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Employee Value Proposition EVP

We create Employee Value Propositions that accurately reflect the culture now, with a dash of aspiration for the future.

Your Employee Value Proposition must differentiate you and appeal to the people with the skills and attributes vital for your business. Ensure your organisation will continue to thrive by being able to attract and retain the talent you need.

Question.
Why do I need help with my Employee Value Proposition?

Answer.

You might be struggling to attract certain skills, in either a sector or geography, and want an Employee Value Proposition to help you to develop a compelling Employer Brand to attract the talent you need.

Or you could be suffering from poor Employee Engagement and need to create a solid foundation from which to build your HR strategy, while being clear about what will make the difference.

You may want to create a ‘people strategy’ blueprint to enable you to more easily integrate acquisitions.

It could simply be the right time to maximise the value of what you already do and clearly articulate what is great about your organisation.

Whatever your reason, we use our tried and tested talentsmoothie EVP methodology, tailored, to your context, so it works perfectly in your environment.

Employee Value Proposition FAQ

What is an Employee Value Proposition?

Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is the jargon commonly used to describe the characteristics and appeal of working for an organisation. An EVP describes the mix of characteristics, benefits, and ways of working in an organisation. It is the deal struck between an organisation and employee in return for their contribution and performance. This ‘People Deal’ characterises an employer and differentiates it from its competition.

Why is an Employee Value Proposition important?

A well-articulated and consistently communicated EVP can help you to attract and retain talent, appeal to different markets and ‘tough to hire’ talent groups, re-engage a disenchanted workforce, prioritise your HR agenda, create a strong ‘people’ brand, and reduce new-hire premiums.

What are the benefits of an Employee Value Proposition?

An effective EVP can bring an organisation significant benefits. According to the Corporate Leadership Council’s research, a well-thought through and executed EVP can:

  • Improve the commitment of new hires by up to 29%
  • Reduce new hire compensation premiums by up to 50%
  • Increase the likelihood of employees acting as advocates from an average of 24% to 47%

In addition, an effective EVP allows organisations to source more deeply within the labour market, increasing access to passive candidates. This is important for organisations who want to secure the best talent in an increasingly difficult talent market.

What makes a good Employee Value Proposition?

To ensure an EVP generates maximum returns, it must be built around attributes that genuinely attract, engage and retain the talent you want. It must also be consistent with strategic objectives and clearly demonstrate its uniqueness. The EVP must also be real i.e. a large proportion of it must be true now. It should, however, also contain elements that are not true now but that the organisation aspires to. This is important to drive change and progress, and also to give employees a sense that the organisation is responding to the changes they want to see.

As well as the ‘content’ of the EVP, it must also be articulated in a style that appeals to the audience. So many companies write about themselves in dull corporate speak and the net result is a lot of organisations that claim to be unique but sound the same.

Finally, the EVP is at the core of all other organisational processes.

The characteristics of the EVP need to be reflected in the corporate and employer brands. The EVP, if operationalised well, is the driver of engagement, it informs recruitment messages and communications, and it helps inform strategic HR priorities. It helps support and drive business strategy forward.

What makes a good Employee Value Proposition EVP, a talentsmoothie diagram
talentsmoothie, what makes a good EVP
How do you create an Employee Value Proposition?

There are a number of ways to understand what your employees feel constitutes a great place to work. A good starting point is to tap into information you already have, including employee opinion survey data. This will tell you what employees think is working and what isn’t. Typically though, such surveys don’t tell you what is important to your people. It is crucial to understand this in order to create an attractive EVP. The process of developing an EVP elicits what is important to the different types of people that you want to attract and engage.

To be successful the EVP must be credible which is why it must always be tested. The purpose of testing is to ensure that all categories of employees and potential employees find it appealing. The testing also tells you which elements of the EVP need to be ‘turned up’ or ‘turned down’ to appeal to different groups. Testing should take place with internal employees and external potential employees. The testing will reveal changes that need to be made to the EVP to appeal to the different audiences that it was tested with. Assuming that valid and rigorous data is used to create the EVP, we expect it to work for 90% of the target population. It should always be tested though, as the 10% it needs to be adjusted for could be a crucial part of your workforce.

The stages to create an EVP Employee Value Proposition, a talentsmoothie diagram
talentsmoothie, the stages to create an EVP
Do you have any free Employee Value Proposition resources?

You can download our free Employee Value Proposition Factsheet and our Action Sheet How to Maximise the Value of your Employee Value Proposition on our Insights page.

Can you give Employee Value Proposition examples?

You can find all our case studies on our Results page. Let’s look at just one example here. We developed an Employee Value Proposition for AstraZeneca. Their goals were to:

  • Differentiate themselves against other large pharmaceuticals
  • Use the EVP to help make the new corporate brand a reality
  • Identify priority areas for change, in order to maintain and improve engagement of key talent

We developed a draft EVP using our grounded theory research methodology. The EVP comprised of five themes. We tested the five themes externally and internally across 12 countries and with 15 key talent groups. We then adapted some of the elements of the EVP that did not work for the target groups either due to cultural differences or lack of importance. We also added some elements that were important but had not been evident in the source data.

As well as the EVP itself there have been a number of other key outputs. An online user guide for HR and managers provides guidance on managing and engaging different key groups. A recruiters’ guide to employer branding indicates message content and style that appeals to different segments. In addition, the company is using the data to inform HR strategic priorities. This is a great example of a company that now has a clear and differentiated EVP and is making it work hard in a very practical and tangible way.

“talentsmoothie… truly understand what an EVP is

Talentsmoothie were our lead external partners in helping us to create our first Employee Value Proposition in AstraZeneca at both a global and a local level. Through their rigorous approach, and ability to integrate other core elements such as our business strategy and corporate brand, they helped to ensure that our EVP will be sustainable for us in the medium to long term. Above all it was their positive can-do attitude, their utmost flexibility and confidence in helping us to navigate ambiguous scenarios that really impressed. From my experience they are one of only a small handful of external partners that really truly understand what an EVP is and how it can work to drive a business and its culture forward.
Stephen Lochhead — former Director, Global Talent Attraction, AstraZeneca
Read the full AstraZeneca Case Study or find all the talentsmoothie client case studies below.

Whatever stage you’re at with your Employee Value Proposition, we’d love to help.

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