internal-engagement

Has there ever been a time when justifying the investment you make in EVP has been more important? I’ll wait. 

Didn’t think so. 

Which means if you’re currently constructing an EVP or evaluating your existing iteration, achieving an optimum (and demonstrable) return on this investment feels like the right call. 

But before we dive right into the specifics of EVP deliverables, what exactly are we building? Have we really given it that much thought? 

An EVP is a commitment (or a series of commitments) articulating the working experience of a particular organisation. It’s been arrived at through listening to the openness, honesty and stories of your people, right across your organisation. It’s been honed by time spent with your senior leaders as they outline the direction and trajectory of your business. 

It’s a commitment that should be strategically aligned – with absolute clarity around how your people are playing a key role in driving your business objectives.

It doesn’t exist in isolation. Rather it’s a cohesive collaboration between colleagues across marketing, internal comms, the business, senior leadership and HR/TA. 

It’s robust, of your people, by your people, for your people. Top down, bottom up. Done right, it is, or certainly should be, a powerful business tool. Perhaps a far more powerful business tool than we currently give it credit for.

Let’s pause here. 

Do we realise what an EVP is?

You’re using something so powerful, so invested in, so enterprise-wide, purely to influence your recruitment communications? Remember, this is something endorsed by your business at the highest level. Those leaders have invested their own time, thoughts and strategic overview in its development. 

Do we think, perhaps, that they might have expectations for such a platform over and above a recruitment advertising playbook and deck?

Armed with something so credible, so unifying, so topical, think about how else your EVP might add value. How further it can provide return on investment.

Extracting more value from your EVP

Internally, it has so much heft, potential and credibility. Given your people have played such a role in constructing it, there’s likely to be real pride (as well as expectation) in them seeing their stories and experiences driving key corporate messaging. Use it as the platform for internal comms messaging, to welcome in new employees, for example, or for messages from senior leadership and for carrying employee stories that align with your values and mission. 

How about using it as a tool to hold your organisation to account? A year on from constructing and embedding your EVP, use it as a platform to outline what has happened in the preceding 12 months. In what ways has the business stuck to its commitment, its people proposition? Again, this can be carried using employee stories touching on the essence of your EVP. If that EVP, for example, speaks to progression, talk about promotions, learning, development, growth through your people. 

What about adding an element of the EVP to annual appraisals? In analysing how an employee is working to achieve their objectives, doesn’t it make sense for the role of their organisation in empowering such a career journey to be analysed? To what extent has the people proposition been delivered to the employee base and how has this helped drive individual contributions?

Perhaps the EVP or people proposition could form an element of the annual report and accounts. Just as intellectual property, brand value and customer relationships constituent key elements of the intangible assets of an organisation’s worth, so too should employee engagement. Making it clear within such an important statement just how seriously an organisation considers its people – to the extent of constructing a formal people proposition – speaks to the value placed in them.

And having a high-profile, unavoidable commitment and proposition will distance an employer from their competitor set. Whilst most other organisations will have an EVP, the extent to which it is known, shared and lived within that business will vary significantly. Having a clear and endorsed commitment will help drive both internal engagement and purpose, as well as external credibility and belief. 

What a waste

We’ve touched on examples of how to extract more value from your EVP, particularly given who has contributed to it. There are also ways the owner of the EVP can actively detract from the potential of this platform. 

You want to scupper your EVP and waste the investment placed in it? Do it slowly. Spend a long time on the initial discovery research. The world – as well as your organisation – turns at pace. Take too long on this research and the messaging and creative direction it informs will be based on where you were, not where you’re going. 

Another way of not extracting as much bang for your EVP buck is by not measuring or monitoring it. Don’t assume what you have is done and dusted for the next three or four years. Keep close to it – your organisation, your markets, the competition, they will all evolve. Your EVP won’t remain fit for purpose if you ignore it. And, yes, it can be a challenge coming up with metrics which accurately sum up the extent to which your EVP is delivering. But alongside numbers, paint a picture. Tell the stories of the new people you have brought on board as a result of your EVP. What sort of impact are they having? How are they – and by extension your EVP – making a difference?

Let’s be more ambitious for our EVP

In conclusion, let’s be more ambitious for our EVPs. In their development and construction, they are robust and representative of your organisation. They have the capacity to repay the investment made in them to a far greater extent than is probably happening right now.