Is Your Employee Value Proposition Helping – or Hurting – Your Hiring Success?

Your employee value proposition is the full complement of elements you offer employees in return for their contribution to your business. It encompasses everything that truly matters to an individual about their job and their company – the things they brag to their friends about outside of work.

Your employee value proposition (EVP) can be a key factor driving the success of your hiring plans – but only if it’s strategically designed and implemented and sustainable for the long term.

The Mark of a High-Performing Organization

The recent recession changed the face of the global workforce as employers invoked revolutionary cost-cutting measures to protect their bottom line and enhance productivity. As the recession ebbs, employees are looking for job security, stability and the opportunity for higher compensation and more attractive benefits. To be impactful and sustainable in today’s climate, your EVP must:

• Be effective in any economic environment – support robust growth, but be scalable in the event of a downturn.
• Address the broad range of elements in the “deals” that are important to prospective hires. These include pay, benefits, training and development, flexible work arrangements, advancement opportunities, an appealing culture and a sense of purpose.
• Allow for flexibility to target key groups – high performers, high potentials and critical-skill employees.

In a recent survey of more than 3,000 talent management leaders, 83 percent agreed that their EVP was a critical driver of the ability to hire top performers.

Virtually all organizations have informal EVPs, but globally only 34 percent have formalized them. High-performing businesses are in the forefront in terms of fully developing EVPs and communicating them to their workforces. EVPs are in place at:

• 42 percent of high-performing organizations.
• 32 percent of average-performing organizations.
• 28 percent of organizations performing below their peers.

What Employees Want

As candidates consider prospective employers – and current employees ponder their future – they want a comprehensive picture of an organization and its purpose. They need to know:

• How a company is viewed by the world.
• Their specific role in company goals and visions.
• How their performance will be recognized and rewarded.
• How an organization supports them and their families through its benefits.
• How they will meld into a company’s culture and work environment.
• If they will have access to the people, processes, tools and technology that predicate success.

The employer is charged with connecting employees’ well-being with their decision to join your company. This is especially critical when recruiting passive candidates who tend to be more reluctant to make a move if there is any element of uncertainty.

Best Practices for Best Results

Your EVP must be unique, relevant and compelling in order to be effective. Effective brand alignment requires HR and marketing to collaborate and develop a fully integrated employee and customer experience. Best practices include:

• A well-articulated plan that clearly outlines objectives, deliverables, timing and return on investment. Make sure that both quantitative and qualitative data are employed and all key stakeholders are actively involved.
• A skilled, diverse project team including HR, finance, IT, communications, marketing, business units, students, new hires and tenured employees.
• Early adoption by leadership to change behaviors and model EVP expectations.
• A rigorous change in management approach. Measure and test throughout the development process, maintain EVP momentum, and avoid delays between key milestones.

As you develop your EVP and related talent management tools, consider partnering with an expert recruiter from BrainWorks. Contact us today to learn more about our team and cutting edge recruiting process!