An Employee Value Proposition is essential to attract candidates and maintain great employees. Any employee likely knows their job description, project flow, and the name of their immediate manager. They might even be able to properly articulate your company's mission statement. But an employee value proposition isn’t about what a company is doing for the industry – it’s about what a company is doing for their employees.
An EVP is a roadmap for how to keep employees engaged. It sets the tone of your workplace culture. It must offer a broader picture than simply listing benefits and rewards. If a job description is a list of plot points, an EVP tells the story. This is information that will both attract candidates and empower existing employees to envision what their career offers and what opportunities exist. The result? Engagement and effective investment in your people and their rewards programs, alongside a shared long-term vision between you and your employees.
5 things your EVP needs right now
1. A clear mission statement
This is the explicit account of your value system, which should demonstrate the importance of both your company’s work and personnel. A mission statement is an elevator pitch, and like an elevator pitch, if you can’t tell potential employees about your values in three sentences, you don’t know them.
You should position your mission statement so that it will be seen by employees and potential hires. Consider it the first line of your dating profile, information that could make or break a potential relationship. The value of personnel is named and supported with evidence by CocaCola’s mission statement. Unilever offers a great example, keeping it simple by beginning statements with “We are” and “We believe.”
2. Highlighted rewards and benefits
Rewards and benefits are investments that count among a global organization’s highest cost categories, so you want to get them right, and more importantly, get the information to your employees to maximize the return on those investments. An EVP that makes these rewards and benefits clear will allow for better ROI on the highest-stakes investment a company makes: its people. Rewards and benefits should be easy for a candidate to see during their initial engagement with a company. They should also be easy for an employee to find, and for an employer to access data and insights to report on ROI back to stakeholders.
A clear presentation of benefits with easy-access links to details – like educational materials, links to vendor sites, or PDF policy docs – means less confusion and more uptake and engagement. Let’s look at an example from, PwC breaks down benefits into categories that are easy to navigate, allowing both potential hires and long-term employees to see what’s available. Starbucks similarly offers an overview of their benefits and rewards.
3. Hot button issues employees are curious about today
If the mission statement is evergreen, this is the part of an EVP that will change as employee priorities shift. (And they will shift!) In the post-pandemic workforce, these issues include remote work and vacation. You can read about current country-specific desires for employee rewards and benefits in our whitepaper on Global Benefits.
4. Availability in different formats and on multiple platforms
The first place a candidate or employee will most likely encounter your EVP is on your website. There’s no doubt a video is the most effective medium, but not everyone will be able to play sound or have the data available to stream a video. Make sure your EVP “pitch” can be viewed properly on a phone, tablet, and desktop. If an employee can’t see things easily, they become frustrated, and your organization wastes that expense.
Similarly, the details of an EVP shouldn’t just sit on a webpage, shared drive, or in a handbook, but be communicated proactively. Town halls in-office and online presentations can get the information in front of your employees, but the focus should be finding even more effective and agile ways to communicate information about benefits. Information should be readily available and accessible. The goal of an EVP should be to get as many employees as possible to take advantage of the rewards and benefits your company has invested in.
5. Concrete examples of how employees are valid
An evergreen, all-encompassing mission statement is where a value proposition starts. A successful EVP includes examples that illustrate that mission in action.
One of the most effective ways to present an EVP is to demonstrate how your rewards and benefits work for an employee’s unique needs via hyper-personalization of their reward packages. No two individuals are the same, and each employee will bring unique needs that can be addressed by a reward program. This means understanding needs and priorities on both a company-wide and individual level. By providing a few diverse examples, you can demonstrate to employees how the rewards and benefits you offer can be tailored to a value proposition that fits their needs, specifically.
Evaluate you existing programs to support setting up, maintaining, and evolving your EVP
An EVP is only as strong as the value it adds, so ensuring that your value proposition resonates with employee needs is essential. Collecting data about which benefits are being used can reveal which programs are most impactful for your employees, and where there are gaps in employee needs being met. Evaluate your data collection regularly. How are you analyzing employees' needs? Is data collected via interviews, surveys, or casual chats?
A digital platform makes tracking and responding to shifting employee needs much easier. Real-time data helps to identify what your employees need. This allows you to pivot your EVP to keep it robust and relevant.
Put rewards and benefits at the core
An Employee Value Proposition is your company's wrap-around support for employees, sustaining them for engagement, growth, and longevity. Rewards and benefits are at the heart of your EVP. If you’ve used intel and data to create a hyper-personalized rewards and benefits experience for employees, they deserve to know about it. This is a huge investment, and it’s a risk for your company if you don’t get it right. When an employee feels the benefits of an EVP, they become an ambassador for the rewards as well as a testament to your EVP’s lived value.
Looking to learn more about way to effectively communicate with employees?Discover more in our guide.
