Now in its seventh year, Chatter has been there for the last six. It's a packed agenda with speakers and delegates from all over the world representing brands like TikTok, Blizzard, Lego, Lidl, EY and others.

And having spent a good portion of the last 22 years explaining to folk what an employer brand is, and how it drives business performance, it was like I'd finally found my work tribe for the very first time.

All 750 of us the "Chandler Bings" of our friendships and family groups. All of us reveling in the discussions and opportunities to share experience and knowledge. 

For the most part, presentations were focused on the journeys businesses go on when they put employer brand at the apex of their strategies to grow or change, transform or diversify. The outcomes all followed a theme which tracked the commercial and competitive advantage of bringing employees on the journey, creating strong links between what the business wants to achieve and the unifying power of an authentic employer brand in delivering it more quickly, more successfully and more sustainably. 

What were the big themes from the day?

Employer brands are dead - or if not dead, certainly on the wane. The general feeling was that the most successful employer brands are better aligned and more strongly integrated into the consumer or corporate brand. Inter-reliant and of equal value, that relationship between becoming a values-led organisation and commercial success was the sweet spot businesses are now aiming for. 

However, most employer brand leaders reported their teams were generally under-resourced. Even some of the best-known global brands only had a couple of dedicated roles, borrowing from other teams and using in-country consultants to deliver their strategy. This was felt to be slowing the pace in terms of being able to deliver optimum return on investment. Other issues including quality of outputs and inconsistent experience of candidates and employees were also a concern in relation to being under-resourced. 

Those with bigger, more established EB functions like EY had fought hard for access to senior leaders so they could make the business case, successfully delivering pilot schemes before keeping up the pressure to be able to grow their team.

Other discussions were about where the EB role sits within the overall business structure in order to deliver the most value. Many sit within the TA team and focus on hiring, whilst others are in comms, marketing or corporate directorates. Most felt that the priority focus for employer brands is always on the move - sometimes it's about hiring, others retaining and so on. A more flexible approach - to be where the current business priority is - was a theme we discussed over a coffee at one of the breaks.  

Employee advocacy, for all sorts of reasons, was another recurring theme for the day. The measurable benefits when it comes to hiring good quality employees, keeping hold of them and getting the best from them are all outputs of businesses with highly engaged people. This was something many presenters focused on throughout the day and the value-added role that Employer Brand leaders play here is obviously hugely important.

Finally - data. Data was something most presenters leant into when it came to making the business case, building the strategy, measuring the outcomes and deciding where next. With most businesses now able to provide better data points than ever before, one word of caution was to be crystal clear on outcomes before deciding which metrics would give you the best data to measure relevant progress. 

Here are some of my personal favourite presentations from the day

Cameron Brain (Everyone social) who talked about content distribution often being overlooked in favour of content creation when it comes to the time spent on each. Distribution is key, particularly when sharing is happening across employees’ own networks, since individuals are more favoured by algorithms than corporate accounts. 

Tom Pattison from Tik Tok gave us an overview of #worktok and how businesses were more authentically opening up workplace culture using Reels, capitalising on the trends analysis within TikTok to reach the biggest possible audiences. Micro movies of between 25 and 60 seconds are the most watched content on the platform. Compared side by side with a more typical cultures video produced just a couple of years ago, it's clear how far things have shifted already when it comes to providing potential employees with a snapshot of culture and business activities. 

Whilst all the presentations were really interesting, one really stood out. Estera Anghelescu from Kaufland a huge food retail business based in Romania, talked about their work to improve diversity across their business. A really solid piece of work to understand the adjustments they could make as an organisation to welcome a broader range of employees to work with them. This included identifying suitable roles, manager and colleague briefings and an integrated recruitment campaign highlighting the power that employer brands can have to change lives for individuals as well as challenging employers to be better places to work at the same time as achieving their business goals. 

Another showcase from Kaufland, this time aimed at recruiting a Gen Z audience, by working with streamers and producing an advertising campaign in GTA 5 that took the recruitment message directly to their audience in a relevant, informative but interactive way.

Overall, it was an excellent way to spend a few days in Amsterdam and it's been a real shot of enthusiasm having got back to my desk. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to chat about anything Employer Brand.