVP's)

(ii) Defining your EBI

The EBI is made up of two components – the Employer Brand Employee Platform which includes

* Recruitment & induction

* Compensation and benefits
* Career development
* Employee research
* Reward and recognition
* Communication systems
* Work environment

Employer Brand Strategic Platform

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* Your firm's mission, vision & values
* Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
* Leadership
* Corporate reputation and culture
* People management policies and practices
* Performance management
* Innovation

iii) The Corporate brand- the employer branding process and procedures should be aimed
towards corporate branding so that betterment could be created not only among internal customers
but also among external customers and all stakeholders.

iv) Market forces - Employer branding process and techniques should be aimed towards building
a positive image of the organization in external and internal environment equally.

STEP 3 - INTEGRATION PHASE

These may include:

* Career website
* Company intranet
* Careers fair brochures
* Company newsletters
* Policy and procedures templates
* Recruitment advertising
* Sponsorship

STEP 4 - EVALUATION PHASE

The Evaluation Phase involves measuring the impact of the Employer Brand program

Above all the success of any employer brand program depends on the efficiency with which the
need, situation for designing, implementing and monitoring an employer brand program has been
made. Not only a good understanding between the need, process, and inputs are required but the
full utility comes when full workforce is benefited by it.

2.8 Implementing Employer Branding Concept in Organization

Following steps help in fruitful implementation of employer branding process

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  Set measurable and attainable target for employer branding which should be
development oriented.
 Hire professional services if needed for better and result oriented activities
 Identify the needs of employees and design program as per the requirements.
 Undergo survey either attitudinal for gathering information of employees satisfaction and
Needs.

 Design a full proof need based support oriented and growth focused strategy which will
Help both employee and employer for development and promotion.

 Validate the strategy with key constituencies.

2.9 Supportive factors in employer branding

 Active employee involvement.

 Clear understanding of what employees of choice want in an employer.
 A clear, honest, ongoing feedback loop with employees that will enable to continuously
Gather information about organizational strengths and weaknesses.

 A clear understanding of what needs to be address well, and what ones don't.
 A list of organizational practices and policies that weaken employer brand and
Those that strengthen it.

 A list of moment of truth experiences that help shape employees' overall work
Experience and a clear picture of how well it’s done in each area.

2.10 HR Challenges
The biggest challenge in employer branding is ownership. As it is often not clear who should
sponsor it, the responsibility can fall down the middle between marketing, corporate
communications, and HR. "To succeed, it needs an integrated process linking all departments and
with endorsement from the highest level within the organization," explains Minchington.

"The biggest obstacles HR often faces when trying to implement changes include clarity,
resources and capability. Employer brand projects can be very complex, and more so if a
company has a globally dispersed workforce that operates across diverse cultures. Having the
appropriate resources - including both personnel and funding available - is going to require a

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greater understanding at Board and shareholder level for companies to accept that the labour
market is only going to get tougher, and that an increased level of investment must be allocated
towards employer branding initiatives," Minchington says.

It is also noted that HR often plays a key role in helping frame the employer brand - via
developing the EVP- it sometimes falls short in terms of publicizing the employer brand.

Hence we need to make sure our HR programs are actually supporting the employer brand, but we
also need some PR to get the message out. Our website, brochures, and advertising program must
reinforce the message. For example, on our website, we could have employees talking about what
it means to work in the organization: Is it a fun place to work? Are there opportunities for
advancement?"

HR department must be consistent in its approach and continuously remind employees to keep the
company's culture and values alive, "through activities, training, our newsletters, or simple e-
mail."

Hence HR must also lead by setting a good example.

2.11 Benefits of Employer Branding

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The major benefits of employer branding include

• Increased Productivity and Profitability.

• Increased Employee Retention.
• Highly ranked for Employer Attractiveness.
• Increased level of staff engagement.
• Lower Recruitment Costs.
• Minimized loss of talented employees.
• Employees recommending organization as a “preferred “place to work.
• Maintenance of core competencies.
• Employees committed to organizational goals.
• Shorter Recruitment time.
• Ensured long term competitiveness.
• Improved employee relations.
• Decreased time from hire to productivity.

2.12 Employer Branding – A New HR Arena

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This is a market oriented era. If a company has a good brand value in market, it will get good
response if not; it’s very difficult to convince people. From an HR point of view branding is very
important. If the organization has a good brand image in the market, it will help in getting right
workforce at right time and at the same time will have a control over the employee cost. An
organization with no brand name has to shell out lots of money to attract and retain the right
candidate. Branding can be done in two ways: (1) External Branding and (2) Internal
Branding. Lots of factors may influence the branding strategy of an organization,

2.12.1 Branding Strategy

A) Nature of Business – Branding should be based on the nature of business. Like if

An IT company goes for a fashion show; it may not yield the same results as it would have got by
going to IT Fair or something similar. A real estate company may go for some road show on
property market.

B) Nature of Market – It is always recommended to gauge the market before going

For any project which involves market risk like if one is targeting to explore a financial market or
banking and at the same time it is marred by some other factors like Inflation, one need to design
your strategy which could help a company in overcoming the negative trend.

C) Reception Target – It’s always good to define the reception target or the audiences. If a
company is planning to sell Villas and targeting the middle class, probability is very high that one
will end up spending time and resources in wrong direction.

D) Budget Flexibility – Budget always plays an important role in deciding the strategies. If
budget does not allow to spend a lot, it’s always recommended to partner in any event where other
participants are not of field and it has got at least one participant who has got a good market value
so that one can attract the crowd.

E) Long Term Mission of Organization – Also the long term as well as short term goals of the
organization should be kept in mind. If the organization does not have any long term goals in the
target market or location, it’s always recommendable not to go for branding or it is very much
required go for a small, low budgeted branding event.

F) Organizational Structure – Organizational structure is also very vital part for deciding any
strategy. Organizational structure is the strength of any organization and any event or branding can
be done based on that.

2.12.2 External Branding

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External branding refers to branding which is done by using external sources and which may (or
may not) require some investment in monetary or other forms. The different means of doing
external branding area as follows;

(a) Use of Job Sites – As HR the first thing which comes to the mind is recruitment,

So Job sites also offer good branding opportunities through different means like Pop ups, pop INS
etc. It’s always better to go for pop INS as most of web browsers come with pop-up blockers.

(b) Banners – Banners are also a good mean for branding. Banners can be of both types’ means
Online Banner and Street banners. By Online banner, an organization name will be flashed on
different web pages as per choice and price. Street banners are good for bigger requirements.

(c) Road Shows – Road shows are also an important mean for creating brand awareness. One can
organize talks, presentations, seminars etc. for attracting people towards ones organization.

(d) Corporate Social Responsibility – Corporate social responsibility refers to corporate getting
associated with society for some noble cause. The association can be in any mode either getting
associated with a Charitable Trust or a NGO or some other public venture. Corporate can align
and attach with any of these and share the stage. Always keep in mind that chooses as per
organization status.

(e) Public Events – Public events are one of the major ways of creating a brand image. An
organization can participate in any of the public event and assuring that it does not get disappeared
in the crowd of many brands or big names.

(f) Newspapers – Branding can be done through newspapers as well. If one targets the local
public, and go for advertisements considering the individual day circulation, target readers, rapport
of newspaper, type of newspaper etc. Targets can also be to employ people for workforce
requirement, one can place job Ads which may seem expensive at the first glance but in terms of
attracting the correct workforce, it can do magic.

(g) Email – For mail ids related to job portals, one can create an auto reply which can contain
brief description of the key aspects of candidate’s and public interest and at the same time
introducing company to the public. It should be informative as well as crispy so that the audience
reads it and just does not do Shift Delete.

(h) Tagline – Create a nice, attractive tagline or a punch line for ones brand and give it a
significant visibility in all branding efforts. The tag line should be in accordance with your
organization values, goals, work etc. so that it reflects an overall image of the brand everywhere.

(i) Align with celebrity – Aligning with a celebrity is also a good way of creating a brand image.
But this may cost big bucks and ultimately increasing cost dramatically. This is an expensive
method of branding.

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2.12.3 Internal Branding
Internal Branding is comparatively a cheaper way of branding. An organization can use it for
internal organizational staff for this purpose.

(a) Front Office – Always pay attention to front office because first impression is last impression.
It should be kept neat and clean with a pleasant receptionist who always maintains freshness and
welcomes the guests with courtesy.

(b) Stays Interview - HR can always conduct stay interviews in which they can interact with the
employee and ask them regarding their career prospects, there alignment with the company, there
feedback regarding their concerned departments, etc. These feedbacks can be analyzed and used
for different purposes by which one can create an internal brand image of the company.

(c) Exit Interview – An exit always carries a fair chance of initiating the chain reaction among the
employees so always be very careful in analyzing the exiting reasons so that organization can
overcome the justified ones in the future.

(d) Employee Satisfaction – Employee satisfaction is always very important for any organization
to grow. A satisfied employee is a productive employee. If an employee is satisfied, one can relax
because it will create a good and positive rapport for the company in the market outside.

(e) Policy Information – Always design policies very strategically. A policy should be designed
in such a way that it holds good even after a long period of time. A frequent internal policy change
sends a message to the outer world that the company is not consistent and knowledgeable and
reliable.

(f) Customer Orientation – Customers are always the most important factors. Always keep
workforce motivated towards delivery of customer oriented services. Customers can be of either
type, internal or external.

(g) Employee Participation – Always try to ensure the maximum participation from the
employee side, either in terms of internal events participation or external events.

(h) Trained Employees – Always ensure proper training of employees before they are engaged in
work. The training should be in all the aspects like policies, vision, mission, organization. This
will project a good picture of organization on the new employee. These are few to count with but
based on the requirement and strategy, the list may increase or shorten.

2.13 The Employer Brand and its Components

In a report from the Corporate Leadership Council, the components of an Employer Brand

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are surveyed, as well as the connection between a company’s ‘Product Brand’ and ‘Employer
Brand’.

The Product and Employer Brands

Companies Manage Two
Corporations manage two interrelated brands – a product or company brand in the product
market, and an employment brand in the labour market. The product and employment brands
are related and mutually supportive. A strong product brand can play an important role in the
strength of the employment brand. The employment brand, in turn, is instrumental in attracting
and retaining employees who can add value to the company and its products – thus
reinforcing the product brand. (Corporate Leadership Council, 1999)

The strength of a company’s product brand plays a role in the strength of its
employment brand. For a distinctive few, it may actually “carry” the employment brand. For
the remaining companies the strength of the product brand must be seen viewed as one of
the many elements contributing to employment brand strength. (Corporate Leadership
Council, 1999)

Product and Employment Brands Are Mutually Reinforcing

The strength of a company’s

brand in the product market can
play an important role in
23
determining the company’s
employment brand.
 Product Brand and Its Employment Brand and Its
Components Components
Quality & Compensati
Performan on &

Produc Product/Co
Value Work
t mpany
& Price Environm
Brand
feature ent
Strength
Image Innovati Company Work
& on & Culture life
Design

quality and customer service
To product development,
talent is important
and retaining appropriate
brand its image; attracting
supporting the product
role in building and
Employees play a critical
EMPLOYEES
potential employees
with current and
strength of the brand
the cost of turnover. contributes to the
helps to retain talent, reducing components; each
company’s products; it also brand has multiple
to build and support the the employment
the type of employees necessary Much like a product,
The employment brand attracts

Figure 9: The connection between a company’s ’Product Brand’ and ’Employer Brand’
2.14 The Employment Offer – Employment Value Proposition
The Corporate Leadership Council is in their report from 1999 talking about the
‘Employment offer’ as a “Signal of value to the labour market”. At the heart of a strong
Employment Brand i s a c o m p e l l i n g e m p l o y m e n t o f f e r – o r e m p l o y m e n t v a l u e
proposition. Beyond the opportunity to work for at company with a leading product or
company brand, these offers are composed of selected levels of compensation and benefits,

24
work environment, work-life balance and company culture. Over time, the ability of a firm to
deliver on its employees will from the foundation of its employment brand image – just as a
firm’s ability to deliver on its product offering contributes to the reputation of its brand.

“The offers a firm makes to the labour market…”

Job Offer Components/ Dimensions

Company Culture Product/Company Compensation and

Work-Life Balance and Environment Brand Strength Benefits Work Environment

• Business Travel • Senior Team Quality •
• Location • Development
• Flex time Reputation
• Childcare • Technology Level
• Work Hours • Risk Taking
• Vacation Environment
• Telecommunication • Company “Fit”
• Company Size
Reputation (Appeal • Salary (Base pay) • Manager Quality
of Company’s • External Equity (Pay • Co-worker Quality
Product or Service) to market) • Recognition
• Internal Equity • Empowerment
• Bonus • Work Challenge
• Stock Options • Cutting-Edge Work
• Retirement • International
Contributions Mobility
• Health Benefits • Role Clarity
• Project
Responsibility

Industry-Leading
Large, established product line
firm with sew senior High base pay &
executive team Stock Option
Long hours
with frequent Compensation Cutting-edge,
business travel & benefits challenge work

Product/Com Work
pany Brand Environment
Strength
Work life
Company Balance
Culture The firm’s employment
Brand is ultimately based
on its actual employment
Components of the Employer offer (over a broad range
of employment offer
components) and its
ability to deliver on its
promises
LIVE EXAMPLES

25
Name of the Company: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India
Name of the Person: Mr. S Padmanabhan
Designation: Exe. Vice President (Head Global HR)

Q. Do you think that Employer branding is a fad or something that is very necessary?

Employer Branding has been in existence for a long time. It is not a phenomenon peculiar to the
IT Industry and in today’s context; it can be an important differentiator to project the uniqueness
of the organization.

Q. What is the main area of focus of the TCS Employer Brand?

Our first milestone is to be among the Top 10 IT companies globally by 2010. All our energies are
invested in this direction. The TCS brand as an employer embodies the tremendous opportunities
TCS offers to a young professional. These include world class training, right from the initial years
as well as an opportunity to work across technology platforms, domains and geographies. We
offer careers in more than 5 streams, our reward and recognition program is a unique mix of
monetary and non monetary benefits and we continuously engage with our employees beyond the
work space with initiatives like MAITREE, to create professionals with a global mindset. These
are messages that are conveyed through the brand.

Q. How does the TCS Employer Brand connect to this vision?

With the vision of being among the global top 10 by 2010 as the backdrop, TCS is focused on
creating a global organization that is multi-cultural and diverse. A company, which operates in an
enriched and inclusive atmosphere of collaboration and excellence. This higher brand awareness is
attracting talented people to the company, which is increasingly being recognized as the preferred
employer in key world markets.

26
We have a consistent branding message that gets communicated across the organization, across
the geographies. We are a global company with global customers, by an increasingly global
workforce. Over 6 percent of our company’s employees are non-Indian.

Q. Tell us about the branding exercise at TCS?

At TCS the branding exercise is well connected with a two pronged approach based on our
Employer Brand and leverages the same with our internal processes.

Externally we ensure that the TCS Employer Brand is consistently communicated in all our
external interactions. Some of them include our campus presentation, recruitment advertisements,
client presentations, and we were the first organization to embark upon an IT quiz concept for
schools across the nation for students of 8 to 12 standard. We chose Quiz as medium to enhance
the IT awareness and provide a window to the world of IT. The event has also helped us in brand
building and besides extending “IT for Schools”.

Q. What are some things that you do in your internal processes to drive this message?

Our internal portal Ultimatix is the ‘central nervous system’ op TCS. The portal combines several
different applications based on different platforms and is TCS’ ERP, knowledge portal,
management information system, CRM, Employee self service system, and much more, all role in
to one! Over and above Ultimatix also serves as an in-house communication tool, delivering daily
news and information updates to TCSers on a real-time basis. Ultimatix is a very important
vehicle for branding internally. It carries all the important news and updates on the happenings in
the organization globally.

Our HR policies focus on diversity, workplace harmony, work life balance, competency building
and flexibility. Some of the HR activities for Employer Branding include sustained employee
engagement, rewards and recognition (Best White Paper Awards, Star of the Month, Creative
Workspace Awards, Best Project Awards, Best Faculty Awards, and Best Auditor Award etc.)
We also offer our employees flexibility of choice of career streams, encouraging a diverse
experience through rotations across streams.

Q. What makes TCS different from other IT/ITES Employer Brand?

27
The TCS brand is a much sought after brand among potential employees. Our learning and
development capabilities, number and variety of internal opportunities especially in international
environments, a growing world-wide presence where we compete with global IT companies in all
markets for large engagements are some of the attractions for professionals. Also ongoing
engagement in the work and life space enables employees to have long term careers with us which
are evident by our lowest attrition rate which is below 10 percent.

Name of the Company: Google, India

Name of the Person: Mr. Mr. Manoj Varghese
Designation: Director for Human Resources

Q. What does your Employer Brand mean to employees and potential hires?

Google's mission is to deliver the best search experience by making the world's information
accessible and useful. We are all about customer experience, engineering excellence, innovation
and freedom to work on projects that impact millions and millions of people. All that we do is to
connect people and information. Hence we invest in creating compelling products that meet these
needs. Our employer brand hence, means customer experience, access to information, innovation,
engineering/customer service excellence and freedom to our employees and potential hires.

Q. How does your organization approach Employer Branding? What kind of brand building
initiatives does your organization plan to sustain your Employer Brand?

Our employment brand is an extension of our corporate brand. Google's ultimate goal is to be the
Gateway to the Internet for people all over the world no matter where they are located, what
language they speak or how they access the Internet (beyond a personal computer and a browser
to hand-held devices as well).
We work very closely with academic institutions, encourage interns, sponsor and conduct coding

28
contests, conduct technical talks, sponsor research in specific areas and support activities that
encourage creativity, innovation and encourage engineering excellence.

Examples of some of the brand building activities will be

 India Code Jam that we conducted in 2005 and 2006, which is a technical coding contest.
 Essay Writing Competitions, as for our Ad Words process in Hyderabad we look for
superior English writing skills
Q. What is the role of HR in sustaining an Employer Brand in your organization?

Employer Brand cannot be different from what the employee experiences are inside Google. The
culture, the unique work environment that we have, has been put in place by Larry Page and
Sergey Bring right from the day they started the company and is practiced and evangelized by our
executives. HR's role is to align and nurture HR systems like staffing, induction, performance
management, learning and development, rewards and recognition to be consistent with the brand.

Q. How do you assess the effectiveness and ROI of your Employer Brand?

Continuing to attract the best talent, have world class retention rates, continued innovation and
new products will be measures at a high level that we use to assess the effectiveness and ROI of
our Employer Brand. Other indications could be the fact that Google is consistently rated as one
of the most preferred employer in premier campuses both engineering and non-engineering fields.

Q. Do you foresee Employer branding to be important in the future with the increase in
attrition and the war for talent heating up? Or is it just a fad that will die quickly?

In the crowded market place, where demand-supply gap for employable talent is growing every
day, Employer Branding is going to assume greater importance in the years to come in India. The
best candidate has a number of choices available to them and the employer needs to differentiate
themselves with a great Employer Brand. Organizations that build effective Employer Brands will
be able to identify the key sources of talent and the key competencies required in talent that they
seek. It is important not only to build a great Employer Brand for attracting people, but for
retaining the best talent as well. The sum of experiences that an employee has, or a candidate has
defines the Employer Brand rather than any slogan or advertisement.

A survey by Personnel Today reveals that HR believes branding is vital if an

organization is to recruit the best candidates.

29
In the war for talent, HR professionals are not being equipped with one of the most important
weapons in the recruitment armoury – employer branding.
An exclusive survey of 1,889 Personnel Today readers with responsibility for recruitment reveals
that 95% of respondents believe employer branding is ‘important’ (Fig. A), with 80% saying that
it will become even more so (Fig. B). And yet only 25% of those surveyed have responsibility for
employer branding (Fig. C).

Many senior HR professionals said they were trying to make their organization an ‘employer of
choice’ in the face of low unemployment and skills shortages.
One said: “There is so much competition for good candidates, those with a good employer brand
will be able to pick and choose from the best candidates.” And another added: “People are

30
becoming more inclined to look for roles where the organization’s values are aligned with their
own.”
Recruitment remains the preserve of the HR department. Indeed, the number of people in HR with
responsibility for recruiting is increasing (Fig. D).

The proportion of jobs being filled by both internal and external recruitment advertising is on the
decline, while recruitment consultancies are filling a greater share of the vacancies (Fig. E). But
the biggest change to the recruitment landscape has been the development of the internet.
Three-quarters of respondents agree that it has changed the way their organisations approach
recruitment (Fig. F).

But while much of this can be attributed to the growth of online media and jobs boards, survey
respondents claim that the fastest growing medium over the next two years will be their

31
companies’ own websites.
Seventy-six per cent plan to use their company websites more for recruitment purposes. Local and
national newspapers will be the losers, with 23% and 37% (respectively) of respondents planning
to use them less for job ads.
One respondent summed up the general mood: “I intend to get our website working efficiently to
attract candidates without agency or advertising fees attached.”
Despite respondents’ clear interest in the cost of recruitment; only 6% said their companies had a
cost-per-hire target. The average cost-per-hire is measured, however, and stands at £2,773 (£3,175
among organisations with more than 10,000 employees).
That investment will be channeled into a number of areas, but principally it will go to employee
retention schemes, followed by developing in-house recruitment websites and improving
employer branding (Fig. H).

5th EMPLOYER BRANDING AWARDS

32
( 12th February, 2011 - Taj Lands End, Mumbai )

By - Employer Branding Institute, India

Top 10 Best Employers in India (2010-2011)

1. HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.

2. STANDARD CHARTERED BANK

3. AIRCEL LTD.

4. STERIA (INDIA) LTD.

5. YES BANK LTD.

6. RELIANCE CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD

7. GROUPM MEDIA INDIA PVT. LTD.

8. ICICI LOMBARD GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD.

9. TATA MOTORS LTD.

10. LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.

33
 CHAPTER –3
PROBLEM
IDENTIFICATION

3.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

34
Primary –

 To study the role of Employer branding as an HR tool at various

organizations .

Secondary –

 To investigate the effect of Employer’s Brand on attracting employees towards its

organization.
 To know how Employer Branding helps in Retention of employees in an
organization.
 To explore different factors that contribute in making an organization’s Employer
Brand.

3.2 RESEARCH PROBLEMS

35
Research Questions

There are questions arise based from the research issues

1) Do organization brand associations affect the image of the firm as an employer?

2) Does organization brand present information that contributes to formation of a

psychological contract between the employer and the employee?

3) Does employer branding reinforce and change organizational culture?

4) Does organization brand association mediate the relationship between organizational

identity and employer attraction?

5) Does organization brand loyalty mediate the relationship between organizational identity

and employee satisfaction and employee productivity?

36
 CHAPTER –4
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

METHODOLOGY ADOPTED
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. In it we study the
various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along
with logic behind them.

37
4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
The type of research carried out for this project is DESCRIPTIVE.

Descriptive studies are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual or
group. They are undertaken in many circumstances. There is a general feeling that descriptive
studies are factual and very simple and this is not necessarily true. Descriptive study can be
complex, demanding a high degree of scientific skill on the part of the researcher.

4.2 SAMPLING DESIGN

Sampling design may be designed as “the selection of some part of an aggregate or totality on the
basis of which a judgment or inference about the aggregate or totality is made”. It is clearly define
the set of objects, technically called the universe to be studied.

 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE - convenient sampling

 SAMPLE SIZE - 60
 AREA OF STUDY - Employees from various Private Banks operating in our Area i.e.
Bhilai, C.G.)

4.3 DATA COLLECTION

 DATA SOURCES

• Primary data
• Secondary data

This research mainly focuses on primary data

 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

The primary data needed for the study has been collected with the help of questionnaire.
The questions are closed ended.

Research Problem for the present study –

What is the impact of Employer Brand in improving the attraction, retention and
productivity of the employees which in turn improve the productivity of the organization?

38
 4.4 HYPOTHESIS SET:

1) Null Hypothesis (H0):

There is no significant association of Employer Brand image with Employee’s satisfaction

Alternate Hypothesis (H1):

There is a significant association of Employer Brand image with Employee’s satisfaction

2) Null Hypothesis (H0):

There is no significant difference between factors available to make Employer Brand at

different organisation

Alternate Hypothesis (H1):

There is a significant difference between factors available to make Employer Brand at

different organisation

3) Null Hypothesis (H0):

There is no significant effect of Employer Brand on Employee Retention

Alternate Hypothesis (H1):

There is no significant effect of Employer Brand on Employee Retention

39
 CHAPTER – 5
ANALYSIS, RESULTS &
DISCUSSION

DATA TABULATION & ANALYSIS

Q1. Are you satisfied working with your organization?

40
 No. of
Response
Respondents
YES 42
NO 18

INTERPRETATION

The data was obtained from the 60 respondents, and after analyzing the
responses from the respondents, the result showed 70% Employees are satisfied, and
30% Employees are unsatisfied with working in their existing organization.

Q2. Does satisfaction of working employees attract potential

employees toward an organization?

Response No. of

41
 Respondents
YES 50
NO 10

INTERPRETATION

From the above data it is clearly mentioned that the maximum of the
respondents think that satisfaction of existing employee attracts potential employees
towards an organization.

Q3. Is your organization aware of factors attracts to the potential

employees?

42
 No. of
Response
Respondents
YES 38
NO 22

INTERPRETATION

From the above data it is clearly inferred that the 63% of the total respondents
says that their organization is aware about the factors that leads to attraction of
potential employees towards them.

Q4. What are factor which attract most potential employees towards
your organization?
Factors Respondents

Compensation & Benefits 14

43
 Career Growth &
Development 20

Company Culture 16

Comfortable Work
Environment 10

Comfortable Work
18%
Environment
Factor that
Company Culture 22%
contribute to
Career Growth &
Development 33% make its
Compensation &
27%
Employer
Benefits
Brand
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

From the above data it is inferred that Career growth & Development in an
organization is the factor that contributes the most to make Employer Brand of that
organization followed by Compensation and others.

Q5. Does the Employer branding retains the employee in an

organization?

Particulars Respondents
Strongly Disagree 0

44
 Somewhat Disagree 2
Can’t say 14
Somewhat Agree 24
Strongly Agree 20

From the above data it can be observed that maximum of the respondents
either fully or partially admits that Employer Brand affects the Retention of
employees in an organization, thus reducing the turnover.

Q6. How would you rate your organization’s pay & benefits?

Particulars Respondents
Poor 6

45
 Satisfactory 12
Good 28
Very good 14

INTERPRETATION

From the above data it is clearly inferred that most of the total respondents are
almost satisfied with the pay & benefits they are getting in their organizations.

Q7. What employer brand image Organization has among potential

employees?

Particulars Respondents
Poor 4

46
 Satisfactory 16
Good 30
Very good 10

INTERPRETATION

From the above data it is clearly inferred that most of the total respondents
say that their organizations has a good Employer Brand.

Q8. Based on your overall satisfaction rate and your organization’s

image, how would you rate your stay?

Particulars Respondents
Poor 2

47
 Satisfactory 10
Good 36
Very good 12

INTERPRETATION-

From the above data it is clearly inferred that most of the total respondents are
having good experience of their stay in their organizations.

CHI SQUARE TEST

1) Association of Employee Satisfaction with Employer Branding

Null Hypothesis (H0):

There is no significant association of Employer Brand image with

Employee’s satisfaction

48
Alternate Hypothesis (H1):

There is significant association of Employer Brand image with Employee’s

satisfaction

Table showing Observed frequency for applying the test

Organization Organization
Attract do not Attract
Total
Potential Potential
employees employees
Satisfied
36 6 42
Employees
Unsatisfied
14 4 18
Employees
Total 50 10 60

Table of Calculation

Observe Expected Oi -Ei

d Frequenc
Frequen
y(Ei)
cy (Oi)
36 35 1 0.0285

49
 14 15 -1 0.0667
6 7 -1 0.1428
4 3 1 0.3339
60 60 0 Total = 0.5714

 Calculated Value, χ2 = 0.5714,

 Degree Of Freedom, d.o.f = 1

 Tabulated Value, χ2 = 0.455 (5% level)

Since, the calculated value i.e. 0.5714> the tabulated value i.e. 0.455

So, Null hypothesis is incorrect and Alternative hypothesis is accepted.

Hence, “There is significant association of Employer Brand image

with Employee’s satisfaction”

2) Different Organization considers different Factor for Employer

Branding.

Null Hypothesis (H0):

There is no significant difference between factors available to make Employer

Brand at different organisation

50
Alternate Hypothesis (H1):

There is a significant difference between factors available to make Employer

Brand at different organisation

Table showing Observed frequency for applying the test

Compensation Career Corporate Comfortable

TOTAL
& benefits growth culture work Envt.

YES 10 9 11 8 39

NO 4 11 5 2 21

TOTAL 14 20 16 10 60

Observed Expected
Frequency( Frequency( Oi -Ei
Oi) Ei)
10 9.1 0.9 0.089
9 13 -4 1.23

11 10.4 0.6 0.035

51
 8 13 -5 1.923

4 4.9 -0.9 0.165

11 7 4 2.286

5 5.6 0.6 0.064

2 3.5 -1.5 0.643

60 60 0 Total = 6.435

 Calculated Value, χ2 = 6.435

 Degree Of Freedom, d.o.f = 3

 Tabulated Value, χ2 = 2.366 (5% level)

Since, the calculated value i.e. 6.435 > the tabulated value i.e. 2.366

So, Null hypothesis is incorrect and Alternative hypothesis is accepted.

Hence, “There is a significant difference between factors available to

make Employer Brand at different organisation”

3) Effect of Employer Branding On retention of the employees at

an Organization

Null Hypothesis (H0):

52
 There is no significant effect of Employer Brand on Employee Retention

Alternate Hypothesis (H1):

There is a significant effect of Employer Brand on Employee Retention

Observed Expected
Options Frequency Oi -Ei
(Oi) Frequency(Ei)

Strongly
0 12 -12 12
agree
Moderately
2 12 -10 8.34
agree

Can’t Say 14 12 2 0.34

Moderately
24 12 12 12
Disagree
Strongly
20 12 8 3.2
Disagree

Total 60 60 0 35.88

 Calculated Value, χ2 = 35.88,

 Degree Of Freedom, d.o.f = 4

 Tabulated Value, χ2 = 9.488 (5% level)

53
Since, the calculated value i.e. 35.88> the tabulated value i.e. 9.488

So, Null hypothesis is incorrect and Alternative hypothesis is accepted.

Hence,
“There is a significant effect of Employer Brand on Employee
Retention”

54
 CHAPTER – 6
FINDINGS &
CONCLUSION

6.1 OBSERVATIONS & FINDINGS

 The employers are now highly aware of the importance of

55
 Employer branding, thus started working on it.

 Satisfaction of the employees in an organization is one of the biggest factors that an

employer brand of an organisation.

 There are various factors that contribute to the establishment of an Employer brand.

 The factor is different for different organisation.

 The organization’s brand association generates an attitude in the minds of the employees,

thus affect the image of the firm as an employer.

 The organization brands present information through its products & services offered to the

customers, this contributes to the formation of a psychological contract between the

employer and the employees.

 The organization’s brand association mediates the relationship between organizational

identity and employee’s attraction.

 The employers of choice have proven that well-developed employer brands help attract

and retain talent.

 A remarkable reputation, perception and image in the job market builds on both the

attractiveness in factors that are of fundamental importance to high performers as well as

elaborate efforts, which make this attractiveness visible in the job market.

 Thus employer branding plays a strategic role in the labour to attract potential and talented

employees.

56
 6.2 CONCLUSION

There is not only the need of creating a satisfaction in minds of employees, but also an urgent need
of creating this positivism in the minds of external customers and stakeholders. The created image
has to be monitored and sustained in such a way so that it will help in increasing profits as well as
would create belongingness, pride, self actualization and true commitment in true words and spirit.

The project says about the prevailing condition and to learn about the needs of employee and an
employer. The research shows the challenges faced by many organizations and the strategies
adopted. It was also observed that many organizations are still not very much aware of these
concepts, though are unknowingly working on employer branding because everyone wants
organization to be the best.

It will be comparatively easier to welcome the new world of employment brands. Employer
branding is a useful tool to help organisations differentiate what they have to offer in the labour
market, and recruit, retain and engage the people they need to succeed. Just as marketers seek to
understand their customers, HR people will benefit from gaining ‘employee insight’ through
methods such as employee attitude surveys and focus groups. This insight should inform the HR
strategy, influence how internal communications are handled and help in the design of effective
people management initiatives.

Employer branding presents HR people with an opportunity to learn from some of the techniques of
marketing and apply them to people management. New roles have started to emerge in some
organisations which draw on skill sets from both disciplines. It is important that HR works
collaboratively, for example with colleagues in marketing and in internal communications, to share
expertise and reap maximum benefits from developing an employer brand.

57
6.3 LIMITATIONS

Any research or study always has some limitations under which this has to be
undertaken. This one too was not an exception. These limitations are poised by the environment
some external and some inherent. This study has been conducted with utmost consideration to the
adequacy of data and quality of information, though as mention earlier the reliance on the sources
cannot be minimized to zero in context of precision. The limitation can be enlisted as here under:-

1. The perception level of the respondents.

2. Availability of documents as sources of secondary information.
3. Reliability of information collected from various public information sources such as
magazines and website.
4. Sometimes respondents were not willing to fill the questionnaire.
5. Sometimes the required persons were not available at their place.
6. Very often the respondents do not express their true feelings, in such case their habit,
preference, practice, cannot be assessed correctly.
7. Some of the respondents refuse to give the important information best known to them.

However in spite of these limitations all efforts have been put to make the report correct, genuine,
and fulfilling the objectives of the reports.

58
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:
1. Simon Barrow & Richard Mosley – The Employer Branding, John Willey & Sons Ltd., Pg
65-72
2. Kothari C. R. – Research methodology, New Age International Publishers 2nd revised
edition, year-2008, Chp – 1(Pg 1-20), Chp – 3(Pg 35-39), Chp - 4(Pg 58-61), Chp – 6(Pg
96-105), Chp – 11(Pg 256-264).
Websites:
1. http://www.employerbrand.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_branding
3. http://www.employerbrandscan.com/index.html
4. http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC669/fc669.html
5. http://www.scribd.com/doc/28902485/Employer-Branding-N-J
6. http://www.shrmindia.org/employer-brand-india-strategic-hr-tool
7. http://www.contentwriter.in/articles/hr/employer-branding.htm
8. http://www.contentwriter.in/articles/hr/employer-branding.htm
9. http://www.employerbrandingtoday.com/uk/2010/03/25/employer-branding-five-
reasons-why-it-matters-five-steps-to-action/
10. http://brandcoach.typepad.com/branddigest/2009/05/6-steps-to-an-employer-
brand-strategy.html
11. http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/10-employer-branding-
strategies-to-become-the-employer-of-choice/
12. http://resources.greatplacetowork.com/article/pdf/do_you_know_your_employer_
brand.pdf

Magazines:

1. Business today, vol 3, February -2009, page no.23

2. Marketing Mastermind by ICFAI, vol 1, September – 2010, page no. 17-20

59
APPENDIX
Questionnaire on Employer Branding

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am doing a research titled, "Employer Branding". I need your little help for providing the
following information by filling the questionnaire. There is no other purpose of this research and
information, other than stated.

Name:-
Designation:-
Name of the Organization:-

Q1. What is your age?

Under 21 
21 to 34 
35 to 44 
45 to 54 
55 or older 

Q2. What is your total annual income from this job, including bonus?

Less than 10,000 

10,000 to less than 25,000 
25,000 to less than 50,000 
50,000 or more 

Q3. Are you satisfied working with your organization?

Yes  No 
Q4. Does satisfaction of working employees attract potential toward an organization?

Yes  No 

60
Q5. Is your organization aware of factors attracts to the potential employees?

Yes  No 
Q6. What are factor which attract most potential employees towards your organization?

 Compensation & benefits

 Career growth & development

 Company culture

 Comfortable work environment

Q7. Does the Employer Branding retain the employee in an organization?

 Strongly Disagree

 Disagree Somewhat

 Can’t Say

 Agree Somewhat

 Strongly Agree
Q8. How would you rate your organization’s pay & benefits?

Poor  Average  Good  Very Good  Excellent 

Q9. What employer brand image Organization has among potential employees?

Poor  Average  Good  Very Good  Excellent 

Q10. Based on your overall satisfaction rate and your organization’s image, how would you rate
your stay?

Poor  Average  Good  Very Good  Excellent

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