Employer Branding and Internal Communication Glossary

Application conversion rate shows what share of people who view the career page or a job ad complete an application: an indicator of career page and ad quality.

Candidate experience is the sum of every interaction a candidate has with a company, from seeing the job ad to the offer or rejection.

A candidate persona is a fictional but data-based profile of a target talent segment: motivations, information sources, decision criteria and concerns.

The career page is the section of a company website that presents the employer brand, culture, open roles and application process to candidates: the digital shopfront of the employer brand.

Career accounts are the company's LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok channels dedicated to the employer brand, telling candidates about culture, teams and opportunities.

Cascade communication passes an important message step by step from senior leadership through managers to all employees.

Change communication is planned communication that helps employees understand, accept and adopt change during mergers, new systems, restructuring or culture transformation.

A channel map defines which internal and external channels are used for which audience, purpose and content type.

Communication fatigue is when employees, exposed to too many channels and messages, stop reading, mute notifications and miss important messages.

Company culture is the shared values, beliefs, habits and behaviour patterns that determine "how things really get done" in an organisation.

The consumer brand promises products and services to customers; the employer brand promises a working experience to employees and candidates. They share one corporate identity but differ in audience, message and channel.

Cost per hire is total internal and external hiring cost divided by the number of hires: a core metric for the return on employer brand investment.

Internal crisis communication is the pre-prepared plan that ensures fast, consistent and reassuring information for employees during restructuring, downsizing, reputation issues or unexpected events.

DEI is the work of representing people of different identities and backgrounds (diversity), giving them fair opportunities (equity) and making them feel they belong (inclusion).

Employee advocacy is employees voluntarily sharing the company's employer brand in their own networks: the most credible employer brand channel.

An employee app delivers news, announcements, HR transactions and interaction on mobile devices, especially for deskless employees.

Employee benefits are the non-salary elements offered to employees — health insurance, meals, transport, leave, flexibility, development — forming the "rewards" pillar of the EVP.

Employee engagement is the emotional connection an employee feels to their work and organisation and their willingness to give discretionary effort; unlike satisfaction, it shows in behaviour.

An employee engagement survey is a comprehensive, usually annual study measuring the drivers of engagement: leadership, development, recognition, communication, wellbeing.

Employee experience (EX) is the sum of every interaction, environment and emotion a person has with an organisation from candidacy to exit.

An employee journey map visualises the stages, touchpoints, emotions and communication needs of an employee from candidacy to exit.

An employee story is content that tells a real employee's experience, career journey or a day at work: concrete proof of the employer brand promise.

Turnover is the share of employees who leave in a period relative to average headcount; retention measures the opposite: those who stay.

Employee wellbeing is the support of physical, mental, social and financial health at work: the foundation of engagement and sustainable performance.

An employer brand audit systematically reviews every candidate and employee touchpoint, content and data set to reveal strengths and weaknesses.

An employer brand KPI set is a group of indicators across awareness, attraction, conversion, experience and retention that reports the result of employer brand investment to leadership.

An employer brand maturity model places a company's employer brand management on a scale from "reactive" to "strategic and measured".

Employer brand perception research measures how employees and candidates see the company as an employer through surveys, interviews and focus groups.

An employer brand strategy is the plan that brings target audiences, positioning, EVP, key messages, channels and KPIs together in one roadmap.

Employer branding is how a company is perceived as a place to work by current and potential employees: the sum of the experience, values and promises it offers.

An employer branding agency is a specialist agency that manages how a company is perceived by employees and candidates through research, strategy, creative and digital channel management.

Employer review platforms are sites where current and former employees rate and review companies anonymously (Glassdoor, Kununu, Indeed, LinkedIn reviews); candidates research there.

eNPS is an engagement indicator calculated from 0-10 answers to "Would you recommend our company as a place to work to a friend?".

The EVP is the essence of what a company offers its people — pay and benefits, career, culture, work and purpose — the organisation's answer to "why should I work here?".

A focus group is a moderated qualitative research session with 6-10 employees or candidates exploring a topic in depth: a core tool in EVP and internal communication work.

HR consulting is external expertise that supports companies with strategy and delivery in areas such as hiring, engagement, culture, communication and talent management.

Hybrid work is the model in which employees split the week between office and remote work: an arrangement that needs new rules for internal communication and culture.

Internal communication is the planned, continuous flow of information, meaning and connection between an organisation and its employees; it carries strategy, values and change into everyday work.

An internal communication agency is a specialist partner that supports employee communication with strategy, content, design and channel management.

An internal communication calendar shows which message goes out on which channel, when and under whose ownership throughout the year.

Read rate is the share of the target audience that opened or read an internal communication item; participation rate measures likes, comments, survey responses and event attendance.

An internal communication strategy is the annual plan that defines goals, employee segments, key messages, channels, frequency, ownership and measurement.

An intranet is an internal platform for news, information, documents and collaboration accessible only to employees: the central digital channel of internal communication.

Leadership communication is the planned practice of making senior leaders and managers speak to employees regularly, visibly and sincerely.

Offboarding communication is the planned, respectful and clear communication that lets a leaving employee complete the process while keeping a good relationship; leavers are employer brand ambassadors too.

Offer acceptance rate is the percentage of job offers accepted; it measures the credibility of the candidate experience and employer brand at the final step.

Onboarding communication is the whole flow of welcoming, informing and connecting a new hire, from offer acceptance to the first 90 days.

Pay transparency is openly sharing salary ranges, pay criteria and increase logic with employees and candidates: the new trust test for employer brands.

Psychological safety is a team climate in which people can speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes or disagree without fear of punishment.

A pulse survey is a short 3-10 question survey run frequently (monthly or quarterly) to track employee sentiment and the impact of communication in near real time.

Quiet quitting is when an employee stays but does only the minimum and withdraws discretionary effort: the visible form of low engagement.

Recruitment marketing applies marketing methods — targeting, content, campaigns, funnel analysis — to attract candidates and convert them into applicants.

Source of hire analysis shows which channel (referral, career page, social media, job board, agency) hires come from, with the cost and quality of each.

Special-day communication is the practice of marking calendar moments — holidays, celebrations, awareness days, company anniversaries — in a planned, consistent way aligned with the employer brand.

Talent management is the set of processes for attracting, developing, retaining and deploying the talent an organisation needs.

A talent pool is a community of qualified candidates a company builds relationships with and keeps in touch with for future roles.

The first 90 days is the critical period in which a new hire adapts and largely decides whether to stay: the main time frame of onboarding communication.

Time to hire is the number of days from a role opening (or a candidate applying) to offer acceptance: the speed indicator of the hiring funnel.

A town hall is a regular meeting where senior leadership meets all employees to share results, priorities and take questions openly.

Values communication takes company values off the poster and makes them visible in employees' daily decisions and behaviour.