Optimizing Your Employee Value Proposition for 2023

When someone is looking for a new job, they are looking for more than just a place to make money and leave. Compensation is essential to every opening, but there are other things you need to consider. Studies have shown that, increasingly, people are looking for other things as well. They won’t leave their jobs for just anything: they are looking for a better environment, more perks, and more value.
Enter the employee value proposition.

If you can’t say your employee value proposition off the top of your head, there’s a good chance you don’t have one. This can result in fewer applicants, getting overlooked by the best applicants, and just a lack of success with your hiring workflow. However, it can also lead to problems within your workforce, namely turnover, morale, and company culture problems. This can impact your bottom line and make it challenging to reach organizational goals.

Do you have an employee value proposition? Is it strong enough?

What is an Employee Value Proposition?

SHRM defines the employee value proposition (EVP) as: part of an employer’s branding strategy that represents everything of value that the employer has to offer its employees. Items such as pay, benefits and career development are common, but employers also highlight offerings that are currently in demand—like technology, remote work and flexible scheduling.”

Your organization needs to have an individual, unique value proposition for employees. This statement must be concise and show what you’re doing to attract and retain your talent. What goes into this statement may depend on organizational policies, industry, and even the types of employees you want to hire – organizations that need a younger population will likely have different benefits than one that predominantly employs middle-aged or older employees.

Simply put: your employee value proposition can contain almost anything that would make someone want to work at your company. For example:

Compensation
Benefits
Time off
Stipends
Office culture
Remote/Hybrid work

As you fight for the best talent, it’s crucial to think about how your company presents itself: and you have to be truthful while doing so. If you can’t write an employee value prop containing these things, you may need to consider what you’re offering. Long ago, benefits didn’t really matter. People would be happy to have a paying job, work there for a long time, and then retire.

This doesn’t happen with today’s workforce. Employees today can see and apply for jobs almost anywhere, and they will leave one job for another pretty quickly.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t attract and retain today’s top performers. You may just need to change how you do things – or simply point out what you’re already doing.

Why Does Your Organization Need an EVP?

Your company needs an EVP because if you don’t think about it and can’t articulate it to someone who knows nothing about what you do, how can you expect them to leave their current position and move to your company willingly? Only a few people are in a place to take a gamble on a job.

Your EVP tells employees what they will get in turn for helping your organization make money and reach its goals. By communicating what you do for your employees, you’ll attract candidates with similar beliefs, interests, and skills to your existing workforce. Those who do not align with your beliefs are less likely to apply, helping to ensure culture fit when you bring someone new into your employee circle.

It’s important that you don’t just sit down with your marketing team and come up with a snazzy one-liner about how you care about your people. It would be best if you showed how you care about them. How can you do that? Keep reading.

How to Create An Employee Value Proposition

If you want to create or revamp your EVP, start with the employees you already have. Look at the benefits you give them and what they seem to really appreciate it.

Then, you need to get honest with yourself. Are there other things your company could be offering employees? Is it possible to offer that perk?

Here are some ways to get started:

Start with an Employee Survey

The best way to create your EVP is to ask your employees what they have that they like, what they want, and even what they wouldn’t mind seeing taken away if absolutely necessary. How can you do this? Run an anonymous survey!

The cool thing about using software like Trakstar Perform, which has engagement surveys built right into your software, is that you can break down those results even further. Do individual departments have specific needs? If you are hiring for a role in customer service, for example, what are some needs and wants those employees have over people in the sales department? This works best when you are polling experienced employees and hiring people who have experience as well.

Determine What Matters To Your Ideal Employees

What actually matters to your employees? When you’re creating your EVP, you can also check in on things like employee engagement, overall satisfaction, and workplace culture. The most common ask of employees is the opportunity to advance themselves, learn new skills, and have the chance to make more money.

Younger workers might surprise you with what matters to them. The narrative seems to be about money and compensation, but that isn’t always the case. Instead, younger people want to be able to put in the effort and get where they need to be.

Think About Your Pay Rates

Pay is a controversial topic and not something we are necessarily willing to advise you on – that’s not our specialty (talent management and development is). You have to remember that employees are giving up a large portion of their lives to work for you. Making them feel cheated or like their time doesn’t matter is a huge mistake when you’re trying to make good hires.

Research the job market and find out what your people are worth. If you cannot pay as much as some of your competitors, be sure to include some extras within your EVP and benefits package.

Schedule Stay Interviews with Your Current Employees

If you don’t have stay interviews, now is the time to do so! They will help you to hear from your employees and see what keeps them at your company, what’s making them think about leaving, and what they’re hoping to see in the future. This helps you keep up your retention rates, talk to your employees, and build up your EVP all at the same time.

Want to learn more about stay interviews? We have a whole blog here to help you do them in the right way.

Ready to Build Better Job Postings?

Are you ready to eliminate the back and forth with candidates, find the types of people you want, and improve your overall hiring efforts? Trakstar Hire is the absolute best place to start. Not only can we help you figure out the best job boards to post on, but we can also help you identify the best job descriptions, schedule interviews, and get offer letters out quickly.

It might start with a great EVP, but bringing in the top talent you want doesn’t end there. You need to do even more! Our applicant tracking software can help. Schedule a demo today.

Trakstar Hire is considered the most user friendly hiring software on the market. If you’re ready to take your recruiting and hiring to the next level, request a Trakstar Hire demo today.