How to create an employer value proposition

Seven steps to creating your EVP

Creating an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is far more than a replay of purpose, a description of culture and a checklist of benefits; it's the essence of why individuals should choose to work with you.

Your EVP should be distinctive, attractive, realistic, and consistent. It should form the foundation for your narrative that authentically portrays your employee experience. You need to:

1.     Gather Diverse Perspectives

Engage with a spectrum of individuals: new hires, old hands, top performers, influencers, even critics.

2.     Broadly, explore perceptions of:

·        Organisational distinctiveness

·        Alignment with the mission

·        Positive aspects of the workplace

·        Areas for improvement

·        Cultural dynamics and actual behaviours

·        What’s harder to know or explain

3.     More precisely, zoom in on:

·        Professional development

·        Flexibility

·        Culture of inclusion

·        Other emerging priorities

4.     Take an external view

You’ll also want to see where you sit versus the competition, and in the eyes of those you’d like to attract. Investigate competitors' EVP narratives and get feedback from new starters, recruiters, even an external pool of your target market, for the perceptions of those outside the organisation.

5.     Authenticity Amidst Clichés

Distilling an authentic EVP requires moving beyond platitudes and first-level ideas and into nuance. There is a reason that I place “Distinctive” at the top of the features for an EVP.

You can’t accept all answers at face value – you need to probe the reason why. Why are you like a family? How does that manifest? How is that different to other employers? What does that mean as an employee, as a person? Then, there’s the chance to elevate, combine (or sideline) themes.

Part of the difficulty is you’re challenging what people say, maybe to their face, maybe when they haven’t thought too hard about their expressed view. It takes a light and human touch.

6.     Intuition and Feel

Even with all this robust insight, at times you need to make a best fit to the reality. You need to use your own intuition. To pick up on things that were less frequently expressed, but more powerfully or personally. Or those small things that came up a lot, and can be reasonably combined into something more resonant.

7.     Testing

There’s no such thing as a perfect research process – time, budgets, that you rely on so many people see to that. A testing phase is always prudent. Take your conclusions back to your audience and stakeholders and ask: Have I got this right? How does this sound? Is there anything missing? Does this feel like I’m uniquely talking about you?

Crafting your EVP is essential for attracting top talent. Together, we'll define what sets your organisation apart and why individuals should join your team. We can build a compelling EVP that accurately reflects every aspect of working with you.