As a recruitment and HR agency who are in constant contact with a wide variety of people, there is one emerging similarity – candidates are looking for more than just a paycheck from their employer. They want: a great culture, staff benefits, flexibility, work/life balance, career development and the list goes on. These motivators are increasingly valuable to employees, and if you don’t listen and acknowledge what employees are seeking from their employee experience, you may struggle to attract and retain top talent.
As an employer, your talent attraction strategy needs your priority in order for you to position yourself as an employer of choice in the market. Defining a clear Employee Value Proposition (EVP) will ensure the attraction of candidates who are a natural fit for your business and who value the benefits you offer in turn for their skills and experience.
Why is EVP critical in the current candidate short market? When the market has more jobs than skilled candidates, organisations are challenged to attract and retain the right talent. No longer is a competitive salary or an interesting job enough to lure candidates. It’s important for employers to understand how their employee offerings set them apart from their competitors and capitalise on this to entice top talent. Establishing a strong EVP is one tool to help you drive business success.
At its core, an EVP tells the candidate why they should choose your organisation over another, and sets out what you will offer and provide during their employment with you. By delivering on these promises, employees are more likely to stay with your organisation for a longer period of time and contribute to the success of the business.
So how do you find out why someone likes working for your organisation? Simple. You ask them. These are three questions to help you start the conversation:
- Why did they choose your organisation to work for?
- What’s different/unique/better/worse about your organisation compared to other organisations they have worked for?
- Why do they stay working at your organisation?
The answers to these questions will help to build your EVP. You want employees to be open and honest with their feedback. We find it’s always beneficial to get an external provider to facilitate these feedback sessions. During previous sessions Inspire HQ have conducted, we’ve found employees to be relaxed, willing to share and appreciative of their opinion being heard and valued. They’re excited to talk about their employment experience and are often a champion of your business. They genuinely want to provide their honest feedback to improve and enhance their workplace for new and existing employees.
The employee feedback shared drives the messaging you will use to attract and motivate candidates whose values and motivators align to your organisation. By attracting like-minded talent, you reduce your chance of recruitment error as the candidate has a greater understanding of your business, what’s in it for them and what you expect from them. At Inspire HQ, we enjoy partnering with businesses who are aware of their EVP as it makes recruiting their talent a genuine and authentic experience. We’re able to tell the story of the business and exactly what the role entails, including the good and the bad.
There are many ways to communicate your EVP internally and externally. Much of the EVP can be communicated through job ads, engaging website content, social media marketing, strong employer branding and emotive language. How many of you can recall seeing the line “we have a great team culture” without any further explanation of what that great culture involves? By knowing your EVP, you can show people what makes your culture great, by sharing direct employee comments and candid team photos that capture the culture.
The need for employers to attract and retain employees is now more critical than ever. Developing and communicating your EVP is an effective tool to use in your talent attraction and retention strategy. With many employers currently competing for the same talent, it can take an external perspective to help you identify your competitive advantage and interpret your employee experience to your target audience.
