A good employee value proposition (EVP) helps an organisation articulate with clarity the benefits that an employee gets in exchange for the skills they bring to the organisation. It’s concise and must be based on real evidence and discussions with employees and what they actually think about what they get out of working for you. Every business and organisation has an EVP, whether they have defined it or not. And it’s just because of that fact that it’s worth taking the time to look at your psychological contract with your employees. Here are some simple steps to defining your own EVP:
Step 1. – Talk to your employees
Get to know what your employees really think about what you offer. Do some research, a simple online survey, a full staff engagement research programme, if they’re away from the office lots then talk by phone, use a third party, hopefully you can just talk to them, however you choose, just make sure you’re really listening to them. You want the unvarnished truth, the details, the experience and you have to do your best to forget your own views of how wonderful your benefits package is and not let your views get in the way of what your employees are actually saying.
Step 2. – Develop your proposition
Develop your proposition, by reviewing the feedback you have and building a series of statements that answer these simple questions:
- What do my employees see as the benefits they get?
- What are my employees’ views of the leadership of the organisation?
- How does our vision and mission for the company influence how they see the business?
- Do our HR processes support fully our purpose as a business and align with our culture?
- Why is my offer any better than what my competition offer?
Step 3. – Test your proposition
Test your proposition. With your team, with friends, with business acquaintances, with employees. Make sure it fits, it helps people to understand what you do and why you’re right for them. Listen to the feedback and modify as necessary until you have it right.
Using your EVP
In a larger organisation there may be many more phases, but in essence these three are the key.
Now, armed with your new employee value proposition you can tell your staff all about it; use it as a tool to guide how you go about attracting new staff; use it to make sure all your processes are aligned and meet the needs of your people; this is your culture, find ways of ingraining it into all your employee interactions!
Your employee value proposition is your organisation’s DNA, it should run through everything you do.