How to review and evolve your employee value proposition
posted 07 Feb 24
Triggered by the pandemic and exacerbated by a new generation entering the workforce, we are witnessing increased employee expectations in recent years and a phenomenon of restlessness among employees. As a result, employers are experiencing a highly competitive talent market, with a staggering 80% of employers facing difficulties attracting necessary talent. In this new era of hiring, organisations need to continuously evolve how they attract candidates and look at strategies to retain their valued workforce.
In our recent webinar, we were joined by Victoria Bond, CEO at Ten Space (employee engagement and experience specialists) and Jess Matthewman, Global Head of Employee Brand & Engagement at OLX, to explore how to create an authentic employee value proposition (EVP) and the importance of reviewing and adapting your EVP. We have collated the key EVP strategies for attraction and retention discussed in the webinar below.
Employee Value Proposition (EVP) strategies
Create an EVP Playbook
An EVP playbook is a comprehensive guide or resource that outlines the key components, messaging, and strategies related to your organisation's EVP. It serves as a reference document for HR professionals, recruiters, managers, and employees to understand, communicate, and strengthen the employee brand.
You need to make sure that the story that you are telling is the same across the whole business and that you're singing from the same hymn sheet
Typically, an EVP playbook may include the following elements:
- Overview: A summary of what the EVP is, its importance, and how it aligns with your mission, values, and goals.
- EVP components: Detailed descriptions of each part of the EVP, such as compensation and benefits, career development opportunities, and work culture.
- Messaging guidelines: Guidelines on how to communicate the EVP internally and externally, including key messages, tone of voice, and branding elements.
- Employee testimonials: Real-life stories from employees that illustrate the EVP in action and highlight the employee experience.
- Recruitment strategies: Strategies for attracting and hiring top talent based on the EVP, including employer branding, recruitment marketing, and candidate engagement tactics.
- Retention strategies: Tactics to leverage the EVP to retain employees, such as employee engagement initiatives, career development programs, and recognition efforts.
- Training and development: Resources and training materials for managers and employees to understand and promote the EVP.
- Measurement and evaluation: Outline how you will track the effectiveness of the EVP, for example, employee satisfaction surveys and employer branding metrics.
Nominate EVP champions
While some larger organisations may have a dedicated EVP person, typically, your EVP will sit with HR or internal comms or even at CEO-level if you are a smaller firm. When asked who should be responsible within teams with no dedicated EVP function, Victoria answered:
I think anybody can, if you're passionate about it and you're able to run a project and pull people together, it’s an ideal skill set.
Jess agrees “I think in small businesses, you wear many hats.”
If you want to create an evolve an EVP but you do not have that specialised person, you could also run a project group with everybody contributing towards it. Project groups are also a great way to gather employee feedback and ensure that everybody feels involved and able to input, for example, on why they feel people would want to join or what makes them stay.
You don't necessarily need that one person. It helps, but I would definitely say you can step up and do it and just take input from the rest of the business and do it as a collaborative effort - a lot of the time, as an EVP person, you are coordinating what is already out there and getting that feedback and structuring it.
Continually evolve and evaluate effectiveness
“Creating an EVP is not a once and done project”, Victoria Bond warns as she encourages employers to look at their EVP and EVP Playbook at least twice a year to keep it fresh and relevant and ensure you are articulating the differentials enough. To do this, we recommend the following methods:
- Gather employee feedback – Get employees involved using tools like regular engagement surveys, which will allow you to look at whether there are any other strengths that have come in terms of your culture.
- Carry out competitor research – Do you know what competitors are doing, and are you keeping up the pace? Look at your competitor's ‘Work for us’ pages and company socials to get a feel for their EVP and culture.
- Look at the data – By analysing metrics such as employee engagement, turnover rates, and recruitment success, you can assess its effectiveness and determine whether its resonating with employees and prospective candidates.
Adapt your EVP marketing
If you’re investing the time and resources into perfecting your EVP, it’s absolutely crucial that you are getting the message out there. If you spend a lot of time creating marketing materials to portray your EVP and attract and retain talent, but they are falling flat or not reaching intended audiences, it is not a worthwhile exercise. Take the time to review engagement metrics, trial different content mediums, and identify new channels and platforms to optimise your EVP marketing.
Jess and Victoria have seen less polished posts hitting the mark over hyper-organised and corporate marketing, for example, video employee testimonials or a day in the life on TikTok. Showing real people in a natural way often has the most impact and drives engagement as people feel this is more authentic and telling of the brand.
In summary, a well-crafted and effectively communicated EVP can provide an advantage in a competitive talent market. By regularly reviewing and optimising your EVP, you can ensure that it remains aligned with employee needs, effective in attracting talent, differentiated from competitors, and adaptable to changes in the organisational and economic landscape. Your EVP is an ongoing process - improvements are essential for maintaining a strong employer brand and competitive position. Remember, an EVP benefits many business areas across the whole people spectrum, including the recruitment process, retention strategy, and employee experience. At Search, we encourage our clients to create and evolve their EVP - it's not only an enjoyable and worthwhile project, but you will learn a lot about your people along the way!
For more insight on creating and evolving a strong EVP and positioning this effectively, access our recently recorded webinar ‘Differentiating your company in a competitive talent market’ featuring our expert panel.
