What is an employee value proposition? And why do you need one?
If you want to attract the best talent in today’s tough hiring market, you need to develop an attractive and authentic employer brand for your organization.
Easier said than done though, right? How do you actually develop an employer brand?
The first step is to uncover your organization’s employee value proposition.
What is an employee value proposition?
An employee value proposition (or EVP for short) is the “what’s in it for me” factor for employees and candidates.
An EVP answers the following three questions:
Why should I want to work for this company?
What do I get in return for the time and effort I put in to working here?
How does this company compare with other options I’m considering, including my current employer?
Your EVP should set you apart from all of the other options available to the best talent on the market.
There are many different factors that can inform a company’s EVP, including (but not limited to) the 15 factors highlighted in our infographic to the right.
To uncover your EVP, you need to identify how your organization might stand out in some of these areas.
From there, to make sure your EVP is unique and attractive, you will need to develop the creative platform (messaging and visuals) that will communicate this information most effectively.
Why does your organization need an employee value proposition?
Put simply, having an EVP will make hiring and retaining talent easier – saving your organization money. According to Gartner, organizations with an EVP can reduce annual turnover by 70% and reduce compensation premiums by up to 50%.
Let’s break down how this actually works.
From an external perspective, EVPs are important because:
EVPs are the basis for building a strong employer brand
You need to consistently communicate what your company offers as an employer across every place a candidate might interact with your brand (your career site, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.). Without an EVP, you won’t know if you’re sharing the right messages with candidates. The EVP provides a consistent and accurate framework for you to share across all of these touchpoints so candidates will know if you’re the right fit for them.
EVPs attract candidates and help you achieve other related recruiting objectives.
You need an EVP in place to develop recruitment marketing campaigns and make your recruiting function more strategic and proactive.
Recruitment marketing campaigns are strategic initiatives that revolve around achieving a certain objective like:
Building awareness about your opportunities
Creating a pipeline of candidates for a specific role type
Attracting candidates to attend a recruiting fair
Depending on the specific goal, recruitment marketing campaigns can involve a range of tactics and channels, including: social media ads, sponsored content on job sites, programmatic advertising, email marketing, community engagement, and much more.
To execute on a successful recruitment marketing campaign, you need to have a strong message (EVP) that’s rooted in reality – and creatively and professionally packaged - to get candidates’ attention and drive them to action.
From an internal perspective, EVPs are important because:
EVPs motivate employees and help with retention
When an EVP is activated across internal touchpoints – including across employee communications and HR programming – it will help shape perceptions about what it means to work at your organization. This approach also means that employees will receive regular reminders about why they love being part of your organization.
This internal activation helps employees to stay engaged and reduces attrition. According to research by Gartner, employees are 69% less likely to leave an organization with a strong EVP.
EVPs can help turn employees into brand advocates
An EVP also helps to engage employees and turn them into brand advocates – convincing other talented people in their network that they should consider your organization for career opportunities.
Want to learn more?
Check out our blog on how to uncover your EVP in seven steps and take a look at this Rally Recruitment Marketing blog authored by our founder, Kaitlyn Holbein: 9 fixable mistakes when developing an EVP. You can also subscribe to our newsletter in the footer below to receive new posts that teach you about employer branding and recruitment marketing.
And feel free to get in touch with our team if you have further questions or would like to have a conversation about how to level up or begin employer branding at your organization.
About The Employer Brand Shop
The Employer Brand Shop is a boutique recruitment marketing and employer brand agency located in Kitchener, Canada. Our team helps organizations around the world attract and engage talent using creative marketing strategies.