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What is an employee value proposition?
And, why does your company need one
An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is a defined set of monetary and non-monetary benefits that employees receive in exchange for their skills, capabilities, and performance at your company. Your EVP establishes the ethos of your business and encourages people to join your team.
The key elements of an EVP
Crucial to creating an EVP is to ensure it is unique, appealing, and compelling. The most powerful EVPs are built into all aspects of your business and enable you to appeal to the best external talent. While your EVP should be distinctive, it should also consider the following key elements:
Compensation/Benefits
The starting point for most EVPs is how much you’re planning to pay your staff. But it also incorporates various other benefits that you include in your offer, be it a company car, phone, laptop, or life insurance policy, for instance. See Company Car Versus Car Allowance
It’s essential to get your compensation package right, which should be modelled on the industry standard for the role you’re recruiting for. It will be extremely difficult to attract the best talent if you’re not offering a generous compensation package for their time.
Work-life balance
Although a clumsy term, work-life balance is a core aspect of any EVP. Very few people enjoy spending all of their time in an office, so offering flexitime options and remote working to your employees is a good idea.
You also need to think about holiday pay, maternal and paternal leave, and retirement plans, which most candidates will be interested in before applying for a role with your company.
Stability & progression
Candidates will want to know how stable you are as an employer. For example, do you have a high staff turnover, or do employees stay for decades? What’s more, are there clear avenues within your company for progression?
If candidates don’t see how they can progress their careers by working for you, they’re likely to view you as a mere stepping stone. So, articulating growth prospects and being transparent about progression is vital to attract the best talent.
Company culture
Your company culture is the most crucial element of your EVP in many respects, as it permeates every aspect of your business. Rather than what you do, your company culture is how you go about it.
This includes everything from how you treat your staff and customers day-to-day to the various rewards or bonuses you offer for achievements. People want to feel valued in the workplace, and your company culture speaks volumes about how you treat your people.
Training and development
Companies that are open-minded and willing to adopt new practices are the most attractive to work for. One of the best ways to stay current and ahead of your competition is to regularly provide training and development opportunities to your staff.
Whether it’s technical, leadership, or educational training, building training and development opportunities into the fabric of your company will undoubtedly improve your EVP.
How to implement an EVP in your business
It’s impossible to create a vibrant and progressive EVP overnight. Instead, it requires dedicated actions and changes over a more extended period. To implement an EVP, you will need to think about:
What do you currently offer?
Every EVP needs to start somewhere, and some companies aren’t even aware that an EVP is important. Take stock of your current working environment and create an EVP checklist. You will need to be as objective as possible while carrying out your review, so it’s good to seek feedback from current and past employees.
You can use employee surveys to collect feedback from a large organisation. Still, it’s best to adopt a personal approach if your team is small. Find out why people enjoy working at your company, what they think could be improved, and what better support would look like.
This fact-finding mission is your first step towards creating an attractive EVP within your company.
Establish the key elements of your EVP
It’s entirely up to you what your EVP looks like. While it’s a good idea to borrow from best practice, you don’t just need to offer annual ski trips to the Alps just because your competitors do.
Using the key elements of EVPs listed above, start to think specifically about what yours will look like and what you need to add to improve it. You might even segment your EVP, depending on who you recruit.
Articulate your EVP
The next step is to articulate your EVP as succinctly as possible. Most companies do this through an employee value proposition statement. It should be clear and to the point and easily accessible to all employees and candidates.
At this stage, you should share your EVP with the senior leadership team and seek their feedback before proceeding to the final stage.
Implement and review
Last but not least, it’s time to implement your EVP. You might think that writing a statement on your company’s website is sufficient, but you’d be wide of the mark. It would be best to create awareness of your new EVP within your current staff and with those on the outside.
You can do this through social media and workshops while improving your literature to reflect your new values and EVP. Remember, implementing a new EVP takes time and considerable effort, so you must be patient.
It’s important to review each part of the process, ensuring that everyone is on board with the changes. Actions speak louder than words when implementing an EVP, so make sure it’s not a tokenistic gesture.
Final thoughts: why an EVP is important
The bottom line is that an EVP is so crucial because it shows your current team and potential employees that they’re valued. It shows that your company cares about the people that work so hard to make it a success, which is too important to overlook. We want to leave you with three statistics to highlight the importance of developing a compelling and effective EVP:
- 69% of employees say they’d work harder if they were better appreciated.
- 85% of employees feel that they are not currently engaged at work.
- 73% of employees are considering leaving their jobs.
If the above statistics don’t showcase the need to create a conducive working environment, then we don’t know what will.
Aaron Wallis are a national specialist sales recruitment agency comfortable across many sectors, however more recently the majority of our clients utilise the below offerings:
Date published: 26th February 2024
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by Sophie Jones
Associate Director
About the author
Sophie Jones
Sophie is an Associate Director at Aaron Wallis, and her main focus is to help clients find the best sales talent while ensuring that candidates secure the best professional fit. Sophie doesn't just fill vacancies; she strives to understand her clients' business goals, and she identifies candidates who will not only excel in the role but also contribute to the company's long-term success. Maintaining open communication is crucial, and Sophie ensures that clients are well-informed throughout the recruitment process, addressing any concerns and ensuring that expectations are met. She's a trusted advisor, and her ability to build bridges, solve problems, and advocate for success makes her an invaluable asset in the World of sales recruitment.
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