We’ve been watching companies struggle with the same question for years: who owns employer branding?
Ask the CEO, and they’ll tell you it’s their responsibility. According to a Universum survey, 60 percent of CEOs believe they’re primarily responsible for employer branding.
Ask marketing managers, and they’re split between HR (38.8%) and the CEO (40%).
Ask HR, and over half say employer branding falls under their umbrella.
Here’s what we’ve learned in this space: when everyone owns something, the work falls apart.
The Real Cost of Ownership Confusion
We talked to a construction company owner last month. He was frustrated because his recruiting wasn’t working.
HR was posting jobs with one message. Marketing was sharing company culture content with a completely different tone. The CEO was doing interviews talking about the business in a third way entirely.
The result? Candidates had no idea what the company actually stood for.
“So often with employer brands, efforts are coming from all over the place because no one is exactly sure who owns it. The messaging and outputs aren’t consistent,” according to industry research.
This inconsistency creates real problems for construction and trade companies trying to fill positions. You’re already competing in a tight labor market. The last thing you need is a confused message.
Why This Matters More in Construction and Trades
Almost 90% of job seekers consider a company’s employer brand when applying for a job, according to NCCER research.
Today’s younger workers look at social media and content as a window into company culture. They want a sneak peek of what working at your company is actually like.
When your employer brand ownership is scattered, you miss these opportunities.
We’ve seen excavation companies lose great candidates because their job postings didn’t match what employees were saying online. We’ve watched paving companies struggle to hire because nobody coordinated the message across departments.
Every open position impacts your project timelines. You can’t afford to waste time on disorganized hiring.
The Measurement Problem Reveals the Gap
Here’s something most people don’t talk about: the ownership confusion shows up clearly in the numbers.
Research from The Conference Board found that the main employer branding challenges include measurement difficulties, alignment issues, and complexity.
The most frequently cited challenge? The inherent difficulties in quantifying and measuring employer branding outcomes.
Only 18% of companies were able to share the value of their employer branding ROI within their organization.
Why? Because when nobody clearly owns it, nobody can measure it.
We’ve worked with manufacturing companies where three different departments were running employer branding initiatives. None of them were tracking the same metrics. None of them knew what the others were doing.
The result was wasted budget and zero accountability.
Small Businesses Face Bigger Challenges
If you’re running a small to mid-sized company, this problem hits harder.
The top challenges in employer branding are lack of staff (45%), limited budget (39%), and low leadership engagement (35%), according to industry statistics.
You don’t have the luxury of a dedicated employer branding team. You’re probably juggling multiple roles yourself.
We know this because we’ve been there. When we first started helping companies with their hiring systems, we saw office managers trying to handle everything from payroll to recruiting to managing the company’s online presence.
The employer branding work got pushed to the bottom of the list because nobody had clear ownership.
Even more telling: 49% of organizations update their employer branding strategy only when needed. That’s a reactive approach, and it’s particularly problematic when you’re facing labor shortages.
What Actually Works
We don’t believe employer branding should live in one department.
The secret to successful employer branding is cross-functional collaboration, according to research from Main Street Recruitment.
Organizations that get this right build what they call Centers of Excellence. These integrate HR, marketing, and employee experience teams.
But here’s the practical reality for small to mid-sized companies: you probably don’t have the resources for a formal Center of Excellence.
What you need is a coordination point.
When it comes to employer branding, each team has a role. Management sets the vision and values. HR knows the employee experience and hiring needs. Marketing understands messaging and channels.
The question isn’t who owns it. The question is: where does the coordination happen?
The System Creates the Accountability
We’ve seen this work in practice. Companies that focus on internal alignment see a 41% increase in retention and fill critical roles 30% faster, according to Blue Ivy Group research.
For construction and excavation companies where every open position impacts project timelines, that efficiency gain matters.
The companies that do this well use their applicant tracking system as the coordination point. When you centralize your hiring process, you create a natural place for stakeholders to align.
HR posts the job. Marketing reviews the messaging. Management approves the final version. Everyone sees the same candidate pipeline. Everyone works from the same information.
That’s why we believe so strongly in systems like Engaged TAS. The software doesn’t just track applicants. It creates the structure that forces alignment.
When you post a job once and it appears everywhere with consistent messaging, you’re building your employer brand. When every team member can see the same candidate information, you’re creating coordination.
Your Employees Are the Real Brand Owners
Here’s something we remind every business owner: you don’t entirely own your employer brand.
Your candidates and employees do.
Research from LinkedIn confirms this. Candidates and employees can have a bigger impact on your reputation than any marketing campaign.
We’ve watched this play out repeatedly. A company spends money on job ads and career pages. Then a few employees leave negative reviews online, and all that work gets undermined.
The companies that understand this focus on the employee experience first. They make sure the reality matches the message.
That means whoever coordinates your employer branding needs direct connection to what’s actually happening on your job sites, in your shops, and in your offices.
What I’d Do Tomorrow
If we were running a construction, excavation, or manufacturing company today, here’s what we’d do:
Stop debating who owns employer branding. Start asking who will coordinate it.
Pick one system as your coordination point. For most small to mid-sized companies, that’s your applicant tracking system.
Create a simple approval process. Before any job posting goes live, have HR write it, marketing review it, and management approve it.
Track what matters. How long does it take to fill positions? What’s your cost per hire? How many qualified candidates are you getting?
Listen to your employees. They’re telling candidates what it’s really like to work for you. Make sure that story is one you’re proud of.
The goal isn’t perfect employer branding. The goal is consistent employer branding that actually reflects your company.
