Cracking the Employer Value Proposition code [Part II]

As we discussed before, the first step in the process of developing your Employer Value Proposition should be assessing your current hiring offer. This means that you should go through all the EVP components in order to establish what and how well developed is a specific reward. This should be analyzed in relation to your main competitors as well since they are also most probably targeting the same candidate profile as you.

>Find out How to crack the Employer Value Proposition [Part I]

There are 4 more phases in the process of identifying your Employer Value Proposition besides step 1/5 that we described already in the previous article. These steps are:

Step 2/5. Gain insights from your present and past employees

Gaining these kinds of insights helps you understand if the analysis from step 1/5 is confirmed by your employees.

Do they feel that you indeed offer recognition for their work? Are the career development opportunities what they expect? You will also notice what elements attract and keep them engaged and performant.

In order to gain insights you can use:

• Employees’ satisfaction surveys to analyze the evolution of perception and delight related to their experience inside the company;
• Focus groups on how they would like their workplace to be like and how to achieve this;
• Management interview about the perception over the culture, employees, what makes this company different from the others;
• Glassdoor (website where current and former employees anonymously review companies) data or insights from other platforms that host the reviews of employees in general;
• Exit interviews and past employees;
• Small workshops were employees can rank and give suggestions regarding the EVP components for Step 1;
• Structured discussions based on the EVP components and employee satisfaction surveys. This is necessary because you might have a ranking related to the most desired features that attract and retain people, but this doesn’t explain WHY each factor matters to them and what is the logic behind the choices they make. The discussions need to be in a structured manner and to evaluate:
• Their overall journey as employees (strong and weak points) until this point;
• What they love about the company;
• What makes them stay;
• What they think could be different in the company;
• How they feel about the vision, values, and behaviors;
• What engages them and why;
• What would make them leave;
• What they like about their colleagues;
• What are their aspirations and how does the company complement them.

To encourage your employees to discuss, formulate questions such as “I noticed in the surveys that a majority of our employees like/do not like X. Why do you think this happens?” or “What are the happiest/memorable moments for you in the company? Why?”.

Ask why as many times as it seems appropriate and leave the discussions with inputs you didn’t know before. Afterward, you can create the candidate profiles and what common needs and ambitions each group has for a targeted approach in the labor market.

Pro tip: The top-performing employees are your ideal profile candidate. Notice what personalities they have, how they behave, what they aspire to, what they are passionate about and what style of communication they prefer. Try to find patterns and to understand where such people come from and where they are going. Your EVP should be tailored to attract these kinds of employees.

This doesn’t mean the rest of your employees’ inputs are not as important. It just helps you understand your potential candidates. Your overall employees should give you feedback in order to improve the company and shape your job offer to also reflect the improvements and positive aspects of your company.

Pro tip: Try to find out from where you gain talent and from where you lose your talent. Combine this with exit interviews as well.

Step 3/5. Think what is feasible for your company

Here there are the main points you should consider:

• Budget constraints;
• Deadlines to meet;
• Who are the responsible people;
• Can you actually implement the EVP?

Top management should also be involved in deciding what can be and not included in the Employer Value Proposition in the long-term. They can also give suggestions on how to align the EVP with the business objectives.

Pro tip: What processes should you change or improve in order to maintain the desired culture and working environment that people are staying for. For example, if your workplace promotes flexibility of schedule, what supports this kind of culture? Remote working days? Generous starting and ending program time? A trickier example is passion. Let’s say you often hear your employees saying that passion is part of your culture. What specific processes sustain this? How do you evaluate it? Are there specific activities and routines that spark passion?

Step 4/5. Define your Employer Value Proposition & write it

Here you need to craft the actual EVP that encompasses what the company does and what kind of people fit its culture.

Pro tip: Make it simple. No complex or fancy words. Only after you have the simplest form, try to articulate it in a style that appeals to the audience. It should also be understood immediately when heard. A great example of a recruitment ad used by a company at some point for attracting software engineers looked for people who “could pull the ears off a gundark” (an obscure Star Wars reference). Smart. Simple. Targeted.

Step 5/5. Test and distill the Employer Value Proposition

This is quite a straightforward step. You need to see the level of appeal the statement has to all stakeholders. Also, this testing tells you what elements of the EVP should be emphasized more or less for different categories of candidates. You also need confirmation and support from top management, marketing, and HR.

Final thoughts

Putting time, thought and effort into the creation of your Employer Value Proposition will boost your employer brand tremendously and support your business objectives.

On the downside, there is no other shortcut to creating an attractive EVP. It takes time, work and patience. But the results in the long term are certainly worth it.

For stepping up your hiring game and create an engaging Employer Value Proposition, get in touch with us. We will be glad to help you craft your EVP to attract the right talent.