With the passage of time and to this day every company, including those within the Hospitality Industry, and of course also the HR professionals, face continuous and irreversible changes.
When it comes to retaining and attracting the best talent, Employer Branding makes the difference. It consists of using marketing tools internally within the organization, but it also has an external impact.
- Internal Employer Branding (talent retention):
- Strengthens engagement among employees.
- Motivates the employees.
- Makes the employees feel part of the brand.
- Promotes the welfare of employees.
- Fosters a good working environment.
- The project of the company is the project of all and for all, everyone contributes to and is oriented toward the same goal.
- It pays special attention to training and professional development.
- External Employer Branding (talent attraction):
- Labour market positioning.
- Appealing brand image for potential employees.
- Develops strategies for attracting and recruiting talent.
- Measures the employer brand of the company, which can be achieved by trying to be part of the most desirable companies to work for (i.e. Great Place to Work)
EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION
In the area of Employer Branding, we must also take into account not only the monetary wage of the employee, but also the so-called emotional salary, which affects employee satisfaction and productivity as a result. New generations no longer give primary importance to money, they value other aspects such as the satisfaction of needs and the emotional aspects are given an increasingly bigger value. The union of these factors improves the quality of life of employees.
As an example of Employer Branding in the Hospitality Industry, we can find Grupo VIPS, with six chains (cafeterias, restaurants and shops), three fine dining restaurants and a premium sandwich and salads factory, more than 350 locations and with a team of 9.000 professionals.
One of their goals is job stability. They foster professional development, work together as a team for the common benefit, reinforce equal opportunities and they establish internal promotion as part of their retention strategy. They do so by promoting permanent contracts, making the employees work at the closest establishment to their homes, establishing career plans for line-level employees and paying especial attention to continuous training. This strategy is also linked to their Corporate Social Responsibility program, which tries to help improve the employability of people that find it difficult to access the job market. They try to create real job and insertion opportunities. For example, in 2015 252 people completed internships at their restaurants and shops and 260 people at risk joined the Group.
THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Employer Branding is key to competitive advantage and can be measured both in terms of reputation and in terms of the results as part of the human resources policy, hence more and more companies use it as a strategy to strengthen its position in the labor market and add value to the brand.
In the case of Grupo VIPS, profits are documented through a series of results such as the fact that 90 % of management teams began their work experience from a line-level position. This makes evident the positive results of their internal promotion policies.
