This remains an inconsistent and confusing labour market. GPD is starting to stir and this week the OECD suggested the UK economy was due to grow significantly more in 2024 than it originally estimated – up 1.1%, as opposed to the 0.4% it forecast in May. But it doesn’t necessarily feel that way – all the major listed recruitment firms – Robert Half, Robert Walters and Michael Page published their figures recently, indicating Q3 declines of around 12% compared to 2023. In the most recent reported quarter, there was another fall in the number of vacancies within the economy – down 34,000, the 27th consecutive decline.
Which poses a number of challenges for TA professionals. In some cases, hiring might be down, but not out. And a firming economy also indicates that, not too far down the road, retention and attraction might be more competitive than for some years. The need, then, for investment in the recruitment process is becoming less easy to ignore.
Let’s focus specifically on EVP, given it influences so much about the subsequent candidate, recruitment and employee experience.
It’s entirely feasible that many TA professionals will be wrestling with an affordability conundrum. On the one hand, it’s been some time since they last revisited their EVP. It feels about right to review things. There are questions around its on-going relevance. Much has changed in the interim. On the other, it’s a major undertaking and it clearly brings with it investment and cost.
So, here’s the thing, what to do if you really can’t afford an EVP? If there are work-arounds, what are they?
First of all, it’s about establishing whether you actually need to update or revisit your EVP.
Analyse the metrics. Happily, there are so many more metrics available to EVP and EB owners today. Less happily, some metrics are less robust than others, more inclined to be buffeted by the prevailing economic or labour market influences.
What is the percentage of new joiners who quickly become leavers? A sure sign that they have signed up to a working reality different to the one they’re actually experiencing. What about pipeline leakage – again, does the cultural reality candidates encounter differ from their perceptions? Quality of candidates a concern? An indication that your messaging and perceived offer is suffering in comparison to that of the competition.
If your people metrics are suggesting your EVP could benefit from being updated, what about another key, but perhaps less tangible, indicator? The extent to which your EVP is a cultural and strategic signifier. How aligned is it to where the organisation is headed? Or is it pointing more towards where your organisation has been?
But perhaps we’ve avoided a more fundamental question. Do you and your organisation actually need an EVP? Or, call it what you like, a people promise. A people communications north star?
If you’re using your EVP as little more than a USP for your recruitment marketing, then there is a point to be made for eschewing the EVP altogether. You’re investing both financially and through the good will and contribution of your people and not extracting nearly as much return as you could be. The potential of an EVP to create internal alignment, to generate internal communications cohesion and to emphasise employee contribution is simply being wasted.
“Time invested at the start of the process on effective profiling and sample selection means costs (and timeframes) can be significantly reduced whilst not impacting on the quality of the outputs. I think many clients are surprised at what can be achieved for even limited budgets. Talking to those employees to define the realities of the workplace experience makes the EVP authentic. It isn’t just about collecting anecdotes; it’s about understanding their perception of the organisation’s journey and where it’s heading that is so important to creating compelling and targeted employer brand messaging.”
Mike Heal, Managing Director, WDAD Communications
So, what you should do on the assumption that making the financial case for a new EVP is proving a challenge, will depend on your findings to the questions above.
If your metrics are indicative of an EVP which is more tired than exhausted, then there are certainly some options. It may well be a case of applying a new coat of creative paint to your existing EVP. Alternatively, it could be about revisiting the research and playbook that shaped your current EVP. Could some of that original thinking be used to articulate a new narrative?
Take a look at your current careers site and its supporting collateral. Is there anything on it which specifically dates it? An award from 2021? A clearly pre-Covid quote? Leaders and employees featured who have long left?
Look at the employee profiles on there. They will probably benefit from being updated. But instead of doing something very similar with different people, understand how those people currently on your site have grown and developed. Tell their extended story – the good and the more challenging. How have the last three years with your organisation grown, developed, challenged and nurtured them? How are they different people and different professionals as a result of working with your organisation?
Careers are not a single moment in time, but something built up over years. Demonstrate that through your people profiles.
Think about Glassdoor – don’t be wary and aloof, rather embrace it. Own it, even. Feature the comments current and ex-employees are making on the site and lift them onto your careers page, including your own feedback and responses.
Update your video content via your own people and their iPhones. Professional video content is great but not without its cost – make use of your employees, their wit, their humour, their own experiences.
Hand over some of the real estate on your career pages to your people – nominate people as ambassadors or advocates and give them the space to update candidates about important internal initiatives – DEI and ESG successes, for example.
Make sure you are squeezing your current EVP for all its worth – to what extent are line/hiring managers, advocators, ambassadors and EB influencers aware of it? Does it currently exist more in a playbook than living and breathing across your organisation? Is it more museum piece than talking point?
“You’ve identified many effective, low-cost actions that can quickly improve an organization’s external employer perception. These strategies aren’t complicated; they just require time, resources, and commitment – and the return on investment can be significant.
Many companies feel that launching an Employer Brand project means a complete overhaul, but this risks losing valuable aspects of their current culture. Often, a brand’s evolution can be more effectively achieved through a thoughtful, gradual transformation.
It’s also important to remember that every company has an Employer Brand, even if there’s minimal external recruitment marketing. Current employees are advocates of your brand, and each former employee who talks about their experience is shaping that brand as well. An employer brand isn’t just an outward-facing initiative; it starts internally and should reflect the genuine thoughts and feelings of those who work with you”.
Adele Swift, Talent Attraction and Recruitment Manager, Toolstation.
“I would reiterate Adele’s comment that every organisation has an Employer Brand, good, bad or indifferent.
Most organisations have an EB team or representation. If they are skilled practitioners, then analysing the company EVP, subsequent messaging and developing new content is a matter of adjustment and evolution. Whilst of course measuring impact, demonstrating return and alignment with changing company objectives.
Therefore, in today’s recruitment and retention climate, this becomes an internal resource challenge, rather than external cost. The key is experienced and proactive EB professionals”.
Andy Hendon, Global EB Consultant (Formerly of Syneos Health & KPMG).
If the metrics we touched on earlier are suggesting a new EVP might not be a terrible idea, but you still have funding issues, how about putting a toe in the water?
There’s an iterative, test-and-learn EVP methodology which can deliver you a robustly tested and hugely topical value proposition. And how about allying this to constructing an EVP within a specific location, function or country? Build a ring-fenced EVP within one particular location. You then have the ability to compare how it is performing specifically but also in comparison to your existing one. Are your people and candidate audiences responding to it in a more positive manner than its predecessor?
There are plenty of other tactical ways of extending the shelf life of an EVP, some, I suspect, more effective than others.
Here’s another way of approaching the issue. Change the narrative. Think of a new EVP not as something you can’t afford but as something you can’t afford not to invest in.
What is the return on investment of an EVP? According to Gallup, it’s pretty significant.
Those organisations with a strong, proactively managed EVP can expect a 10% uplift in productivity, a 69% reduction in employee turnover and a 30% increase in profitability.
The cost of an EVP can vary significantly, but it would be something of a surprise if its cost was more than 10% of the savings it should generate based on Gallup’s calculations.
“Today’s candidates and employees are becoming increasingly picky about finding meaning in their work, seeking out and choosing to remain with an employer whose EVP aligns more closely with their own purpose and values, for example, ESG – in practice, not just words. With that in mind, it seems a no brainer to invest in your EVP, so that it is authentic, up-to-date, and reflects the reality of how employees experience it. That way, candidates know exactly what to expect, and are less likely to jump ship soon after joining, or during the recruitment process, due to a perceived mis-match between the employer’s EVP and the lived candidate/employee experience”.
Naomi Blackwell,Founder, Change Now Consulting.
Quite apart from Gallup’s findings, think about your own metrics. If you find that, armed with an ageing, creaking EVP, premature departures are on the increase, that your candidate pipeline is more leaky than normal, that the people you are attracting are not who you want to drive your organisation onto the next level, then what is this costing your business?
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 