Employee Value Proposition (EVP) – Creating a competitive advantage when recruiting

EVPs – What are they and why every business should have one

An EVP is a statement that highlights the competitive strengths of a specific role within your company, that you are looking to recruit for.  Its key purpose is to differentiate your roles and your organisation from alternative similar roles offered by your competitors. In other words, the EVP answers the potential employee’s question, “Why should I apply for this job — what’s in it for me?” It must be unique, relevant, and compelling in order to convince the best candidates that you are a great place to work.

Creating a strong EVP

Creating a strong EVP is fast becoming an important tool for attracting top talent when the competition is rife. EVPs can enhance and elevate your business, and in particular a specific role you are looking to fill, to potential employees, making you a more desirable workplace for top candidates. The fact that you have a clear vision and an established Employer Brand is something that the better candidates will find attractive. In the current recruitment market, candidates often have a choice of similar roles on offer and they have the power to choose where they want to work.

Designing an EVP that is unique to your organisation will considerably improve your talent acquisition and retention, giving you an employer brand that has an edge over your competitors.

Defining your EVP

As you begin the process of defining your EVP, you have the opportunity to correct parts that don’t fit with your company vision or are out of line with your competitors. Try to comprehend which parts are really unique and can become a key selling point for your company and articulate this through your EVP clearly, to both current employees and potential new recruits.

It’s also a great tool for retaining talent and companies with strong EVP’s usually see higher retention rates among their quality employees. However, while simply having an Employee Value Proposition is all good and well, companies need to be careful of failing to deliver on them. Social media is raw and honest, so when an employee’s actual experience doesn’t meet the expectations they had based on the company EVP, the rest of the world is bound to learn about it through online reviews, social media posts and comments.

EVPs need to cover the complete experience of working at a company, and this experience is a combination of 5 key elements:

Work

The extent to which tasks and responsibilities are challenging, fulfilling and align with personal career goals. Clearly outlining the importance the role has within the organisation. What about the team atmosphere and group dynamics? What is the tenure of others in this role? Will this be an independent or work-from-home role?

Rewards

Meaningful rewards that speak to the needs and interests of employees, including number of days holiday, bonuses, pension contributions, training and skills development. Any perks such as discounted gym membership all add to the overall value of the compensation package and none of these should be overlooked.

Environment

Break out areas, free coffee, an inspiring working environment and everything else that makes the office a happy place to be.

Company Culture

Trust and collaboration, healthy relationships between employees, leaders, managers, team communication and support that encourages growth and mutual success. People want to work for companies they can be proud of. What is it that sets your company apart from others in your industry? Highlighting your company’s achievements, history and future plans in your recruiting strategy helps attract potential candidates. Show off your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) achievements. Let them know why you think you should be an employer of choice.

Opportunities

Opportunities for career advancement, personal development through formal training and on-the-job learning, and even networking opportunities. More and more, job seekers are looking for their next job even as they are starting a current one. By clearly defining where each position sits within your organisation’s structure and where you expect this position to lead, job seekers can envision their career path several steps at a time. This is a value-add that really strikes a chord with new hires.

In Summary

Building a strong Employee Value Proposition can have a huge impact on your candidate attraction, recruitment and retention efforts. Spend the necessary time on getting it right and communicating it effectively, both internally and externally. You’ll soon begin to recognise the benefits and reap the rewards.

The Recruitment Bureau 

TRB can help you to develop your EVP. We know and understand your business sector and your markets, with this insight we can help develop your unique EVP. Once we have developed a compelling EVP, we can help communicate your EVP, making candidates aware of it at the earliest stage in the recruitment process. Contact us today. We would love to discuss EVPs and any other recruitment needs you might have.