Recently, the labor market has become a real arena: not only candidates compete for the attention of employers, but companies go to great lengths to attract qualified personnel. Experts have long argued that “cookies and coffee” are no longer the way to go, and something new must be invented. And with the proliferation of hybrid work formats, HR needs new “tricks” that will help retain key employees and attract new talent.
EVP (Employee Value Proposition) can help. Previously it was thought that EVP was a package of benefits, tangible and intangible benefits and unique offers that set you apart as an employer and increased your attractiveness to the candidate. A more modern understanding of EVP is a system of support, recognition and values to increase engagement and maximize employee potential in the workplace.
Why Is EVP Important?
EVP isn’t a casino roulette online. It’s not as random as it has particular benefits:
- EVP can be used to interest candidates who are in passive search.
- A strong EVP enables an employer to attract qualified employees by offering benefits beyond bonuses and salary.
- EVP saves recruiting costs by retaining current staff.
- A corporate EVP reflects the company’s philosophy and mission to meet the needs of employees and candidates, and helps build off the competition.
Anatomy of EVP
Compensation
Satisfaction with pay and fringe benefits is the employee’s primary motivation. However, career development is just as important. Career advancement and meaningful tasks are weighty advantages employers can offer in their value proposition.
Compensation Package and Benefits
EVP fringe benefits have long been commonplace for most employees. It makes sense to tailor the compensation package to the corporate culture and staff needs. Don’t underestimate the importance of this element of EVP: Most employees make employment decisions after considering the employer’s compensation package.
Development
Prospects, career opportunities, interesting projects, professional advancement – in each company, this element of EVP may vary depending on business opportunities:
- Leadership development.
- Hard skills development.
- Mentoring program.
- Career development.
- Relocation to another city or country.
- Opportunity to work on desired projects.
Often, if an employer cannot offer a competitive salary, this element of EVP will help attract and retain strong professionals.
Climate
A positive work environment in a company is made up of several factors:
- Convenient work schedule (“remote” or hybrid).
- Work & life balance.
- Recognition and encouragement.
- Corporate events and team building activities, etc.
According to LinkedIn, 69% of employees work harder if they get recognition. When creating an HR offline, you need to consider the importance of creating a positive work environment in which professionals can prove themselves, be loyal and involved in the work process.
Corporate Culture of the Company
Every business defines its corporate culture. Depending on the company’s goals, objectives and mission, it may emphasize trust, open and honest teamwork, teamwork, etc. LinkedIn states that 70% of candidates refuse an offer, even if it comes from a market leader company, if the corporate culture includes elements that contradict ethical norms.
EVP Development Algorithm
Outcome Definition
EVP development begins with hindsight. What benefits did your company offer previously? What do you want to achieve? Prepare a list of all the elements of the EVP, analyze each item, determine what the business offers candidates now.
The most important thing in completing this item is complete objectivity. This requires involving all employees in the creation of the EVP. The easiest way to do this is through surveys and questionnaires.
Feedback From Employees
The questions can be as follows:
- Why do you like working for us?
- What is the most important motivation for you in your work?
- What do you think can be improved and how?
- Do you need support from the company, and if so, what should it be?
When answering questions 2 and 4, remember that material motivators are not always important to employees. It can be a change of schedule, additional non-financial bonuses, training, interesting projects, development opportunities, etc.
SWOT Analysis
Feedback from your employees is valuable, but competitor analysis is just as valuable. After all, your task is to build your offer as much as possible from those already existing in the market, so that the candidate will make a choice in favor of your offer. To do this, you need to conduct a SWOT analysis, the result of which is a matrix of 4 elements:
- S (strengths). What makes your company successful and worthy for the candidate, your competitive advantage on the labor market.
- W (weaknesses). An analysis of the negative factors of the internal environment, the “drawdown” areas, the things that can drive candidates away from your offer.
- O (opportunities). In this point, you need to analyze the factors in your business environment that contain hidden potential for candidates.
- T (threats). What will happen to the candidate if they accept your offer? What happens if they don’t? Understanding these points will lead to an understanding of the triggers you need to emphasize in your EVP.
A Portrait of the Audience and the Candidate
Your EVP should be targeted, i.e., address a specific target audience and specific candidates. A candidate portrait is your idea of the ideal candidate you want to hire. You can create this portrait as a result of forming a set of characteristics, knowledge, qualities, skills and abilities that your future employee should have. In addition to professional qualities, the candidate should fit your corporate culture, share the values and goals of your business.
Here are a number of criteria that will help you present a clearer portrait of the candidate:
- Socio-demographic characteristics: gender, age, location.
- Qualifications: education, experience and work experience, skills and abilities.
- Motivation: life goals, interests and hobbies of the candidate, the most interesting career field for him/her.
- Channels for searching: job sites, company website, career lending, social networks, professional and thematic platforms, forums, etc.
Identifying the Key Components of an EVP
In this step, you need to define each element of the EVP based on the candidate portrait and needs you’ve already created. The easiest way to do this is with the following questions:
- Salary and the nature of bonuses/benefits/compensation that will help attract this candidate?
- The career opportunities and prospects most appealing to the candidate?
- The corporate culture that is most appealing to this applicant?
- The work environment that would best suit this applicant?
The answers to these questions you need to capture in an EVP-offer, and then your candidates will be interested in it.
Creating and Promoting an EVP
The previous steps were preparatory, now it’s time to combine all the information you have. Your EVP offer should be clear, unique and motivational, reflect the company’s goals and objectives and give the candidate an idea of your corporate culture, as well as match your employees and the company’s expectations of the future candidate.
It’s important to avoid vague or trivial language when designing an EVP offer – focus on details and specifics. You can give illustrative examples and figures when you tell the candidate about your achievements. For example, “dynamically growing company” is a cliché. It’s better to include revenue growth as a percentage, the number of new branches or offices, or the number of employees who have joined the team in a year.
To promote EVP, you need to scale it to all platforms where contact with the candidate can occur – job posting sites, professional events and conferences, social media communities, forums and portals, etc. You can use both external and internal communication channels to deliver information to your potential job seekers – corporate block or corporate social network, newsletter, internal mail, and other internal corporate communication channels.
Measuring Results
You can measure the first results by the number of reactions to your value proposition. Pay attention to the following indicators:
- Activity on corporate social media.
- The number of applications and responses to vacancies.
- The activity of passive candidates.
- Decrease of staff turnover.
- Decrease of staff burnout.
- Increase in the speed of recruitment.
Once a year HR needs to review and update an EVP. Business doesn’t stand still, company changes happen almost daily, and employee expectations can change over time – and so can candidate expectations. Even if you are sure that you have a great and unique offer, you can always find new and original ideas.
Also Read: Things You Must Know While Hiring a Corporate Event Production Company
