Attracting the right talent is key to future-proofing a successful business and understanding who you want to employ, and how to attract and retain this talent, is essential for creating the culture you are aiming to achieve.
Does your business stand out from the crowd? Throughout this article, we go through some of the steps to understanding, defining and marketing your #EVP.
Understand the components of your EVP:
Remuneration
Benefits
Career
Work Environment
Culture
Remuneration– this includes a base salary and any bonuses or other economic benefits that an employee or executive receives during employment.
Does your business offer a competitive remuneration structure?
Benefits– this includes health, dental, vision, life insurance, paid time off (annual leave & sick days), flexible working, pension and other non-economic benefits.
Does your business offer a unique and relevant benefits package?
Career– this covers three key areas: job stability, professional development and career progression. This includes training, education, receiving feedback to develop, job opportunities and the security of the position.
Does your business offer a long-term sustainable professional journey to your employees?
Work Environment– your physical and psychological work environment covers the physical aspects which surround you whilst working (office space, noise, air, light) as well as how your work is organised, and employee wellbeing.
Does your business offer the right tools for staff to carry out their responsibilities whilst maintaining a positive focus?
Culture– this is the personality and character of your workforce. It’s what makes your business unique and is the sum of its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviours, and attitudes. This includes management style and internal relationships.
Does your business offer a strong, positive, clearly defined and well communicated culture?
It’s not uncommon for an organisation to let their EVP form naturally without first defining what they want it to be. It’s important to note that your EVP won’t (and shouldn’t) appeal to every job searcher. Recognising who you want to target and understanding their needs and wants will position your EVP as an attractive proposition to your prime candidate.
Your EVP will vary depending on the level of individual you are looking to attract. A graduate will be looking at different factors compared to an experienced industry professional; a successful EVP needs to work for all employees inducted and resonate across all levels of seniority.
How do you define your EVP?
The initial step is research and it starts with your current employees, understand what they value and explore what you can offer to motivate them further.
Dive deeper and look at your top performers, understand what they appreciate and why they have the ability to go above and beyond.
Finally, research what opinion and understanding the passive job applicant have on your business. Knowing why an applicant would choose a competitor over your business is a priority point your business needs to progress.
Having the knowledge in each of these will define what keeps your employees, motivates them and what prospective employees will look for to join your business. An EVP is reflected in the candidate journey throughout the recruitment process – delivering a compelling and clear message of who you are as business and what you expect in an employee will result in higher retention and output.
Marketing your EVP
Once you’ve researched, understood and defined your EVP you can begin marketing the proposition to your network and prospective candidates.
A marketing strategy should apply both internally and externally. Review each current employee and ensure that you as a business are holding to what is promised within your EVP offering. Each employee will also need to have an understanding of your business values and expected behaviours and output.
Constant touch points throughout your employee’s career path is essential to ensure you retain and develop talent and execute the values within the EVP.
External marketing involves exhibiting your company personally through various media channels and platforms, rather than talking literally about your EVP. Speaking on a podcast and talking about culture, writing an article on management style or uploading photos to Linkedin of your company away day all positively contribute to your employment brand and an insight to what working for your business is like. If your employees are important to you, make it clear on your social media channels.
Your EVP benefits your clients and customers too, working with a business which invests in their own and has a focus on retaining and attracting top talent will result in a better result from the partnership. Having the best talent in your industry puts you as a threat to your competitors.
deverellsmith Client Solutions
Whether your company is large or small, having a well thought out EVP that reflects your company culture, employee experience and employment evolution has never been more important. deverellsmith work with companies of all sizes to provide a tailored service to review and develop your EVP. Find out more on deverellsmith’s Client Solutions service here.
Laura Croggon is the Global Communications Manager for deverellsmith and Assistant Editor of ds…. She has extensive experience in digital marketing, corporate communications, CSR, branding and internal communications.
Laura is a proactive ally for under-represented minorities within property, spearheading the #seemenow campaign promoting LGBTQ+ professionals within property and hosts podcast episodes with women in real estate.
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