With the new post pandemic “war on talent”, employers must distinguish themselves from other organizations in order to attract and retain talent. Most businesses spend an incredible amount of time, money, and resources on their company brand in order to attract customers; however, most do not spend any time on their employee brand.
The employee brand concept has been around since the 1990’s and it is called the Employee Value Proposition (EVP). This is separate from your company brand and is all about your organization’s reputation as an employer. In other words, replace your business development department’s wording of “customer value proposition” with “employee value proposition”. However, be careful and do not mistake your customer value proposition as the same thing as your EVP. For example, customers may spend twenty minutes researching your product and calling your call center to place an order while your employees are spending 120 times that supporting your business and satisfying your customers. It is critical to remember that candidates for employment and your current employees all have choices, so it is in your best interest to spend some time, money, and resources on developing your company’s EVP and the culture that goes with it.
So, what do you need to do? Your company needs to dig deep, assess, and answer the candidate and employee “why”. Specifically, “why would a highly qualified and talented person choose to work at your organization and perform at their best in order to stay with you?” Your EVP describes what value the employee receives from your company in return for bringing their skills, experience, and talent. This statement personifies your company’s total employee experience - the people part of your policies, processes, and programs.
In the end, the goal of the EVP, like your customer brand, is to help you attract, retain, and engage your employees. The outcome is for you to have employees reaching their optimal performance and ultimately advocating for your employer brand. This is when employees, like customers, will tell everyone how amazing your company is to work for and they encourage others they know to come work for you. There is no better compliment as an employer than to get an employee referral without having to incentivize your staff to make the referral.
The new era we are entering into is all about finding talented people to serve your customers. Now is the time for your company to consider investing in the resources needed to develop your employee brand and “win the war on talent”. Are you ready to take the EVP plunge? If you are interested in learning more, we are here to help.