EVP: ‘Marketing fluff’ or a real talent attraction tool?

EVP: ‘Marketing fluff’ or a real talent attraction tool?

If you’re not familiar with the term 'Employer Value Proposition', it may sound like marketing fluff but if you want to enhance your recruitment strategy, it’s not something you should ignore. By defining and communicating your Employer Value Proposition, you can get some real benefits for your business.

So what exactly is an Employer Value Proposition (EVP)?

An EVP is the deal a company makes with employees and potential employees, in return for their productivity and in particular their discretionary performance effort.  

As well as an attractive offering for employees, if an EVP is implemented well it can help to reinforce the behaviours and performance you expect from your employees. You could think of an EVP as ‘the deal’ between an employer and their employee where you both benefit.

Having a defined Employer Value Proposition – i.e. knowing what your company offers employees – is one thing; communicating it is another. And whilst it takes some work upfront to do this, the benefits your EVP can bring your business will continue to be felt for months and years to come. 

Here are four ways your EVP can help your recruitment and retention strategy: 

1.    Attracting the right talent & reducing attrition

When it comes to bringing in talent to your business, there is nothing more frustrating, costly and time consuming than hiring the wrong person.

In their ‘Perfect Match: Making the right hire and the cost of getting it wrong’ report, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation estimates the cost of hiring the wrong person to be as high as £132,000.

The good news is a well-communicated EVP can help you find the right hire, first time.

Your EVP brings your values to life and provides a snapshot of your culture, helping attract people to your business who share your fundamental beliefs and are the right fit. It’s important to make sure the EVP you communicate is authentic to ensure you can match the promises you have made and meet the expectations of new starters. Ultimately, having a well-defined and authentic EVP will help reduce attrition – particularly in the early days after a new starter joins -  saving you the time and cost of replacing them. See the impact a poor or non-existent EVP can have on retention in our 'Neglect EVP and face losing top talent' article.

2.    Promoting your commitment to diversity

It’s well documented that companies that embrace a diverse workforce see real benefit to their business and one of these benefits is attracting new, more diverse talent.

67% of job seekers say that when they’re evaluating companies and job offers, it is important that the company has a diverse workforce (Glassdoor). 

If your company is truly passionate about diversity, it’s definitely something that should come across in your EVP. Even the way you define your EVP can hint at your positive approach to diversity. For example, by using feedback from staff across a multitude of functions, locations, cultures and age groups, you can gain an idea about common elements of your company that appeal to all of your staff. 

3.    Engaging your employees to become advocates  

What’s your most valuable recruitment tool? LinkedIn? Job boards? How about your current employees?

Candidates share positive recruitment experiences with their inner circles more than 81% of the time; their negative experiences 66% of the time (Talent Board).

If your employees give negative feedback on working for your business to friends or leave poor ratings on review sites like Glassdoor, it can have a damaging impact on your potential to attract the best candidates out there. 

According to Glassdoor, the majority of candidates read six reviews before forming an opinion about a company and 70% of people now look to reviews before they make career decisions. Turning your current employees into advocates for your business and increasing the number of positive reviews about you as an employer is crucial. And that is where your EVP can help. 

According to research from the Corporate Leadership Council, a well-executed EVP can increase the likelihood of employees acting as advocates of your employer brand from 24% to near 50%. Keeping the promises you make in your EVP is important for ensuring you get the buy-in of your staff and get those referrals to make your recruitment process that much easier. 

4.    Reducing your time-to-hire and recruitment costs

In a skills short market, finding the right candidates is a challenge for hiring communities. 89% of businesses find that their recruitment is taking a month longer than expected (STEM.org) and are having to pay inflated salaries to attract the best candidates. 

An appealing EVP and positive brand reputation can be a huge differentiator and help encourage the right candidates to come to you.

More than two-thirds of job seekers are likely to apply for a job at a company that actively manages its brand (Glassdoor)

Conversely, companies with a negative brand image get half as many applications and end up spending more money on hiring (Betterstream). If your staff turnover rates are higher than you'd like, it could be an indicator of a negative employer brand - check out our related article 'what does your staff turnover say about your employer brand?'

Mapping out your current candidate journey from attraction to onboarding is a excellent way to spot issues as well as areas for improvement. On average 20% of candidates drop out between accepting an offer and starting a job (Sense), a friendly email from the CEO to congratulate them on getting the job, parking instructions, reminders of the benefit package waiting for them are great examples of ways to keep a candidate engaged.

 

As you can see there’s a lot more to EVP than just a catchy acronym. An EVP is not only an effective tool to differentiate your business in a skills short market, it’s a vital tool in your candidate attraction strategy. Over time it can help your business to achieve real results such as a reduction in the number of new hires who leave, a more diverse workforce, an increase in positive company reviews and employee referrals and reduced time-to-hire.

If you’re struggling to place the ownership of employer branding in your business, you are not alone. Many companies question whether it should sit with Marketing or HR and find it difficult to define who has the capability and the time to manage it effectively.  Find out more about we can help you.
 

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