Employee Value Proposition: What you should know about EVP
What is Employee Value Proposition (EVP)?
What is Employee Value Proposition (EVP)?
In today’s competitive market place, the success of any business relies heavily on the people it employs. Every company wants to ensure that it has the best talent working to help it achieve its goals. Excellence is critical to survival. Yet in a knowledge-driven environment, attracting, hiring and retaining the best people is a challenge that many companies face.
Demand often outstrips supply. As such, in addition to marketing their business, firms must now effectively sell the jobs they have on offer in order to stand a chance of attracting the best talent.
This is where your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) comes in. Defined as encompassing everything an employer is doing to attract and retain employees, an EVP includes all of the pay, benefits, rewards, and perks that come with being an employee of a particular organisation.
EVP balances an employee’s performance in the workplace with suitable rewards and recognition – placing it far beyond a staff rewards scheme. Forget a simple ‘employee of the month’ certificate and a box of broken biscuits – EVP’s true purpose is to give a solid incentive as to why an employee would not only want to work at a company but work well at that company – as opposed to finding work somewhere else.
Therefore, EVP is about creating a workplace environment and developing a brand which employees consider is superior to work for, thereby attracting the best candidates and ensuring that they want to stay.
Five key factors of Employee Value Proposition
Five key factors of Employee Value Proposition
Employer Value Proposition is a thoroughly modern approach adopted by forward-thinking businesses which are keen to win the war for talented individuals to join their workplace.
Broadly speaking, it comprises five key principles:
- Base rewards – EVP includes traditionally recognised rewards such as health and retirement benefits, holiday and leave entitlements, and compensation.
- Career development – EVP also offers career development opportunities designed to keep talented individuals feeling valued and challenged
- Communication – Forget traditional corporate hierarchy – EVP considers the vital role of human interaction from co-workers to senior management
- Company culture – It recognises the importance of the quality of product or service being offered, the market position of the company and existing branding
- Balance – It recognises the need for a balance of work and personal life.
Why is having a good EVP important?
Why is having a good EVP important?
To succeed in a competitive environment, any business needs to ensure a steady flow of customers and the ability to continually make a profit. To do this, either the product or service being provided must be high quality, with these components further supported by excellent customer service.
So, how do you ensure delivery of excellent customer service? With happy, talented staff.
The Wellbeing Agenda report (2018) found that 97 per cent of HR decision makers agree that employee happiness leads to higher productivity, with employee benefits playing a huge role in achieving this.
When an employee is happy and satisfied at work, they are far more likely to talk positively about the firm outside of work – whether they’re out with friends, on social media or employer review portals. This can have the positive effect of increasing brand awareness, consumer confidence and revenues – as well as keep a steady flow of top talent interested in working with your company.
The role of EVP in recruitment
The role of EVP in recruitment
A good EVP is your key to attracting top talent above your competitors.
Getting the right person to fill a vacancy isn’t always an easy task, whatever the role. Talented candidates will already be in a strong position and may well be holding the cards with several offers to consider at any point in time. It is therefore essential for you to make your organisation stand out, as your clients buy from you for a reason.
This where EVP is vital. The rewards on offer for working for one company over and above any other must be sufficient to attract the very best candidates. The brand image of the company and how it presents itself to existing and potential staff are key factors now considered by many candidates in determining their next career move.
How to create an employee value proposition
How to create an employee value proposition
Even the best salary packages are not always sufficient to hold onto the people you most want to retain. This is why creating a great Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is essential.
Though EVP sounds like complex HR-speak, remember it’s just an umbrella term for all the amazing reasons why somebody would want to work for one particular company over another. It exists to attract, retain and motivate staff.
And, thankfully, it doesn’t have to be difficult to create.
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Look at what you currently offer
Refer back to the five key factors of EVP detailed in the above section. How far does your company go in offering each one, from employee benefits such as healthcare and flexible working, to career development or a good company culture?
It’s important to be objective in fulfilling this checklist – so enlist the help of trusted employees or anyone else that will help you take an unbiased look at your employee offerings at present.
1. Assess your company’s reputation
As part of fulfilling the above, you’ll also want to assess your company culture and branding, defining your company and working out the limits of what you can and can’t offer.
The first step is to take an honest look at your company and canvass opinion on it. An EVP can only work well if it truly reflects the reality of working for the business.
Get a diverse set of opinions from a focus group of existing and past staff members, asking a few simple questions such as:
- Why were you attracted to working for this company?
- Why are you still working here?
- What might prompt you to leave in the future?
- What makes working for the company unique?
When you feel you have a good understanding as to the reality of working for the business, and what motivates your top performers, there are several other steps you can take to ensure you build and communicate a great EVP for future employees.
2. Define your EVP’s key components
From your research, you can then begin to build your EVP, balancing what you’ve discovered your employees want against what you as an employer are able to give.
Use your feedback and brand analysis to determine:
- Salary range and benefits that will attract your target candidates.
- Career growth opportunities your potential employees are looking for
- Company culture and work environment needed to help the company thrive
You may find that the answers to these needs adapt across different roles and seniority levels in your organisation – in which case it may be best to fulfil a tiered EVP for each (i.e. recent graduates might prioritise career development and a fun office environment, whereas professionals further in their careers may place higher value on childcare, flexible working and career stability).
3. Write your employee value proposition
Now that you’ve determined the parameters of your EVP, it’s time to get it in writing. A strong employee value proposition statement should be clear and relatable to your employees and top candidates. Place focus on the employee experience you can deliver, and inspire your workforce with an EVP that’s consistently aligned with both your employees’ and company’s expectations.
4. Promote your EVP – starting with existing staff
Once your EVP is ready, you should be taking steps to make it clear to employees old and new just what is on offer to them. Today’s employers need to be prepared to shout about what makes them the company to work for, whether it’s financial benefits, non-financial rewards, flexible working or a proactive culture that supports professional development (or, ideally, all of the above).
This means going further than simply posting on your website’s careers page: you need to look at leveraging your different communication channels – both internally and externally – to get the word out amongst both your current employees and potential future candidates.
Internally, this may mean company meetings, emails, or hand-outs. Externally, you’re likely to be looking at adding your EVP to job postings, on social media channels such as LinkedIn, or even in recruiting videos and employee referral programs.
The way that you communicate with your workers has a direct impact on employee experience and, in turn, your employee value proposition.
5. Review the results
Once you’re finished writing your EVP, and promotion is well underway, it’s wise to take time every now and then to review the results of all your hard work. Is key talent responding to your new EVP? You might want to ask yourself the following questions:
- Is my company getting higher engagements on social media?
- Are we seeing an increase in applications?
- Are passive candidates responding more positively?
Employees’ needs and expectations change over time, and the HR process is always changing, so it’s worth revisiting your EVP on an annual basis. This will put you in the best position possible for attracting and retaining top talent for your business.
Key statistics to inform your EVP
- Businesses that effectively deliver on their EVP can decrease annual employee turnover by just under 70% and increase new hire commitment by nearly 30%.
- A well-executed employee value proposition can Increase the likelihood of employees acting as sponsors from an average of 24% to 47%.
- 43% of employees cite limited career paths as a primary reason for leaving a job.
- A survey run in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that 73% of the respondents believed they were more efficient when working from home.
- 85% of employees say they’re most motivated when management offers regular updates on company news.
- Employees who say their manager is not good at communicating are 23% more likely to experience mental health decline.
- 74% of employees have the feeling they are missing out on company news.
- Only 23% of executives say that their companies are excellent at aligning employees’ goals with corporate purposes
- Employee satisfaction at Google rose by 37% as a result of employee support initiatives.
Further resources on EVP
Further resources on EVP
Workology: 9 Employer Examples of EVPs
Harver: 11 Best Employee Value Proposition Examples to Inspire You
ThriveMap: Employee Value Propositions: 14 Great Examples
Overview
EVP covers a multitude of rewards and benefits, extending far beyond salary. Work-life balance, professional development opportunities, culture and even long-term vision can all play a key role in the overall ‘offer’ a company can communicate to job seekers and existing employees.
Recruiting can be costly both financially and in terms of staff time, so it’s vital for any organisation to ensure that it keeps good employees happy in order to minimise attrition rates and the associated re-hire and indirect costs.
It is a common mistake for firms to focus solely on attracting new talent whilst neglecting the needs of existing staff. EVP must be about creating a balance of rewards which recognises the performance of individuals across all levels in the organisation. It goes beyond offering financial remuneration to new hires. EVP’s capabilities extend to helping firms hold on to highly valuable team members through a winning combination of rewards, culture and environment.
With so much to gain, establishing a compelling EVP is something that no serious firm can afford to ignore.
Need help establishing your EVP? Get in touch with ScaleX Consulting for expert recruitment and retainment advice, and write a winning Employee Value Proposition that’ll serve your company for years to come.