An Employee Value Proposition – WHY every organisation should have one
INSIGHT - HELEN BLAKE
Now, more than ever, organisations need to be clear about the talent and skills they require to realise their ambitions and the deeper issues that impact their attractiveness to potential and current employees.
This is when a compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) becomes crucial.
What people experience, feel, and expect as employees is a complex mix of reality and perception. Simply offering higher pay or better benefits or more stuff like yoga classes or free pizza isn't necessarily the answer.
Why should someone join the organisation?
Why should they stay?
What do business leaders and management teams expect of employees?
What do employees expect of their employer and leaders?
Experience tells us that several issues hinder organisations when they are trying to create appropriate value for their employees:
Treating value as solely rational and ignoring emotional, social, generational, and cultural dimensions
A disconnect between EVP and Employee Experience: When EVPs do not resonate with employees' day-to-day experiences, it creates friction and dissonance
Siloed EVP creation, led and owned by a single part of the organisation. Without cross-functional engagement, the EVP becomes a product rather than the daily lived experience
Insufficient or delayed insights into how employees experience value leads to late or costly actions.
An EVP is a crucial balance between the current reality of employee experience and a degree of aspiration. Our research shows a median split between 60/40 and 70/30 ratio of experience/aspiration. Many of the HR leaders we consulted are driving for an 80/20 ratio because over-weighting the aspirational may lead to promises that are never delivered, causing employee dissatisfaction and, often, exit.
Often the real experience of employees will be rated higher in the HQ workplace than in local offices or branches but consistency across multiple locations and countries presents real challenges.
Futurecurve’s Value Proposition Builder™
At our core, we’re passionate about aligning and harmonising the human experience within the company system. Through our deep understanding of Customer Value Propositions, we have applied our tried and tested Value Proposition Builder approach to support those grappling with creating and implementing Employee Value Propositions.
Futurecurve’s Employee Value Proposition Builder™ process allows people to uncover the truth of what motivates employees, through understanding the emotional and socio-political dimensions of value so often overlooked in pursuit of rational value. All three dimensions must be integrated into the EVP. In this way the things that impact the lived experience of employees may provide the insight and follow-up action needed to create a truly authentic and compelling Employee Value Proposition.
We have conducted extensive research into Employee Value Propositions. Working in partnership with organisation design & development consultant, Helen Charles Edwards, we explore the steps needed to create an EVP that sets our clients apart to attract and retain the talented people they need.
We have drawn together our findings in our new White Paper: ‘Aligning your Employee and Customer Truth’. Download it today and explore how organisations can create and implement powerful, compelling and aligned value propositions that act as a win-win for all.
Understanding the interconnectedness of business and people—and seeing employees and customers as intrinsic parts of a unified value ecosystem—is not just important; it’s business-critical.