It’s hardly news to anyone with even the vaguest of connections to talent acquisition. This is a tight, competitive labour market across any number of industry sectors. Candidates have choices and options – even if they aren’t looking to currently exercise them. Many are contributing to the Great Resignation and voting with their notice. Others carry with them the apprehension and wariness of the impact Covid has had, particularly in 2020’s second quarter, on the labour market and are more inclined to stay put for now. So impacting candidate availability.
According to the ONS, September saw a 207,000 increase in pay-rolled employees – up to a UK record of 29.2m. And the same sources point to more than 1.1m vacancies on the market, over 300,000 more than in pre-pandemic February 2020. The latest KPMG/REC survey suggests a salary index of 75.7 – where any reading over 50 indicates an increase. IHS Markit reports a near record fall in candidate availability and the, not unconnected, sharpest rise in permanent starting salaries since it began recording such data 24 years previously.
No surprise there. No surprise either that recruitment is a huge organisational priority for the great majority of employers.
We are seeing significant salary inflation (which is anything but good news for overall inflationary pressures). We’re seeing golden handshakes. We’re seeing loyalty bonuses. We’re seeing golden handshakes competing with loyalty bonuses. We’re seeing a huge recruitment bunfight for, well, recruiters. We’re seeing employers seeking to engage with and target audiences they have had little previous relationship with.
We’re seeing too an accelerating focus on EVP. Again, this should be of little surprise.
An organisation’s business, its service provision, its internal population and its hiring communities have been through unparalleled, unimaginable upheaval over the last 18-20 months. Add to this the bubbling hiring market we’ve discussed and it’s little wonder that an organisation’s employment why should require reframing.
“It’s now time for organisations to re-establish the psychological contract. For too long the EVP has been the shiny wrapping, hiding a rather disappointing present inside. Leadership behaviours, inclusion and fairness are the factors that will help retain and develop employees. I guess it might take a while for the candidate market to believe leaders now who are preaching retention and ‘Internal Talent Development’, as many are the same voices who for some years were preaching the benefits of being gig workers.” Jon Hull, Interim Head of Resourcing at Principality Building Society.
“We’re in a very candidate-led market that I can see lasting for quite some time, and such a market sees work and work/life balance in a different light than it previously did. Money still talks and I think a lot of companies see higher salaries as a way of attracting and retaining talent but a longer-term, deeper strategy could be much more effective.
I’ve seen examples of employee-led businesses introducing flexible benefits that match the needs of people in hybrid or remote working models, such as flexible hours to fit around lifestyle, contributions to home offices, meeting-free Fridays with an early finish during the summer, work from anywhere for a few weeks a year, and mental health days where the entire company switches off. These benefits that put the employee first are amazing for an EVP but also inspire loyalty when the higher salary offers come knocking”. Matthew Dean, Talent Acquisition Manager, Strategic Partner for Recruitment, ISG Ltd.
But for me, it’s not so much the need to come up with a message platform to deliver to both internal and external people communities. It’s the need to create cohesion and co-ordination around this message.
“I think with so much focus on reviewing EVPs and making sure messaging fits the competitive talent world we are now in, there’s a real danger in wanting to oversell an organisation. But what we need is to get across the reality of what it’s like, especially what it’s like now. A lot of companies talking about hybrid working, for instance, are talking high level policies and plans – is that really what the lived experience is or will be?” Alison Heron, Employer Brand & Employee Experience Lead, GSK Consumer Healthcare.
For those employers with significant hiring needs, much of their employee base will be reaching out to potential candidates. Quite understandably, an organisation will see its own people and managers as great advocates and ambassadors. And in all likelihood, such people will put their own spin and interpretation on why their organisation should be the next career destination for such candidates.
They’ll come at it from their own background – why is the organisation a great place to work for a finance professional? Why is it a wonderful employer for marketers? Why does digital talent simply have to join?
And talent acquisition partners and suppliers will have another perspective again. A perspective they are likely to be delivering to many of the same candidates who are already talking to your internal audiences.
“Many organisations approach the creation and launch of their Employee Value Proposition/Employer Brand with a candidate-centric approach. Leaving current employees as the last to get the message or indeed, an understanding of the background/approach. This leaves potential gaps which are then up to interpretation and dilution of the overall power of the messaging.
In addition, the execution isn’t just about updating your careers website. The ultimate ambition should be authentic, engaging and consistent messaging across all of your channels, woven throughout the employee experience. But this won’t happen immediately and isn’t a quick fix. Bringing your colleagues on this journey is imperative.” Craig Morgans, Acquisition CoE Leader, Direct Line Group.
So, without an EVP, or more specifically an EVP which is topical, front of mind, understood and bought into across an organisation, then one of two things will happen.
The first is the scenario above, with multiple internal and partner stakeholders delivering their own interpretation of why an organisation is an employer of choice. Interpretations that are likely to have little in common either with each other or with the lived working reality. Interpretations, too, which are likely to clash, dilute and contradict each other. A scenario likely to result in audience confusion and a negative employer brand impact.
And then there’s scenario two. That the people messaging platform you deliver to external candidate communities is not landing or cutting through. Perhaps this is through a lack of differentiation or topicality, through becoming lost in the competitive noise or as a result of timid, beige employer branding initiatives. So, if you’re not creating an impression about what it’s like to work with you, then the audience will make up its own mind.
Just as nature hates a vacuum, audiences will make their own minds up about you and your careers.
Your employer brand is what the market thinks it is. (Not what you might think you’ve carefully crafted and packaged). And in the absence, in their minds, of a defined and consistent EVP or talent message, then the market will come to its own conclusions.
Conclusions which might be right. Might be wrong. Might be hideously outdated. It matters not.
“Once you have that carefully crafted EVP, you need to put it within reach of the target candidate market – but where are those candidates, who are they working for, what are they earning and are they diverse? Data and labour market insight can help you understand where the skills are and how likely your EVP is going to attract them”. Adrian Thomas, Talent Acquisition Director and Immediate Past Chair RL100.
By not articulating and delivering an EVP, you’re leaving things to chance. Leaving your ability to hire, ability to retain, ability to inspire, ability to drive your business, all to chance.
Without a clear, defined and delivered EVP, you have lost control (or certainly influence) of what external talent audiences think about the prospect of working with you.
“Perhaps more than control, it’s important that the employment experience is portrayed honestly. If we give our employees guidance rather than crafting every message for them, then what they say about us is probably going to be more honest and more personal. And would that not be a better outcome?” Alison Heron.
With the resourcing squeeze impacting the lives and careers of the talent acquisition community to such an extent currently, relative control, rather than blind chance, seems like a more advisable way forward.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 