A LinkedIn post says: “I’m going to work at Google for two weeks and leave – just to add ‘ex-Google’ to my title.”
Funny? Absolutely. But beneath the humour sits a hard truth: employer brand equity has become a form of career currency. And that should make every HR leader pause and ask how well they are leveraging this inside their organisation.
A job is no longer a simple exchange of time for money. Today’s employee-employer relationship is shaped by expectation, meaning, identity and belonging. People join companies not just for what they will do, but for who they will become.
--Will I grow here?
--Will my voice matter?
--Does this brand reflect the person I want to be?
These questions are rarely answered by job descriptions. They are answered by the stories organisations tell and the culture they live. This is branding in its deepest form: creating emotional connection and aligning personal identity with organisational purpose.
In senior HR roles, we can no longer think of ourselves purely as architects of process. We are architects of promise.
If brand is a promise, HR is responsible for building the experience that fulfils it. That demands a marketer’s mindset:
--Know your audience: Understand your talent segments. What does Gen Z expect from leadership? What keeps Gen X feeling valued?
--Design the journey: Just as customer journeys are meticulously crafted, employee journeys must be mapped, shaped and continuously refined—from attraction to onboarding to advocacy.
--Tell powerful stories: A meaningful EVP (employee value proposition) must speak to the heart as much as the head. Purpose, flexibility, learning and contribution are now strategic differentiators.
Total rewards have become emotional, not just financial. Pay still matters, but the modern “total reward” experience is deeply human. Autonomy, mastery, meaningful work, social impact, psychological safety, lifestyle flexibility and community all sit at the centre of today’s psychological contract.
A strong employer brand is one that helps employees build their own. They are not just staff—they are ambassadors, and they expect your brand to elevate theirs.
Products can be reverse-engineered. Culture cannot. That is why HR’s role in shaping, protecting and evolving culture has become the ultimate competitive advantage.
Culture is no longer “the way we do things.” It is the brand promise. And when the psychological contract is broken—when values are not lived, or voices go unheard—culture fractures, and talent walks.
Business history is full of companies that collapsed not because markets changed, but because people didn’t. Kodak, Nokia, BlackBerry, Blockbuster: each is a reminder that change management is ultimately human management.
Great HR leadership is about helping people release what was and embrace what could be.
A brand is not your logo. It is the story people tell about working for you.
And in the end, the most effective business strategy is still the most human one.
(Input courtesy: Khaleej Times)
