Employer Branding as Strategic Tool for Employee Retention: The Case of the UK Social Service Sector
Presenter Status
Doctoral Researcher, University of Kent Business School. Canterbury Kent
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Buller Hall, Room 250
Start Date
23-5-2019 9:20 AM
Presentation Abstract
Employee turnover poses a challenge for talent managers because of the high cost for recruitment as well as the impact on performance and organizational success. This necessitates research on employer branding as a strategy for high performing employee attraction and retention. Research on employer branding has mostly been conducted within the context of the private sector, resulting in a lack of empirical cases in the public sector. As a strategic approach to talent management, this study adds a new dimension to the evolving concept of employer branding by exploring it as a tool for employee retention in the public sector. More significantly, it attempts to show how social workers can be retained in the social service sector and the relationship between employer branding and employee retention. The study researched factors responsible for retaining social workers in public service and the relationship between employer branding and employee retention. A qualitative study with 15 in-depth interviews was conducted within the UK public sector. The study identified key factors for public sector employee retention namely: location; leadership; career development; work situation; and work-life-balance and their influence on the employer brand message within a public organisation. Findings suggest functional actors in the employer brand process and the interaction between the employer brand and employee retention relationship. The study considers employer branding concepts as a complex interaction of actors requiring explicit intervention and reinforcement throughout the employment cycle rather than a linear process.
Biographical Sketch
Idorenyin Etokakpan is a doctoral researcher at the University of Kent Business School, Canterbury. His area of research is Talent Management in Uncertain Times. A graduate of the Kent business school, he holds a MSc in Human Resource Management and MBA (International Trade) from the University of Applied Science, Bernburg-Germany.
Employer Branding as Strategic Tool for Employee Retention: The Case of the UK Social Service Sector
Buller Hall, Room 250
Employee turnover poses a challenge for talent managers because of the high cost for recruitment as well as the impact on performance and organizational success. This necessitates research on employer branding as a strategy for high performing employee attraction and retention. Research on employer branding has mostly been conducted within the context of the private sector, resulting in a lack of empirical cases in the public sector. As a strategic approach to talent management, this study adds a new dimension to the evolving concept of employer branding by exploring it as a tool for employee retention in the public sector. More significantly, it attempts to show how social workers can be retained in the social service sector and the relationship between employer branding and employee retention. The study researched factors responsible for retaining social workers in public service and the relationship between employer branding and employee retention. A qualitative study with 15 in-depth interviews was conducted within the UK public sector. The study identified key factors for public sector employee retention namely: location; leadership; career development; work situation; and work-life-balance and their influence on the employer brand message within a public organisation. Findings suggest functional actors in the employer brand process and the interaction between the employer brand and employee retention relationship. The study considers employer branding concepts as a complex interaction of actors requiring explicit intervention and reinforcement throughout the employment cycle rather than a linear process.