In a tight labor market, you need to do everything you can to stand out from the crowd. One way to differentiate your employer image. Your employee value proposition (EVP) helps you stand out to potential applicants, allowing you to attract more and better workers to your company.

What Is an Employee Value Proposition?

At its heart, an EVP is an exchange between the employer and prospective employee. It is the benefits or proposition value that you offer to potential applicants. 

The EVP represents the value your company will provide to the employee. It may involve tangible things, like salary, health insurance, and ownership options. Alternatively, the EVP may be a family-friendly environment or other intangible benefits. Ultimately, your EVP is the summation of all of the big and little factors that make you different from any other company that’s looking for workers.

How You Can Differentiate Your Employee Value Proposition

To reach more and better workers, you need to differentiate your employee value proposition. Think of your applicants as if they are potential customers. You need to build an employer brand that appeals to these customers and gets them to buy into your brand. 

In a recent Mission to Grow podcast on “Building An Employer Brand: How Small Businesses Can Use Marketing to Attract and Retain the Best Talent,” Philip VanDusen, founder and CCO at Verhaal Brand Design, discussed ways to build your employer branding. 

“People have described the idea of a brand as being what people say about your company when you’re not in the room,” he says. “What understanding do they have of your company? Where does it resonate in their heart and soul?”

Once you’ve determined what your EVP is, you can design your hiring and onboarding process to accommodate it. With the right differentiation, you can ensure your company stands out in today’s labor market.

Determine What Makes Your Company Unique 

Before you can try differentiating your business, you first need to understand what makes it unique. While each business is different, the following are a few common differentiators that companies use to stand out in the labor market.

• High-end branding to attract employees who want that kind of cache on their resume
• Ownership options, like the ones offered by tech companies
• Promotional opportunities
• Company ethos
• Training and development opportunities
• Family-like environment
• Fun atmosphere
• Events for employees
• Flexibility and remote options

If you haven’t already decided on your EVP, this is a good chance to gather your C-suite together in a hotel for an intensive session. During this session, spend some time hammering out your company’s values, mission statement, and objectives. Then, use this information to build your employee value proposition and what you have to offer current and future employees.

Write Down Your EVP

Once you’ve determined your company’s EVP, the next step is putting it in writing. By writing it down, you can clarify your ideas and ensure your entire team is on the same page.

The EVP is supposed to inspire workers, so you generally want to avoid talking about compensation. Instead, focus on the factors that drive people to work for you.

While it may be a branding tool, the EVP should always focus on real qualities. People are smart enough to realize if a branding campaign is based on real or made-up attributes, and your company will suffer if your campaign isn’t based in reality.

Start With the Hiring Process 

To build the best EVP, start with the hiring process. There is a huge opportunity to differentiate your company by creating a better hiring process. Many companies post non-specific job ads that get hundreds of applicants. Out of this number of applicants, an applicant tracking system (ATS) might spit out a handful of people to interview.

Most applicants aren’t getting told about what to expect in the hiring process or whether the company chose someone else. For businesses, this is a chance to improve your hiring process. You can stand out by simply being more transparent and communicating better with your workers.

As VanDusen says, “They’re the people who are going to make your company rise or fall. And if you treat them with respect and recognition, and you really communicate with them and let them go through the process of hiring in a way that they feel valued, they’re going to bring an entirely different vibe to your company.”

Emphasize Benefits 

While salary and benefits shouldn’t be the main component of your EVP, it is still an important topic to discuss. When employees are compensated and rewarded for their work, they are more likely to stay with a company. Additionally, a financially supportive environment can improve employee morale.

It’s also important to remember that your EVP benefits are non-tangible factors as well. If you’re a family-owned company or have telecommuting options, convey this information in your job posting and onboarding materials. 

Educate Employees About Your EVP

You can have the best EVP in the world, but it won’t achieve its goal if you don’t communicate it to your workers. Your employee education helps increase mission alignment across all levels of your organization.

To communicate your EVP, try incorporating it into job postings and company web pages. When your C-suite sits for interviews or creates newsletter articles, have them discuss and incorporate various traits and benefits from your EVP. Plus, you can use this type of employer branding in your social media posts, LinkedIn content, blog articles, and social media videos. 

Live Your Values 

For your EVP to be effective, it has to genuinely represent what your company does. Your EVP shouldn’t simply be something you add to your logo or your job postings. From your hiring process to your employee development, you should make sure your entire employment experience is in line with your advertised EVP and company values.

Incorporate EVP Into the Entire Employee Life Cycle

As a part of living your values, take some time to incorporate your EVP into your employee life cycle. For a typical worker, the life cycle involves recruitment, attraction, retention, onboarding, development, and offboarding. 

How this looks in practice depends on the life cycle. For instance, incorporating EVP may involve job postings, social media videos, and job fairs during the recruitment and attraction stage. Once the employee is hired, you’ll need onboarding materials and employee development tools that train workers on your values. 

Your EVP and employer branding continue long after the worker has finished their life cycle. When a worker leaves on good terms, they may end up recommending your business to customers or other applicants. If they enjoyed working for your company, they may even accept another position at your business in the future. 

For all of these reasons, it’s important to make sure your former workers leave on the best terms possible. From exit interviews to a formalized offboarding process, there are multiple techniques you can use to incorporate your EVP into offboarding.

The Benefits of Designing an EVP

Each organization is unique, and an authentic EVP will help you attract the type of worker who will fit in at your company. By designing an EVP, your company can enjoy some of the following benefits. 

• Reduced employee turnover. 
• More efficient labor spending because you’re attracting the right applicants.
• Increased employee engagement.
• Better hiring transparency.
• More positive work culture.
• Better talent pool.

Learn More About Differentiating Your Company’s EVP

Your company’s EVP can help you become a more effective organization. It helps you differentiate your company from the competition and can help you build your employer brand. To be as effective as possible, your EVP should be authentic and genuinely reflect the value you offer prospective employees. 

For more information on differentiating your business with the right EVP, reach out to our team of small business HR & payroll experts today.