The Influence of Employer Branding on Employee Motivation in FMCG Companies

Despite the growing interest of academicians in the issue of employee engagement and motivation, there is still lack of research concerning this topic, especially in companies of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector. In order to attract highly qualified specialists and talented workers to the organization managers take various factors into account. High wages, safe working conditions, unusual labor duties, HR brand of the company, its social programmes, convenient location of the company, and flexible work schedule really affect an employee’s perception and helps a person to choose the best of potential workplaces. Therefore, not only attraction of candidates is essential for HR specialists nowadays, but also the creation of good working conditions and healthy emotional atmosphere in the company that will help workers to remain productive and energetic increasing quality of labor. The current situation in the labor market has drastically changed over the last years. Now the potential candidates are able to obtain all the information about company’s internal and external activities simply by reading the feedback of former employees on specialized sites or social networks, thus the image of company and its employer branding is controlled and promoted by organizations. The employer branding influences the processes of selection, motivation, growth of employee involvement and so on. Moreover, the employees are considered to be a driving force of business processes, that is why there is an intense competition for talents in job market. The current work examines what role plays employer branding in attraction of new candidates and how it influences the employee engagement level on the example of Company “X” - Russian branch of one of the biggest international companies working in FMCG sector. The objectives of the study are as follows: 1) to review the literature on the subjects of employer brand and employee engagement; 2) using the content analysis method and studying the local documents of the company to obtain information about the company’s approaches to employee engagement, the methods for measuring it; 3) to identify factors affecting staff involvement in the company “X” employing a qualitative research method, such as poll; 4) to analyze how the company increases the level of employee engagement systemizing the local documents of the company; 5) to identify the role of employer branding in the company “X”; 6) to provide recommendations for increasing involvement in the company “X”. In the framework of this work the main approaches to the definition of “engagement” are successfully examined, the results of studies concerning the main drivers of employee involvement in Russia and other countries are analyzed and systematized. Employer branding, as one of the factors of enhancing employee involvement, is thoroughly examined. The empirical part of work includes analysis of the main factors influencing employee engagement level in company “X”, especially such factor as employer brand. The recommendations for increasing involvement in the company “X” are provided. The results of this study can be used for further research of employee engagement and motivation and be applied by HR-managers in our country. Keywords: motivation, employee engagement, employee satisfaction, staff, brand, HR-brand, recruitment, organizational attractiveness, employer brand.