Acara’s VP of Business Development and Delivery, Ryan Stenvick, recently conducted a webinar with Lattice’s recruitment program manager, Shayna Bulluck. Lattice is a people performance platform that works “to turn employees into high performers, managers into leaders, and companies into the best place to work.” It offers tools that provide managing techniques for organization leaders and employees. Together, Ryan and Shayna discuss the importance of a strong employee value proposition (EVP), the benefits of a strong EVP, and how to develop the correct EVP statement for your company.

What is an EVP?

An EVP is essentially a promise made by an employer, to an employee, in exchange for his/her commitment to both the company and the role. Strong EVPs are essential to cultivating a diverse workforce and critical to retaining employees that are needed for future success.

To put it simply, an EVP is the total value an employee will receive from the company they work for. This goes beyond benefits such as pay or allotted vacation days. It includes career progression, development of the employee, and overall company culture.

Today, more than ever, an effective EVP is essential as potential employees typically form opinions about a company based on the information available about the organization online.  Studies show that 75 percent of employees research a brand’s EVP before applying for a job. A strong EVP attracts the talent your company wants and differentiates your brand from your competition, especially important in today’s era of the” war for talent.”

How to develop the right EVP for your company

Two practices make up the crux of developing an EVP:

1. Surveys and listening tours: It is important to go right to the source. Ask employees questions like why they chose to work for your company, their perception of the company before accepting their job and whether that perception proves to be true, and what differentiates their employer from competitors. Additionally, employees across all levels of leadership and experience should be asked for the most useful and beneficial results. A critical part of developing an EVP is to ensure that it represents and attracts underrepresented or minority groups—whether they are employees or potential employees. For example, when rewriting its company’s EVP, Lattice ensured that each listening group had at least three or four minority members. This practice confirms that everyone can connect to at least one, if not more, aspect of a company’s EVP. A representative statement will connect most closely with your employee base.
2. Molding data into an authentic statement: The results of these surveys and listening tours might not always be pleasant. However, it is important to keep in mind that these kinds of results are essential to ensuring company growth and development. Finding common denominators among answers will help form a condensed, yet truthful value statement.

Critical features of a successful survey

• Anonymity: Employees should feel safe to express their true feelings or concerns without fear of receiving repercussions. The threat of receiving backlash will make the results of this survey not useful and a strong EVP statement will not be developed.
• 360 degrees visual of roles: Surveys and listening tours should cover every aspect of an employee’s job. This includes their workload, relationships with managers and colleagues, DEI efforts, compensation, and expectations versus reality. Transparent reflections of any aspect of a job that your company has deemed important to be included in an EVP should be asked about. Leaving out significant aspects of a job will not aid in constructing a universally applicable EVP.

Different EVPs based on region and division

Many organizations might wonder whether different EVPS are necessary for different company divisions or branches/headquarters. In short, this is not necessary. Your EVP should be one document or statement applicable to all locations and departments of your organization. All pillars of your EVP should speak to all offices. It is helpful to use other regions or departments as “checks and balances” to ensure that you have a collective and representative voice, despite global location or company department.