When it comes to developing the employee value proposition there are no real disadvantages to creating the largest package of rewards possible?

An employee value proposition is a set of rewards and benefits a company provides to its workers.

A strong employee value proposition can:

  • Improve the employer brand to help businesses compete for workers
  • Create trust, loyalty, and engagement among existing employees
  • Decrease annual employee turnover
  • Create a business culture that awards successful employees

Most medium to large-sized enterprises have some form of an employee value proposition. Typically, a careers page includes a list of benefits, perks, or testimonials from current employees. These pages can also demonstrate a company's core values and workplace culture.

Highlighting your employee value proposition can boost the hiring process by showing job candidates how your organisation's EVPs can help their career growth,

Examples of EVP benefits and perks

Employee value propositions are an excellent employer branding opportunity. Generous packages and benefits can position your employer brand in a way that new and existing employees will appreciate.

Millennials and Gen Zs want to work for employers whose values align with their own. As a result, the benefits that employees receive need to be about more than just compensation.

Some popular examples of EVPs are:

  • student loan paydown program
  • gym memberships
  • inclusive culture
  • healthcare benefits
  • work-life balance
  • excellent working environment
  • unlimited vacation
  • child care support

Why companies need to offer a strong employee value proposition

There are three main reasons why companies need to offer a strong EVP.

#1. Finding the best talent

The future of the Australian economy will be heavily STEM-based. Whatsmore, the existing skills shortage isn't an easy problem to solve.

Money can only go so far in attracting top talent. Continuously outbidding your rivals can quickly become inefficient. EVPs help employers differentiate their offerings by making the overall package attractive to talent.

#2. Decrease annual employee turnover

Employee turnover costs businesses a lot of money. When a productive employee leaves, it can take a lot of time before their output is replaced. ETLV is a great way to understand the costs of poor retention by quantifying employee turnover costs.

A strong EVP will boost your current employee experience. Additionally, satisfied employees can become brand ambassadors by talking to friends and peers about your company's EVP.

#3. Make existing employees happy and boost the perception of your employer brand

A strong EVP will boost your current employee experience. As well as reducing turnover, it will improve productivity, trust, and atmosphere because employees know they are valued and cared for.

#4. Improve shareholder value

Competing for top talent, retaining your best workers, and creating a happy and productive environment will all improve productivity. Attractive EVPs can affect revenue and shareholder value.

According to Gartner research, organisations that offer a strong employee value proposition can:

  • reduce annual employee turnover by almost 70%
  • boost new hire commitment by just under 30%
  • reduce the compensation premium by around 50%
  • reach deeper into the labour market and boost talent attraction by 50%
Different types of employee value proposition

The types of EVPs that a company offers are crucial for attracting new hires. Each of these unique benefits can be roughly segmented into different sections.

Culture

Company culture can be a key driver in recruitment. Workers spend a large portion of their week in the workplace, so they want to ensure it's the right place for them.

Great colleagues, leaders, and managers can be a compelling EVP. Good support structures, trust, transparency, and social responsibility can be other factors that convince staff they are at the right place.

Compensation

There is no getting away from the fact that salary is a key talent attractor. However, starting figures are just one way to entice employees.

Performance-related bonuses and a culture that offers a fair way to evaluate compensation can lead to happy employees. Additionally, workers need to understand how quickly they can progress if they work hard.

Benefits

The type of benefits you offer should be in line with who your employees are. Time off, healthcare, holidays, and flexibility are universally popular.

However, other benefits that decrease annual employee turnover and boost hiring are things like maternity leave, childcare support, pension contributions or share equity.

Finally, education is another area where you can differentiate your offerings. Giving access to courses, certs, and other ways for employees to learn and develop can give you an employer value proposition that stands out from the crowd.

Career progression/development

Employees want to progress and develop. Workplaces can boost employee engagement by implementing training and education programs to help career advancement.

Other benefits you can include are access to consultation, mentorship programs, and a solid evaluation and feedback system.

In effect, both new and current employees want to know that if they join your company, they will have a chance to progress in their careers if they join your company.

Atmosphere

Company environment can be a big draw. Many candidates are drawn to a competitive atmosphere that pushes them to be at their best. At the same time, others are driven by autonomy and personal responsibility.

Deciding on how your EVP represents your company's values will depend on the specifics of your organisation. However, many workers want a good recognition program that acknowledges their achievements. So explore ways that you can make that happen.

How to decide on an employee value proposition

Creating your own employee value proposition requires a lot of thought and research. However, the benefits for your business can be immense.

Here are some things to do to help you devise a strong EVP.

A compelling EVP should match your brand, culture, and vision

A good employee value proposition should reflect your company culture, vision, and brand. Is your organisation's ethos based on family values? Or is your employer brand more about ensuring your employees achieve their maximum potential?

Identifying and building an employer brand is about creating a culture that is attractive to current and potential employees.

A strong EVP should mesh with the values and preferences of your current and potential employees

An effective EVP understands who your workers are and what they want. You can find this information by conducting employee surveys or interviews and by conducting competitor research.

For businesses in the pharmaceutical and sciences sectors, it could be worth exploring personality research on typical STEM workers. Understanding more about the type of people who are attracted to STEM work can help formulate EVPs that have a direct impact on hiring.

Of course, using these typical tendencies has its limitations. For starters, STEM is a fairly broad church that features many personality types.

Additionally, specific roles attract different people. For example, HR professionals or marketing team members could score quite differently than researchers and scientists.

Despite this, there are specific things that attract talent to the STEM world—for example, a sense of purpose to help people and affect positive change.

More broadly, employers should consider the values that the next generation of employees value. Research suggests that employees want:

  • Better work-life balance
  • Companies that are environmentally responsible
  • More flexibility (remote or hybrid work, more choice over hours, etc.)
  • A company culture that is committed to greater gender or ethnic diversity

All in all, it's good practice to draw up your ideal employee persona. From this vantage point, you can start to understand what a great employee value proposition would look like to this person.

Consider your budget

Most businesses are constrained by a budget. However, while a strong EVP will cost money, you need to offset it against losing your best staff or failing to compete for top talent.

Perform thorough research

You can perform thorough employee research to find out how employees currently perceive your brand, what benefits they would value, and why staff typically stay or leave their role.

Deciding on an EVP is about more than just attracting talent. You'll also want to use them to retain talent. One of the best ways to do this is to conduct anonymous surveys, exit interviews, focus groups, and any other means that will allow you to understand the existing perceptions of your company.

Additionally, you can do competitor analysis to establish a benchmark of what the market is offering. This process can help you gauge how competitive your programs need to be.

The new era of employee value propositions

https://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts/raising-employee-value-proposition

Of course, what constitutes a persuasive employee value proposition is always changing and evolving. COVID-19 has altered people's attitudes around work, particularly in sectors where remote work is a possibility.

There was a lot of talk about the Great Resignation last year; however, it hasn't exactly shown up in a statistically meaningful way. What we do know is that the pandemic made many people reevaluate their relationship to work.

This change manifested itself in different ways, such as a desire for better work-life balance, a bigger focus on family, and even creating questions about how meaningful work is.

Even just offering remote or hybrid work is a benefit for some employees. Likewise, more choice over work hours or a chance to leave earlier on a Friday are some proposition examples that can be implemented without too many costs.

10 Inspiring Employee Value Proposition Examples

#1. Unilever

Unilever's EVP is focused on career development and building the next generation of leaders. Their EVP slogan is "a better business, a better world, and a better you".

This EVP combines purpose and meaningful work alongside sustainable and ethical principles. Additionally, “a better you” speaks to the work they do to help their workers become great leaders at Unilever and elsewhere.

Unilever also offers a range of benefits like pension and share schemes, learning, mentorship, and family support of various kinds.

#2. HubSpot

HubSpot places a strong emphasis on creating a great company culture. They encourage their employees to have an excellent work-life balance, alongside fostering learning and belonging.

HubSpot's EVP is to help employees reach their potential. To do this, they offer remote work, unlimited vacation, parental leave, five-year sabbaticals and a whole range of other "fun stuff".

HubSpot's careers page highlights how they value autonomy, diversity, and organisational transparency. In short, they treat their employees like people.

#3. Gartner

Gartner is no stranger to the benefits of EVPs. After all, they wrote one of the most influential studies on the subject.

Their EVP centres around challenging work with talented people and the chance to grow and make an impact.

Whatsmore, they understand that compensation is a decisive factor. As such, they offer "big rewards" alongside share programs and ERGs that allow employees to have a genuine stake in the business.

#4. Apple

Apple's EVP tells employees to "Join Us. Be You." This snappy piece of copy hits the mark because it highlights the company's ethos of pulling together the best minds to do something special.

Apple strongly encourages diversity and inclusion. Additionally, they place a big emphasis on employee contribution in shaping the work culture.

Apple's design principles are about serving the user. They have brought a similar take to their EVP, where they say joining the company is about adding something, not just joining something.

It's simple yet effective.

#5. PWC

PWC offers lots of great benefits like a focus on wellness and mental health, mentorship, student loan payment, and caregiver support.

But, their main draw is tapping into their potential employee's ambition and desire to do great things and work alongside outstanding people. They effectively deliver on this promise by allowing their workers access to the best technology, people, and support. PWC wants its staff to make an impact and encourages diversity, inclusiveness and belonging.

#6. Google

Google has long been considered one of the best places to work. Their EVP recognises that it takes a diverse range of people and perspectives to build a company. Passion, curiosity, and learning are at the centre of what the company seeks. Additionally, they offer some great perks like parental leave, on-site daycare, flexible work, growth and development.

Finally, they are very community-focused and encourage a culture of employee loyalty & "family".

#7. Bark

Bark is a company that helps foster and house dogs. Their EVP is a great example of efficient communication of a message that sums up the business. Go to the Bark careers page, and you will see the message "Be the person your dog thinks you are." It's intelligent, funny, and meaningful.

Alongside this, they offer employees company equity, retirement contributions, and a culture of diversity & inclusion

#8. Merck

Merck has an outstanding EVP. Firstly, they concentrate on meaningful work, with their slogan "work that changes things". Purpose and impact are two significant draws for employees, especially since the pandemic.

Other perks they offer are paid leave, recognition programs, and "returnships" for employees that leave to start families

#9. Hershey's

Hershey's EVP is about allowing employees to reach their potential. They suggest that employees can have a significant role in shaping their brand's future.

Their perks are based around health, wealth, and life benefits. Additionally, they highlight their Business Resource Groups' (BRGs) ability to foster a strong sense of diversity & inclusion.

#10. Janssen Pharmaceutica

This fascinating case study on Janssen Pharmaceutica, highlights how the brand uses real-life employees as ambassadors for their recruitment process.

Janssen recognises that they compete with hospitals, universities, and government bodies for the next generation of scientists. As such, their careers page emphasises a sense of responsibility and transparency to encourage prospective employees to join their company.

Conclusion: Does your company need an employee value proposition?

The Australian economy is changing. STEM workers are in high demand, and that's only set to increase. Additionally, the skills shortage problem, for so long masked by overseas recruitment, was exposed badly during the pandemic.

As a result, recruitment and employee retention are more valuable than ever. Compensation can only go so far in attracting the next generation of top talent. Establishing a culture and brand that workers want to be part of gives you a competitive advantage.

One of the most important aspects of a good employer branding strategy is presenting a great EVP. Getting this right can help you reach passive candidates as well as employees who are actively looking for work. Whatsmore, it can help you retain your best employees.

A work environment where people feel valued breeds loyalty, commitment, and trust. Ultimately, these factors drive productivity, growth, and revenue.

The question isn't "does your company need an employee value proposition?"; it's really whether your organisation can continue to thrive without one.