According to the concept of social responsibility, an organization should identify basic groups of shareholders, recognise their expectations and include achievement of their benefits in their goals to shape good relations with stakeholders supporting stable functioning and development. Without any doubts employees constitute a very important group of stakeholders for an enterprise. This also results from theoretical approaches proposed in the literature on the subject.

They include the so-called model of 6 markets in which there are main current and potential partners to the relationships, the model of relationships exchange by Morgan and Hunt, the model of company and its partnership by Doyle and complex model 30R by Gummeson (Otto 2004, pp. 54–62). The model of six markets assumes shaping relationships with customers, suppliers, influential institutions, intermediaries and distributors, and finally with potential and current employees (forming the so-called internal market) (Ballantyne et al. 2003). Actions related to relationships marketing can be indicated with reference to each of the abovementioned markets.

Over the recent years, in many sectors, it is increasingly more difficult to recruit and retain employees. The problem concerns especially the professions demanding from employees modern skills and competences in the sphere of using information technologies, even though also other sectors observe a growing problem of shortage of workers (senior medical care, work in retailing or health care). The sources of the problems of this nature are noticed in a number of determinants starting from negative demographic phenomena (ageing of societies and decreasing number of professionally active people in successive years), through dramatic change in attitudes and expectations towards the workplaces of the representatives of generation Y, generation C (a part of generation Y) and generation Z that is going to enter the labour market soon. Employer market changed into employee market, therefore the enterprises put increasingly greater emphasis on the issues related to workers. Implementation of CSR concept in operations of these enterprises as an element of employer branding is really vital also in this respect. For business enterprises, a positive employer brand is becoming an important competitive asset. In the context of market environment, it allows them to obtain resources of particular significance, i.e. employees with required skills, competence, and predispositions, and to retain those already in employment (Bilińska-Reformat and Stańczyk 2018, pp. 2–12). This is because strong, positively shaped image raises stakeholders’ confidence in organization, becomes a determinant of its development and also makes competitors search for new sources of market advantage. What is important is the fact that it allows to recruit resources of special importance, i.e. workers of desired competences and predisposition (the so-called talents) and retain those already employed while increasing their satisfaction from cooperation with a given employer.

Contemporary future employees have increasingly greater knowledge about operations of enterprises and are more and more interested in the way employees are treated. It is associated with growth of their general awareness as for example consumers which is reflected in growing demands concerning ethical behaviours of companies in various aspects of their activity (e.g. fair treatment of suppliers, pro-ecological actions or fair treatment of employees) (Bilińska-Reformat 2015).

Building relationships by an organization with employees begins at the moment of recruitment, lasts over the period of the worker employment until the moment they leave the company, which is also referred to as de-recruitment (Krasnova 2016, p. 186). Each of the stages demands implementation of separate actions within corporate social responsibility that supports building appropriate relationships with employees.

The notion of employer branding is closely related to marketing and the strategy of product branding. If the notion of product brand is extensively presented in the literature (Bastos and Levy 2012; Gardner and Levy 1995; Kotler and Keller 2012; Aaker 1996; Keller 1993, 2009; Bilińska-Reformat and Dewalska-Opitek 2016), considering the employer, the notion of brand does not have such a long tradition. Barrow and Ambler already in mid 1990s (1996) stated that employer brand can be defined as “the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company”. It conveys the “value proposition” which consists of the organization’s culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on individual and professional levels. Sullivan (2004) defined employer branding as “a targeted, long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees, and related stakeholders with regards to a particular firm”. According to Backhaus and Tikoo (2004), the term employer branding means the differentiation to highlight the unique aspects of a firm as an employer from those of its competitors in that area. Wilden et al. (2010, pp. 56–73) emphasise that employer branding in the context of recruitment is the package of psychological, economic and functional benefits that potential employees associate with employment with a particular company. Knowledge of these perceptions can help organizations to create an attractive and competitive employer brand. Also according to Chhabra and Sharma employer brand loyalty results in moving employees from employment contract to psychological contract (2014).

Employer branding is dedicated not only to future employees, but also to those already employed. Here, among the tools of building employer’s image, researchers’ attention is attracted by voluntary pension systems, the impact of which is not fully recognised yet, even though their significance in building relationships with employers can be indicated (Olejnik and Stefańska 2018).

Employer branding brings some advantages to companies (Ritson 2002), including reduced cost of employee acquisition, improved employee relations, increased employee retention and offering lower salaries for comparable staff to firms with weaker employer brands (Berthon et al. 2005). The report of research conducted by HRM Institute shows that employers notice many benefits coming from implementation of employer branding actions. Among them, the ease of attracting talents to organization and consistent company communication are in the first positions. They both reached 86% of indications. Other benefits of the introduction of employer branding strategy in companies include efficient adjustment of candidates to the organization culture—76% and growth of employees’ commitment—75% (http://​blog.​inijob.​com/​2018/​02/​21/​budowanie_​marki_​pracodawcy/​).

The very process of employer brand creation includes three stages:

Building appropriate relationships between entrepreneurs and their employees is one of fundamental assumptions of corpor...