Tips for unlocking the power of your employer brand from Microsoft

Building a true employer brand requires collaboration between communications and HR. In that spirit, Attendees of Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference at Microsoft HQ earlier this month were lucky enough to hear from Microsoft Director of Marketing and Communications for HR Programs Jen Crum and Amy Morris, senior manager of employee communications and employer brand at Microsoft, about how the company unlocked the power of the its employer brand.

Here’s what we learned:

Crum and Morris began by talking about the foundational employer brand work that then gets built upon, stressing the importance of defining and understanding what an employer brand means at your organization.

“At its core, it’s really your company’s reputation in the external and internal market,” said Morris. “It’s a reflection of your company’s values, culture, and employee value proposition. It’s the goal of employer branding to position your company as an employer of choice, both to your current employees, as well as potential employees that you want to attract, and key stakeholders as well.”

When done right, an employer brand should align these three goals:

“We do this by telling the story of the people at Microsoft that are at the heart of helping us achieve our mission to empower the planet,” Morris said.