Building a strong employer brand: Key information jobseekers look for on corporate websites
By Freja Nilsson
Our annual Career survey reveals some critical insights into what jobseekers, students and employees want to see on a company website. The results showed that flexible working hours and work-life balance are still high on the priority list, along with information about employee well-being. To attract top talent, it's crucial to give an honest and detailed description of your company's support for these areas. We also found that jobseekers visit corporate websites to get a feel for a company's values, mission, structure and strategy.
The overall purpose of Comprend's Career Survey 2023 was to gather valuable insights about the current career trends in Europe. The survey was open for participants to provide their responses for a period of five weeks, starting from 20 February to 27 March 2023. A total of 199 respondents participated in the survey, providing insightful and valuable data that was used to draw meaningful conclusions about the career trends in Europe.
In this year's survey, we notice:
Flexible working hours and work-life balance are still crucial to attracting and retaining top talent, with 90% and 89%, respectively, finding this information important.
Jobseekers mainly visit company websites to obtain information about the organisation values, mission, and vision. They conduct in-depth research prior to submitting their application.
Descriptions of how companies support employee well-being from physical and mental perspectives are highly important to jobseekers.
Explanations of a company's brand, vision, mission, values, business model, and strategy are also critical to jobseekers.
Work-life balance and flexibility more important than ever before
A trend that we have noticed for some years is the increased importance and expectations of how much flexibility a company can offer their employees. This year's edition of the Career survey is not an exception.
Details about flexible working hours is the second most important piece of information for jobseekers, with 90% of respondents considering it essential. Having flexible working hours as a company policy means that employees can adjust their work schedules to better fit their personal needs, while still meeting their job responsibilities. This can include starting and ending work at different times, taking longer or shorter lunch breaks, and working from home or other locations. By providing this information upfront in your Careers section, you can attract and retain top talent who prioritize work-life balance.
Information on how your company supports employees with maintaining a healthy work-life balance is ranked as the second most important factor after flexible working hours, with 89% of jobseekers considering it important. This marks a 2% increase from last year.
In relation to information about work-life balance, it's fundamental to communicate how your company promotes the general well-being of its employees. For example, if they have access to health and wellness programs. Having this shows that you care about your employees and are committed to creating a workplace that supports their physical, mental, and emotional health.
When describing work-life balance and employee well-being in your company, it's essential to give an accurate description with concrete examples of how you support your employees. It's easy to fall into the trap of sugarcoating what working at your company is like. Naturally, you want to make a good impression to attract talent, but there is a risk that your employees will get disappointed and leave, and your reputation will be damaged. As one of the respondents of the survey said:
"Work life balance shold be accurately depicted."
ASML provide information about employee well-being from both physical and mental perspectives. The information is supported by employee testimonials and a quote from the CEO, showing that it's a priority in the company.
Telling the story of who you are
When asking why jobseekers use a corporate website when evaluating a company as a potential employer, we see that many visit your website to get to know your company better. Undoubtedly, they go through your website thoroughly to see if working for your company would be something for them. They also expect to find much information, from your vision and mission to your organisation structure and business strategy.
Some of the respondents elaborated:
"I go through most information on their page, especially the introduction of the company, about their values and where they are located. If there is information about other employees I will look at that. Also interested in what other companies they work with or what type of research etc they have been involved with."
"I use the company's website to know about the story of the company itself and to discover its values and mission in order to prepare myself to the work interview."
“I search around, the more open they are on their website about their policies, projects and co-workers, the more serious they seem to me.”
“To get a good overview of the organisation, structure and core values etc."
Whenlooking at what information about your company is most important to include, a description of your brand is most important (86% find this important). This is followed closely by explaining your vision, mission and values (85% find this important) and presenting your overall business strategy and model (85% find this important).
By clearly communicating your brand and values, you can help ensure that your employees are aligned with your organisation's mission and are more likely to stay with your organisation for the long term.
Your business model and strategy can have a significant impact on the day-to-day work of your employees. By providing information about your business model and strategy on your corporate website, you can help jobseekers better understand what they can expect if they work for your organisation. Also, when employees understand your business model and strategy, they are better able to see how their work fits into the bigger picture. This can help improve employee engagement and motivation, as employees can see how their work contributes to the success of the organisation.
What's next?
Keeping up with the ever-increasing and changing expectations of jobseekers today is not an easy task. Luckily, we have plenty of talented consultants ready to advise you on employer branding-related questions.
We have built our knowledge on a solid foundation of our Webranking research where we have analysed the expectations of jobseekers in Europe since 1997.
Reach out to us if you want to learn more about our content and brand offerings.
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