How to build and implement a winning employee value proposition

A strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is important for business growth, reportedly increasing productivity by 10% and profitability by 30%, while reducing employee turnover by 69%, as per Gallup research. However, employee experience goes beyond generous compensation. People-first workplace culture, purpose-led missions, and flexibility have become top priorities for employees in recent years. Candidates now expect more, including greater flexibility, improved work-life balance, a positive work culture, and ample opportunities for career progression.

Your EVP serves as your pitch to prospective employees, showcasing your unique employer brand. So, what makes up an EVP? Essentially, it's a pitch that outlines why a candidate would choose to join and remain at your company over others. It showcases everything your company has to offer to potential candidates and gives your existing staff reasons to stick around. Building a winning Employee Value Proposition (EVP) can go a long way towards engaging and retaining the best candidates.

The key advantages of a strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

• Lowers staff turnover
• Boosts new employee dedication
• Can appeal to inactive job seekers

What is an EVP?

A winning EVP should include attractive benefits, a clear positive workplace culture, internal progression paths, and an emphasis on the organisation's mission and values. Employers must consider diverse talent preferences, as there is no one-size-fits-all EVP. When you are building a successful EVP, it is important to consider:

• Compensation & Benefits: Whilst it is important to have competitive salaries, clear career progression pathways and fair practices in place, there are other ways you can sell your organisation as the place to work. For example, ensuring you are offering your workforce healthcare benefits, generous annual leave allowances and flexible working options. While all employees value a people-focused culture and work-life balance, millennials prioritise mental health resources (68%), and older employees prefer flexible paid time off (66%) according to Forbes Advisor data from 2024.
• Work Environment & Culture: Company culture has been referred to as, ‘how we do things around here’, creating an EVP is your chance to showcase how you do things. Everyone wants to feel safe and happy in their organisation, we spend a lot of our time at work, and no one wants to be in a negative work environment, your people are your biggest advertising asset when it comes to selling your organisation - if they are happy with the culture and environment this will shine through and entice others to find out why.
• Fulfilling Work: Although not as well highlighted as some of the other categories, making sure your organisaiton is providing people with meaningful work is very important. People want to feel they are making a difference through the work they do now more than ever so providing your employees with opportunity to implement and contribute their ideas to the wider organisational goals is a great step towards building a winning EVP.

Steps to crafting and implementing an employee value proposition

1. Understand Your Existing Talent and Prospect Talent: The first step in building a winning employee value proposition is to understand the needs, aspirations, and motivations of your existing and target talent pool. Conducting surveys, focus groups, and interviews with current and prospective employees can provide valuable insights into what matters most to them. Whether this is a greater focus on ED&I initiatives or flexible working options, finding out exactly what your prospect employees value is key in building your EVP. Research what you already offer and then combine this with the answers from your target research to shape your EVP.

2. Define Your Employer Brand: Your brand reflects your organisation's reputation as an employer. It encompasses the values, culture, and employee experience that sets your organisation apart. Clearly defining your employer brand is crucial for articulating a compelling employee value proposition. What makes your organisation unique as an employer? Whether it's a strong commitment to work-life balance, opportunities for professional growth, or a vibrant company culture, identifying and highlighting your key differentiators can set you apart from the competitor organisations.

3. Create your EVP message: Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, employer brand, and differentiators, it's time to craft a compelling message that encapsulates the value proposition you offer to employees. This message should echo your target talent needs and clearly communicate the benefits of working for your organisation.

4. Implement Across the Employee Lifecycle: From recruitment to onboarding and beyond, the employee value proposition should be consistently reinforced at every touchpoint in the employee lifecycle. This ensures that the promises made in the value proposition are upheld and integrated into the overall employee experience.

Building a winning employee value proposition is an ongoing process. It's important to measure the effectiveness of your value proposition through employee surveys, retention rates, and feedback mechanisms. Use this data to refine and enhance your employee value proposition over time. By taking the time to understand your audience organisations can build and implement a value proposition that sets them apart as an employer of choice.

Adecco can help put the right people on your team and give you the support and resources you need to keep them there. To learn more, contact us today.