Employer Brand Index 2024

The inaugural report on the top employer brands

In 2024, companies are battling in a war for talent, and they’re using their brands to secure a victory.

Last year, the job market was more resilient than anticipated considering geopolitical volatility and rising inflation, but the economic slowdown is expected to catch up with job creation in 2024. The International Labour Organization (ILO) forecasts a slight rise in unemployment, as rapidly advancing technological development continues to test labour market resilience.

To effectively navigate these conditions, employers must ensure their retention strategies effectively reduce turnover to boost their own workforce resilience, while attracting the best candidates from the pool of 2 million workers expected to join the labour market as ILO predicts the global employment rate to rise .1 percent.

Employer branding is the cornerstone of any talent strategy as candidates increasingly consider the values and reputation of a company when deciding whether to join or stay.

The Brand Finance Employer Brand Index (EBI) contains indispensable insights to inform talent recruitment strategies, based on surveys of respondents in dozens of sectors, located in 16 countries.  Brand Finance researchers gathered respondents’ opinions of various brands to determine how strongly they’re perceived as a desirable place to work based on factors ranging from vision to business strategy to training to salaries to culture. These responses were then incorporated into a drivers’ analysis to identify which were the most important to decision making.

The responses were benchmarked against other brands in the respective countries to compile the final index. Benchmarking in this way accounts for differences in response patterns in each market.

Attitudes vary widely depending on location

The results of this study highlight how different attitudes are by country. This variation emerges both in broad attitudes towards sectors, as well as in what drives prospective employees to want to join and stay at an organisation.

For example, in the U.S., Korea and Turkey, having a prestigious brand is the most important driving factor on why people join companies, while it is one of the least important reasons in Japan, China, India, and Malaysia. In UAE, Saudi Arabia and France, a sense that the work will be enjoyable and rewarding is the most important factor people think about when considering a new role.

Interesting insights also emerge when comparing why people consider accepting roles with employer brands versus why they stay. In all three countries where the allure of a prestigious brand is a top factor in attracting employees, it is the least important reason why they wish to stay. In these cases, factors like enjoyable and rewarding work or salary and remuneration become the most influential factors.

In Italy, there is a similar shift in what’s important to employees as they move from accepting a role to thinking about whether to stay at an employer. When attracting Italian talent, an inspiring vision is the most important driver, but for retention, this drops to the seventh position - a great work-life balance rises from the twelfth to the top spot.

Understanding these nuances presents a powerful advantage for companies developing and refining their employer brand strategies. This perception data enables employers to tailor their approach to top talent with a focus on what matters most to candidates within specific markets while addressing the needs of both prospective and current employees.

Understanding market-specific employer brand perceptions and wider industry trends

The 2024 Employer Brand Index research is focused solely on the perceptions of respondents within each brand's home market, therefore, comparing raw scores across markets can be misleading. However, the data does shed light on broader trends regarding how different sectors are perceived in different markets, again revealing significant differences in these perceptions based on location.

Apparel

Apparel is big draw for talent, particularly athletic wear. Puma, Adidas, and Nike are each perceived as winning employer brands in their respective markets – Puma, with an Employer Brand Index score of 98.5 out of 100, and Adidas (96.6) were the top two employer brands in Germany, Nike (93.1) scored highest in the U.S., and Zara (87.1) was the second highest in Spain.

Puma's high Employer Brands Index score stems from its scale. Customer perception is heavily influenced by mental availability and the same holds true for potential employees - Puma score exceptionally well in familiarity among those in the apparel industry in Germany. The company is also perceived strongly on image drivers, for instance, 87% of respondents in Germany agree that Puma has ‘A great business strategy’.

In each of the 15 drivers Puma is considered top or close to the top in the market, most notably in having an inclusive workplace culture capable of attracting top talent, ensuring work is enjoyable and fun, and being an employer who is considered well managed and governed.

Adidas and Nike’s high Employer Brand scores can be attributed similarly to Puma’s,  driven by its strong consideration and familiarity.

Airlines

With a reputation for offering travel opportunities and perks, air travel is viewed as an aspirational industry and airlines have successfully cultivated high employer brand perceptions within their home markets. This is particularly evident in the cases of flag carrier airlines, Emirates (97.0) and Turkish Airlines (93.8), both of which rank first in their respective markets. These airlines score well in areas such as training and development, competitive salaries, and overall employer reputation.

Within the UAE, 93% of respondents agree that Emirates has ‘An inspiring vision’, while 94% agree that it has ‘A great reputation an employer’ and 96% agree that the brand has ‘A great internal culture’ and ‘Employs top talent in the industry’.

Telecoms

Perceptions of telecoms brands as employers in the west has changed. 20 years ago the brands were seen as exciting and dynamic. Those feelings have since subsided and the mantle has passed to Middle Eastern brands. In the research, prospective employees rated brands such as e& (etisalat and) (87.4), stc (85.0), and Turkcel (84.6) particularly highly within their home markets.

In the Middle East, it’s an industry on the rise, where leading brands are perceived as at the forefront of innovation and as advancing their countries’ economic progression. In comparison, telecoms brands in Western Europe and North America, such as the UK’s Vodafone and BT, face threats of commoditisation and only a handful make the top 10 in their respective markets.

95% of respondents in the UAE agreed that e& (etisalat and) is ‘A prestigious brand’ and 88% agreed it has ‘An inspiring vision’. Similarly, 85% and 89% agreed the same about stc in Saudi Arabia. In comparison in the UK, only 65% and 59% agreed with the same statements for BT (67.4) and 75% and 61% for Vodafone (61.7).

Banks

Brand Finance data reveals that banking brands are similar to telecoms in that there is a key region where the perception is different from the global view. Banking brands in Europe and North America are now less respected as employer brands than counterparts in markets such as South Africa. Four of the top-six rated employer brands in South Africa were from the banking industry: Standard Bank (90.0), First National Bank (80.0), ABSA (79.5) and Nedbank (74.3).

Standard Bank scores a perfect 10 in 5 separate metrics, including the top two most important drivers of consideration: ‘Employs Top talent in the Industry’ and ‘The work is enjoyable and rewarding’.

In North America and Europe, banking brands perform poorly in comparison to other parts of the world. One explanation could be that in Europe and North America, the trust and respect associated with banks has been eroded by financial crises and scandals, while in other markets, the banks are not encumbered with those legacies and maintain a perception as respectable employer brands.

Chase (59.6), the highest ranked US bank in the study, saw only 66% of US respondents agree that it had ‘An inspiring vision’, 64% agree it had ‘A great business strategy’, and 56% agree it had ‘A great internal culture’. In comparison, Maybank (92.2), Malaysia’s top ranked employer brand, saw a considerably higher 88%, 88% and 79% of respondents agree with the same claims.

FMCG

Within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry the research found that generally, more sophisticated European and North American markets saw higher perceptions of employer brands in this sector. This was particularly the case in Italy where Lete (79.3), Loacker (78.7) and San Benedetto (76.5) all featured within the top five employer brands in the country.  

Tech

Leading technology-producing countries, such as Japan and South Korea, unsurprisingly have tech brands as some of their leading employer brands. Five of the top ten Japanese employer brands hail from the tech or electronics sectors. Japanese candidates awarded Sony (85.3) leading scores for having ‘A prestigious brand’ and reported strong perceptions of Sony providing enjoyable and rewarding work, which is the top driver of employee consideration and retention in the country.

In South Korea, the various Samsung and SK brands occupy six positions out of the top ten employer brands in the country.

Oil & Gas

Oil and gas employer brands top three markets in the research: the UK (BP – 75.0), Spain (Repsol – 87.1) and Saudi Arabia (Aramco – 86.6).

All three brands have made concerted efforts to attract top talent a battle for STEM workers made increasingly competitive by the rise of big tech companies.

These recruitment efforts appear to have paid off for Aramco and BP - 89% and 80% of respondents in their home markets agree that they ‘Employ top talent in the industry.’ However, Repsol has room to build a stronger perception for this metric with 60% of respondents in Spain agreeing that it employs top talent.