Why do Swiss companies invest millions in employer branding every year without knowing whether it works? How can you prove that your employer brand is more than just an expensive prestige project? Which key figures separate successful employer brands from costly pipe dreams?
The answer lies in systematic performance measurement. Without clear KPIs, employer branding is like flying blind. Recent studies show that companies with data-driven employer branding reduce their recruitment costs by up to 50%. However, many Swiss SMEs shy away from the complexity of performance measurement.
Numbers are important, but they aren't everything. Many companies fall into the quantification trap: they measure everything that can be measured, but lose sight of what is really important. A Zurich-based financial services provider tracked 47 different employer branding KPIs – and still didn't know whether its strategy was successful.
The problem: Not every number is a meaningful indicator. The number of LinkedIn followers says little about the quality of your employer brand. 10,000 followers are useless if none of them want to work for you.
Swiss pragmatism helps here: Focus on a few meaningful metrics. Quality over quantity—this also applies to KPIs.
Turnover rate: A classic reinterpreted
The turnover rate is more than just a simple percentage. It shows whether your employer brand delivers what it promises. In Switzerland, the average turnover rate is around 10%. If your rate is significantly higher than this, something is wrong.
But be careful: not all turnover is bad. Regretted losses—the departure of top performers—weigh more heavily than the departure of low performers. A Basel-based pharmaceutical company therefore distinguishes between desired and undesired turnover. The undesired rate is only 3%, even though the overall turnover rate is 12%.
The calculation is simple: (number of departures / average number of employees) × 100. More important is the analysis: Why are employees leaving? Exit interviews provide valuable insights for your employer branding.
Time-to-hire: Speed as a quality indicator
How long does it take to fill a position? The average time-to-hire varies depending on the position and industry. In Switzerland, it is around 45-60 days. Strong employer branding can halve this time.
An IT company in Bern reduced its time-to-hire from 72 to 31 days. The trick: instead of waiting for applications, satisfied employees actively approached talented individuals in their network. Employee referrals drastically shorten the process.
Measure not only the total duration, but also individual phases:
This allows you to identify bottlenecks and optimize in a targeted manner.
Cost per hire: The true price of a new employee
What does hiring a new employee really cost? Many companies underestimate the actual costs. In addition to job advertisements and recruitment consultant fees, internal costs must also be taken into account.
A medium-sized company from St. Gallen calculated its true cost per hire:
Improved employer branding reduced these costs by 40%. Employee referrals eliminated consulting costs, and faster hiring reduced productivity losses.
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
The eNPS measures how likely employees are to recommend their employer to others. The question is simple: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely would you be to recommend our company as an employer?"
eNPS = % promoters - % detractors
An eNPS above 20 is considered good, above 50 excellent. An insurance company in Zurich increased its eNPS from -5 to +32 within a year. How? By consistently implementing employee feedback and communicating changes transparently.
Quality of Hire: The Underestimated Metric
It is not the quantity but the quality of new hires that counts. But how do you measure quality? Swiss companies use various approaches:
Performance ratings after 6 and 12 months show whether new employees are meeting expectations. A mechanical engineering company in eastern Switzerland compares the performance of new employees with the team average. If it is above average, the recruitment was a success.
The retention rate after one year is another indicator. If 90% of new hires stay for more than a year, the employer branding is right. If many leave during the probationary period, false expectations have been raised.
Social Media Engagement Rate
72% of Swiss people use social media – don't ignore this channel. But be careful: vanity metrics such as follower numbers are meaningless. Engagement is what counts.
The engagement rate is calculated as follows: (likes + comments + shares) / reach × 100
A rate above 2% is considered good, above 5% excellent. A retailer from Geneva achieves an average engagement rate of 8% on LinkedIn—through authentic employee stories instead of glossy advertising.
More important than the absolute rate: Who is getting involved? Comments from industry experts and potential applicants carry more weight than likes from relatives.
Career Site Analytics: More than just traffic
Your career page is the heart of digital employer branding. However, many companies only look at visitor numbers. More relevant are:
A technology company based in Zug analyzed the user journey on its career page. The result: 78% of visitors abandoned the application form. After simplifying it, the conversion rate rose from 2% to 7%.
Many managers ask: "What are the financial benefits of employer branding?" The answer can be calculated.
Reduced recruitment costs
Strong employer branding reduces the cost per hire. With 20 positions per year and a reduction of $10,000 per position, you save $200,000. That easily finances your entire employer branding strategy.
Lower staff turnover
Every resignation prevented saves money. With average replacement costs of $50,000 (including lost productivity) and five resignations prevented per year, that's a saving of $250,000.
Faster recruitment
Every day a position remains unfilled costs money. With an average value added of $500 per day per employee, reducing the time-to-hire by 20 days means a saving of $10,000 per position.
A medium-sized company from Winterthur calculated its employer branding ROI:
Not everything of value can be expressed in numbers. Qualitative data often provides deeper insights than bare figures.
Systematically evaluate employee feedback
Regular pulse surveys provide insight into the mood. But don't just collect data—take action! A logistics company in Basel conducts quarterly 5-question surveys. Each quarter, a different aspect of employer branding is examined.
The trick is to ask the right questions. Instead of "Are you satisfied?", successful companies ask: "What would you tell a friend about working here?" The answers are more revealing.
Review portals as a yardstick
Kununu, Glassdoor, and Indeed are the reality checks for your employer branding. A rating below 3.5 is a warning sign. But more important than the average score: read the comments!
A consulting firm from Zurich analyzes all reviews on a monthly basis. Recurring points of criticism are systematically addressed. The rating rose from 3.2 to 4.1 within 18 months.
Respond to reviews—but do it right. Standard phrases do more harm than good. Show that you take criticism seriously and implement concrete improvements.
HR analytics platforms
Modern HR software offers integrated analytics functions. SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, and Personio automatically track relevant KPIs. The advantage: all data in one place, real-time evaluation possible.
An industrial company in Thun uses predictive analytics to identify termination risks. Employees at high risk are proactively offered development opportunities. The turnover rate fell by 30%.
Social Listening Tools
What are people saying about you as an employer? Tools such as Brandwatch and Hootsuite monitor social media mentions. This gives you an unfiltered insight into how your employer brand is perceived.
A retailer from Lausanne discovered through social listening that former employees were speaking negatively about the company in Facebook groups. Targeted alumni management helped to limit the damage to the company's reputation.
Looking at your metrics in isolation is of little use. Comparing them with industry figures shows you where you really stand.
On average, Swiss SMEs have:
If you are significantly above or below this, you should take action. But be careful: every industry has its own characteristics. In the restaurant industry, a turnover rate of 20% is normal, while in administration, 5% would already be considered high.
Employer branding metrics are not an end in themselves. They are the basis for continuous improvement. Successful companies have a structured process:
Monthly monitoring
The most important KPIs are tracked monthly. A dashboard immediately highlights any deviations. This allows you to react quickly before negative trends become entrenched.
Quarterly Deep Dives
Once per quarter, analyze one metric in detail. In Q1, analyze the turnover rate; in Q2, analyze the time-to-hire; in Q3, analyze the eNPS; and in Q4, analyze the cost-per-hire. This will give you deep insights without overwhelming you.
Annual strategy adjustment
Adjust your employer branding strategy based on the annual figures. What worked? What didn't? Where are the new opportunities?
A pharmaceutical company in Basel has perfected this process. Monthly reviews take 30 minutes, quarterly analyses take half a day, and the annual strategy session takes two days. The effort is worth it: employer branding performance is continuously improving.
Ensure data consistency
Different departments often use different systems. HR tracks in SAP, marketing in HubSpot, finance in Excel. This leads to conflicting figures and endless discussions.
The solution: Define a "single source of truth." A manufacturer in western Switzerland decided that HR data would come from SuccessFactors and marketing metrics from Google Analytics. Period. No more discussions.
compare apples and oranges
A Zurich-based start-up compared its turnover rate with that of Google. Unsurprisingly, it performed worse. A more meaningful comparison would be with similarly sized companies in the same industry in Switzerland.
Comparisons over time can also be misleading. Comparing the turnover rate in January with that in July ignores seasonal effects. Better: annual comparisons or rolling 12-month averages.
Despite all the enthusiasm for metrics, don't forget the people behind the numbers. An eNPS of +40 is useless if your best people leave anyway.
A consulting firm in Geneva had excellent metrics—on paper. The reality was that the figures had been embellished. Employees filled out surveys positively so as not to get into trouble. Only anonymous interviews revealed the real problems.
Context is king
A high turnover rate does not have to be a bad thing. A company in the canton of Aargau deliberately aims for a turnover rate of 15%—it actively promotes exchanges with other companies and benefits from the fresh perspective this brings.
Conversely, low turnover can be problematic. If no one leaves because the job market is poor, you don't have a strong employer brand, but rather frightened employees.
Employer branding metrics should not be viewed in isolation. They must be linked to the company's goals.
A technology company from Zug defined clear connections:
This is how employer branding goes from being a nice-to-have to a business-critical factor.
Would you like to measure the success of your employer branding and continuously improve it? Brand Affairs supports you in defining the right KPIs and setting up an effective monitoring system. With our experience in the Swiss market and our network of HR analytics experts, we make your employer brand measurably successful.
Contact us for a no-obligation consultation. Together, we will develop a customized measurement framework that suits your company and delivers real insights.
Which five KPIs are most important for Swiss SMEs? The top five are: turnover rate (target: below 10%), time-to-hire (target: under 45 days), cost-per-hire (target: under CHF 10,000), employee net promoter score (target: over 20), and quality of hire (90% retention after one year). These metrics provide a good overview of employer brand performance.
How often should I measure my employer branding KPIs? Operational KPIs such as job vacancies or applications received should be measured weekly. Key metrics such as time-to-hire and cost-per-hire should be measured monthly. Strategic KPIs such as turnover rate and eNPS should be measured quarterly. You should analyze all metrics in context annually and adjust your strategy accordingly.
How do I calculate the ROI of my employer branding? ROI = ((benefits - costs) / costs) × 100. Benefits include: savings in recruitment costs, avoided turnover costs, reduced vacancy costs. Costs include: strategy development, campaigns, tools, personnel expenses. An ROI of over 200% is realistic and good.
What tools do I need for professional HR analytics? For SMEs, Excel and Google Analytics are often sufficient to get started. For companies with 100 or more employees, tools such as Personio or BambooHR are worthwhile. Large companies use SAP SuccessFactors or Workday. More important than the tool itself is consistent data maintenance and regular evaluation.
How can I measure qualitative aspects? Use structured methods:Net Promoter Score for recommendations, Likert scales for satisfaction measurements, text analytics for review portals. Conduct regular pulse surveys. Important: Ask about specific behaviors, not abstract feelings.
What should I do if my metrics are poor? First analyze: Where exactly is the problem? Then prioritize: What has the greatest impact? Identify quick wins for rapid success. Plan long-term measures. Communicate transparently: Involve employees. Measure progress after 3-6 months and make adjustments.
