EMPLOYER BRANDING: PERCEPTIONS OF EMPLOYER ATTRACTIVENESS IN THE TELECOM INDUSTRY OF PAKISTAN

Abstract

The study contributes to the existing knowledge on employer branding by exploring the perceptions of organizational attractiveness of the employer brand image of two leading telecom organizations in Pakistan which claim to be actively pursuing employer branding strategy in the telecom industry. The purpose of this thesis was to explore how organizations promote their employer brand to create desired perceptions of organizational attractiveness through their employer branding strategy and how they are perceived by current and potential employees. Detailed interviews were carried out from HR of the organizations, their existing employees and potential employees who were MBA students from the graduating batch of top two business schools of Islamabad. The study identified major factors which impact the attractiveness of an employer brand are organizational identity, communication, and employment offering. These factors impact the expectations and perceptions of current and potential employees which make their psychological contract with their employer. These key features are discussed in detail considering the organization, current and potential employee perceptions. The findings suggest brand image and organizational culture to be the main elements of an organizations identity. Current and potential employees desire to be part of prestigious employer brand as it a matter of social identity and pride. Strong organizational culture has become an essential for employees as it elevates their spirit at workplace and addresses their need to have their efforts acknowledged and their desire for appreciation. Communication with internal employees aims at making employees aware and involved with the purpose of engaging them, employees expect it to be honest and frequent. Communication to reach out to potential employees was through summer internship programs and university visits, latter was perceived as misleading and dishonest influencing the psychological contract with employees. Among employment offering, monetary compensation of T1 and T2 was perceived to be similar. While salaries were less in comparison with other industries employees perceived non-monetary aspects such as brand image and organizational culture more significant. Overall, the employer branding strategy of T1 was inclined towards retaining current employees by caring for their well-being through its culture and learning and development opportunities. T2 was found to be following in the footsteps of T1, such as branding itself a fun place to work, and as an organization that cared for employees‟ well-being and encouraged open communication. Their employer branding strategy aimed to attract potential employees more than their current employees particularly the youth; however they were not aware of this cultural change at T2, and still viewed T2 as a bureaucratic and old school organization. T2 was considered as the second choice after T1. The research suggests that employer branding can be used as a long-term strategy to shape desired perceptions of current and potential employees to retain and attract them. The study concludes by providing recommendations for the practitioners in telecom industry and avenues for future research.