THE EMPLOYER

BRAND
CREDIBILITY GAP:
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE
 INTRODUCTION
In 2014, Weber Shandwick conducted a research study with KRC Research that
broke new ground. The survey, Employees Rising: Seizing the Opportunity in Employee
Activism1, demonstrated that the digital age had sparked a new social movement:
employee activism, or advocacy. Employee activists were found to be more than just
engaged employees. They made their engagement visible, defended their employers
from criticism and acted as advocates, both online and off. The Internet had unleashed
an army of allies as well as detractors that needed to be reckoned with and managed.

Following on those learnings, Weber Shandwick wanted to better understand how

companies and organizations could build employer reputations that deepen employee
engagement and maximize talent recruitment efforts. The new research, The Employer
Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide, again conducted with KRC Research, is
based on 1,902 full-time employees across 19 markets worldwide.

“ Employer branding has become an

imperative in an era where talent is hard
to recruit, change is rampant, engagement
is weak, and Millennials have their sights
on the next job. A credible employer brand
revolves around a compelling narrative that
is authentic, recognizable and brings to
life the actual experience employees have
working at an organization, whether it is the
culture, leadership, training, opportunities
or communications.

Kate Bullinger, Executive Vice President and Global

Lead, Employee Engagement & Change Management,
Weber Shandwick

The study explores the intersection between employer reputation and the employee
experience. It confirms why employers should create best-in-class employer brands and
informs how to build and activate them. We find that few employees globally perceive
a strong match between how their employers represents themselves and what they
experience, highlighting a credibility gap that exposes employers to reputation risk. Closing
the gap provides an opportunity for employers to more successfully drive recruitment,
engagement, and retention. An authentic employer brand is particularly critical in an age
of extreme transparency where job candidates make reputational assessments with ease
based on what an organization’s employees say online or through word of mouth.

1
Employees Rising: Seizing the Opportunity in Employee Activism, Weber Shandwick & KRC Research, 2017

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 2

 WHAT WE DID
In partnership with KRC Research, Weber Shandwick conducted a 20-minute online
survey from June 18 to August 1, 2017 among a total of 1,902 employed adults, ages
20 to 65, who work at least 30 hours per week for a large organization (500 or more
employees in the U.S. and 250 or more employees in all other countries). Employees
were distributed across industries, professions and job levels. Self-employed and
freelance employees were not included.

100 interviews were conducted in each of the following 19 markets across the globe.
Surveys were conducted in local languages.

NORTH EMEA
AMERICA
United States
UK
France
Germany
Canada BENELUX
Switzerland
Sweden
South Africa
UAE

LATIN
AMERICA
Brazil
Mexico

ASIA PACIFIC
Australia
India
Singapore
Hong Kong
China
Japan
South Korea

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 3

 THE CONTINUUM OF
EMPLOYER BRANDS
The level of employer brand credibility is less than ideal, with just 19% of employees
globally perceiving a strong alignment between what their employer says about itself
and their experience working there. The good news is that the terrain for improvement is
wide open: only a minority of employees (7%) strongly disagree that there is any match
(we call them “unaligned”). The largest segment – 74% – falls in between. These are
“marginally aligned” employees because their employers have the opportunity to narrow
the perception-and-experience gap by creating an employer brand that employees
recognize, believe and promote.

“
19% Strongly agree “Aligned” employees

WHAT MY EMPLOYER 34% Agree

“
PORTRAYS ABOUT ITSELF
PUBLICLY MATCHES WHAT IT’S
LIKE TO WORK THERE “Marginally Aligned” employees

30% Neutral/Not sure

(Global Employees)

10% Disagree
7% Strongly disagree “Unaligned” employees

Shifting employees from marginally aligned or unaligned to aligned is not an easy task, but
the rewards are substantial and necessary to succeed in the competitive talent marketplace.

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 4

 THE BUSINESS CASE
FOR BRIDGING
THE DIVIDE

Although credible employer brands are hard to achieve, organizations reap the following advantages for their bottom-lines
when there is alignment between the employer brand and the employer experience:

BETTER RECRUITMENT STRONGER ADVOCACY GREATER RETENTION INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

Employees in aligned Employees in aligned Employees in aligned Employees in aligned
organizations are more organizations are more organizations are more organizations are more
likely than organizations on likely than organizations likely than organizations on likely than organizations on
average to recommend their on average to encourage average to be very likely to average to put more effort
employer as a place to work others to buy their company’s continue to work for their into their job than is required
(76% vs. 54%, respectively). products or services (59% employer for the next year (54% vs. 40%).
vs. 49%) and post or share (77% vs. 64%).
praise online about their
employer (41% vs. 23%).

Have recommended employer as a place 54%

to work 76%
Would recommend my employer as a place to 25%
work (strongly agree) 55%
Encouraged others to buy company’s products/ 49%
services (among those employed by a company) 59%
Posted/shared praise or positive comments 23%
online about employer 41%
Very likely to continue to work for employer 64%
for the next year 77%
Put a great deal of effort into job, doing more than 40%
required (strongly agree) 54%
Global Employees Aligned Employees

For all these measures, aligned employee results are significantly higher than unaligned employee results.

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 5

 “
“
WHAT MY EMPLOYER PORTRAYS ABOUT ITSELF
PUBLICLY MATCHES WHAT IT’S
LIKE TO WORK THERE

(% strongly agree)

United States
21%
Canada
24%

THE STATE OF BENELUX

France
12%
14%
THE EMPLOYER Germany

18%
24%

BRAND ACROSS
South Africa

Sweden
19%

THE GLOBE 20%

Switzerland

UAE
13%
Our survey canvassed employees in 19 markets
United Kingdom
19%
in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and
Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific) and Latin America. None of
Australia
29%
these markets have perfectly aligned employer brands China
25%
according to employees, but some markets perform
better than others. Indian employers have the highest Hong Kong
6%
rate of alignment, with 33% of employees reporting that
there’s a strong alignment between what their employer
India
33%
says about itself and what they actually experience.
Rounding out the top five markets with the narrowest
Japan
6%
credibility gaps are Australia (29%), Mexico (28%),
Brazil (26%), and China (25%).
Singapore
3%
South Korea
12%
Brazil
26%
Mexico
28%
Global Average = 19%

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 6

A GROWING NEED FOR CREDIBLE
EMPLOYER BRANDS
The war for talent is a hyper-competitive global concern, and winning the battle is critical to
lasting success. As we had reported in 2014 in Employees Rising: Seizing the Opportunity
in Employee Activism, employees are in a state of upheaval. Discontent and disruption,
among other contributing factors, continues into 2017 with a seemingly eroding impact on
employee engagement and an affinity for the employer brand.

• The vast majority of global employees (85%) today report experiencing organizational
changes that affect their jobs. This already high level has not changed since 2014 (84%).

CHANGE EVENTS EXPERIENCED AT CURRENT EMPLOYER IN PAST FEW YEARS

(Global Employees)

Leadership changes 44%

Introduction of a new organizational structure 34%
Introduction of a major new product or service 27%
Change of business strategy 26%

85%
Introduction of a new company vision, mission or values statement 24%
Financial slowdown 24%
Layoff of many employees 22% Any of these
changes (net)
Legal or regulatory changes 20%
Acquisition or merger with another organization 17%
Crisis or disaster 10%
Public criticism by a government leader or activist group 9%

• Employee engagement is weak and declining, from an average engagement level

of 30% in 2014 to an average of 27% in 2017. Similarly, global professional services
firm AON finds that global engagement dropped from 2015 to 2016, with the decline
attributed to anxiety permeating the workplace and technologies competing for jobs
like never before.2

2
2017 Trends in Global Employee Engagement, AON, 2017

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 7

CHALLENGES FACING INDUSTRY THAT
AFFECT FEELINGS ABOUT JOB
(Global Employees)

Maintaining work/life balance 42%

Competitive pressures from other companies 33%
Client/customer/patient demands 32%
Transitioning to new technologies and ways of working 30%
The rapid pace of change 30%
Legal and regulatory compliance 20%
Negative perceptions of my industry 17%
Negative media coverage of my industry 14%
Lack of diversity and inclusion 10%
Industry doesn’t communicate the good things it does 8%
Too risk averse/industry doesn’t take chances 8%
Other 2%

• Many employees in our survey are dealing with multiple challenges facing their industry
that affect how they feel about their workplaces, with work/life balance leading the list of
challenges (42%). For those employees most likely to leave their jobs in the next year
(“At Risk” employees), work/life balance is even more acute (46%).

Amidst this extensive and continuing unrest, declining engagement, and work/life balance
challenges, an organization’s overall reputation becomes a highly sought-after proposition,
competitive differentiator and risk mitigator. Employees at organizations with well-aligned
employer brands are more than 11 times as likely as unaligned employer brands to
say their organization has a ‘very good’ reputation. More importantly, a positive overall
reputation is a real factor in considering a new employer, particularly among At Risk
employees. When the average employee is asked which criteria they would consider if
they were searching for a new job, the “basics” such as compensation, employer financial
stability, etc. are (unsurprisingly) the top factors. But for At Risk employees, the reputation
of the next employer rises to the #2 position in the consideration set.

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 8

 TOP FIVE FACTORS IN A NEW JOB
SEARCH THAT ARE ‘VERY IMPORTANT’
TO EMPLOYEES
GLOBAL EMPLOYEES

Competitive wages/salary 58%

Financially stable employer 56%
Competitive wages/salary
Competitive benefits package 50%
Financially stable employer
Career advancement opportunities 47%
Competitive benefits package
Equal opportunities for people 44%
of all backgrounds
Career advancement opportunities

Equal opportunities for people

of all backgrounds
Financially stable employer
(Very likely to leave job in next year)
AT RISK EMPLOYEES

Positive reputation overall

Financially stable employer
Equal opportunities for people 58%
of all backgrounds
Positive reputation overall 49%
Competitive wages/salary
Equal opportunities for people
49%
of all opportunities
Career advancement backgrounds
Competitive wages/salary 48%

Career advancement opportunities 48%

“ A strong employer reputation is no small change. The reputation of your employer is

worth its weight in gold, but only if it turns out to truly reflect what it is actually like
to work there. In this age of mega-transparency and instantaneous online reviews,
employers are now accountable to who they say they are, how they treat people and
live their values, and how they make a difference. Employees are more than reputation
spectators, they are shaping employer brands for better or for worse every day.

Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation Strategist, Weber Shandwick

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 9

BUILDING & ACTIVATING
BEST IN CLASS
EMPLOYER BRANDS
How can employers get started on a rewarding employer brand
journey? We examined the exclusive set of 19% aligned employees
to identify the characteristics that distinguish organizations with
successful employer brands. Not surprisingly, a credible employer brand
doesn’t happen by accident. It is fostered deliberately through values,
leadership and good employee communications and is externalized
authentically through a conscious effort to align words with actions
and allow employees to share their experiences.

Best practices are gleaned from our research, falling into a “Build &
Activate” model.

BUILDING TOP EMPLOYER BRANDS

In designing a successful employer brand, aligned organizations…

1 2 3
LEAD WITH PURPOSE ESTABLISH VALUES ENSURE EMPLOYEES
AND VALUES, BOTH THROUGH STRONG KNOW THE
INTERNALLY AND AND VALUES-BASED ORGANIZATION’S
EXTERNALLY. LEADERSHIP. VALUES.
In aligned organizations, employees In aligned organizations, employees In aligned organizations, employees
are much more likely than those in are much more likely than those in are much more likely than those in
the average global organization to the average global organization to the average global organization to
strongly agree that their employer strongly agree that their employer’s strongly agree that their employer
provides them with the training and leadership team behaves in has a clear code of conduct (65%
resources needed to do their job well accordance with the organization’s vs. 31%, respectively), effectively
(54% vs. 23%, respectively), treats all vision and values (48% vs. 20%, communicates their employer’s
employees fairly regardless of race, respectively), creates a good culture vision and goals for the future
gender, age, sexual orientation or and makes the organization a good (57% vs. 29%), and does a good
cultural differences (58% vs. 28%), place to work (45% vs. 18%), is job of keeping employees informed
and has a social purpose, striving responsive when a crisis or problem (42% vs. 16%).
to make a positive contribution to arises in the organization (46% vs.
the world or market it operates in 21%), instills trust (41% vs. 16%),
(54% vs. 24%). and acknowledges the good work
of its employees (41% vs. 17%).

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 10

THE FACTORS THAT SET ALIGNED EMPLOYER BRANDS APART
GAP
Global Aligned
% strongly agree that… (Aligned minus
Employees Employees
Global)

My employer provides me with the training and resources I need to do

23% 54% +31
VALUES & PURPOSE

my job well.

My employer treats all employees fairly regardless of their race, gender,

age, sexual orientation or cultural differences. 28% 58% +30
My employer has a social purpose and strives to make a positive
contribution to the world or market it operates in. 24% 54% +30
Leadership behaves and acts in accordance with the organization's
vision and values. 20% 48% +28
Leadership creates a good culture and makes the organization a good
place to work. 18% 45% +27
LEADERSHIP

Leadership is responsive when a crisis or problem arises in the

organization. 21% 46% +25
I trust leadership. 16% 41% +25
Leadership openly acknowledges when an employee does a good job. 17% 41% +24
31% 65% +34
INTERNAL COMMS

My employer has a clear code of conduct.

I know my employer's vision and goals for the future. 29% 57% +28
My employer does a good job of keeping me informed. 16% 42% +26

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 11

ACTIVATING TOP EMPLOYER BRANDS
How can employers deploy their employer brands and bring them to life? In our 2014 Employees Rising: Seizing the
Opportunity in Employee Activism study, we demonstrated that select segments of the employee population are activists
who have the potential to draw positive visibility to their workplace. Some go so far as to defend their employers from
criticism and act as employer advocates, both online and off.

For the credible employer brand to reap maximum rewards, activists need to show up in force, with social media providing
reach and authenticity like no other channel can. This year’s study finds that 32% of global employees post messages,
pictures or videos in social media about their employer or their work very often, somewhat often or from time-to-time.
In aligned organizations, this activism rises to 48%. With such a high correlation between activism and a well-aligned
employer brand, we examined what organizations do to promote activist behavior.

EMPLOYERS OF ACTIVISTS DO THE FOLLOWING TO LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA ON THEIR BEHALF:

1 3
ENCOURAGE PROVIDE THE RULES OF THE ROAD
Activist employees are more than twice as likely Employee activists are more likely than global
as global employees overall to report that their employees overall to say their employer has rules
organizations encourage employees to share and policies about how its employees should and
content about their work lives on social media should not use social media to discuss work-
(34% vs. 16%, respectively). related matters (53% vs. 47%).

2 4
PROVIDE THE CHANNEL SERVE AS AN ENGAGED EMPLOYER
Activist employees are more likely than Employee activists are more likely than global
the average global employee to work for employees overall to say that their employer
organizations that provide a platform or program monitors employee social media conversations
to activate their brand messages on social media (30% vs. 20%), suggesting that their employers
(43% vs. 27%). care about what is being said or not said about
their reputation.

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 12

EMPLOYERS OF ACTIVISTS DO THE FOLLOWING TO LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA:

Employer encourages use of social media 16%

sharing about employer or work 34%

Employer has program/platform that makes 27%

it easy for employees to use social media to
share news and info 43%

Employer has rules and policies about how its 47%

employees should and should not use social media
to discuss work-related matters 53%

Employer monitors employee social media 20%

conversations
30%

Global Employees Employee Activists

Employers do not need to limit their employer brand’s is being said about their own employer. Yet these sites
exposure to social media. Employer review and ratings seem to be untapped opportunities for building an employer
sites, such as Glassdoor and more localized sites (Vorkers brand, as only 18% of aligned employees report posting
in Japan, Kanzhun in China, Jobui in Hong Kong, Jobstreet their experiences with their current or a past employer on
in Singapore, OCCMundial in Mexico, Catho and InfoJobs these sites. Employers should make an effort to understand
in Brazil, as examples), provide unfiltered views into an these sites and selectively respond to reviews so that
employer’s culture. Half of employee activists (49%) are employees know that they are being heard and listened
very or somewhat familiar with these sites, and even to. Several of these rating sites provide employers with the
more — 60% — ­ say they have used such sites for various capability to respond to employee reviews.
activities, like checking salary information and seeing what

WHEN WORKING WITH CLIENTS, Weber Shandwick recommends an employer branding process that
involves first understanding an employer’s current reputation in the talent marketplace and defining what
it wants to be known for in the future. Secondly, companies must look within, completing an internal audit
to ensure they are walking the talk. This includes making key changes to the employee experience that will
help the company to deliver on its promises.

Only after resonance testing with current employees and efforts

to address areas of misalignment should an organization deploy
its employer brand. Where this process is followed, employees
are typically willing and eager advocates.

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 13

These elements of design and activation demonstrate that a well-aligned, credible
employer brand starts from within the organization. When employees are empowered
with the tools to externalize their experience and alignment with a workplace, an authentic
narrative emerges, allowing organizations to tap into the ROI of their employer brands.

“ On a macro level, the findings

from our study call into question
the credibility of many employer
brands. Employers have to strive for
greater accuracy and authenticity
in describing themselves and
activate employees — their most
credible spokespeople — as
their storytellers and advocates
if they are to earn the trust of their
prospects and employees.

Kate Bullinger, Executive Vice President

and Global Lead, Employee Engagement &
Change Management, Weber Shandwick

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 14

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT “THE EMPLOYER BRAND
CREDIBILITY GAP: BRIDGING THE DIVIDE,” PLEASE CONTACT
Andy Polansky Kate Bullinger
/WeberShandwick
Chief Executive Officer Executive Vice President and Global
Weber Shandwick Lead, Employee Engagement & Change
apolansky@webershandwick.com Management @WeberShandwick
Weber Shandwick
Jack Leslie kbullinger@webershandwick.com /WeberShandwick
Chairman
Weber Shandwick Sarah Clayton
/Company/Weber-Shandwick
jleslie@webershandwick.com Executive Vice President, Employee
Engagement & Change Management
Gail Heimann Weber Shandwick /WeberShandwickGlobal
President sclayton@webershandwick.com
Weber Shandwick +WeberShandwick
gheimann@webershandwick.com Mabel Phoon
Executive Vice President, APAC
Sara Gavin Weber Shandwick
President, North America mphoon@webershandwick.com
Weber Shandwick
sgavin@webershandwick.com Stephen Duncan
Director, Employee Engagement & Change
Tim Sutton Management, EMEA
Chair, EMEA & Asia Pacific Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick sduncan@webershandwick.com
tsutton@webershandwick.com
Leslie Gaines-Ross
Colin Byrne Chief Reputation Strategist
CEO, UK & EMEA Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick lgaines-ross@webershandwick.com
cbyrne@webershandwick.com
Mark Richards
Baxter Jolly Senior Vice President/Management Supervisor
CEO, Asia Pacific KRC Research
Weber Shandwick mrichards@krcresearch.com
bjolly@webershandwick.com
Zé Schiavoni
Laura Schoen CEO, S2Publicom
Chair, Latin America & Weber Shandwick
President, Global Healthcare Practice ze.schiavoni@s2publicom.com.br
Weber Shandwick
lschoen@webershandwick.com Greg Power
President, Canada
Micho Spring Weber Shandwick
Chair, Global Corporate Practice gpower@webershandwick.com
Weber Shandwick
mspring@webershandwick.com Amanda Berenstein
Managing Director, Mexico
Paul Jensen Weber Shandwick
President, North American Corporate Practice & aberenstein@webershandwick.com
Chief Innovation Officer, Corporate Practice
Weber Shandwick
pjensen@webershandwick.com

The Employer Brand Credibility Gap: Bridging the Divide 15