I had a genuinely fascinating time at the recent #TruManchester event presenting, along with the great and the good, a track on the barriers to landing a successful Employee Value Proposition. Great venue, great attendance and great organisation from Martin Dangerfield. Impressive though the attendance was, there may well be the odd talent acquisition professional who didn’t, unfathomably, make it Manchester. Here is my download on what was discussed, debated and argued about during my track.
What comprises the ideal internal team necessary to deliver a meaningful EVP? Personally, I think this debate has largely worked itself out. Gone are the days, broadly speaking, when marketing/comms were somewhat sceptical (okay, hugely suspicious) of even the term, employer branding. Today, they tend to see its value and deliverables and are keen to get on board. Anyone else? A senior stakeholder tends not to go amiss. Both in terms of the insight they can give into the direction of your organisation, as well, let’s be honest, as the clout and endorsement they tend to lend such a project.
Where to pitch your EVP – the balance of aspiration and authenticity. Now this one is definitely nuanced. Too aspirational and people land in your organisation wondering what they’ve signed up to and your internal people simply don’t believe what you’re saying about the employment experience. All authenticity and no aspiration? Your call, but it’s the most challenging labour market since your grandad was working in talent acquisition.
How to involve your people. It’s not about whether to involve your people, but the extent of such involvement. Your people want to tell their own stories about what it’s like to work for you. They want to suggest how to improvement that experience. They want to help shape the message and help breathe life into it. Course they have a day job to do, but the very act of listening to your people during the process – be it focus groups, drop in sessions, pulse surveys, you name it – tends to drive engagement.
Where does it stop and where does it start? Your EVP shouldn’t really have a stop. All communications, to applicants, candidates, employees, leavers and alumni alike should share DNA and common threads. There’s such a lot of talk about the candidate experience right now – and justifiably so – make sure the reason people are attracted to you in the first place, is the reason they stay attracted to you. Be consistent. Audit the candidate experience – what sort of messages are candidates receiving? Something influenced by your EVP or something cold, aloof and corporate? And actually, if cold, aloof and corporate is what they’ll be experiencing once they join, then go with that.
Metrics and making the case. Two key audiences here – the person responsible for your budget and your hiring managers. There are an awful lot of third party metrics that make the case for EVP investment. It’s a great starting point but what’s important to your own organisation? What does the business talk about? What gets people nodding and taking note. Communicate in those terms. The other audience? Your hiring managers care less about your employer brand and more about filling their vacancy. Fact. Unless you can persuade them that the two are linked. Invest in the brand, rather than the vacancy.
Geographical/functional flexibility. An interesting question. Too much flexibility and your EVP becomes stretched and by trying to be all things to all people, ends up as very little to very few. Let the stories of your people – and they will be different across different locations, languages and cultures – deliver the same EVP to different audiences.
Understanding the landscape and context. An EVP project tends to be all-consuming. It can be all too easy to lose sight of the wood for the trees. It might feel like it at the time, but you won’t be the only organisation working on their EVP. Understand what the competition is doing and saying. A me-too EVP does no one any favours.
A line or a sentiment? You develop a great EVP – does it appear on all your collateral or is it merely in the background, the sentiment influencing your communications? Is there a definitive answer? Working with Unilever on their EVP at the time, all communications carried the line. The result? There was clarity and recognition about the EVP and far less opportunity for it to be diluted. It became recognised across the business. I’d take that option.
It’s all about the why, right? I’ve misquoted Mr Sinek before, so why hesitate to do it again? Whilst I pretty much entirely agree with the sentiment – answering the question as to why someone should come and work with your organisation, is largely your EVP, it’s not everything. Don’t forget the where. Where is your organisation going and where will it take me and my career? How and at what pace will you develop me? Give audiences a why and a where in your EVP.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 