Employer branding in Poland: a promise the company can keep
Internal and external employer branding
| Internal | External | |
|---|---|---|
| Speaks to | current employees | candidates outside the company |
| Builds | engagement, sense of purpose, loyalty | recognition and attractiveness as an employer |
| Measured by | first-year turnover, share of referrals, internal survey results | number and quality of applications, time to hire |
| Typical actions | regular conversations with the team, benefits, development paths | job ads, media presence, employer review sites |
Both must say the same thing. A company that invests only outside builds a picture its own people do not confirm — and that picture cracks at the first negative review from a former employee. In our experience, the gap between the external promise and everyday reality inside is the main reason employer branding fails despite a large communication budget.
How we build an employer branding strategy
- Diagnosis — what employees really say about the company, not what the company would like them to say: interviews, surveys, turnover data.
- Employer promise — one sentence on why it is worth working here, based on what the diagnosis showed.
- Channels — where the promise reaches the right people: candidates and the current team.
- Implementation — concrete actions, each with an owner, a deadline and a way to check it was done.
- Measurement — whether the promise turns into a measurable change, not just a good feeling in the marketing team.
A strategy without a diagnosis starts at step three, with the campaign. That reversed order costs more and works less often.
Examples of actions
Inside the company: a standing channel for raising what really gets in the way at work (not one survey a year); a clear, written path to promotion; a referral programme in which the referrer’s opinion counts; onboarding that explains not only duties but why the company does things the way it does.
Outside: job ads written for the specific role, not one template for every position; presence on employer review sites, including answers to critical reviews; stories of employees describing real work, not only image graphics; presence at industry and university events where candidates actually are.
How we measure results
Views of a job ad prove nothing — they show reach, not quality. We use indicators that change decisions:
- Cost per candidate brought to interview stage.
- Time to hire — days from publishing the ad to signing the contract.
- Offer decline rate — how many people withdraw after receiving an offer.
- First-year turnover — whether new hires stay.
- Share of employee referrals among new hires.
- Employer reviews — the direction of change over time, not a single score.
Each indicator sits on a decision cockpit with a baseline from before the work started, a target, an alert threshold and an owner. We have built employer-brand cockpits for large employers in retail and food manufacturing. When applications rise, we check the rise against the baseline and against what else changed on the labour market at the time.
Most common mistakes
- Promising what the company does not deliver.
- Starting with a campaign instead of a diagnosis.
- Speaking to everyone instead of to a specific role.
- No baseline before the start — so no way to tell later whether anything changed.
For international employers in Poland
Global companies hiring in Poland often reuse a group-level employer promise that does not match local expectations or local reality. We check what candidates and employees in Poland actually say, and adapt the promise, the channels and the measurement to the Polish labour market — with reporting in English for the regional or global HR team. See also our international PR work.
Evidence, not promises
30 years of practice since 1996, 101 documented case studies (87 backed by a document in the project file), 376 written client references with an average rating of 4.98/5. Clients include Randstad, Deichmann, Leroy Merlin, Saint-Gobain and Aramco.
Frequently asked questions
What is employer branding?
Building a company’s brand as a place to work, both for candidates who do not work there yet and for current employees.
What is the difference between internal and external employer branding?
Internal employer branding speaks to current employees and builds engagement and loyalty. External employer branding speaks to candidates and builds recognition as an employer. Both must be consistent.
How do you measure employer branding?
With cost per candidate, time to hire, offer decline rate, first-year turnover, share of referrals and the trend in employer reviews, each against a baseline. Job-ad views alone prove nothing.
Where does an employer branding project start?
With a diagnosis of what employees really say about the company. The employer promise and the action plan come after that, not before.
Is employer branding the same as recruitment?
No. Recruitment fills a specific position. Employer branding is long-term work on how the company is seen as a place to work; recruitment benefits from it but does not replace it.
How much does employer branding cost?
It depends on the scope, the size of the company and the channels. We price it after the diagnosis; there is no single rate for every company.
More Commplace services in English
- International PR agency — evidence-based public relations for global brands.
- Media monitoring and market intelligence in Poland — media, opinion, market and competitor analysis.
- Crisis communications — readiness, rapid response, recovery.
- Decision cockpits — one screen from signal to action.
- Industrial and B2B marketing — proof for engineers, buyers and boards.
- Market entry strategy — taking a brand abroad, or into Poland.
- Website design and branding — brands and websites that lead to a decision.
- Social media and online campaigns — a system, not a stream of posts.
- AI services for marketing and PR — what our AI actually does, and where it stops.
- Commplace® AI — AI decision support for marketing and PR.
- Generative engine optimization — visibility in AI answers.
Talk to us
Commplace® · Liczyrzepy 20, 58-564 Sosnówka, Poland · [email protected] · +48 665 379 071
Author: Sebastian Kopiej, CEO of Commplace®. In public relations since 1996. Data current as of 22 September 2026. Wersja polska