How to develop a winning employee value proposition (EVP)
What is an employee value proposition?
An employee value proposition (EVP) is the overall benefits package you offer your employees in return for their skills, capabilities, and experience.
A strong EVP goes beyond the standard benefits offering and needs to demonstrate what sets you apart from your competition and should focus on areas such as flexible approaches towards working, values and culture, as well as demonstrate that you are investing in your people.
People Partner of Organisational Development, Jessica Wallace from Moore Kingston Smith’s People Advisory, shares details on key areas for businesses that are establishing their EVP.
Examples and key components of a strong employee value proposition (EVP)
A strong EVP should include the following components:
Cultivating a positive culture and values
Whilst it will differ across any company, ensuring that your workplace culture is positive, employee-friendly and integrates employee-focused initiatives can be key in attracting and retaining talent. A positive workplace culture is one that is supportive, collaborative, and values its employees.
There are many things that employers can do to create a positive workplace culture. Some of these things include:
- Encouraging open communication: Employees should feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their ideas.
- Promoting teamwork and collaboration: Employees should feel like they are part of a team and that their contributions are valued.
- Recognising and rewarding employees: Employees should be recognised and rewarded for their hard work and accomplishments.
- Creating a flexible work environment: Employees should have the flexibility to work in a way that best suits their needs.
- Providing opportunities for growth and development: Employees should have opportunities to learn and grow in their careers.
- Ensuring a fair and equitable workplace: Employees should be treated fairly and equitably.
- By creating a positive workplace culture, employers can attract and retain top talent, boost employee morale and productivity, and improve the overall success of the company.
Here are some strategies that employers can do to cultivate a positive culture and values:
- Hold regular team meetings to get to know your employees, share feedback, and build rapport.
- Celebrate successes to show your employees that their work is valued and appreciated.
- Resolve conflicts quickly and fairly to help to create a sense of trust and respect among employees.
- Be open to feedback and make changes as needed. This shows that you value their input and that you are committed to creating a positive work environment.
Building a clear career progression path
Employees want to feel like they can grow and develop in their careers. A strong employee value proposition (EVP) should offer opportunities for training, development, and advancement.
A flat structure can leave employees feeling they lack opportunities for advancement, resulting in them looking for alternative employers that offer a stronger career path. Employers should be looking to clearly communicate progression opportunities through a carefully thought-out succession plan for the business. Not only will succession planning act as an incentive for your top talent, but it reassures you of future-proofing your people structure.
Here are some specific things employers can do to build a clear career progression path:
- Create a job ladder: This is a document that outlines the different levels of jobs in the company, as well as the requirements for each level.
- Set clear expectations: Employees should know what they need to do to advance in their careers. This includes things like performance goals, training requirements, and experience levels.
- Provide regular feedback: Employees should receive regular feedback on their performance so that they know how they are doing and what they need to do to improve.
- Offer opportunities for training and development: Employees should have opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge that will help them advance in their careers.
- Promote from within: When possible, employers should promote employees from within the company. This shows employees that there is a clear path for advancement and that their hard work will be rewarded.
Benchmarking salaries and benefits
With specialist roles in high demand, employees are likely to be aware of what they may be entitled to for similar-level roles with nearby competitors. Therefore, salary benchmarking, and ensuring that your salary and benefits packages are competitive and in line with, if not above, the market average is more important than ever. Not only will this help you stand out against recruiting competitors and help you attract the best of the best, but it will also help retain your current top talent and reduce the risk of them looking elsewhere or being lured in by head-hunters.
Thus, it is important to benchmark your EVP against your competitors to make sure you are offering a competitive package.
Salary is not the only thing that matters. Employees also value things like flexible work arrangements, health insurance, and good pension schemes.
Here are some other benefits that employees may value:
- Paid time off
- Child care assistance
- Gym membership discounts
- Employee discounts
- Wellness programs
- Volunteer opportunities
By offering competitive benefits, you can show your employees that you value their contributions and that you’re committed to their success. This can help you attract and retain top talent, and it can also boost employee morale and productivity.
Importance of monitoring employee engagement
Employee engagement is a key indicator of the success of your EVP. It measures how invested employees are in their work and how satisfied they are with their jobs.
There are many benefits to having a highly engaged workforce. Engaged employees are more productive, more creative, and more likely to stay with your company. They are also more likely to be positive ambassadors for your brand.
There are many things you can do to improve employee engagement. Some of these things include:
- Setting clear goals and expectations: Employees should know what is expected of them and how their performance will be evaluated.
- Providing regular feedback: Employees should receive regular feedback on their performance so that they know how they are doing and what they need to do to improve.
- Creating opportunities for communication: Employees should have opportunities to communicate with their managers and with each other.
- Resolving problems quickly: When problems arise, be sure to resolve them quickly and fairly.
- Being transparent: Employees should be kept informed about what is happening in the company.
The best way to monitor employee engagement is to conduct regular surveys. A staff engagement survey allows employers to listen to employees’ immediate concerns and take their feedback on board. Acting upon or, at the very least, acknowledging employees’ perceptions can instantly improve employee engagement and allow you, as the employer, to identify weak areas and make the relevant changes to create an overall happier workforce.
Conducting staff engagement surveys on an annual basis also allows employers to monitor results and gauge how previous action has improved overall engagement within key areas of the business.
Investing in training and development
Employees want to feel like they are constantly learning and growing. A strong employee value proposition (EVP) should offer opportunities for training and development.
Training and development can help employees acquire new skills and knowledge, which can lead to career advancement. It can also help employees improve their performance in their current roles.
There are many ways to provide training and development opportunities for employees. Some of these ways include:
- On-the-job training: This is where employees learn new skills and knowledge by working alongside more experienced employees.
- Leader and management training: Ensuring your leader and management team are well equipped with the right training, knowledge, and skills to lead your workforce effectively can play a considerable part in employees feeling invested in, reaching their maximum potential, and remaining engaged within the workplace.
- External training courses: This is where employees attend training courses that are offered by outside organisations.
- Mentorship programs: This is where employees are paired with more experienced employees who can provide guidance and support.
Here are some additional benefits of investing in training and development:
- Increased productivity: Employees who are well-trained are more likely to be productive.
- Reduced turnover: Employees who are happy and engaged are less likely to leave their jobs.
- Increased innovation: Employees who are constantly learning are more likely to come up with new ideas and solutions.
Developing an employee value proposition
The first step in developing an EVP is to identify your target audience. Who are you trying to attract? Who are you trying to retain? Once you know your audience, you can start to define the benefits that are most important to them.
It’s also important to consider your company’s culture and values. What makes your company unique? What do you want to be known for? Your EVP should reflect your company’s culture and values.
Once you have a good understanding of your target audience and your company’s culture and values, you can start to develop your EVP. Be sure to get feedback from employees throughout the process. This will help ensure that your EVP is desirable and valued by your employees.
How Moore Kingston Smith can help
Our People Partners are specialised in reward, organisational development, and training and development, bringing a wealth of experience to the table, having executed a diverse range of projects that can contribute significantly to the establishment of a competitive EVP. As CIPD-accredited professionals, they offer a commercial partnering approach to businesses navigating people-related challenges, extending their expertise beyond the areas above to provide employment law advice, people relations, outsourced HR, HR strategy, and leadership & development.
Our methodology at Moore Kingston Smith People Advisory diverges from templates or rigid project frameworks. We work closely with you to ensure that every project we deliver is customised to your needs, business, and people. This approach, we have found, yields the most effective results with enduring impacts.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. We would be happy to discuss your specific needs and how we can help you create an EVP that will attract and retain top talent.