Employer branding – what you need to know
What is the employer branding, where was the need for change and how can I contribute? Here is an overview of frequently asked questions and answers.
Background: About the EB
The employer branding (EB) denotes a company’s reputation as an employer. It is defined as follows:
- the sum of a company's efforts to communicate what makes it a desirable place to work to existing and prospective staff
- the description of the working culture of a company
- the active management of a company's image as seen through the eyes of its existing employees and potential hires
The employee value proposition (EVP) is the unique set of benefits which an employee receives in return for the skills, attributes and experience they bring. It defines the underlying 'offering' on which an organization's employer branding marketing and management activities are based. It is the essence, our unique selling points, of our employer branding. The employer branding must be unique, relevant, authentic and compelling if it is to act as a key driver of talent attraction, hiring and retention. Bayer’s employer branding promise is ‘Be You. Be Bayer.’
The Bayer growth strategy depends on our ability to attract and retain top talents in highly competitive talent markets
- Bayer’s employer attractiveness varies significantly in key markets; there is a high need in aggressive talent markets to further strengthen our employer branding with a more personal, emotive approach, which allows to adapt, localize and segment our messaging.
- Our competitors are creating personalized, consumer-grade experiences to communicate with prospective talent. It’s important that our employer branding evolves to reflect this shift in talent expectations so we can successfully compete for the people we need.
- An attractive global EB is the prerequisite for succeeding in the competition for the right talents.
A comprehensive research, listening and analysis exercise completed in 2019 & 2020 with critical internal and external focus groups revealed what our people want Bayer’s EB to express: A compelling purpose, more personal connection and an attractive proposition for all. It also showed that the existing approach “Passion to innovate | Power to change” no longer fits the expectations of our talents and business. It did not reflect Bayer’s I&D aspirations, proved to be not as flexible as needed for localization and did not leave enough room for segmented messaging. ’Be you. Be Bayer.’ is a real shift now.
Developing a clear and globally shared understanding of Bayer’s EB helps to strengthen Bayer’s position as employer of choice to attract, hire and retain the right internal and external talents. It prepares Bayer for the challenges of demographic change and supports growth in emerging markets.
Among the existing workforce the EB increases identification, motivation, pride and willingness to deliver the best performance and stay with the company longer.
The EB supports Bayer in attracting the right external talents in relevant target groups by emphasizing the value they gain through employment in the company as opposed to working for key competitors.
Like our company, we want our EB to develop and grow with us. We will be giving you the support you need to ensure its success. There are both quantitative and qualitative KPIs we are focusing on.
- For one we want to achieve measurable internal and external engagement with the #bebayer hashtag and campaign content in comparison to peers/competitors and other Bayer campaigns.
- With the help of our EB we also want to increase the level of engagement and interest in our critical roles advertised on career website and LinkedIn.
- We also aim to increase the number of impacted hires on LinkedIn especially ‚Digital Talent‘ above peer average.
- Another tangible goal is to invest in robust pipelines for hard to fill or repetitive positions (e.g. Business Consulting, German apprenticeships etc.) through LinkedIn Pipeline Builder Pages.
- At an external level, the EB will also be measured through the Global Brand Tracker survey and other external surveys, e.g. Universum.
The project owners will cover the costs for the initial global soft-launch activities, which will include a communication and implementation kit containing a comprehensive set of communication materials. It will be made available to all Bayer countries via Bayer Identity Net. The open Teams channel for the regular exchange provides community updates, news discussion and invitation to calls for personal exchange e.g. on trainings or campaigns.
Contributing to the EB
The EB applies to every workplace. So every single employee can check at their workplace whether the LIFE values and the promises of the EB are lived there. Only if the company lives up to its promises internally it can also credibly represent them externally.
Every employee is invited to live out the promises in their everyday work. If you are approached externally about Bayer as an employer, it would be good to inform them about our EB and our promises. Make use of our Teams- and Social Media backgrounds to state your favorite image and message. Share your individual story, why Bayer is an attractive employer to you and what makes it special for you to work for Bayer today and tomorrow.
Yes. EB encompasses all the internal and external efforts a company undertakes to become an attractive employer and position itself accordingly. It not only supports the company in attracting new talents but also promotes employee loyalty and has a positive impact on the employees' willingness to perform, as well as on the overall culture and image. Only if everyone in the company lives the promise will the employer branding be strong and authentic.
Working with the EB
There is a well-established global network of EB key contacts in HR and Communications departments. They inform all employees around the world about the EB approach and implement it within a soft-launch.
You find the global key contacts in the Bayer Identity Net, who can connect you with your responsible local contact.
Also, you are invited to join the open ‘Employer Branding 2021’ Teams channel to post your questions and ideas. We want to use this channel for our global collaboration, sharing news, updates as well as discussing local topics, providing knowledge and support each other.
A single picture can tell a thousand words. Furthermore, it can give a lasting impression of Bayer and what it is we strive for. It’s important to ensure we accompany our carefully crafted messages with authentic images that truly complement the story we need to tell. When the viewer can see themselves in the images we show them, we fore an unforgettable connection.
The easiest way for you is to choose a picture from our employer branding image collection in the Bayer Identity Net. Furthermore, you can ask employees in your market to send their own images or commission a photographer capture images. In both cases please reach out to the global EB team as early as possible in advance so we can align with your local EB contacts and support you best possible with a briefing.
New and local pictures are highly welcome to enrich our collection of global key visuals. If you have own visuals or plan to create new ones, e.g. for a local campaign or special target group, please reach out to the global EB team as early as possible in advance. We’ll connect with your local EB contacts regarding briefing, selection and inclusion into our library.
All EB visuals, headlines, backgrounds, templates, guidelines and background information can be found in the newly updated EB-section of the Bayer Identity Net.
All existing “Passion to innovate | Power to change” material need to be exchanged latest until August 2021. Please do not worry if you do not manage to take down EB used in your offices or canteens etc. We are aware that access to offices is not possible as usual, so the priority is to change material that is externally visible. Please also focus on material that actually needs replacement. It is also ok to just take old material down and replace it when really needed (e.g. for live events).
‘Be you. Be Bayer’ is an invitation for adapting and segmenting our messages more dynamic and agile to better meet the needs of our countries and target groups. Our new design and tonality guidelines help us in our new freedom for choosing the right visuals, creating unique messages and edit emotive stories. You’ll find them here.
We recommend using the long and varied list of headlines at least for the time of the soft-launch and roll-out phase, which you find here. Of course, new headlines, e.g. for a campaign addressing a special target group, are welcome. Please reach out the global EB team as early as possible before implementing them, and we’ll connect with your local EB-contact to include them into the headline catalogue.
For global pages and main local channels and platforms like career website, SuccessFactors platform, yes. We also have some budget for visual adaptation if countries would like to translate headlines or need special formats. We want to raise awareness that due to heavy cost restraints Bayer faces in 2021 we always need to ask ourselves if the replacing of material or even creation of new material is business critical or not and to be mindful of resources.
Most of our guidelines can be found in the Bayer Identity Net section. External advertising and PR agencies, film production studios or other external partners are basically permitted to access Bayer Identity Net if the Bayer employee they are working with (their sponsor) authorizes that access. You can give your agency access to the section so they can download the respective InDesign files and learn about our design concept. You can approve access for external agencies by yourself following this link.
If you have any further questions about the employer branding section of the Bayer Identity Net, please contact:
You can use the respective collection of employer branding images in the