Attract and retain top talent with a powerful EVP

Attracting and retaining talent is something today many companies struggle with. After all, how does a company encourage brand loyalty among consumers when it struggles to inspire loyalty among its own workforce? Companies that prioritize a healthy workplace culture where employees feel valued with demonstrable proofs experience better employee retention than companies whose office culture is poor.
To attract top candidates to open positions and retain great talent, it’s important to create an employee value proposition (EVP) and to communicate it effectively. EVP isn’t only about a salary range. It can encompass so much more, including benefits and employee recognition markers. Here, we’ll outline how to create an attractive EVP for your employees so you can improve their experience while increasing company morale and loyalty.

What Is an EVP?

An EVP is a set of benefits that includes both monetary and non-monetary rewards. But EVPs have evolved even beyond that. An EVP also refers to the company’s positive and supportive workplace culture, its values that include the well-being of employees, and its willingness to recognize employee contributions.
These days, an employee can expect pay and certain benefits (i.e. some type of insurance coverage or retirement plan) from nearly any full-time job, but a culture of recognition, a supportive and employee-centric business are somewhat more rare. Consequently, in order to attract top talent, companies are examining their environments and benefits packages and taking steps to create more attractive EVPs.

Recognition and Rewards Program

Businesses set all sorts of goals--sales goals and profit goals. Employers invariably require that employees set goals too. In fact, during their annual evaluations, employees are often asked to set goals for themselves or adopt goals that are important to the employer. When employees achieve these goals, they may earn a bit more in salary each year, but is that all?
Companies who want to inspire and retain hard-working employees who exceed the bare minimum and strive to fulfill their potential deserve more than the annual pay raise, which is, as many people know, just enough to keep up with inflation. A formal recognition and rewards program can provide another dimension of ‘pay’ that’s separate and distinct from the salary. Whether recognition at an annual awards ceremony or at monthly employee meetings, a formal appreciation of individual accomplishment will help employees create a better EVP.

Career Growth Opportunities

Too often, employees leave ‘dead-end’ positions because it’s clear to them that there’s no way for them to grow and develop beyond their current job. Companies that are able to retain employees often feature training and career growth opportunities so that workers don’t feel as if they hit a plateau with nowhere else to go except to some other company. Growth opportunities provide your employees with upward goals to work toward. When these opportunities are clear and well-defined, employees understand what they need to accomplish in order to move from one level to the next.

Culture of Collaboration

An unsupportive workplace culture where employees feel isolated in spite of the many employees that may work with each day can be a driver of employee migration. Today, employees simply don’t have to stay with companies that have a poor workplace culture. Workers want to be happy and know that opportunities exist elsewhere for an improved work experience.
Consequently, companies that want to prevent the loss of great workers must nurture a supportive workplace culture that prioritizes collaboration. A collaborative environment helps to keep your team solidified and connected as opposed to fragmented and foundering. Everyone in the workplace is ‘replaceable’ from a certain viewpoint, but no one wants to feel replaceable and should be treated as such.
It’s important for companies to convey that each person is a valued member of the team and has something unique to contribute. The reality is--this is quite true. Replaceable but never duplicated. No team is ever quite the same when a member leaves. If your culture is inclusive, it is poised to enjoy altogether happier employees who want to stick around.

Flexibility

Not all companies happen to be rolling in profits and have the ability to hand out monetary rewards every week to all star employees. But money isn’t all that today’s employees want. Increasingly, employees are looking for improved work-life balance. Companies that can support this goal stand to attract and retain more employees. In short, employees want greater flexibility, and more and more businesses are offering it in order to entice top-tier candidates.
How can your business offer employees more flexibility? Many are creating hybrid work situations, allowing clients to work part of their week at home. Others are adjusting their ‘normal’ business hours to reflect alternative shifts so that workers can adjust their schedules in order to attend school or care for their families. Flexibility in the workplace is a decided benefit that today’s employees are searching for.

Great Communication

When developing your EVP, you’ll want to include some focus on communication. It’s important for management at all levels to prioritize communication. That means they must be accessible to employees; they must demonstrate that they care about what employees have to say. Moreover, consider how easy it is for managers to communicate down the employee channel, but how easy is it for workers to communicate their concerns up the channel? That’s something that can be included in your EVP.
Good communication goes even further. You can have the best EVP in your business sector, but if you don’t communicate it effectively, how will the candidates you’re hoping to recruit ever know? As you create your EVP, you’ll need to create a marketing plan so that you can promote all that you do to support a great benefits package and first-rate workplace culture.
Creating an attractive EVP is just one way you can enhance your operation. After focusing on employee loyalty, consider new ways to promote customer loyalty too. Consult with EonX and request a demo of our loyalty, marketplace, and fintech solutions. Our products drive customer engagement, helping businesses create better user experiences. Contact us today to learn more.