Global employer branding experts define 16 key attributes from the so-called Employer Brand Index.

1. Space for fast career growth (according to the Gallup Institute, 87% of young people choose an employer based on whether it allows them to grow quickly).
2. Development and training (International training institutions recommend investing 3.5% of an employee’s annual income in developing new skills and knowledge. With these investments helping to develop 40% of new competencies key to the job.)
3. Work life balance
4. Fulfilment from work (Fulfilment from work means, according to the study, up to 100% increase in recommendations by satisfied employees.)
5. Culture and values of society
6. Appearance of the working environment
7. Diversity or work in an international environment
8. Identification with the company’s vision (This number is still low in practice; it is only 40% of employees.)
9. Salary (56% of employees believe they are paid below the market standard.)
10. Benefits (Sorted by priorities: above-standard health care, ensuring healthy eating, paid leave over four weeks, fully paid incapacity for work.)
11. CSR (corporate social responsibility) – the so-called corporate social responsibility (67% of employees expect active involvement in their employer’s CSR activities.)
12. Environment and people (80% of friendly relationships arise at work. Who they spend time with at work is key for new employees?)
13. Quality of the superior (50% of employees leave the job due to disagreements with the superior.)
14. Company reputation
15. Stability of the company
16. Innovation and technology (87% of young people want to work in an innovative environment.)

Interestingly, this point is at the bottom of the list. Another study published by the Society for Human Resource Management and similar work states that salary and overall benefits are # 1 in creating employee satisfaction. Unlike previous studies that may point to flexibility or pay as the best factor for job happiness, the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) found that the # 1 factor for job happiness is an award for work done. Which is not directly equal to the amount of salary.

So where to start? I consider it most important to define the identity of the company. The website reveals that most companies do not know this and confuse it with declaring their goals. The identity of the company is directly related to the possibility of hiring a key person or team of people. And I consider this to be the second absolutely important attribute on which Employer Branding should stand.

Key people fundamentally influence the selection of additional employees and form teams. Tinypulse’s study states that the most important attribute of satisfaction and the reason why I stay in the company is the relationship with co-workers and superiors. I also consider this to be the most important bond and also a prerequisite for maximum performance. If the team is made up of people with completely different values, it won’t work for long.

Inspiring can be the story of Jay Elliot, who describes in his book iLeadership how he realized how far the culture and environment of ties at IBM was and how enthusiastically he found his place at Steve Jobs in Apple when he meant nothing. He became its Vice President of Operations and HR.

Thus, by selecting and joining teams, the key person directly influences the motivation for the company to work. And the culture of society is nothing but the culture of their representatives. Therefore, it is probably not worth fighting with large corporations over whether you have an architecturally exclusive environment with a beer stall, relaxation areas or go down a staircase instead of a staircase.

It will be a good addition for enthusiasts, but not a reason why they will want to work or stay with you.

All of today’s highly successful companies have built their brand on their key people – from Steve Jobs to Elon Musk. In conclusion, I would give a good example from the home environment.

Kiwi has built and continues to build its employer brand, a young, good team that is changing the world of travel. The engagement of the new IT director, a Czech who worked in Silicon Valley and Netflix, seems to be a good step in the context of motivation and attractiveness for other potential co-workers and certainly has a greater benefit than a slide or football.

This path, appropriately and without dogmas, supplemented by the aforementioned 16 attributes, can be considered very reliable.

Article was prepared by Lucie Teisler, Managing Partner of Anderson Willinger, executive search.