Employee value proposition in action: Compelling real-world examples
As an employer or human resources manager, consider what candidates and employees bring to your business. Their work ethic, experience, education, training, and skills add value to your business. But what do you give them in exchange?
Demonstrating your value to employees and candidates is often just as important as evaluating their value to your business. Offering solid benefits and a compelling employer value proposition can help attract top talent and increase employee engagement and retention rates. Find out how to build and convey that value through your employee value proposition.
What is an employee value proposition (EVP)?
Employee value proposition (EVP) refers to the value you offer employees in exchange for their skills and hard work. It encompasses the tangible and intangible benefits your organization provides employees, from standard benefits like pay and health insurance to broader benefits like a positive working environment and work-life balance.
EVP statements are concise messages summarizing the value offered to employees. They are often displayed on career pages to attract potential candidates. Some companies create short taglines to express their EVP, while others offer more in-depth overviews.
Why is EVP important?
EVP matters because employees have options, and you want them to feel excited (or at least satisfied) about what you offer them. A good EVP will help you stand out to candidates, particularly in more competitive recruiting markets. Top talent with more specialized skills and training will expect more from their employers, such as higher salaries, more perks, and flexibility around remote work.
Beyond the hiring process and onboarding, developing a strong EVP also helps you retain your best talent. If you offer excellent benefits and an incredible culture, employees will be less motivated to seek out opportunities elsewhere or seriously consider offers from competitors.
Ultimately, your EVP differentiates your organization from other employers and shows employees why they should want to work for you. Providing great benefits and supporting employee well-being also improves employee engagement and morale, resulting in better work quality and productivity. Prioritizing EVP can solve many business challenges, such as recruiting difficulties or turnover.
Key components of EVP
Each of the below can contribute to the company’s overall employee value proposition.
Compensation
Of course, most of us work primarily to get paid, so compensation is a critical component of an employee value proposition. Compensation includes the employee’s hourly wage or salary, along with added forms of payment like commissions or bonuses.
Benefits
Employees seek basic benefits such as solid health, vision, and dental insurance options. In more competitive fields, offering added benefits such as wellness perks, gym memberships, and tuition reimbursement is a popular way to enhance your EVP and stand out among top candidates.
Company culture
Your organization’s overall culture greatly influences your employee value proposition. The culture encompasses how you work, communicate, and collaborate within the company. A positive, supportive company culture provides employees with a better work environment and employee experience.
Your company’s values and mission are also part of its culture and EVP. Employees increasingly focus on working with and supporting companies whose values align with their own. Values such as innovation or inclusivity are often core parts of major companies’ EVPs.
Career development opportunities
Providing opportunities for training and development is a great way to improve your EVP, as employees generally want opportunities to gain new skills and move up in their career paths. Having concrete development tools like leadership training programs and well-rounded learning and development initiatives is a great way to enhance your EVP more tangibly. Employers often emphasize growth opportunities but must effectively communicate how those opportunities are provided, so being clearer in this area can help your business stand out and contribute to a stronger EVP.
Work environment
Your location and physical (or virtual) space are also part of your company’s EVP. Your EVP may include a great location in a popular part of town, near public transportation, or in-office amenities that make it a great workplace space. Some companies also offer perks like a dog-friendly office as part of their employee value proposition.
How to develop a strong employee value proposition
Discover strategies for building an effective EVP for your business.
Evaluate Your Benefits Package
Employee benefits are a core part of every business’ EVP, and enhancing your overall benefit offerings is one relatively quick and straightforward way to provide a stronger value proposition for employees. Look for opportunities to improve your offerings by expanding benefit plan options or lowering the employees’ share of the costs.
One area that can often be improved to offer a better EVP is your time off policies. An improved paid time off policy can improve work-life balance and employee well-being for a better employee value proposition. Offering paid parental leave is another excellent way to improve your EVP through enhanced benefits.
Conduct regular salary benchmarking
Paying people a competitive salary is one way to maintain a strong EVP. Factors such as inflation and changes in the labor market can impact how competitive and enticing a salary will be. That’s why you should regularly benchmark and evaluate pay rates for current employees and new openings to stay on top of compensation trends and maintain an effective EVP. Offering competitive starting salaries will help with talent acquisition efforts. However, regular cost-of-living adjustments and performance-based raises will help you maintain a good EVP and improve long-term employee retention.
Collect feedback from current employees
Your employees are an excellent source of information on your current employee value proposition and what can be done to enhance it. Employee surveys are a popular way to gauge team members’ job satisfaction, including pay, benefits, and the company’s culture. Some employers may collect data through focus groups or employee exit interviews for more in-depth feedback.
Identify your strengths and opportunities
One thing to keep in mind throughout the process is that every company will have something unique to offer. Every business will also have components of their EVP that aren’t as strong.
For example, government organizations generally have an employee value proposition focused on benefits, retirement plans, and stability. However, the added layers of bureaucracy can impact the opportunities for advancement, compensation, and the overall culture. Small private employers may not have access to the same level of benefits or stability. They have more flexibility when it comes to shaping culture and policies and offer flexible working arrangements. They enhance their EVP through employee stock options and equity. Explore your resources to understand how to best communicate the more vital areas of your EVP to candidates and identify opportunities to boost your EVP for existing employees.
Develop your employer’s brand
Your employer brand is how you market and communicate your company’s identity to candidates and current team members. Wrapping your EVP into your employer brand will help you show candidates what you offer. You can also use employees as brand ambassadors on your career site and social media platforms like LinkedIn to showcase the benefits they enjoy most from working at your company.
Employee value proposition examples
Here are some examples of how top companies have created a compelling EVP.
Google and many other Silicon Valley tech companies have focused heavily on offering a strong EVP and marketing it well. The company is well known for its employee perks, ranging from high-end cafeterias to the infamous nap pods where employees can rest quickly.
In addition to office perks and a culture that values career growth and innovation, the company offers another well-known unique benefit that enhances its EVP: it allows employees to use 20% of their work time each week to work on self-directed personal projects that they feel will benefit the company. This personal autonomy and unique career development offer one way for Google to differentiate its EVP from other major tech companies competing for top engineering talent.
Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s is an excellent grocery chain for anyone who loves snack foods or healthy, quick meals, but is it a great place to work? The brand lays out its employee value proposition very clearly in a” What We Offer” section on its career site to help candidates quickly understand what the company brings to the table as an employer.
The Trader Joe’s EVP includes six core components:
- Competitive pay
- A retirement plan
- A store discount
- Health benefits
- Paid time off
- Opportunities for job growth
Adding information like this to your career page is a great way to communicate your EVP to candidates quickly. Most of the above items are standard offerings. However, laying them out clearly for candidates makes it easier for potential employees to understand the company’s EVP.
PwC
PwC is a major accounting and consulting firm that clearly presents its EVP on its career page. Its EVP includes standard items like well-rounded employee benefits and opportunities for training and development, but its messaging primarily focuses on DEI and employee well-being.
The company clearly states, “We care for our people and are committed to inclusion, understanding, and respect for all.” This is an overview of its culture and how employees are treated. PwC also uses the “Be Well, Work Well” tagline and takes a six-dimensional approach to well-being, focusing on promoting employees’ physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, financial, and social wellness through different programs and initiatives.
Patagonia
Patagonia, the outdoor apparel and gear company, is an excellent example of an organization that has built its EVP around its mission and values. A few years ago, the company made headlines by announcing that Earth would be its only shareholder and that the profits from the business would be reinvested in the company or distributed as dividends to causes fighting climate change.
Patagonia’s career site states, “We are a company as much as we are a community and a movement, bringing people together with an unwavering sense of purpose.” The site also includes employee testimonials on the company’s purpose, benefits, and overall value.
This is an excellent use of employees as brand ambassadors and a shared mission as the core of an EVP. People want to work for companies that share their environmental concerns. Purpose-centric messaging attracts talent. It conveys the company’s value to employees and potential candidates.
More Resources:
Leadership development goals: Your roadmap to success
Create an onboarding plan that sets employees up for success
Cross-training employees: Examples and plans
