Employer Branding – Employer Attractiveness as a New Mindset in the Healthcare Sector

Abstract The shortage of skilled labour, demographic change and ever-increasing cost pressures are presenting healthcare organisations with key challenges in the areas of strategy, leadership and portfolio management. In the Federal Republic of Germany, there is an acute shortage of skilled workers in 352 of 801 occupational groups (44% of all occupational groups). Effective employer branding is the only way to sustainably increase employer attractiveness and generate competitive advantages on the labour market. Employer branding is the identity-based development and positioning of a company as an attractive employer. The aim of the article is to identify relevant characteristics of employer attractiveness, which can be located in particular in the perception of IT specialists. The identification of these characteristics should help organizations to optimize their personnel policy in the long term. The authors chose the mixed-methods research approach. The hypothesis system is conceptualized and operationalized within the framework of structural equation modelling (SEM). The practical relevance of the findings from the quantitative research is examined in expert interviews. The data analysis is based on qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz. Due to the research background, data collection is limited to the EU member state Germany. The shift in the balance of power in the labour market towards employees is not a development that can be limited to Europe. In a globalized world, companies have access to a wider talent pool, but are also exposed to increased competition for the best talent. A strong employer brand enables companies to stand out and attract top talent. The empirical results show that a positively perceived employer attractiveness can achieve the employer branding goals of recruiting employees and retaining them in the long term. The clever combination of tangible and intangible benefits, embedded in a modern corporate and error culture (mindset), is decisive in determining whether qualitative growth of the organization is possible.